In 1998, Redman Johnston Associates,
Ltd. (RJA), in conjunction with the Essex County Planning Commission and the Middle
Peninsula Planning District Commission, assisted Essex County, Virginia in the preparation
of the County's Comprehensive Plan. This Plan provides the basic policy framework to
manage and direct future development in Essex County. It is designed to deal with problems
which are immediate in nature as well as to provide the planning for longer range actions
and policies. As such, the Plan is designed to address the County's needs through the year
2015 and thereby provide the County with a means to ensure orderly, managed growth and
development throughout the planning period. Various projections, policies, and
recommendations were prepared in the context of balancing the many objectives attendant to
the Plan. The general theme of theses objectives is that the County should endeavor to
preserve the present character of the County and enhance the quality of life for its
citizens while maintaining a pace of growth and development which is managed.
This general theme, when interpreted
in terms of land use, says that in general, the County should adopt a managed growth
philosophy toward the use of the land over which it has zoning authority; and that
development should be of a controlled nature, channeled into the most appropriate areas
and discouraged in other areas. Moreover, the County has determined that such a philosophy
is necessary to cost-effectively sustain adequate levels of public services and facilities
in the form of schools, transportation networks, sewer, water, police, fire and health
care services which will be required to support present and future residents.
This theme, together with objectives
more specifically framed in subsequent elements of the Plan, serve as formally adopted
policies regarding Essex County's future. They provide guidance for public decisions
concerning how development will be managed or regulated, where and how it should occur,
and where capital improvements and public services should be provided or not provided to
support it. In this context, the Plan serves to inform County residents, the development
community, and State and Federal agencies of the County's intent regarding its future. It
identifies controls, management measures, financial or human resource investments, and
incentives necessary to achieve County objectives.
