ISLE OF WIGHT, Va. — People in Hampton Roads are moving west.
It’s a decade-long trend with a big push in the last two years — people are settling down in Isle of Wight County in record numbers.
With a new hospital, new schools and housing developments, county leaders are working to balance all of that growth with keeping that small town feel.
For years, Virginia Beach and Norfolk have been two Hampton Roads hubs. Now, their neighbors to the west are catching up.
Nansi Strickland is Smithfield business-owner whose shop, "When Pigs Fly Magic Happens," has sat in town for more than 30 years. She said she's seen things change.
"It was kind of sparse 12 years ago and then more and more. Everybody wants to come to town," she said. "At this point, there’s probably no place you could buy or rent on Main Street."
Smithfield is just one portion of Isle of Wight County that is seeing tremendous growth.
In fact, the whole county is the ninth-fastest growing community in the state, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
"We’re seeing a lot of interested people moving out to the 'country' as they would call it," said Don Robertson, Isle of Wight's Assistant County Administrator.
Robertson is a lifelong resident of the county himself.
"I’ve seen a lot of changes in the last six decades," Robertson said.
Taking a look at data from the U.S. Census, Isle of Wight and Suffolk are both booming at about a 4% population change in the last two years.
Chesapeake and Hampton are also seeing some positive growth.
However, take a look at Norfolk, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach and Newport News — all four cities have seen population declines since 2020.
"A lot of what we’re seeing now was planned. It’s not something that just happened last week," Robertson said. "For decades now, we have planned to have room for growth but we’ve also provided the infrastructure, the water, sewer, other utilities that would support the growth in those areas."
Although prepared, Robertson said it’s all been a delicate balancing.
"The intention is 85% of the county will remain rural. So, it’s a balancing act, but it’s not a 50/50 balance, it’s an 85/15 balance in terms of what we want the county to be moving forward," he said.
That's something Strickland knows some of her neighbors are worried about.
"We love Smithfield for what it is, which is 'small town charm.' But along with that you’ve got to realize there has to be some growth. And I know some people don’t want any growth at all and some people want Walmart down the street," she said.
However, Strickland gives city and county leaders a lot of credit for maintaining that balance so far, as more and more people want to move in.
"I get at least three questions a day every day of ‘what’s for sale? What can we buy out here?’" she said.
Robertson said about half of the county’s population works outside of Isle of Wight, but when it comes to housing, competition for existing homes and planned communities are already heating up.
"As new houses are coming online here in Isle of Wight county, they are very competitive in terms of people wanting to be in those houses," Robertson said.
It’s not just houses popping up around the county. There's also a brand-new Publix along Route 17, as well as the county’s first hospital.
Riverside Health System received a certificate of public need approval from the Virginia Department of Health to open a multi-million dollar acute care hospital along Route 10. The goal is to have the 50-bed acute care facility staffed and operational in 2025.
Isle of Wight also expects to be expanding their classrooms — one new elementary school opened in September with another one planned to open in the next couple of years.
"We’re going to start to see more and more pressure on our schools in the next few years," said Robertson.
But with a county of 40,000 people and counting, crime could follow. This year, the Isle of Wight County Sheriff's Office has investigated three homicides, a high number for the county.
"Isle of Wight is an extremely safe place to live and to work and to raise a family. We pride ourselves on being a very tight knight community. Isle of Wight is growing rapidly, but we still hang on to that tightness in this community and so, to have the number of homicides that we've had so far this year, it's a high number for us," said Captain Tommy Potter in a previous interview with 13News Now.
With the population continuing to grow, Robertson said they’re prepared.
As the county continues to monitor that delicate balance, Strickland is happy with the new faces and places around her.
"There’s new restaurants opening up. There’s all kinds of stuff coming in the surround, it’s not just Main Street and that’s really wonderful to see," she said.