The Mathews County Planning Commission had a discussion on recurrent flooding in Mathews County during the monthly meeting on Dec. 9.

Planner Thomas Jenkins presented statistics that he had compiled on the fiscal impact flooding could have on the county. He said that 56 percent of all the land in Mathews, or 6,512 parcels, intersect with the floodplain, and that 3,284 of those parcels, or 28 percent of all parcels, are entirely within the floodplain.

Jenkins said that when he applied the information to the county’s land book, he determined that 37-39 percent of the total land value in the county is in the flood plain. He said the figures do not include undeveloped lots and new construction.

Planning commission chair Jim Robinson characterized the information as “pretty startling.”

Shaw said that, with a review of the county’s comprehensive plan coming up in the new year, the information should give the commission a sense of what impact flooding could have on...