Government Glance for October 5 through October 7: Albemarle Supervisors to get warning of future slowdown; Lynchburg Council to be told of slower growth
The second of two newsletters this week on local governments in Virginia's Fifth Congressional District
Some times this newsletter has a lot of duplication with the Week Ahead version of Charlottesville Community Engagement. This is one of those weeks. Still, this is an experiment and one that’s giving me a lot of insight as I try to understand Virginia’s Fifth Congressional District. This is a research project as much as it is an experiment in journalism.
Next week there are a lot of meetings on Tuesday as Monday is a holiday. So, the goal will be to do one newsletter, but who knows? This is a work in progress and a service of Town Crier Productions. Take a look at the Patreon page and consider supporting the work!
Albemarle Supervisors to get economic outlook from Virginia Tech researchers, several transportation briefings
The six-member Albemarle County Board of Supervisors will meet at 1 p.m. for their first meeting of October. (agenda)
Two out of three action items pertain to special exceptions for homestays. The third is for support for an application to the federal Reconnecting Communities grant for a corridor study of U.S. 29 from Hydraulic Road to the Rivanna River.
“This discretionary grant program is dedicated to reconnecting communities that have experienced negative safety, mobility, accessibility, and/or economic impacts due to transportation infrastructure,” reads the staff report for this item. “Program funding supports planning grants and capital construction grants to restore community connectivity through the removal, retrofitting, mitigation, or replacement of eligible transportation infrastructure facilities.”
Transportation is the topic for the first two of three presentations. Transportation Planner Jessica Hersh-Ballering will provide an update, including the county’s participation in the Safe Streets for All grant. (See also: Albemarle Supervisors direct staff to participate in TJPDC-led Safe Streets grant application, September 12, 2022)
Planning work continues to help address safety issues on Old Ivy Road, where one developer seeks to build 525 new units and the University of Virginia has a master plan to redevelop Ivy Gardens with more residential density.
“A consultant is under contract with VDOT to assess options to improve pedestrian connections, primarily under the railroad bridge at the eastern end of the corridor, and to improve vehicular operations at the Old Garth Rd/US 250/Canterbury Rd intersection near the eastern end of Old Ivy Rd,” Hersh-Ballering writes in the report.
Next, the Virginia Department of Transportation will give a report for activities in September.
The third presentation is an economic outlook for Albemarle County conducted by the Virginia Tech School of Public and International Affairs. The report starts with a global picture.
“Current economic indicators are mixed at this writing with slowing activity in some sectors along with resiliency in other sectors, including a continued strong job market,” reads the report. “Inflation remains at record highs and the Federal Reserve further confirmed at its September 2022 meeting its commitment to continue to raise rates into 2023 to convincingly bring inflation back toward its longer-run target of 2%, and a willingness to tolerate higher unemployment to achieve its price stability goal.”
The report then localizes recommendations, including preparation for an “economic cooling” due to ongoing fallout from the Russian-Ukraine War as well as supply chain issues. If you know anyone interested in economics or is studying the topic, send them this report. County staff deliberately wanted the analysis to take a look at the leisure and hospitality industry.
“In terms of payroll jobs, the leisure and hospital industry comprised 9.2 percent of the establishments in Albemarle County in 2020, 15.4 percent of total payroll jobs, and 5.46 percent of total annual payrolls,” reads the report.
In the evening session that begins at 6 p.m. there is a public hearing on a special use permit for a cell tower in Greenwood. (staff report)
On the consent agenda:
There’s a special exception for the Rio Point development to reduce the amount of parking required on site related to 45 townhomes. (materials)
Albemarle has the identical report from the Land Use and Environmental Planning Committee. (report)
There’s a 128 page document with all annual reports from many of the county’s boards and commission. That includes the Village of Rivanna Community Advisory Committee. The members of that group all quit in April and formed a private group. (report)
Fluvanna Supervisors to hold public hearing to update water and sewer ordinance
The five-member Fluvanna County Board of Supervisors will meet at 5 p.m. Wednesday in Fork Union at the Carysbrook Performing Arts Center. (meeting info) (package)
There are two action items, two presentations, and a public hearing on a change to the water and sewage disposal ordinance.
One action item is to select voting credentials for the upcoming business meeting of the Virginia Association of Counties. This is in case a member of the Board decides not to attend the November 15 event.
The other is to approve the job description for a new judicial assistant position. This relates to the retirement of Circuit Court Judge Richard E. Moore. Currently Fluvanna splits the cost of the position with Charlottesville, but the new judge will split time between Fluvanna and Greene County.
“It is anticipated that based upon populations and case loads, Fluvanna may have a greater percentage of court time in the future,” reads the staff report (page 11). “It is being requested that Fluvanna County be the employer for the Judge’s new Judicial Assistant and a new employee job description must be created.”
Judge David M. Barredo’s appointment is effective December 1.
The first presentation is Dr. Jean Runyon’s annual report from Piedmont Virginia Community College. Fluvanna County makes up 9.33 percent of the student population.
The second is an update on the reassessment process for 2023 from Commissioner of the Revenue Andrew Sheridan. No advance materials are included in the packet.
The public hearing is to repeal the county’s current water and sewer ordinance and replace it with a new one as well as to update the fee schedule for water and sewer service. This is a necessary step toward the future public water and sewer system planned for Zion Crossroads.
“The proposed ordinance changes, fees, manuals and plans have been prepared to address the significant increase in the abilities of the County’s water and sewer system occasioned by the Project, as well as to address significant revisions to the Virginia Administrative Code Waterworks Regulations which were effective June 21, 2021 and to make other modifications deemed appropriate by staff to better manage the system and to address the financial impacts of the Project,” read the staff report (page 108).
Lynchburg City Council to hold retreat Friday, including economic outlook
The seven member Lynchburg City Council will hold a retreat on Friday beginning at 9 a.m. They’ll meet at the Greater Lynchburg Transit Company at 419 Bradley Street. (agenda)
There will be several presentations as well as a discussion of the city’s finances. The first presentation an economic update from Chris Chmura. He also predicts a looming recession due to high inflation and higher interest rates. In an advance presentation, he states that the Lynchburg area is growing slower than the nation. The analysis also shows that Liberty University is a significant booster of the city’s economy.
