The Virginia Municipal League will present Blacksburg officials with two achievement awards at its statewide conference in October.

The Roanoke-Lee Street housing project, a public-private partnership between the town and Community Housing Partners of Christiansburg, includes 14 townhomes for low- to moderate-income households, which low-cost, low-interest mortgages were provided for the properties.

The project was recognized for helping revitalize a deteriorating downtown neighborhood, as well as providing affordable housing, according a town news release.

The town also won the 2007 Virginia Municipal League Communications Award for creating a blog at blacksburg.gov for its Comprehensive Plan revision task force. The plan, which guides the town's development, was recently revised. The blog allowed task force members to work on revisions remotely, and also allowed the public to follow the group's discussions online.

The awards will be presented at the conference in James City County on Oct. 16. VML is a statewide association that provides advocacy and research assistance to town and city governments.

-- Tonia Moxley