Technical Reports, Community Design Assistance Center

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Design Guidelines for Downtown Narrows
Gilboy, Elizabeth; Budic, Zorica; Denise, Alexander; Rich, Bourbonnaise; Karla, Brock; Chaya, Prabhu (Virginia Tech. Community Design Assistance Center, 1993-12-31)
Similar to many communities across the country, the town of Narrows' Commercial District has been experiencing economic and physical decline for quite some time. A recent survey suggests that over half of all commercial, office, and industrial space in downtown Narrows is presently either vacant or underutilized (Archambault 1992). Downtown revitalization has been a successful response to decaying physical and economic environments in many towns and cities across the country. Alone, downtown improvements will not solve the economic problems of the district. However, they represent a necessary and important step in the economic revitalization process (Archambault 1992). This report includes three sections, which address design guideline recommendations for the Town of Narrows, as well as the background materials that informed their process of development.
Main Street Buchanan: Vision and Design Guidelines
Gleason, Harry (Virginia Tech. Community Design Assistance Center, 1995-04-07)
Managing design changes is an integral part of preserving Buchanan's identity. By understanding the value of a Town's historic and cultural resources rehabilitation and new projects can reinforce important qualities of the community. This report is a documentation of physical patterns of land use and development occurring along Main Street within the Town of Buchanan and guidelines for retaining and reinforcing that character.
The Design of Victoria Community Park, Victoria, VA
Gilboy, Elizabeth; Schooley, Chris; Thacker, Matt (Virginia Tech. Community Design Assistance Center, 1998-04)
The Community Design Assistance Center (CDAC) was hired by the Town of Victoria, to develop a conceptual master plan, planting plan, and cost estimates for the design of a community park. This project was funded through a grant from the Virginia Department of Forestry Urban and Community Forestry Assistance Grants.
Whitmell P. Tunstall Park: Conceptual Park Design & Landscape Master Plan for a Brownfield Restoration
Gilboy, Elizabeth; Dawson, Michele; Deshpande, Amol (Virginia Tech. Community Design Assistance Center, 2003-10)
The purpose of this project was to develop a conceptual master plan and landscape design that incorporates a trail linkage at the edge of the property and develops the brownfield site into a wildlife habitat for passive use bringing the Klaff Junkyard back to as natural an appearance as possible.
Conceptual Site Master Plan and Focus Design for a Turn of the Century Community at the Historic Crab Orchard Museum, Tazewell, VA
Gilboy, Elizabeth; Fisher, Terri; Bohannon, C. L.; Barrett, Sherry; Dawson, Michele; Despande, Amol (Virginia Tech. Community Design Assistance Center, 2003-10)
Named for the National Register of Historic Places site on which it is located, the Crab Orchard Museum and Pioneer Park opened in 1982 as a non-profit historical museum devoted initially to Tazewell County. The museum is now devoted entirely to the cultural heritage of the middle Appalachian region. The museum’s Pioneer Park is the only reconstruction of historical buildings in western Virginia that are indigenous to their immediate vicinity. The 15 structures are all original and date back to 1802. The Historic Crab Orchard Museum and Pioneer Park has an additional undeveloped 16 acre site located just across US 19/460 from the existing site. The Community Design Assistance Center team worked with Crab Orchard Museum to develop a conceptual master plan for the 16 acre site to guide development of a turn of the century “community”. This community weaves together cultural and historical elements of the county including railroads, agriculture, and Native Americans.
A Conceptual Master Plan for the Bedford YMCA, Bedford, Virginia
Watson, Kim; Bohannon, C. L.; Deshpande, Amol; Lee, Ok-Hyun (Virginia Tech. Community Design Assistance Center, 2003-11)
The Community Design Assistance Center (CDAC) worked with the Bedford Area YMCA to develop a conceptual site master plan for their current and future facilities. The Bedford Area YMCA is currently located on nearly 30 acres of land with the possibility of an additional 50 acres, pending the YMCA’s ability to purchase neighboring property. The CDAC prepared a conceptual master plan that included the development of a low ropes, high ropes and team building course; a separate 6,000-9,000 square foot child care center; an outdoor skate park; outdoor sports courts; and a large playground.
Grottoes, VA: Conceptual Open Space Master Plan and Entrance Design
Gilboy, Elizabeth; Watson, Kim; Brown, Julia; Jessup, Jennifer (Virginia Tech. Community Design Assistance Center, 2003-12)
The Community Design Assistance Center (CDAC) worked with the town of Grottoes to create entryway designs for the primary entries to town as well as Sixth Street, which serves as the town’s “Main Street.” CDAC also prepared an open space master plan that addressed how to improve individual open spaces and their connections to each other.
A Conceptual Master Plan for Dickenson Memorial Park
Gilboy, Elizabeth; Watson, Kim; Dawson, Michele; Lee, Ok-Hyun; Tofte, Shawn (Virginia Tech. Community Design Assistance Center, 2004-01)
Located about 20 miles south of Fredericksburg, Bowling Green has been the County seat of Caroline County since 1803. The community of about 1,000 is rich in history which is evident from its many historic structures. The developer of a neighborhood donated two of the lots (roughly 2 acres) to the town’s Historic/Economic Leadership Panel (H.E.L.P.). This area includes a cemetery of five graves that was used from about the 1740’s to about 1880. H.E.L.P. wanted to develop the site into a small community park. The park would serve as an historic site and gathering place for neighborhood residents and community members. The Community Design Assistance Center (CDAC) worked with the community to create a design for the park.
North Fork Powell River greenway
Gilboy, Elizabeth; Steika, Kim (Virginia Tech. Community Design Assistance Center, 2004-01-01)
The Community Design Assistance Center assisted Pennington Gap in designing a greenway trail that runs along the North Fork of the Powell River from Route 58, where it enters the town limits, to Leeman Field, the recreation area. The greenway will provide a pedestrian access corridor from Leeman Field into downtown.
Halifax, VA: Keziah Walker Neighborhood Garden Conceptual Master Plan
Gilboy, Elizabeth; Watson, Kim; Brown, Nathan; Fisher, Terri (Virginia Tech. Community Design Assistance Center, 2004-09)
The purpose of this project was to work with the Hedderly Street neighborhood in the Town of Halifax to create a neighborhood garden design for a .43 acre parcel of land.
Conceptual Design for the Expansion of the Salem Museum
Fisher, Terri; Gilboy, Elizabeth; Feuerstein, Marcia F.; Lee, Ok-hyun H. (Virginia Tech. Community Design Assistance Center, 2004-10)
The Salem Museum, located in the historic Williams-Brown House/Store in Salem, Virginia, was in need of an expansion to improve the public and operational spaces as well as to bring the museum into compliance with ADA requirements. The Community Design Assistance Center worked with the Salem Museum to explore alternative building designs, additional programmatic requirements, and overall site design while preserving and working with the existing building. The site design includes the building complex, associated exterior spaces and their connections between adjoining sites, pedestrian access (including access from rear areas and parking) and significant surrounding sites (two cemeteries).
Tekoa Boys' Home Campus Master Plan and Courtyard Design
Gilboy, Elizabeth; Watson, Kim; Millard, Ryan; Solis, Linda (Virginia Tech. Community Design Assistance Center, 2004-10)
Tekoa Boys’ Home is a recently constructed facility in Christiansburg, Virginia that provides licensed residential treatment, counseling, and special education to at-risk boys aged 12-17, in need of out-of-the-home placement. The twenty-bed home, situated on fifteen acres, provides a nurturing living environment integrating the boys into all aspects of daily programming. The aim for the Tekoa Boys’ Residential Campus is to be a calm, peaceful place for its residents to overcome their emotional, psychological and social challenges. The Community Design Assistance Center provided the Tekoa Boys’ Home with landscape designs for key areas on the site.
Median Planting Plan Staunton I-81/Route 250
Gilboy, Elizabeth; Watson, Kim; Wolfe, Brian (Virginia Tech. Community Design Assistance Center, 2004-12)
City developed and began implementation of a landscape master plan. This included all entryways into the city and the greenspaces within. The master plan is geared toward creating a sense of color and continuity. The Community Design Assistance Center prepared a landscape design for the I-81/Route 250 interchange as part of the larger landscape master plan effort.
Jubilee Park: A Conceptual Master Plan Prepared for the Ivanhoe Civic League
Watson, Kim; Roser, Sherry; Holloway, Lew (Virginia Tech. Community Design Assistance Center, 2005-08)
Ivanhoe is a small, rural community located in Southwest Virginia near Cripple Creek, which enters the New River in the Blue Ridge Mountains. After using a Wythe County property as park space for nearly a decade and a half, the Ivanhoe Civic League (ICL) was deeded the land. The ICL plans to develop a formal master plan for the space, known to the community as Jubilee Park. Jubilee Park is a 14.9 acre tract of land, bounded on one side by New River and flanked on another side by the New River Trail. The Community Design Assistance Center prepared a conceptual campus master plan for Jubilee Park.
Abingdon Elementary School Discovery Trail
Watson, Kim; Parvinia, Mandana; Brown, Nathan (Virginia Tech. Community Design Assistance Center, 2006-02)
Outdoor classrooms are fast becoming a popular installation at public and private elementary, intermediate, and high schools across the country. The idea behind an outdoor classroom is to bring the classroom learning into the outdoors, teaching topics ranging from biology to climatology to geology. This project was initiated by the Coalition for Jobs and the Environment, with the desire to provide the school with an outdoor classroom on its campus. The vision was broadened to include a “discovery trail” with a series of learning stations along its route. These learning stations would educate students on topics dealing with the outdoors, natural systems, and the built environment.
Poquoson Great Marsh Experience Trail
Gilboy, Elizabeth; Watson, Kim; Mauzy, Bill; Emmitt, Jessica; Keswani, Girisha; Hurley, Mike (Virginia Tech. Community Design Assistance Center, 2006-04)
The Poquoson Museum project is the realization of a dream conceived by numerous community residents who wished to preserve Poquoson’s unique heritage. The museum purchased a 15 acre farm, the Dryden Farm, and salt marsh where they sought to create a museum campus, a marsh trail and Back River overlook, and various other interpretative opportunities. CDAC assisted the Poquoson Museum in their master planning process to site and develop a conceptual design for the Great Marsh Experience Trail and Back River Overlook. This trail would guide visitors along Topping Creek Marsh and feature interpretative signs detailing march wildlife and fauna that the visitors can observe and will culminate in a raised wooden overlook platform providing a panoramic view of Topping Creek and the Back River.
Danville North Main Community Plaza Conceptual Master Plan
Gilboy, Elizabeth; Watson, Kim; Koliji, Hooman (Virginia Tech. Community Design Assistance Center, 2006-04)
The North Main neighborhood is one of the oldest in the City of Danville. The neighborhood is largely residential, with several pockets of small scale retail and service activities located primarily along the Main Street corridor. The Community Design Assistance Center (CDAC) was charged with the task of preparing a conceptual master plan for the triangular plaza adjacent to the North Main Theater and a conceptual design for the vacant lot near Meades Alley, both of which are in the Uptown Arts District. This area is generally defined by Main Street, Church Street, and the Theater.
Christiansburg - Blacksburg Rotary Rain Garden at Wong Park
Gilboy, Elizabeth; Watson, Kim; Fisher, Terri (Virginia Tech. Community Design Assistance Center, 2006-05)
Buchanan County Public Library Conceptual Landscape Redevelopment
Gilboy, Elizabeth; Watson, Kim; Ellis, Amber; Osborn, Christina (Virginia Tech. Community Design Assistance Center, 2006-05)
Located in rural southwest Virginia in the county seat of Grundy, off of State Route 460 on the Levisa Fork River, is the Buchanan County Public Library, which serves the county’s population of 27,000. The library is not only a vital resource for books, periodicals, and audiovisual materials, but is a valuable historical archive and community center for the county. The library’s mission is to “meet the intellectual, practical, leisure, and other needs of the citizens of Buchanan County.” To that end, the library hosts guest speakers, technology workshops, numerous club and committee meetings, and many programs of interest for the community. Following the addition of a children’s wing, the library sought to create a campus that would support and enhance the library’s role as an educational and community center. Though the structure of the building is quite functional for community use, the landscape is overgrown in areas, has drainage and erosion issues, and in some areas the landscape is bare and unkempt. The Friends of the Buchanan County Public Library, seeking to address these issues and also improve the aesthetics and use of the site, enlisted the services of the Community Design Assistance Center (CDAC) to create a landscape plan.
"A" Street Linear Park
Watson, Kim; Cappelleri, Brandon; Hershey, Jon (Virginia Tech. Community Design Assistance Center, 2006-05)
The proposed “A” Street Linear Park is located in Abingdon, Virginia on a narrow 3.5 acre strip of land adjacent to the Norfolk Southern rail line and “A” Street. The purpose of this project was to develop a park design for the site that accommodates passive recreation and a connection to the existing Virginia Creeper Trail. The park will provide the town and surrounding neighborhood with a passive recreational space that caters to all age groups.

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