Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, April 7, 1990                   TAG: 9004070433
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

NORTH MAIN STREET PLAN PROPOSED

The task force invites feedback from citizens at a public meeting in the first floor conference room of the Municipal Building on Monday night at 7.

"We want some community response to make sure we're on the right track," said Carol Bousquet, senior planner with the town who has guided the task force through its study. "There may be issues we've overlooked."

Council member Joyce Lewis, Planning Commission members John Novak and Ray Chisholm, and four North Main Street area residents are on the task force.

Bousquet said the group would incorporate public comments into its recommendations. The report would then go through the Town Council and Planning Commission and ultimately be appended to Blacksburg's Comprehensive Plan, likely before the end of the year, she said.

North Main Street has been a major road connecting Blacksburg and Giles County since 1830. The town acquired sections of the road up to the current boundary at the U.S. 460 bypass in four separate annexations.

The latest annexation, in 1973, took in a good deal of undeveloped land, prompting town officials to undertake comprehensive plans for growth rather than let the area develop piecemeal.

The group studied a 2,250-foot-wide corridor along North Main Street from Prices Fork Road to the bypass junction, which includes 700 acres or a sixth of Blacksburg's land area.

Multifamily developments and single-family homes are in the corridor, along with roughly 40 businesses, three industries, several public facilities and patches of vacant or agricultural land.

The task force found that the road could handle traffic in the near future, but recommends four-laning as soon as feasible.

It also found that water and sewer capacity was sufficient, but suggested a regional system would be more cost effective.

In commercially zoned areas, the task force was concerned about variations in old and new development styles, too many "unattractive and uninformative" signs and too many driveways.

Among the task force's suggestions are to:

Reduce the number of commercial driveways and prohibit any more residential driveways on North Main Street.

Prohibit commercial or industrial rezoning requests in the corridor north of Giles Road.

Build more sidewalks, bikeways and parks, and extend transit service to all new residential developments and the existing Woodbine development.

Prohibit high-density residential land uses to keep traffic to a minimum.

Allow only two more intersections at the planned Progress Street extension and at the suggested realignment of Bishop Road.

Consider establishing a site improvement program for existing buildings along North Main Street.