2045 Comprehensive Plan:
(Blue bulleted points are linked to articles with further documentation or information on the topic.)
Ignores Citizen Input
- 2045 Comprehensive Plan is the opposite of what the overall message received from the 7,600+ public responses received telling the city what citizens want and need
- Overwhelmingly, citizens feel Suffolk is growing too fast for infrastructure to keep up
- Instead of slowing down growth and focusing on quality of life, the City plans to expand growth considerably.
- City provides no Vision that is compatible with the public feedback
Focuses on Port Over People:
- Does not follow Smart Growth principles
- City is more concerned about serving the Port of Virginia than its citizens
- Suffolk already leads Hampton Roads in warehouses
- Tremendous increase the amount of “Employment Centers” (purple on the map) where warehouses can be built – about 4 times current amount
- Suffolk will become a dry port city
- State of Virginia requires the comp plan to be for the ‘general welfare of the inhabitants’ but this one benefits developers
Will Drastically Increases Growth Area
Will Drastically Change Land Use throughout Suffolk
- Even within the current Growth Areas, the land use will change
- Changes in land use will increase residential density
- Language in the 2045 Comprehensive Plan will require zoning to match the Land Use Map
- Land that currently does not match the new Land Use Map will be rezoned
Lacks a Fiscal Impact Analysis
- Failed to complete the planned Fiscal Impact Analysis (FIA)
- FIA are recommended to be completed PRIOR to writing the draft, NOT after approval of the draft
- The massive increase in warehouses and the dense residential development in this plan will be expanding into agricultural land that lack infrastructure – this will cost taxpayers more money than focusing on current growth areas
Destroys Fertile Farmland & Fails to Protect Environment
- New Growth Areas are currently zoned Agricultural
- New Growth Areas include some of the most fertile soil in the State of Virginia
- This plan allows for large solar farms and the development of special projects even outside the Growth Area which will destroy more farmland
- Expands warehouses and high density residential developments into watershed areas of our rivers, drinking reservoirs, and the the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area, exposing waterways to additional pollution and stressing already ‘impaired’ waterways.