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ANALYSIS : AFRAMEWORK FORDOWNTOWNBLACKSBURG

CHAPTER 2

A FRAMEWORK FOR DOWNTOWN

commuter traffic into the employment centers in and near Downtown. Further, many areas close to Downtown have turned from mostly owner- occupied to mostly student renter-occupied, impacting the character of these neighborhoods. This situation will only be exacerbated if growth and town identity are not brought into balance. Downtown Today, Downtown is Blacksburg’s employment, commercial, and cultural center. A number of key investments have been made in the street environment and public realm to support this important position. However, the prominence of student residents, volume of daily traffic, and lack of adequate affordable residential and commercial space have limited the capacity of Downtown to address future town issues relating to growth, town identity, and cost of housing. The center of a community needs to be a place with the most capacity to adapt to change, not the least. Yet, today, well- intentioned efforts to moderate student influence and maintain town character have limited even desirable types of growth. In order to create a vibrant Downtown of the future, the elements of growth, town identity, and cost of housing will have to be brought into balance. Additionally, issues of access, walkability, and livability are critical to consider and will involve both public and private investments in infrastructure and open spaces. The remainder of this chapter will provide an analysis of these forces and issues in greater detail, revealing the opportunities for targeted actions to put Downtown on a successful, sustainable path to the future.

Town Identity There are many facets to Blacksburg’s unique identity. One is its close-knit community feel. Another is its remote location and proximity to nature. A third is its history, embodied in key public buildings such as the Alexander Black House, Old Town Hall, and St. Luke and Odd Fellows Hall, in the street grid of the town’s original 16 blocks, and in many of its well- maintained older homes. These characteristics help draw people to Blacksburg and keep them in town, and it is important that they be celebrated and given visibility. However, as in the case of new development, it is critical that the town preserve these characteristics strategically and in a targeted way. Too great an emphasis on maintaining Blacksburg “as it has always been” will stunt its ability to adapt to growth, moderate rental rates, and realize its economic opportunities. A major concern for Blacksburg in recent years has been the cost of housing in town— specifically, the cost (and supply) of housing options for non-student residents. The combined pressures of high demand from the student population for rental housing, competition from people purchasing properties as an investment, and the community’s hesitancy to allow denser residential development in town have driven up the price of housing to levels unaffordable to most working and professional families, particularly close to Downtown. As a result, many people who work in Blacksburg—including many who work at Virginia Tech—have had to look for housing on the outskirts of town or in other communities. This in turn has led to heavy Cost of Housing

Growth Blacksburg is growing, and will continue to grow in the years ahead. Virginia Tech is expanding their student enrollment and adding faculty and staff. State projections estimate that job growth will occur outside the university as well. In particular, the future development of the Creativity and Innovation District (CID), combined with continued expansion at the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center, should attract new companies to start up or relocate to Blacksburg, bringing additional workforce to the community. This growth is a great opportunity for Blacksburg to diversify and expand its economy, capitalizing on the talented workforce graduating from Virginia Tech each year. However, if the town does not prepare to thoughtfully integrate this growth by facilitating needed residential and commercial space development in strategic locations, it will quickly have the effect of either driving up rental rates to unaffordable levels or overpowering the town’s unique architectural and public realm characteristics. detrimental to the other two. This plan aims to align these factors, strategically forming a strong foundation for Downtown’s future. The future of Downtown Blacksburg will depend on three important factors— growth, town identity, and the cost and availability of housing. The key is balance; overemphasis on any one will be

25 Downtown Blacksburg Strategic Plan