Collegiate Times

In response to the recent editorial (in print Sept. 5, 2012) as well as published comments about the Terrace View rezoning plan:

First and foremost, I would like to note that we have listened to residents’ and neighbors’ concerns about visitor parking and are looking into options to increase the proportion of visitor parking spaces at Terrace View. 

Secondly, I would like to address some misconceptions with regards to our rezoning plan:

1) The parking study showing the demand for parking to be 0.74 spaces per bedrooms was conducted at several times throughout the day from 6 a.m. – 10 p.m. on both a Wednesday and Saturday during the regular school session. This figure takes into account both residents and visitors. Furthermore, an additional 120 on-street parking spaces are available on streets internal to Terrace View that were not factored into calculating the demand of 0.74.

2) We know from the number of parking permits we issue that we have a surplus of approximately 104 parking spaces for residents (not including the 120 on-street parking spaces).

3) The 1.1 parking spaces per bedroom under the zoning of RM48 was conceived before Blacksburg Transit existed, and this requirement is not necessarily relevant to actual parking demand. 

4) We are voluntarily making significant upgrades to the Blacksburg Transit bus shelters and bike racks, as well as the pedestrian walkways.  We know from surveys that approximately 63 percent of our residents prefer to take a bus to campus.

5) There is a tradeoff between parking and amenities/open space.  We could choose to have an unnecessarily high number of parking spaces and pave over all of the grass and tree areas.  However, we would prefer to keep those areas green and improve amenities for residents in those areas.  We believe that providing a disc golf course, community garden, dog park, junior Olympic-sized pool, spa, new gym, grilling areas, basketball courts and a regulation-sized beach volleyball court benefits our Blacksburg residents.

In summary, we have based our plan for this rezoning on research, facts and feedback from our residents, neighbors and town officials. We feel that the amenity improvements to the property enabled by this rezoning benefits residents, guests and neighbors.  Lastly, the plan for infill development is a progressive plan that reduces sprawl and is in line with the goals of the town.

If you are interested in knowing more about the Terrace View rezoning plan, please visit the Planning Commission page on the Town of Blacksburg website.

Sincerely,

Jeff Danford

Terrace View Resident, Project Manager and Owner

A version of this article appeared in the Sep 11 issue of the Collegiate Times.