Introduction

In recent comments, I have remarked on the need for a shared vision of the preferred future for our County.  I believe that a vision is essential -- it is a target toward which we can work and which we can use as a guidestone to help us make decisions.  The future will unfold:  are we content to let it do so willy-nilly, or do we have ideas of what it could or should be?  Below I offer one such vision of Powhatan's potential future.  It is not necessarily the "right" vision, but I offer it as a catalyst for discussion, a departure point for ongoing dialogue.

A Working Vision

In ten to twenty years, we shall still have a green Powhatan -- a place where there is an active and ongoing effort to create a place to live that is wholesome, vibrant, respectful of the environment and our heritage, and embraces diversity of people: a place where people come to live and play because we've made the effort, through thoughtful planning, to create a wonderful place to live.

We shall have recognized that quality-of-life is as important a governing force on our development decisions as economic development, jobs, and the necessity to commute.  I believe that quality-of-life, protection of natural resources, and economic development are not mutually exclusive and, given dialogue and appropriate compromise, interested parties can be brought to the table to hammer out, in good faith, ways in which they can co-exist, even in constructive tension.  I believe in privacy, quiet, the night-sky and environmentally-conscious growth.  I see a Powhatan which has made a commitment to the health of our groundwater, our streams, the air we breathe - in other words, to the long-term health of our chief heritage:  our people.

In these intervening years, we must create a governing process that recognizes that land-value escalation and tax increases, without active efforts to find some different revenue streams, will make it impossible for our children to afford to live here. We must realize that we are ALL stewards.  See Vision Details to find strategies and action plans that begin the process of thinking through the "how" we might make a vision of our future, ten to twenty years hence, into a realty. Click here for Vision Details ...

Carson Tucker
3845 Old River Trail
Powhatan, Virginia  23139

804.598.2213

email ... thefuture@carsontucker.com