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GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

CHAPTER 3

3 - ECONOMY & EMPLOYMENT

Land Use

Innovation Opportunities

POSITION DOWNTOWN TO WELCOME AND ADAPT TO ECONOMIC GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES

Welcoming and adapting to economic opportunities will be central to Blacksburg’s economic sustainability. Creating opportunities for employers to grow and for new businesses to start up will help the community with attraction and retention efforts, including by welcoming Virginia Tech students to stay in Blacksburg after they graduate or return later in their career. A more robust, diverse, and adaptable economy will also allow the community to be less reliant on the University for its economic strength and resiliency.

Promote complementary development opportunities adjacent to Virginia Tech's Creativity and Innovation District Promote investments that can foster a stronger start-up/ innovation community and grow Blacksburg's knowledge economy jobs Promote needed investments that will help attract and retain employees The development of Virginia Tech’s Creativity and Innovation District (CID) adjacent to Downtown offers a golden opportunity for the town to invest in its start- up and innovation economy. By facilitating housing, retail, and office space development that complements the mission of the CID, as well as serves the need of knowledge economy employers and employees more generally, the town will be able to attract and retain these firms and workers and diversify and strengthen its economy.

Increase Downtown's capacity as a center for economic activity and efficiency of land use by developing centrally-located structured parking As growth comes to Downtown, providing sufficient parking will be an ever-increasing challenge. The development of a large garage Downtown that significantly increases current parking capacity will alleviate demand pressure from Downtown visitors, employees, and residents. Further, centrally locating the garage will improve accessibility, as it will be easier to access most Downtown destinations on foot. Expanding Downtown’s capacity for economic activity will have a positive impact on the neighborhoods surrounding Downtown, by increasing residents’ and visitors’ ability to efficiently access a broad range of amenities and destinations in the center of town.

57 Downtown Blacksburg Strategic Plan