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Build One Portsmouth plan helps shape outlook for city

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WVEC) -- If you want to make big changes, you have to plan ahead.

That's what the City of Portsmouth is doing to help shape its future.

"It's not our job to, as the staff, to tell citizens what Portsmouth should look like," says Planning Administrator Brian Swets. "Our job is to find out what Portsmouth citizens want Portsmouth to look like, and then we try to figure out how to make that happen."

Swets says Build One Portsmouth: Working Together, Shaping Our Future is a two-year process to create an updated outlook for the city. It will address a number of concerns from citizens: "Things like flooding, education, economic development," says Swets. "These are topics that we heard over and over again as we talk to the community."

The existing comprehensive plan for Portsmouth, Destination 2025: Setting A Bold New Course, was adopted by City Council in 2005 and resulted in some major projects.

"We have the new MLK connector, getting you from {I-264} to {VA-164} up to Churchland... We have the new {Tidewater Community College} on Victory Boulevard," says Swets. "Those are two really big, well-known things that we have done that have come out of the existing plan."

Since the kickoff of the new planning process in the summer of 2016, there have been workshops, meetings, and other chances for the citizens of Portsmouth to provide input.

"This is their city, and they're highly invested in it," says Swets. "And we want to make sure that we respect what they want their city to look like."

There are still a few milestones left before the new plan is finalized, but the City of Portsmouth hopes residents will continue to speak their mind every step of the way.

"Having this [comprehensive] plan update process really gave us a chance to get out, re-engage with the community, and hopefully we can use this process as a stepping stone to keep doing that in the future," Swets says.

The city's goal is for the updated Build One Portsmouth to be a comprehensive plan for tomorrow that includes everyone today. It is set to be complete by the end of this summer.

Portsmouth officials are hosting an open house to review a draft of the plan on Monday, March 19 from 6:00-8:00 PM at the Churchland Public Library, 4934 High Street West. If you can't make it, another meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 20 from 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM in the Forum Room in Building A of the TCC Portsmouth Campus. After that, you can still voice your concerns until the period for public input ends on Thursday, March 29.

For more information, click here.

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