May 12, 2025: Public hearings in Buckingham County on event space at Yogaville, expansion of Sprouse’s Corner Ranch
Plus: Meetings today in Bedford County and Mecklenburg County
We’re up to the second week of May and I begin this edition of the Fifth District Community Engagement newsletter by acknowledging I did not make it to Thursday’s edition. This is currently acceptable under the parameters of this particular experiment. This edition is made as rapidly as possible.
As I keep doing this, I will begin to point out things I notice such as how localities invoke closed meetings. Some places are very good about posting specific citations that allow elected bodies to kick the public out. Others are not.
In any case, the day needs to get going which means I need to publish this edition now. If you have questions, please let me know. If you’d like to know more about how you can support this work, visit this page on Information Charlottesville.
Mecklenburg County Supervisors to adopt FY2026 budget
The nine members of the Mecklenburg County Board of Supervisors will meet in the Board of Supervisors meeting room of the Goode Bank Building. The agenda itself doesn’t tell you a time but the minutes of the April 14 meeting signify 9:30 a.m. (meeting packet)
A reason to do this newsletter is to see how other localities present information to the public about how services are being used. I want to highlight one item in the packet for this meeting that presents a snapshot of land use activity in April 2025 put right next to April 2024. You can see exactly how many fees have been collected as well as the value of construction year-to-date. This is valuable information and I would like to see similar numbers for Albemarle and Charlottesville.
There are four planning and zoning matters to begin the day.
There is a special exception permit to operate an All Terrain Vehicle Repair Shop on Bowens Road in Buffalo Junction in District 9. (learn more)
There is a special exception permit to allow for a third residence on a property in District 1. This would be for a tiny home. (learn more)
There is a proposal for a solar siting agreement as well as proposed siting development conditions for Seven Bridges Solar. (learn more)
The fourth item is the special exception permit for the 80 megawatt Seven Bridges Solar project. (learn more)
Then there will be a report from the Virginia Department of Transportation as well as a public hearing on the Secondary Six-Year Program. Mecklenburg County is in the Richmond District.
Then there will be a report from the property committee and a public hearing on the conveyance of land of real property to an individual.
Next up is the Budget and Finance Committee and action on the 2025 tax rates as well as the fiscal year 2026 budget and the capital improvement program. There’s also a report on the Chase City Elementary GMP. GMP stands for Guaranteed Maximum Price that Blair Construction will charge as part of the design-build agreement.
We learn some interesting pieces of information about tourism from the minutes of the April 14 meeting.
In 2013, tourism brought in $115 million, a new record and a 46 percent increase since 2019. One destination has been recreation areas managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that are not advertised or promoted.
The Virginia Tourism Corporation provided a grant for the county to use Arrivalist, software that can track where people are visiting and where they are from.
Clarksville is the top destination and South Hill is where people stay. Majority of visitors come from the Raleigh-Durham, Richmond-Petersburg, Roanoke, Lynchburg, and Greensboro.
One planned future amenity is an addition to the Tobacco Heritage Trail. This will be a segment from Skipwith to Rudd Creek and construction is expected in 2027. Take a look at the 2023 master plan to learn more.
There is also a project called the Southern Virginia Wild Blueway which is a vision for a large network of waterways across nine counties.
Bedford County to hold public hearing on FY25 budget.
The seven members of the Bedford County Board of Supervisors will meet at 5 p.m. for a work session followed by a regular session. Information about the meetings can be found at this link.
The closed session is limited to a performance review of County Administrator Robert Hiss. Bedford County prints out the text of the closed session motion and puts it in the agenda.
There are three presentations honoring occasions.
One is a proclamation honoring National Skilled Nursing Care Week as May 11 through May 17
Another recognizes May 11 through May 17 as National Police Week and May 15 as Peace Officers Day
There’s a third proclamation marking May 18 through May 24 as National Emergency Medical Services Week Horizon Behavioral Health CEO Melissa Lucy with an annual update.
There will be a public hearing on the County Budget and School Budget.
“The proposed FY 2025-2026 Bedford County budget includes a General Fund budget of $134,256,841, Grant Fund budget of $1,362,617, Vehicle Replacement Fund budget of $2,354,796, Law Library Fund budget of $16,750, CIP Fund budget of $35,886,136, Nursing Home Fund budget of $9,804,713, and Solid Waste Fund budget of $12,246,073,” reads the agenda.
Adoption is set for May 27, 2025.
After that there will be a public hearing on a special use permit for a “Recreational Vehicle and Boat Sales/Service/Storage” at 13315 Stewartsville Road (Route 24).
Then the Board will hold a public hearing for a special use permit for “Recreational Vehicle and Boat Sales/Service/Storage” at 1217 Stoney Fork Road.
There will also be consideration of an ordinance to grant a tax exemption for real estate owned by the group Foods for Kids.
“Food For Kids provide a bag of food to food insecure children in seven Bedford County elementary schools; specifically, Huddleston Elementary, Moneta Elementary, Goodview Elementary, Stewartsville Elementary, Montvale Elementary, Bedford Elementary and Bedford Primary,” reads the staff report. “These bags are prepared and delivered to each school so that the children can take a bag home to supplement their food for the weekend.”
If granted, the county would not receive $412.05 a year.
Here’s one other piece of information I found interesting and will be looking to write about in the near future across the Fifth District.
The consent agenda contains a resolution stating that the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission will be the entity that coordinates creation of a regional water supply plan by 2029. The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality now requires localities in a given river basin to work together. Here’s a story I wrote about the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission on their efforts to create a plan for the Charlottesville area.
Buckingham County Supervisors to hold public hearing on event space at Yogaville
The Buckingham County Board of Supervisors will meet with Senator Luther Cifers at 5:30 p.m. followed by a regular meeting at 6 p.m. They meet in the Peter Francisco Auditorium at the County Administration Complex. (meeting packet)
The regular meeting begins with an invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by the public comment period. Then there’s a presentation from the Virginia Department of Transportation.
There are three public hearings.
The first is on the draft Secondary Six-Year Program for Buckingham County for FY2026 through FY2031.
The second is on a special use permit request for a multi-use event center “with events to include but not limited to vendor’s market to include local artisans, farms, food vendors; and seasonal festivals, arts and cultural events, life celebrations, community events.” This is on 4.85 acres located at 71 The Way, Buckingham, James River Magisterial District. (learn more)
“Many of the events proposed would be organized by a non-profit community organization, Village Sangha Association, which has been operating in the Yogaville community for multiple decades and formally, as a non-profit, since 2007,” reads the narrative. “The primary type of event would be a monthly ‘Vendor's Market’ where local artisans, farms, food vendors, and other vendors sell their goods.”
The third is for a special use permit “for the purpose of expansion of business operations including but not limited to additional housing, Air BnB, dry campsites, and an event center with events to include but not limited to glamping, dry campsites, nature trails, community meetings, special programs, tours, life celebrations, classes, festivals, farmer’s markets, etc. for up to 500 attendees.” This is on 59.357 acres located at 16680 W. James Anderson Hwy, Buckingham, Maysville Magisterial District.
The applicant is Sprouse’s Corner Ranch. A special use permit was approved for this property in January 2007 for “Horse Rider Training Facilities, Dude Ranch, Horse Shows.”
Next up is a resolution authorizing a public hearing on Buckingham County’s Comprehensive Plan. The Planning Commission recommended approval on a 6 to 1 vote after their public hearing on April 28. (learn more)
“Buckingham County will be a thriving and connected community that preserves its rural charm and natural landscapes while fostering responsible development,” reads the vision statement of the updated plan. “Families will grow, agriculture will flourish, local businesses will prosper, and new opportunities will be cultivated.”
There are four items for consideration and two are worth noting.
One is listed in the agenda as “Consider bid on installing water lines for hotel project.” This would be for a new facility on Wingo Road. Then that was approved by the Board of Supervisors, the county agreed to build a water and sewer line to the site. A bid has come in at $273,446.50. Does the Board want to proceed? (learn more)
The second is on a solid waste site on Route 655. It’s being used a lot and the Solid Waste Supervisors has a plan to make traffic flow more efficient. (learn more)
The meeting concludes with a closed session with the following description:
“Discussion or consideration of the acquisition of real property for a public purpose, or of the disposition of publicly held property, where discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position of negotiating strategy of the public body. §2.1-3711.A.3.”
The agenda also lists that there will be action after the closed session. I’ll make a note to watch that part and report what happened.
Reading material:
Chase City approves conversion of long-shuttered school, Mike Gangloff, April 29, 2025
Did you feel the 3.0 magnitude earthquake detected near the town of Dillwyn? Katelyn Harlow, WRIC 8 News, May 6, 2025
Bedford County school board delays rezoning decision, approves budget cuts, Brigette Kelly, WSET, May 8, 2025
Judge pauses much of Trump administration’s massive downsizing of federal agencies, Associated Press, May 10, 2025