OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Blacksburg Town Council Regular Meeting - February 25, 2025

Town Council — Tuesday, February 25, 2025
BodyBlacksburg, Virginia
SessionTown Council
DateTuesday, February 25, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 46:46

Transcript — Verbatim
0:25

Will the council come to order and will the clerk please call the roll.

0:29

Anderson, present.

0:30

Oliver.

0:32

Absent.

0:33

We'll say absent.

0:35

Ford?

0:36

Here.

0:37

Smith is absent.

0:38

Mattingley?

0:39

Here.

0:39

Set Finn?

0:40

Here.

0:40

Watson.

0:41

Present.

0:42

And Mayor Harry Smith is out of town, so I'll be chairing tonight's meeting.

0:46

We will start tonight with a presentation on the St.

0:48

Luke and Oddfellows Hall.

0:50

We want to say the flight first.

0:53

I think that's the meeting of the month.

0:54

We don't.

0:55

We only do it once a month.

0:56

Or do it on the first month.

0:58

Yep.

0:58

Yep.

1:02

This is technically the continuation of the first meeting.

1:04

That's what I was told at some point.

1:06

So yeah.

1:06

So Carol Davis will have the presentation on the St.

1:09

Luke and Oddfellows Hall.

1:12

Okay, good evening, Council.

1:15

I know I presented this to you at our work session, but I do have a handful of very small updates.

1:22

I'll wait for Councilwoman Calliver to get to her seat.

1:25

You're fine.

1:29

So as you know that this the this is the St.

1:33

Lucan Oddfellows Height site is a building located in the former um African American community of Newtown.

1:41

The first plot of land in that community was purchased by Gilbert Bahn, who had been formerly enslaved in 1874.

1:48

And then the community of Newtown grew up around that over time.

1:52

In 1905, the site was purchased where the St.

1:56

Luke and Oddfellows Hall was construction began that same year on that building.

2:01

And that also starts the period of time that was established by both the state and national historic registration of the period of significance, so 1905 to 1955.

2:14

Here is a map that was created by our town's GIS director in collaboration with some members of the community who are doing volunteer genealical research.

2:43

And then you can see all of the other original new town property owners shown on both sides of that of that older alignment of Gilbert Street.

2:59

And that was again made in collaboration with our our GIS director who who did a lot of work to try to get that overlay properly situated on this modern landscape so people can have a better sense of where that community was.

3:15

So beyond that initial beginning history, um so it was it was in operation as a community center gathering space and the the home of the Order of St.

3:26

Luke and Oddfellows.

3:28

Um after those organizations became defunct in the 1960s, the building was semi-vacant and alternately used for storage and or as a woodworking shop.

3:39

We don't have precise dates for this, but roughly the 1960s to the 1990s.

4:00

Um in the end, because it drew a lot of attention to the building and renewed interest in and how and what it meant to the community historically and and also how to perhaps pr preserve it.

4:12

So again, because the um the Oddfellows who owned the hall was was defunct as an organization, there was not clear ownership of the building.

4:22

And so in order to rectify that the local judge, Montgomery County judge established three trustees who were descended from members of the community who had originally built the hall or who were members of the Oddfellows Hall, um, or Oddfellows order, and so that was Beatrice Walker, uh Walter Lewis, and Aubrey Mills Sr.

4:42

And in fact, two members of our current working group, which I'll talk about in a moment, are direct descendants of these uh trustees.

4:50

So that there's sort of this this through line of of people who have direct relationship to that building.

5:00

Also in this time frame after the building was struck, after the trustees were named, a deed of a deed of gift was drafted with some conditions established for how that how the building would be treated going forward.

5:08

State and national historic designations were both sought and attained.

5:12

And then the building was building and site were donated to the town of Blacksburg via that deed of gift.

5:18

And lastly, a feasibility study for stabilizing and restoring the building was completed.

5:22

And I have links at the bottom here.

5:39

And then so after that was completed, plans were developed to do an initial restoration of the building and reopen it as a museum.

5:48

Here is a picture of Nikki Giovanni at the reopening of the building, reading her poem A Theory of Pole Beans, if you have a chance.

5:56

I suggest you Google it.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Historic Preservation█████████████████████████████████████████████50%
Public Engagement███████████████████████26%
Procedural████████████13%
Housing██████7%
Engineering And Infrastructure████4%
Summary of Proceedings

Blacksburg Town Council Regular Meeting - February 25, 2025

The Blacksburg Town Council held its regular meeting on February 25, 2025, at the Blacksburg Municipal Building. The meeting included a presentation on the St. Luke and Odd Fellows Hall restoration, approval of consent agenda items, public comments regarding a proposed development at 801 North Main Street, an appointment to a regional commission, and discussion of streaming work sessions.

Consent Calendar

  • Town Council Minutes: Approved minutes for January 28, February 4, and February 11, 2025.
  • Downtown Façade Grant Program Guidelines: Approved.
  • Vote: Unanimous approval (7-0) on a roll call vote.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Laura Purcell (826 Toms Creek Road) voiced concerns about the proposed 801 North Main Street development, stating it is too tall, too dense, and too disruptive. She referenced the 2019 Council resolution that prioritized non-student housing, commercial square footage, and sensitivity to adjacent neighborhoods, arguing the proposal violates those principles. She urged Council to vote against it on March 11.
  • Zach Weiss (1003 North Main Street) criticized Council for lack of involvement in town events and suggested streaming work sessions on platforms like Twitch or YouTube to increase public engagement. He also expressed frustration with Council's ability to gather public opinion.
  • Leslie Harwood (1021 Montgomery Street) opposed the 801 North Main Street project, citing its scale, parking issues, and lack of affordable housing (calling it a "cash grab" with rents at $1,500/bedroom). She noted the 2019 resolution requiring significant commercial space and argued the development removes existing commercial space. She urged Council to reconsider.
  • Pete Macedo (502 Lee Street) thanked Council for their responsiveness to his concerns about the 801 N Main project and encouraged continued engagement with stakeholders.

Discussion Items

  • St. Luke and Odd Fellows Hall Presentation: Sustainability Manager Carol Davis provided an update on the restoration and preservation of the historic building, detailing its history, working group findings, structural/electrical/HVAC assessments, community feedback (33 survey responses with strong support), and 28 recommended actions. No formal action was taken; the presentation was informational.
  • Livestreaming Work Sessions: Councilmember Watson suggested beginning a conversation about livestreaming work sessions to increase public participation, noting feedback from citizens. Vice Mayor Sutphin acknowledged the suggestion and indicated it could be discussed at a future work session.

Key Outcomes

  • Consent Agenda: Approved unanimously (7-0).
  • Appointment: Jason Karas was appointed to the Montgomery Regional Economic Development Commission unanimously (7-0).
  • Next Meeting: Work session on March 4, 2025, and regular meeting on March 11, 2025.
  • Council Announcements: Councilmember Anderson promoted Women's Month at Virginia Tech and reminded of citizen alert options. Councilmember Mattingly highlighted the Citizens Institute program. Councilmember Colliver thanked Police and Public Works for storm cleanup and reminded that business licenses were due in March.
  • Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 7:16 p.m.

Meeting Transcript

Will the council come to order and will the clerk please call the roll. Anderson, present. Oliver. Absent. We'll say absent. Ford? Here. Smith is absent. Mattingley? Here. Set Finn? Here. Watson. Present. And Mayor Harry Smith is out of town, so I'll be chairing tonight's meeting. We will start tonight with a presentation on the St. Luke and Oddfellows Hall. We want to say the flight first. I think that's the meeting of the month. We don't. We only do it once a month. Or do it on the first month. Yep. Yep. This is technically the continuation of the first meeting. That's what I was told at some point. So yeah. So Carol Davis will have the presentation on the St. Luke and Oddfellows Hall. Okay, good evening, Council. I know I presented this to you at our work session, but I do have a handful of very small updates. I'll wait for Councilwoman Calliver to get to her seat. You're fine. So as you know that this the this is the St. Lucan Oddfellows Height site is a building located in the former um African American community of Newtown. The first plot of land in that community was purchased by Gilbert Bahn, who had been formerly enslaved in 1874. And then the community of Newtown grew up around that over time. In 1905, the site was purchased where the St. Luke and Oddfellows Hall was construction began that same year on that building. And that also starts the period of time that was established by both the state and national historic registration of the period of significance, so 1905 to 1955. Here is a map that was created by our town's GIS director in collaboration with some members of the community who are doing volunteer genealical research. And then you can see all of the other original new town property owners shown on both sides of that of that older alignment of Gilbert Street. And that was again made in collaboration with our our GIS director who who did a lot of work to try to get that overlay properly situated on this modern landscape so people can have a better sense of where that community was. So beyond that initial beginning history, um so it was it was in operation as a community center gathering space and the the home of the Order of St. Luke and Oddfellows. Um after those organizations became defunct in the 1960s, the building was semi-vacant and alternately used for storage and or as a woodworking shop. We don't have precise dates for this, but roughly the 1960s to the 1990s. Um in the end, because it drew a lot of attention to the building and renewed interest in and how and what it meant to the community historically and and also how to perhaps pr preserve it. So again, because the um the Oddfellows who owned the hall was was defunct as an organization, there was not clear ownership of the building. And so in order to rectify that the local judge, Montgomery County judge established three trustees who were descended from members of the community who had originally built the hall or who were members of the Oddfellows Hall, um, or Oddfellows order, and so that was Beatrice Walker, uh Walter Lewis, and Aubrey Mills Sr.

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