| Vision
Details ...
Business
Development | Roads |
Other
Infrastructure | Environment |
Development Pressures |
Process Improvements
& Good Government | Summary
A.
Strategies for Business Development
1. We shall
have created a Powhatan that welcomes business and light
industry to our Route 60 gold vein -- our primary
business corridor. This corridor will have been
developed with good taste, as shown, for example in the
Plainview Business Center. As opposed to strictly
strip development, Powhatan will embrace mixed use --
business, industry, workforce housing, condos and
apartments, and single-family dwellings on mixed-size
lots -- in nodal developments along Route 60, served by
water and sewer. This will serve as a base of
taxation that will help provide infrastructure for the
County -- so that a disproportionate tax burden is not
borne by residences, farms, foresters and open
space. Nodal developments around Flat Rock
intersection, for example, is a concept the Route 60
Citizens' Working Group has been seriously considering.
The concept of nodal
development was first encouraged by state planning staff
working with the County officials in the 1970's when
Powhatan's first Comprehensive Plan was adopted.
The benefits of nodal development, as opposed to retail
strip development, were again recommended by the
Powhatan County Economic Development Action Program
Steering Committee in a report presented to County
elected officials in 1999. These recommendations
were developed with assistance from Virginia Tech and
Dominion Virginia Power.
| 2. We
shall have created a Powhatan that has gone out
of its way to identify and provide incentives to
appropriate businesses to locate here without
disadvantage to existing businesses. These
businesses will share our citizens' vision of
business development -- congruent with |
 |
| Powhatan's
character, without cookie-cutter designs found
at every intersection in surrounding
counties. These incentives would include
economic incentives already known and available,
but also ones that we have crafted
ourselves. We can also use these to guide
business development to those locations that
make the most sense. |
3. The County
will have recognized that business is enhanced and good
businesses are actually attracted to a community that
has meaningful Architectural Standards for commercial
development. Such standards slow or stop the
creeping blight disease starting at Cloverleaf
Mall. The County will have required tree/green
buffers along Route 60.
If 10-20 years out
we have allowed the blight to destroy our part of Route
60, we shall all have failed.
4. We shall
have stopped spot-zoning.
5. In order to
reduce traffic commuter increases, we shall have
encouraged clustered mixed-use development and aided
growth in our existing businesses.
6. We shall
have worked closely with the school system to integrate
the workforce needs of businesses into some part of the
school curricula so that some of our young people find
viable employment here.
7. We shall
have recognized the unfairness that a home office
business and a large business, such as a grocery store,
both pay the same for a business license. We shall
recognize that a viable market and skilled labor force
attract businesses more than a lack of business taxes.
8. We shall
have actively worked to create campus-life office parks,
similar to West Creek, at our 288 intersection.
9. In order to
attract low-impact, information-driven businesses --
such as architectural firms, builders, printers, office
complexes, ad agencies -- we shall have facilitated
access to high-speed Internet.
B.
Strategies for Roads
1. We shall be
well underway in the design and maintenance of a road
system -- old, renewed, concept (new) -- that moves traffic
safely and expeditiously. Powhatan will have
redesigned our critical avenues of commerce, commute,
and emergency services, as appropriate.
2. We shall have
a regularly updated Comprehensive Thoroughfare
Plan. We shall have expanded our use of VDOT
resources to help us plan our road future.
3. We shall
have focused development on those roads that can handle
the additional traffic, thus protecting the rural
qualities of many of our roads and lowering overall road
repair and improvement costs.
4. We shall
have standards in place that give us thoroughfare and
subdivision roads that are attractive. The County
shall have designed walking, jogging, and cycling paths
in selected areas, especially along our Scenic Byways
and along Routes 13 and 522.
5. We shall
have confronted the major east-west traffic problem of
overburdened Route 711 and have creatively and boldly
found a way to substantially improve our situation
(commuting safety, fire and emergency response, etc.) --
while at the same time protecting as much as possible
our commitment to the Scenic Byway. We can start
this process by targeting the most dangerous parts of
711, using some Six-Years funds but, more importantly,
seeking other State or Federal funds. We can also
begin gaining wider right-of-ways, voluntarily where
possible. We can improve widths by using
"wedges", a concept successfully pursued in
Hanover.
We shall have also
carefully considered north-south concept roads to
provide smoother, safer access to 711 and 60.
6. Powhatan
will have enacted voluntary Transportation Proffers to
help offset the effect development has on our road infrastructure.
The County will also have incorporated Chesterfield's
"traffic-shed" concept to assure developers
that their voluntary proffers are being used at or near
their individual developments.
7. We shall
have strengthened and consistently applied the County's
standards for managing development access to public
roads; we have modified Zoning and Subdivision
Ordinances so that new developments make the necessary
improvements to existing roads -- right and left turn
lanes, signals, separation of entrances -- to prevent
these roads from becoming more congested and unsafe.
8. The County
will use Traffic Impact Studies along with serious
consideration of VDOT's ongoing levels-of-service analyses
as routine (not sole) inputs to decisions about
re-zonings, site plans, and subdivision plats.
9. Powhatan
shall be entertaining off-site proffers from developers,
using enabling legislation in the Code of Virginia for
counties with a growth rate of more than 10%.
10. We shall
be enforcing standards for separation of median
crossovers on Route 60 in order to minimize
intersections and signals. We shall routinely
receive from developers adequate right-of-way
dedications so that the Route 60 forested median is
never demolished to widen the highway.
C.
Strategies for Other Infrastructure
1. We shall
have established a Comprehensive Water and Sewer Plan.
2. We shall
have implemented an ad valorem tax for users of
water and sewer to help pay for building that
infrastructure. This will diversify our economy
and our tax base.
3. We shall
have continued to refine a Comprehensive Fire and
Emergency Plan, tied to projections identified in our
continually-evolving County Comprehensive Plan.
4. The school
system will have continued to produce young people who
take joy in life, are prepared to participate in the
rights and responsibilities of citizenship, and are
poised to succeed in college and on the job in the
free-market system. Bravo for what has already
been accomplished.
5. Powhatan
shall have taken steps to establish a Property
Maintenance Code that specifies minimum safety standards
for existing buildings, especially rental
properties. (This is commonly known as an
"Unsafe Building Ordinance").
D.
Strategies for the Environment
1. Powhatan
shall have designated, on the Future Land Use Map and in
the map section of the Comprehensive Plan, significant
sections of the County as worthy of open-space, timber,
watershed, and farming protection, especially along our
rivers and in the western portion of the County.
2. The County
will continue our incentives -- Ag-Forestal Districts,
land-use taxation -- to help farmers, timbermen, and
open-space owners keep their land undeveloped -- for all
of us to enjoy. As a community we shall be
actively involved in educating and helping those who
wish to protect their land -- farms, fields, forests,
vistas, watersheds, historical places -- through the
generous use of easements and different tax structures
for those who do not develop and so that they are not
forced to sell out.
3. We shall
have insisted that fifty-foot buffers of trees be
retained along roads and around subdivisions when
property is clear-cut.
4. We shall
have taken a no-compromise stand on stream buffers and
regulations on siltation, especially when clear-cutting
is done.
5. The County
shall have created a robust Stormwater Management
Plan. We shall recognize the value of soil -- that
soil is not only the medium from which our food, timber
and flowers come but is also the world's best filter for
the water we all depend on. We shall have made
efforts to protect it, preserve it, not pollute it, and
prevent it from being deposited in our creeks, lakes,
the Appomattox, the James and the Chesapeake Bay.
We shall have corrected all of the water pollution deficiencies
identified by State agencies and the James River
Association.
6. When the
County makes land-use decisions, rezoning from Ag to
Residential, we shall give incentives to developers in
the form of options for clustering or small lots, as
long as open space is guaranteed.
7. We shall
have dealt with the identified pollution problems of
Fighting Creek, Fine Creek, and other streams.
8. The County
shall have implemented mandatory five-year septic system
inspections.
9. We shall
become a community that is absolutely committed to our
existing Scenic Byways and those to be identified.
We shall have established proper building setbacks on
the Byways.
10. We shall
have actively used the Virginia Scenic Rivers Act, not
only for sections of the Appomattox and James, but also
for Fine Creek and perhaps other streams.
11. As a
community, we shall have come to realize that we cannot
depend on State and Federal agencies to do all our
environmental inspections and enforcement.
12. We shall
have recognized the value of Powhatan's historical
heritage and are protecting our historic landmarks from
encroachment or obliteration. We shall have
recognized the value we have in history and environment
for potential tourist dollars. We shall have
thoroughly investigated whether the owners of recognized
historic structures can be assessed a different tax rate
in recognition of their stewardship -- and the
maintenance costs for older, worthy structures.
E.
Strategies to Help Us Deal with Development Pressures
1. The County
shall have invited developers to participate with
citizens, elected/appointed officials, and staff to
figure out what's best for the County ... and how we can
be less adversarial. We shall invite developers to
the table, as the Planning Commission did in its efforts
to enhance paving standards. Organizations, with
respected portfolios, work with developers and land
owners to find common ground (where all parties are
heard) for solid decisions on the best path forward in
the development explosion we're facing. For
instance, Friends of the Scenic Byways has worked
amicably with developers to design standards and to
protect the beauty of rural thoroughfares (by advocating
such things as reversed frontages and large-lots and
vistas abutting the highway).
2. The County
shall have rationally chosen to eliminate future private
road subdivisions except in those rare cases where gated
communities establish a strong, self-policing
homeowners' association. Private roads have
emergency services, school bus access, maintenance, and
tax implications for the County.
3. We shall
have insured that subdivisions are interconnected so
neighbors can easily and safely visit each other.
This also provides quick routes for emergency access, school
buses, and mail delivery.
4. Powhatan
shall have created (and imported best practices from
other localities), innovative and flexible development
and subdivision options for developers and land owners
-- options that might include ideas such as Goochland's
"preserves." There will be renewed
emphasis on village development areas, which already
exist on paper at existing crossroads, where small
close-knit communities are created and nurtured --
allowing workforce housing, smaller lots, amenities and
perhaps even water and sewer. We shall see
clustering as an option to sprawl. The Courthouse
Village continues to be both an oasis respectful to the
past and at the same time abuzz with compatible
businesses. The Village has once again become the
heart of our community.
5. The County
shall have recommitted to and acted on the concepts of
Rural Preservation Areas, Village Preservation Areas,
Village Service Areas, and Business Service Areas -- not
only to facilitate and guide development, but also to
balance that development against our equally important
desire to maintain the beauty and greenness around
us. We shall have regularly expanded Village Areas
as the most efficient and cost-effective way to deliver
public services and to accommodate new growth, instead
of scattering subdivisions around the County in a
pattern of sprawl.
F.
Strategies About Process Improvements and Good
Government
The Powhatan of the
future is a place where the people own the community --
were there are venues for discussion and input to
ongoing planning processes. The citizenry will
care deeply about the future and believe in its right,
responsibility, and ability to participate
constructively, assertively, and creatively. A
citizenry that is willing to pay the price -- in time,
effort, conflict, frustration, give-and-take -- that
active citizenship requires. We shall have an
administration that pushes the envelope in ferreting out
best practices, identifying possibilities, and
articulating (in a self-starting way) potential paths
forward for consideration by the citizens and their
elected officials. Powhatan's elected officials
shall be selfless, visionary, open to innovation.
They invite input, respect diversity, and know how to
build coalitions. They are action oriented, eschew
the comfort of the status quo, recognize urgency when
call for, behave in such a way that engenders trust and
hope, and put great effort into strategic/long-range/future-oriented
thinking.
The Powhatan of the
future facilitates dialogue, solicits ideas, listens
to its citizens. It is a place which carries on a
vibrant conversation among the Board of Supervisors,
Planning Commission, School Board, County staff, the
public, VDOT, the Farm Bureau, the Department of
Forestry, the Historical Society, Monacan Soil and
Water, other local and State agencies, the Powhatan
Leadership Institute, the Chamber of Commerce and Retail
Merchants Association, Powhatan Tomorrow, and other
civic groups, etc., where ideas can be shared,
articulated, vetted, and propelled to implementation.
1. Powhatan
has opted over the years to update the Comprehensive
Plan (CP) regularly and has created a way to maintain
optimum public involvement in the process. We have
done this by carving out pieces of the CP every 2-3
years and revisiting them with Citizens' Working Groups,
thus crafting a "rolling-thunder" process of
continuous improvement. We shall take one major
section or topic at a time, in a "continuous
refinement process." This will guarantee that
we never play catch-up again, but are staying abreast of
changing circumstances in our community. A similar
process, perhaps using an outside Zoning Ordinance
consultant, would regularly review our ordinances to
keep them current and aligned with the Comp Plan.
We shall have begun
a process whereby every household receives a summary
version of the Comprehensive Plan (with Future Land Use
and transportation maps) every five years when the Plan
is updated so that citizens will be aware and gain a
sense of ownership.
2. The County
will have annual, County-wide, facilitated meetings to
hear the viewpoints of citizens about the state of the
County.
We shall have
created a more open and honest forum for airing our
differences. Even in a diverse society, we must
find a gracious way to consider competing points of view
-- a way to work through to compromise.
3. In our
Operating Budget, as well as in the Capital Improvement
Program (CIP), we shall have adopted a policy that
synchronizes our growth with our ability to pay for that
growth.
4. Powhatan
will have embraced a make-sense system where the Capital
Improvement Plan is driven by the Comprehensive Program (at
least as far as practicable) and not vice versa; that
is, not only do we as a community agree to capital
improvements based on our ability to pay for them
without pauperizing (or driving out) our fixed-income
and lower-income citizens, but we also tie the budget as
closely as we can to what we agree, as plotted out in
the Comprehensive Plan (CP), we are moving toward as a
community -- active planning, not passive or
reactive. This means a vigorous analysis of growth
trends, close cooperation with the school system and the
School Board (which generate sophisticated analyses),
and actions and budget that reflect those analyses.
5. We shall
have become less insular, seeking ways to regionally
cooperative with surrounding counties on major problems
such as water, sewage and solid waste.
We shall better
utilize the resources of the Richmond Regional Planning
District Commission and the Metropolitan Planning
Organization.
6. We shall
have determined the best process for freezing real
estate assessments for citizens over 65 who have lived
in their home for 25 years, until the property is sold,
at which time the assessment is brought
up-to-date. (This is a starting point for
discussion and analysis).
7. We shall
have continued our efforts to build managerial and
administrative excellence in all aspects of the County
government, with pay scales that acknowledge workload
responsibilities and high competence.
8. The County
will have acknowledged that our present Conditional Use
Permit (CUP) process has become a too-easy way to get
around zoning ordinances -- CUPs are granted on an
exception basis, not as a matter of course for the
asking. We shall take the time to regularly review
the uses permitted by CUPs in each zoning district to
determine if they are still appropriate.
Summary
This is a
start. If you find yourself at odds with some
part, good: that becomes the basis for an ongoing
conversation of what we can all agree is our joint
future. Isn't talking about it, learning, growing,
compromising, exploring better than not addressing it at
all? Why does it take so long?
Do we owe ourselves,
our children and children's children any less than to
spend some time and some effort trying to grapple with
issues we face and shall continue to face?
Is the place we have
chosen to live -- that some of us truly love -- not
worth the attention? Are we agents, to at least
some degree, of our own destiny, or do we feel buffeted
by forces beyond our control and have therefore given up
any sense of control or responsibility? Good
things happen because we accept responsibility.
Significant things do not happen to a people who are so
busy or tired that they believe they have no
responsibility for the way things are or will be.
If that sounds like a challenge, you get it.
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