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Montgomery County outlines 20-year 'Montgomery Matters' comprehensive plan, emphasizes village-specific visions
Summary
County planning staff reported progress on the Montgomery Matters comprehensive-plan update, summarized public engagement results and described a multi-tier land-use framework that differentiates growth expectations for towns, villages, settlements and conserved lands.
Montgomery County planning staff on Oct. 6 told the Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission that the county’s 20-year comprehensive plan update, called Montgomery Matters, is nearing completion and will move from broad engagement into village-specific plans this winter and spring.
Justin, planning staff, said the county is about 16 months into an 18-month process and on track to finish the main part of the plan in 2025 with village plans extending into spring 2026.
The update, Justin said, was designed to be “community driven,” with multiple rounds of engagement: a countywide survey that yielded more than 1,000 responses; a mapping survey with 306 unique comments; three community meetings (87 attendees total); three stakeholder rounds (23 meetings); in‑person intercept engagement that reached more than 820 people at festivals and events; and village meetings held in each village (attendance ranged by village, for example 60 in Price’s Fork and 55 in Reiner). Justin said staff also collected about 2,200 comments from public meetings and 149 village-mapping responses.
Why it matters: the plan will shape land-use policy, capital projects and zoning work for the next two decades. Staff said the document will be shorter and more actionable than the prior plan, with implementation tools including a metrics-and-tracking sheet, a follow-on zoning ordinance update, and alignment with the capital improvements program.
Key findings and framework
Planning staff summarized public input that pushed back against treating all villages the same. The draft framework organizes places into tiers: towns as primary growth centers; two higher-density urban development areas (UDAs) outside towns — named Bethel (along Route 177) and Merrimack (Mid-County) — followed by villages with limited growth, rural villages with lower-density expectations, smaller settlements (country-store scale) and outdoors/conservation areas where growth is not intended.
Justin said mapping exercises indicate desired growth clusters in the Mid-County area between Blacksburg and Christiansburg, the Peppers Ferry corridor outside Christiansburg and other corridor locations where transportation infrastructure already exists. He noted one prior growth area east of Blacksburg is likely to be removed from the future-growth map because utilities do not exist there.
Village planning will produce a short vision statement, land-use takeaways, and a land-use visualization for each village. Justin gave Price’s Fork as an example; residents prioritized greenways and trails connecting to the Huckleberry Trail, more parks and preserving low-density neighborhoods. Staff said village vision statements and draft maps will be returned to residents for review in spring 2026.
Public-services and implementation tools
Staff said the final plan will be concise (target: under 200 pages) with appendices for data and a clear implementation matrix that assigns responsibilities, timelines and metrics. Staff emphasized four implementation categories that will translate plan recommendations into action: land-use regulations (zoning ordinance update), capital investments (CIP), programs/initiatives (including partnerships with nonprofits) and a metrics/tracking sheet for ongoing progress checks.
Quotes and attributions
Justin: “This is really a product of the work of multiple people across multiple departments here in the county.”
Justin: “We are about 16 months into our 18 month process.”
Justin (on village feedback): “Folks were placing no growth in their own village and putting all the growth dots in the other villages…when we get down to the village level, we're seeing the people actually do wanna see growth in their village, but they want it to be redeveloped in infill, not new construction.”
Ending
Staff said next steps are continued editing of consultant-drafted chapters, returning village vision statements to residents in the spring, and beginning a zoning-ordinance update after adoption of the comprehensive plan. The planning team asked the board and commission to expect draft chapters and implementation materials later this calendar year and during early 2026.
