By Keith McGinniss
Special Correspondent

The Chesterfield County Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee met on October 19 to review public input from the district public workshops that were held across the county in September and October.

Prior to the meeting, the committee members received workshop summaries, including common themes that surfaced at the district meetings. Committee members then broke into small groups to begin the process of developing initial comprehensive plan scenarios.

The scenarios are high-level plans for the county that include, but are not limited to land use zoning, transportation, and public facilities. By the end of the meeting, each small group had presented one or two scenarios to the steering committee members.

Many scenarios include visions of higher density development in areas closest to the City of Richmond and the county’s main highways, Powhite Parkway, U.S. Routes 360, 60, and Jefferson Davis Highway, while preserving open space in the south and southwestern portions of the county.
Revitalization of older developed areas was present in most of the scenarios and included mixed use zoning to allow for areas where citizens can live, work, and shop within a short distance.
Ideas for additional and improved transportation options; water source protection; job growth; and making the county attractive to diverse groups of people and businesses were a part of many of the scenarios.

The scenarios that were presented will go through trend scenario testing in order to offer the committee additional information on the feasibility and merits of each scenario. The results of the testing will be presented at the next steering committee meeting, where a number of scenarios will be selected for thorough review.

A preferred scenario will be chosen at the steering committee’s December meeting and will serve as the basis for a draft vision. The draft vision will drive the final development of the comprehensive plan draft, and the steering committee will recommend it to the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors.

The Chesterfield County Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee will meet again on November 16 at 4:30 p.m. at the Eanes-Pittman Building located at 6610 Public Safety Way in Chesterfield, Va.

For current information about the Chesterfield County Comprehensive Plan, please visit www.chesterfield.gov.