Project Update: Affirming the Draft Plan’s Direction

Since July 2019, the Engage 2045 process has been gathering citizen input to update James City County’s comprehensive plan. The draft plan has been prepared and is now in the final stages of review before being considered for adoption. What does this mean for you?
 
Great question! This means that NOW is the time to help affirm the direction of the County for the next 25 years as stated in the draft plan. You may share your ideas and stay informed in one or more of the following ways:

• Review the draft plan here: https://jamescitycountyva.gov/3683/The-Plan. Each chapter describes the community input received to date and new initiatives planned to address that input. A print version of the draft plan will be available starting June 12 in the Planning Division (Building A of the James City County Government Center), James City County Library (7770 Croaker Rd) and the Williamsburg Regional Library (515 Scotland St).
• Watch a recording of the May 25 joint Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission Work Session here: https://youtu.be/C_gVFZxKcFM. Learn about the status of land use applications as well as recent guidance regarding major policy issues, such as the Mooretown Road Extension and rural lands policies.
• Submit public comments about the current draft plan here: https://jamescitycountyva.gov/3711/Share-Your-Ideas or by calling 757-253-6750.
• Provide comments in person at the June 24 public hearing with the Planning Commission and the July 13 public hearing with the Board of Supervisors. Stay tuned for details here: https://jamescitycountyva.gov/3686/Meetings-Events

Community Engagement: Planning & Implementing

If you are wondering how we reached this point in the process and what happened to all of the community input collected along the way, those are excellent questions!
 
The process started with the 2019 Citizen Survey, which gathered citizens' views on growth and other key planning topics. Using the Citizen Survey as a foundation, the Community Participation Team has guided additional community engagement efforts, and the Planning Commission Working Group has led the review and drafting of the plan.
 
Over the past 22 months, citizens were invited to participate in four rounds of engagement activities. These included (i) an in-person summit held in six locations and online where citizens provided input for the County's long range vision for the future; (ii) surveys in which citizens were able to provide their views on alternative scenarios for the County's growth and the current Comprehensive Plan goals; (iii) surveys and Community Chats in which citizens could ask questions and indicate their support for specific policy directions and land use changes; and (iv) the opportunity to provide comments on the draft Comprehensive Plan. You can review the public engagement summaries for each round of the outreach effort on the website at https://jamescitycountyva.gov/3833/Public-Engagement-Summaries. In addition, citizens were able to provide input and listen in to 38 Community Participation Team meetings or events and 31 Planning Commission Working Group meetings.

The County undertook a public engagement approach that was cumulative in nature so that one round of engagement built upon the previous round. Each round was also extensively advertised and publicized through the County’s website, social media channels, articles in local newspapers, op-eds, This Week in James City County podcast, flyers, WATA bus advertisements, and other advertising outlets. The County heard from more than 1900 participant during the Engage 2045 process.
 
As shown in the timeline of the Engage 2045 process below, each round of public meetings has fed into a specific project phase for the Planning Commission Working Group’s technical review of the Comprehensive Plan.
 
Thank you for your continued interest in the Engage 2045 process, and please stay involved during the consideration and adoption of Our County, Our Shared Future – James City County 2045 Comprehensive Plan!