By STEPHANIE A. JAMES
Staff Writer
Could Downtown Pamplin have more visitors?
Well it could be possible after adding signs leading to Main Street and making other changes.
Drawings reflecting possible changes that aim to make a difference in the make-up of the entryways to downtown will be presented next Tuesday, Jan. 29, at 6 p.m. at the Pamplin Depot located 115 Main St. There will be light refreshments served at the meeting, which is open to the public.
Elizabeth Gilboy, director of the Virginia Tech Design Assistance Center, and other representatives, will present on Tuesday ideas for signs that will direct people into the town.
Gilboy particularly noted that in order to get into Main Street people need to make a sharp left turn.
Signage and other ideas will be presented at a meeting.
“We tried to reflect the character of Downtown Pamplin,” said Gilboy,
Tuesday’s presentation is a follow-up to previous meeting held last January where those in attendance provided their ideas on scenery and other suggestions that encourage growth to revive Main Street.
Gilboy expects Tuesday’s meeting to last an hour with the presentation being about 30 minutes and the second half of the meeting for questions.
One of the last places that the Center did such entryway design work was Chatham.
Gilboy said that with some places they keep in touch and some report that they have implemented some of the changes.
“It would be great to stay in touch with Pamplin,” said Gilboy.
Gilboy said that they like to hear success stories from communities that they have done work for.
The Center typical posts success stories in their newsletter and on their Facebook page.
In January 2012, Virginia Tech’s Community Design Assistance Center representatives solicited input on ideas that would encourage growth on Main Street.
Presently, Main Street has minimal business and features only the Pamplin Depot, a wood yard, a seasonal antique store and vacant storefront buildings.
At that earlier meeting, among ideas voiced citizens stated that they would like to have a train station and assisted living facility on Main Street. In addition scenery ideas included landscaping the area with dogwood trees and butterfly scapes.
In the summer of 2011, through a partnership with the Virginia Department of Forestry, the Design Center offered a Virginia Department of Forestry’s Urban and Community Forestry $5,000 matching grant to develop a conceptual design for each of the two entrance areas into downtown Pamplin.
With the funds, Virginia Tech representatives were able to complete design work for the project.
The grant offer subsequently came after a book co-authored by an employee of Virginia Tech entitled Lost Communities of Virginia was published, which features historical information about Pamplin and other small communities.
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