Henrico adopts 2045 plan with implications for Highland Springs

Henrico County supervisors adopted the 2045 HenricoNEXT Comprehensive Plan, as amended, on July 28, 2026. The plan provides long-range policy guidance for land use, transportation, housing, public facilities, natural resources, economic development and quality of life.

For Highland Springs, an unincorporated community in Henrico County, the significance is less about an immediate project and more about how future development and redevelopment proposals may be evaluated. The plan can inform later staff recommendations, zoning changes, infrastructure priorities and public-investment discussions. It does not itself approve construction, rezone property or guarantee funding.

Why Highland Springs is part of the discussion

Henrico’s Nine Mile Road Special Strategy Area material identifies Highland Springs as a distinct focus within the corridor. The archived county planning material documents several barriers affecting growth and redevelopment, including inadequate parking, small lots that constrain housing options, zoning restrictions and limited central water and sewer service in portions of the corridor.

The same material identifies specialty retail and public parking as potential opportunities for Highland Springs. Those are planning recommendations or possible future directions, not approved projects. Because the page is archived historical planning material, it should be read as local context rather than proof that any recommendation is currently funded or moving forward.

What the county approved

The Board’s action adopted the 2045 HenricoNEXT Comprehensive Plan after Planning Commission recommendations and revisions were considered. County records describe the plan as a framework for coordinating future growth, development and public-investment decisions through 2045.

The plan’s adoption does not replace the separate processes required for individual development proposals. Future projects may still require rezoning cases, site plans, permits, utility decisions, contracts, budgets and construction approvals.

What residents should watch next

The practical effects for Highland Springs will come through later implementation decisions. Residents, property owners, renters and businesses should watch Henrico Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors agendas for rezoning requests, zoning-ordinance amendments, capital projects, utility work, transportation proposals and public hearings.

Parking, housing supply, utility capacity and redevelopment standards remain central issues in the county’s documented Nine Mile Road planning context. The July 28 vote establishes a long-range framework for future decisions; it does not create a new Highland Springs road, parking facility, utility expansion or housing development.

Sources

• Henrico Board of Supervisors Agend-O-Gram, July 28, 2026
• Henrico Citizen coverage of the plan adoption