As Henry County officials work toward establishing a new comprehensive plan, housing has emerged as a major point of concern.
County supervisors met last week with the planning commission for a joint session to discuss ongoing efforts to establish a new comprehensive plan. Housing was among other imperatives, including attracting workforce, promoting tourism and diversifying the commercial industrial base.
“We’re done with the data-gathering process,” said Benjamin Tripp, senior planner with the Berkley Group, a consulting firm that the county has contracted with to work on the plan. They are currently drafting the plan, he said, which takes the longest amount of time. The anticipated timeline for completion is early next year.
“We are currently in the drafting phase,” said county spokesperson Brandon Martin. “That is expected to be complete by this fall. During the winter, we will be collecting community feedback and we will be working on final adoption sometime around Spring 2026.”
The comprehensive plan details the county’s immediate and long-term concerns, plans and projects.
Localities across the commonwealth maintain their own comprehensive plans and often renew them every few years. Henry County hasn’t updated its current plan since 1994. In the 30 years since, housing has emerged as one of the bottlenecks to growth for the county.
Henry County’s population has declined since 2010 — from about 54,000 to just over 49,000 last year — according to the census, though officials want to prepare for a population boom as they work to attract new businesses.
“How do we support the housing market so everyone can have safe, affordable, high quality housing?” Tripp said.
While past housing talks emphasized affordable and workforce housing, officials said they would need a wide range of housing to encourage people to move to Henry County. Tripp said the county has several options, which include revitalizing existing housing stock, creating new affordable housing and housing in general.
Recently, the county broke ground on a project that combines revitalization with affordability. The Villa Heights project in Collinsville will result in 13 new affordable housing units, replacing dilapidated properties that the county purchased and demolished.
Tripp said projects like Villa Heights should serve as a blueprint for similar revitalization efforts.
“We should make an example of how this should be done, buying all the properties that are in bad shape, tear them down and turn them into something new,” Tripp said, saying Villa Heights should be put in the plan as an example of what to do.
