Shenandoah County Community Planning Project

The Community Planning Project Steering Committee was appointed by the Board of Supervisors and charged with developing a set of amendments to the rural zoning and subdivision ordinances to implement the vision statement of the County’s Comprehensive Plan.

In 2010, as the culmination of more than five years of work and lots of community input, Shenandoah County Board of Supervisors followed the recommendations from the Steering Committee of the Community Planning Project and adopted a major overhaul of its rural zoning and subdivision ordinance to address the goals of the vision statement of the County’s Comprehensive Plan.

The County’s ordinance revision supports the farm sector, provides flexibility for rural landowners, secures long-term savings for tax-payers and enhances the quality of life for all residents — all goals of the Shenandoah County Comprehensive Plan.

Highlights from the revision include:

• Decrease in density of rural areas with most new growth directed to the County’s six historic towns;
• Coordination of town and County planning for growth areas to reflect traditional neighborhood design;
• Support for a local purchase of development rights (PDR) program;
• Recommendation for a farm economic development director.

 
A 14-month process, dubbed the Shenandoah County Community Dialogue Project, lead by Shenandoah Forum is suspended with the County’s announcement to hire a planning consultant to assist with revision and updates of ordinances. The Shenandoah County Community Dialogue Project was initially initiated to develop a set of consensus recommendations for steps the County might take to implement the comprehensive plan vision.