Buckingham planners review comprehensive plan draft, request edits and set joint public hearing

The Buckingham County Planning Commission and staff reviewed a near-final draft of the county’s comprehensive plan in a joint discussion on March 17, 2025 and agreed to send the draft to a joint public hearing in May after a short round of edits.

Commonwealth Regional Council planning director Lauren Pugh led a section-by-section presentation of the draft, covering the executive summary and legal basis, the community profile (demographics, income and employment), community facilities, natural and cultural resources, transportation and a land-use framework that identifies village centers and growth corridors. The presentation also outlined the plan’s goals, objectives and a five-year implementation chart.

Commissioners and staff requested a set of editorial and substantive changes before the public hearing. Requested changes included: alphabetizing employer and health-care lists or grouping them by region for easier reference; adding Saint Thomas Seminary to the religious/institution list; clarifying how incarcerated populations are treated in the plan (census group-quarters counts are included in the plan’s population figures but not counted for voting-district apportionment); and improving several map captions and inset quadrants to make traffic and historic-site maps easier to read. Staff also agreed to add Columbia Gas as the county’s natural-gas provider in the utilities section and to verify and correct map captions that were on the wrong pages.

A recurring policy question in discussion was solar-energy siting and legislative pressure from Richmond. Commissioners and some supervisors asked that the plan’s introduction signal the county’s preference for retaining local control over land-use decisions. Planning staff and participants discussed drafting a short introduction paragraph to make clear the county’s intent that local residents and officials guide land-use decisions; staff said the draft language would be reviewed by county counsel before inclusion in the plan.

The plan presentation summarized several data points used in the draft: Weldon Cooper Center population projections (the draft notes a projected increase of about 2,050 residents over the planning horizon), a county poverty rate cited at 14.8% for individuals, and median household and family income figures presented in the draft (median household income approximately $49,841; median family income approximately $67,114). Staff noted these figures come from American Community Survey and Weldon Cooper datasets and can be updated if commissioners request newer estimates.

Commissioners discussed process and timing for next steps. After brief review of outstanding edits and a request that staff make agreed textual and map changes, the commission and staff agreed to hold a joint public hearing in May and to return a formal recommendation to the Board of Supervisors after that hearing. The planning commission’s formal recommendation to the board will follow the public hearing and any additional revisions.

Procedural items recorded in the meeting included a motion to approve the meeting agenda (approved by voice/raised hands; no roll-call tally recorded) and the motion to adjourn at the meeting’s close. A short recess for a follow-up meeting was scheduled (recess noted for Wednesday at 6:00 p.m.).