The Town of Herndon is moving forward with an update of its comprehensive plan.
Herndon Town Council members on Sept. 23 approved a consulting contract worth nearly $1.2 million to help guide upcoming planning and economic development initiatives.
Agency Landscape & Planning, which won the contract from among six bidders, will be tasked with helping develop the town’s new Comprehensive Plan and create its first Market Study and Economic Development Strategy.
The new comprehensive plan is part of the Herndon 2050 initiative, which will guide future actions on land use, public facilities, housing, transportation and economic development. The update will replace an existing plan adopted by town leaders in 2008.
“A lot has changed since then, and the plan is currently not aligned with the town’s needs and requirements,” said Ahmad Zaki Sarfaraz, the town’s lead long-range planner.
The market study aims to develop strategies to reduce commercial vacancies and increase employment in town businesses, while also marketing those businesses to the broader world.
Town officials will pay about $933,000 for development of the Comprehensive Plan and $232,000 for the market study. The money comes in part from $720,000 in grant funding that the town received in 2023 through the federal government’s Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant program. As a result, the total cost to town taxpayers will be about $445,000.
The town council voted 6-0, with one member absent, to approve the proposal. Neither Mayor Keven LeBlanc nor any of the present council members spoke on the matter.
Sarfaraz said the development process is expected to kick off this December and will likely take about two-and-a-half years. Members of the Herndon Planning Commission will oversee staff efforts, with regular updates presented to council members. There will be a robust public engagement effort, Sarfaraz said.
Staff anticipate presenting the final Herndon 2050 plan for the town council’s endorsement in the spring of 2028.
Massachusetts-based Agency Landscape & Planning has “strong experience in long-range and comprehensive planning,” Sarfaraz said. It will work with six sub-consultants specializing in various parts of the plan’s development, he said.
