SUFFOLK, Va. — The City of Suffolk is pushing back a vote on its comprehensive plan, saying it needs to focus more on the area’s traffic issues before it can be approved.
Cities, counties, and towns are required by Virginia state law to review their comprehensive plans every five years. The plan Suffolk city leaders are currently working on looks ahead to 2045, focusing on housing, transportation, economic development, preserving the city's agricultural heritage, and more.
“We’ve developed a really solid group of guiding values that we use as a benchmark,” Keith Cannady, the city’s comprehensive planning manager, told council.
However, the city council pushed voting on the plan back to November 20 after several residents expressed concerns, mostly about the plan’s lack of solutions for the area’s heavy traffic.
Chess Harris spoke to council, saying he represented a number of homeowners associations and civic leagues. He told the city council that the plan explains the problem, but didn’t provide an adequate solution.
"How are we fixing congestion?" he asked. "We’re showing [residents] pictures they already know about!"
He also argued, that while the comprehensive plan may not be an exact map of the future, it should at least paint a picture of what’s to come.
“This is not about laying out a 20-page plan of what our priorities are,” he said. “It’s just the concept. What’s the concept of how we’re going to resolve this? It’s not there.”
Members of the council agreed but also thanked the city planning staff for their work on amending the plan from former meetings.
Council member Timothy Johnson said, “This traffic thing. It’s got to be fixed, we’ve got to figure it out.”
Mayor Michael Duman added: “The most prevalent complaint is transportation. [We're] not going to fix it overnight, but we need it. We absolutely need it.”
Before the November 20 vote, there will be another public hearing where community members can voice their opinions.