The Gloucester County Planning Commission gave its approval to an amendment to the county’s comprehensive plan concerning the Gloucester Point/Hayes Village Development Area following a public hearing last Thursday evening in the colonial courthouse. No one from the public spoke on the matter.

The commission voted by a 10-1 margin to forward the plan to the board of supervisors for its consideration. Commission member Mike Winebarger, who cast the lone negative vote, questioned the amount of input from residents about the plan, indicating "we are not Williamsburg" in terms of development opportunities. Commissioners Mark Strawn and Buddy Rodgers were absent.

Planning director Anne Ducey-Ortiz said staff had been working since last fall on a "planning effort concentrated in the southern portion of the county." She wrote in a memorandum to the commission that Gloucester received a grant to work with the Virginia Department of Transportation’s on-call consultants to amend the county’s comprehensive plan and land use ordinances in order to comply with requirements of the Virginia State Code.

"We’re really excited about this," Ducey-Ortiz said during the meeting.

Planner Emily Gibson, who gave a report on the plan, said that Gloucester officials want to look at the lower county not just as a place to drive through, but as a destination, as well. In looking at that area, she said the county should ask about what would be the appropriate size of growth for that area and that better traffic patterns be designed to support bike and pedestrian traffic.

The plan identifies three core areas of the lower county, namely Greate Road, Hayes Road and Crewe Road, Gibson said. She said those areas lend themselves to growth with access to public utilities and many businesses already in those neighborhoods where economic growth might be suitable after the current economic downturn improves.

In other matters, Ben McFarlane, regional planner for the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission, which is serving as consultant for Gloucester’s comp plan update, presented a report about the proposed transportation chapter of the plan. Approximately 43 percent of Gloucester workers commute to jobs on the Peninsula, McFarlane said, with Routes 17 and 14 the busiest.

Commission member Tom Arnold recommended the body support a resolution to include the need for an alternative major route through Gloucester, possibly a parallel highway to Route 17. That recommendation passed unanimously.

"I think it’s good," chairman Keith Belvin said of the transportation chapter.

Also during the meeting, commissioner Phillip Bazzani asked if anything can be done to improve the timing of the traffic signals at Gloucester Point to allow more time for traffic traveling on Route 17 during morning and evening rush hours when that traffic is too often interrupted by traffic coming from the secondary roads. Bobby Crewe, Gloucester Point supervisor and liaison to the commission, said he will discuss the matter with VDOT officials.

For more information about the lower county plan, visit the planning department’s website at www.gloucesterva.info/planning.