Louisa Supervisors seek to return real property tax revenue to community members; Public hearing for five megawatt solar facility
Plus: I try to get to know the new Louisa County website
This edition is a bit of an extra one. I neglected to include the Louisa County Board of Supervisors meeting in my main newsletter yesterday. More on that down below.
Coming up after this one will be summaries of meetings happening in Amherst County, Pittsylvania County, and the City of Danville. That may be a short one as I’ll be traveling today.
In this edition:
I seek to adjust to the new Louisa County meeting calendar after making an error
Louisa County Supervisors to hear from public on tax rebate, 5 MW solar project
Six articles from reporters writing about issues across the Fifth District
A brief interlude about Louisa County’s new website
Louisa’s new website means an update to a new version of the CivicPlus software used by many localities to provide information about meetings.
In yesterday’s edition of the Week Ahead newsletter on the Charlottesville Community Engagement feed, I noted that there are issues with Charlottesville having two different calendars online.
The issue exists in Louisa County, too. When Louisa made the update, they did not take down the old website. For some reason, the calendar there does not list today’s meeting. So I didn’t list it.
Thanks to Engage Louisa for being the primary set of eyes on government in that county. That’s how I realized I’d made a mistake. Take a look and see what Tammy Purcell has to say about this week’s set of meetings.
This is the link to the new Louisa County public meeting portal. Each meeting has an item that propagates after clicking on a meeting in the calendar. Here’s the link to tonight’s meeting. This does not have any information about where the meeting will be held. To get there, you have to click on “download the agenda” which takes you to the CivicPlus page that contains the files for the meeting. This is the link I will be using going forward to send people to the appropriate page.
On the left hand side of the page you will find two columns. The far-left provides overall navigation of the page. The top button provides a meeting overview which is very useful. One can scroll through the meeting and if there is information about a particular item, a window will pop up with just that information.
Below the interview is the “meeting media” button. As the meeting hasn’t happened yet, there’s nothing to see. Presumably this is where video and audio will be stored so we’ll get there another day.
Below that is the section for meeting files. The minutes will show up here eventually but for now there are three files that show up in the next column over. One is a two page agenda. Another is link to the entire packet which is 566 pages for this meeting. This will populate in your browser or you can download it. The third is a set of public notices for this meeting. This is a useful feature.
Writing this helped me to adjust to a new system. A thing about being human is that so many of us become hostile when there is change. If I sit down and confront that frustration by thinking calmly through it, I can learn something and get back to the feeling of calm I need to be able to proceed with the important bits.
Such as actually writing about the meeting.
Louisa Supervisors holding public hearing on real property tax rebate, five MW solar project
The seven-member Louisa County Board of Supervisors meets at 5 p.m. for a closed session followed by an open session at 6 p.m. From the agenda we know that they meet in the Louisa County Public Meeting Room. Links in the text below should go directly to each item. (meeting files)
On the consent agenda, there’s a resolution to request the Virginia Department of Transportation conduct a speed study on Courthouse Road. There’s a request that VDOT study the feasibility of a hidden driveway sign on Johnson Hollow Road. There’s an action to rescind a previous resolution related to a utility easement, and an approval and an award for a contract for both GFL Environmental and Van Der Linde Recyling to dispose of recycled materials.
There are three discussion items which do not have information related to them. These are an update from the Louisa 4-H, a road review by the Transportation Safety Commission, and legal ads in publications.
There are five items under new business.
Additional money is needed to cover the cost of a higher-than-budgeted workload for youth services. (resolution)
Parks and Recreation has requested an additional $56,300 in FY2023 for unbudgeted salary costs and other expenses. (resolution)
There’s another request for $55,560 for higher fuel costs incurred by Fire and EMS vehicles. (resolution)
There’s a resolution for a lease between the Virginia Department of Health and the Louisa County General Services Department for space at 7,102 square feet at 101 Woolfolk Avenue. (resolution)
There’s an agreement to transfer a line of credit that Louisa County to United Bank, the successor of Essex Bank which is the successor of the Bank of Goochland. (agreement)
There are four public hearings.
There is no staff report for a resolution that would change Louisa County code to allow for the Board of Supervisors to issue a five percent real property tax rebate to citizens. (resolution)
There’s a public hearing on a siting agreement for a 5 megawatt solar facility known as OCHS solar or Louisa Solar. This would bring $50,000 to the county if the project is approved. (resolution) (siting agreement)
There’s a related public hearing for a conditional use permit for the above project. Go back and look at the meeting overview for a link to more information.
There’s a request for a conditional use permit for an equipment sales and rental business in a General Commercial District. The Planning Commission recommended approval with eight conditions. (resolution)
Reading material:
Bedford County planners discuss need for more affordable single-family housing, Justin Faulconer, Lynchburg News & Advance, July 15, 2023
Revised Piney River Solar Project application uses less land in Amherst County, Justin Faulconer, Amherst New Era-Progress, July 15, 2022
Albemarle County plans study to address overcrowding, undercrowding in schools, Faith Redd, Charlottesville Daily Progress, July 15, 2023
Danville Casino brings in nearly $19M in June revenue; city collects $2.5M in taxes so far, John Crane, Danville Register & Bee, July 15, 2023
Bedford County School Board addresses zone transfer concerns for parents, Rodney Robinson, Lynchburg News & Advance, July 16, 2023
"It takes a village to make a change;" Pierce Street community come together at old Calloway Store, Rodney Robinson, Lynchburg News & Advance, July 16, 2023