On March 2nd, the Cape Charles Town Council will meet to approve the current Strategic Plan. Town Council met on February 9th to review the plan and discuss how well it played against the Comprehensive Plan. Data from the Community Survey was also used to devise a draft version of the plan.
“This draft to the 2023 Strategic Plan was then used to prioritize specific projects for purposes of this next year’s budget formation and allocation of staff resources. This “multi-year” priority list also contains existing projects, still in progress from prior work periods, and then layers in new initiatives that can be started as resources become available” – Staff Report.
Community input will be accepted at the meeting, so there is still time to make your voices heard. Public input could force amendments to the plan before it reaches final approval.
The draft version of the Strategic Plan can be found here.
The basic goals of the Strategic Plan are listed below:
• To retain the small-town character of Cape Charles
o Metric: citizen confirmation in an annual survey
• To maintain the authentic character of the historic district
o Metric: maintain status on the national registry and a satisfactory audit
from the Dept of Historic Resources
• To protect and maintain the beach
o Metric: no degradation via annual beach survey
• To protect and maintain the harbor
o Metric: maintain/increase occupancy
• To plan for coastal resiliency
o Metric: develop an implementable plan
• To protect and improve public green/open space infrastructure
o Metric: develop an implementable plan
• To retain and expand businesses in a business-friendly environment
o Metric: increase in business licenses, increase in business-related
revenues, and data from building permits issued and an annual
questionnaire on employment
• To advance a variety of housing options for younger families and the workforce
o Metric: increase in related units
• To meet our residents’ expectations for Town services
o Metric: citizen confirmation in an annual survey
We should encourage the location of a hardware store on Mason ave. To replace the one we had.Watsons in Cape Charles or Jaxons in Parksley are great examples. Every town can and has benefit from what they offer including some old geezers sitting out front gossiping!
Also our historic picture boards are missing, lying face down or deteriorating.
The meteor sign at the beach near the Love sign has been missing for several year and should be restored. What better attraction for families and their kids than to see a dramatic portrayal of the meteor strike that occurred 30 million years ago right in front of where they are standing.( the museum has a video and some core samples from the crater) which they could be encouraged to visit.
Re establishing the tall ships event is also a great event to bring back! There are several people who are still around who would be excellent resources!