Angelica Ramos
Contributing Writer
CHRISTIANSBURG- The Christiansburg Town Council held a public hearing on June 25, 2024 regarding subdivisions of property to align with the Code of Virginia.
According to a staff report provided by the Planning Commission, a request was made in 2023 to amend a Chapter 40 of the town code regarding subdivision of lots. The staff report claims that the amendment aims to “streamline the approval process” and align the code with current Code of Virginia standards.
The amendment, according to the ordinance, now defines ‘plat’ as “a schematic representation of land which is to be or which has been divided.”
The amendment also states, “The town council may appoint an agent to administer this chapter. The agent shall review subdivision plats as described in this section Final approval of disapproval shall be made by the town council through the agent of the planning commission, unless otherwise stated in this chapter. The agent or planning commission may approve lot line revisions, lot line vacations, and accept on the behalf of the town publicly dedicated easements including, but not limited to, utility, access, and drainage easements.”
According to the presentation given to town council, the agent appointed can approve subdivisions up to ten lots and approve lot line adjustments. This also allows the planning commission to potentially approve preliminary subdivisions up to 49 lots and approve public rights-of-way. The presentation also stated that the town council would be able to approve streets less than 50 feet in width, all new one-way streets, and may require subdividers of residential lots to set aside land for public or semipublic use like parks. The idea behind the amendment is to help make it more efficient for the town to approve or disapprove subdivision of land.
Council Member Kim Bowman spoke to some citizen concerns regarding the amendment and what that would mean. She said she will not be voting to approve this amendment.
“Some of them have said,” Bowman said, “that they don’t want, first of all, the elected officials giving over the power that they appointed you [the town council] to. Some of them have said they’ve had trouble in other areas and they don’t want power going to one person if that person does not favor them for any reason.”
Christiansburg Town Council is scheduled to vote on this amendment July 11, 2024.