Government Glance for May 23, 2022: Lynchburg City Council to vote on ward adjustments; Charlotte PC to review two solar requests
Plus: Info on supervisor meetings in Bedford, Hanover and Powhatan counties
Hello again! I’m back for a second installment of an experiment publication that aims to give the reader an overview of what’s happening in localities within Virginia’s Fifth Congressional District. The Virginia Supreme Court adopted the new boundaries in late December, setting the stage for the next ten years. This has captured my imagination about what kind of local governments exist.
As I mentioned last week, I grew up in Campbell County and graduated from Brookville High School in 1991. I’ve worked as a journalist for most of my career. However, until now, I’ve never covered that community. This work aims to change that, as I learn the various localities from Albemarle to Prince Edward, and from Powhatan back to Amelia.
Unlike the Week Ahead newsletter I do for localities within the Thomas Jefferson Planning District, this “Government Glance” only looks at the elected governing body for now. I will add Planning Commissions, but only after I began figuring out what’s happening in the many towns across the Fifth District. I’m really excited to be doing this research and sharing it with you.
For now, this is a free publication supported by Patreon subscribers to Town Crier Productions. That’s the umbrella organization for all of the experiments I am working on at the moment in the hopes of informing people about what’s going on and how they can pay attention to the decisions. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments!
This week and next week are relatively slow but things will pick up soon. Subscribe for free and let’s see what we can learn together!
Monday, May 23, 2022
Bedford County Supervisors to hold public hearing on FY23 budget
The seven-member Bedford County Board of Supervisors will meet in the Administration Building for a work session at 5 p.m. followed by a regular meeting at 7 p.m. (link to agenda)
There will be a public hearing on a nearly $120 million general fund budget for FY23. There’s an increase of about $5.3 million in revenue over FY22, and there are eleven new positions in the budget. Adoption of the budget is set for June 13.
In the first land use, Supervisors will consider a request from a developer of property on Nicholas Lane at Smith Mountain Lake to be waived from making street improvements citing hardship. Instead, the new lots would become part of the Hickory Cove Property Owners Association which would be responsible for the private streets.
“Our parcel is too small for a [Planned Residential District] as the costs associated with that path would drive prices too high, and I could only afford multimillion dollar homes on large estate lots,” writes developer Rob Sorrentino.
In another item, Supervisors will be asked to enter into a new contract with Granics for a new county website. There’s also an item on establishing a social media policy for the county.
Powhatan Board of Supervisors to hold several land use public hearings
The Powhatan Board of Supervisors meets at 6:30 p.m. in the Village Building Auditorium but there hybrid participation options are available. There are several public hearings:
Powhatan County is seeking an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan’s transportation chapter (page 160)
A conditional use permit is requested for a utility-scale solar facility being pursued by Hexagon Energy known as Beldale Solar which also requires a siting agreement (page 182)
A landowner seeks a rezoning from Commerce Center to Heavy Industrial (page 431)
Powhatan County also seeks to amend the zoning ordinance to allow child-care facilities in Light Industrial districts with a conditional use permit (page 452)
Tuesday, May 24, 2022
Charlottesville Council to meet with Charlottesville PC on Fifth Street safety improvements
Charlottesville City Council and the Charlottesville Planning Commission regularly have a joint meeting at which land use public hearings are held. Tonight’s virtual work session deals with transportation with one specific project followed by a discussion of whether the city is capable of managing projects through the process from planning to construction.
The meeting begins at 5 p.m. and is a virtual event. (meeting info) (agenda)
First, though, Council will hold the second reading on a grant of $1.5 million in city funds for “housing assistance” to low and moderate income homeowners. More on that in the next Charlottesville Community Engagement.
The first item for the joint meeting deals with potential ways to improve safety on 5th Street, a four-lane highway from Ridge Street to I-64. A recent string of deaths has fueled public pressure for the city to take action, action that will take the form of a Smart Scale application for funding from the Virginia Department of Transportation that is due on August 1.
The city is not starting from scratch. A study on the 5th Street / Ridge / McIntire Corridor was completed in 2018. VDOT awarded two Smart Scale projects in the area, with one to build a turn lane at Cherry Avenue and another to build multimodal improvements on Ridge Street.
A study of crashes in the past ten years reveals that three-quarters are related to intersections, and all four of the fatalities since 2017 were incidents where the parties were going between ten and 45 miles-per-hour faster than the speed limit.
The firm EPR has been hired to come up with alternatives, with two former city employees listed as the consultants. Several options have been developed for the next Smart Scale application for Council and the Planning Commission to provide feedback on:
Alternative 1 - Enhanced Bike / Ped + RCUT: Protected bicycle lanes would be built on both sides of the road, and left-hand turn movements would be replaced with U-turns.
Alternative 2 - Road Diet (Bus Priority Lane & Separated Bike Lane): Bus priority lanes would be built in both directions, and bike lanes would be separated. One sidewalks would be expanded to six feet wide while the other would be converted to a ten-foot-wide shared use path.
A roundabout would be built at Bailey Road to slow traffic
Low cost measures including photo-red enforcement, mid-block crossings, guard rails, and better lighting.
In the next work session, engineers in the Public Works Division will provide an overview of $185 million worth of projects that are funded but not yet completed or built. These include nine Smart Scale projects ($95.9 million), revenue-sharing projects ($66.8 million), bridge projects ($19.1 million), and highway safety improvement programs ($2.6 million).
City Council has already eliminated some of these projects, such as the first two phases of the West Main Streetscape. Other projects are over budget and funding needs to be identified for them to continue. For instance, over $1.8 million is needed for the Fontaine Avenue Streetscape to go forward. That project was approved in the first Smart Scale funding round in June 2016. Another project approved at that time was the Emmet Street Streetscape, and that one is $6.3 million under budget.
Staff is recommending officially defunding or holding on all four phases of the West Main Streetscape as well as another Smart Scale project at Preston/Grady. They’re also recommending combining the Ridge and Cherry Avenue Smart Scale projects with the forthcoming 5th Street application.
Charlotte County Planning Commission holding special meeting on two solar project
In Virginia, policy on siting solar facilities is generally left up to localities. People in some counties have more concerns about these projects. (Charlotte County zoning website)
Applications for both an 800 megawatt facility and a 240 megawatt facility are making their way through the permitting process in Charlotte County. The Planning Commission will have a special meeting on both at 7:30 p.m. at Randolph-Henry High School in the auditorium. Staff recommends approval of the 240 MW one in their staff report.
Lynchburg City Council to consider neighborhood plan for Tyreeanna and Pleasant Valley
The seven-member Lynchburg City Council meets at a work session at 4 p.m. and a regular business meeting at 7:30 p.m. (work session agenda)
In the work session, there are four presentations starting with a review of 2022 Summer Events that will be put on by the Parks and Recreation Department. The Downtown Lynchburg Association will present their annual report for 2021. There will also be a redistricting exercise for the city’s four wards. One Councilor represents each one, and three Councilors serve at-large. There’s also a presentation on whether there is too much residential allowed in the city’s commercial zones.
The work session also has previews of five items that will come before Council at future meetings.
The evening session includes a public hearing on the ward boundaries. (evening session agenda)
There are five general business items. In the first, Council will consider adding the Tyreeanna and Pleasant Valley Neighborhood Plan to the Comprehensive Plan. These neighborhoods are on the city’s eastern side and are home to several former industrial sites that need remediation and may be eligible for additional federal funding above and beyond a $300,000 Brownfield grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency received in 2018.
Next, Council will consider amendments to city code to give the city a process to compel property owners to maintain their buildings.
“One recurring theme from the Strong Neighborhood Alliance’s recent listening sessions in the Diamond Hill neighborhood is the impact derelict structures and blight have on the community as a whole,” reads the staff report for the item.
After that, Council will approve two Smart Scale Applications. One is for intersection improvements at the intersection of Candlers Mountain Road and Liberty Mountain Road. The other is for an intersection reconfiguration of Langhorne Road, Rivermont Terrace, and Vassar Street. (staff report)
Before a closed session to consider appointments to the School Board, Council will consider a request to appropriate funds to address compression issues related to the move towards a living wage.
Wednesday, May 25, 2022
Hanover Supervisors to consider self-storage facility on church-owned land
The Hanover County Board of Supervisors meets at 6 p.m. (meeting info)
One of the first items on their agenda is an appointment to the School Board to represent the Mechanicsville Magisterial District. There will also be a public hearing on a $14.43 million budget supplement for the Virginia Telecommunications Initiative, as well as another on the Six-Year Secondary Road Plan.
Then there are eleven planning public hearings, lettered A through K. They are:
A rezoning is requested to amend the conceptual plan for the Chickahominy Falls development in the South Anna District to add more single-family homes (A)
The Hanover County Parks and Recreation Department seeks an amendment to a sketch plan for a planned building on Clazemont Road in the South Anna District as well as a special exception to allow outdoor lighting (B,C)
A rezoning is requested from A-1 to industrial to allow a warehouse on Lakeridge Parkway in the South Anna District (D)
A rezoning is requested from B-1 to Multi-Family Residential for a 6.28 acre lot on Hanover Crossing Drive in the Chickahominy District to allow for construction of 30 condominium units (E)
A conditional use permit is requested for a place of worship to be operated at agricultural land on Scotchtown Road in the South Anna District (F)
A Comprehensive Plan Amendment is requested to change land use designation for land on the Mechanicsville Turnpike in the Henry District from Suburban High to Commercial. An amendment to a conditional use permit is requested to reduce its area of scope from 11.67 acres to 5.78 acres. This is in the Henry District. The Hanover Evangelical Friends Church also wants to rezoning some of that land from agricultural to general business for the purposes of constructing a self-storage facility (G, H, I, J)
A rezoning is requested from R-1 to B3 at the intersection of Creighton Road and Cold Harbor Road for the purposes of building a WaWa convenience store.
In other meetings:
Albemarle’s Board of Supervisors meet in a closed session at 8 a.m. There’s currently no agenda for meeting, but the six-member body has had multiple sessions recently to select a new county attorney (meeting info)
