Sheila Sheppard sees herself as a translator of sorts, someone to help people stake a claim in their community's often-wonkish planning exercises.

"You kind of have to do your homework now to have a community later," she said.

As coordinator of the Richmond-based Partnership for Smarter Growth, Sheppard is working to build grass-roots interest in how growth is being directed through the comprehensive plans that local governments continuously review and revise.

Community interest in planning is on the rise with worsening traffic congestion, school overcrowding and other side effects of growth.

In Chesterfield County, a voter revolt last fall overhauled the Board of Supervisors and was widely viewed as an indictment on how the previous board had managed growth.

Last month, the new board revised the county's plan for the Upper Swift Creek area, tightening growth controls for a section of fast-growing western Chesterfield. The plan was first adopted in 1991 and was amended last year by the outgoing board.

"We were using this old plan and making our decisions on outdated planning principles," said new Supervisor Marleen K. Durfee, who pushed for further changes.

Chesterfield is now preparing to revamp its approach to planning, switching from a focus on area plans to one that looks countywide.

Virginia law requires localities to adopt comprehensive plans to reflect their aspirations for growth and land preservation, and to guide decisions on rezonings and related policies. Officials are supposed to review their plans every five years. Many localities, including Richmond, Petersburg, Hopewell and the counties of Charles City, Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, King William and Powhatan, are considering plan amendments or will do so soon.

Petersburg, which has struggled with a declining population and tax base, is hoping residents will help shape a new vision for the city by participating in meetings tentatively set for mid-August. Officials say the expansion of Fort Lee and renewed interest in historic Petersburg by residents and outsiders presents an opportunity for the next plan update.

"We're not looking necessarily to reinvent ourselves," said Leonard Muse, director of planning. "We're looking to continue to come up with ways for more positive growth."

While planning decisions are left to local officials, the Richmond Regional Planning District Commission is trying to estimate the cumulative impact of all the local plans and zoning decisions, said Jackie Stewart, the group's director of planning and information systems. Some analysis of local plans is done every few years when the region's long-range transportation plan is updated.

"In regional planning, you really want to forecast and vision what might happen if local governments continue their policies," she said. "You've got to start somewhere."

Similarly, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine has been pushing the state to play a greater role in directing growth. He sought traffic-impact studies when substantial developments are proposed and established a sub-cabinet on community investment. Its task is to guide state grants in ways that promote sustainable communities, with reinvestments in existing buildings and infrastructure and new projects that employ a compact mix of uses, spokeswoman Delacey Skinner said.

"One of the areas we'll be looking at [during the 2009 General Assembly session] will be this sustainable-community issue and how we're planning," she said.

Planning in the Richmond area has improved in recent years, with more emphasis on building denser, mixed-use communities with urban design principles, said Morton Gulak, an associate professor of urban and regional planning at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Still, he sees plenty of work to be done to move away from sprawl development and to make sure the individual plans make sense regionally.

"They have this legacy of 50 years that they have to overcome," Gulak said of the localities. "It's both a political and a social problem that we have to deal with."

Recognizing that challenge, the Virginia League of Conservation Voters helped establish the Partnership for Smarter Growth in 2004.

In recent months, the group has organized meetings and collected nearly 1,000 names on petitions of support of key aspects of the Richmond Downtown Master Plan, which was approved Monday by the Planning Commission and forwarded to the City Council for final consideration.

The Partnership for Smarter Growth will focus next on the update to Henrico's plan before turning its attention to other localities' plans. In some instances, the group will work with like-minded activists in the localities.

Sheppard said though planning can be laborious and technical, she has had no trouble convincing people that much is at stake with the city's downtown plan.

The key, she said, is showing how planning principles can affect people's happiness and quality of life -- whether their communities are walkable and evoke an identity or a sense of place.

James W. Theobald, a Richmond-area land-use attorney, said though planning is a worthy community exercise, it shouldn't be used to slow growth. He also cautioned that plans must be viewed as flexible guides that respect landowners' rights.

"Comprehensive plans are somebody's best guess as to how it should all come together at some point in the future," he said.

"I just hope we never take the discretion from the decision-makers to acknowledge a good idea, whether or not it's consistent with the plan."

Powhatan faces issues with the pending update to its comprehensive plan.

Pressures for development have been building along Huguenot Trail, a scenic byway that runs along the James River and provides the county's lone access to state Route 288.

The comprehensive plan, which largely dates to 1998, before Route 288 opened, envisions most of the area remaining rural. Only the land in the southeastern quadrant is recommended for village-scale development.

In February, the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a plan for a reception and conference center, including an inn and restaurant, at the interchange's northeastern quadrant. A request for commercial rezoning on an adjoining property was filed but recently withdrawn.

Joe Walton, a first-year supervisor who represents the area of northeastern Powhatan, said the conference center project was worth approving despite what he viewed as a minor, technical conflict with the plan. He said the business will have minimal traffic impact and be a good reuse of the historic riverfront property.

Walton said he's committed to letting the community decide how much the new plan embraces development along Huguenot Trail and around the Route 288 interchange. A committee is in place to guide the discussion.

"We need to objectively and honestly look at what's going on and bring people in and go right down the middle on it," he said.
Contact Will Jones at (804) 649-6911 or wjones@timesdispatch.com.