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By Gary Light
Vice President, RCCA
The Comprehensive Plan calls for keeping Rappahannock County “scenic and rural.” I believe many Rappahannock County residents would agree with this goal and the Rappahannock County Conservation Alliance (RCCA) has organized with this as it’s mission.
I suspect that there would be less agreement on precisely what it means to be “scenic and rural”, except perhaps that it describes Rappahannock today and in the past. But how do we know if our future is secure before it is too late to make a difference?
Are there any tangible signs that our cherished scenery and rural character are declining or threatened?
Last year, RCCA conducted a study of county real estate, building permit, budget, and population data to explore the current status of and trends in Rappahannock’s growth and development. Those who attended RCCA’s annual meeting in October heard me present the preliminary results of this study, which, if I may say so myself, were high on facts but short on conclusions.
One reason why there were few conclusions is that we had little trend information over time. About the only information we had over time was population estimates, which we knew were prone to uncertainty and about to be rendered obsolete by the 2000 Census figures. As is now common knowledge, the actual 2000 population of Rappahannock County (6,983) was substantially less than projected.
Between 1990 and 2000, Rappahannock County added only 361 souls — an average growth rate of about one half of one percent per year.
This modest growth must be considered good news to many who share the goal of scenic and rural Rappahannock. Though unclear from the census data, there are likely many factors that have contributed to this relatively modest growth.
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