First & Main A "Sales Pitch"? Or A Real Possibility?

A real possibility, it looks like, particularly after another hearing swings in Fairmount Properties' favor.

From Tonia Moxley and The Roanoke Times:

After more than four hours of legal wrangling and passionate testimony, on a 4-0 vote the Blacksburg Board of Zoning Appeals upheld the town's approval of site plans for a large chunk of the 40-acre First & Main retail project. Building permits for parts of the project have also been approved, and construction has begun on the site. Some stores could open by the fall, Fairmount Properties attorney Jim Cowan has said.

I still contend that the Town and Developer would be better-served to actually sit down together and work things out, instead of costing the TAXPAYERS more money by fighting this out in court.  It doesn't look like all this legal wrangling is doing any good - Fairmount Properties keeps winning every one.  What are we proving by losing every battle?  Buildings are starting to come out of the ground, let's get going (this picture taking on Monday, already much more progress has been done since then.  And my apologies to the red Ford Explorer that had to change lanes as I stopped in the middle of Main Street to get this shot).   Sit down with Fairmount, work out the differences, come to a compromise and move forward.  Because of the tenant mix and notoriety, this affects not only the citizens of Blacksburg but of all of the New River Valley, so do what's right for your community.

Can someone tell me why we should be doing otherwise?  Click on the "Comments" link at the bottom of this post and tell us your thoughts.

Comments

[A Fellow Blacksburg Reader]

I would love to hear this argument as well.

I was born in Radford, lived in Christiansburg briefly and now reside in Blacksburg. I must admit Blacksburg is a LITTLE bit snobby when it comes to how some residents feel the town should be and what the town "needs" so to speak. The town, in my opinion, needs to get over itself. Blacksburg as a whole is so fortunate to have (VT, CRC) what we have here for so many different reasons. We need reasons for folks to come to Blacksburg and want to live and work and call it home. Retail space, restaurants and "new" things are not always bad. They are a much needed in order to keep the locality at it's best as far as appeal and moving forward.


My question would be, how can this Main Street project look any worse than what was sitting there before? A run down convenience store, an empty restaurant space, used car lot with a trailor as an office, plus an interesting "motel to say the least." All of these were just a hodge-podge of buildings that lacked any kind of planning whatsoever. What is going to be built there is a good thing both aesthetically and for the current and future residents of Blacksburg.

I must agree that Christainsburg has let anything go as far as expansion however, there is middle ground between the two localities and their ways of thinking. It's a good thing to pull the reins once and a while but throwing up constant barriers to prevent change in the end doesn't benefit anyone. Maybe someday the residence of Blacksburg will see this and I hope sooner than later so we can work together instead of apart down the road.