The Bedford Bulletin, September 11, 2002
What Is a Comprehensive Plan?
Bedford County needs a new comprehensive plan, as every official you ask will tell you. Creating one, however, is a complex task that will be undertaken in phases. Bedford Citizens for Land Preservation learned what is involved in this task in several meetings with Philip Thompson, Director of Planning for Bedford County this year.
According to Philip Thompson the comprehensive plan “focuses on physical development and should reflect community goals and define development policies. It should be an articulate statement about a community’s preferred land use pattern and be comprehensive in design and long range in orientation. It should be vision-driven and a byproduct of civic input.”
The first phase of the planning process is answering the question: where are we today? Getting the facts – data collection and analysis of existing conditions, trends and community attitudes – is the heart of Phase I. This is the phase that the planning process is in now. “You need to know where you are in order to figure out where you want to go,” said Mr. Thompson.
The Planning Commission and staff are now studying and analyzing past and present conditions in the county and, equally important, emerging trends. This includes gathering data on population, housing, natural resources, economic factors, transportation, utilities, community facilities, land use patterns and community attitudes.
“We collect information in these areas in a variety of ways,” Mr. Thompson explained. “We review existing documents, we do field work, and we meet with county and regional departments and agencies, such as VDOT and the Region 2000 Regional Commission, in order to get information in all these areas. Documents that may or will be reviewed include County plans and reports completed since 1988. For example, the Public Service Authority (PSA) has developed water and sewer plans for the County, Parks and Recreation and Solid Waster have master plans, and the County has adopted a Capital Improvements Plan. The Planning Department will also review state documents and studies from agencies like VDOT, the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, the Forestry Department and the Department of Historic Resources.”
Field work will focus on gathering information that the Planning Department cannot obtain through document research. “For example, aesthetics is a topic area that will be mentioned in the plan,” Mr. Thompson said. “Billboards are an issue that is often mentioned as a blight on scenic beauty and aesthetics: how many exist in the County and where are they located?” Other information that may be obtained through field work includes information on existing land use, fords, inadequate bridges and underpasses, and the locations of cemeteries and viewsheds.
During the first phase of the planning process the Planning Department will conduct a telephone survey of citizens in order to learn how satisfied people are with certain general services, such as fire and rescue, schools and libraries. The survey, which will begin this month and is being conducted through the Center for Survey Resources, will also contain questions on strategic planning goals.
An example of the kind of question that residents might be asked is: “Rate in terms of level of importance: high quality education in the public schools, reducing traffic congestion, promoting economic growth in the area, preserving natural resources and open space, and controlling the rate of growth in the county. There will be approximately 25-30 questions in this category and each resident surveyed will be asked approximately half of the questions, chosen at random. The goal of the survey, which will select 1,000 residents at random to participate, is to have “a scientifically valid survey that would reflect the desires of the general populace of the county,” Thompson said.
Because this is a sampling survey (polling some to scientifically determine the views of many) those residents who are randomly selected to participate will have a unique opportunity to speak out louder than the rest. Be sure to participate in the survey if you are selected and to fill out and return any other questionnaires about land use that you may receive as part of the data collection phase of the planning process.
Those residents who are not selected to participate in the survey, however, will have an opportunity to be heard during the second phase of the planning process. Phase II is focused on answering the question: Where do we want to go? In this phase the county will conduct public workshops and meetings. It will also meet with civic, educational, professional and other organizations in order to develop a vision statement for the plan and its goals and objective. The vision statement is a well-articulated community understanding of what the county is trying to accomplish through planning. It is a statement of the future we imagine and are willing to work toward. The number of meetings planned is still being determined by county officials.
These public workshops and meetings will begin during the first quarter of 2003 and will be announced in four newspapers – the Bedford Bulletin, the News & Advance, the Roanoke Times, and the Smith Mountain Lake Eagle -- and in the County’s Planning and Administrative offices, and on the County’s web site: http://www.co.bedford.va.us. The Department of Planning intends to hold meetings at the 13 elementary schools in the county. There will be follow-up meetings held at the three high schools. At these meetings the county will present the data it has collected in Phase I, as well as the results of the citizen survey. “The public will also provide feedback on what it wants to see Bedford County become in the future (2025),” said Mr. Thompson.
The third phase of the planning process is developing the plan itself, which will include finalizing the Future Land Use Map, a critical element in the comprehensive plan. There will be a public hearing process in this phase. The final phase of the comprehensive plan is the formal public hearing process to adopt it.
Read this column to learn more about the Future Land Use Map and to get updates on the planning schedule. We will announce dates of all public meetings planned for Phase II of the comprehensive planning process. Next week this column will examine why we need a comprehensive plan and who is responsible for developing it.
Editor’s Note: Bedford Citizens for Land Preservation (BCLP) is a citizen-based, public foundation with the mission of supporting responsible growth in Bedford County while maintaining its rural qualities of life. BCLP is seeking volunteers for its committees and for its neighborhood-based “Pride of Place” project.
To review information BCLP has gathered on growth and land use topics, visit the BCLP Resource Cart at the Bedford Central Library.
