As citizens have learned the hard way — from Mallory Pointe to the Grange at 10Main to Sweetgrass — opposing residential development one project at a time is an ineffective way to stop the rapid growth that threatens to overwhelm road and school infrastructure and ruin the small-town way of life that makes Smithfield and northern Isle of Wight special.

Much more impactful is to get involved in the writing of town and county comprehensive plans, whose future land use maps, while non-binding, send a strong message to developers looking to build in the community.

That time is now in Isle of Wight, which has appointed a task force to help guide an update of “Envisioning the Isle,” the county’s brand name for land use planning within its broader comprehensive plan.

Two opportunities for citizen involvement are upcoming.

The Isle of Wight Citizens’ Association and Carrollton Civic League will devote a joint meeting to the comprehensive plan update at 7 p.m. Aug. 12 in the Sentara St. Luke’s community room, 20209 Sentara Way, Carrollton. 

The next day, the county’s task force will meet at 6 p.m. in the Board of Supervisors meeting room to begin its review of the comprehensive plan and divide into subcommittees, each one devoted to a different chapter of the 2020-approved plan that’s up for revisions.

Currently, too much land is designated for residential development in the so-called Newport Development Service District that encompasses northern Isle of Wight County. Already, the Route 10 and Route 17 thoroughfares are too congested due to population growth that has placed Isle of Wight among the 10 fastest-growing localities in the entire state in recent years. Isle of Wight County Schools have warned that current classrooms cannot accommodate residential development already approved, much less what developers are lining up to propose.

Yet, the 2020 Comprehensive Plan’s land use map designates more than 4,000 acres, or well over half of the Newport Development Service District, for some form of residential development. That number must be reduced for the community to have a fighting chance against the overdevelopment that has plagued neighboring Suffolk and other Hampton Roads cities.

The current “Envisioning the Isle” states boldly, “Public input has supported focused growth during every Comprehensive Plan update and rewrite for over 25 years.”

Based on current public sentiment, citizens and county officials must have different definitions of “focused growth.”

Regardless, now is the time for citizens to state clearly what kind of community they want, and demand a comprehensive plan that reflects their wishes.