Many people in Suffolk have probably heard of the Downtown Master Plan, especially if they have been following the 2045 Comprehensive Plan process. But did you know that the City of Suffolk has “Village Plans” that date from at least twenty years ago? Or that there is no North Suffolk Master Plan?
The above slide is from a 2045 Comprehensive Plan update report presented to City Council on February 7th by City Planner, Keith Cannady. The lack of a North Suffolk Plan and the age of the Village Plans really stands out. As you can see on the slide, the 2045 Plan will recommend that “the City prepare new or update existing Village-scale plans for each area.” As far as a Master Plan for North Suffolk, Mr. Cannady went on to say that, “We think that North Suffolk area is a good candidate, at some point, particularly the Mixed Use Core area of North Suffolk.”
While these recommendations are meant to sound nice, they beg a few questions:
- Why haven’t the Village Plans been implemented?
- Why was no North Suffolk Master Plan created at the time it was specifically targeted for development? What good will a plan do at this point?
- Why should we trust the process for implementing a new Comprehensive Plan every five years when we haven’t fulfilled past plans and goals?
- Why should we trust the City’s capacity to handle giant increases in Growth Area size if decades-old recommendations have been ignored?
- Why should we have faith in our planners’ abilities’ to create an orderly city when they didn’t have the foresight to create a Master Plan for an area they knew was going to be highly developed? (Are they making the same mistake with Godwin Boulevard as we speak?)
While the Downtown Master Plan is more recent (2018) and there are finally some improvement projects underway, revitalization has been a topic for years and years. It has been an extremely slow process. How are we now supposed to catch up on seven additional plans?
It’s easy to put pretty catch-phrases on slides and flyers, but the citizens of Suffolk don’t need marketing. We need facts and honest, unbiased assessments of the true state of affairs in the city. We know what the situation is, but would like to hear our city staff and leaders acknowledge it.
Above are the additional slide from this presentation by Keith Cannady to City Council on February 7, 2024.
Suffolk nor Mr. Cannady realize the work they are doing in the City of Suffolk. First, Mr. Cannady never visited the areas of Suffolk. He admitted he only been to the trail in Pughsville and not the community. The city has not determined yet whether Pughsville is rural, urban or suburban. When it comes to getting funded by the state and Federal Government then they pick one for the type of funding they can obtain. The Council try to hurry and get some things done in their boroughs just to keep the votes coming. Things go on in Pughsville and they race out here in their city cars and trucks as they have no idea what is going on. Wake up Suffolk!!!! That’s our slogan for the city and its failed plans.