Chime in on Augusta Comp Plan!

For many months now Augusta County’s planning staff has been working hard on the county’s comprehensive plan (comp plan), the state-mandated guide for how a community will grow and develop over the next 20 years.

Every community must have one of these in-depth planning documents designed to create a locality’s vision for “the health, safety, morals, order, convenience, prosperity and general welfare of the inhabitants.” (see my past article on comprehensive plans here.)

Augusta County will unveil its latest comprehensive plan draft and maps in a series of five community meetings across the county, starting Monday night (July 28) at Riverheads Middle School. Each meeting will run from 5-7 p.m. and will feature a county presentation followed by a question-and-answer session. There is also an online feedback survey.

Residents can review the draft comprehensive plan here. Take a hard look at the plan and ask thoughtful questions about whether or not this document, with its maps outlining large future growth areas and no hard lines to protect agriculture, provides an adequate roadmap toward a future Augusta County that continues to have vibrant family farms and a high quality of life.

Consider that this new comprehensive plan retains the same future growth maps and rules in place that allowed Augusta to lose 12% of its farms (higher than the state average) and 16% (40,000 acres) of its farmland (considerably higher than the state average) from 2017 to 2022. Surely this does not equate with the people’s vision of Augusta’s future.

It is not too late to provide the county with some clearer direction. There is some wonderful material in this new comprehensive plan thanks to the incredibly hard work by county staff, but it is not yet our roadmap for the future. Now the county needs to hear that from residents in order to take this plan over the finish line in winning fashion.