Charlottesville City Council to review strategic plan framework; Incentives for Amazon project go before Louisa Supervisors
Plus: Goochland Supervisors to discuss transportation priorities
We are now in the work week so let’s get right to this one.
The news last week that Amazon Web Services will invest $11 billion to build two data centers campuses has been in the works for a while and tonight the Louisa Board of Supervisors will adopt a performance agreement to govern the various incentives. The county will also amend the agreement with the James River Water Authority as well as approve a study to review another reservoir’s capacity.
A locality’s strategic plan provides justification for what government staff do and how money is spent. Charlottesville has not updated its strategic plan for a while but that process now appears to be moving forward. Council will have a work session on the framework and will adopt that later in the meeting. They’ll also hold first reading of a major rezoning on Cherry Avenue.
Goochland’s Board of Supervisors will have a work session on transportation priorities before their regular meeting. They’ll also have several public hearings on land use changes requested in the county’s Rural Enhancement Area
Stories on bus driver shortages, Amazon’s plans, and more in the reading material section
Louisa Supervisors to approve performance agreement with Amazon
The Louisa Board of Supervisors will have a special meeting at 4 p.m. followed by a regular one at 5 p.m. Both take place in the Public Meeting Room at the Louisa County Office Building at 1 Woolfolk Avenue in Louisa.
The first meeting is “to go over the meeting and agenda management process and board portal for electronic voting.”
The second meeting begins with a closed session at 5 p.m. before the open session begins at 6 p.m.
After the invocation, the Pledge of Allegiance, adoption of the agenda, approval of the minutes, and approval of bills, there will be adoption of the consent agenda. Some of these jump out as interesting:
There’s a request to conduct a capacity study for the Northeast Creek Reservoir. Supervisors are being asked to spend $74,000 from the fund set aside for economic development projects. (staff report)
There’s a request to authorize $25,000 for hiring bonuses to hire public safety employees. (staff report)
Supervisors will approve a bid for CHA Consulting to install two turf fields at Louisa County Schools facilities. (bid process overview)
Supervisors will be asked to approve half the cost of purchasing a new rescue boat for the Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department. The price could go as high as $163,438 and the rest comes from the Rescue Squad Assistance Fund. (resolution)
Before the rest of the meeting, there will be a recognition of September as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month
“Pediatric cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in children yet is grossly
under-funded and under-researched, and 1 in 285 children in the United States will be diagnosed by their 20th birthday,” reads the proclamation. “[Forty-six] children per day or 16,790 children per year are diagnosed with cancer in the U.S. each year, and at any given time there are approximately 40,000 children on active treatment.”
Under regular business there are three presentations including a discussion of the 2024 General Assembly session. The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission has a common set of priorities that will be reviewed. Here’s the starting point.
The other presentations are from the Louisa County Historical Society and a request from Brackett’s Farm for a real property tax exemption.
There are six items under new business.
The first is to approve the performance agreement with Amazon Data Services for incentives related to the company’s announcement it will invest $11 billion to build two data center campuses by the year 2040.
“The Company has proposed to build, develop, and operate, or cause to build, develop, and Operate data center facilities (the “Project”) at locations in the County within the Technology Overlay District (“TOD”), including the Lake Anna Technology Campus and North Creek Technology Campus,” reads the resolution.
Those incentives include annual infrastructure grants, investment performance bonuses, permitting, utilities, and the real property tax rebates. The project will also seek to take advantage of the Commonwealth’s Cloud Computing Cluster Infrastructure Grant Fund. That was authorized in the 2023 General Assembly. (view the bill)
The details of the incentives are available here for your review.
The second item seems like it is worth a story. Supervisors will vote on a resolution to “express its concern” about language in the state budget that sets rates for private day care facilities. The 2022 Appropriations called for the Office of Children’s Services to set those rates. The resolution claims both the House of Delegates and the Virginia Senate sought to eliminate these rates, but this did not end up in the “skinny budget.”
In July, the OCS announced that Virginia will not reimburse localities above a two percent increase above the rates for last year. That could increase costs for localities who have covered the cost of students who entered private school during the pandemic.
“Louisa County currently uses fourteen (14) private day facilities and eleven (11) of those are increasing their rates between five to twelve percent for the 2023-2024 school year,” reads the resolution.
The third item is an amendment to the agreement for the James River Water Authority.
“The James River Water Project is a joint effort between the Counties of Louisa and Fluvanna which is intended to provide a long-term source of water for both localities and reduce reliance on groundwater by withdrawing water from the James River,” reads the resolution.
The project now has a total cost estimate of $45.6 million. That’s higher than previously anticipated due to the relocation of a pump station that had been originally sited on a Monacan historic site. (view the total costs)
The fourth item is a resolution to authorize the Economic Development Department to proceed with a $27.55 million project to expand utilities to the Shannon Hill Growth Area. The total cost of the project has increased to a total of $28,333,827. This particular resolution pertains to a water tower. (staff report)
The fifth item is a resolution to award a contract to Landmark Structures to build “a new 750,000 gallon spheroid elevated water storage tank and a booster pump station.” There were a total of four bids.
The sixth item is to approve an update to at least one color in the the county seal from #ffff00 to #efcc58. (staff report)
There’s also a public hearing on a request from Three Notch Road LLC to rezone 3.03 acres of land on U.S. 250 from the Industrial Limited Growth Area Overlay District to General Commercial Growth Area Overlay District. This would be to allow the sales of recreational vehicles and service. (staff report)
Charlottesville City Council to adopt strategic plan framework, first reading of rezoning for 501 Cherry Avenue
The five member Charlottesville City Council begins at 4 p.m. with a work session on the strategic plan followed by a regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. They will meet in City Council Chambers. (meeting info)
The city has hired the firm Raftelis to guide production of a strategic plan to guide the work of Charlottesville’s municipal employees. The city has not adopted a new version of the document for some time. At this work session, Council will review the framework that has been created that begins with the vision for Charlottesville “to be a place where everyone thrives.”
There are several strategic outcome areas ranging from Climate Action to Transportation. The latter sets the city up to provide a much larger service than its current boundaries.
“Charlottesville provides a regional transportation system that increases mobility options and is reliable and affordable for all,” reads that sub-vision statement.
There’s not much on the consent agenda and appointments to Boards and Commissions likely won’t happen until after the application window closes later this week.
A second reading of a plan to sell city-owned land on West Main Street has been moved to a future meeting. A public hearing was held on August 21 and no one spoke at the time. Afterwards, more people have come forward to ask for the city to consider retaining the land which staff determined had not identifiable use. Read my story from then for some more background.
Next, Council will hold the first of two readings on the rezoning of 501 Cherry Avenue. The Planning Commission recommended approval at their meeting on August 8. Though the adoption of a new zoning code appears to be months away, Woodard Properties is among several developers seeking to get project approval in place under the old rules. The old rules will not require that ten percent of units be guaranteed to be rent or sold below market.
One of the proffers for this rezoning would require a minimum of sixty affordable units “should the residential portion of the development be sold to Piedmont Housing Alliance. PHA will ask the city for money to help with financing.
If that doesn’t happen, Woodward Properties would only need to provide between four and nine affordable units for a period of six year. For comparison, the new zoning would require affordability for 99 years unless the zoning administrator grants an exemption.
“There was some concern from the Planning Commission and City Council in regard to the proffers as they are setup in a way that relies on different moving targets being met,” reads the staff report for the first reading. “There was also a concern that the proffers call out specific organizations and not just land uses. Despite these concerns, both bodies believe this development could be a model for other projects in the City moving forward.”
The final item of the meeting harkens back to the first item. City Council will adopt the new strategic plan framework after years of extending the previous one.
“As the city has recovered from the major impacts of the pandemic, it is time to restate the priorities of council so the organization can pivot to those things that produce the desired results and position the government to meet the priorities of its public,” reads the staff report.
Is this the full plan? Is a framework all you need?
Goochland Supervisors to discuss transportation priorities, hold several land use public hearings
The five member Board of Supervisors in Goochland County will have a work session on transportation priorities at 2 p.m. followed by a regular meeting at 4 p.m. (work session agenda)
The purpose of this meeting is to get feedback from the elected officials on what projects should be pursued in the near future.
“VDOT will be presenting a new, upcoming project on Route 288 that will impact Goochland Citizens,” reads the agenda. “Staff will review with the Board the applications for Fall 2023 funding cycles as well as future opportunities through the Department of Rail and Public Transportation and Smart Scale.”
The regular meeting begins at 4 p.m. with in invocation by Pastor David May of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church.
One item on the consent agenda is authorization for the purchase of 2913 Dogtown Road which is next door to the site of the future Sandy Hook Fire Station.
At 5 p.m. Supervisors will have dinner with the Parks and Recreation Department and the Recreation Advisory Committee at the Goochland Sports Complex Gym for the Wall of Fame Induction and recognition of Sally Graham. Graham served as the Executive Director of GoochlandCares for over 20 years.
“Graham also raised over $8 million to construct a new facility which now provides a “one-stop shop” approach for those in need of services,” reads the staff report.
When the meeting reconvenes at 6 p.m. there will be an official recognition of Graham for being inducted into the Wall of Fame.
There are seven public hearings scheduled but not all will be heard.
A property owner seeks rezoning of just over 16 acres of land from Agricultural-2 to Residential-1. The Comprehensive Plan designates the property as in the Rural Enhancement Area. The applicant has requested a deferral until December 5, 2023.
The second is an amendment of the taxation ordinance to require that tax exempt properties must file for that status every three years.
In the third, a landowners seeks a conditional use permit to build a detached family housing unit on 8.05 acres of land zoned agricultural at 5425 River Road West. This is also in the Rural Enhancement Area.
In the fourth item, a couple seek a conditional use permit to build a detached family housing unit on 3.15 acres on t 2486 Log Cabin Road. This couple also wants to be removed from the requirement that such structures only be occupied by relatives. This is also in the Rural Enhancement Area.
In item number five, an individual seeks a rezoning of ten acres of land from Agricultural Limited (A-1) to Residential-1 to create one more residential lot. Guess what? Rural Enhancement Area.
The Hermitage Country Club seeks a rezoning of 3.813 acres of a larger parcel zoned R-3 to A-2. This is also in the Rural Enhancement Area.
This seventh is related to the sixth. The Hermitage Country Club seeks a conditional use permit to add the above to an existing golf course.
Reading material for Charlottesville, Goochland, and Louisa:
Goochland residents disagree with draft of Centerville Small Area Plan, Jennifer Blake, NBC12, August 28, 2023
Charlottesville Redevelopment & Housing Authority applies for $1.6M grant, Keagan Hughes, WVIR NBC29, August 30, 2023
Louisa bridge project done ahead of schedule but weight limit reduced, CBS19, August 31, 2023
City Schools is working to take over its bus system from Charlottesville Area Transit as the driver shortage persists, Tamica Jean-Charles, Charlottesville Tomorrow, September 1, 2023
Albemarle, Charlottesville teachers unions still hashing out details, Faith Redd, Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall), September 2, 2023
Even with higher wages, Charlottesville restaurants struggle to staff, Jason Armesto, Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall), September 2, 2023
Amazon Web Services to invest $11-billion dollars in Louisa County by 2040, Fredericksburg Today, September 2, 2023