Plan to direct some Goochland growth into Centreville up for public hearing
Plus: Albemarle and Fluvanna Supervisors also meet for important discussions
Town Crier Productions was formed as an experiment to see if I could find a way to get paid to write about local government in the Charlottesville region. When I launched the Patreon account in the spring of 2020, the idea was not to create one particular thing but to find a way to cover the costs of doing the research into local government.
This newsletter launched at a time when I thought I might be moving elsewhere in Virginia’s Fifth District. I thought I would head south to Lynchburg, and I began finding a way to continue the spirit of my idea while also continuing Charlottesville Community Engagement.
I am approaching 2,500 subscribers on that feed, and this one is at 440 or so. I’ve not had any chance to market this particular newsletter but I’m committed to continuing. I won’t be moving anytime soon, but the time I spend doing this research helps me have a larger context to understand what’s happening in Charlottesville.
This particular edition reproduces stories already posted on the CCE feed, but adds a third one that serves as an example of why I appreciate doing this work.
The Goochland County Board of Supervisors will have a special meeting to hold a public hearing on the Centreville Small Area Plan. There is a lot of opposition against the plan which suggests ways of increasing residential density in a small section of the county.
Albemarle Supervisors will review a new version of their transportation priority list, and will get an economic outlook I suspect other communities could also benefit from reviewing.
Fluvanna Supervisors will review short-term rules in Albemarle and Warren counties
Centreville Small Area Plan up for public hearing in Goochland
As metropolitan areas grow, more people seek places to live that they can afford. Economic development in one area adjusts the economic picture across a region. Many of these growth patterns have been predicted for years, and many localities on the periphery have hired staff members who understand this bigger context.
With that, planners in Goochland County hired consultants to work on a small area plan to help plan out where growth would go. The U.S. Census recorded a population of 24,727 in 2020. The Welcon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia projects that number will grow to 34,742 by 2050.
The Timmons Group has presided over the final draft of the plan that will be the subject of a public hearing on October 4. A work session on the plan had been on the schedule for later this month was canceled in favor of this public hearing after organized opposition. (view the draft plan) (meeting info)
There are five vision elements in the small area plan. The fifth gets right to the point for why this project got underway.
“In 2045, Centerville will continue to add new homes and commercial buildings so that Goochland County’s farms, open spaces, forests, and water ways can remain intact,” reads vision element #5. “Greenways and parks within Centerville will provide connectivity to the broader network of County open space and greenways providing Centerville residents access to the County’s rural resources.”
This has proved to be quite controversial. The minutes of the September 5, 2023 meeting describe Administrator Victor Carpenter’s defense of staff.
“There have been some very emotional and passionate topics, that county staff are professional in what they do and are very committed to doing their job the way it needs to be done,” reads the minutes as viewable on page 14 of that meeting’s packet.
As we learn from this August 28 article from Jennifer Blake on NBC12, some believe the plan will take away from the rural character of Goochland.
I’m not close enough to understand any of this but see a resistance to planning in lots of areas. If I had resources to do more work, this an area I’d love to do more reporting on or help pay for others to spend some time writing about it.
In the meantime, Supervisors will hold the public hearing on a resolution to add the draft plan to the Comprehensive Plan.
“The Centerville Plan does not change the zoning of any property or existing ordinance
Provisions,” reads the staff rapport. “Rather it provides guidance for future ordinance changes, design guidelines, rezoning, and other land use decisions.”
“On July 25, 2023, the Planning Commission recommended approval for the Centerville Small area Plan with a 3-1 vote,” reads the report a little further down.
What will happen?
New transportation priority list to go before Albemarle Supervisors
The six-member Board of Supervisors from Albemarle County will meet at 1 p.m. for their first regular meeting of October. (meeting info) (agenda)
The meeting begins with two proclamations. One marks this week as Digital Inclusion Week and the other marks October as Wine Month.
“Virginia has become a nationwide leader in the wine industry, now 6th in the nation in wine grape production, with more than 10,000 tons harvested in 2021 and 2022,” reads the second proclamation.
“Many of Albemarle’s 44 vineyards, most with wineries on site, are run by families as strong agricultural enterprises that can be passed on to future generations, providing economic benefit for winery owners and employees and for other Albemarle ventures supported by the patronage and purchasing power of winery visitors, including farming of heritage and heirloom crops, restaurant cuisine committed to selling local where possible, and tourism focused on sustaining the land and the local culture,” reads a longer paragraph in the resolution.
Since adoption of the Housing Albemarle policy in July 2023, the county has been looking for ways to bring down the cost of homeownership through a plethora of different policies. Some of these have been in existence for many years since as the Albemarle County Homebuyer Assistance Program that is administered by the Piedmont Housing Alliance.
“The assistance is provided as deferred payment, 6 percent simple interest loans of up to $19,100, with the balance of the loans due at the time a home is sold or when an ACHAP loan recipient refinances their mortgage,” reads the staff report.
In January 2021, Piedmont Housing Alliance sought several changes such as reducing the interest rate to zero, capping eligibility to households below 80 percent of the area median income, and increasing the loan amount to $30,000. They also want anyone going through the program to be required to attend at least one counseling session conducted by PHA. Read the full list of changes here.
Next up, the arrival of the second quarter of the current fiscal year means it is time to begin consideration of the budget for the next one. Supervisors will get an economic overlook from Virginia Tech’s School of Public and International Affairs. (read the report)
“The U.S. economy, along with other countries’ economies, has been whip-sawed by major global events for over three-and-a-half years since early 2020,” reads the executive summary of the report.
“Notwithstanding these factors, global economic growth is projected to continue to slow but remain positive in 2023 and 2024 with median forecasts of 2.9 percent and 2.6 percent respectively,” the report continues a few paragraphs later.
The outlook notes that Virginia’s economy is often tied to the national economy, but also recommends Albemarle prepare for an economic cooling. Local data begins on page 49 for the economists on the list.
Next, Supervisors will be presented with the draft of a new prioritization of transportation projects. The list is made up of projects called for in various plans or traffic studies and helps determine what funding applications to pursue. (read the summary)
In the draft 2023 ranking, the top priority is a project with the title Fifth Street Extended / I-64 Interchange Improvement. This would see the intersection converted to a diverging diamond and this project increased from 19. The next five priority projects are all new ones to the list.
Improvements to Old Ivy Road increased from 55 to 6B. The Virginia Department of Transportation is in the early phases of a study to identify potential solutions to a myriad of issues in the great region.
This report gets quite granular with eight sub-projects under item #12, many of which are not close to each other geographically. This time around, the list also includes a list of second-tier projects. There are a lot.
Supervisors will also get reports from the county’s transportation planners as well as the Virginia Department of Transportation.
In the evening session, Supervisors will hold two public hearings.
One is for a rezoning to allow a warehouse in the Mill Creek Industrial Planned Development. (staff report)
The second is for a change to the county’s zoning code to allow sites subject to public-private partnerships to be included in the type of items subject to a countywide Certificate of Appropriateness. (staff report)
On the consent agenda:
Will the minutes of the January 19, 2022 Supervisors meeting be approved? If so, they’ll only be the sixth such documents approved for the entire calendar year.
There’s an appropriation of $1,070,645 in American Rescue Plan Act funds for a variety of uses including sign-on bonuses for public-safety employees and $473,400 in funding for the Charlottesville-Albemarle Convention & Visitors Bureau to make up for losses related to the economic slowdown immediately after the pandemic. (staff report)
Supervisors will accept a conveyance of additional land at Pantops Public Safety Station 16. (staff report)
Supervisors will accept a compensation agreement with VDOT regarding land taken for the extension of Berkmar Drive Extended. The amount is $1,177. (staff report)
There’s a special exception request for a property at 3907 Arbor Terrace. (staff report)
If you want to read a who’s who and what’s what for Albemarle’s Board and Commissions, have I got the report for you. (read the report)
Albemarle issued 388 certificates of occupancy for the first half of 2023 according to the latest report on such permits. (read the report)
There were 123 building permits issued in the first half of 2023. Learn more in the detailed report.
There’s an update on collective bargaining in the Board to Board report for September. (read the report)
Fluvanna Supervisors to learn how Albemarle and Warren counties regulate short-term rental
The five member Board of Supervisors in Fluvanna County will meet at 5 p.m. at the Carysbrook Performing Arts Center at 8880 James Madison Highway. This is a relatively quiet meeting. (meeting packet)
There will be a special presentation “honoring the service and retirement of Lieutenant Thomas Rensch.
There are two action items, both of which are technical. One is a selection of a Supervisor or staff member to have voting power at an upcoming meeting of the Virginia Association of Counties and the other is an amendment to a service agreement with Tyler Technologies. The firm will now add merchant card services and card payments to their portfolio of services.
There are four presentations.
One is an update from the Central Virginia Small Business Development Center. There’s no advance information in the packet but sign up for their newsletter to know what they are up to region-wide.
The second is an update on the policy for paying constitutional officers. The policy was first adopted in January 2017 and Supervisors will get a presentation on what other localities do.
There will be an update on the County Fair which was held in mid August.
County Administrator Eric Dahl will provide information on the potential short-term rental ordinance. Supervisors will be briefed on two examples with Albemarle County and Warren County the comparative localities.
Reading material:
Katrina Callsen resigning from Albemarle County School Board, NBC29, September 28, 2023
Ordinance passed to control problem dogs, Heather Michon, Fluvanna Review, September 28, 2023
