Government Glance for November 7, 2022: Nelson Supervisors asked to rewrite rules for cluster housing; Charlottesville to consider critical slopes waiver for 130-units in Belmont
What's happening today at local government meetings in Charlottesville, Louisa County, Mecklenburg County, and Nelson County
Now that we’re in the penultimate month of the year, the gravity of local government changes. Election Day is treated like a holiday by elected officials, most of whom adjust their meeting dates in order to clear way for election returns. There’s one exception this week, but that will be in the second installment for this week.
If this is your first installment, a quick explanation. I’m a journalist based in Charlottesville who grew up in Campbell County and graduated from Brookville High School in 1991. Government class in 12th grade was the most interesting thing of that whole experience and I ended up with a career that’s been heavy on local government.
The new Fifth District provides an amazing opportunity to get to know other Virginia communities and learn more about how other elected bodies work. I’ve spent 15 years looking at Albemarle and Charlottesville up close. In fact, most of the first Government Glance comes yesterday’s Week Ahead, which I’ve been writing for four years now.
I hope in a few years I will know the rest of the Fifth District as well as I know the northern part. We all have a lot to learn from each other.
Please share with anyone you think might be interested in local government.
Nelson Supervisors to consider options for new county office building; Developer seeks new cluster provisions for workforce housing
The five-member Nelson County Board of Supervisors meets a day early due to Election Day. The afternoon session begins at 2 p.m. and the evening session begins at 7 p.m. with both taking place in the General District Courtroom in Lovingston. Both are fairly full this time around. (meeting info)
There are several presentations to begin the meeting starting with one from the Virginia Department of Transportation.
Then there will be a report on the regional legislative agenda put together by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. The top three priorities are public education funding, budgets and funding, and broadband. (page 44)
Helen Cauthen of the Central Virginia Partnership for Economic Development will provide an update on the organization that has the mission “Advancing Innovative Strategies for Regional Economic Prosperity.” The group announced 205 new jobs within the nine jurisdictions such as 64 jobs at Bonumose in Albemarle County announced last October..
The fourth is a presentation from PMA Architecture on a proposal for a new county office building. The first step has been the evaluation of space needs for county departments with an identified need for more space for the Department of Social Services and the Department of Planning, Zoning, and Building. A 16.57 acre site has been identified at the intersection of Callohill Drive and U.S. 29 in Lovingston. (page 66)
“Callohill Drive provides a signalized intersection with paving improvements up to the side of the Food Lion shopping center,” reads the report. “Beyond the Food Lion, the existing road is a gravel unimproved road which will require paving and curb and gutter along with storm drainage improvements.”
Two different concepts have been provided with cost estimates of $10.5 million and $12.6 million. This comes at a time when construction costs can be volatile. A letter from construction management firm Downey & Scott explains the details of how the pandemic disrupted a supply chain that had been predicated on the “just in time” shipping concept. (page 72)
“These practices improved profitability and shareholder return while significantly decreasing stored inventories,” the letter reads. “This model adopted and practiced across the industry was not suited to what happened in the first quarter of 2020 with the outset of the COVID 19 Global Pandemic.”
The letter predicts “normality” may not return until late 2023.
The fifth is for a proposed cluster housing project in Lovingston. A pair of developers are seeking to build 40 homes on 35 acres at 31 Orchard Road in a cluster style that currently is not addressed by Nelson County code.
“As Nelson County’s Business Climate continues to grow, the demand for workforce housing will continue to expand as most all new construction has served the vacation business community and existing housing stock remains to be very aged and non-energy efficient,” wrote Rick Byers of Longevity Home Solutions.
Byers wants the county to update its zoning code to allow this type of development. In a second letter in the packet, he describes the units as being two story with between 1,100 and 1,400 square feet.
There are several items of new and unfinished business. The first is a discussion of a potential access point at Allen’s Creek and the James River. The county wants to encourage the Weyerhauser Corporation to sell, lease, or donate a property they own near Gladstone. This is being encouraged by the Friends of the Rivers of Virginia and the Float Fisherman of Virginia.
Then there will be two separate votes to authorize a public hearing on amendments to both the county’s ordinance on business licenses as well as a change to the transient occupancy tax. These are related. The first would specifically state that entities formed to rent out properties for transient lodging are a business. The second would eliminate any reference to a registration requirement for short-term rentals.
The afternoon session ends with a closed session on potential litigation about the Regional 2000 Services Authority.
In the evening session, there are two public hearings. The first is for a special use permit on a breakfast restaurant on Route 151 in Nellysford that would have a drive-through window. The Planning Commission motion to recommend the permit failed on a 3-3 vote.
The second would be for the creation of a new agricultural and forestal district on 364.68 acres.
Supervisors will adjourn to an unknown date for a work session on the Larkin property development.
Charlottesville City Council to decide on critical slopes waive for 130-unit Belmont Condominiums project, extent city manager contract
The five-member Charlottesville City Council meets at 4 p.m. for a work session followed by a regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. (meeting info)
There are two components to the work session. First, the Botanical Garden of the Piedmont will present an annual report to a City Council that contains no members who were present when the city entered into a memorandum of agreement for the nonprofit to operate on about 8.5 acres of McIntire Park. That took place in September 2015 after years of courtship. The terms state that the city will not provide capital costs. That’s up to BGP and they are currently in the midst of a $10 million capital campaign.
“We have raised one-third of the needed funding, and recently received a $250,000 matching grant towards the Garden Pavilion from the Perry Foundation,” reads a slide in the powerpoint. “This capital campaign will fund all of the design and site work, as well as the construction of a Garden Pavilion, Children’s Discovery Garden, and a small parking lot.”
The second report is a longer conversation on the policy governing how the city vacates right of way. A request from a landowner for the city to give up land for an unbuilt road was put on hold indefinitely at the October 3 meeting. Council also discussed this property in mid June as I wrote about at the time. There’s no advance information for this item in the staff report.
There is a lot on the consent agenda worth reviewing.
Council will extend the contract with the Robert Bobb Group to provide the services of Michael C. Rogers as interim city manager through December 31, 2023 or the appointment of a new city manager. Check the staff report for more information.
Council will hold second reading on an appropriation of $565,000 from the city’s share of the American Rescue Plan Act, including $200,000 to sustain the Premier Circle emergency shelter operating through the end of April 2023. See my previous story on this or read the staff report. .
Council will hold second reading of an appropriation of $700,000 from a capital contingency fund to cover the costs to replace a fuel station on Avon Street. See my previous story on this or read the staff report.
Council will hold second reading of an appropriation of $107,203.32 for seven months rent for the Jefferson School Center for African American Heritage. Take your pick to learn more: Staff report or my story.
There are minutes from the September 27, 2022 work session with the Planning Commission on the zoning code. There is a one-sentence description of what happened in these official minutes and none of that is substantive. The Cville Plans Together initiative is one of the most significant land use policy changes in Charlottesville history, and the official minutes end with this statement. “Members of the consulting team were present and answered questions for councilors and commissioners.” That’s it. You can always watch it yourself, I suppose.
Or you can read some of the 6,000 words I wrote up in three separate summaries.
There are several action items:
The Charlottesville Fire Department wants to require property owners who have “certain fire protection and other life safety systems” to provide fire inspection reports. This can be handled online, as we learn in the staff report. First of two readings with no public hearing required.
The city’s human rights ordinance is being updated with a request from the Human Rights Commission for it to be able to take on more work. Specifically, the Commission wants the power to investigate housing discrimination claims and wants two new full-time positions. One would be budgeted at $74,116.50 a year. The other would be $101,147.98 a year.
The staff report offers a lot of background and detail about proposed changes in the ordinance, but does not mention the city’s lack of a housing coordinator position to track funds used to create and maintain subsidized housing units.That position has not been filled since the summer of 2020 when the last person left to become executive director of the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority. According to the city manager’s report, that position is expected to be filled sometime this month.There is an amendment to the Substantial Action Plan for the Community Development Block Grant. Is the $178,394.34 new money? It appears one of the projects is for a pedestrian bridge, but wasn’t it said earlier this year the city would stop using CDBG money for infrastructure? After all, the city canceled a sidewalk project on Franklin Street last December. The other is replacement HVAC equipment at a group home run by the Arc of the Piedmont. (staff report)
Out of the bullets for the next two items, which are related to land use. I was not able to cover these stories at the Planning Commission in October.
In the first, Council will be asked to approve a critical slopes waiver for the 130-unit Belmont Condominiums to be built in portions of the Belmont neighborhood zoned for Neighborhood Commercial Corridor. This is a Riverbend Development project. Seven of the units would be designated as affordable at the 80 percent of area median income level.
“It should be noted that nothing in the application materials currently available indicates a level of affordability, timeframe, or enforcement mechanism,” reads the staff report. “To construct the mixed use development as presented in the application, the developer will need to disturb 86.4 percent of the critical slopes on the site. Of that, 86.4 percent, 65.3 percent needs a waiver from City Council.”
A major component of the zoning rewrite is to remove legislative review of critical slope waivers and special use permits to make it easier for more housing units to be built within the city.
The public hearing for this item was held at the joint Planning Commission meeting with City Council on October 12. The Commission voted 6 to 0 to recommend approval.
In the final item, Council will vote on a special use permit for a car wash at the corner of Harris Road. The Planning Commission voted 4-2 to recommend approval.
Halifax County Board of Supervisors to meet
The Halifax County website is still having technical difficulties that prevent agenda from loading. I’ve uploaded it to a place where you can see it if you’d like. (download)
Before I get into that, I do believe that it’s time for me to try to learn more about Halifax County. It’s time to subscribe to the Gazette-Virginian.
The eight member Board of Supervisors will meet at 6:30 p.m. in the Mary Betheune Office Complex in Halifax. There are no public hearings this time around but a lot of information in the 118-page packet.
Above I lamented the sad state of minutes in Charlottesville. No one can read a full account of what happens at any meetings which is not a transparent approach to government. Just now I’ve read through a complicated conversation Halifax Supervisors had about funding for a proposal high school expansion has fallen short. There was a five to three vote against providing additional funding, and I can understand the conversation because it is written out in summary form. (page 19)
But that’s not all! There are full minutes for the American Rescue Plan Act committee that was formed to determine how the county’s $6.5 million would be used (page 24) as well as a solid waste committee (page 30) as well as a War Memorial Advisory Committee (page 33).
There are also details about the recent announcement by Hitachi Energy that they would expand operations and invest $37 million to add 26,000 square feet for a new production line to put together transformers. The idea is to create 165 jobs. Halifax County is party to a performance agreement for a $220,000 grant from the Tobacco Commission’s opportunity fund (page 60).
All localities across Virginia that entered into a class action lawsuit with pharmaceutical companies related to opioids. In Virginia, the settlement payments will flow through the Opioid Abatement Authority over an 18 year period. Halifax County will receive $564,769 through FY2039. (page 77)
The packet also has a useful update on utility-scale solar projects in Halifax. (page 91)
Louisa Supervisors seek state funding to help with algae blooms; public hearing on Goochland boundary adjustment
The seven-member Louisa County Board of Supervisors meets at 5 p.m. for a closed session followed by a regular session at 6 p.m. (meeting info)
One item on the consent agenda is a recognition of the late Melvin Burruss, who died in September.
“Burruss’s tireless efforts and enthusiasm for his community earned the respect of local residents and fellow public servants and served as an outstanding example of public service to the County,” reads the resolution on page 30 of the packet.
There are two information items. The first is a presentation from Piedmont Virginia Community College and the second is an update on the Louisa County Agricultural Fair.
There are three actions items under new business. The first is to approve the same regional legislative agenda from TJPDC that Nelson County saw earlier in the day.
The second is a request to ask the Commonwealth of Virginia to help cover the cost of mitigating harmful algae blooms. The draft letter is addressed to Governor Glenn Youngkin.
“Lake Anna has been materially affected by Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB) over the past few years, resulting in ‘No Swim’ advisories and significant negative impact on those enjoying the lake as well as those relying on it from an economic standpoint,” reads the resolution (page 58).
“The most recent state budget included significant funding for a study of HAB in Lake Anna, and while this study is necessary, it is also time consuming [and] additional funding support is need to mitigate immediate impacts of HAB in the coming tourism season.”
The third is a resolution to support the development of public infrastructure for the Shannon Hill Regional Business Park.
There are two public hearings. The first is for a boundary line agreement between Louisa County and Goochland that affects ten parcels. The second is for an amendment to the county’s land development regulations related to the discontinuance of roadside buffers.
In other meetings:
The Albemarle / Charlottesville Community Policy and Management Team meets at 9 p.m. in Room 231 of the County Office Building at 1600 5th Street. That’s the southern one. (meeting info)
The Albemarle Architectural Review Board will meet at 1 p.m. in Lane Auditorium but people can view this meeting online. On the agenda is a certificate of appropriateness for a self storage unit near Forest Lakes as well as a work session on entrance corridor guidelines. (meeting info)
There is a community meeting at the Scottsville Library at 330 Bird Street for a special use permit to rebuild a power transmission line between Esmont and Scottsville. The application code is SP2022-20. (meeting info)
Mecklenburg Supervisors to consider Comprehensive Plan amendments for solar
The nine-member Mecklenburg County Board of Supervisors meets at 9:30 a.m. There is not a lot of detail in the two-page agenda, but some of the topics sound interesting. (agenda)
There are three public hearings. The first is for three special exception permits. The second is for a rezoning application.
The third is for an amendment to the county’s Comprehensive Plan chapter on land use development related to the siting of utility-scale solar projects.
There will be an update on schools as well as consideration of an interim agreement with Blair Construction for a project at Clarksville Elementary.
Then Supervisors will be presented with a compensation and classification study for county employees. Perhaps one of the hottest issues in local government is mounting concern about losing employees to other jurisdictions. A disagreement about personnel led to the recent firing of the Powhatan County Administrator by the Board of Supervisors there.
The other hot item at the moment relates to the upcoming 2023 General Assembly. Mecklenburg’s legislative agenda will be discussed. There will also be a discussion about providing hazardous duty benefits to emergency services personnel. Then, reports! These are not available online but I hope to get to know Mecklenburg more in the coming years.
The meeting ends with a closed session in which there will be a presentation on economic development. If this wasn’t the week of Election Day, I’d be much more interested in tracking in learning more about what section of state code has been invoked to make this a closed meeting.
There’s so much happening all of the time everywhere. I thank my supporters for helping me keep track of as much as I can. If you got to the end and would like to support my work over all, consider becoming a patron on Patreon. I really want to be doing this in eight years when we’re on the eve of elections once more.
