A new Blacksburg ordinance could give the Historic Design and Review Board more power.
Blacksburg’s Planning Commission will hear recommendations tonight from the Historic District Task Force regarding a change to the board’s abilities.
Ordinance 1604, which will be reviewed by the commission, will authorize the Historic Design and Review Board to approve buildings as historic sites.
The Planning Commission organized the Historic District Task Force in early 2010 to evaluate the usefulness of a new
ordinance dealing with historic structures within the town of Blacksburg.
The Historic Design and Review Board, which deals with the historic district of Blacksburg in an advisory role, is currently only able to approve the demolition of historic buildings.
Its authority came into question with the sale of the Taylor Frames & Things building in downtown Blacksburg last year.
While the owner of the property wished to demolish the building, the board advised Blacksburg’s Planning Commission to deny the request.
As a result, the owner of the building was required to attempt to sell the property for a year before she could demolish the building.
The dispute was resolved when a buyer stepped in, with plans to convert the space into a restaurant.
The debate was one of the main factors contributing to the formation of the Historic District Task Force. Members of the Town Council wanted more safeguards in place when it came to protecting Blacksburg’s historic buildings.
The task force put together a new map that includes all the addresses for historic sites.
“This new organization will make everything clearer and easier for people to get information,” said Susan Anderson said, a member of Blacksburg Town Council and the Historic District Task Force.
Anderson hopes that this new ordinance will offer a better explanation of ambiguous terms.
“I think we can clarity definitions and make things easier for everyone to understand,” Anderson said.
The Planning Commission will review the ordinance and can make changes before it is passed to the Town Council for final
review.
The hearing will take place Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. in the Blacksburg Municipal Building.
A version of this article appeared in the Feb 1 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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More power! You must be kidding! What happened to Mrs.Taylor is the biggest abused of power in Blacksburg. No matter how well meaning the historic and review board members are, they are still putting the burden of maintaining those old, falling apart buildings on private homeowners. Residents like us don't have the deep pocket like Town of Blacksburg, which spent more than 1.3 million of the taxpayers' money to restore the old Doc Robert building. This is a terrible law. It will be misinterpreted and misapplied over and over again and cause great financial hardship on the private homeowners. No one in the right mind will buy a house in the historical district because of all the restrictions the town impose on the homeowners.
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Giving this "Board" more power islike giving gasoline to a pyro!
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