The Mathews County Planning Commission heard presentations from representatives of the Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission Tuesday night as part of the process for reviewing the comprehensive plan. The plan received major revisions in 2011 and is scheduled this year for a mandatory five-year review.

Lewie Lawrence, executive director of the MPPDC, which is assisting the planning commission in the review process, shared with commission members the results of a brief survey he gave them two months ago in order to get an idea of what direction the county wanted to take in land use planning.

Lawrence pointed out that the survey showed that some commission members were concerned about the downward trend in Mathews County’s population while others were not. He suggested that during revisions of the comprehensive plan, the commission needs to decide whether to plan for the county being smaller or whether to plan for growth, since “each strategy has a different perspect...