The Future of Country Club Drive

The by-right density by the developer makes good use of the property. However the requested density is just too much and ends up with a very unattractive building towering over the main entrance to our town.

The traffic flow on Country Club needs to be considered and improvements made from Palmer to Main Street to accommodate not only a downsized project but future traffic resulting from the development of Midtown and the flow of traffic onto Palmer and Country Club.

This would be a nightmare regarding traffic flow and we worry about the children/pedestrians walking with no sidewalk!!

As a long-time resident of Blacksburg (c. 1966 ff), particularly from the Forest Hills, Grissom, and Highland Park area, this project does not fit the character and function of this neighborhood. It appears to be way too close to the road for a development that likely will be housing families with children. Think about the traffic, the stoplights, the children, tricycles, dogs, wind-blown debris, parties - it seems like there will not be enough psychological and emotional space for large numbers of people to move about - driving, playing, simply existing. This comment has nothing to do with the development's intended target of 'low-income' residents, but my fear is that such a densely developed property in such a crowded, commercial area gives the project a 'ghetto-like' feel. Surely, there is another 2-acre parcel in town near public transportation, shopping, work centers that has more open space or less 'urban or 'city' feel to it. Please don't make this corner of Blacksburg look like a city - there's enough of that happening downtown, which is fine. Please preserve the 'sub'-urban feel of this part of Blacksburg. I don't think the community is ready for the visual, cultural, and psychological transition to a Northern Virginia cityscape. Where is the Town Council leading Blacksburg? Already, there is over-crowding and congestion centered along Main Street, with more development threatening to overwhelm the traffic system. A decentralized, more spread-out development will help preserve the relaxed, "small town" ambiance of my favorite hometown for generations to come. Alternatively, the space behind South Main Kroger would be a much more fitting place to spread out a large building such as this one, with room to breathe and move. Please go back to the drawing board in this project, worthy as it is in its intended target population. It does not belong in this particular space - no!

Town Council, please listen to your constituents. Your tax payers.

This proposal should be denied. The building will be too dense and too tall for this location and this lot.

Please do not alter the character of this neighborhood by adding a very high-density rental property such as this.

That whole property needs to be the waiting line for Cookout

The town cannot afford this project as presented. It is much too large and will create safety issues for pedestrians, bike riders and residents along an already unsafe Country Club drive

I agree with the existing comments, "Street with minimal setbacks. The current proposal is too dense, too tall, does not adequately address unsafe conditions for pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles and is not compatible with surrounding neighborhoods."

Too Tall. Too Dense. Stick with the original zoning.

This project is too dense for the location. The zoning should remain at its current density. I regularly drive this interest to and from Beeks and it is already dangerous for pedestrians and bicyclists

Too tall, too dense.

The influx of investment via rental properties has been continually inflating housing affordability. While this is great for current home owners, it also renders most residents of Blacksburg, even those affiliated with Virginia Tech, unable to purchase long-term residence. A stand must be taken to limit the number of land and housing under rental company control.

I moved to this town, because it wasn’t too dense. I didn’t know it was a plan to override the zoning.

I am entirely in support of affordable housing, but my major concern is the projected entrance/exit from the parking lot. I drive Country Club daily and the Main Street stoplight is typically congested - the road there is also quite narrow. The parking lot entrance would create significant traffic problems from either direction, with a high likelihood for accidents. The height of the building will make it one of the tallest structures on South Main Street.

As a resident of a well-built CHP single-family home, I am very disappointed in this proposal. The aesthetic attributes of this unit do closely match those of many prisons. When I first heard of this proposal (before the proposed elevations were available) I thought it would be a good idea. After seeing the proposal's lack of setback from Main St. and finding out that these will just be more rental units, I am opposed as presented. CHP has a number of rental units near my home that are a more appropriate and attractive density, if the numbers "don't work" for them to do a new project, then perhaps the problem lies in CHP itself. Building so close to the road will not improve living conditions of lower-income people. I also believe we have an extreme dearth of affordable housing available to purchase. These rentals do not help with the lack of affordable homes that can help build wealth equity for lower-income owners, and without that, we are just creating more opportunities for large companies to make disproportionate levels of profit off the poorest members of our society. When building affordable housing to help members of our community, the profits of a corporation should not be prioritized.

The idea is great but not the location. Too dense for that area!

It would be a traffic nightmare. If Blacksburg town council and the developers want Blacksburg to look like congested northern Virginia, then this would be the project.

I am all for the need for lower income housing in Blacksburg, and support extra consideration of this request as it for a good cause, but the requested overage in housing spaces (bedrooms) is so far above the zoning "law" in its present form that this is a trashing and rewrite of master plan not a simple exception to it. Get the numbers more in line so a generous allowance can be made - not an outright gift.