Wednesday, June 18, 2025: Meetings today in Amelia, Albemarle, and Fluvanna
The last Fifth District newsletter of this week
I ended up socializing with people last evening rather than work to get this out the door. I find this to be acceptable as there is no direct revenue that comes through production of this newsletter. That may change in the future, but for now this is an experiment.
I also feel the rhythm of the world around me and this seems like a time to take some time off. Tomorrow is Juneteenth so there are no meetings, and there are none on Friday.
Today I need to get election results written up for Charlottesville Community Engagement but I’m still reeling from a dream I had last night. Do you ever have those times when you know there was important meaning, if only you could just think about it? Or create something to go along with it.
This morning I am procrastinating looking up a 1990’s method of creating electronic music. I’m looking forward to the end of the work day because I want to spend whatever time off I take trying to make new sounds.
But for now, three counties to go through quickly. Albemarle and Fluvanna were already published in the Week Ahead but I’ve made an adjustment of two.
Amelia County Supervisors to adopt FY2026 budget
The five members of the Amelia County Board of Supervisors will meet at 7 p.m. in the conference room. (agenda packet)
Under the consent agenda, there are special event permits for National Night Out and the Amelia 5K. There is also a resolution to rename roads in the 49-lot Meadows of Dunn development and a new contract with the Berkley Group and the Department of Community Development.
“Berkley Group will provide on-call planning and zoning services to the County of Amelia, VA,” reads the scope of work for the contract. “These services include, but are not limited to, providing technical review, analysis, and other support for the review of land use initiatives and applications as directed by the County.”
After public comments, there will be a series of reports followed by a special exception request for a detached dwelling unit.
There are five actions including two public hearings. All budget related.
The first public hearing is for an increase in land use and zoning fees for FY2026. The second public hearing is for utility fee increases for FY2026. Then there will be votes on increases in building code fees and a vote for the FY2026 budget.
Then there will be a series of reports from the county administrator. Next time I’ll have for more Amelia County!
Albemarle Supervisors to consider eminent domain to move sidewalk project along
The six members of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors will meet at 1 p.m. for their second regular meeting of the year. (agenda packet) (meeting info)
The meeting begins with action on two items on special exceptions. One is for a homestay at 4158 Millington Road and the other is for a gas easement relocation for Old Dominion Village.
Then there are two work sessions. The first is on an update of the county’s rules on open burns. There’s no staff report but a review of the draft ordinance revisions seems to indicate this is an update to become compliant with rules promulgated by the State Air Pollution Control Board. Some changes:
The title for the rules would be changed from “Burning of Brush” to “Regulation of Open Burning”
Authority for enforcing the ordinance would be the “Fire Official” as defined in the body of the text
A definition for “bonfire” has been added
Burning for the purposes of clearing land would require a permit from the county
There are also new definitions for “recreational open burning” and “residential open burning”
The second work session is a review of legislative priorities from the 2025 General Assembly as well as a look ahead to the next session. One request Albemarle Supervisors made this year was $1.37 million in state funding for a connector trail at Biscuit Run Park. That made it through both chambers of the legislature, but Governor Glenn Youngkin vetoed the funds.
How did other requests fare? You’ll have to wait until Wednesday because the advance materials do not have an update.
Up next is a presentation on the process for how property owners in land use taxation must revalidate their claim. Take a look at the items for more information.
The Board will end their afternoon session by going into closed session. The agenda does not cite the reason they are justifying and do not offer any information about what they will talk about.
Supervisors reconvene at 6 p.m. for an action item on permanent financing for renovations at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail. There is no staff report but here’s what is in the packet:
There is no indication of what might have changed since bids came back higher than anticipated.
There are five public hearings:
The first regards a proposed easement for the Albemarle County Service Authority to place waterline across county-owned land to connect to a future elementary school in the southern feeder pattern. (learn more)
The second is on a proposed taking by the county of portions of a small section of land to allow for the construction of sidewalks on Dominion Drive and Commonwealth Drive. The county offered to pay $8,475.37 for a portion of 2118 Dominion Drive and $500 for a portion of 2121 Dominion Drive according to a March 12 letter to property owner Sue Albrecht. (learn more)
The third is for an increase in the annual compensation for members of the Board of Supervisors from $20,199 to $20,805 as well as an increase in the stipend for the chair from $1,836 to $1,891. (read the resolution)
The fourth public hearing is for increases in compensation for members of the Planning Commission. (read the resolution)
The fifth is for the Field School’s request to amend conditions for a special use permit allowing for the delay of construction for an additional year. (review the materials)
The consent agenda has a large number of items on it this time around. Here are some highlights:
There will be approval of minutes from March 2024. These are not able for draft review. Albemarle is the only locality I cover that does not allow the public to see minutes until Supervisors have approved them.
There is a request to hold a public hearing in the future to condemn property at 2224 Commonwealth Avenue for the same sidewalk project mentioned above. (item materials)
There are many resolutions to accept certain roads in the state secondary road network including two in Old Trail, one in Briarwood, and one in Belvedere.
The Albemarle Board of Supervisors will skip the next scheduled meeting and return on July 16.
Fluvanna Supervisors to get updates on water supply planning
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.
All three presentations relate to the water supply issues.
The first is on the preliminary engineering report from Dewberry Engineering for a water supply system for Fork Union. This is for a 1.5 mile radius of properties around the former Bremo Power Station whose water wells are compromised by a sanitary landfill to store coal ash. The Virginia Electric Power Company has proffered $47.2 million toward the project. (learn more)
The second and third relate to the James River Water Authority. A citizen representative needs to be appointed and there will be an update on the implementation of a plan to build a waterline from the James River to supply water for the Zion Crossroads area. There’s no advance report on the implementation
After that there are two action items.
The first is on advertising a public hearing on July 2 on state-funded bonuses. (learn more)
The second relates to the salaries for the Board of Supervisors. (learn more)
There are two public hearings.
The first is on a proposal to implement a food and beverage tax for Fluvanna County. If enacted, half of the revenue would go toward school construction. The tax is expected to bring in between $500,000 and $600,000 a year. (learn more)
The second is for a proposal to identify the county’s GIS map as the official zoning map. (learn more)
The consent agenda contains a resolution to authorize a $38,000 contract for environmental monitoring and reporting services for the county landfill. (learn more)