Martinsville councilors will revisit their ongoing effort to update the city’s comprehensive plan at their upcoming regular session 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Municipal Building.
The city council plans to meet with representatives from the Berkley Group as part of what the group and city are calling the Joint Kickoff Worksession. A Virginia-based consulting firm, the Berkley Group, has been retained by the city to assist with the creation of Martinsville’s comprehensive plan.
“Updating the Comprehensive Plan will be a collaborative effort between City Council, Planning Commission, residents, business owners, and other stakeholders,” reads information from the city. “The process began in November 2024.”
The Berkley Group defines a comprehensive plan as a community’s roadmap for growth.
“A Comprehensive Plan is a legally-required document by the Code of Virginia that offers a long-range plan and decision-making guide that showcases assets and opportunities for growth,” reads information from the Berkley Group. “It provides a guiding framework for the City’s regulatory documents.”
The city defines a comprehensive plan as “the City of Martinsville’s most important document regarding growth, development, and change,” according to the city’s comprehensive plan portal. “It establishes government policy to help guide public and private activities as they relate to land use and resource use. The Comprehensive Plan is our city’s basis for land development regulations and decisions.”
The Berkley Group will spend the next year working with city officials to hash out a plan that covers the city’s needs. Currently, the group is emphasizing data gathering and will do so until May.
Data gathering entails not only gathering information from staff but also interviewing council members and holding public informational meetings, forums and focus groups. The end goal is a comprehensive plan that reflects the community.
The city’s current comprehensive plan dates back to 2009 and was amended and adopted in 2021.
Communities are required by state law to have and update comprehensive plans every five years. Henry County, whose comprehensive plan dates back to the 1990s, is also currently in the process of updating its own plan.
The next part of the plan, which is scheduled to begin in May, is development. This entails consolidating the collected data to outline and draft elements of the plan. Under the current timeline, refinement and adoption of the plan will come during the summer of next year.
