April 1, 2025: Meetings today in Campbell, Amherst, Goochland, Danville, and Nelson
Local government is not a joke!
If Fifth District Community Engagement is an experiment, what’s being tested?
Good question. The main test is whether I can manage to sustain a basic version of what is an ambitious idea for a newsletter. Is it possible to provide a regular update of what is coming up at all of the meetings of elected officials in Virginia’s Fifth Congressional District?
This idea was relaunched in March on both a whim and a conviction. For me, I’ve spent most of my life within the geographic scope of the district and the most recent redistricting has provided anyone interested in political science the opportunity to study a very interesting cross-section of America.
For this to work, this experiment will need to be augmented and additional resources must be explored. There is no concrete plan for the augmentation, but each new edition is an exploration of a community I truly love and want to better understand.
In any case, I am hopeful to create a new edition as often as possible but if I keep going on about it, I’ll not get to the point.
So, let’s get on with it:
Campbell County Board of Supervisors to adopt FY26 budget, hold public hearing on drive-in movie theater
Campbell County is to the east and south of Lynchburg and is where I grew up. My parents brought us there in 1980 and then they left their house two years ago. I truly miss the place and haven’t been there in a year and a half.
People are moving there. The U.S. Census in 2020 recorded 55,696 people and the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia estimates the July 1, 2024 population was 56,472. That’s already ahead of the center’s 2030 projection of 55,739. Demographers do show growth to 59,501 people in 2050 but those calculations are from 2022 and new data may show a different picture.
Closer to now, the seven member Campbell County Board of Supervisors will meet at 6 p.m. in the Haberer Building Boardroom on the lower level. That’s in the county seat of Rustburg. (view the agenda)
There will be three appearances as the meeting begins.
The first is from Melissa Lucy of Horizon Behavioral Health “to provide an update to the Board regarding the organization’s impact on the community.”
The second is from Kimball Payne, a member of the GO Virginia Region 2 Council. As a matter of course, I dislike the use of acronyms. GO stands for Growing Opportunities and the Commonwealth has been divided into regions for the purposes of promoting and coordinating economic development. The Virginia Tech Center for Economic and Community Engagement is the lead agency. View their website.
The third is from John Neblett, program manager for the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Lynchburg District. He will present a briefing on VDOT’s Secondary Six Year Program. That’s the budget for paving roads.
The first action item on the regular is to adopt the budget for Fiscal Year 2026. Supervisors agreed after a public hearing on March 25 to lower the personal property tax rate by ten cents and the Business Professional Occupation and Licensing by three percent. The real personal property tax remains at $0.45 cents per $100 of assessed value.
Another item on the agenda is “Highway Matters” which is a two-page summary of requests made by Supervisors and responses from VDOT. Check it out
There is one public hearing for a special use permit request to operate a drive-in theater at 11988 Wards Road in the Spring Hill District.
“The applicant is currently leasing the property to operate a mobile ice cream trailer,” reads the agenda. “There is an existing screen that was built for the drive-in that was used for a couple of weekends last year. The applicant is now seeking to operate the drive-in on a regular basis.”
The Campbell County Board of Supervisors next meet on May 6, 2025.
Amherst County Board of Supervisors to adopt parks and recreation master plan
Amherst County is just to the north of the City of Lynchburg across the James River and to the south of Nelson County. The 2020 Census recorded 31,307 people, a number that stayed roughly the same in the Weldon Cooper Center’s 2024 estimate. Their forecasts show a decline to under 29,000 in 2050. What will actually happen?
A purpose of local journalism is to record the results. I’m intrigued to find out what role the Virginia Tech Center for Economic and Community Engagement will play. After all, that organization provides stewardship to the GO Virginia Region 2 Council which includes Amherst County.
“GO Virginia is a statewide initiative designed to encourage Virginia's economic growth through the creation of high-wage jobs,” reads the website.
Other communities include the cities of Covington, Lynchburg, Radford, Roanoke, and Salem; and the counties of Alleghany, Appomattox, Bedford, Botetourt, Campbell, Craig, Floyd, Franklin, Giles, Montgomery, Pulaski, and Roanoke.
A representative from GO Virginia Region 2 will make a special presentation to the Amherst County Board of Supervisors at their meeting that begins at 3 p.m. in the public meeting room at 153 Washington Street. (meeting agenda)
There’s plenty of detail in the presentation. Go Virginia Region 2 has funded 15 projects in Amherst County and provided $4.1 million in funds for a total of 161 jobs created, 1,331 credentials awarded, and 134 businesses served. (view the presentation)
The other will be from Horizon Behavioral Health, just as with Campbell County later in the evening. The presentation is available in advance.
There are three items under old business. They are approval of standard operating guidelines for the Emergency Services Council, approval of the parks and recreation master plan, and the FY26 budget. The budget is based on the same tax rates as the current year. (review the budget)
The Parks and Recreation Master Plan was put together by the Hill Studio of Roanoke. The 139-page document calls for connectivity between the county’s existing parks.
Under new business there are three items. They are VDOT’s Six Year Secondary Improvement Program which covers rural rustic paving, a grant for law enforcement equipment, and proposals to use Amherst’s share of a series of settlements with pharmaceutical companies related to opioids.
There are no public hearings.
Goochland County Supervisors to hold public hearing on FY2026 budget
Since the 2020 Census, the population of Goochland County has increased 11.2 percent according to estimates from the Weldon Cooper Center at the University of Virginia. As with Campbell County, that’s already above the 2030 projections. Nestled between Richmond and Charlottesville, Goochland is a location where many people are seeking to move.
Decisions about growth are up to the five-person Board of Supervisors and they meet at 2 p.m. in Board Meeting Room 250. (meeting agenda)
There are three presentations with the first recognizing April as Hunger Awareness Month and the second recognizing April 6 through April 12 as Crime Victims’ Rights Week. There’s also a presentation on a Historical Map Viewer. There are also a lot of reports.
The consent agenda has one item and that’s an amendment to a memorandum of understanding between the county and Kaylan Hospitality LLC for emergency shelter services at the Residence Inn by Marriott at the Notch. Under the deal, the county get a ten percent discount.
Then there’s a closed session and Supervisors return at 6 p.m. for a public hearing on the real estate tax rate, the proposed budget for FY2026, and a plan to increase sewer connection fees.
Goochland’s real property tax rate is $0.53 per $100 of assessed value. For those interested, the lowered rate this year is $0.49 per $100 of assessed value. Supervisors will adopt the budget at the April 15, 2025 meeting.
In other meetings:
Nelson County Supervisors have a budget work session at 10 a.m. They’ll be in the Old Supervisors Boardroom in the Nelson County Courthouse. (meeting info)
Danville City Council will meet at 7 p.m. with two items of new business. One is a release of city liens on Chatham Avenue and the other is an amendment of the current fiscal year to add $1,186,687 in funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. (meeting overview)
The Danville City Council has a budget work session immediately afterward. This is in the 4th Floor Conference Room. (meeting overview)
Reading material:
Military veterans launch Democratic runs for Va. House in GOP strongholds, Markus Schmidt, Virginia Mercury, March 28, 2025
County residents continue debating proposed data center, power station, Shannon Kelly, Chatham Star-Tribune, March 29, 2025
Physicians who ousted UVa Health CEO motivated by greed, officials say, Emily Hemphill, Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall), March 31, 2025
Opponents ask feds to nix Southgate proposal, Chuck Vipperman, Chatham Star-Tribune, March 31, 2025
Assessing Louisa's sewer infrastructure, CBS19, March 31, 2025
Powhatan’s County Administrator leaving for new role in Hanover, Ryan Nadeau, WRIC, March 31, 2025
Agenda Danville: Annual federal funding for housing projects in Danville comes before council, Grace Mamon, Cardinal News, March 31, 2025