Thursday night, CARE4Suffolk hosted a Pubic Forum to discuss the Suffolk 2045 Comprehensive Plan at the Family Affair, Inc. venue off Jackson Road in Suffolk.
Keith Cannady, Senior Planner in Suffolk’s Department of Planning and Community Development started the evening with a presentation to the crowd of about 70 people. In his presentation he explained that comprehensive plans is an update of the current 2035 plan that was adopted in 2015. Comprehensive plans are required by the State of Virginia and should be updated every five years or so. The comprehensive plans are long-ranged plans that affect city policies including: land use and growth, transportation, schools, parks and recreation, public safety, water, sewer, storm water, libraries, as well as natural and cultural resources. The city of Suffolk is seeking public input. You can learn more about it at Suffolk2045.org and give feedback here.
Keith Cannady, Senior Planner presented to a crowd of about 70 people.
Kevin Hughes, Deputy City Manager, addressed the community.
There were several guest speakers invited by CARE4Suffolk to speak about specific topics. Recently elected Suffolk School Board member, DawnMarie Brittingham spoke about over-crowded schools. Engineer Steve Williams spoke about roads that are currently in the target growth area, but that are not in suitable condition to support additional growth. Engineer Sydney French followed that up with a discussion of how these targeted growth areas are not equipped to deal with storm water and flooding.
Bryan Harris, a local horse farm owner, discussed the importance of conserving farm land in Suffolk and the significance of Suffolk’s agricultural contribution to local and state economies and essential food production. Skip Stiles, from Wetlands Watch, discussed the importance of public involvement in the comprehensive plans and concentrating development where there is already infrastructure. He spoke about the cost of community services and explained that although a city may not receive a large tax revenue from farm land, farm land requires very little in the way of public services. In developing rooftops, a city may bring in more tax revenue, however, the actual costs of these residences will be substantially more, particularly over time. Mr. Stiles also mentioned the importance of including environmental protections as part of land use.
The rest of the public forum was open to the public to present their ideas, suggestions, concerns, and to ask questions. Roughly a dozen members of the public took the opportunity to talk about a variety of issues important to them, including: development without infrastructure, schools, water quality, conservation of farmland, protecting reservoirs, cities ignoring public input, lack of cohesive city planning, and the quantity and scope of warehouse development in Suffolk.
CARE4Suffolk thanks the Faulk family for the use of their wonderful venue. We also thank our special guests, Keith Cannady, Erin Dears, Kevin Hughes, Kevin Wyne and Shannon Wolfe, members of Suffolk’s Department of Planning and Community Development, for taking the time to attend, sharing the city’s plan, and listening to the concerns of our community. CARE4Suffolk also appreciates the all the speakers for sharing their insight, concerns, and desires to impact the next comprehensive plan and to the audience for coming out to participate and learn about the Suffolk 2045 Comprehensive Plan.