A citizen committee in Buckingham has been granted the power and the freedom to contact landowners in identified growth areas and ask if they are interested in having their land marketed.

Innovative.

Intriguing.

The board of supervisors was unanimous in agreeing to the request from its Buckingham County Community Development Advisory Committee.

As the committee’s chairman, and board of supervisors member, Donnie Bryan, explained, “We just want to be able to contact landowners to see if they’re willing to sell to help streamline the process. We need to be on the tips of our toes to beat other counties.”

The committee will work closely with the county’s planning commission to identify different areas in the county for specific development, such as business or industrial.

The committee wants the county to be able to respond immediately to any request from a potential economic development project for possible sites in Buckingham.

“They want to know what you have,” County Administrator Rebecca Carter told supervisors regarding prospective business and industry.

Buckingham is working hard on its answer, and in a way very few other localities in the state have undertaken.

What a creative initiative, particularly for a rural county that lacks the financial firepower of more suburban localities that can afford a paid staff to do what these Buckingham residents have volunteered to do.

And perhaps, because this will be neighbor talking to neighbor, even more effectively.

Well done.

—JKW—