Buckingham Supervisors to consider 5 megawatt solar facility; Mecklenburg Supervisors to fill District 2 vacancy
The first installment for the week of January 9, 2023
This is the week that the General Assembly comes back for the 2023 session. It’s also the week that more local elected bodies will meet for the first time, selecting officers, adopting rules of procedure, and beginning the work of local government.
And Town Crier Productions keeps rolling along, intent on writing as much as possible at what is on the agenda of these meetings. The goal is to provide as much of a glimpse into how decisions are made across the entire Fifth District of Virginia, centered around the functions of elected bodies and the staff who implement policy.
It’s a busy week, so I thought I would start it on a Saturday.
Mecklenburg Supervisors to consider appointment to District 2 seat
The nine-member Board of Supervisors in Mecklenburg County will meet for the first time of 2023 at 8:30 a.m. They’ll do so with only eight members due to the death of District 2 Supervisor Glanzy Spain on December 5, 2022. (agenda)
Unlike other elected bodies, there will be a closed session before the organizational meeting. The purpose is to interview replacements for Spain. When they come out of closed session, they will consider making an appointment.
Then they will go into the organizational portion of the meeting led by county attorney Russell Slayton. The chair and vice chair will be elected, following by establishing the meeting schedule and the rules of order.
Then Supervisors will go into regular session, beginning with the a review of the audit for fiscal year 2022. There are no advance materials available. (
There are three public hearings.
One is a review appeal of a Comprehensive Plan ruling on the Antlers Road Solar LLC project. The project website says the project is a 90 megawatt facility that is under development.
The next is for a special exception permit for Jeffrey Melton.
The third is for a proposed abandonment of the Buckhorn School bus loop.
Then there will be a series of reports from various officials. These aren’t in the packet, either. But, you can watch along on the county’s YouTube channel.
Divided Charlotte County Supervisors select Walker for another year as chair
The seven member Charlotte County Board of Supervisors will meet for their regular meeting. We’ll get to that tomorrow.
At an organization meeting on January 3, the body re-elected Gary Walker for another year as chair but not without consideration of another option.
Supervisor Hazel Bowman Smith of the Wylliesburg / Red Oak sought to nominate Garland H. “Butch” Hamlett Jr. for chair rather than Gary Walker.
“While I greatly admire the leadership of Mr. Walker over the last few years, I firmly believe in term limits and I believe in rotation of leadership and refreshment of the board,” Smith said.
But one of her colleagues suggested keeping Walker in place.
“The last couple of years, we weathered some storms, storms coming back, but we’ve weathered some storms and got through it good,” said vice chair Tony Reeves. “I’d like to see us keep our hierarchy for another year because things have gone so smooth through the hurdles that we’ve had to jump.”
A motion was made to make Hamlett the chair, but a substitute motion was made to keep Walker as chair. There was a long pause of silence broken by County Administrator Daniel Witt.
“You’re getting beyond my capacity for Robert’s Rules of Order at this point,” Witt said.
A vote was first taken to consider whether a vote should be taken on the substitute. That motion passed 4-3. The actual vote to consider Walker as chair for another year went 7-0.
Will Garnett was elected as vice chair.
More from Charlotte County in the next installment of Fifth District Community Engagement.
Buckingham County to consider 5 megawatt solar facility
The seven-member Buckingham County Board of Supervisors meets at 6 p.m. Monday in the Peter Francisco Auditorium in the county administration complex on U.S. Route 60 near Buckingham Courthouse. (agenda packet)
This meeting can be watched on YouTube. It is my hope to begin to report from some of these meetings over the next year. I am grateful for communities that make their proceedings accessible to the public. I’ll do my part to publicize.
Buckingham Supervisors rotate their chair and vice chair out based on a regular schedule. Last year’s vice chair, Joe Chambers Jr. of District 6, will move up to the top position. Dennis “Bookie” Davis is scheduled to become vice chair.
After the usual business including the public comment period, Supervisors will hold two land use public hearings.
A landowner seeks a special use permit for Rosney Creek Solar LLC for a 5 megawatt utility scale solar facility on 439.6 acres off of E. James Anderson Highway. This is a project of Apex Clean Energy of Charlottesville. They’ve agreed to use 55 acres of the property.
A landowner seeks a special use permit to operate a medical services office at a home at 799 Troublesome Creek Road.
Supervisors will also get previews of two items the Planning Commission will see in the future.
A couple seek a special use permit at 2870 Rock Mill Road for an AirBnB.
The Buckingham County Firefighters’ Association seeks a special use permit for an event center at 300 South Constitution Route in Dillwyn. They’re asking for up to 4,500 people to be in attendance at a time.
Additional reading material from Fifth District media:
Local business getting federal funding, CBS19 News, January 5, 2023
Albemarle County Board of Supervisors elects leadership, Garrett Whitton, CBS News, January 5, 2023
Central VA Planning District receives $2 million to create quality affordable housing, Appomattox Times-Virginian, January 6, 2023
Skyrocketing Bedford County assessments prompt pledge of lower tax rate, Shannon Kelly, Lynchburg News & Advance, January 6, 2023