The Town of Blacksburg recently received two 2007 Virginia Municipal League (VML) Awards. Blacksburg won a VML Achievement Award for the Roanoke-Lee Street Housing Project and a VML Communications Award for the Blacksburg 2046 Comprehensive Plan Blog.

Virginia Municipal League Achievement Awards are competitive benchmarks for communities seeking local government excellence. The competition is conducted
annually to encourage and recognize such excellence and innovation in Virginia local government. It includes five categories based on population so that local governments compete with other local government of comparable size.

The success of the 2006 update of Blacksburg 2046 was accomplished through the efforts of the Blackburg’s Comprehensive Plan Task Force utilizing the Comprehensive Plan Blog.

Task Force members were attuned to the importance of conducting an open process to allow citizen participation at all times and in an environmentally friendly manner. These two concerns resulted in the Task Force’s weekly Thursday meetings being made open to the public with meeting agendas, minutes, and other pertinent information posted to the town’s Web site. Meetings were videotaped for rebroadcast on WTOB, the town’s community television station and through WTOB’s online video, allowing citizens to watch meetings at their convenience. Information was distributed through e-mail to help reduce the number
of copies made.

In addition to the Task Force’s weekly meetings, the Blog allowed members to meet electronically via the Internet. The Blacksburg Electronic Village, an outreach project of Virginia Tech that serves the local community, created and maintains the Task Force Blog.

VML judges said of the blog: “The Town of Blacksburg, through the use of its Comprehensive Plan Task Force Blog, provides a great example of how to utilize technology and community partners, including the Blacksburg Electronic Village, to streamline large projects. As most governmental projects, this one involved many people and was subject to public input, as it should be. The use of a blog was forward thinking, cost-efficient, and a great way to ensure that all task members worked on the most current versions of the plan.”

As for the Roanoke-Lee Street Housing Program, in early 2004, the Town of Blacksburg partnered with Community Housing Partners Corporation to purchase
several vacant parcels in the neglected Roanoke-Lee Street Neighborhood. This was an area of town that desperately needed a facelift. This neighborhood contains many neglected rental properties as well as some owner-occupied homes whose residents are unable to pay for needed renovations. By purchasing these vacant parcels, the Town of Blacksburg committed to improving the community by promoting cohesive and friendly neighborhoods.

Construction on 14 low- to moderate- income units began in October of 2005 following a groundbreaking ceremony.

VML judges said: “Recognizing the serious problem of rapidly inflated housing costs in Blacksburg, town leaders devised a creative means of rejuvenating a neglected neighborhood, while constructing 14 new, affordable, energy-efficient housing units. The town partnered with the Community Housing Partner’s Corp. and, utilizing Community Development Block Grant funds, purchased several vacant lots and undertook a major project to strengthen the entire neighborhood—not merely through building new structures.”

The awards will be presented at the 102nd Annual VML Conference in James City County on Oct. 16, 2007.

The Virginia Municipal League is a statewide, nonprofit, nonpartisan association of city, town and county governments established in 1905 to improve and assist local governments through legislative advocacy, research, education and other services. The membership includes 39 cities, 157 towns and 12 counties.