Sunday, September 24, 2006
Redeveloping downtown Christiansburg
Christian Trejbal
Recent columns
- The Black House won't restore itself
- When dogs attack goats, taxpayers pay
- Keeping e-mail private
- Protect your head in a moped crash
From the RoundTable blog
After I left Tuesday's Christiansburg Town Council meeting, I wandered West Main Street in the post-sunset glow. There wasn't much going on. Closed stores. A closed coffee shop. Restaurant and bar staff awaiting customers.
It was not a vibrant downtown scene.
The town council and staff envision something more, but they will need the public's help to make it happen.
At Tuesday's meeting, the council approved new parking rules. Surprisingly, no one showed up to comment on the proposal, and the council had no discussion before passing it almost as an afterthought.
The obvious news is that parking fines are increasing. People will no longer be able to park wherever they want with only a $2 fine threatening them if they are caught. The new fine will be a whopping $10 and another $10 if not paid within 10 days. That is still small disincentive, but it packs more punch than it used to. Repeat offenders ticketed three times in a week will pay $100.
Your thoughts
- Post to the message board
- Agree or disagree? Take the poll
The new fines will apply more broadly, too. Fire lanes, yellow-striped curbs, the wrong side of the street and others are all off limits. State law had already prohibited parking there, but a local ordinance allows the town to levy its own fine.
It might seem counterintuitive to think that tougher parking penalties will boost downtown traffic, but the move is part of a larger effort.
A decade ago, Christiansburg realized that its downtown was not meeting its full potential. It was probably a good hint when, in 1990, ABC's "Primetime Live" held up Christiansburg as an example of a town losing its character.
Town officials spent years shaping and arranging funding for redevelopment. Finally, all of the pieces are in place, and the town's unique character might once again emerge. It might differ from the lost charater of the 1980s, but it will be something distinctly Christiansburg.
To start, the parking meters will go. There will be no more hassle of searching under the seat for a quarter to feed the metal beast. Lost revenue will be negligible.
The more important move is a large-scale aesthetic investment in the central blocks. Following the recent utility upgrades, the streets and sidewalks are scabbed with concrete and asphalt.
One million dollars of Virginia Department of Transportation funding and $500,000 from the town will heal them, buying a makeover from the town square to Phlegar Street, which is near Burger King.
There will be wider sidewalks, new crosswalks and bump outs to slow traffic and make crossing the street safer. Main Street will be repaved. New, smaller streetlights will provide evening illumination, and eventually benches will offer convenient places to rest.
The old Bradford pear trees will go too. They are a longtime source of irritation for businesses whose storefronts they obscure. Trident maples and Chinese elms will replace them.
In about a year, when this phase of redevelopment is complete, an attractive, pedestrian-friendly downtown should emerge. The potential has always been there; it merely took civic commitment and financial investment to bring it out.
But what then? A redeveloped downtown does not ensure economic and cultural vitality. It only creates an environment in which it can occur.
Christiansburg should not and probably cannot become another Blacksburg. That downtown caters to a largely university clientele. The people in the town to the south are different, more adult.
Yet adults like to go out too. They just need somewhere to go, and that is what downtown Christiansburg lacks.
It's a vicious circle. The bars, restaurants, coffee shops and stores that would draw foot traffic will not locate in the core or stay open late unless the people are there. Shoppers and diners will not show up for darkened storefronts.
Town government is doing all it can to break that cycle, but ultimately it is up to residents. If they want a vibrant city core, a place that sparkles with life and entertainment, they must make it happen by patronizing what limited businesses are now open. When enough people are roaming the streets in the evening, at lunch and on the weekends, more will follow.
The alternative is a beautiful downtown with new trees and wide sidewalks that empties at the close of business, seeing only the people who show up for church on Sunday.
When potential employers look here, that is the last thing they want to see. They seek places where their employees can live richer lives.
The big-box stores, strip malls and chain restaurants that line the north and south ends of town provide shopping opportunities galore. If Christiansburg residents find such hollow, characterless consumerism satisfactory, then the town will have wasted $1.5 million on redevelopment.
I suspect, however, that many now head to Blacksburg or Roanoke to find something stimulating and unique. They could have that closer to home, if they build on the town's redevelopment work.
Christian Trejbal is an editorial writer for The Roanoke Times based in the New River Valley bureau in Christiansburg.
