Suffolk – Care4Suffolk

City Council Voting Record

Care4Suffolk — Thu, 03 Oct 2024 08:17:00 +0000

As election day approaches and early voting is well on its way, it is important to have information on which to base your decision.

Finding out how any particular City Council Member voted on any particular rezoning or land use decision is a difficult task that requires hours of combing through the agenda center on the city’s website. Sometimes that agenda isn’t clear on the rezoning location or the nature of the rezoning, in which case you have to watch the video to learn more.

We know people are busy and so Care4Suffolk has done a lot of the leg work for you. Below you can look at key rezonings and land use decisions over the last couple of years. We tried to find any rezoning that was large, or had a lot of public interest, or was similar to other rezonings that got a lot of public interest. If you are interested in learning more about a particular rezoning listed, or if we forgot a rezoning that you want to know about, just email us at care4suffolk@gmail.com.

Click on the chart to enlarge.

2024 City Council Votes

Note: The 2024 chart was edited to reflect a rezoning for Pitchkettle Landing on July 2. Thank you to the community member who brought it to our attention!

2023 City Council Votes

2022 City Council Votes

Note: CUP2021-003 – Motion way made to Deny, so Aye votes were to deny. It was unanimously was denied.

Comparison of Suffolk’s Comp Plans

Care4Suffolk — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 16:35:09 +0000

Suffolk’s 2018 Comprehensive Plan was adopted in 1998 and was the first of three comprehensive plans adopted by the City. Currently, the City is working on the fourth iteration which is scheduled to be voted on by City Council on November 20th, after the election but just before Thanksgiving.

Care4Suffolk recently obtained a copy of the 2018 Comprehensive Plan. It is not available online, but we had a member go in and take photos of each of the roughly 700 pages of the document and accompanying appendices. We are hoping to provide the public with a copy online in the future.

With the new comp plan still under way, I thought this was a good opportunity to share some of the aspects of the first comprehensive plan, especially in light of the recent admission by a city leader that this new plan is about Suffolk’s role in supporting the Port of Virginia.

The 2018 Comprehensive Plan emphasized balanced growth, specifically about keeping the growth healthy and sustainable. There were no ‘market trends’ which seems to be a focus in the 2045 Comp Plan. The second major focus of the 2018 plan was an environmental theme with a lot of focus on protecting ground water, reservoirs, and rivers.

Another theme in the old plan is preserving rural character, including a focus on rural, agricultural land, and open space. This was an actual focus, not just lip service like it is in the 2045 Comp Plan, which does mention these ideals, but it is a low priority and is juxtaposed to the massive land use changes that contradict protecting rural areas.

Core revitalizing in downtown Suffolk with economic development made up the last major theme. Economic development included agriculture and tourism along with manufacturing, office, and commercial development. This is a huge contrast to the 2045 Comp Plan which focuses heavily on creating more warehousing space to serve the Port of Virginia.

The part that stood out most about the 2018 Comp Plan was the part where is stated:

“These key ideas are a result of an intensive two-year planning process. They reflect ideas from many citizens who attended and participated in many meetings and responded on public comment forms.”

What a contrast to the 2045 Comp Plan which did a great job getting public input, but focused on the ideas of the ‘other stakeholders’ (Port of Virginia and developers) over the vision of the citizens.

Another contrast between the original comp plan and the prosed 2045 plan – the original was based on a wealth of data. The 2018 Comp Plan contained a Fiscal Impact Analysis (FIA). Current city leaders are unconcerned with the fact that staff decided AGAINST doing the FIA, a frustration with citizens who are looking for fiscal responsibility from city leaders.

These pages are from Chapter 1of the 2018 Comprehensive Plan.

The 2018 Comp Plan also had a substantial amount of data on agriculture in Suffolk. One map included in the plan showed the soil conditions throughout the city.

This image is from the 2018 Comp Plan and shows the soil map – conditions of the soil throughout the city. The original map is completely in black and white. The green highlighted was done by Care4Suffolk to delineate the good soil land.

The green highlighted area represent good soil – suitable for farming. Compare the good soil map with the proposed growth areas in the 2045 Comp Plan highlighted in red. Please note that a lot of the red is actually from the current growth area under the 2035 comp plan, but the 2045 additional growth areas have been added as well to represent what will be the Growth Area if the 2045 Comp Plan is passed.

The growth areas will not stop there, however. The 2045 Comprehensive Plan contains language that allows for both utility solar and industrial projects that the City deems desirable, on agricultural lands outside the growth area. Additionally, in five years, the City will evaluate the comp plan again and can add additional growth areas if they chose. The City’s original growth area expansion in the February 2024 draft was even more extensive, but they pulled back on some of those areas due to public outcry.

The map below includes all the areas from the February draft and is telling of the City’s thinking about future growth. Each successive draft gobbles up more and more of that good soil area, chipping away at the agricultural industry in Suffolk.

How well the 2018 Comprehensive Plan was implemented, I can’t say. The2018 plan states itself:

“In some communities, the Comprehensive Plan is all but invisible, used for little else than as a reference point for contentious rezonings. It is often no more than the servant of the marketplace, simply ratifying the status quo. In other places, it is a rallying point for citizens and leaders who say, ‘this is the way we want our community to look!'”

I don’t want a comprehensive plan that’s sole purpose is to serve the needs of other stake-holders. I want a comprehensive plan that is of the people, for the people, by the people. The people have told the City what they want for Suffolk’s future – it is time for the City to start listening to us.

How Much Will It Cost Us?

Care4Suffolk — Thu, 12 Sep 2024 02:12:29 +0000

The recent groundbreaking ceremony for the future 5-million square foot Port 460 development provides a good opportunity to remind Suffolk’s decision-makers about why a whole-city Fiscal Impact Analysis needs to be completed before a new comprehensive plan is approved.

After the August 21 City Council Meeting’s public hearing on the 2045 Comprehensive Plan, Mayor Duman made a few comments before City Council voted to delay final action on it. One statement (at Mark 2:59:50) was regarding the Fiscal Impact Analysis (FIA) that was supposed to have been completed:

“I’m not that concerned with a fiscal analysis for the whole city.”

He is not the only person on Council or city staff to feel that this FIA is unnecessary. (We wrote about Comprehensive Planning Manager Keith Cannady’s response in this article.)

However, a FIA is a very important piece of data for a city when considering growth. It details the expected revenue that different development scenarios will bring and the costs of services that the city will have to provide over time. Essentially, it tells you if certain types of growth will likely be: net positive – we make money; net neutral – we break even; or net negative – it will be a fiscal drain on the city.

Mr. Cannady offered two justifications for skipping this crucial step in the 2045 Comprehensive Plan. The first reason is that city planners aren’t changing Suffolk’s current growth approach (which is to just expand the growth area every five years with each new comprehensive plan update). The second reason is that he believes that the site-level FIAs conducted by developers for rezoning applications are sufficient.

A recent example of one of these site-level FIAs is the one provided by the developer (Matan Companies) for the Port 460 rezoning. If you read through the FIA they conducted here, you will see that they include figures for jobs created, tax revenue, and the money they will spend on road construction and improvements. You will also notice there is something missing: Cost of Services. This is the second piece of the equation that would include maintenance for roads, sewers, and storm water drainage, as well as costs for emergency services and other city services. A FIA should not just look at the one-time cost of these services at installation, it is supposed to include costs over time.

Matan claims that they will be spending about $27 million dollars on road construction and improvements. Only $8 million goes to improving existing roads and the remaining $19 million is to create 5 new public roads – which Suffolk and its taxpayers will have to continue to maintain indefinitely. Roads that have non-stop tractor trailer traffic traveling on them are not cheap to maintain! Leaving out the cost of services is NOT a minor detail. It is half of the piece of this puzzle.

We don’t know the answer to how much Port 460 will actually cost taxpayers, because the developer didn’t provide the data and the city didn’t ask!

The City didn’t require an independent third party to conduct or review the fiscal analysis for this huge and impactful project – they simply took the word of the developer as they do with any other ordinary rezoning application.

Is it fiscally responsible to just trust that a developer won’t omit, distort, or fabricate data on a project worth hundreds of millions of dollars? The Mayor himself stated, as he presided over the Port 460 rezoning hearing, that he didn’t believe the accuracy of the claim from Matan when they said that they would be creating 9,000 jobs. He stated:

“I agree, you know, that the number of jobs projected seems pretty high to me. I mean, I’m telling you. I’m… you know… I guess anybody can do a study, but I don’t know where we are getting 9,000 jobs from. I mean, but I’ll take 2,000.” (Source: City Council Meeting, September 21, 2022, at mark 2:08:05)

To rely solely on these site-level FIAs goes against recommendations by experts that a FIA be done during the comprehensive plan process. If the growth approach we have been following is not making the City money, then we want to change it. If there is another way to grow and we can make money and not pave over our farmland, we want to know that, too. Suffolk seems to be blindly going down the path it has been following for decades, but with no data to prove it is a good path.

We go into great length explaining the importance of the FIA and documenting expert opinions in this article. Importantly, the FIA for a comprehensive plan is not conducted by a developer, but instead as a collaboration between the city staff and the comprehensive plan contractor. We shared all of this information with the Mayor and most City Council members. A quick summary is that this FIA allows the city to analyze multiple growth build-out scenarios (3 scenarios were originally a requirement of Suffolk’s contract for the FIA). It can offer comparisons over small or large areas and allow the city to consider the fiscal impacts if certain land is developed as residential or industrial or simply left as agricultural. Our city leaders chose NOT to look at any data on any scenarios. Not only are they skipping this step for this 2045 Comprehensive Plan, it was not done for the 2035 Comprehensive Plan either, which was adopted back in 2015.

The city has been doing decades worth of this type of growth based on no fiscal analysis.

Mayor Duman says he’s not concerned with the FIA. But Suffolk’s citizens ARE concerned. The City is putting the 2045 Comprehensive Plan on hold to complete the Master Transportation Plan, which is very much needed and may demonstrate the need for a lot of expensive projects.

We have been asking since April to hold off on the plan until city staff provides a proper fiscal analysis, as originally required, for the growth that they are proposing. If development in this new comprehensive plan will be so beneficial for the citizens, then there shouldn’t be an issue proving it with an actual FIA. This plan and any future developments should be denied until we know how much it is going to cost us – the taxpayers.

Developer Influence on Comp Plan

Care4Suffolk — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 17:04:11 +0000

A few months ago, we wrote an article that questioned the amount of influence developers have had in the creation of Suffolk’s 2045 Comprehensive Plan. We now know that they have extensive influence.

A recent update from the City regarding the 2045 Comprehensive Plan was published August 7, 2024, three weeks after the Planning Commission had already voted on it.

The new draft contained a change that the City explained in their email dated August 7, 2024:

Here is the a comparison of how the draft read when it went to Planning Commission on July 16th, and how it reads now:

A ‘number of property owners’ thought that this was so important that it had to be changed. This change relates to land development. These ‘property owners’ (developers), have so much sway that they were able to convince the Planning Department to change this AFTER the Planning Commission had already voted on it. Let that sink in.

Care4Suffolk, representing hundreds of citizens, expressed our shared concern about the missing Fiscal Impact Analysis (FIA), months before it went in front of the Planning Commission. The FIA was supposed to be completed before the draft was even written, and it would have helped us understand how this growth will impact our future tax burden. We had no influence; the Planning Department felt it wasn’t important to do, and the plan continued on. If we had been developers instead of teachers, social workers, farmers, etc., maybe we would have held more sway.

Regional Influence to Turn Suffolk into a Dry Port

Care4Suffolk — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 13:17:56 +0000

Suffolk’s City Council is about to vote on the new 2045 Comprehensive Plan. This plan focuses on economic development centered around the Port of Virginia. It prioritizes Suffolk’s “opportunity,” with its vast land mass, to serve regional needs by allowing for more warehouses.

A Comprehensive Plan is supposed to serve the needs of a city’s people, with the State of Virginia mandating that:

The comprehensive plan shall be made with the purpose of guiding and accomplishing a coordinated, adjusted and harmonious development of the territory which will, in accordance with present and probable future needs and resources, best promote the health, safety, morals, order, convenience, prosperity and general welfare of the inhabitants, including the elderly and persons with disabilities.

If the focus is supposed to be on the general welfare of the inhabitants, why is the City tailoring its long-term growth to the needs of the Port of Virginia and regional goals?

This regional focus becomes clearer when you understand that the person hired to be in charge of the 2045 Comprehensive Plan had previously worked as the Deputy Executive Director of the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission, since 2016, with one of his duties being to develop a “program to increase the region’s inventory of shovel-ready economic development sites.” This new 2045 Comprehensive Plan also emphasizes shovel-ready projects in Suffolk.

In addition, the Deputy City Manager in charge of the Planning Department (the department responsible for the creation of the 2045 Comprehensive Plan), has a strong regional background as well. He previously worked as Business Development Manager with the Hampton Roads Alliance, an organization that “represents 14 localities who, with the support of nearly 100 private sector investors, govern and resource the organization and its regional economic development efforts.” His regional connection doesn’t end there. He is a member of Hampton Roads Chamber, “the premier pro-business organization serving the region to build the best climate for businesses to thrive”. He is not just a member, he is also on their Board for the Suffolk Division. Additionally, he became a part of their ‘Signature Program’ as part of the LEAD Class of 2015 alumni. This nine-month exclusive program is designed by the Hampton Roads Chamber to “promote servant leadership to create momentum for positive change across our region’s seventeen communities through extensive networking and collaboration.”

The Hampton Roads Chamber, as part of their legislative agenda, promotes regional and public-private collaboration to support economic development, support site-ready funding, and “continue investment in businesses and transportation networks that support the expansion of the Port of Virginia.” The Port of Virginia happens to be one of the ‘Strategic Partners’ of Hampton Roads Chamber, as well as the Hampton Roads Alliance. There is a huge overlap in the goals of these regional partners, and they all support one another.

Hampton Roads Chamber State Legislative Priorities 2024

Now let’s look at the Steering Committee, the volunteer committee selected to “help guide the process for and substance of the plan”. There are 24 members of this committee and about half of them are either: not from Suffolk, have strong ties to these regional organizations, and/or are in the real estate business. Nine Steering Committee members are also members of at least one regional organization, with five of those members currently or previously holding Board positions or other leadership positions. Half the committee may have vested interests that may not align with Suffolk residents. One of these members is a Vice President with the Port of Virginia with his role listed as Port Centric Logistics. The deck has been stacked against Suffolk’s right to control its future, through the regional influence in this plan.

We have nothing against these individuals personally, or against these organizations. We are not against business, nor are we against Suffolk being part of the broader Hampton Roads community.

The problem comes when individuals are hired/selected by the City of Suffolk to serve the people of Suffolk, and instead of serving the citizens’ needs and wants, they prioritize regional goals. The Port of Virginia needs more warehouses and workforce housing, and Suffolk has the land to build it. This is the view of these regional organizations and these are the major themes and objectives in the 2045 Comprehensive Plan. But do the citizens of Suffolk want their city to become a dry port? They do NOT, and they provided plenty of feedback for the City during this Comprehensive Plan process to let the City know what they do want – the City just chose to ignore it. The City is not fulfilling its legal requirement to focus “on the general welfare of the inhabitants”.

We documented previously about the 2045 Comprehensive Plan and public feedback. The City received 7,500 responses with the categories below. The plan not only doesn’t fulfill these needs and wants of its people, it is contrary to many of them.

The plan has a heavy emphasis on economic development which sounds good in theory, yet the City decided against conducting the previously planned Fiscal Impact Analysis and it has delayed the much needed Master Transportation Plan. Both of these would have provided solid data to shed more light on the economic impact of this huge growth in both warehousing and suburban sprawl that is coming with this 2045 Comprehensive Plan. The City chose not to do them, but then claims without data, that this will be good economic growth for the City.

Data was presented from March 20, 2024 City Council Work Session Packet, p. 69.

We are not against warehouses, in general, and it is good to work with our neighboring cities, to a point. But don’t we have enough warehouses? We already lead the region, with Suffolk being home to one-third of all warehouse space in Hampton Roads. We have more than our fair share. Warehouses have negative impacts that can not be ignored. They bring truck traffic and pollution, and they add little to the local economy compared to other industrial and commercial development. Additionally, warehouses do not help develop the sense of community that citizens are craving – people don’t want to live near them because they are big, ugly, noisy, polluting, and cause road headaches and safety concerns with truck traffic. Lastly, these warehouses will be built on what is currently farmland. It is some of the most fertile farmland in the state, and once built over, it will be destroyed forever.

Suffolk has long been a regional partner in both agriculture and with our water. The lakes within Suffolk provide drinking water to many in Hampton Roads. Why must we put both of these in peril: one to be destroyed to build warehouses, and the other polluted by the proximity of this growth to the watershed. Why don’t we get a say in how we participate in the region instead of the region dictating to us?

It is high time that the City staff and leaders are reminded that they work for the citizens, and they do not have the right to pass this 2045 Comprehensive Plan which goes directly against the wishes of the public.

The 2045 Comprehensive Plan goes to City Council on August 21 at 6pm in City Hall. Let’s hope that Mayor Duman remembers what he said about City Council at this year’s State of the City:

“Together these outstanding individuals share a total of 82 years of public service. Together they work tirelessly to provide unparalleled representation of their constituents. Collectively as a council, we work cooperatively with one goal in mind, and that is, to serve our citizens. It is a privilege to work with them, and beside them, as we do the people’s work.”

Please let Mayor Duman and City Council know that you oppose the 2045 Comprehensive Plan by signing our petition. Share with your neighbors, friends and family in Suffolk.

Will Taxpayers Be Footing the Bill for 460 Development?

Care4Suffolk — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 15:28:52 +0000

“Forty percent of the justification of any transportation project in our region today is driven by congestion. So if you don’t have congestion, you’re probably not gonna get money.”

-Robert Lewis, City of Suffolk Director of Public Works, Planning Commission 2045 Comprehensive Plan public hearing, July 16, 2024 (YouTube time stamp 2:20:50)

It isn’t Mr. Lewis’ fault that Hampton Roads’ traffic is an absolute mess. He was just stating things the way they are, but does that mean we have to just accept it?

He and our other city leadership seem resigned to it as the status quo instead of using the leverage our city has to demand better support of our infrastructure. Suffolk has the land that the Hampton Roads region and leaders in Richmond want to develop in support of the Port of Virginia—the port especially really wants and needs our land for warehouse space.

Our city leadership needs to hold people’s feet to the fire and not be so willing to bow down to the demands of other entities. We have what they want and they should support our city as an equal partner in this scheme they call “Responsible Regionalism.” This “responsibility” should work two ways and Suffolk should not be left scrounging to pay for the infrastructure the region needs.

An example is happening right now, as some people celebrate the $30 million that was just granted for Route 460 improvements to support the Port 460 project. Did you know that this three-mile project is going to actually cost a total of $86 million?

While watching the March 20, 2024 City Council Work Session about this project, I learned the following:

There is no requirement for these road improvements to be in place for Port 460 to be built out (per Deputy City Manager Kevin Hughes, Time Stamp 36:10)
The Port of Virginia only kicked in $1 million
The developer only kicked in $6.6 million
City officials have spent the past two years just trying to get the $30 million funding (take a look at the extensive packet that was put together to ask for this money—it looks like a lot of work hours must have been put in!)
City officials have decided that we are a “Port-Centric Partner” in order to “sell” our need for the funding
The $30 million is just for “right of way acquisition” and utility relocation
In order to secure the $30 million, the City had to prove that it can fund the remaining $48 million for the actual construction costs
As of now there is no outside funding for the $48 million, so it is budgeted into the Capital Improvement Program (CIP)
City financial advisors were consulted to determine the city’s ability to fund “its portion” of the project and determined that Suffolk does have “the ability to issue an additional $48,049,520 in general obligation bonds between FY 27 and FY 29”
By FY 2027, Suffolk will have to find additional revenues to repay debt service; additional required revenue will increase each year

This is the point where we’ll probably accept the low-hanging fruits of development options as our sources of additional revenue. And the cycle will begin again.

And they wonder why we are concerned about a Fiscal Impact Analysis!

No doubt Route 460 must be improved to accommodate all the new traffic projected for Port 460 and the miles of even more warehouses and residential development envisioned by city staff in the new 2045 Comprehensive Plan, if it gets approved. According to the Suffolk News Herald article about the $30 million funding, Governor Youngkin said this is all happening “through the power of partnership.” However, it feels like our “partners” are making us jump through a lot of hoops to do their bidding.

Documentation:

Please sign our petition to urge City Council to vote ‘NO’ to the new 2045 Comprehensive Plan.

Voice of the People

Care4Suffolk — Sat, 20 Jul 2024 17:15:47 +0000

The City of Suffolk is on the verge of adopting the new 2045 Comprehensive Plan. This plan just got approved by a vote of 7-1 by the Planning Commission and it now heads to City Council for a vote on Wednesday, August 21 at 6pm at City Hall.

This plan is NOT in the best interest of the residents.

Please sign our petition opposing this plan and read on for more details.

The City received more than 7,500 responses from citizens telling the City what they want for the future of Suffolk. The responses were documented and then summarized, and you can read those here.

The key themes from the public’s responses are in the chart below along with whether the City has a plan to deliver based on the 2045 Comprehensive Plan:

WHAT THE PEOPLE ASKED FOR:	2045 COMP PLAN TO DELIVER
Small town feel	NO
Downtown Investment	NO
Open Space and Parks	NO
Well planned development	NO
Fix traffic issues	NO
Safe, walkable communities	NO
Invest in public transportation, trails, and rail	MAYBE
Well planned economic development	NO
More amenities	MAYBE
Affordable housing	MAYBE
Limit warehouses	NO
Preserve agriculture	NO
Engage public about their wants and needs	NO

Using all the public feedback, the City could have developed a vision for Suffolk that the people could get behind. However, the 2045 Comp Plan has no vision. With the demand from citizens to invest in downtown, the City could have focused economic development on downtown, but instead, they are carving out new areas for even more warehouses (we already lead Hampton Roads in warehouses!) Instead of limiting warehouse development to existing space and fixing our traffic problems, the 2045 Comprehensive Plan will exacerbate these problems, destroy the open space and farmland people want to preserve, and ruin that small town feel that Suffolk has.

People want to live in communities that are safe and walkable. The push for more warehouses is driving the housing market’s need for higher density housing, and builders want to build where it is cheap and easy (namely on agricultural land), so they can maximize their profits. The City could have focused on community building and infill development close to downtown, but instead we are going to get more of the same suburban sprawl that is NOT walkable, and it will devour more agricultural land. The City keeps allowing these huge suburban neighborhoods and thinks that just because they put sidewalks there, that makes them walkable.

The people of Suffolk value the open spaces and farmland in Suffolk. Farmland is a finite resource that once gone, is gone for good. Getting rid of the land that grows our food is terribly short-sighted. The city pays lip service to preserving agricultural land, but it stipulates that it will preserve it only OUTSIDE the Growth Areas. Yet the City keeps expanding the Growth Areas. They also added language to this new plan that gives them flexibility to build outside the Growth Areas IF the City deems it is a good idea. So basically, no farmland, forestry land, or open space is safe from development, if it can feed the City’s voracious appetite for ‘growth’.

L.5.3 Consider amending the City’s development regulations to add guidelines for the review of exceptional development opportunities outside of the growth boundaries. (p.68 of 2045 Comprehensive Plan)

Before getting public comments, the City met with ‘focus groups’ and staff. We don’t know who attended these meetings, so we submitted a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request, and are waiting for that information, but what is pretty clear is that early on it was staff and certain groups of people that were able to sway this plan to their desires, and it definitely wasn’t the citizens.

Here are some highlights from those meetings (full summary is here):

WHAT ‘FOCUS GROUPS’ ASKED FOR:	2045 COMP PLAN TO DELIVER
Interest in expanding Growth Areas	YES
Vacant, rural land provides areas for transformative development projects	YES
Demand is there for continued growth	YES
Efficient and predictable review process, “speed to build” or will look at other communities.	YES
Infrastructure costs – water, sewer, and roads can become barriers for industrial development.	YES
Growth of industrial areas is what drives many of the housing developments.	YES
There is a shifting need to invest in infrastructure prior to building homes (initial investments for long-term returns) would assist developers.	YES
City should either allow for more industrial development or limit based on current boundaries; there is a demand so this is a choice for the City to make.	YES
Renewable energy is looking within the region, planning for this in rural areas is important.	YES

These focus groups got a lot of things THEY wanted – expanded growth areas along with more land use for industrial and then more land for residential development to support it. They asked for a faster and more predictable review process.

L.1.2 Review and revise current development regulations, including the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) and the zoning map, to improve compatibility with the comprehensive plan. (p.64 of 2045 Comprehensive Plan)

This is part of the “efficient and predictable review process”. It doesn’t matter how many times a staff or City Council Members says that this is ‘just a plan’ and ‘not written in stone’, because the City is planning to rewrite the UDO to reflect the 2045 Comprehensive Plan and rezoning applications that come before them that conform to the Future Land Map will get rezoned. This new Land Use Map is the future of Suffolk. If you don’t know what the land around your home will look like in the future, you should check it out now. This could be our last chance to change this.

The other item that was requested by these ‘focus groups’ was about infrastructure. Developers want it in place so they don’t have to pay or wait for it. Let’s take a moment to appreciate that one about infrastructure. As citizens, we get told all the time that development builds the infrastructure, as in literally, if a developer wants to build, he has to pay for the sewer connection, a pump station if necessary, build the roads and sidewalks, etc.. All of a sudden, developers are complaining about how expensive that is and maybe they won’t build unless the infrastructure is already in place – and so the City adds into the 2045 Comprehensive Plan:

L.5.1 Identify priority economic development sites and make strategic investments to advance site readiness. (p.68 of 2045 Comprehensive Plan)

E.1.6 Strategically expand utility service (water, sewer, fiber) to sites that can support new employment generating businesses. Develop financing options to

facilitate the construction of water and sewer projects to support development.

Use City-funded utility capacity improvements as incentives for development. (p. 81 of 2045 Comprehensive Plan)

The site-readiness is all about having everything in place so developers don’t have to do the work or spend the money to get the land ready. The idea is now that the city will bring in the sewers and other utilities and have the site ready to build on, which will make it more attractive to developers.

Keep in mind that the people asked for fewer warehouses, but now we will get to pay to help build what we don’t even want. How is this representing the citizens? If these warehouses are going to be bringing in so much money, the developers should foot the bill to invest in infrastructure – not the taxpayers!

To entice these warehouse developers that the citizens don’t want, the City is prepared to make Suffolk’s current farmland ‘site-ready’ for the developers on our dime. Knowing this, the City still made the decision to skip the fiscal analysis. The experts that had been contracted to do the FIA, recommend doing the FIA first and then evaluating options, only then should the city write the comprehensive plan. The City of Suffolk decided that it wasn’t going to even evaluate different options for development and it wasn’t necessary to look at the long-term financial impact. This is a HUGE increase in growth for the city, including building large scale warehouses and residential developments on farmland that does not currently have infrastructure.

The State of Virginia requires that comprehensive plans be adopted with the purpose of “prosperity and general welfare of the inhabitants”. This plan does NOT meet that standard. This plan is supposed to be about us, our needs and wants, and our vision for the future of Suffolk, not the Port’s needs, developers’ desires, and the will of City staff.

If any of this isn’t sitting right with you, please join us in opposing the 2045 Comprehensive Plan. Please sign our petition, share with all of your neighbors, friends and family in Suffolk. Maybe, just maybe, if enough of us tell City Council we don’t want this, maybe they will listen to the voice of the people.

Please sign our petition to urge City Council to vote ‘NO’ to the new 2045 Comprehensive Plan.

Land Use Change with 2045 Comp Plan

Care4Suffolk — Sat, 22 Jun 2024 20:24:11 +0000

The 2045 Comprehensive Plan that will be coming before City Council on August 21st for consideration will have substantial changes in Land Use for the residents of Suffolk. It is important that the citizens of Suffolk understand the changes that will come if the 2045 Comprehensive Plan is approved.

At the June 18, 2024 Planning Commission Work Session, the Staff addressed a concern they were hearing, specifically about the large amount of purple on the map, the “Employment Centers”. These Employment Centers are where warehouses can be built. The Staff assured Planning Commission, and the public, that the increase in this land use type is only a 14% increase from the current industrial land use.

See for yourself. Below are two images, with the ability to slide between the Current Land Use (left) and compare it to the Future Land Use (right). On both maps, the purple areas are the Industrial Land Use/Employment Centers. Does that look like a 14% increase to you?

There is a diamond shaped cursor in the map. Slide it left and right to see the changes in land use that are coming with this new comprehensive plan.

The keys for the two maps are below. In general, green is for agricultural land, open space and parks; yellow to orange is residential; red is commercial; and purple is for industrial where warehouses can be built.

The maps and keys come from the 2045 Comprehensive Plan draft. The Current Land Use map and key are on pages 31-32 and the Future Land Use map and key are on page 41.

Current Land Use Key

Future Land Use Key

Please sign our petition to urge City Council to vote ‘NO’ to the new 2045 Comprehensive Plan.

Pause the Plan – Help Spread the Word

Care4Suffolk — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 16:46:41 +0000

Care4Suffolk has been following the City’s 2045 Comprehensive Plan since November 2022. After a two-year process, the draft has been completed and the next step will be for this 2045 Comprehensive Plan to make its way through the Planning Commission and to City Council where, if approved, it will be implemented immediately.

Unfortunately, this 2045 Comprehensive Plan does NOT represent the needs or wants of the majority of citizens of Suffolk. This plan is going to expand the growth area by almost 25%. The previous plan, adopted in 2015 only expanded the growth area by 5% and look at how that has impacted the traffic on our roads, our over-crowded school, and over-stretched public services.

Additionally, the City is increasing the growth area without having done due diligence. The City chose NOT to do the fiscal analysis. The fiscal analysis was part of the original proposal requirements and was supposed to be completed prior to writing the draft. This fiscal impact analysis is a set of tools that the Planning Department could have – and should have – used to see what various development options cost in infrastructure and public service and compare it to the revenue they generate. It shows planners whether specific types of development in specific locations are a net positive for the city or a net negative, which will cost the taxpayers money in the future. This is THE key tool that should have guided decisions: should we expand the growth area and by how much, where should that expansion be, and what type of development is best? Instead of looking at data to answer these questions, the planners just decided not to do the fiscal analysis!

We can NOT allow our City to proceed with this plan until AFTER the fiscal analysis is completed AND used to guide the decision about the growth area and land use types.

Below is a flier that we are circulating. Please help us in our efforts to ‘Pause the Plan’ by sharing this with family, friends, and neighbors in Suffolk. We need as many people as possible to let City Council know that this is NOT acceptable.

A Comprehensive Plan is the document that guides growth and development in a city. Suffolk’s 2045 Comprehensive Plan (suffolk2045.org) will soon be voted on by Planning Commission and City Council. If approved, it will have a major impact on future land use decisions.

Problems with the 2045 Comprehensive Plan

No Fiscal Impact Analysis Was Done:
- The City failed to use this essential tool as prescribed in the original contract and against the recommendations of the consulting firm.
- The fiscal analysis was supposed to have been done BEFORE the draft was written.
- Without the fiscal analysis, the City doesn’t know how much its desired development will cost taxpayers.

Huge Growth Area Expansion:
- A Growth Area is where a city encourages development.
- The 2045 Comprehensive Plan will increase the Growth Area by almost 25% (adding 17 square miles).
- Previous comprehensive plans, from 1998 to 2015, added only 12 square miles total.
- New Growth Area will destroy farmland and open space adjacent to our reservoirs.
- Suffolk’s farms are an economic powerhouse that should NOT be sacrificed in favor of warehouses and suburban sprawl.
- Suffolk already struggles with traffic congestion, unsafe roads, over-crowded schools, and over-extended emergency services.

Let City Council know that you want them to ‘Pause the Plan’ and have the fiscal analysis completed BEFORE adopting the 2045 Comprehensive Plan: 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

Comprehensive Plan Survey

Care4Suffolk — Mon, 01 Apr 2024 18:11:47 +0000

If you haven’t done it yet, complete the survey for the 2045 Comprehensive Plan draft before the April 8th deadline. It is available online, or if you prefer a paper survey, email care4suffolk@gmail.com and we will get you a copy.

If you aren’t familiar with Comprehensive Plans, they are used by cities to guide development. Virginia requires them and cities have to review theirs every 5 years. This 2045 Comp Plan will go before Suffolk’s City Council sometime this summer and, if approved, take effect immediately. The city has been soliciting feedback from citizens at various points in the process of developing the new plan.

The Comp Plan states where and what type of development will happen in Suffolk by creating “Growth Areas.” There are some huge changes in this plan, including a growth area expansion of almost 25%. The City also wants to increase industrial development (like warehouses and distribution centers) by about four times the area currently zoned for them. If you thought the roads were packed with tractor trailers now, just wait!

This survey provides your last opportunity to suggest changes to the comp plan, before it goes through the process to City Council. The survey is long, consisting of three parts. The first is the interactive map. It provides what will be the Future Land Use and Growth Area map. You can click anywhere on the map and a window will pop up with a list for you to select what type of land use you think it should be. There is also space to write a comment.

The second part has a series of Actions. These are the main objectives and actions that the city wants to implement. You have to select “View Actions” under each one in order to read the details and see where you can write a comment on them and select whether you support the action or are concerned. There is no option to object, but you can write that in the comments.

The third part is demographic information and is pretty straightforward.

There are two major issues that stand out in the Action section. The first is under the Land Use and Growth Management section. There are a lot of statements that are designed to align zoning to the Future Land Use map, which is very different from what we have now. Currently, most of the land they want to add in the expanded Growth Area is zoned for agriculture. Including this agricultural land in the Growth Area, combined with many of these new Actions, will make it easier for the developers to get this land rezoned. That is concerning considering the huge expansion of the growth area and how much of it is designated for the Future Land Uses of ‘Suburban Neighborhood’ and ‘Employment Centers,’ which is the city’s new term for industrial. That’s where warehouses and distribution centers will be built.

The other thing that stood out was the contradictions present in the ‘Objectives’ and ‘Actions’. The City states in a variety of ways that it wants to preserve farmland, protect open spaces, increase access to natural spaces, and protect the watershed, waterways, reservoirs, and environmentally sensitive areas. These all sound great, except they want to expand the Growth Area into these exact areas. The best, cheapest, and easiest way to do all of this preserving and protecting is to NOT expand the growth area and NOT label them for future suburban residential and industrial land uses.

Expanding growth area by almost 25% and the need to protect these natural resources are at odds. If the city truly cares about our farmers and wants to protect our water and environment, the city just needs to remove the new additions to the growth area. It is really simple. It won’t cost us anything. Remove the growth areas for the benefit of Suffolk.