Board of Supervisors Initiatives

The following initiatives for Fiscal Year 2013 were adopted by the Board of Supervisors on April 25, 2012:

• Review and update the Comprehensive Land Use Plan: The County reviews its ‘Comp Plan’ every five years, with the last update taking place in 2007. The official review process will begin with a joint meeting between the Board of Supervisors, Planning Commission and Economic Development Authority, tentatively in June 2012. Issues that have been identified so far include updating the current demographic and socio-economic data to evaluate changes that influence growth forecasts; reconciling suburban residential land use policies with adopted zoning regulations; evaluating the policies guiding Economic Development Zones; assessing the recommendations for Small Area Plans to determine consistency with current development trends; and evaluating the Major Thoroughfare Plan to see if it is adequate to meet traffic projections based on potential land use changes.
• Review and update the Public Safety Strategic Plan, including a review of the Fire/EMS service standards: The Public Safety Strategic Plan was adopted in 2007. Technology has changed significantly since that time and constraints on resources due to the ongoing economic recession make this a good time review the plan and engage the community in a discussion of what the service standards should be.
• Provide resources to assist the School Board in the update of their Education Strategic Plan: The School system is in the process of developing a long-range plan that would take it through 2018. The team is in the process of developing its action plan to be presented to the School Board in the summer of 2012. The County will provides resources to help the schools complete their plan and implement strategies to attain goals.
• Identify compliance options for Chesapeake Bay and stormwater management mandates: This will be one of the greatest and possibly most controversial funding challenges of the next several years. Recent cost estimates for coming into compliance with regulations mandating the preservation of the Chesapeake Bay watershed exceed $15 billion for the Commonwealth of Virginia, its local governments, businesses and citizens. New stormwater regulations adopted by Virginia will require more costly practices for stormwater control on new development. New ordinances could be required to go into effect in July 2014. Local government-imposed stormwater taxes or utility fees will likely become the main source for supporting the future costs of this program for existing developed land. The magnitude of these costs may vary greatly depending on the final state and federal implementation goals, but in every instance they are expected to be significant. The Department of Public Utilities will be undertaking design and construction activities as part of a multi-phased, multi-year plan to bring facilities into compliance with new regulations. In FY13 the Department plans to undertake design and construction of initial upgrades to the Ashland Wastewater Treatment Plant at a cost of $500,000; in addition, $4.6 million of initial improvements are expected to be required of the Totopotomoy Wastewater Treatment Plant in FY14. The Board of Supervisors will be updated on this initiative during FY13 as national and state regulatory requirements are passed down to localities.
• Develop objectives and key indicators for County Strategic Plan: In July 2011, the Board of Supervisors adopted new Vision, Mission and Value Statements as the first step towards an overall County Strategic Plan. From these were developed several focus areas, each of which will have strategic plans that will interconnect with the other strategic plans. The focus areas are: Community, Education, Safety, Human Services, Economic Development, Stewardship-Creativity-Innovation and Service-Engagement. Senior management leaders and front-line employees for each focus area will develop strategic goals, objectives and key indicators that will enable the County to measure whether objectives are being accomplished.
• Complete the comprehensive reorganization and re-codification of the Zoning Ordinance: As one of its Fiscal Year 2012 initiatives, the Board directed the Planning Department to draft a reorganization of the Zoning Ordinance. The purpose of this update is to evaluate the current organization of the Ordinance, and reorganize the various elements in a logical and easy-to-follow manner. This update will not modify current requirements or change zoning practices.

To read the Board’s FY12 Initiatives, click here.