To the Editor:

Slow down the 2040 Plan; let citizens participate.

2040 Plan: Additional 10,700 residential units above current growth plan of 4800 (town’s growth not included); up to 15 units per acre; three times more cars on James River Bridge and roads; 4,114 new residences on Nike Park Road alone (8000 additional vehicles on Nike Park Road); “flexibility” for staff and developers from elsewhere to take the helm on the aesthetics and character of IOW County; “flexibility” for droves of shops and business to follow droves of new residences. HRPDC growth numbers are not from any Isle of Wight scenarios and are three times historically accurate Weldon Cooper Center numbers. Isle 2040 “attracts” greater growth than WCC.

2040 Plan: accepted by the IOW Planning Commission (PC) to be recommended for approval by IOW Board of Supervisors (BoS) — on March 19, 2015. Majority yes vote will be the beginning of the end of Isle of Wight County as described in our current Comprehensive Plan.

2040 Plan: rolled out to the IOW BoS in September 2014; heavily objected to at all “public meetings” (all after October 2014 after 2040 Plan written in stone). Citizen requests to slow down to let citizens participate in the shaping of our future rebuffed by county. Makeshift meetings were hastily called by concerned citizens trying to get up to speed on many complexities.

QUESTIONS: Were you able to participate satisfactorily in the small meetings? Was three-fold increase in traffic addressed?… especially for James River Bridge? Did you get a satisfactory answer about why growth in the Intermodal Park and Windsor will absolutely not be able to utilize any water from the ‘Norfolk Water Deal?’ Did you see costs for schools and fire stations required by 2040 Plan growth plugged into the “net revenue” scenario promised by the Isle 2040 Plan? Can you see that “Resource Conservation Areas” will be compromised by high density development on their brinks?

Isle 2040: allocates funds for overdeveloping the Northeast end; what is left for the rest of the county?

Tell the Board of Supervisors: SLOW DOWN 2040; let citizens participate. http://www.co.isle-of-wight.va.us/board-of-supervisors/.

Please, come to March 19th board meeting.

Bill Egan
Smithfield