James City County Comprehensive Plan

About the Program

Category: Planning (Best in Category)

Year: 2023

James City County has experienced significant population growth in recent decades and has faced the question of how the County should plan for anticipated growth while balancing the community’s desire to stay connected to its rural roots and maintain its community character. During its most recent Comprehensive Plan update process, community leaders, including the Board of Supervisors, noted the importance of focusing on this question, and worked with County staff to identify a scope of work for the Comprehensive Plan update designed to provide a greater level of information about the implications of alternative visions for growth in the County, and through scenario planning and computer modeling, to express in a quantitative way what those alternatives might mean for various aspects of life in the County. As the update process proceeded, the information from the scenarios and modeling results was shared with citizens to allow for the community’s feedback to help inform the Board of Supervisors as it considered policy choices. The momentum created from an engaged citizenry and the adoption of the Comprehensive Plan has since served as the catalyst for the accomplishment of several significant implementation projects that reflect the vision of the community.