November begins with meetings in Albemarle, Charlottesville, Fluvanna, and Goochland
Plus: Goochland to get broadband update
The end of 2023 is in sight, and there may or may not be a slowdown in local government activity. Either way, today’s edition is a full one with items from four meetings.
Albemarle County will spend a lot of time talking on transit with reviews of both a transit governance study and a third-party review of existing services.
Charlottesville City Council will get the latest information on the proposed new zoning code that would significantly increase development rights with an emphasis on creating more affordable units.
Fluvanna County will consider dissolving one of its committees
Goochland will have public hearings on a pottery business, an automotive business, a new polling place, and changes to the public hearing notice requirements.
Reading material attempts to bring you stories you may not have known about it. This section is a good way to learn about what’s happening across the District!
Goochland Supervisors to hold public hearing on public hearing notice requirements
The five members of the Goochland County Board of Supervisors will meet for their November meeting at 2 p.m. for the first of two sessions. They meet at 1800 Sandy Hook Road in Goochland. (agenda packet)
The meeting begins with the usual items such as the Call to Order, the Invocation, the Pledge of Allegiance and comments from the chair. There will be an announcement of the county Christmas Tree Lighting and Holiday Celebration on Friday, December 1 from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at NAPA Field.
There will be a presentation from Dr. Paula Pando, the president of Reynolds Community College.
There is one citizen comment from Bob Marcellus.
There will be several reports such as one from the Virginia Department of Transportation, an introduction from new county staff, an update on planning and development activity, broadband activity, and reports from others boards.
From the broadband report we learn that the county is seeking information about what areas of the county do not have good access to the internet.
“Citizens in Goochland County can complete a survey at the link below to report areas of limited broadband and their need for broadband service,” reads the report. “This is a voluntary survey that may be used by Goochland County for research, grant funding opportunities, and to confirm remaining unserved and underserved areas in the county.”
I’m not sure how many readers are from Goochland, but here’s the link all the same. Goochland is under the jurisdiction of the RISE public-private partnership involving Firefly and the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission.
There will be a series of appointments after the consent agenda. Then the dinner break which also consist of the annual employee recognition dinner. This will be held in the Goochland Sports Complex Gymnasium.
The evening session resumes at 6 p.m. and there are several public hearings.
A landowner seeks a conditional use permit for a home-based business at 652 Seay Road. The land is zoned agricultural. He wants to sell pottery he creates on site.
“The applicant expects 2-3 customers per week on average,” reads the staff report. “Because the applicant’s business has hours that will be open to the public, it is classified as a home-based business (CUP use) instead of a home-based occupation (permitted by-right).”
KPB Realty seeks an amendment to a conditional use permit to allow for automobile repair at 480 Hylton Road. There’s an existing 10,000 square foot business on the site as well as a communications tower. The applicant would seek to build a second structure in addition to reusing the existing one.
There’s another public hearing on an amendment to the county’s zoning ordinance to reflect new legislation approved by the General Assembly related to public hearing notice requirements. Take a look at the language change.
The fourth public hearing regards an amendment to Goochland’s electoral map to indicate that the Parks and Recreation Building at the County Complex is the new polling place for the Beaverdam precinct. That seems really close to an election.
The final public hearing is for a lease for the Central Virginia Blacksmith Guild to lease space at the Central High Cultural and Educational Complex.
“This lease agreement is for the prior middle school cafeteria preparation space which is approximately 1,700 square feet,” reads the staff report. “The CVBG wishes to continue its engagement in activities such as forging and educational programming.”
The Goochland County Board of Supervisors will next meet on December 5.
Albemarle County to talk transit at regular meeting
Local government in Albemarle gets off to a start at 1 p.m. with the regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors. They gather in Lane Auditorium in the county’s office building at 401 McIntire Road. (agenda)
There will be a proclamation recognizing Veterans Day later in the month.
“November 11, 2023, marks the 85th anniversary of Veterans Day being recognized as a national holiday,” reads the proclamation. “On this day (and every day), we remember the millions of patriots who have served and sacrificed for the betterment of our nation.”
Then there will be a work session on the transit governance study being shepherded by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission..
There are no advance materials in the packet as of Sunday, but if you want a jump on what the MPO was presented, view the technical memo on Phase III of the study. I’m going to hold off on writing that up until I can present the audio as well.
For background, this governance study follows the creation of a Regional Transit Vision Plan that imagines a more robust public transportation system.
Sometimes creating this weekly newsletter is my way of reminding myself by reviewing previous stories to prepare. I forget the details of this stuff and suspect many others do as well.
Studying the expansion of transit in Albemarle County, August 11, 2021
Regional Transit Vision update, May 20, 2022
Partnership briefed on potential vision for regional transit, June 1, 2022
Public meeting tonight for Regional Transit Vision plan; Fluvanna and Louisa supervisors briefed last week, June 23, 2022
Regional Transit Vision Plan nearing completion, November 2, 2022
Governance study: A primer on regional transit systems, December 15, 2022
Two out of five phases completed for transit governance study, April 5, 2023
More planning in the works for Charlottesville Area Transit, July 9, 2023
Charlottesville City Council learns more about transit governance study, August 17, 2023
Next, Supervisors will get an update on the Smart Scale changes that are being considered.
“Proposed changes by VDOT to the Smart Scale application and scoring processes have the potential to significantly impact Albemarle County’s ability to seek Smart Scale funding for transportation infrastructure projects prioritized by the County’s Comprehensive and Master Planning processes,” reads a staff report.
Albemarle County has its own priority list and Supervisors were briefed earlier this month on a new reordering that’s being done for 2024. County staff use the list to help in seeking funding for planning and construction, as I reported.
The CTB itself was briefed on the potential changes at their meeting on October 17.
“Since February, the CTB has been engaged in a holistic review of our nationally recognized, data-driven process for prioritizing multimodal transportation investments to determine if SMART SCALE is meeting its goal,” reads a presentation from that meeting.
Changes could include increasing the weight that economic development plays and reducing the number of applications localities could submit. A virtual town hall will be held on October 31, as you read above.
Next Supervisors will return to the topic of public transportation and particularly Albemarle County’s investment in the service as a way of meeting its strategic goals. The current fiscal year includes $98,000 for a study of transit.
“Transit is continuing to increase in complexity and quite frankly the county does not have one individual that is a service level subject matter expert for transit,” said Ryan Davidson, Albemarle’s Deputy Chief of Budget, at a March 29 work session. (read the story)
To that end, the county commissioned the Texas A&M Transportation Institute to review the current levels and produce a technical memo.
“This technical memo documents TTI’s understanding of transit services in the County, including what entities operate them, what the services cost, and how the services are funded,” reads the executive summary.
This is a separate process from the governance study Supervisors will have heard about earlier in the meeting. In general, the work finds that transit service in the area is “appropriate for the service area.”
The report is thorough and provides one of the best overviews of area transit I’ve read with specific details about operations and finances of Charlottesville Area Transit and Jaunt.
“Local sources are forecasted to make up a larger and larger proportion of CAT’s fixed-route operational expenses, reaching a total of $5.8 million by FY2026,” reads page 31. “This is largely due to costs that are not offset by corresponding increases in the state or federal revenues.”
Part of that will be caused by the end of COVID-related funds from the federal government.
The University of Virginia made a contribution of $84,900 for the free trolley-style bus in FY24, a figure that will increase to $90,070 in FY26. UVA does not make a contribution to other routes.
The report also states the authors are seeking more information.
“CAT also has a $23,011,897 capital improvement plan; however, the details of what’s in the $23 million plan are unclear at this time,” reads page 27 of the report.
The report does not comment directly on the transit governance study that’s underway, but there is this key observation that follows a list of general recommendations to maximize funding through regional collaboration.
“Funding mechanisms become notably more complicated when transit agencies collaborate
to offer services across a region encompassing diverse jurisdictions,” reads page 65 of the digital document. “Developing a comprehensive cost sharing and fundraising approach becomes a matter of heightened importance when multiple transportation providers and authorities are engaged in delivering transit service.”
Charlottesville Area Transit has been running on the “lifeline” service since the pandemic which means no Sunday service. TTI suggests CAT attempt an on-demand response service on Sundays similar to MicroCAT.
In finding #6, TTI evaluated commuter routes offered by Jaunt are missing the industry standard of having more than five passengers per hour.
“North CONNECT seems well-desired (based on customer comments in the County’s microtransit study); however, the route has low productivity (4.3 passengers per hour),” the report continues. “Crozet CONNECT has even lower productivity at 1.94 passengers per hour.”
As for the MicroCAT pilot, the report warns that it may be hard to meet demand for curb-to-curb service that is more convenient, especially with passengers not having to pay anything to use it.
“CAT and the County should carefully evaluate the microtransit service’s performance, demand, and costs and should consider fare options for microtransit that will help manage demand and offset the service’s costs,” reads recommendation #9.
The evening session at 6 p.m. has a public hearing on the Covenant School’s request for an amendment to a special use permit to add 2.61 acres to the Hickory Campus for the purpose of building tennis courts. (staff report)
There are several items on the consent agenda worth reviewing.
Supervisors will approve the minutes of several meetings from March 2022.
The Virginia Festival of the Book and the Front Porch will both receive funding in an appropriation due to a faulty submission online portal during the budget process. (staff report)
The county’s personnel policy is being amended in part to change the title of “Termination of Policy” to “Separation of Employment.” (staff report)
Supervisors have been formally given the draft goals and objectives for several chapters of the next Comprehensive Plan. These are Environmental Stewardship, Parks and Recreation, and Historic, Scenic, and Cultural Resources,
The Albemarle School Board will hold a public hearing on November 9 to consider candidates to be a replacement member for the Rio District seat. Katrina Callsen resigned in mid-September to devote time to her campaign for House District 54. That’s one item of information from the October report from the School Board to the Board of Supervisors. (read the report)
Fluvanna Supervisors to act on dissolution of aging committee
The five-member Fluvanna County Board of Supervisors will meet at 5 p.m. in the Carysbrook Performing Arts Center at 8880 James Madison Highway in Fork Union. (agenda)
There are four action items:
David Blount of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission will present the agency’s legislative program for the 2024 General Assembly.
There will be a presentation on the upcoming deer hunt for disabled hunters at Pleasant Grove Park. This annual event scheduled this year for December 22 is done to help cull the population.
There will be a resolution to dissolve the Fluvanna Partnership on Aging. The board has not been able to have a quorum since early 2022.
There will be a contract with CityScape telecommunications to help with analysis and review of specific applications for towers as well as advice on overall policy when needed.
Under presentations there will be updates from Aqua Virginia, the 2040 Comprehensive Plan, and the forthcoming request for proposals for a new county administration building and a new social services building.
The latter dates back to a space study conducted by Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates that was presented to Supervisors in December 2019.
“The goal of the study was to provide the Fluvanna County Board of Supervisors with an assessment of the condition of the County facilities, program use of the facilities, and a potential future use of existing or acquired facilities and properties,” reads the staff report.
Work on the two buildings was put on hold due to the pandemic. Supervisors will be asked if they want to now proceed and if so, how to pay for the design.
Charlottesville City Council to hold second work session on Development Code
We’re moving closer and closer to a new Development Code for the City of Charlottesville that will implement the vision of a denser city where developers don’t have to get legislative approval for large projects. The goal of the Cville Plans Together initiative is to do that in the name of creating more housing unit with more guarantees that some stay affordable.
But what’s in the current draft of the zoning code?
Charlottesville City Council has scheduled a public hearing on the Development Code on December 5, 2023. They’ll hold another work session at 6 p.m. that will take a look at the “Core Neighborhood Districts” that were added to the draft zoning ordinance after the Planning Commission’s September 14 public hearing.
For background and the latest, take a look at my story from yesterday’s Charlottesville Community Engagement.
For further information, take a look at stories on the Information Charlottesville website that are marked Cville Plans Together.
The work session will be held in CitySpace at 6 p.m.
Reading material:
Contentious Centerville land-use plan voted down by Goochland supervisors, Richmond Bizsense via WTVR, October 6, 2023
New developments brewing: Goochland making way for first stand-alone Starbucks, Sierra Krug, WRIC, October 20, 2023
Gordonsville man charged with fatal downtown Charlottesville shooting, Hawes Spencer, Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall), October 24, 2023
Robert E. Lee statue that prompted deadly protest in Virginia melted down, Associated Press, October 27, 2023
Albemarle schools and teachers union return to negotiating table, Jason Armesto, Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall), October 23, 2023
In Louisa County, Board of Supervisors candidates share their views on property taxes, solar farms and flooding, Jessie Higgins, Charlottesville Tomorrow, October 24, 2023
New transient occupancy tax passes, Heather Michon, Fluvanna Review, October 26, 2023
CAT launches rideshare service in 29 North and Pantops, Felicity Taylor, CBS19, October 30, 2023
Violet Crown's new owner details plans for Charlottesville theater, Reynolds Hutchins, Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall), October 23, 2023
Voter Guide: Q&A with the 2 candidates vying to represent the Rivanna District on Albemarle County’s Board of Supervisors, Charlottesville Tomorrow, October 31, 2023