Dyke hosts first forum

By Susan Gibbs, Record Reporter
Published: October 9, 2008

Less than 10 County residents were at the Dyke Fire House Saturday, October 3, to participate in the first of three public discussions regarding the updating of Greene’s Comprehensive Plan.
While he did not express disappointment with the turnout, County Planning Director Bart Svoboda said, “We would like to see more participation.“
One example of the value of citizen comment is Dyke resident Charles Swinney’s remark that he’d like to see the County’s rural areas kept rural, and growth focused along the Route 29 Corridor.
During the discussion, Svoboda told the group that property in Dyke is currently zoned to accommodate residences and businesses.
That makes for a “distinct difference between Dyke and other rural areas in the County,“ Svoboda said.
Dyke is not currently a part of the County’s designated growth area, and residents are being served by well water and private septic systems. As a result, only one house is permitted there per two acres.
The County has no plans to spend the millions of dollars required to bring water and sewer to the area, but “if a private developer” decided to do so, he “could do four houses per acre,“ Svoboda explained.
The Comprehensive Plan serves as the government’s planning guide, dictating public policy in terms of transportation, utilities, land use, recreation and housing.
While it does not have the force of law equivalent to zoning and subdivision ordinances, it guides the County’s Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors - which have the ability to change zoning ordinances.
Just as the State mandates that each locality have a Comprehensive Plan, it mandates that the Plan be updated every five years.
Until now, it has been updated by citizen volunteers assisted by “at least one Board member and at least one County planner,“ explains Svoboda. The process included formulating the document - which called for consideration to be given to, among other things: agriculture;  economic development; future land use; infrastructure; natural resources; tourism; and, transportation.
Once developed, the document was taken to public hearings before the County’s Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors.
But this time around, Supervisors are spending $40,000 to enlist the aid of teams of professional planners, and the process will involve every member of the public that wants to be involved every step of the way.
Greene County planners will be working closely with planners from The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission and Charlottesville’s Renaissance Group. TJPDC’s community planning links land use, development and transportation, economy and environment. The Renaissance Group brings its skills in urban design and technology for communications to the table.
TJPDC Senior Planner Bill Wanner explained the significance of this particular update: Greene is “becoming a bedroom community,“ he said. “Its growth has to be very carefully planned (because) how that growth occurs is fundamental to the balance of rural and expansion areas suitable for the County’s development.“
Wanner and others representing TJPDC, along with representatives from the Renaissance Group and the Virginia Department of Transportation were at the Dyke Fire House Saturday, along with Svoboda and County Planner Stephanie Golon.
The morning was all about the residents, not the officials.
Wanner opened the forum. After he had synopsized the County’s statistics and offered a brief explanation of what the Comprehensive Plan does, residents were each given post-it notes. They were asked to write two things they valued most on two notes, and two things they’d change on another two.

The post-it notes were places on the wall, and participants were divided into small groups to perform a mapping exercise, which led to discussions of what each member wanted for the County. Those were compiled and listed on poster boards that were then placed on the wall beside the post-it notes, and open discussion began.
It is that sort of involvement that planners will seek throughout the Comprehensive Plan update process - which will include another such meeting at the Best Western Airport Hotel in Ruckersville on Saturday, October 18 from 9 a.m. until noon, and at the County Administration Building in Stanardsville on Thursday, October 23, from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m.
Further, a Multimodal Scenario Planning meeting is scheduled for Saturday, November 15; one Comprehensive Plan workshop is scheduled for December and another for January. Multimodal Potential Scenarios Workshops will be held in February and March and presentation to the Planning Commission is planned for June.
The Comprehensive Plan update is projected to be presented to the Board of Supervisors for approval in July of next year.
All along the way, “We want to know what residents want,“ says Svoboda.
Swinney said of the meeting last Saturday: “I thought it was good. It’s a good concept to get people involved.“