Adams, Williams propose five percent real estate tax rebate; BOS green-lights technology overlay district; PC to consider utility-scale solar facility
Adams, Williams propose five percent real estate tax rebate; BOS green-lights technology overlay district; PC to consider utility-scale solar facility
Engage Louisa is a nonpartisan newsletter that keeps folks informed about Louisa County government. We believe our community is stronger and our government serves us better when we increase transparency, accessibility, and engagement.
This week in county government: public meetings, April 10 through April 15
For the latest information on county meetings including public meetings of boards, commissions, authorities, work groups, and internal county committees, click here. (Note: Louisa County frequently schedules internal committee/work group meetings after publication time. Check the county’s website for the most updated information).
Wednesday, April 12
James River Water Authority, Morris Room, Fluvanna County Administration Building, 132 Main Street, Palmyra, 9 am. (agenda packet)
Louisa County Water Authority, Public Meeting Room, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 6 pm.
Thursday, April 13
Louisa County Planning Commission, long-range planning work session, Public Meeting Room, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 5 pm. (agenda, livestream)
Louisa County Planning Commission, Public Meeting Room, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 7 pm. (agenda packet, livestream)
Other meetings/events:
Monday, April 10
Mineral Town Council, 312 Mineral Ave., Mineral, 6:30 pm. At publication time, an agenda was not publicly available.
11th Senate District Democratic Candidates’ Forum, hosted by Charlottesville Tomorrow and UVA’s Center for Politics, Minor Hall, Charlottesville, 6:30 pm. (details, livestream)
Sen. Creigh Deeds and Del. Sally Hudson, the two candidates vying for the Democratic nomination in the new 11th state Senate District, will participate in this forum ahead of the June 20 primary. The 11th District includes part of western Louisa County.
Additional information about Louisa County’s upcoming public meetings is available here.
Interested in taking your talents to one of the county’s numerous boards and commissions? Find out more here including which boards have vacancies and how to apply.
Adams, Williams propose five percent real estate tax rebate
Amid backlash from residents concerned about their rising real estate tax bills, two members of the Louisa County Board of Supervisors recommended a five percent tax rebate, part of a plan that would trim about $3 million from the county’s Fiscal Year 2024 budget and put that money back in taxpayers’ pockets. (meeting materials, video)
Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams and Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams, a pair of Republicans who make up the board’s finance committee, introduced the proposal at Monday night’s Board of Supervisors meeting during a public hearing on the budget for the coming fiscal year. Supervisors could vote to adopt the budget as soon as their April 17 meeting.
The finance committee’s proposal makes $2.975 million in changes to the budget, enough to provide property owners a five percent reduction in their real estate tax bills. That equates to a three-cent cut in the tax rate. The rate would remain at 72 cents per $100 of assessed value, but taxpayers would effectively pay a levy based on a 69-cent rate.
The rebate proposal comes after nearly 20 community members blasted the board at a March 20 public hearing, complaining that rising real estate tax assessments had caused their tax bills to balloon over the last several years and urging the board to slash the rate. Some speakers said they’re already struggling with cost of living increases and county government should rein in spending to avoid adding to that burden.
Supervisors haven’t raised the real estate tax rate since 2015 and it ranks among the lowest in area. But assessments on homes excluding new construction and improvements jumped nearly 14 percent this year and more than 12 percent last year, generating significant hikes in some residents’ tax bills. One resident told supervisors that, if the rate remained flat, his tax bill would jump 38 percent since 2021. Another said his bill would rise 31 percent over the same timeframe.
County officials have said they understand residents’ concerns, but the cost of running local government is also on the rise, pointing to unfunded state mandates and increased costs due to inflation.
“There are a number of items on this list that have nothing to do with us. There are unfunded mandates by the state. This is not just a Louisa County Board of Supervisors spending spree,” Louisa District Supervisor Eric Purcell said at a March budget work session.
To fund the finance committee’s proposed rebate, Finance Director Wanda Colvin said that the committee and staff identified nearly $3 million in budget cuts and other changes. Those include removing $750,000 in local funding from the Louisa County Water Authority’s budget and another $500,000 from Louisa County Public Schools’ share of local money. Colvin said that both LCWA and LCPS could draw that funding from other sources.
Beyond that, Colvin said that the county plans to make some adjustments to pay hikes for staffers. That change, combined with tweaks to departmental budgets, would save about $460,000. The committee also recommends cutting a new part-time position that would’ve handled logistics for the Fire and EMS Department, saving another $27,000.
Most of the other cuts would come from the county’s capital spending including delaying a $250,000 renovation project at the Louisa Volunteer Fire Department and $106,800 in repairs to the Louisa Volunteer Rescue Squad parking lot, cutting $60,000 for fitness equipment for the Fire and EMS Department—the department would instead pursue a grant to buy the equipment—and pulling $100,000 in annual funding for economic development projects.
Colvin said that county officials could also cut $249,000 for planned improvements at at the regional wastewater treatment plant and $250,000 for upgrades at the Bowlers Mill Dam, a federally-mandated project that the county saves for each year. She and Williams said that it’s unclear if the county will have to implement the wastewater upgrades and, if they don’t, that would free up money for the dam improvements.
Colvin also removed about $18 million from the FY24 capital budget to pay for completion of the James River Water Project, a joint effort with Fluvanna County to channel water from the river to feed development along the Interstate 64 corridor. The county is still on the hook for that money, but Colvin said it would be borrowed in FY25 through the James River Water Authority, the entity overseeing the final phase of the pipeline’s construction. The project has been more than a decade in the making and county officials have already contracted some $40 million in debt to cover the cost.
Those changes would lower the county’s total budget for the coming fiscal year from $208.6 million to $189.4 million with $147.9 million of that allocated for daily operations and $41.5 million earmarked for capital spending.
The operating budget, up more than 9 percent over last year after the finance committee’s revisions, allocates nearly $90 million to Louisa County Public Schools, roughly 61 percent of the county’s total expenditures. Another 14 percent, or $21.3 million, pays for public safety including the daily operations of the Louisa County Sheriff’s Office and the county’s Fire and EMS Department.
Driving some of the increase in operating expenses is a nearly 10 percent hike in school funding, 13 additional county staffers—eight new firefighters, three new sheriff’s deputies, and two new animal control attendants—a five percent pay hike for staff, and a 6.6 percent increase in employees’ health insurance costs. The schools’ budget also includes a five percent salary increase for teachers and support staff, a similar hike in health insurance rates, and funding for four new teachers, three of which were hired prior to the start of the current academic year.
While moving funding for the James River waterline and delaying several smaller projects slims the capital budget from $60.4 million to $41.5 million, it would still increase roughly $30 million over last year. Driving much of that increase is $27.5 million to deliver water and sewer infrastructure to the Shannon Hill Regional Business Park, a 700-acre industrial site just north of the interstate that county officials hope will one day be home to distribution centers, advanced manufacturing or other large-scale economic development. An $11.59 million state business-ready sites grant will offset part of the project’s cost. Other big-ticket items in the capital budget include nearly $3 million for Firefly Fiber Broadband’s county-wide fiber project and $3.4 million for two turf fields adjacent to Louisa County Middle School.
To pay for its spending, the county anticipates $155 million in revenue under the revised budget, a roughly 18 percent jump over last year. The county derives its revenue from a variety of sources including about 37 percent from state and federal funding. But the largest source is general property taxes, which contribute just over 50 percent of the county’s income. Thanks, in part, to rising home assessments, that revenue is expected to increase by 9.7 percent over last year when factoring in the rebate.
While revenues outpace operating expenses by about $7 million under the revised budget, the board still must cover its $41.5 million in capital spending. To do that, the county anticipates issuing more than $20 million in debt to pay for infrastructure at Shannon Hill, tapping $15 million in county and school capital reserves as well as the operating surplus.
The county is still awaiting a final state budget, which could impact local revenues and expenditures. Because of that, the board could opt to delay budget adoption, currently slated for its April 17 meeting. Colvin said at the board’s March 20 budget work session that she’d like have a county budget in place by July 1, the beginning of the next fiscal year, and the schools’ portion of the budget must be adopted by May 1, per state law. It’s unclear when the politically divided General Assembly will agree on a final state budget.
Monday night’s public hearing attracted little fanfare with only one person weighing in on the spending plan, a stark contrast from the board’s previous meeting. But, this year, the budget has sparked plenty of controversy outside the boardroom.
Adams, who is locked in a hotly contested battle for the Republican nomination in the 10th state Senate District, has faced criticism on the campaign trail from residents angry about their rising tax bills. 56th District Delegate John McGuire, one of three other candidates in the race and widely regarded as Adams’ chief rival for the nomination, has seized on the issue, accusing Adams of raising taxes 40 percent during his five-year tenure on the board. Adams has maintained that he has never voted to raise the tax rate and has instead provided tax relief, pointing to $1.3 million in relief that the board delivered last year by temporarily reducing personal property taxes.
In a statement released by his campaign Tuesday morning, Adams touted the rebate proposal and budget cuts.
"Just like the citizens of Louisa County, in tough times, government must tighten its belt. Taxpayers are seeing unprecedented assessment increases as Bidenflation continues to ravage our economy. While the County's budget has also felt the effects of inflation leading to increased costs to fund and equip our law enforcement officers and first responders, it is my responsibility to question every dollar the County spends," he said.
Supes green-light technology overlay district
The Louisa County Board of Supervisors last Monday night approved a technology overlay district (TOD), a special zoning designation aimed at attracting data centers and other tech sector businesses to parts of central and eastern Louisa County.
Despite concerns from residents who live near property included in the district, supervisors voted 6-1 to adopt the TOD ordinance, which permits a variety of tech sector uses by-right, meaning they don’t require a rezoning or a Conditional Use Permit. Property owners with land in the TOD essentially gain additional property rights—that make it easier for tech businesses to set up shop—while retaining the rights granted under their land’s underlying zoning. Cuckoo District Supervisor Willie Gentry was the only board member to vote against the ordinance.
“A technology overlay district is a zoning tool that allows communities to promote the development of technology-focused businesses and industries in a designated area. By creating a TOD, we can make space specifically designated to attract and support technology companies while preserving the surrounding community characteristics,” Deputy County Administrator Chris Coon said. “The properties in the TOD would have more uses available as well as standards for those uses if the owner chose to utilize (them).”
Coon said that county officials crafted the ordinance in response to bipartisan federal and state efforts to expand tech-centered economic development, noting that tech businesses can have a variety of benefits including bulking up the tax base and creating high-paying jobs.
At the state level, Governor Glenn Youngkin and the General Assembly passed legislation last session that incentivizes Amazon Web Services to expand data center campuses across the state. Youngkin announced in January that Amazon plans to invest $35 billion in Virginia-based data centers by 2040.
Youngkin’s administration has also ramped up investment in the state’s business-ready sites program, an initiative aimed at developing industrial sites to attract advanced manufacturing, distribution centers, and other large-scale economic development projects. The administration has retooled the state’s workforce development program as well with an eye toward preparing workers for the jobs of tomorrow.
Uses permitted by-right in the TOD include data centers, technology research and development facilities, capital intensive advanced manufacturing facilities, technical schools, conference or training centers, and minor and major utility services. Utility-scale solar facilities providing power to the grid would generally require a Conditional Use Permit.
Site selection and development standards
As adopted, the TOD includes about 100 parcels, comprising six contiguous parcel groups. The assemblages range in size from a few hundred acres to more than 1,400. Many, but not all, of the parcels lie in the county’s designated growth areas and in proximity to either a 230kv or 500kv transmission line, primary roads, and public utilities, infrastructure generally required for tech sector uses like data centers.
The smallest assemblage covers more than 200 acres along Kentucky Springs and Haley Roads near the North Anna Nuclear Power Station. Three other parcel groups, encompassing between 1,200 and 1,500 acres, lie in central Louisa County near the Northeast Creek Reservoir. The final two assemblages lie just north of Interstate 64: more than 1,400 acres near Gum Springs and the 700-acre Shannon Hill Regional Business Park.
Coon said that staff chose parcels for inclusion in the TOD with a dual focus. They selected properties that could meet key tech sector needs—including access to high-voltage transmission lines and adequate road networks—and they focused on minimizing negative impacts, in part, by avoiding historic areas like Green Springs and the Trevilian Station Battlefield, ag/forestal districts, and lots smaller than 1.5 acres, most of which comprise residential subdivisions.
Though the TOD encompasses nearly 6,500 acres, Coon said that tech sector uses would be capped at one percent of the county’s land or 3,266 acres, a provision suggested by Board Chair Duane Adams. Once TOD uses reach that threshold, they would require approval by the Board of Supervisors. Coon said the provision is similar to a cap the county placed on utility-scale solar production last year, which limits that use to three percent of the county’s land. Large-scale solar generation facilities are not a by-right use, however, as they require a Conditional Use Permit.
Two of the assemblages included in the TOD—the roughly 1,200-acre Cooke Industrial Rail Park between the towns of Louisa and Mineral and a roughly 1400-acre site on the other side of Route 22 north of the reservoir—have CUPs for utility-scale solar development. As long as those CUPs are in effect, Coon said, any TOD use on those properties would also require board approval.
Businesses locating in the TOD would be required to adhere to specific buffer, landscaping, and design guidelines to mitigate their impact, Coon said, noting that the standards meet or exceed what’s required in the county’s designated growth areas. For example, the ordinance requires a 300-foot vegetative buffer for parcels adjacent to agricultural and residential uses—an increase from the 200-foot buffer initially proposed—a 150-foot buffer along primary roads, and a 100-foot buffer along secondary roads. The ordinance also requires a landscaping plan and the use of dark-sky compliant lighting. In addition, it limits light emitted at the property line to one half foot-candle. One foot-candle is equivalent to the light emitted by a single candle, Coon said.
Setting noise limits
The TOD ordinance included several provisions that sparked concern when the Planning Commission reviewed the proposal at its March 9 meeting, most notably a staff recommendation that capped noise at the TOD’s boundary at 70 decibels during the day and 65 decibels at night. The Planning Commission recommended that the noise limits coincide with what’s allowed on a property’s underlying zoning.
Supervisors ultimately opted to set the noise limit at 65 decibels during the day and 60 decibels at night, voting 6-1 in a separate public hearing to amend the county’s noise ordinance to include the TOD limits. Placing the limits in the noise ordinance means they can be enforced by the Louisa County Sheriff’s Office, Coon said. Gentry was the only supervisor to oppose the noise ordinance amendment, suggesting that he’d like to see lower limits.
The county currently sets noise limits at the property line of residential and agriculturally-zoned parcels at 65 decibels during the day and 55 at night. Commercially-zoned parcels are limited to 70 decibels during the day and 60 at night while limits for industrially-zoned parcels are set at 75 decibels during the day and 65 at night. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 70 decibels roughly equals the sound of a dishwater or washing machine while 60 decibels equates to a normal conversation. The CDC says that long-term exposure to noise over 70 decibels can damage hearing.
Some of the TOD’s permitted uses—particularly data centers—can produce significant noise, partially a consequence of the large fans that cool the racks of servers inside. That noise, described by some as a constant whirring or humming sound, has sparked contentious battles in parts of Northern Virginia, an area dubbed “the data center capital of the world.”
In an effort to quiet the facilities, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors recently removed a provision from its noise ordinance that exempted commercial heating and cooling systems from a 55-decibel limit on nighttime noise in residential areas. But neighbors have said that move doesn’t go far enough.
In defense of the 65/60 limit, Coon said that noise would dissipate relatively quickly beyond the property line. Citing the inverse square law of sound propagation, he presented a chart illustrating that 65 decibels of sound at the property line would decrease to about 54.5 decibels at 500 feet and 39.5 decibels at 1500 feet.
“You wouldn’t be able to hear anything if you were at 1500 feet, which is less than a quarter of a mile away,” Coon contended, noting that the vegetative buffer around the sites would also help limit noise.
Community concerns
While most board members embraced the TOD, community members reacted with far less enthusiasm. Nine people weighed in during the public hearings—many of whom live near property included in the district—to either explicitly oppose the proposal or express concerns. Most speakers said the district would detrimentally impact their neighborhood by bringing in industry that’s an ill fit for a rural setting.
Matthew Henley, who lives near the Gum Springs TOD site, said that he’s helped build several technology parks and they’re massive in scale and take years to construct. He said that the construction process would overwhelm local infrastructure unless significant changes are made, and that data centers and other tech sector industry don’t belong here.
“The course of construction that takes years is not pretty. It’s not Louisa. It’s not building a Sheetz. It’s not building a Tractor Supply. It’s a whole different scale and, if you haven’t seen it, I’d find it hard to rule on it,” he said.
Other speakers said the board was moving too fast in adopting the TOD and they should slow down and make sure the ordinance is the right fit for the community. Mineral District resident John Wayne, speaking on behalf of the Lake Anna Civic Association, said that the group thinks luring technology businesses is a good idea but has concerns about “the speed at which (the ordinance) is being pushed through.”
Wayne said that, according to a staff memo, county officials began drafting the ordinance in early February and, just two months later, the board was set to pass it. He questioned whether staff had time to research every aspect of the proposal, from site selection to the impact of by-right uses on the surrounding community, and whether residents had ample time to weigh in.
“We are concerned that we make mistakes when we rush,” Wayne said.
Several speakers expressed concerns about noise from data centers. Cuckoo District resident Hal Schaffer said he lives a short distance from the TOD site off Kentucky Springs Road where he fears a data center will locate. He pointed to the noise pollution the facilities have spawned in Northern Virginia and told supervisors that he doesn’t want the “continuous whirring, humming with the concurrent vibrations that go along with it” to ruin his family’s “little piece of Louisa County paradise.”
“Right now, there are protests and lawsuits in Virginia’s northern municipalities because ordinances were passed without the knowledge of the unintended consequences, and zoning was changed to accommodate business not to protect the citizenry. We need to learn from their mistakes,” Schaffer said.
Mineral District resident John Disosway said he lives near the largest TOD site, more than 1,400 acres that stretches south from Route 33 near Mount Airy Road. Disosway said that he moved there some 34 years ago and has enjoyed the agrarian lifestyle ever since, but now he worries that the sound of tractors and farm animals will be replaced by the drone of big tech.
“Data centers must be cooled continuously for their entire operating life and must have back up power from diesel generators. Cooling is either from open or closed cycle cooling water systems that use circulating pumps or from forced air circulation using rooftop ventilating fans. Diesel generators require periodic testing. The constant droning of ventilation fans and diesel generators is not part of the rural character of the county and does not blend in with an agricultural district,” he said.
Disosway represents the Mineral District on the Planning Commission and voted for the TOD ordinance when the body considered it in March albeit with a recommendation that noise limits in the district coincide with what’s permitted on a parcel’s underlying zoning. Monday night, he expressed disappointment in the county’s effort to address noise. While he thanked county staff for their research into the impact of noise on neighbors, he called their analysis “optimistic.”
“I appreciate the research that was done with sound dissipation and distance. I think it’s optimistic and I don’t think it really takes into consideration what the ear hears, what the brain processes, and what you lose, particularly at night when you like to leave the windows open during the nice evenings and sleep peacefully. We’re just not going to have that anymore,” he said.
PC to consider utility-scale solar facility
Another utility-scale solar facility could be coming to Louisa County.
The Louisa County Planning Commission on Thursday night will hold a public hearing and consider whether to recommend to the Board of Supervisors approval of Horsepen Branch Solar, LLC’s request for a Conditional Use Permit to build and operate an up to 20 MW solar array on 100.7 acres of a 304-acre site near Bumpass.
If approved, the Horsepen facility will be the eighth utility-scale solar site green-lighted in the county and the first since supervisors adopted an overhaul of the solar ordinance last year. The ordinance tightened regulations and development standards for large-scale solar development, capping the acreage that can be used for utility-scale solar generation to 3 percent of the county’s land or roughly 9,800 acres. The seven approved facilities—only two of which have been constructed and are providing power to the grid—will cover more than 5,000 acres.
The largely wooded Horsepen site is located just south of Lake Anna, adjacent to the Lake Anna Airport, in the Jackson Voting District. It’s bound by Pottiesville Road (Rt. 650) to the west, Kentucky Springs Road (Rt. 652) to the east, and a railroad easement at its southern edge. The Frank B. Boxley Jr. and Hilda P. Boxley Revocable Trust own about 183 acres of the site while the Amanda Reidelbach Revocable Trust owns the remaining 121 acres. The property is primarily zoned for agricultural use (A-1, A-2) with two parcels on its western edge zoned residential (R-2).
Clenera, LLC, a subsidiary of Enlight Renewables, an Israeli company that has developed wind and solar projects in the Middle East, Europe, and the United States, would own and operate the facility. According to its website, Clenera operates or is in the process of constructing 5 gigawatts of solar capacity across eight states.
According to its land use application, Clenera plans to start construction at the Horsepen facility in the first quarter of 2025 with the project expected to begin commercial operation by December 2025. Its 46,700 photovoltaic solar modules, built in eleven separate arrays across the site, would connect to Rappahannock Electric Cooperative’s distribution system via a substation at the property’s southern edge. Clenera notes that each of the arrays would be fenced in separately to allow wildlife corridors on the site.
During and after construction, the site would include two access points: one off Kentucky Springs Road and the other off Pottiesville Road. An internal service road would connect the entrances.
Clenera would be required to ask the Board of Supervisors to submit a request to VDOT for a speed limit reduction to 35 miles per hour on Pottiesville Road, Kentucky Springs Road, and Fredericks Hall Road (Route 618) during construction and to coordinate with the airport and railroad to ensure the facility doesn’t interfere with their operations.
Utility-scale solar facilities locating within a mile of an airport are required to obtain clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA determined that the project wouldn’t pose an aviation hazard, per a letter included in Clenera’s application.
In its application, Clenera points out that the Horsepen site is particularly attractive for large-scale solar development because its “highly isolated, and the small number of sight lines into the project boundary are heavily screened from view by existing vegetation.” With that in mind, the applicant has requested a modification of the county’s setback requirements, which mandate a 300-foot setback for utility-scale solar sites inclusive of an opaque vegetative buffer.
Supervisors expanded setback and buffer requirements from 150 to 300 feet last year when they updated the solar ordinance in response to residents’ concerns about the facilities’ impact on views and the county’s rural character. But the board left open the possibility of adjusting those standards on a project-specific basis.
Clenera proposes to include a 150-foot setback around much of the property that would encompass a 100-foot buffer of existing trees combined with pollinator-friendly plantings. The applicant notes that only five percent of the property’s boundary is adjacent to a public right of way, surrounding land is primarily used for timber with few residents, and the proposed 100 feet of existing vegetation is deeper than the 50 feet of required vegetation included in the county performance standards for new vegetative screens.
In rewriting the solar ordinance, supervisors also stipulated a phased approach to site preparation and construction requiring that site work be completed in sections not to exceed 100 acres. Those provisions are a response to stormwater management issues at Dominion’s 88 MW Belcher Solar Facility off Waldrop Church Road where hundreds of acres of pine and hardwood trees were rapidly replaced with solar panels, leading to runoff that muddied waterways and caused severe erosion on neighboring farms.
Clenera’s preliminary plan envisions site prep and ground disturbance occurring in two phases, encompassing 27 acres at the property’s southern end and 80 acres at its northern end. In its report, Louisa County Community Development Department staff states that the property is home to a pond, several streams, and about 40 acres of forested wetlands, noting that “extreme care needs to be taken to protect these environmentally sensitive areas and the downstream properties they connect to.”
Clenera’s application also highlights the project’s economic benefits. According to a study by Mangum Economics, the facility is expected to contribute about $1.75 million to county coffers over its 35-year lifespan. That money would be derived from local taxes and a siting agreement. Siting agreements are essentially deals negotiated between solar developers and localities that, under Virginia law, can include financial compensation for capital needs, broadband deployment, and to mitigate the impact of solar production. The Mangum study says that, if the property maintained its agricultural use, it would generate about $82,000 in local taxes over the next 35 years.
According to staff’s report, 19 people attended a March 8 neighborhood meeting hosted by the applicant and the Community Development Department. Attendees, some of whom live near the project site, raised concerns about the facility’s potential impact on the viewshed, traffic, the airport, and property values, among other issues. Staff recommends approval of the CUP with 32 conditions.
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