Staunton: Business owners share concerns about proposed downtown project

The City of Staunton has launched a month-long demonstration project in Downtown Staunton to give residents and business owners a look and feel for an idea percolating in City Hall to expand pedestrian space in the central business district.

Conversation online about the idea is trending in the thumbs-down direction.

“I’m very opposed, especially since we’re one of the businesses stuck in the loading zone,” said Heather Neff DeBoe, the owner of The Sparrow’s Nest and The Ruffled Feather Candle Co., which are located on East Beverley Street.

“The drivers we spoke to said it would be a disaster. One even said he will refuse to be a sub for the route,” DeBoe wrote in a comment on a post on the demonstration project in the Staunton VA Facebook group dated June 1.

That post has generated, at this writing, 240 comments – running, and I’m guesstimating here, about 70-30 opposed to the project, which the city, in a press release that went out today, touted as “community-focused amenities, including benches, planters with shrubs and flowers, bike racks, and artificial turf,” with each block downtown including “a 60-foot delivery zone at the middle of the block.”

The demonstration project is related to upcoming permanent infrastructure work that the city has in the works to get under way in the fall of 2027 that will upgrade nine downtown intersections, including six along Beverley Street, with new pedestrian signals, high-visibility crosswalks and new ADA-compliant ramps.

The city press release relates that the downtown district’s topography and limited right-of-way is forcing the new ADA ramps to be built on curb extensions that will narrow Beverley Street down to a single travel lane at the intersections, which, the city says, will shorten pedestrian crossing distances and improve visibility.

 

The PR from the city goes on to say that this work “naturally creates an opportunity to look at the space between” the intersections, and emphasizes that “any permanent implementation of the month-long demonstration is unfunded and not planned at this time. Instead, it is designed to help the community visualize and reimagine how the right-hand travel lane could possibly be utilized in the long-term future.”

“We are excited about the creativity of this project, but we also want to be highly responsive to our downtown community,” Staunton Transportation Planner Susan Wilson said, per the release from the city. “Before launching, we heard from 426 community members who expressed a strong desire for more seating and greenery. At the same time, some downtown businesses voiced concerns regarding how a single-lane configuration impacts daily deliveries and loading zones. This 30-day demonstration allows us to test these changes in real time, monitor those exact issues, and adjust any future planning accordingly.”

We’re only a few days into the demonstration, so, who knows, maybe it will grow on business owners downtown over the course of the month.

The early response, as I mentioned above, not positive.

“We have been in business downtown for 24 years. This is the worst thing they could ever do,” said Christian Vames, the owner of Frontline Model Kits & Hobbies, which is located on West Beverley Street, in a post to the Facebook group.

“As a business that’s gets 53-foot truck deliveries, it will not work. Many other businesses owners that have been down here over a decade feel the same way,” Vames said.

I did see one supportive comment from a downtown business owner, Holly Hillman at Billy Opal on East Beverley Street, who wrote that she “would love both sides of the streets closed seven days a week.”

“I asked all our delivery drivers, and they said they wouldn’t have a problem,” Hillman wrote in the Facebook group. “It’s great for business and setting the tone downtown for people to come hang out more.”

According to the city press release, the temporary setup will remain in place through the end of June, and signs featuring QR codes are posted throughout the two-block demonstration area, linking visitors directly to an online survey.

Community members can also access the survey and find detailed project background by visiting bit.ly/StauntonBeverleyDemo.