After over two years of diligent work on behalf of county staff and pages of input from Mathews citizens, the county’s updated Comprehensive Plan is ready to go before public hearing and the county’s board of supervisors.

Members of the Mathews County Planning Commission voted unanimously during the regular meeting Tuesday night in the historic courthouse to hold a joint public hearing with the board of supervisors, which will likely take place at the planning commission’s next scheduled meeting of Sept. 21.

The plan, according to the county’s planning and zoning director, John Shaw, looks at several key elements regarding the future of Mathews in the next 20 years.

One of these elements includes recommendations of future land use and identifying various types of land use that are not in the county’s current comprehensive plan, which was adopted in June 2001.

Mixed-use development is a key theme in the new plan, Shaw said. New districts identifie...