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How will Rappahannock look in the future?
Planning commission begins long-range focus
The Rappahannock County Planning Commission, which normally keeps busy just reacting to proposals from citizens involving land use and zoning, is going to try to do something more ambitious–actual long-range planning.
While it might seem obvious that a planning commission would focus on planning, the fact is that this body of local government is normally preoccupied fielding proposals from local residents or businesses on specific land-use questions. But thanks to a relative lull in applications–partly due to current economic conditions–the commission wants to take a deeper look at trends that will shape Rappahannock in coming years and decades.
Such a longer-range focus may explore such issues as changing demographic trends–such as the “graying” of Rappahannock by aging of the population–and the impact of such trends, such as possible continuing decline in the school-age population and the increasing need for services for seniors, including greater demand for round-the-clock rescue squad services.
The Planning Commission began informally discussing ways to explore such issues at its monthly meeting Sept. 17. County Administrator John McCarthy noted that the county’s Comprehensive Plan must be updated every five years, and that work on the plan should begin next year.
The Comprehensive Plan spells out goals for the county regarding development and land use and serves as the basic blueprint for future growth. The current plan, adopted in November 2004, puts the question this way: “Where are we; where do we go from here; what do we become?”
McCarthy suggested that the commission consider holding hearings, consult with planning experts, and ask for citizen input on those broad questions about growth as well as some specific questions concerning certain areas of the county, such as the future of the highway commercial zone along Route 211 west of Sperryville. The current lull in applications for special exceptions or use permits presents an opportunity to tackle some of the longer-range issues in preparation for a rewrite of the Comprehensive plan, he suggested.
Members of the commission agreed that the long-range planning focus was a good idea.
Commissioner Al Henry of Hampton District said the county needs to look at whether the school population is going to continue to decline and look at the implications of the aging of the population and what’s often called “gentrification”–the in-migration of wealthy new landowners who build huge, expensive houses on pricey parcels of land.
Gary Settle, commissioner for Piedmont District, noted the strong opposition of some citizens to specific land-use applications, such as for conference centers or commercial uses. “It may be a good idea to get the citizens’ feedback” in the form of community meetings or forming an advisory panel of citizens.
McCarthy cited one specific area that may need some re-thinking: the highway commercial zone along Route 211 between the intersection with Rt. 522 in Sperryville and the entrance to Shenandoah National Park. Historically, that was the site of many tourist attractions, such as fruit stands, stores, restaurants and antique dealers, but in more recent years “west Sperryville” has become an area in transition–a mix of closed tourist spots, vacant buildings, a few businesses and some residences. The question is: What should it become in the future?
“Tourism isn’t doing what it needs to do for Sperryville,” McCarthy said at the meeting. In a later interview, he explained “It was meant to be the tourist-money generator, but it’s never really done that….Some rethinking needs to be done.” He raised the question of whether west Sperryville might be a site for the “affordable housing” that some say is needed in the county, but that raises many other questions: “Is there a market for that? Would people want to live there?”
The county administrator plans to invite speakers to future Planning Commission meetings to begin exploring these longer-range concerns. He has invited Sallie Morgan, head of Aging Together–a partnership of organizations in Rappahannock and four other nearby counties concerned about needs of an growing elderly population–to brief the commission on the coming “age wave” as the Baby Boomer population becomes senior citizens. Other consultants, experts and officials of nearby counties may also be invited to speak to the commission on other issues.
As part of this effort over the coming year or more, the commission may sponsor “town hall” type meetings for citizens to raise issues and make suggestions relevant to the rewriting of the Comprehensive Plan, or to land-use and development in specific places.
James P. Gannon is editor of rappvoice.com
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