BLACKSBURG -- Today the public will get its first look at concept plans for a 29-acre, affordable housing project being considered for land on Harding Avenue, just outside of the town boundary.

Christiansburg development company Community Housing Partners will host a meeting at 6 p.m. at Harding Avenue Elementary School, 429 Harding Ave. in Blacksburg, to introduce neighbors to the proposed project, which could provide environmentally sustainable and affordable housing to residents of Blacksburg and Montgomery County.

Some neighbors of the project have expressed concern about potential traffic congestion and other infrastructure demands that the project would require. Officials have said that the town, through its bus system and other services, probably could mitigate most of those concerns.

The Blacksburg Town Council directed town staff this week to begin the process of a friendly boundary adjustment with the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors.

For the project to go forward, the property must be brought into the town limits through a boundary adjustment, a legal process that requires public input and cooperation from the supervisors and the signature of a Montgomery County judge.

The council would then likely rezone the property through its normal public hearing process. That makes today's meeting the first in series of public input sessions to be held on the plan.

Community Housing Partners is set to purchase the land in November, and the company has commissioned a traffic study to determine if the project would burden local roads, said President Janaka Casper.

If it's built, the new subdivision would be a joint project between Community Housing Partners and Blacksburg's Housing and Neighborhood Services office, and would provide housing for families living on 80 percent or less of the median income. In Blacksburg, a family of four living on $49,300 or less could qualify.

Some of the town's federal affordable housing funds would help subsidize the project.

The preliminary concept would build various types and sizes of certified "green" housing on the property, and use the latest in technology to reduce storm water runoff and mitigate other environmental issues, officials said.

Community Housing Partners is a nonprofit developer of affordable housing projects in Virginia and other states. The company, in partnership with Blacksburg's housing office, built 14 affordable housing units last year near downtown Blacksburg that have won national awards for environmental stewardship and affordability.

The housing office administers the town's Community Development Block Grant and Virginia Housing Opportunities Made Equal funds, both of which are used to help fund housing projects and services for low- to moderate-income residents.