1990 Comprehensive Plan

HOUSING

Shelter is a basic human need. The supply of housing in the county is distributed among approximately 14,400 single-family homes, 10,700 multifamily unites, and 4,100 manufactured mobile units. The promotion of economic activities carries with it the responsibility to provide adequate housing for all country residents. Goals, policies and strategies to achieve this result include:

GOAL HO 1.0.0

Promote affordable housing for all income levels.

POLICY HO 1.1.0

Extend public water and sewer to underdeveloped areas of the County where the Comprehensive Plan wishes to encourage residential development. Public water and sewer is more economical per lot to provide than individual wells and septic systems and allows for more efficient use of the land resource. (See also WS 1.1.0 and WS 1.3.0).

STRATEGY HO 1.1.1

Work with developers who wish to construct water and sewer systems and turn them over to the County for ownership and maintenance. County assists developers in the acquisition of necessary utility and drainage easements for these systems.

POLICY HO 1.2.0

Accept community well systems for ownership and maintenance in subdivisions that are large enough for the system to be economically feasible and that have suitable soils for individual septic tank-drainfield systems. Community well systems allow for more efficient use of the land resource and enhance aquifer protection by reducing the number o f aquifer punctures.

STRATEGY HO 1.2.1

Design community well/water main systems to tie into the future expansions of public water systems anticipated in the "County-wide Study of Water and Wastewater Facilities" (1986).

STRATEGY HO 1.2.2

Work closely with State Health Department in order to anticipate new EPA mandated testing requirements that may limit the economic feasibility of community well systems.

POLICY HO 1.3.0

Promote the use of VDOT subdivision street requirements. Excess pavement widths and the use of curb and gutters increase costs as well as stormwater runoff concentration.

POLICY HO 1.4.0

Participate in non-profit, public and private efforts to use grants and loans to provide safe, decent and affordable housing within the New River Valley.

STRATEGY HO 1.4.1

Consider programs that have worked in other communities include sweat equity housing, housing trust funds/linkage programs, community loan funds/revolving loan funds, shared equity financing and home-ownership counseling.

STRATEGY HO 1.4.2

Encourage non-profit, public and private efforts to use innovative design techniques such as cluster development (HO 3.1.0) and planned unit developments (HO 3.2.0).

Work to upgrade or replace substandard housing from the region’s housing stock. Some states define the homeless to include persons living in substandard housing.

POLICY HO 2.1.0

Work to increase the supply of affordable housing in order to reduce the use of substandard housing, as housing of last resort.

STRATEGY HO 2.1.1 (See HO 1.4.0)

Participate in non-profit, public and private efforts to use grants and loans to provide new housing and to upgrade existing substandard housing.

POLICY HO 2.2.0

Study the need to regulate and inspect existing housing, especially rental unites, in order to upgrade or replace unsafe housing units. This may lead to the adoption of a housing maintenance code and the need for an additional building inspector.

STRATEGY HO 2.2.1

Study the need to implement minimum standards for existing, non-conforming mobile home parks that predate the adoption of the County’s PMR (Planned Mobile Home Residential) Zoning District in 1973.

POLICY HO 2.3.0

Work with developers whose projects will eliminate existing, low-income housing in order to provide new, affordable housing either as part of the residential mix in their own projects or elsewhere in the community.

Encourage innovative design techniques that lead to wise use of the land and a reduction in site development costs.

POLICY HO 3.1.0

The County, Blacksburg and Christiansburg should provide in their ordinances for more extensive use of cluster development, a development approach in which building lots may be reduced in size and buildings sited closer together, usually in groups or clusters, provided that the total development density does not exceed that which could be constructed on the site under conventional zoning and subdivision regulations. The additional land that remains undeveloped is then preserved as open space and recreational land. Ordinances should provide flexibility in the implementation of cluster development standards.

POLICY HO 3.2.0

The County, Blacksburg and Christiansburg should provide in their ordinances for Planned Unit Developments (PUD). A PUD is a land development project which is planned as an entity, grouping dwelling units into clusters, allowing an appreciable amount of land for open space, mixing housing types and land uses, and preserving useful natural features. Ordinances should provide flexibility in the implementation of PUD standards.

POLICY HO 3.3.0

Encourage the design of local streets as cul-de-sacs and loop streets to eliminate through traffic and promote sub-neighborhood interaction. Local streets designed on a grid pattern inevitably suffer from traffic, noise and safety problems.

POLICY HO 3.4.0

Inform and educate county landowners and residents on the applicability and benefits of innovative design techniques.

Encourage residential development on marginal agricultural and forest lands.

POLICY HO 4.1.0

Promote the use of innovative technology for the disposal of domestic wastewater.

POLICY HO 4.2.0

Allow flexibility in street grades such as those provided in VDOT subdivision street requirements that will enable hillside development. However, ridgeline areas and scenic vistas should be preserved. (See also EN 2.4.0 and HO 5.3.0)

Discourage negative development practices that lead to future problems for both homeowners and the County.

POLICY HO 5.1.0

Discourage "linear subdivisions" formed by chopping off continuous lots along a secondary road. Linear subdivisions limit the usefulness of land located behind the row of lots and create a traffic safety problem due to multiple driveways.

STRATEGY HO 5.1.1

Increase the minimum lot size that "escapes" the requirements of the County Subdivision Ordinance (Present minimum is 5 acres).

STRATEGY HO 5.1.2

Encourage landowners to take advantage of conservation easements and land trusts in order that development can be concentrated and the balance of the land retained in open space. (See EN 5.1.0)

POLICY HO 5.2.0

Require additional setbacks along roads that will have significant increases in traffic flow in the future especially roads that will be upgraded from 2-lanes to 4-lanes. Such setbacks will aid in buffering residential uses from traffic noise and pollution.

STRATEGY HO 5.2.1

Consider relating setback requirements to the County road classification system developed under TR 1.1.0.

POLICY HO 5.3.0

Identify and delineate areas of environmental sensitivity such as:

• Karst terrain
• Unstable slopes
• Unstable soils (high shrink-swell potential)
• Ridgeline areas and scenic vistas
• Habitat for endangered species
• Important fossil beds,

(in order to discourage harmful development practices). (See also EN 2.4.0)

STRATEGY HO 5.3.1

Publicize in advance the scheduled Planning Commission review of subdivision plats.

POLICY HO 5.4.0

Study increasing the minimum lot size for properties served by individual wells and septic systems in order to protect the public health.