The county is at a crossroads as it prepares to adopt its guiding document for development

Editorial by Tom Wimoth
Jan 4, 2006 Bedford Bulletin

The announcement late last month that three more conservation easements had been recorded, preserving more than 900 acres in Bedford County from future development, is a feather in the cap for those interested in preserving the county's rural atmosphere.

And for many that's priority one as the county updates its Comprehensive Plan and looks toward managing future growth.


Those conservation easements - the Patterson Mill Farm beneath the Peaks of Otter, the Layman Farm with 440 acres in the Joppa Mill community and 100 acres of forest and pasture on Porter Mountain near Montvale - are volunteer efforts of the county's citizens. But the Comprehensive Plan, set to be presented for adoption early this year, will set the tone for just how much development takes place in the coming years.

In surveys taken in 2002 and 2004, residents of Bedford County expressed an overwhelming desire to preserve the agricultural and forest views this county provides. In fact, apart from education and emergency services spending, residents placed protecting open space among the top priorities of its government, seeking the preservation of the scenic views, rural character, farmland, woodlands, natural habitats and hunting areas for future generations.

For county government, that means balancing the ongoing residential and commercial growth, with the quality-of-life issues that long-time residents cherish, and newer residents moved here to enjoy.

Bedford County's tremendous growth has been well-documented - up some 35 percent since 1988, from 43,200 residents to more than 63,000. Following current trends the county could expect to be pushing 100,000 residents in the next 25 years. From 1997 to 2002 the county lost more than 10 percent of its farms and almost as much of its woodlands.

Under the current zoning, Bedford County could be developed to more than one million residents. That, of course, is not going to happen. But the point is the current zoning would allow it.

Citizens have led the way the past few years in pushing for greater conservation efforts. The work of the Bedford Citizens for Land Preservation has brought the issue to the forefront for county staff. The BCLP has provided a much-needed voice to county planning efforts and pushed for the recently completed Cost of Community Service study that was presented to the supervisors last year. That study showed that residential development costs more in services than it produces, a point that those promoting open space preservation say is important to consider in future planning.

Efforts this past year have also included workshops seeking to promote development that has as a top priority preserving open space. Such was the case in the seminar presented last fall by Randall Arendt on building developments around current open space areas, instead of on top of them.

To developers' credit, many attended that workshop. The key will be adopting such a philosophy and the county promoting it.

While work on the Comprehensive Plan has been underway, so have developments within the county. Just this past year major developments in the Forest and Moneta areas - Thomas Jefferson Crossings and Downtown Moneta/Mayberry Hills - have gained acceptance. These are areas the county has designated, and provided the infrastructure to promote, as high-growth areas. We can be assure more development proposals will follow.

Managing the county's growth, instead of trying to keep up with it, will be important in the years ahead. Hiring proper personnel, such as the proposed development director, is one such positive step. Presenting a Comprehensive Plan that specifically addresses the open space issue, and what the county should become, is another. And surveys of county residents show they want more than talk - they believe 10 cents of every dollar spent in the county should be used to protect open space.

Though the Comprehensive Plan is in its final stages of development, citizens still have the opportunity to contribute to the process. Several meetings throughout the county will be planned early this year to present the proposed document, followed by a public hearing for comment prior to its adoption.

Citizens must be prepared to make their voice known; county supervisors must be ready to take proper action. The effect of the decisions made on land use this year will be felt for generations to come.