After much community discussion and contention over the 2045 Comprehensive Plan, Suffolk City Council voted to postpone their final decision on the plan during the Wednesday, Aug. 21 public hearing.

Council members voted unanimously to table the decision until the Nov. 20 council meeting. A second public hearing will also be included during the meeting. Council Member Shelley Butler-Barlow was absent from the meeting and was excused. Community members made their voices heard on their issues with the plan. Chess Harris of Suffolk Peninsula Community Partnership, noted the common public issue of traffic congestion and the plan’s lack of depth.

“…I am not going to try to insult you on this, but I am a planner. I understand what details need to look like, and as Mr. [Keith] Cannady said, ‘This is just a plan.’ It’s a strategic plan. The most important piece in a strategic plan is the concept. What’s the approach? I should be able to pull the transportation concept out of this and start working on a transportation plan,” Harris said. “…So use the Wendy’s term, ‘Where’s the beef?’ Where’s the plan? Where’s the concept? This is not about laying out a 20 page plan of what the priorities are in 2010, 2020, 2030, 2035. It’s just the concept. So if I was to take this plan, concept, first to our residents, how are we fixing congestion? We’re showing them pictures they already know about. What’s the concept of how we’re going to resolve this? It’s not there.”

Norfolk Real Estate Lawyer Grady Palmer, who previous appeared before council on behalf of developers and land owners, also voiced his thoughts.

“As you can tell from tonight, your comprehensive plan touches almost all aspects of your city, and that decision to approve or deny your comprehensive plan is a huge decision. And I think what you’ve heard tonight is there are still a lot of questions about what’s in your plan, some things that need to be added to your plan. We in the development community also have some questions particularly about affordable housing, accessible housing, that we think that some additional consideration should be given,” Palmer said. 

Palmer requested for council to continue their decision for “at least 90 days” to give those in the industry time to consider some aspects within and not within the plan.

“I think that would do well for some of the other speakers and other interested parties in the outcome of this plan,” Palmer said.

Mayor Michael D. Duman noted the “extensive” process that has lasted over two years.

“I am a little dismayed that we’re not any further along than [where] we are,” Duman said. “…There’s been a lot of effort. I know a lot of citizens are maybe not happy with the result, but I don’t think that it is based on any intent as far as not paying attention. I’ve been through a couple comprehensive plans and, to be honest with you, this one is its own animal. Because there has been so much citizen input, and I welcome the citizen input and I think everybody in here does also. Like I said, I do take exception that nobody’s paying attention.”