This week in county government; In busy meeting, supervisors ok rezoning for concrete plant at Ferncliff; As school construction costs rise, board eyes potential way to raise revenue

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.

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This week in county government: public meetings, Feb. 12 through Feb. 17

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).

Wednesday, February 14

James River Water Authority, Fluvanna County Administration Building, 132 Main St., Palmyra, 9 am. At publication time, an agenda wasn’t publicly available.

Louisa County Water Authority, Public Meeting Room, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 6 pm. At publication time, an agenda wasn’t publicly available.

Thursday, February 15

Loves Travel Stop Neighborhood Meeting, hosted by the Louisa County Community Development Department, Gum Springs United Methodist Church, 191 Cross County Road, Gum Springs, 4 pm. (public notice)

The Community Development Department will host a neighborhood meeting to allow the applicant an opportunity to discuss a request to rezone, from Agricultural (A-2) to General Commercial (C-2), 23.4 acres at Gum Springs for a Loves Travel Stop featuring a gas station, restaurant, car wash, automobile repair service, general store and parking facility (parts of tax map parcels 100-87, 100-88, 100-90).

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.

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Supes ok rezoning for concrete plant at Ferncliff

In the face of staunch opposition from neighbors, a concrete plant is coming to Ferncliff.

The Louisa County Board of Supervisors on Monday night voted 6-1 to rezone, from general commercial (C-2) to general industrial (I-2), 13.8 acres, encompassing parts of two parcels, near the intersection of Routes 250 and 208 in the Patrick Henry Election District. The rezoning clears the way for Essex Concrete Corporation to operate a mobile batching plant on about 11.9 acres of one parcel ((tmp 67-2-C) while accessing the property via a shared entrance on the adjoining property (tmp 67-2-B).  Essex has a 10-year lease on the former parcel while KFP1, LLC owns both properties. (meeting materials, video)  

The rezoning drew strong resistance from neighbors who packed the meeting to urge supervisors to reject the request. Twenty people spoke during the public hearing, arguing that the property is ill-suited for industrial development and that bringing a concrete plant to the neighborhood would negatively impact air quality, deplete and contaminate their water supply, generate excessive noise, lower property values and make the intersection of 208 and 250 more dangerous. 

But most supervisors didn’t agree. In motioning to approve the rezoning, Patrick Henry District Supervisor Fitzgerald Barnes, who represents the area, cited proffered conditions that he said would protect neighbors including a provision that requires the concrete plant to source the more than 4,000 gallons of water per day needed to run the facility from the Louisa County Water Authority, barring the operator from relying on a private well.

Barnes said that residents concerned about the plant because of dust, lower property values and other ills should look six miles west to Zion Crossroads where Allied Concrete operates a far larger facility and neighbors say they haven’t been negatively affected. 

“I drove down to Zion Crossroads and I talked to the people that live across from the Allied plant…I asked them, ‘have you seen any problems from the plant?’ All of them said the exact same thing, ‘we don’t even know it’s over there,’” Barnes said. “From that Allied plant to Spring Creek is 2.3 miles. So, people want to talk about existing home sales being affected, I don’t think you can go in Spring Creek and get a bargain.”

Along with Barnes, Green Springs District Supervisor Rachel Jones, Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams, Mountain Road District Supervisor Tommy Barlow, Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams and Louisa District Supervisor Manning Woodward voted for the rezoning. Cuckoo District Supervisor Chris McCotter cast the lone no vote. 

The proposal

Essex plans to operate a mobile concrete batching plant on 11.9 acres of one parcel with the footprint of the facility covering about four acres. Situated on the south side of Route 250, the plant would be mostly screened from view and include 100-foot mature vegetative buffers on parts of the property, according to a concept plan submitted to county staff.

The plant is expected to produce 15,000 cubic yards of concrete a year, about a quarter of the concrete manufactured at the Allied plant about six miles west. Though the plant is on wheels, Attorney Torrey Williams, who represents the company, said it would be stationary, noting that many concrete plant operators now rely on mobile equipment. 

In making his case to the board, Williams contended that the plant would mesh well with the neighborhood, pointing out that much of the Route 250 corridor is designated for industrial use on the Future Land Use Map in the 2040 Comprehensive Plan. The parcels themselves are slated for mixed-use development.

Williams spent much of his presentation addressing issues initially raised by community members at the Planning Commission’s public hearing last month including concerns about air pollution and dust, wastewater runoff, increased traffic and excessive noise. 

Williams said that the concrete industry is heavily regulated, and the Ferncliff facility would be required to obtain an air quality permit from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality before it begins operation. DEQ would annually audit the plant and conduct surprise visits, he said, to ensure it adheres to its permitting requirements. With respect to dust specifically, Williams said the facility is required to include a dust collector, which he described as a large vacuum that sucks in the particles.

Regarding the possibility of corrosive wastewater from the plant contaminating Venable Creek and other water sources, Williams said the facility would include wastewater bins that collect excess water used in all its processes. The plant would recycle some of that water and the rest would evaporate. The operator would periodically remove the sediment left in the bins and take it to a facility outside the county. 

“Every drop of water that touches a machine, that touches a truck, that is used is accounted for. It has to be,” Williams said. 

Williams noted that the plant would include vegetative buffers to both screen the property and dissipate sound. He said that concrete plants typically generate 83 decibels of noise 50 feet away. At the property line some 400 feet away, that noise would decrease to 64 decibels if there was no vegetation on the property. Louisa County’s noise ordinance limits noise to 65 decibels during the day at the property line of agriculturally zoned parcels, several of which adjoin the subject property. 

Williams said the plant would have minimal traffic impact, noting that it’s expected to generate just 38 vehicle trips per day—25 from concrete trucks—and that the proposed entrance off Route 250 is already served by a turning lane and traffic slows at the intersection. The plant will share the entrance with S&N Communications, which is located toward the rear of the adjoining parcel.

Williams pointed to proffers attached to the rezoning that were tweaked throughout the public approval process—including at Monday’s meeting—to address community concerns.

To alleviate concerns that the plant would use an on-site well and deplete the water supply, Essex and KFP1 agreed to only source water from the Louisa County Water Authority for any industrial use on the property. The applicant also agreed to exclude most uses allowed under general industrial zoning from operating at the site in the future, to not operate on Sundays, to build the facility in accord with the concept plan submitted as part of the rezoning application, which includes generous buffers, and to use dark-sky compliant lighting. 

Williams noted that the rezoning application had changed in other ways. Since the Planning Commission meeting, Essex and KFPI revised the request to only include parts of two parcels after the commission recommended denial of a rezoning of the entirety of both properties. The commission cited concerns about the facility’s hours of operation—mostly that it could operate on Sunday—and the potential use of well water, both of which were addressed in revamped proffers.

Though Essex agreed in the proffers to bar any equipment from running on Sundays, the company stopped short of proffering exact hours of operation. Williams told the Planning Commission that the plant would generally run from 6 or 6:30 am to 4 or 4:30 pm mostly on weekdays, but he couldn’t proffer anything more specific because of “the nature of the business.”

Community concerns

The dozens of community members who attended Monday’s meeting didn’t seem swayed by Williams’ arguments or comforted by the proffers offered by the applicant. 

One by one, speakers from the Ferncliff community and beyond told the board why they believed the property shouldn’t be zoned for general industrial use—a zoning designation that isn’t shared by any nearby parcel—and why a concrete plant would negatively impact the neighborhood. 

Several speakers said the rezoning contradicts the county’s long-range vision for the area, as articulated in the 2040 Comprehensive Plan, which singles out a handful of parcels around the Route 208-250 intersection for mixed-use development. They said that allowing a concrete plant amid their residences and farms would lower their property values and argued that there’s plenty of other land in the county more suitable for the facility.

Many speakers said they’re worried about the environmental impact of a concrete plant, namely the air pollution and dust it could spew and the potential for harmful wastewater runoff into Venable Creek and the aquifer that feeds their wells.  They weren’t convinced by Williams’ insistence that its impacts would be minimal. 

Heidi Shalloway, who lives nearby, said that concrete plants are a leading source of air pollution, arguing that the facility would endanger people well beyond Ferncliff.

“Concrete batching plants are the third most polluting industry. Essex would have us believe otherwise, stating dust collectors resolve air quality problems. Other plants use dust collectors. Yet, numerous medical and scientific studies still state that areas within five miles of cement plants are considered high danger zones due to air quality. Moss Nuckols Elementary School lies within that five-mile zone. Ferncliff residents live only hundreds of yards away,” she said. 

John Childress, who lives just south of Ferncliff in Fluvanna County and leases land along Venable Creek, asked what would happen when heavy rains cause Essex’s containment bins to overflow.

“When we have heavy rains—and we have had rains of three to four inches—what’s going to happen to that water? That water is going to end up in Venable Creek and in our aquifer,” he said.

Several speakers said they weren’t convinced by a proffer barring the concrete plant from using well water. Susannah Bickley said that she’s heard the story before: businesses come in and promise protections, but eventually they “get lax.” Bickley said she worries about contamination from the plant and that her well will dry up.  

“I know they say it’s coming from the water authority, but who’s to say that’s not going to change down the road,” she said. 

Several community members focused on other potential impacts including increased traffic at the Route 250 and 208 intersection, which they described as “dangerous,” and intrusive noise. 

Lisa Luck said that her daughter works at Ferncliff and she worries about her safety as more large trucks travel through the area. 

“There have been accidents right and left. My daughter goes to work [at Ferncliff] every morning. Do I want to see her get crushed by some truck that can’t stop? No,” she said. 

Lake Anna resident Phil Winston said that the plant could lead to noise and traffic at odd hours because concrete plants operate on-demand. He said that while it’s nice that the plant won’t operate on Sundays, what’s to stop it from running “16 to 18 hours a day, Monday through Saturday.” He said that if supervisors okayed the facility, they should require the applicant to set specific hours.

In response to issues raised by neighbors, Williams sought to clarify exactly what Essex does, suggesting that some speakers might be confusing manufacturing cement and mixing concrete, particularly with regards to their claims about dust and air pollution.

He said that Essex is a concrete aggregate plant that mixes ingredients—including cement, sand, gravel and water—to produce concrete. While the plant uses cement as an ingredient, it doesn’t manufacture the material, a far more intense industrial process. 

“It’s like the difference between manufacturing oil and putting oil in your car. Manufacturing oil is a dirty, nasty, pollutant-ridden process. Changing the oil in your car can be if not done right. But, if done right with appropriate oversight, it’s not,” he said. 

And Williams emphasized that Essex’s proffers provide legal assurances that the plant would only use county water, maintain a buffer and enact other protections. 

“There are seat belts in place. There are enforcement mechanisms in place,” he said. 

Several supervisors asked Williams about community members’ concerns. Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams focused on the potential for contaminated runoff into Venable Creek and other waterways, pressing for more information about the wastewater containment bins where the liquid would be collected. 

Torrey Williams responded that the bins are raised off the ground so they won’t be inundated with stormwater, 14-feet deep, and, per DEQ rules, measured and monitored daily. He said that if wastewater ever escaped the bins, DEQ would “fine you into oblivion.”

Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams turned his attention to the Allied plant at Zion Crossroads. He asked Williams and Community Development Director Josh Gillespie if they were aware of any serious issues with that plant or violations of state or county code. Both said they weren’t.

Before voting in favor of the rezoning, Green Springs District Supervisor Rachel Jones also pointed to the Allied facility and responded directly to a speaker who asked if any board members would want to live near a concrete plant. Jones said that she lives and raises a family less than a mile from the Allied plant.

“Many of you have sat here and said we don’t care. We do care,” Jones said. “I would never vote for something that I wouldn’t live next to.”

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In busy meeting, BOS green-lights Halls Store Rd rezoning albeit with restrictions

Outside of approving a controversial rezoning for a concrete plant at Ferncliff, supervisors on Monday night considered plenty of other public business in a meeting that stretched more than four hours.

The board held four other public hearings and briefly touched on several items that could impact future development including the county’s Technology Overlay District and solar ordinances and its plans to build public water and sewer infrastructure for a pair of Amazon Web Services’ data center campuses.

Amid concerns about residential growth, board oks Halls Store Road rezoning with restrictions: When developer Larry Giannasi asked Louisa County to rezone, from A-1 to A-2, about 22 acres near the intersection of Route 33 and Halls Store Road (tmp 73-6-4), allowing him to divide the property into seven residential lots instead of three, Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams adamantly opposed the request. 

During a public hearing to consider the rezoning Monday night, Williams said that Louisa County needs to find ways to address unbridled residential growth and he’s tired of rezoning property so developers can cram in more homes.

“Mr. Giannasi is not the problem. Mr. Giannasi has brought the problem to light,” Williams said, noting that there are nearly 11,000 unimproved parcels in the county that could potentially be used for homes. 

Williams pointed to the latest population estimates from the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center, showing that, as of July 1, 2023, Louisa’s population exceeds 40,000. According to Weldon Cooper, the county has grown 7.5 percent since 2020, making it the third fastest-growing locality in the state.

Williams said that the county’s continued growth is a culmination of “great things”—good schools, low taxes, high-speed internet expansion and affordable land—but he said the influx of new residents isn’t sustainable as the county is tasked with educating more children and growing other services. He pointed to figures provided by staff, which suggest that the county pulls in less than $3,000 in tax revenue a year from the average starter home, but spends $9,000 a year to educate one child living in that home.

But Williams said that he couldn’t dismiss Giannasi’s request because the developer had presented the county with an intriguing proffer that could, in the long run, limit development on the parcel.

If the county agreed to rezone the property, which is in Williams’ district, Giannasi said he would limit its division to five lots—two fewer than what’s permitted in A-2 zoning—and bar future family divisions, meaning the property wouldn’t have more than five homes.

If the county denied the rezoning, Giannasi said, he’d divide the property three times, which he can do by-right under A-1 zoning, and future residents could create as many as 12 lots under the county’s family subdivision ordinance. The ordinance allows family members to give a residential lot to a relative one time as long as the parcel meets the county’s minimum lot size. As Williams put it, “as long as it’s got a drain field on it, you can just whack off an acre and a half wherever you want.”

To address concerns expressed by neighbors throughout the rezoning process, Giannasi offered other proffers. He said he’d build entrances only off Halls Store Road, dropping a proposed entrance off 33, and he’d include a generous wooded buffer to screen the homes from view.

Giannasi told the board that he understood neighbors’ concerns, but his business, GK Structures, had purchased the property, and he planned to divide it and build at least three homes with the possibility for more under the family subdivision rules. But, he said, he was giving the county an option to ensure there wouldn’t be more than five. 

“We are at the poker table. Do we take the chance or do we not,” Giannasi said. “I’ve made sure that it’s going to be five and no more than five. If I’m denied (the rezoning), it’s going to be three, but it could be 12.”

The proffers were ultimately enough to win over most board members including Williams. Supervisors voted 4-2-1 to approve the rezoning with Louisa District Supervisor Manning Woodward and Cuckoo District Supervisor Chris McCotter voting in opposition and Mountain Road District Supervisor Tommy Barlow abstaining. 

While the board green-lighted GK Structures’ request, the discussion surrounding how to rein in residential growth is likely just beginning. Williams told his colleagues that it’s time to find some solutions. 

“This is a problem county-wide and we are going to have to deal with it. We are going to have to come up with some solutions for [it] and it is going to infringe upon the property rights of people when we get a solution,” Williams said.

The board has already taken some modest steps to slow growth. The county’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan states that its primary goal is to preserve the county’s rural character and it significantly shrinks the county’s designated growth areas. In a rewrite of the zoning code that followed the plan’s adoption, the board increased the minimum lot size from just under an acre to 1.5 acres in general residential zoning.

While it’s unclear what additional steps the board might take to tamp down growth or how effective they’ll ultimately be, Williams signaled that the issue would be high on his agenda. 

“The time for change is now,” he said. 

Board approves code amendments to address nuisance littering: Supervisors voted 7-0 to amend two sections of county code with the goal of cracking down on residents who pile excessive trash and debris in their yards on agriculturally zoned property. (amendments)

Residents have repeatedly complained to the board that neighbors are collecting large amounts of garbage and debris outside their homes, which some describe as an eyesore and potentially an environmental hazard. 

While the county has tried to address the issue, it’s been stymied by a change in state law that exempts agricultural operations and property zoned agricultural from “duty to keep residential property clean” ordinances like one in Louisa’s code. Though the properties that sparked complaints aren’t used for farming, they are zoned agricultural, so state law ties the county’s hands.

Under the amended ordinances, if litter reaches the level of a nuisance regardless of a property’s zoning, county staff could cite the resident for a violation and order them to clean up the property.

Acting County Attorney Dale Mullen, who crafted the amendments, said at a previous meeting that he thinks the changes, which are based on provisions in state code, would be enough for a circuit court judge to side with the county if the issue ended up in court.

Mullen has said that, in general, agricultural operations can’t be considered a nuisance though that’s not always the case. But he’s said the ordinance is crafted to address residential property owners who allow trash and debris to accumulate in their yards, not farmers.

Wade briefs board on infrastructure for AWS data center campuses: Economic Development Director Andy Wade briefed the board on the county’s preparations to build public water and sewer infrastructure to serve two data center campuses that Amazon Web Services is developing in the Technology Overlay District. 

One of the campuses, dubbed the Lake Anna Technology Campus (LATC), is slated for about 150 acres at the corner of Kentucky Springs Road and Haley Drive adjacent to the North Anna Nuclear Power Station.  The other—the North Creek Technology Campus (NCTC)—is planned for more than 800 acres of a 1,444-acre tract south of Route 33 and east of Mount Airy Road near the Northeast Creek Reservoir. 

In a water service agreement inked with AWS in November, the county agreed to build a 10-mile raw water line from the reservoir to the LATC and related infrastructure to serve the site. The county agreed to build raw and potable waterlines, measuring 2,000 feet each, to the NCTC plus a 6,000-foot sewer force main down Route 33 to a new pump station at Thomas Jefferson Elementary School.

AWS will foot the bill for the infrastructure with some of that cost offset by local and state grants. The company will complete 30 percent of the infrastructure’s design before handing it off to the county. 

The campuses will rely on raw water to cool the data centers, which will house computer servers and networking equipment. At full build out, the campuses would draw, on average, 630,000 gallons of water per day from the reservoir, according to Wade. Based on a recent capacity study, the reservoir has a safe yield capacity of 3.2 million gallons per day with current users, including the Town of Louisa, drawing about 300,000 gallons daily. 

Wade reminded the board that, as part of the service agreement, the county is tasked with procuring the easements necessary to construct the lines and officials are beginning the due diligence phase.

Wade said that letters were sent, via certified mail, last week to property owners who may be impacted by the lines. The letters ask for landowners’ permission to access their property to perform due diligence and include a permission slip to be returned to the county.

Per state code, the county must give property owners 30 days’ notice and provide a specific window when workers will visit the site. If landowners don’t grant access via the permission slip, officials are permitted to enter the property on the 31st day, Wade said.

At a previous meeting, Wade said that the county plans to co-locate the LATC water line in the right-of-way of a Dominion-owned 230 kv power line, which runs from North Anna past the reservoir. He said the county is still required to pay property owners for the right to use the easement. 

Wade also asked the board to select two members to serve on an internal county committee that’s considering firms to build the infrastructure. Board Chair Duane Adams appointed himself and Mountain Road District Supervisor Tommy Barlow.

According to the water service agreement, the raw water line to the LATC is scheduled to be complete by January 20, 2027. The water and sewer infrastructure for the NCTC is set for delivery by July 23, 2026. 

Read more about the water service agreement here. 

Board forms workgroups to look at TOD, solar ordinances: Board Chair Duane Adams appointed Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams and Green Springs District Supervisor Rachel Jones to a workgroup tasked with reviewing the county’s Technology Overlay District ordinance. He reappointed himself and Patrick Henry District Supervisor Fitzgerald Barnes to a workgroup to review its solar ordinance.

Adopted last April, the former ordinance created a Technology Overlay District covering some 6,500 acres across six assemblages in parts of central and eastern Louisa County. Aimed at attracting lucrative tech sector industry, the district permits data centers and other high-tech uses by right and imposes specific development standards.

The board revised the latter ordinance in 2022 to toughen standards for utility-scale solar development. Beyond beefing up rules for buffers, stormwater runoff and erosion and sediment control, the ordinance caps at three percent the amount of land in the county that can be used for large-scale solar generation. 

While Adams didn’t give the workgroups explicit instructions other than asking the TOD group to report back to the board in March, he suggested at the board’s September 18 meeting that supervisors consider making changes to both ordinances including lowering the solar cap and removing land from the TOD.  

Adams said that the county had landed “an awfully big fish” by inking a deal with Amazon Web Services to build two data center campuses on some 1,600 acres in the TOD, so the board should look at reducing its size. The district’s creation prompted some residents to complain that widespread tech sector development would detract from the county’s rural character and harm the environment. 

Adams also suggested that supervisors consider lowering the solar cap from three percent to two or two and half percent, a nod to the growing resistance to large-scale solar generation among some county residents. To date, the board has approved seven large-scale solar projects covering about 5,200 acres, but none since passing the revised ordinance. The three percent cap limits development to roughly 9,800 acres.

At the time, several supervisors cautioned against rushing into changes. Patrick Henry District Supervisor Fitzgerald Barnes and then-Louisa District Supervisor Eric Purcell pointed out that the board had just adopted the TOD ordinance and Amazon had yet to put a shovel in the ground. Both suggested waiting at least a year before potentially shrinking the district. Then-Cuckoo District Supervisor Willie Gentry said that he didn’t see a need to lower the cap on solar since the county’s process of reviewing projects on a case-by-case basis seemed to be working.

The board ultimately settled on revisiting both the TOD and the solar cap in the future. 

Adams now leads a new-look board that doesn’t include Purcell or Gentry, both of whom opted not to seek re-election last November. They’ve been replaced by Cuckoo District Supervisor Chris McCotter and Louisa District Supervisor Manning Woodward, who may be more amenable to changing ordinances that they didn’t have a hand in creating. 

In a separate but related action, the board unanimously passed a resolution opposing a pair of bills introduced by state lawmakers that would allow the State Corporation Commission to approve some utility-scale solar facilities when those facilities face certain difficulties in the local approval process. Last week, two General Assembly committees voted to carry the bills over to the 2025 legislative session. Read more about the bills and supervisors’ concerns in last week’s edition of Engage Louisa. 

Board green-lights golf carts in Seclusion Shores: At the request of the Seclusion Shores Property Owners Association, supervisors voted unanimously to allow golf carts on three public roads in the subdivision: Seclusion Shores Drive (Route 1100); Old Farm Hollow (Route 1134); and Elk Court (Route 1135).   

Under state law, golf carts are prohibited from operating on state roads unless a locality authorizes the activity via an ordinance passed by its governing body. Prior to making a determination, the locality must review the streets proposed for golf cart use to ensure they meet certain safety standards.

In a brief presentation to the board, Community Development Director Josh Gillespie said that the Louisa County Sheriff’s Office and the Virginia Department of Transportation had reviewed the POA’s request with neither agency expressing concerns. He also noted that before golf carts could take to the subdivision’s streets, a golf cart signage maintenance agreement must be executed and recorded.

Before motioning to approve the request, Cuckoo District Supervisor Chris McCotter, who represents the area, said that as the president of a neighborhood association that had issues with golf carts in the past, he initially had concerns.

McCotter said that he was mostly worried about children driving golf carts in the subdivision, but a representative from the Seclusion Shores POA assured him that VDOT requires anyone who operates a golf cart on a public road to be of legal driving age. 

With the addition of Seclusion Shores, Louisa County authorizes golf carts on public roads in 10 subdivisions, nine of which are on Lake Anna. 

County officials continue to work on additions to 2040 Comp Plan as board delays action on public facilities chapter: County officials continue to put the finishing touches on the 2040 Comprehensive Plan.

But, at the request of Mountain Road District Supervisor Tommy Barlow and Patrick Henry District Supervisor Fitzgerald Barnes, the board delayed adoption of a chapter focused on public facilities at Monday’s meeting. 

Barlow said that the board needed more time to discuss the section, which documents county facilities across most departments, assesses future needs and, as Assistant County Administrator Chris Coon put it, “provides the board with tools to address the impact of development.”  

“It’s 22 pages of stuff that we just got…I don’t feel that it’s been addressed adequately,” Barlow said. 

Supervisors held a public hearing on the chapter, during which no community members weighed in, but delayed action on the document until its February 20 meeting.

In a separate presentation earlier in the meeting, Coon told the board that staff and members of the Planning Commission continue to work on a section that includes small area plans while the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission is compiling transportation and housing chapters. 

Read the draft public facilities chapter here.

Staff to draft solicitor ordinance: Supervisors directed county staff to draft an ordinance setting rules for door-to-door solicitating. County Administrator Christian Goodwin said that some community members have voiced concerns about solicitors visiting their homes and the sheriff’s office recommended potentially adopting an ordinance. Any new ordinance requires a public hearing and an affirmative vote by the board. 

Supervisors shift April meetings to second and fifth Monday: The board voted unanimously to change its April meeting dates to accommodate the schedules of two board members and one member of county staff. Instead of meeting on the first and third Monday in April, the board will meet on the second and fifth Monday, April 8 and 29. 

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FY25 budget: As school construction costs rise, board eyes potential way to raise revenue

The cost of two major school construction projects continues to rise. 

Finance Director Wanda Colvin said at two public meetings last week that the county received bids for a 500-seat addition to Louisa County Middle School and a career and technical education center adjacent to Louisa County High School and both came in higher than projected in the draft Capital Improvement Plan presented to the Planning Commission at a work session last month.

The cost to build the middle school addition, including a new alternative education center, has now reached $29.47 million, nearly $3.5 million more than the previous estimate. Colvin said the new estimate includes some add-on items: an expansion of the school’s auxiliary gym, renovations to science classrooms and replacing the school’s chiller, part of the HVAC system.  

The cost to build the CTE Center jumped from $25 million to $31.6 million, but Colvin didn’t provide details on the reasons for that increase. Superintendent Doug Straley told the Planning Commission in January that the division was beginning conversations with the county about potentially adding a second story to the center to free up more space at the high school. Colvin told Engage Louisa that she isn’t sure what the $31.6 million bid covers, but it represents the lower end of the facility’s potential cost.

As recently as two years ago, the addition, then expected to accommodate 100 fewer students, and CTE center were expected to cost about $15 million each.   

The estimated $62 million in school construction costs, including $1.1 million in engineering fees, constitute the bulk of the county’s preliminary Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) for the coming fiscal year, which now includes more than $83 million in capital requests across all departments. The spending plan mostly covers big-ticket items like new buildings, equipment and renovations.

The Planning Commission green-lighted the CIP after a public hearing on Thursday night, forwarding it to the Board of Supervisors for consideration as part of the FY25 budget.

Supervisors have the final say on what items are included in the plan and when and if they receive funding. While the CIP projects 20 years of capital spending, supervisors appropriate funding annually and items can be removed or added at the board’s discretion. 

During a budget work session on Monday, supervisors briefly discussed the CIP, specifically focusing on how they’ll cover the mounting costs of school construction. They also discussed how they’ll pay for two significant expenditures still outstanding in the FY24 capital budget including $20 million to bring water and sewer infrastructure to the Shannon Hill Regional Business Park and $3.4 million for two turf fields behind the middle school. (work session video)

Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams, a member of the board’s finance committee, said the county plans to issue bonds this spring for the Shannon Hill project and the fields. He said the county could then sock away money that it’s expecting to receive from Amazon Web Services’ development of two data center campuses to pay off the debt.

Though AWS intends to build the campuses over the next 15 years, Economic Development Director Andy Wade has said that the company could have a data center on line by 2025 with the county projected to derive, on average, just over $2 million in revenue annually from each facility, mostly from business personal property taxes and real estate taxes. 

Williams said the finance committee envisions setting up a fund to save some of that money so the county can pay off the bonds in 10 years. 

The county intends to issue the significantly larger school debt through the Virginia Public School Authority Pooled Bond Program, according to Colvin. The program offers the lowest interest rates but doesn’t give localities the option to pay the debt off early.

To pay the money back over 30 years, Williams said the finance committee could potentially recommend that the board place a referendum on the ballot this November, asking voters if they support raising the county’s sales tax by one percent to cover the cost of school construction. But implementing the plan requires lawmakers in Richmond to give localities that power. 

The General Assembly is considering legislation to allow all of Virginia’s 133 localities to raise the local sales tax by up to one percent solely for the purpose of funding school construction if voters approve the tax increase at the ballot box. Currently, only nine localities have the authority to levy additional sales tax to pay for school capital projects.

Proponents of the legislation say it would provide localities another tool to raise revenue and help address the dire need for school upgrades in some parts of the state. 

While the legislation is expected to clear the Democrat-controlled General Assembly—it passed the Senate in a 27-13 vote in early February and is awaiting a floor vote in the House—it’s unclear if Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin would sign it into law.  

If the county wins the power to place the referendum on the ballot and elects to do so, Williams said “the people” could decide if they want to hike the sales tax to pay for schools.

Based on current revenue projections, raising the sales tax by one percent would generate $6.8 million a year for school construction, according to Williams. Currently, Virginia levies a 5.3 percent sales tax statewide with one percent going to localities’ general fund.

Williams argued that relying on sales tax revenue to build schools could lessen the tax burden on local residents. 

“[The sales tax] is mostly paid by people who don’t live in the county who shop at Walmart and Lowes and those places that we collect a lot of sales tax from. Some of it is from people in the county, but people who pass through here and don’t live here [pay sales tax],” he said. 

The county has been planning for both school construction projects for several years. The middle school addition is needed to alleviate crowded conditions as some classrooms and the division’s alternative education center are housed in trailers outside the main building. 

Director of Maintenance Todd Weidow told the Planning Commission last month that the addition would cover two stories and more than 64,000 square feet. The middle school section is expected to include 32 classrooms and a 200-seat cafeteria while the alt ed center would include 14 classrooms. 

As originally planned, the CTE center would cover some 54,500 square feet, but its size could increase pending final plans. CTE Co-Director Kenny Bouwens said the center would allow the division to grow its thriving career and technical education program, noting that the space would house several new areas of study including HVAC service, computer-aided design and drawing, and graphic design. Straley said the space would be designed to be as flexible as possible to accommodate changes in the job market. 

PC green-lights $83 million CIP for FY25, repeal of parts of Lake Anna shoreline ordinance: As noted above, the Planning Commission voted unanimously to forward the draft FY25 Capital Improvement Plan to the Board of Supervisors with a recommendation of approval. Check out an overview of the preliminary CIP from the January 14 edition of Engage Louisa. (video, meeting materials)

 The commission voted 5-2 to recommend that the Board of Supervisors repeal parts of the Lake Anna shoreline ordinance. Adopted in 2005, the ordinance lays out development and design standards for overwater structures like docks, boathouses and boardwalks, and largely mirrors Dominion Energy’s development guidelines. Dominion owns the lake and its shoreline but allows adjoining property owners to construct overwater structures via individual use agreements. The item next goes to the Board of Supervisors for consideration. Click here for Engage Louisa’s coverage of the shoreline ordinance from the Planning Commission’s January meeting.

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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 for archived video.

Click here to access past editions of Engage Louisa.