Newport News planners outline public-outreach-driven update to comprehensive plan, target year-end draft

Brian Swets, assistant director for Comprehensive Planning, presented a status report on the "1 City, Our Future 2040" comprehensive plan update during the Newport News City Council work session on July 22.

Swets told the council the plan update responds to an outreach process already under way and to state requirements. "This is something that is required for every locality in the state of Virginia by the Code of Virginia, and not only do we have to have one it has to be updated at least every five years," he said.

The update aims to be more visual and interactive than past plans, Swets said, using maps and short analytic text instead of long narrative pages. He said the planning team completed a demographic analysis, two rounds of public outreach in all three council districts, and an online survey that asked residents to rank importance and satisfaction with city services. The top four priorities identified in the survey were economic development quality, traffic flow, maintenance of city infrastructure and preparing the city for the future.

Swets said the planning team is beginning to draft the plan and anticipates a third round of public outreach in September focused on reviewing a proposed future land use map and specific implementation tactics. "We are beginning to draft the plan now. We anticipate having a third round of public outreach in the September time frame," he said, and reiterated the department's goal to deliver a draft to council "before the new year." He described the year-end target as "still a pretty aggressive time frame, but fingers crossed you should have this before the new year."

Councilman Terry Long asked whether the comprehensive plan and the city's strategic housing initiative plan were being coordinated so the documents do not produce conflicting tactics. Swets replied that he and Long had been discussing housing extensively and that housing will be "a very big focus in the comprehensive plan." Regarding a separate Jefferson Avenue planning effort, Swets said that the Jefferson Avenue plan will be limited geographically to Jefferson Avenue between Mercury and J Clyde and that traffic is a consideration addressed in both efforts but in different ways.

Swets also described a push toward making the plan function as a tool rather than "a book or an encyclopedia," showing examples from other cities that use compact pages, interactive navigation and links to related standards and sections. He said city departments are being asked to report status and priority on plan goals and strategies so the final product can better track implementation.

Swets asked council members to provide feedback on draft goals and the focus-area map that had been circulated to them. "We would love to get your feedback on that," he said.

No formal action was taken on the comprehensive plan at the July 22 work session; the presentation served as an informational status update and a prompt for further comment and review.

The planning team expects to present materials for the September outreach and to return subsequent drafts for Planning Commission review, a recommendation to council and final adoption at a later date.