Minutes 03/09/1971 - Laserfiche WebLink

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19 TUESDAY MARCH 9, 1971 The regular semi-monthly meeting of the Council of the City of Martinsville, Virginia, with Mayor F. T. Renick, M.D., presiding, was held Tuesday, March 9, 1971, in the Council Chamber, City Hall, all members being present, viz., Mayor F. T. Renick, M.D.; Vice-Mayor Francis T. West; Harry L. Boaz; W. Donald Hartford; and William D. Hobson. .- After the invocation, Council approved as recorded the minutes of its regular meeting held February 23, 1971. In the interest of revitalizing the downtown area of the City and the fringe areas immediately adjacent thereto, as well as in recognition of the need to update the City's comprehensive plan, Mr. Frank D. Fulton (Vice-President and Trust Officer of The First National Bank of Martinsville & Henry County) appeared before Council and explained the role of an unofficial group or committee (tentatively identified as the Total Community Development Committee), of which he is Vice-Chairman, explaining that the efforts and actions of this special committee are of an advisory nature only. Mr. Fulton traced the back- ground events leading up to much activity within the past few weeks, involving meetings with officials of the United States Department of Housing & Urban Development, the State Highway Department, various City officials, and especially with four planning consultants called in to confer with the committee on possibly assisting in updating the City's comprehensive and "downtown" plans, the last such planning effort having been made in 1957. Because of problems, consisting of dilapidated buildings, substandard housing, traffic congestion and related matters, the committee stressed the need of professional planning, expressing the opinion that the City government should not have to extract from local taxpayers the complete cost of a planning program, and explaining that a recent meeting the committee had agreed that a fair proportion (of the planning study cost) would be