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Residents urge council to reject or revise 801 North Main proposal, call for better public engagement
Summary
Multiple speakers used the citizens’ comment period to criticize a proposed eight‑story student-oriented development at 801 North Main Street as too tall, too dense and lacking required commercial space under a 2019 council resolution; several residents also urged the council to expand public outreach and to livestream work sessions.
Several Blacksburg residents used the citizens’ comment period at Tuesday’s council meeting to press elected officials to reject or substantially revise a proposed eight‑story development at 801 North Main Street and to expand the town’s public engagement practices.
Laura Purcell, who lives on Toms Creek Road, said the proposed building is “too tall, too dense, and too disruptive” for the surrounding one- and two‑story neighborhood and argued the proposal conflicts with a 2019 council resolution that discourages prioritizing student housing in a way that removes commercial space. “This proposal says the developer will improve a flood plain that is only under their apartment building with no other improvements to the area,” Purcell said, asking council to vote against the plan in its current form.
Leslie Harwood said the project is “unprecedented in its scale” and criticized its likely rent levels and loss of commercial space. Harwood cited “resolution 2 f 19” from 2019 and told council the developer’s one‑time offer of $1.1 million does not address long‑term housing needs. “With 750 beds at $1,500 each, this developer is set to make over $13,000,000 a year,” Harwood said; the figure was offered as the speaker’s calculation and is reported here as attributed to that speaker.
Other speakers raised related concerns about infrastructure and transit, including a resident who said bus frequency has declined since 2020 and that protected bike lanes and other traffic improvements have not been installed in the neighborhood. Protesters said the project would add nearly 800 residents to a small neighborhood without compensating infrastructure improvements.
Calls for greater council transparency and outreach
Zachary Weiss and other residents criticized the council’s public-engagement methods and urged the town to expand outreach channels. Weiss suggested streaming council work sessions and asked the council to make it easier for residents to provide input through digital forms and more widely advertised drop-in sessions. After public comment, a council member raised the possibility of discussing live-streaming of work sessions at an upcoming work session; council did not vote on that change at the meeting.
Supportive resident perspective
Pete Macedo, a Lee Street resident, praised council members for meeting directly with residents and thanked them for listening to stakeholders on the matter; he said he wanted council to continue soliciting feedback from people who might have something to lose from the development.
Meeting context and next steps
Council did not hold a public hearing on the 801 North Main proposal during this regular meeting; the comments recorded were part of the citizens’ comment period. Residents repeatedly requested that the council and staff provide more accessible opportunities for review and said some neighborhood stakeholders felt under‑engaged during early project outreach. Council members noted the suggestion to discuss live-streaming at a future work session. The council’s next regular meeting and work session dates were announced at adjournment.
