BEDFORD, Va. – Big development plans are in the works for a small town in critical need of housing.
Bedford’s planning commission is set to hear a request to build 184 single-family homes in the Governor’s Hill area on Thursday.
It’s a project Bedford’s Director of Planning and Community Development Town of Bedford Mary Zirkle said could fulfill a critical need.
“Right now, we really don’t have enough affordable housing or housing in general for a workforce that would be working in Bedford,” Zirkle said.
Developers have submitted a rezoning request to make their land high-density housing, and people in the neighborhood aren’t very happy about it.
John Perry has lived in the area for about four years.
“They think it’d be detrimental to the area,” neighbor John Perry said. “I don’t know, I think I’ll go along with the flow. The City needs the income for tax purposes.”
Town leaders said as with any project, traffic will increase in the area.
“We think it’s a good thing for Bedford to grow,” Zirkle said. “We think it should be done well, and so we do want to hear people’s opinions on that.”
The proposal will go before the planning commission on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. where people will have a chance to weigh in.
“We’ll wait and see,” Perry said. “We’ll take it one day at a time.”