FAYETTEVILLE — A group helping Fayetteville with a draft of its comprehensive plan took a personal tour of the town and surroundings Monday afternoon. Their end goal? A better Fayetteville.

Nathan Fetty and Jesse Richardson of the West Virginia University Land Use and Sustainable Development Law Clinic were led through the area by members of the Fayetteville Town Council and Planning and Zoning Board, which held a meeting later that evening about the comprehensive planning process.

A comprehensive plan describes a community’s aspirational vision for future growth and the centerpiece of all its land use planning.

It contains discussion of housing, transportation, infrastructure, and economic development, among other topics. It is also required in order to legally enforce any land use ordinances.

In 2004, West Virginia rewrote its planning and zoning legislation to mandate comprehensive plans and gave governments 10 years to fall into compliance. The upcoming 2014 deadline has many agencies scrambling to build a plan.

Like many other towns, Fayetteville has not updated its plan since 1968.

The town began its process in April, and Monday’s tour was the first time Richardson, who will be instrumental in organizing the town’s efforts, explored the area.

“The tour was great today, and everybody is obviously proud of the community, and rightfully so,” says Richardson, an associate professor of urban affairs at Virginia Tech who is on sabbatical this year at the WVU Law School.

“Overall, it’s a beautiful place and the people are wonderful, but I think there are some opportunities to make it even greater.”

Among the sites shown to Richardson and Fetty were the old Fayetteville High School, now sitting vacant, The Memorial Building and the town’s recycling center.

Richardson says he heard a lot about how more housing opportunities are needed in town. He’s looking for more such input.

“What we want to hear is what do you think is good about the town, and what does it need. Where should future development occur, and how.”

“We have a lot to chew on after spending several hours (on the tour), and we definitely have our work cut out for us,” says Fetty, director of the Law Clinic, which is providing its services at no cost to the town.

“Jesse has an enormous amount of experience in just this kind of work in communities in this part of the country, and he’s going to be great to have around.”

The evening’s board meeting covered a wide array of topics, including public input procedures, which were formally adopted. The guidelines include required public scoping meetings, press releases, written surveys, consideration of those living outside the town’s corporate borders and electronic forums for public input.

The latter will include an interactive website dedicated to the plan’s development, and social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter.

The board and attendees discussed a perceived need for more rental properties for young people settling in town.

“When people come into the CVB and ask about housing, it’s not about real estate, it’s ‘Where can I rent? I got a job here and I want to live in Fayetteville rather than Oak Hill or Beckley.’ And it’s not there for them,” says CVB Executive Director Sally Kiner. “I can’t even tell them where to go to look.”

She also says drawing visitors off U.S. 19 and two blocks up into town is a huge challenge for the town’s tourism economy.

Clif Bobinski of the National Park Service (NPS) attended the meeting as well, and said Fayetteville is an important gateway community for the New River Gorge National River’s visitors.

“It’s important to recognized shared goals,” he told board members. “The town park is immediately adjacent to the national park.

"There are a lot of places where the interfaces between the town and the park could be improved or changed.”

He also mentioned protecting water quality of Wolf Creek and Marr Branch, which flow through town into the New River, and improving signage and first impressions along U.S. 19 as goals of the NPS.

In addition, the Boy Scouts of America are very interested in additional hiking access, parking areas and ways to get in and out of town, says Bobinski.

“There are a lot of things we could cooperate on in the future.”

For next steps, Fetty says he, Richardson and summer law students will ramp up work on an Internet and social media presence, surveys for public feedback, and processing data on the town that has already been collected.

“Really the most important part of this is hearing from you all, from everyone in the community, whether it’s the Facebook page, or a meeting, or calling one of the board members,” says Richardson.

“Whatever input you have, we want it, because this is your comprehensive plan and we want to do what you all want.”

The next planning and zoning commission meeting will be July 9 at 6 p.m. in Fayetteville Town Hall.

Until then, feedback can be directed to Richardson at jessej@vt.edu, Fetty at Nathan.Fetty@mail.wvu.edu, or Town Hall at 304-574-0101.

The Planning and Zoning Commission consists of Mayor James Akers, Dennis Hanson, Bob Pasley, George Tabit, and Roger Hanner.