Quiet coming week for public meetings; Supervisors talk litter, budget, TOD, roundabouts and more; PC recommends denial of Peach Grove Road solar site, oks storage facilities

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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Quiet coming week for public meetings

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).

While last week was an action-packed week for county government, there are no public meetings on the docket for this week, according to Louisa County’s website.

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Supervisors talk litter, budget, TOD, roundabouts and more

The Louisa County Board of Supervisors convened for barely an hour and half last Monday night. During that short span, the board signaled that change could be on the horizon regarding some of the county’s most hotly debated issues. (meeting materials, video)

Most notably, supervisors formed a citizen committee tasked with crafting a comprehensive litter control plan and sent to the Planning Commission for consideration proposals to dramatically shrink the Technology Overlay District and lower the cap on the amount of land in the county that can be used for utility-scale solar generation.

Supervisors also discussed the Fiscal Year 2025 budget and, during a pre-meeting work session, got an update on proposed road improvements for several of the county’s most dangerous intersections. (work session video)

Board agrees to form citizen action committee tasked with recommending comprehensive litter control plan

Amid complaints from residents fed up with seeing trash along the county’s roads, supervisors on Monday night resolved to get serious about litter prevention, forming a citizen action group tasked with crafting a comprehensive litter control plan for the board’s consideration by late May.

Earlier this year, the board formed a two-person litter committee, including Green Springs District Supervisor Rachel Jones and Cuckoo District Supervisor Chris McCotter, to explore ways the county could prevent littering, a growing problem especially along secondary roads.

Jones and McCotter recommended during Monday’s meeting that the board establish a citizen committee to consider a range of litter control tactics and strategies. Those include potentially strengthening county ordinances aimed at litter prevention, beefing up enforcement of ordinances already on the books, and hiring crews to clean up some county roads. 

“From our constituents, we are hearing a desire to address the cleanup issue as soon as possible, using all means necessary and that does include paid cleanups,” McCotter said. 

After some discussion, the board agreed to move forward with the recommendation. Along with Jones and McCotter, the committee will include a board-appointed citizen representative from each of the county’s seven election districts.

The committee is expected to spend the next month and a half working with county staff and collecting community feedback to pinpoint ways to control litter then present a plan to the board at its May 20 meeting. The plan would require supervisors’ approval. 

Board chair and Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams said that he understands the need to promptly address litter and he’d like to see a plan in action by July. 

“[I’d like the committee to] come back with a package that the board can consider for implementation, so that we can tackle this problem head-on,” he said. 

Supervisors’ push to rein in litter comes as frustration about the amount of garbage strewn along county roads grows and some community members have taken matters into their own hands. 

At Monday’s meeting, the board recognized the grassroots group Louisa Clean for its efforts.  Since forming in 2022, the group has picked up more than 1,000 bags of trash, raised awareness about littering and encouraged residents to get involved in the Virginia Department of Transportation’s (VDOT) Adopt-a-Highway Program.

While VDOT periodically cleans up along the county’s primary roads, it partners with volunteers to clean up select sections of roadway.  This weekend—April 13 and 14—Louisa Clean sponsored the Big Clean, a countywide cleanup effort that targeted several busy roads. 

In brief comments to the board, Jody Korman, the group’s treasurer, said that while she’s excited about the group’s accomplishments, its goal isn’t to pick up more trash. It’s to find solutions to the county’s problem with excessive litter.

She said that a significant portion of the problem stems from people not properly containing their loads when traveling to a refuse center or the landfill, and the county needs to help address the issue.

“In 2024, we’ve already done almost 250 bags of trash. I’m not bragging about this. This is not what it’s about. We want that number to be lower…we need help with solutions,” Korman said. 

Supervisors seemed to agree. 

In a Facebook post in mid-March, McCotter said that excessive litter is mostly driven by three groups: irresponsible construction contractors and trash collectors, and motorists who throw trash out of their vehicles.

While he applauded Louisa Clean’s efforts, McCotter suggested that cleaning up the county is also the job of local government. As he and Jones did during Monday’s meeting, he recommended that the county hire a contractor specifically dedicated to roadside cleanup and suggested that the cost could be offset, in part, by tickets issued at the landfill to “uncovered trash haulers.” 

Adams, who has organized several community cleanups in his district, also zeroed in on irresponsible garbage collectors, noting that the county could potentially require trash services to obtain a license. He said that the committee should look at all facets of litter control including amending county ordinances, bringing in paid cleanup crews, how best to prioritize roads for cleanup and ways to change residents’ attitudes about littering.

“My hope would be that this program is not a one and done program. But this would be an ongoing program throughout the county over multiple years as we try to change attitudes and change people’s behavior,” he said. 

Several board members suggested that the county consider using people performing court-ordered community service to pick up trash, noting that the sheriff’s office has agreed to supervisor the program. The county formerly relied on incarcerated individuals from the Central Virginia Regional Jail, but the program isn’t currently offered by the jail, county officials said at a previous meeting. 

While most supervisors seemed amenable to exploring a wide range of ways to clean up the county—including using taxpayer money—Mountain Road District Supervisor Tommy Barlow, perhaps the board’s most fiscally conservative member, warned that as the county provides more services, it becomes difficult to keep taxes low. He suggested the committee look carefully at how it plans to fund litter prevention and the board consider cutting the county budget in other areas. 

“Nobody wants [litter]. We all want to have pristine highways…But, the point is, we have a budget that we are trying to balance, and you have to think about that when you are requesting more and more funding,” Barlow said. 

Adams said identifying ways to cover costs associated with litter control would be on the committee’s to-do list. 

Board prepares for budget adoption

Finance Director Wanda Colvin on Monday night briefed the board on a proposed $237.3 million budget for Fiscal Year 2025. The board is expected to adopt the spending plan at its April 29 meeting. 

The proposed budget includes $156.2 million for daily operations and $81.1 million for capital projects. The plan is about 26 percent more than the budget for the current fiscal year. 

Capital expenses are the primary driver behind the budget increase with spending on big-ticket items nearly doubling from FY24 to FY25.

Of the $81 million in the capital budget, the lion’s share—some $62 million—is earmarked for two major school construction projects: a 500-seat addition to Louisa County Middle School and an accompanying alternative education center ($29.4 million) and a 54,400-square foot career and technical education center adjacent to Louisa County High School ($31 million). Another $1.15 million is slated for architectural construction services for both facilities. 

The county’s operating budget would also increase over FY24, albeit a more modest 6.2 percent, or $9.1 million. Driving some of that increase is a two percent pay hike for staff and a roughly 14 percent jump in spending on public safety including six new full-time positions for the Fire and EMS Department and compression adjustments to salaries. Public safety expenditures are expected to top $24 million in FY25, roughly 16 percent of the operating budget. 

Spending on education is expected to exceed $91 million, about three percent more than this year. That increase is driven, in part, by a four percent pay hike for faculty and staff and two new faculty positions.  School expenditures are expected to comprise about 58 percent of the operating budget. 

To fund its spending, the county is expected to draw in some $234 million in revenue, including debt issuance, and tap $3.1 million from the school division’s long-term capital reserves to cover the rest of its costs. 

The budget is built on a slate of level tax rates including a 72-cent per $100 of assessed value rate for real estate, a $2.43 rate for personal property and a $1.90 rate for most business personal property. The real estate tax rate hasn’t moved since 2015 when the board hiked it four cents while personal property tax rates have remained steady since 2016. Colvin said that the real estate and personal property rates rank among the lowest in the area. 

General property taxes are expected to fund more than half of the county’s operating budget, and, though the rates aren’t proposed to increase, revenue from real estate and personal property taxes is projected to jump about 11.9 percent over FY24. 

That increase is driven, in part, by a 7.83 percent hike in the assessed value of real estate. Though supervisors didn’t raise the tax rate, many property owners will pay more this year because of the rise in assessments.

The county expects to bring in $172 million in operating revenue from local, state and federal sources, about $15.9 million more than its operating expenses. The board proposes to apply the operating surplus to its $81 million in capital spending. To pay for school construction, the county plans to issue $62 million in debt, paid off over the next 30 years. 

Colvin said that the budget is still subject to change as the county awaits a final state budget. She also noted that the spending plan is about $400,000 less than the advertised budget due to some late-game changes. Most notably, the proposed budget includes a two percent pay increase for county staff instead of the three percent originally included. Staff also received a two percent raise in January prompted by changes in the state budget. 

While the proposed budget’s 26 percent increase over FY24 has sparked the ire of some residents who’ve urged the board to rein in spending and lower the real estate tax rate, two board members who played a leading role in crafting the spending plan framed it as fiscally responsible. 

Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams and Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams, a pair of Republicans who make up the board’s finance committee, both said that the budget doesn’t include wasteful spending or grow government bureaucracy. They emphasized that the spending plan is reflective of the fiscal realities of living in one of the state’s fastest growing localities and makes necessary investments in core services like schools and public safety. 

“I do want to point out where we are investing the taxpayers’ money and it’s not in growing the size of the government. Where we are adding is Fire and EMS [and the] sheriff’s department, where we are making an investment to keep the people we have, and the schools,” Adams said.

He added that, given the expanding budget, the county needs to look at ways to slow residential growth, alluding to a recent report from the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service that ranked Louisa as the third fastest growing locality in the state.

“I think that we are fortunate this year that this is our five-year state-mandated review of the [Comprehensive Plan]. When we look at the Comp Plan in the next several months, this may be the impetus on this board to take some actions to slow the growth in this county…so that we are not constantly adding hundreds of children to the school system every year, which continues to drive things like this,” he said. 

 Williams agreed. 

“It’s a pretty tight budget. It is a big budget because of the [capital projects]. But we are in a growing county. We have crossed 40,000 in population, and you continue to move people here and build houses, and they bring 1.3 kids, or something like that, and they pay a couple thousand dollars in taxes between their cars and their house. You spend about $12,000 or $14,000 on education per child. That math doesn’t work out real good,” he said. 

Following Colvin’s presentation, the board held a statutorily required public hearing on the advertised budget and tax rates. Former Green Springs District Supervisor Bob Babyok was the only community member to weigh in.

Babyok thanked the board and county staff for their work on the spending plan. He said that he agrees with prioritizing spending on public safety, but hopes the board will increase funding for the Parks and Recreation Department in the future. 

Check out the advertised budget here. Read Engage Louisa’s full rundown of the advertised budget here.

Board could slash size of Technology Overlay District

The Board of Supervisors could slash the size of the county’s 6,400-acre Technology Overlay District (TOD), a special zoning designation aimed at attracting lucrative tech sector development, which supervisors adopted barely a year ago. 

The board voted 7-0 on Monday night to send a proposal to the Planning Commission for consideration that would downsize the district to about 2,800 acres, cutting out three of the six parcel groups currently included.

The vote came at the recommendation of the board’s TOD committee, which includes Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams and Green Springs District Supervisor Rachel Jones. The board formed the committee in February and tasked it with recommending potential changes to the TOD in the wake of the county inking a deal with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to invest at least $11 billion to develop two data center campuses in the district by 2040.

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

Because the district allows data centers and other tech sector uses by-right, AWS can set up shop without rezoning the land. The property slated for data centers in the LATC is split-zoned general commercial and residential while the NCTC is zoned agricultural. The TOD ordinance imposes a range of development standards on the campuses including buffer, landscaping and setback requirements. 

County officials have said they initially established the district in hopes of attracting tech sector development like data centers, which can generate significant tax revenue for county coffers while only minimally impacting services like schools and law enforcement. 

Now that Amazon has committed to bringing data centers to the county, some board members say it’s time to roll back the TOD, a move aimed at quieting concerns that tech sector development will mar the county’s rural character.

“We feel like we’ve been fishing. We caught an ample supply of fish, and it’s now time to release some of the nets,” Williams said on Monday. 

When the board adopted the TOD ordinance last year, some community members complained that inviting data centers to the county is a step in the wrong direction, pointing to growing concerns about the use in Northern Virginia, an area dubbed “the data center capital of the world.”  Residents warned that the facilities would overwhelm local infrastructure, bring unwanted construction traffic and noise, impact air quality and deplete the water supply.

Supervisors have maintained that there are safeguards in place to guard against the ill effects of data centers—like the TOD development standards—and that concentrating tech sector uses in areas well-situated to accommodate them will protect the county’s rural ambiance in the long run. 

“We are a county of 514 square miles, this $11 billion investment, this transformational opportunity is on 1,560 acres. We are able to have this type of opportunity, this type of investment, meet the demands of our citizens and our responsibilities yet preserve the rural character of the county because it’s such a small footprint,” Board Chair Duane Adams said at a March event hosted by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, which celebrated AWS’s investment in Louisa and several other localities. 

During a report to the Planning Commission on Thursday night, Community Development Director Josh Gillespie detailed the TOD committee’s recommendation, which will be the subject of a public hearing at an upcoming commission meeting.

Under the proposal, three assemblages would be removed from the TOD—more than 1,300 acres just north of interstate 64 near Gum Spring, nearly 1,400 acres between Routes 33 and 22 north of the Northeast Creek Reservoir, and the 700-acre Shannon Hill Regional Business Park. The park is already zoned for industrial use while the assemblage north of the reservoir is slated for a 150-megawatt utility-scale solar facility under a Conditional Use Permit green-lighted by the board in 2020. 

The AWS campuses would remain in the TOD as would the Cooke Rail Park, a 1234-acre parcel group north of Route 22 and west of Chopping Road. In 2022, the board approved a CUP for an up to 118 MW solar facility and 50 MW battery storage bank on the site.  

While the rail park would remain in the TOD, any uses allowed in the district but not permitted in the park’s underlying agricultural or industrial zoning would require a CUP, Gillespie said.

Any changes to the TOD ordinance require a public hearing and recommendation from the Planning Commission and a second public hearing and affirmative vote by the Board of Supervisors. 

Solar committee recommends reducing amount of county land that can be used for large-scale solar generation

Amid growing concerns that utility-scale solar development is a threat to the county’s farms and forests, supervisors could place more restrictions on the use.

 At the recommendation of the board’s solar committee, which includes Board Chair and Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams and Patrick Henry District Supervisor Fitzgerald Barnes, supervisors voted unanimously to send to the Planning Commission for consideration a proposal to lower the cap on the amount of land in the county that can be used for large-scale solar generation from 3 percent, or roughly 9,800 acres, to 2 percent, or about 6,500 acres.

As an amendment to county code, the change requires public hearings in front of both the Planning Commission and the board and an affirmative vote by the latter body. 

Though supervisors didn’t discuss the item on Monday night, the recommendation signals that the board is poised to tighten the screws on solar development, which county officials once welcomed as a way to raise tax revenue while only minimally impacting county services.

Since 2015, the board has approved seven utility-scale solar sites, covering some 5,200 acres. When all the facilities are constructed, they’ll produce nearly 500 megawatts of carbon-free power for the grid and contribute millions of dollars in local tax revenue over their 35-year lifespans. 

But several supervisors have since soured on large-scale solar and, over the last few years, the board has added some new faces who appear more resistant to the use than their predecessors.

Supervisors’ concerns about utility-scale solar stem, at least in part, from significant problems with stormwater runoff and erosion and sediment control at Dominion’s 88-megawatt Belcher Solar Facility off Waldrop Church Road. That’s coupled with burgeoning opposition to the use among a vocal contingent of county residents including prominent members of the Louisa County Republican Committee, which has backed four of the board’s seven members in recent elections.

Residents have argued that large-scale solar facilities are detracting from the county’s rural character by turning farms and forests into vast industrial sites that someone will eventually have to clean up.

In response to the problems at Belcher and broader concerns about solar development, the board, in 2022, revamped its solar ordinance, toughening erosion and sediment control standards, expanding buffer requirements and implementing the three percent development cap.  The revised ordinance was spearheaded by Adams, one of the board’s four Republican members, and Barnes, whose district includes Belcher.

Adams and Barnes’ latest recommendation comes as other rural localities look to curtail solar development amid backlash to the use in their communities. The Board of Supervisors in neighboring Fluvanna County, for example, is considering banning both utility-scale and minor-scale solar arrays on agriculturally zoned property.

But lawmakers in Richmond could throw a wrench in local efforts to restrict the use.  During this year’s General Assembly session, Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg (D-Richmond) introduced legislation that sought to limit localities’ power to ban or significantly restrict utility-scale solar generation. Though the legislation didn’t pass, lawmakers agreed to take it up again in 2025, signaling that Richmond intends to take a serious look at the issue. 

Deploying more solar capacity is a key component of the Virginia Clean Economy Act, landmark legislation passed by Democrats in 2020 to combat climate change. The law mandates that the state’s two largest electric providers—Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power—pull all their energy from carbon-free sources by mid-century.

VanValkenburg has said that his bill is necessary to ensure that the state can reach its clean energy goals.

Louisa County expected to apply for state funding for three roundabouts

Louisa County is expected to apply for state funding for three significant road improvement projects, each of which would bring a roundabout to a busy intersection at an estimated cost of $15 million. 

Chuck Proctor, the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Culpeper District Planning Manager, told supervisors during a work session last Monday that, pending board approval, county and district staff will submit three applications to the state’s SMART SCALE program for single-lane roundabouts at the intersection of Routes 15 and 250 at Zion Crossroads, the intersection of Routes 250 and 208 at Ferncliff and the intersection of Routes 15 and 22 at Boswells Tavern. Proctor said he doesn’t have exact costs for the projects but expects them to each come with a roughly $15 million price tag. 

SMART SCALE is a data-driven process that the state uses to prioritize which local transportation upgrades receive funding. Under the program’s rules, Louisa and similarly sized localities can apply for funding for up to four projects every two years with this year’s application deadline slated for August 1.

After the applications are submitted, the projects are evaluated and scored by representatives from VDOT and the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation. The evaluation team recommends projects for approval based on their scores.

While projects are evaluated on several criteria, Proctor said that the most important factor for Louisa County is the potential for safety improvements (PSI). The evaluation team also considers the cost-benefit of each project. 

Louisa’s projects will be scored against other projects submitted by localities in the Culpeper District. The Commonwealth Transportation Board next June will ultimately decide which projects receive funding.

According to VDOT data, the intersection of Routes 250 and 15 ranks 40th district-wide for PSI. Between 2018 and 2022, there were 32 crashes at the intersection. The intersection of 22 and 15 ranks 48th with 26 crashes over the same timeframe while the intersection of Routes 208 and 250 ranks 98th with 18 crashes.

The county has applied for funding for all three projects in the past but hasn’t been successful. The 250-208 and 250-15 projects were rejected during the last two funding cycles.  One way Louisa could improve its chances of securing state support is by committing local money to a project, Proctor said. 

“We’ll score your application for what you want to do, what improvements you want to make then we’ll basically divide it by the cost of the project,” Proctor said. “If the cost gets lower, the benefit goes up.”

Louisa County won’t apply for funding for the slice of roadway with its highest PSI ranking: the intersection of Route 15 and Spring Creek and Camp Creek Parkways at Zion Crossroads. The intersection ranks 32nd in the Culpeper District with 30 crashes between 2018 and 2022. 

The county applied for funding for a novel bowtie configuration at the intersection during the 2022 funding cycle. The bowtie would’ve eliminated left turns on and off Route 15 and instead routed drivers to a pair of roundabouts on parallel streets. The proposal sparked staunch opposition from many Zion Crossroads residents and didn’t impress the SMART SCALE evaluation team either. With an estimated cost of $42.5 million, the project ranked 31st out of 38 projects submitted in the district. 

While district staff isn’t submitting an application for the bowtie this cycle, Proctor wouldn’t say that VDOT has given up on the concept, noting that the intersection presents traffic engineers with unique challenges.

“It’s got a lot of concerns especially with its close proximity to the [interstate] interchange. It makes it really difficult to put in stuff that actually will function there,” Proctor said. 

Though none of Louisa’s projects scored well enough for state funding during the last SMART SCALE cycle, the county has found some success in the past.  In 2016, it won approval for road realignment and turn lanes at the intersection of School Bus Road (Route 767), Chalk Level Road (Route 625), and Davis Highway (Route 22/208) between the Towns of Louisa and Mineral. Completed in 2021, the project cost about $7.5 million. 

The Commonwealth Transportation Board also approved roundabouts at the intersection of Route 522 and Route 250 at Gum Spring and the intersection of 522 and 208 at Wares Crossroads. The 522/250 project, which cost $3.1 million, was completed in late 2022. The 522/208 project, estimated to cost $7.6 million, is expected to be finished by early December.

Board gets update on upcoming triathlon

For more than a decade, Kinetic Endeavors, LLC has sponsored the Rumpus in Bumpass, an annual triathlon that takes place at Pleasants Landing on the eastern edge of Lake Anna each spring. The next Rumpus is slated for Saturday, April 20. 

The event and a sister triathlon held in the fall are allowed under an outdoor gathering Conditional Use Permit, first issued by the Board of Supervisors in 2016 and amended in 2019. The permit imposes 17 conditions on the races including capping single-day competitors at 750; requiring 30 days notice to neighbors prior to the event; prohibiting on-site camping; and mandating that all race-related activities take place between 8:30 am and 5 pm, among other provisions. The permit also requires periodic review by supervisors and county staff.

Ahead of the upcoming Rumpus, the board reviewed the CUP and, by not requesting any changes, allowed the race to move forward as planned.

Supervisors also heard from race organizer Greg Hawkins, who expressed excitement about returning to Lake Anna for another year and told the board that he and his team are working hard to ensure the race positively impacts the community. 

Hawkins said that, as required by the CUP, he notified neighbors about the race several weeks ago. He also met with Cuckoo District Supervisor Chris McCotter to discuss the event. 

McCotter said that he and Hawkins had a productive meeting and that the organizer had addressed community concerns. He added that, going forward, staff and the board would annually review the CUP well before the spring triathlon. 

“I’m also pleased that county staff has agreed to rehear this [permit] each year a little earlier. It’s a little late in the game to be hearing it now, but it is what we are doing,” McCotter said. “In the future, we hope that the down-lake community, where the triathlon is held, remains able to exist with a triathlon. You just don’t know. Our community is growing so quickly. For us to be able to review [the CUP} each year is good government.”

Supes ok TSBF tax exemption

Following a public hearing, supervisors voted unanimously to grant a real estate tax exemption to the Trevilian Station Battlefield Foundation (TSBF) for about five acres, encompassing five tax map parcels, that the nonprofit organization recently acquired as part of its effort to preserve land connected to the Battle of Trevilian Station, the largest all-cavalry battle in the Civil War.

Three parcels are located near the intersection of Routes 22 and 33 at Trevilians. The other two are off Ellisville Drive (Route 669) north of the Town of Louisa. According to Louisa County land records, the parcels have a combined assessed value of $140,600.

TSBF owns about 685 acres in western Louisa County, which the county has already granted tax-exempt status. Under Virginia law, localities may exempt nonprofits from real estate or personal property taxes, provided the exempted property is used for religious, charitable, patriotic, historical, benevolent, cultural or public playground purposes.

No one weighed in during the public hearing.

Supervisors approve renewal of Beaverdam Creek AFD

Supervisors voted 7-0 to renew the Beaverdam Creek Agricultural and Forestal District (AFD), which includes 10 parcels, encompassing 442.7 acres, in southwestern Louisa County.

AFDs are a conservation tool that allows landowners engaged in farming or forestry to voluntarily prohibit development on their property. The districts require review and renewal by the Board of Supervisors every 10 years. 

Learn more about the AFD program here. 

Supes approve supplemental appropriation for CSA fund

Supervisors voted 7-0 to authorizes $255,000 budget supplement for the Children Services Act Fund. The appropriation is necessary because the fund exceeded its budget for Fiscal Year 2024.

The fund, which draws money from the county and state, provides state-mandated services to at-risk youth and children with special needs including foster care and specialized education programming. 

Of the $255,000 appropriation, $112,200 will be drawn from local funds while the rest will come from the state. 

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PC recommends denial of CUP for Peach Grove Road solar site

Amid staunch opposition from neighbors, the Louisa County Planning Commission on Thursday night recommended that the Board of Supervisors deny a Conditional Use Permit for what could be the county’s eighth utility-scale solar site. (meeting materials, video)

BW Solar has asked Louisa County for permission to development an up to 5-megawatt solar generation facility on 60 acres of a 132-acre site (tmp 14 71) between Peach Grove Road (Route 621) and Goldmine Road (Route 613) near the upper end of Lake Anna. The parcel, located in the Mineral Election District and designated for rural/agricultural use on the Future Land Use Map in the 2040 Comprehensive Plan, is owned by Dustin Madison and his wife, Megan, who live on the property. 

Throughout the public approval process, which has so far spanned two neighborhood meetings and two Planning Commission meetings, the development team has framed the solar array as a good neighbor. They’ve said that solar panels would cover only about 15 acres of the 60-acre project site and would be screened from view by generous buffers, comprised of pollinator plantings and existing vegetation. After a four-to-six-month construction period, the developers have said, the project would create little traffic and noise, quietly generating clean energy for Rappahannock Electric Cooperative’s distribution system over its 35-year lifespan. 

In response to concerns that runoff from the site would negatively impact Lake Anna and surrounding farmland, the developers have emphasized that the project would be the smallest utility-scale solar array permitted in the county, land disturbance would be minimal and special care would be taken to protect the lake. 

Dustin Madison, the property’s owner, and representatives from BWS have sought to differentiate the project from Dominion’s sprawling 88 MW Belcher Solar Facility off Waldrop Church Road where stormwater runoff has caused severe erosion and flooding on neighboring farms. They’ve said their project would be far smaller than Belcher—only about 15 acres of pine trees would be cleared compared to hundreds of acres of timberland at Belcher—and it would comply with all of Louisa County’s toughened standards for solar development. The standards were implemented after the problems at Belcher came to light. 

But those arguments didn’t sway the commission, which voted 6-0 to recommend that the Board of Supervisors deny the CUP.  Patrick Henry District Commissioner Ellis Quarles missed the meeting. 

In motioning to reject the proposal, Mineral District Commissioner John Disosway, who represents the area, said that while he appreciates the work Madison has done on the project—BWS’s application is over 700 pages and underwent repeated revisions—he’s still unsure about placing utility-scale solar on the site, especially given the fact that BWS intends to shepherd the project through permitting then sell it to another company to construct and operate. 

“Unfortunately, for me, for a project that is not going to be developed by the applicant who comes in but is going to be packaged and sold to someone else to develop, I have not been sufficiently impressed with the engineering behind this and with the commitment to get the questions answered the way they need to be,” Disosway said. 

Disosway’s motion came after hours of public discussion about how the applicant would address stormwater runoff and erosion and sediment control on a site that’s just a stone’s throw from Lake Anna and home to an intermittent stream that feeds Goldmine Creek, a tributary to the lake. 

During a public hearing in March, 10 community members spoke in opposition to the BWS’s request, mostly arguing that runoff from the project would harm the lake, which is already experiencing significant water quality issues from Harmful Algal Blooms.  They also contended that BWS’s stormwater management plans left too many unanswered questions. 

Planners echoed some of those concerns and, ultimately opted to delay action on the application until Thursday night, giving the applicant another month to answer outstanding questions including what would be done, above and beyond local and state regulations, to protect to lake. 

Madison, a farmer by trade, presented that plan to the commission just before Thursday’s vote. He said that any effort to control runoff requires stabilizing soil. That means growing grass. 

Madison said he worked with a seed company to come up with a specialized mix of native grasses that would grow well in the site’s soils. He also proposed taking soil samples on every acre of the buildable area to determine any soil amendments required to achieve ideal growing conditions.  Finally, he said, video surveillance would be used to provide Louisa County code enforcement with a live feed of drainage features on the site, allowing them to monitor conditions in real time and address any issues promptly. 

Madison also reminded the commission that he lives on the property and has a vested interest in protecting it and the surrounding neighborhood.

“You’re asking me what we are going to do above and beyond. We are going to be accountable above and beyond. You are going to have the opportunity to see a project that works because somebody went out there and put it together who cared about it,” Madison said. 

But the plan wasn’t enough to convince the commission.

Madison and BWS will have another chance to plead their case in front of the Board of Supervisors, which has the final say on whether the project moves forward. At publication time, the board had not yet advertised a public hearing on the application. 

Read more about the Planning Commission’s public hearing on BWS’s application in the March 17 edition of Engage Louisa.

Commission recommends approval of rezoning, CUP for Duke Street storage facility

After delaying action on the item last month, the Planning Commission voted 4-2 to recommend that the Board of Supervisors approve Louisa Heights, LLC’s request to rezone, from General Industrial (I-2) to Industrial Limited (I-1), 3.14 acres on Duke Street in the Louisa District for a mini-warehouse facility (storage) with outdoor parking (part of tmp 41-187). The commission also green-lighted the applicant’s request for a Conditional Use Permit, which is required for the use in I-1 zoning. 

The property is located off Davis Highway (Route 22) just east of the Town of Louisa in the Louisa Growth Area and designated for industrial use on the Future Land Use Map in the 2040 Comprehensive Plan.

According to its land use application, Louisa Heights plans to build a 31,850-square foot storage facility on the parcel, which will be fenced and gated and use dark-sky compliant lighting. 

In proffers attached to the rezoning, the applicant agrees to limit future uses on the property to a contractor’s office and shop, financial institution, funeral home, general office, guidance service, medical office and veterinary clinic. Additionally, with a CUP, the property would be limited in future use to a storage and parking facility—the proposed use—trade school, clinic, communication services, equipment sales and rental, and custom manufacturing, among several other uses. 

Louisa Heights also agrees to proffer a 10-foot-wide walking trail across the southwestern portion of the site, which would connect Duke Street to fitness trails adjacent to the Betty Queen Center. 

Senior Planner Tom Egeland told the commission at its March meeting that the trail would be “the first step in creating a pedestrian network in Louisa County.”

The commission held a public hearing on the item last month but opted to delay action at the applicant’s request.  

Louisa Heights representative Gary Deal said at that meeting he wanted to clear the proposed use with the Louisa County Industrial Development Authority (IDA). Louisa Heights acquired the property from the IDA as part of a 60-acre assemblage, which it intends to develop as an industrial park. Deal said the park would likely include light industrial uses, offices and potentially tech sector businesses. 

Armed with a letter from the IDA supporting the use, Louisa Heights returned to the commission on Thursday night in hopes of getting its stamp of approval. While most commissioners were on board with the rezoning, it faced some resistance from Cuckoo District Commissioner George Goodwin. 

Goodwin said he couldn’t support Louisa Heights’ request because, based on its proffers, the applicant had too much leeway to use the property for something other than a storage facility in the future. 

“The pre-application meeting was based on a mini-storage facility, the neighborhood meeting, public comments all [focused] on mini storage. The comments on county services and the [CUP’s] conditions are all based on a mini storage facility,” Goodwin said. “However, in the proffer statement, [the applicant] has reserved the right to pursue 18 other uses, none of which have been commented on by the county, none of which have had a public hearing other than this, none of which is approved by the [IDA].”

Green Springs District Commissioner Jim Dickerson joined Goodwin in voting against the rezoning and CUP. 

Commission recommends approval of rezoning for boat and RV storage facility at Wares Crossroads

In the lone public hearing of the night, commissioners voted unanimously to recommend to the Board of Supervisors approval of Lake Anna Storage, LLC’s request to rezone, from Agricultural (A-2) to General Commercial (C-2), 7.714 acres (tmp 28-106) just southwest of the intersection of Chopping Road (Route 623) and Zachary Taylor Highway (Route 522) in the Lake Anna Growth Area Overlay District. The applicant plans to establish a mini-warehouse (storage) facility to accommodate lake users. 

Doug Barmoy and his wife, Kristin, plan to run the business. The Barmoys said that the site would initially be used to store boats and recreational vehicles. They also plan to offer detailing and, potentially, minor vehicle maintenance and repairs like fluid changes and winterization, among other services. 

The Barmoys said that there’s a need for more boat storage in the neighborhood based on the long waitlists at other facilities. 

According to a preliminary site plan, the Barmoys plan to construct four covered storage structures, outdoor parking spaces and a 2,000-square foot workshop. They intend to use an existing home on the property as an office. The business would be mostly surrounded by a 10 to 40-foot tree-lined buffer and accessed by a shared commercial entrance off Chopping Road.

As he did with the other rezoning on the commission’s agenda, Cuckoo District Commissioner George Goodwin expressed concern that the applicant’s proffer statement permitted the property to be used for too many other businesses that could impact the neighborhood far differently than a storage facility. 

Goodwin urged the Barmoys to revise their proffers to exclude additional uses. 

The Barmoys agreed to exclude all but 20 future uses permitted in C-2 zoning and to present to the Planning Commission for review and comment any site plan for a use other than what they currently propose. 

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