Introduction

The Official Land Use Planning Policy

The Comprehensive Plan serves as the official land use planning policy for the City of Virginia Beach.  Required by state law, it is used to guide growth, protect neighborhoods, improve our economy, help manage our limited resources and, ultimately, advance the overall quality of life for citizens.

The City of Virginia Beach Comprehensive Plan is called ‘comprehensive’ due to the breadth of its focus and the research underlying its recommendations. The research is critical, because the Comprehensive Plan itself is critical. The ‘Plan’ is City Council’s official statement regarding how the physical development of the City should be directed for at least the next 20 years. It must be stressed, however, that the Comprehensive Plan (the ‘Plan’ hereinafter) does not claim and should not claim to have precise answers to all of the issues that may arise over time. The Plan’s role is the establishment of the policy framework within which operates a continuous planning process. That process is a vital means of implementing the recommendations of the Plan and revising the Plan as necessary in response to the unseen issues and opportunities that the future always provides. In that regard, this Plan is a ‘living plan,’ as it is not intended for the Plan to remain just as it is when adopted. The intent is for the Plan to interact with the various situations where it has a role and to be open to change as necessary to respond to recognized challenges and opportunities. The Plan should always be evolving in response to its environment.  

Consistency of Vision

This Comprehensive Plan is the sixth for the City of Virginia Beach – the first Plan was adopted in 1979. Even though there have been five previous Plans, each has shared a common vision: creation of a place where people enjoy working, living, playing, and learning in an environment of unparalleled quality and opportunity. Each Plan contributed to the achievement of that vision by successfully meeting the challenges of that time and anticipating the challenges and opportunities foreseen for the future.

• In 1979, the Plan limited growth to those areas of the City where such growth could be supported by adequate facilities.
• In 1985, the Plan sought to establish a closer link among development patterns, citizen needs, and the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) to improve overloaded facilities in the City.
• In 1991, the Plan introduced the Transition Area, where a moderate level of growth was recommended provided it was accompanied by significant open space and high quality development.
• In 1997, the Plan, responding to the reality that the rapid growth of Virginia Beach had slowed, focused on the establishment of quality as the central feature of the City’s development.
• In 2003, the Plan pointed out that the majority of the factors that allowed the rapid growth of the last 25 years had largely disappeared and established five ‘desired outcomes.’  Those five desired outcomes have met with much success since 2003, and they remain valid today.   More