This week in county government; BOS to hold public hearing on rules for short-term lodging; More details emerge about plans for data centers near Lake Anna
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, Oct. 2 through Oct. 7
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 occasionally schedules internal committee/work group meetings after publication time. Check the county’s website for the most updated information).
Monday, Oct. 2
Louisa County Board of Supervisors, Public Meeting Room, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 6 pm. (meeting materials, livestream) The board will convene in closed session at 5 pm.
Other meetings/events
Tuesday, Oct. 3
Candidates’ Forum and Meet & Greet, hosted by the Louisa County Chamber of Commerce and the Louisa County Democratic and Republican Committees, Betty Queen Center, 522 Industrial Drive, Louisa, 5 pm.
The Chamber of Commerce, Louisa Republicans and Louisa Democrats will host a forum and meet & greet featuring candidates vying for state and local office in the November 7 general election. The event starts at 5 pm with the meet & greet. The forum begins at 5:30 pm. Click here for more details.
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.
Supervisors to hold public hearing on rules for short-term lodging
The Louisa County Board of Supervisors on Monday night will hold a highly anticipated public hearing on regulations for short-term rentals, a temporary lodging option typically offered via online platforms like VRBO and Airbnb.
STRs have exploded in popularity in recent years especially in vacation destinations like Lake Anna, drawing tourists to the lake for short stays and investors who’ve scooped up lakeside dwellings and, in turn, offered them for rent. According to county officials, more than 460 STRs have been identified in the county, mostly in residential neighborhoods around the lake.
Though short-term rentals are defined in county code—the rental of a dwelling for periods of 30 days or less—the use isn’t otherwise addressed, meaning STRs technically require a Conditional Use Permit. But county officials haven’t enforced that rule, leaving STRs free to operate largely without official oversight.
The proliferation of short-term rentals around the lake has sparked controversy and prompted some year-round residents to push for strict regulations. Residents have argued at county meetings that STRs are businesses operating in residential neighborhoods that threaten the character of their community, public safety and the long-term health of the lake.
Specifically, they’ve said that overcrowded STRs could lead to failing septic systems that harm the lake’s water quality and urged county officials to adopt a two-person per bedroom occupancy cap—a standard generally in accord with Virginia Department of Health guidelines for septic systems—and septic system maintenance requirements. Residents have also complained that unruly renters don't respect their neighborhoods, throwing large parties, leaving piles of trash and speeding down once-quiet streets, and absentee owners have no interest in addressing their concerns.
But STR operators, realtors and members of the business community have forcefully pushed back, contending that strictly regulating STRs—especially implementing an occupancy cap and enforcing the requirement for a CUP—would decimate the local tourism economy and harm small businesses. And they’ve argued that some regulations would unfairly single out STR owners, noting that the county isn’t telling residents who don’t operate an STR how many people they can have at their home or how often they must get their septic system inspected.
To balance community concerns, county officials have grappled with how to regulate STRs for more than a year, first considering a proposal that drew on a section of state code that allows localities to implement an STR registry, among other rules. Under several iterations of that draft, the county considered implementing an occupancy cap that, in most instances, would’ve permitted only two visitors per bedroom.
But the draft met strong resistance from STR operators and some business owners, and the county eventually shelved the proposal. Officials have said they pulled the draft over concerns that the General Assembly would change how it allows localities to regulate the use.
Supervisors will consider two new proposals Monday night that regulate STRs through the county’s zoning code, where the state gives localities more leeway to make their own rules. The drafts take divergent approaches to regulating STRs, which reflect the deep divide surrounding the issue at the lake.
One proposal, recommended by the Louisa County Planning Commission, would tightly regulate STRs in residential neighborhoods and most other zoning designations, requiring operators to obtain a Conditional Use Permit. Acquiring a CUP involves a public approval process and an affirmative vote by the Board of Supervisors. The rules would permit STRs by-right with significant restrictions in Resort Development (RD) zoning and allow the use by-right without restrictions in agricultural areas.
The other proposal, recommended by a Board of Supervisors work group, would allow STRs by-right in most residential areas, imposing some restrictions on the use. The rules would permit STRs by-right with no restrictions in the county’s agricultural areas and require STRs to obtain a CUP in other zoning designations where few short-term rentals currently exist.
According to Deputy County Administrator Chris Coon, the board work group included the two supervisors who represent parts of Lake Anna—Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams and Cuckoo District Supervisor Willie Gentry—and county staff. But Gentry told Engage Louisa last week that he has concerns about the work group recommendation, particularly because it allows a commercial use by-right in most residential neighborhoods.
Board work group proposal
The board work group’s draft designates STRs as a commercial use and permits them by-right with some restrictions on property zoned residential (R-1 GAOD, R-2 GAOD) in the county’s designated growth areas, as defined in the 2040 Comprehensive Plan, as well as on property zoned for Resort Development (RD). Most waterfront real estate on Lake Anna is zoned residential and in a growth area. Cutalong at Lake Anna, Spring Creek at Zion Crossroads and several other areas are zoned for resort development. As proposed, STRs operating in these zoning designations would be required to:
provide a point of contact for their property to Louisa County and its subdivision’s governing body, if applicable;
provide to tenants a copy of Louisa County code sections pertaining to noise and solid waste as well as the definitions for Special Occasion Facilities and Gatherings as part of short-term rental contracts.
inform tenants that using the property for a special event typically held at a special occasion facility—a wedding, for example—is prohibited unless the property has a valid Conditional Use Permit;
provide tenants with at least one designated off-street parking space per bedroom and an off-street parking space for a trailer (20 ft by 8 ft);
provide to Louisa County documentation of septic system inspections and repairs whenever they are completed, if applicable;
comply with all applicable state building code and safety regulations.
STR owners unable to meet these requirements would be prohibited from operating a short-term rental unless they obtained a Conditional Use Permit from the Board of Supervisors.
STRs operating inside or outside of growth areas in industrial (IND, I-1, I-2) and commercial (C-1, C-2) zoning designations would require a CUP as would STRs operating in residential zoning designations outside of growth areas. Short-term rentals in agricultural zoning (A-1, A-2) inside or outside a growth area would be permitted by-right and not subject to the rules governing STRs on residentially zoned property in growth areas.
The county wouldn’t impose rules on STRs in agricultural zoning to comply with an opinion that Attorney General Jason Miyares published earlier this year. The opinion essentially says that localities can’t use their zoning code to regulate short-term rentals on agricultural land because the use is considered agritourism.
If adopted, the ordinance would take effect on January 1, 2025.
In a FAQ explaining the draft ordinance, county officials say that it’s designed to balance the needs of homeowners and STR operators, protect the character of neighborhoods and ensure the safety of guests and neighbors.
But, when the Planning Commission held a public hearing on the draft at its September 14 meeting, both commissioners and some lake residents said that the regulations failed to adequately address community concerns. Many speakers reiterated concerns expressed at previous meetings, namely that the county needs to implement an occupancy cap and septic system inspection requirements to protect the health of the lake. Some speakers also took issue with allowing STRs as a by-right use in some residential zoning, pointing out that permitting commercial activities in residential neighborhoods runs counter to current code.
“The present ordinance doesn’t allow commercial activity in R-zoned districts and STRs are clearly a commercial entity. The new zoning proposal would allow by-right STRs. This contradicts the current code and does not help solve the problem. It exacerbates it,” lake resident Dennis Wallingsford said.
Gentry, whose Cuckoo District includes the eastern end of the lake, said that he didn’t have much input in crafting the draft early on and that he too has serious concerns about allowing STRs by-right in residential areas.
“I’m getting to the point where I don’t know how I’m going to vote, but leaning in the direction of going with what we already have on the books,” Gentry said, referring to existing code which technically requires STRs to obtain a CUP. He added that he’ll be “listening very closely” to residents’ concerns during Monday’s public hearing.
The Planning Commission ultimately voted 7-0 to reject the work group’s draft then voted 6-1 to recommend its substitute proposal.
Planning Commission recommendation
Most notably, the Planning Commission’s recommendation requires a CUP for short-term rentals across all county zoning designations except resort development (RD) and agricultural districts (A-1, A-2). The county wouldn’t impose rules on STRs in agricultural zoning to comply with the attorney general’s opinion.
In RD zoning, STRs would be allowed by-right with restrictions. Those restrictions are far more stringent than those included in the work group draft and are based on a proposal submitted by Commission Chair John Disosway. Disosway said the restrictions incorporate elements of a draft ordinance the county considered last year, the board work group recommendation and regulations adopted by Bedford and Franklin counties, both of which are home to Smith Mountain Lake shoreline.
The restrictions include a two-person per bedroom occupancy cap, which exempts children under two and allows for two additional people. Disosway said that an occupancy cap is just as important to ensure fire safety as it is to guard against septic system failure.
“The last thing I want to read about in the paper is a fire at a weekend rental on the lake with grandchildren and children (in an) unfamiliar (space who) could not find their way out. Six dead,” he said.
The restrictions also require STRs owners in RD zoning to register with the county and pay a $50 fee unless they’re a licensed real estate agent or represented by a realtor, submit a detailed property management plan, and provide at least one designated parking space per bedroom and space for a trailer, among other rules.
The restrictions could potentially serve as a template for conditions imposed on STRs that require a CUP, but the Planning Commission didn’t explicitly include that recommendation in its approved motion.
The commission’s proposal has raised concern among many STR owners who continue to argue that requiring short-term rentals to obtain a CUP and imposing occupancy limits would hurt the local economy and unfairly penalize property owners who rent their homes.
In a Letter to the Editor in the September 28 edition of The Central Virginian, Bill Colbert, who operates an STR on the lake, wrote that the rental income he generates from his home is vital to his personal finances and that STRs are a key part of Louisa’s economy.
“Ultimately, these regulations could render me unable to pay my mortgage and may require me to sell my home. Since your regulation would put other Louisa County STR owners in a similar position, we would see a flood of home sales in Louisa County at Lake Anna, which would drive down the home values of all residents in the county – further impacting the real estate tax revenues the county depends on,” Colbert wrote. “If occupancy limits are implemented, the overall tax revenue of the county will go down (STR taxes, small businesses serving the STR industry and our guests), resulting in the county needing to increase taxes on all residents to maintain the same level of services to our citizens.”
Other business
Board to discuss potential hike in transient occupancy tax: Supervisors will discuss potentially raising the county’s transient occupancy tax. The two percent tax is levied on lodging that’s rented for 30 days or less including hotels, bed and breakfasts and short-term rentals. The tax is tacked on to customers’ bills when they pay for the accommodations.
Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams told Engage Louisa last week that he requested that the item be included on the board’s agenda, noting that the tax is a good way to raise revenue without burdening local businesses or residents.
The board is only discussing the TOT on Monday night. Any changes to the tax would require a public hearing and affirmative vote by the board.
State law allows localities to levy a transient occupancy tax with revenue generated from an up to two percent tax on the cost of lodging going to the locality’s general fund. If localities impose a tax that exceeds two percent, any additional revenue up to five percent must be used to promote tourism. Revenue generated by the tax beyond the five percent threshold also goes to the general fund.
In FY23, Louisa County collected $389,331 from the TOT, according to the meeting materials. If that revenue remained steady, increasing the tax to five percent would generate $583,997 for tourism-related spending. If the county raised the tax to seven percent, it would generate another $389,331 for the general fund for a total of $973,328 in extra revenue.
The transient occupancy tax in surrounding counties varies. Spotsylvania County levies a nine percent TOT, effective October 1. Albemarle and Hanover impose an eight percent tax. Orange and Goochland both tack on a two percent tax and Fluvanna currently doesn’t have a TOT. But Fluvanna’s Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing in October to consider adopting a five percent tax.
More details emerge about plans for data centers near Lake Anna
Amazon Web Services has submitted a Joint Permit Application to the Army Corps of Engineers and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality that reveals more details about the tech giant’s plan to invest $11 billion to build data centers in Louisa County.
AWS and REB Investment Company, LLC filed the JPA on September 1, requesting permission to build a data center campus on 153 acres at the corner of Kentucky Springs Road and Haley Drive adjacent to the North Anna Nuclear Power Station. AWS intends to develop the campus over the next 15 years, according to the application. REB Investment Company is the parcel’s current owner. The COE and DEQ permits are required because the project would permanently impact jurisdictional wetlands and other waters of the US (WOTUS).
According to a conceptual plan included in the application, AWS intends to build seven standard data centers on the property—dubbed the Lake Anna Tech Campus (LATC)—covering some 1.7 million square feet and providing a minimum of 420 megawatt (MW) of data center capacity “to serve the expanding demand for cloud-based computing.” The campus is also expected to include an administration building, two smaller buildings, described in the application as “specialty data centers,” two substations capable of providing 300 MW of power each, stormwater basins, a rainwater harvesting pond and water and sewer infrastructure.
Of the seven standard data centers, five are expected to reach 74 feet tall and include 256,284 square feet of floor space across two stories. A sixth two-story building would also reach 74 feet high and encompass about 185,000 square feet. The seventh building would be one story and cover 151,895 square feet. A 65,000-square foot, two-story administration building and adjoining parking would sit at the entrance to the property near the corner of Kentucky Springs Road and Haley Drive. The two other buildings, one-story structures measuring about 14,000 square feet each, and the dual substations would sit near the rear of the property.
The water and sewer infrastructure featured in the plan includes a septic system, water treatment facility and above-ground water storage tanks. Per information previously shared by Louisa County, the campus is expected to draw raw water from the county-owned Northeast Creek Reservoir in central Louisa with AWS footing the bill for a water line to the site. But the application, prepared by Wetland Studies and Solutions, suggests that the campus could rely on groundwater and rainwater harvesting.
“The Lake Anna Tech Campus will require water to operate and provide cooling for the data center buildings. This site has no direct access to a water line, however, has undergone various geotechnical studies and has determined there is enough groundwater and rainwater that can be captured to support their needs,” the application states.
The conceptual plan offers only a preliminary look at AWS’s plan for the site. The application states that the plan could change as long as those changes don’t alter the scope or nature of the project’s impact on wetlands and waterways.
The project would permanently impact 1.5 acres of wetlands and WOTUS including 1,538 linear feet of perennial stream channel, per the application. The impact would result from “the filling and grading necessary for construction of the substation pads, data center buildings, as well as interior access roads and other related infrastructure.” As required under the federal Clean Water Act, AWS proposes to mitigate the project’s impact by purchasing wetland mitigation credits from an approved mitigation bank or from the Virginia Aquatic Resources Trust Fund.
In late August, Louisa County announced that AWS plans to invest $11 billion to build two data center campuses in its newly created Technology Overlay District, a special zoning designation approved by the Board of Supervisors in April that’s designed to attract lucrative tech sector industry. One of the campuses in slated for the Kentucky Springs Road parcel while the other—the North Creek Tech Campus—is planned for 1,400 acres south of Route 33 across from the Northeast Creek Reservoir.
Together, the campuses would include 11 data centers, according to Louisa County Economic Development Director Andy Wade. While the project isn’t expected to reach full buildout until 2040, Wade said AWS could have at least one data center up and running at the Lake Anna site by 2025. The JPA states that AWS has a “contractual obligation” to begin construction at the LATC by April 2024.
The Joint Permit Application only applies to the Lake Anna site. At publication time, neither AWS nor the county has publicly released a conceptual plan for the North Creek campus. The application briefly mentions the campus, noting that it would be developed later.
A narrative included in the application describes the LATC as a critical piece of AWS’s long-range plan to increase data center capacity between Northern Virginia and Richmond.
“This project is a critical part of the Applicant’s overall operating and strategic plan whose goal is to bridge the gap for the Applicant between the Northern Virginia and Richmond markets to provide availability zones (AZs) in this area. Additionally, part of the applicant’s goal is to have data center campuses in each County between Northern Virginia and Richmond, and as such the Lake Anna Tech Campus is part of their Louisa County initiative,” the application states.
The Lake Anna site has sparked concern among some in the community, including representatives of the Louisa County Historical Society (LCHS), who’ve cited the parcel’s historical significance. The property was once part of a plantation and is home to the ruins of Laurel Hill, a circa 1800 home that was owned and occupied by the Garland sisters. After the Civil War, the sisters gained notoriety for their work with the Freedmen’s Bureau to reunite Black families torn apart by slavery. The sisters donated land and money to formerly enslaved people, leading to the establishment of Garlandtown, a once prominent Black community in eastern Louisa County.
LCHS staff have also raised concerns about potential gravesites on the property. To make way for Lake Anna in the early 1970s, the remains of at least 100 residents were excavated and reinterred at Laurel Hill Baptist Church, a historic Black church that adjoins the project site to the southeast. Brianna Patten, outreach coordinator for the society’s African American History Program, said in an email in mid-September that it’s unclear how many graves were moved to the church’s property based on records from the time and whether they cross over the property’s shared boundary with the data center site. Patten also said that it was “common for the cemeteries of enslaved people to be placed in unmarked locations on plantations.”
As part of the Joint Permit Application, R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates conducted a Phase I archeological assessment on the property and a Phase II evaluation on a portion of the site around the ruins of Laurel Hill. Neither study mentions the presence of graves. But, according to the Phase II evaluation, the house site could be eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places because of its connection to the sisters and antebellum history.
“Further study of such deposits may be able to elucidate the workings of this antebellum farm with its free and enslaved inhabitants and relatively unusual owners-occupants, unmarried sisters of significant local wealth and prominence,” the archeologists write.
Given its historical significance and because the applicant says the house site can’t be avoided in the project’s development, the archeologists recommend undertaking “Phase III archeological data recovery” to mitigate adverse effects. A Phase III data recovery generally refers to extensive archeological investigation including excavation, testing, mapping and analysis of materials found at the site. The application doesn’t include any details of Phase III work.
The Joint Permit Application process requires a 30-day public comment period, which runs through October 26. Click here for the public notice, which includes a link to the application and information about submitting public comment.
Click here for contact information for the Louisa County Board of Supervisors.
Find agendas and minutes from previous Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission meetings as well as archived recordings here.
Click here for contact information for the Louisa County School Board.
Click here for minutes and agendas for School Board meetings.
Click here to access past editions of Engage Louisa.