DATE: Wednesday, August 20, 1997            TAG: 9708200408

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY KATRICE FRANKLIN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   33 lines

SUFFOLK TO UNVEIL NEW DOWNTOWN PLANS

City officials will get their first peek Wednesday at plans to redevelop downtown and improve Suffolk's roads.

Planning Director Paul E. Fisher said Tuesday that he will brief the City Council in a work session today on Suffolk's Comprehensive Land Plan, a document used to manage growth and guide zoning decisions.

Localities are required to re-examine their land plan every five years. Suffolk hopes to complete its document by December.

Fisher said LDR International of Columbia, Md., has completed its first draft on downtown and ways to improve it.

The firm also has completed a traffic survey that looks at city thoroughfares, lists the volume of traffic on each, assesses how much longer the roads will be able to function in their present state and gives a completion date of scheduled improvements.

While Suffolk has about 21,000 housing units, it also has enough land zoned residential for almost three times that number. Many of its roads are narrow and two-lane.

Residents in earlier meetings on the comprehensive land plan said they want a document to manage growth, preserve Suffolk's rural character and boost economic development.

Fisher said the consultants are also finishing work on two development scenarios: controlled growth, or slow development; and rapid development, involving thousands of new housing units.

The city probably will approve a plan somewhere in between, city planners say. More public sessions will be held in early fall.

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