Suffolk’s city managers seem eager to sacrifice the city’s natural water resources in the name of development. For decades, previous city administrations have implemented planning strategies designed to limit development within our watersheds and adjacent to reservoirs. This does not appear to be a concern for our current managers when you look at the Growth Area expansions they recommend in the 2045 Comprehensive Plan draft, for which they are responsible. These expansions will allow heavy development into large swathes of our watersheds and the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area (CBPA).
Suffolk has two Growth Areas (Northern and Central) that were outlined in the first Comprehensive Plan in 1998 after the State of Virginia mandated such plans. These growth areas were expanded upon in the two revised plans that followed in 2006 and 2015. There is no requirement to extend or expand these areas, just to review the Comprehensive Plans every five years “to determine whether it is advisable to amend the plan” (Virginia Code Section 15.2-2230).
Previous city managers and planners chose to expand the Growth Areas in small, fragmented increments around the edges of the original boundaries. It turns out, there was a very good reason for this:
“In addition to the two Growth Areas, a key component of the growth management strategy is to designate a third large area of the City as a rural conservation / low density residential area. This area allows a lower density of residential development that is designed as a method of protecting the region’s water supply reservoirs that Suffolk hosts.” (2035 Suffolk Comprehensive Plan, p. 30, bolded for emphasis)
In the 2045 Comprehensive Plan draft, the paragraph on the “Growth Areas Over Time” states that “As part of the Suffolk 2045 plan, the growth areas were again reconsidered and it was determined that growth should continue to be focused inward with a limited number of areas identified for expansion.” City managers SAY “inward” and “limited”, but then they also want to extend the Growth Area by 23%–all within the watershed and CBPA. How is 23% expanded growth limited?
Compare these outward extensions to the CBPA map below. It’s almost as if Suffolk’s leaders are determined to eventually turn the whole CBPA into one massive Growth Area.
Planners are even telling us that as long as they determine land to be in the Growth Area, they don’t need to worry about natural resources: “This plan seeks to identify new opportunities to maintain the conservation of natural resources outside of the Growth Areas” (p.25, emphasis added). Are they really only concerned with our natural resources outside the Growth Areas? How many opportunities do we get to conserve natural resources? What happened to the old opportunities inside the Growth Areas? What will happen five years from now when they review the Comp Plan again and decide to extend the Growth Areas even farther?
Suffolk is blessed to have all the water resources that it does. But this means that its land use must be planned extremely thoughtfully and with more limitations than other places. Perhaps not every opportunity or development is suitable for a place that has so much to protect. Having open land does not mean that land is not already serving a purpose.
Statements and actions from our current 2035 Comprehensive Plan show that this concept used to be understood:
Why are the current Suffolk city managers willing to sacrifice our natural resources to developers when decades of previous planners understood the unique and valuable resources we are fortunate to have here. They need to understand they work for the people of Suffolk, not for the developers. They need to stop this drastic expansion into the watershed and CBPA and focus on preserving this valuable resource before it is too late.
Let City Council know what you think about this new growth area: council@suffolkva.us
Michael D. Duman, Mayor
mayor@suffolkva.us
Phone: 757-514-4009
Lue R. Ward, Jr., Vice Mayor
(Nansemond Borough)
nansemond@suffolkva.us
Phone: 757-377-6929
Shelley Butler Barlow,
Council Member
(Chuckatuck Borough)
chuckatuck@suffolkva.us
Phone: 757-346-8355
Leroy Bennett, Council Member
(Cypress Borough)
cypress@suffolkva.us
Phone: 757-407-3750
Timothy J. Johnson, Council Member
(Holy Neck Borough)
holyneck@suffolkva.us
Phone: 757-407-0556
Roger W. Fawcett, Council Member
(Sleepy Hole Borough)
sleepyhole@suffolkva.us
Phone: 757-377-8641
John Rector, Council Member
(Suffolk Borough)
suffolk@suffolkva.us
Phone: 757-407-1953
LeOtis Williams, Council Member
(Whaleyville Borough)
whaleyville@suffolkva.us
Phone: 757-402-7100