County To Hold 2026 Comprehensive Land Use Plan Hearing

The County of Henrico will hold a public meeting tonight to discuss its 2026 Comprehensive Land Use Plan and take more comments from County residents. The Planning Commission has already received more than 600 comments regarding the plan, but they want to get more feedback before sending the plan to the Board of Supervisors for final approval.

The plan, when finalized, will essentially guide County officials as plans of development arise between now and 2026. The current 2010 Comprehensive Land Use Plan, as the name would suggest, expires next year. Many residents have voiced concern over the plan, especially the impact it will have on the traditionally-rural Varina area. Residents say much of that open space would be open to heavy development, but officials disagree. Citing the plan, they say only 7% of the land in the Varina area will be subject to dense development.

The County has outlined much of the remaining open space in Short Pump as rural residential, possibly protecting the large acreage lots on Kain Road and Bacova Lane, at least for now. The remaining open farmland and wooded areas along West Broad Street before the Goochland County line are shown as being designated Urban Mixed Use areas, allowing for more high-density development on the scale of places like West Broad Village, currently under development to the east.

The meeting will be held Thursday night in the County Board Room and starts at 6 p.m. at the Henrico County Western Government Center at 4301 East Parham Road. The plan can be downloaded and examined (large PDF file) beforehand on the County’s planning site.