Suffolk is holding off passing the city’s 2045 Comprehensive Plan until after the general election.
Council members wanted more details on how to address traffic congestion before taking action.
“That is the main concern,” said Mayor Mike Duman.
The Suffolk 2045 plan has been in development for more than two years, and has drawn criticism from residents concerned that the city and its roadways are not ready for more growth.
The plan includes a broad range of topics and dozens of objectives to tackle in the coming years. One of those is a transportation master plan, which Suffolk Comprehensive Planning Manager Keith Cannaday said would help “make those hard choices on where we invest in transportation improvements, and are we investing enough.”
Cannaday told WHRO that “you can’t really get down into the details of managing transportation” in a broad comprehensive plan, and that the city has been working on a transportation plan.
But council members like Timothy Johnson felt those details needed to be highlighted and considered.
“This traffic thing, it’s got to be fixed,” Johnson said, adding he is also hoping to see progress on master plans for the city’s historical villages.
Traffic was also a chief concern raised by the public. Chess Harris called it the “center of gravity” for the 20-year comprehensive plan.
“What was the number one term, word, phrase which singularly was across individual resident input?” Harris said. “It was not growth, it was not boundaries, it was not schools – it was traffic congestion.”
Laurna Taylor of the Greater Oakland and Chuckatuck Civic League expressed her concern about how new growth has impacted their community. Taylor said increased water run-off from the Chuckatuck Cove development has inundated the foundation of the 158-year-old Little Bethel Baptist Church in Oakland.
“We are not against development,” said Taylor. “But we don’t want what our ancestors worked hard for to be destroyed.”
Resident Don Goldberg told WHRO he thinks the pause on the plan is good, but doesn’t want to see the city halt development.
“Transportation is a problem, but it’s a regional problem. It’s not just a Suffolk problem and the vehicles coming through are going to come through anyway,” he said. “But you must have growth.”
City council members opted to revisit the plan in 90 days, schedule a public hearing when it comes back for consideration on November 20, and hold a work session on the subject about two weeks prior. City Manager Al Moor said he expects the transportation plan will be “solid enough” to discuss by that time.
Produced with assistance from the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.
