The Roanoke Times had a Q & A in last Sunday’s NRV Current with Blacksburg Mayor Ron Rordam, and the link is here.  If you didn’t read the piece, here are some of the highlights (bolding mine):

Q: There is a perception in the town that smart growth in Blacksburg actually means no growth in Blacksburg.  How do you respond to that perception?

A:  I disagree with it.  There’s so many different definitions of smart growth. … I would like to maybe just throw that whole concept, or the word smart growth, out and let’s talk about sustainable growth.  And that’s using current infrastructure – that includes roads, water, sewer – and how do we look at focusing that development within that set of criteria that we’re mostly utilizing what we have as opposed to throwing that away and building something new. … I think Blacksburg, if you just look at what we have done over the last three or four years, I don’t think you can say at all that we’re a no-growth community.  There’s realization that we’re going to grow, so how do we do it in the way that’s best for Blacksburg?  (This will require a reexamination of our current building requirements, and an overhaul of what is now seems to be a fluid and changing building environment.)

Q: During the recent election campaign, some candidates talked about the First & Main center and their concerns that without a big anchor store to draw shoppers to that center it may not succeed. What do you think the council should do to ensure and encourage the success of First & Main?

A:  I think now that the election is over it’s time for the Blacksburg Town Council and the owners and developers of First & Main to sit down and talk in an open public session. (Great idea, long overdue – and a public forum should be mandatory, there’s too much suspicion and secrecy surrounding both council and the development.)

I think that their views and what they feel like they need, they need to present to town council. I think some of maybe our [council’s] views and concerns and questions need to be presented and we need to move forward from there. There certainly are things that I think they would have liked to have seen happen, like the theater, that have not happened … that could be built at any time. That’s also part of the economy. Arby’s has not been built. That’s part of the economy. That’s not something that our rules and regulations have stymied.  (Is it possible that the rules, and the implementation of those rules, have kept many retailers out of the development?  I’d bet so.)

At the same time, I think that we can help and we need to have that dialogue because it’s so important for that gateway into town to be successful.

You can read the whole text of the interview on Roanoke.com.  But let’s be honest – for all of it’s charm, Blacksburg’s murky and fluid rules regarding development have kept many projects out of the area, and forced others to the sidelines.   Planning is crucial – no one’s arguing that.  So is consistency.