Residents share hopes for the future at Comp Plan community meetings

BY HEATHER MICHON
CORRESPONDENT

Fluvanna residents shared their thoughts on the county’s future at a series of community meetings hosted by the Planning Department as part of the development of a new Comprehensive Plan.

Meetings were held at Fork Union, Palmyra, Cunningham, and Columbia, each drawing 20-30 participants.

Planning Director Todd Fortune opened each meeting by explaining the Comprehensive Plan—a legally required, detailed document setting out the county’s priorities for future growth and development—and the process for creating it.

He stressed that the Comprehensive Plan is not a “quick fix,” but rather a high–level overview of what the community wants to look like over the next 10-20 years. 

Community meetings are a preliminary step, offering the public the opportunity to share their visions for the future.

Fortune and his assistant Margie Bamford led participants through two exercises.

The PARK exercise asked participants to list what they wanted to Preserve, Add, Remove, or Keep Out; the Map exercise asked where these things should be located within the county’s physical borders. 

There is much about Fluvanna that participants enjoy and want to preserve, including a sense of community and its rural character.

But many shared their desire for more small businesses, more restaurants, more housing options, more shared community spaces, more transportation options, more opportunities, more reasons for young people to stay, and more opportunities for seniors to age in comfort.

Residents of Fork Union and Columbia, in particular, stressed the need for revitalization that could attract more businesses and rejuvenate their sense of community.

There were vast differences of opinion when defining what to remove or keep out, particularly when it came to issues like solar farms and data centers. 

Later in the spring, residents will have the opportunity to share their views via a survey.

All responses from the community meetings and the survey will be collected and shared with the public and the subcommittees to develop a Comprehensive Plan draft. The Planning Commission will then review the draft and make its own modifications. The final draft will eventually go to the Board of Supervisors for approval and adoption.

Fortune expects the whole process to take 12-18 months.