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Feature: Bedford County leaders focus on growth, waste management, parks and more in 2024
By Shelley Basinger
As we bring in the New Year, Bedford County government is looking ahead to several big projects.
Here, leaders explain what you can expect to hear more about in 2024.
Adoption Of Updated Comprehensive Plan
Comprehensive plans are the blueprint for future growth and development in a locality.
Virginia State Code requires comprehensive plans to be reviewed every five years by the locality’s Planning Commission for necessary updates. This process has been underway in Bedford County since January 2021. It’s projected to be completed in the first quarter of 2024.
Bedford County Community Development has held four citizen meetings and conducted an online survey regarding the comprehensive plan.
“We found that citizens generally agreed with the goals and objectives in the current comprehensive plan,” said Director of Community Development Jordan Mitchell.
According to Mitchell, the major changes residents will see in the compre- hensive plan are updates to the Future Land Use Map in certain areas of the County, information and growth updates, and options to address infrastructure (transportation and public water/ sewer) as growth continues.
“We are continuing to grow, and we anticipate more growth in the rural areas of the County with broadband internet becoming more widely available,” said Mitchell.
Possible Changes At Waste Management Facility
In 2024, there will continue to be heavy discussion at Board of Supervisors meetings about waste management.
At a worksession on Nov. 27, 2023, Supervisors discussed two options for how to proceed with operations at the Waste Management Facility. Option one would transfer all solid waste to a regional landfill, and option two would expand the current landfill.
A new Assistant County Administrator will be joining Bedford County in early 2024 and will be largely focusing on this issue moving forward.
“The Board is diligently working towards making a final decision while also being aware of the necessity to be compliant with all state requirements,” said County Administrator Robert Hiss. “Whether to develop a new landfill cell or continuing to transfer solid waste is a generational choice with both shortand long-range operational and financial impacts. I anticipate this decision being made this spring, during the fiscal year 2025 budget development process.”
Finalizing A Master Parks Plan
Bedford County Department of Parks & Recreation is working with the Salem-based Halcyon Planning & Design to create a master plan for our parks.
The goal of this plan is to optimize Bedford County’s existing parks and recreation resources and assets, as well as strategically plan for the future. Bedford County currently has three large regional parks (Falling Creek, Moneta, and Montvale) and two smaller parks (County Rec and Independence).
In April 2023, citizens were encouraged to complete a seven-question survey about County parks and their recommendations. The survey and other outreach have resulted in over 1,300 individual touch points with residents.
At the Dec. 11, 2023, Board of Supervisors’ worksession, Halcyon Planning & Design presented a draft plan that included some of its findings and recommendations. Their suggestions for improvement include infilling existing parks with new or enhanced amenities and adding more small, targeted parks in underserved areas.
It is anticipated that the work of the consultant and citizen advisory committee will wrap up development of the final plan late this winter.
“The completion of this long-range plan will aid our Parks & Recreation department in identifying projects and project placement that best suit our growing community,” said Deputy County Administrator Justin Stauder. “Although this is a long-range plan, we do anticipate having a handful of projects to consider during the development of our upcoming Capital Improvement Plan.”
World Disc Golf Championship Comes To Bedford County
In August, the 2024 Professional Disc Golf World Championships will be played on disc golf courses located in Bedford County.
One of the courses, New London Tech Disc Golf Course, was designed by world champion disc golfer Paul McBeth and built by Bedford County Parks & Recreation. It was opened to the public in 2021.
The other course will be located at Ivy
Hill Golf Club in Forest.
“We look forward to welcoming guests from around the world as this event shines a spotlight on Bedford. This will give us the opportunity to showcase our great facilities and love of the sport of disc golf,” said Director of Tourism Nicole Johnson.
Completion Of Two Broadband Projects
Zitel and Verizon will complete their Bedford County broadband projects this year.
The County signed a contract with
Zitel, based in Moneta, in 2022. This project was made possible with grants from the Department of Housing and Community Development’s Virginia Telecommunication Initiative (VATI).
Zitel’s construction, mainly in the southwestern quadrant of the County, will wrap up in the first quarter of 2024. Zitel will bring broadband service to a minimum of about 4,100 new addresses once the project is complete.
In March 2023, Bedford County signed a contract with Verizon to extend broadband fiber to unserved addresses in the Wheats Valley/Big Island areas that were remaining from a 2019 VATI project. Verizon will bring broadband service to a minimum of 350 addresses in this area.
Learn more: www.bedfordcountyva. gov/broadband.
Reloction Of Social Services
As Bedford County’s population has increased over the past few decades (by 25% since 2000), so have the needs of the Social Services department. Through the years, the department has added numerous staff positions to handle a growing caseload in the community.
Currently, Social Services is spread out across four buildings in Bedford.
“The County is working towards combining several of these buildings into one new location to more efficiently and effectively serve the community,” said Director of Public Works Doug Coffman.
Site selection and planning will be taking place over the next couple of months.
