Mount Tabor Meadows common space conceptual master plan, Blacksburg, Virginia

The Community Design Assistance Center (CDAC) worked with the Mount Tabor Meadows (MTM) community to develop a conceptual master plan of their vision for a new and sustainable use for the community’s underutilized common space.
Mount Tabor Meadows is a neighborhood located in Blacksburg, Virginia developed by Green Valley Builders. All of the homes are EarthCraft certified and Energy Star Rated. In the heart of the development, a community open space – MTM Commons – has been preserved. Currently, the Commons is an open fi eld mowed seasonally for hay, and in part serves as a stormwater basin. After months of consideration, the homeowners developed a list of desired uses for the space, including a playground, community shelter/ gathering space, a spot for community gardens, and an urban forest to increase opportunities for stormwater infiltration and carbon sequestration on site.
In March of 2010, MTM began working with the CDAC to develop conceptual plans for the common space. In conjunction with the community’s sustainable mission, it was the desire of the home owners association to develop a plan for their new common space that was not only a place for recreation and community development, but also provided a service to the natural systems of the site. All of the listed ideas carry the community members’ aims of sustainability and stewardship into the Commons.