May 21, 2025: Meetings today in Albemarle, Amelia, and Fluvanna
Another look at what's happening in local governments in Virginia's Fifth Congressional District
Three meetings today and I’m sifting through a lot for the Charlottesville Community Engagement newsletter. So no note at the top and let’s get going!
A quick summary of the Fluvanna County Supervisors meeting
Somehow I neglected to write up a preview for the Fluvanna County Board of Supervisors meeting tonight, so I’m writing this fresh for Fifth District Community Engagement.
The five members of the Fluvanna County Board of Supervisors will meet at 6 p.m. in the Circuit Courtroom at 72 Main Street in Palmyra. (agenda packet)
There are three action items on the agenda for the evening.
The first is for the dissolution of the Economic Development and Tourism Advisory Council. The group was formed in 2016 and is being eliminated to make way for a more focused Tourism Advisory Committee. (learn more)
The second is for an authorization to hold a public hearing on the enactment of a food and beverage tax. This will be held on June 18, 2025. Half the proceeds would go to public school construction. (learn more)
The third is for reappropriation of $149,661.25 in funding for the track at Fluvanna Middle School. (learn more)
There are four public hearings.
The first is for the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Secondary Six Year Plan. (learn more)
The second is for a special use permit for the Sprouse Specialty Retail Store to be located at 1474 North Boston Road. The applicant wants to sell sporting goods. (learn more)
The third is for a special use permit for the Seven Islands Riverfront Campsites.(learn more)
The fourth is on a proposal to put into county code that assessments will be biennial. That’s every other year. (learn more)
A story about Fluvanna County:
Investigation underway into Fluvanna County homicide, CBS19 News, May 19, 2025
Amelia County Supervisors to hold public hearing on FY2026
The Amelia County Board of Supervisors will meet at 7 p.m. in the Amelia County Administration Conference Room. (agenda packet)
The consent agenda contains two events to be held at Windsor Lavender Farm. One is for the Bluegrass Festival and the other is for the Lavender Festival. Both are to be held June 13 through June 15.
There are two items under the heading of Community Development.
One is entitled “Main Street Program Resolution- BOOMS Study Pilot Program Grant” from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development.
“This grant is a strategic initiative designed to establish the Amelia Courthouse area as a registered historic district and provide a professional proposal that will conduct a comprehensive identification, analysis, and data integration of potential building development opportunities via the Main Street Tracker system,” reads the staff report.
The other is a public hearing on a special exception request for a detached dwelling unit. Details are here.
There are three items under old and new business.
The first is a public hearing on the FY20226 budget. (learn more)
The second is a public hearing for removal of a requirement for a certificate to be eligible for elderly tax relief. (learn more)
The third is a report on the regional water supply planning process. That gets its own paragraph or three!
New regulations in Virginia now require localities to plan with other localities on the creation of a regional water supply plan.
“Amelia County is part of the Middle James River 3 Regional Planning Area (RPA),” reads the staff report.
Dewberry Engineers have been hired to conduct the work on behalf of this RPA.
One other item gleaned from the agenda:
Austin Mitchell is the new director of community development and there’s a consent agenda item to officially designate him as the zoning administrator.
Amelia County stories:
‘Our puzzle will always be missing a piece’: Loved ones remember teen who died by suicide, Deniel Dookan, WRIC 8 News, May 3, 2025
$6.4 million lawsuit alleges 10-year-old autistic girl was bullied at Amelia school while staff did nothing, Ryan Nadeau and Victoria Lucas, WRIC 8 News, May 8, 2025
Virginia State Police launch targeted enforcement on Route 360, Jazmine Otey, WSLS 10, May 20, 2025
Albemarle Supervisors to review economic development strategic plan, guidelines for affordable housing investments
The Albemarle Board of Supervisors holds their third meeting this month beginning at 1 p.m. in Lane Auditorium in the County Office Building at 401 McIntire Road. (meeting info)
After a proclamation recognizing May as Older Americans’ Month, Supervisors will get a full presentation on an economic study conducted by the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia. (view the Cost of Services Study)
“Continued residential growth concerns some local residents because of the potential loss of prime farmland and open space to development and the possible negative fiscal impact of new residential development,” reads a summary of the Cost of Community Services study. “The incremental taxable value of residential properties is often less than the public services demand.”
County Executive Jeffrey Richardson brought up this study at a panel discussion held on April 16 as part of the Tom Tom Festival.
“When you look at our revenue diversification, we are 72 percent residential. We’re 11.3 percent commercial and industry. For a community of our size, that 11.3 percent should be somewhere between 15 and 20 percent,” Richardson said.
One reason Albemarle County has increased the role of economic development is to increase that number. The next work session is an update of the economic development strategic plan. There is no staff report but there are four attachments.
A competitive benchmarking assessment released by Resonance in February 2025 that has seven takeaways and makes comparisons to other communities (view the document)
A document is listed as a cluster assessment in the agenda, but it’s really an analysis of target industries for Albemarle. There’s a lot in this. (view the document)
There is a link to the community engagement work to date which consists of 152 responses to an online questionnaire. (view the document)
There is a summary of stakeholder engagement to date. There were a series of roundtables in February and March at which specific people were invited to give their feedback. About a hundred people participated. (view the document)
Next up will be a presentation on guidelines for how funding in the Albemarle Housing Investment Fund (AIHF) will be used. The budget adopted by Supervisors for FY2026 includes $5.2 million for that fund.
“The primary purpose of the AHIF is to provide financial resources to address the affordable housing needs of individuals and families who live or work in the county by promoting, preserving, and producing quality, long-term affordable housing options; providing housing related services to low- and moderate-income households; and providing support for non-profit and for-profit organizations that actively address the affordable housing needs of low- and moderate-income households,” reads an overview of the program.
Revenue for the program will come through four sources with the first being a portion of the annual real property tax revenue collected. Additionally there will be funding that comes from developers who seek to pay in lieu of building required units, voluntary contributions through proffers, and other allocations as approved by the Board of Supervisors.
Here’s the draft set of priorities:
Provide housing options for households with income less than 60% of AMI
Include mechanisms to ensure permanent (90-year) affordability
Use County funding awards to leverage significant amounts of federal, state, or private funding
Are shovel ready. For projects that will be applying for Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) financing, ‘shovel ready’ means the applicant will be submitting a LIHTC application during the next available application period
Support the economic and social diversification of Albemarle County neighborhoods
Provide on-site resident services
Albemarle County does not list their closed meeting motion in the meeting packet.
The evening session has two public hearings.
The first is on Albemarle County’s draft Secondary Six-Year Plan allocations for the next six years. These are funds for paving roads. (learn more)
The second is for a special use permit for outdoor storage at 400 Rio Road West which will become a plumbing supply store. (learn more)
Some consent agenda items:
For the first time, Albemarle Supervisors will approve a set of minutes from 2024. For some reason, Albemarle does not provide their draft minutes available in advance and they are only posted once Supervisors have approved them. The most recently approved minutes are currently from the December 6, 2023 joint meeting with the School Board. (learn more about what minutes are being considered)
There is an authorization for a public hearing to raise Board of Supervisors’ compensation to $20,805, up from $20,199. The stipend for the chair will increase to $1,891 and the stipend for vice chair to $630. (read the resolution)
There is also authorization for a public hearing to increase compensation for Planning Commissioners and other boards. (read the resolution)
There is a $1.34 million project to build a trailhead at the Sugar Hollow Reservoir that is being paid for in part through a grant from the Federal Lands Access program. That requires a resolution and a formal agreement. (resolution) (project agreement)
Albemarle stories:
Former Red Carpet Inn demolished to make way for 80-unit supportive housing apartment complex, Sean Tubbs, C-Ville Weekly, May 16, 2025
Demonstrators at Shops at Stonefield protest Tesla and Elon Musk, Gabby Womack, WVIR 29 News, May 17, 2025
Despite federal backlash, Albemarle County teaching students ‘whole truth history’, Steven Yoder, Hechinger Report / Charlottesville Tomorrow, May 19, 2025