Supes reject truck stop at Gum Spring; County prepares for major infrastructure project to support data center campuses; Adams ready for another senate run; BOS oks school debt, fee hikes
Supes reject truck stop at Gum Spring; County prepares for major infrastructure project to support data center campuses; Adams ready for another senate run; BOS oks school debt, fee hikes
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, Sept. 9 through Sept. 14
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).
Tuesday, September 10
Louisa County Electoral Board, Office of Elections, 103 McDonald Street, Louisa, 1 pm. (agenda)
Tourism Advisory Committee, Public Meeting Room, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 3 pm.
Wednesday, September 11
James River Water Authority, Fluvanna County Administration Building, 132 Main St., Palmyra, 9 am.
Neighborhood Meeting, Public Meeting Room, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 4 pm.
The Louisa County Community Development Department will host a neighborhood meeting for two pending land use requests. Click here for more information.
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 reject proposal for truck stop at Gum Spring
A truck stop won’t be coming to a rural interstate interchange in southeastern Louisa County.
The Louisa County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday night voted unanimously to reject Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores, Inc.’s request for a rezoning and conditional use permit that would’ve cleared the way for the national truck stop chain to build a gas station, fast-food restaurant, parking facility and other amenities on 31 acres of a 50-acre site fronting Cross County Road (Route 522) just southeast of the Gum Spring exit off Interstate 64. (meeting materials, video)
The Oklahoma City-based company’s proposal sparked strong opposition from neighbors, who packed the meeting to urge supervisors to kill the request.
About 30 people weighed in during a public hearing, arguing that a truck stop was ill-suited for Gum Spring, a 200-year-old community that straddles the Louisa-Goochland county line.
Many speakers told the board that they understand the prime piece of real estate Love’s was eyeing—a trio of parcels tucked just off the interstate, partially zoned for commercial use and located in one of the county’s eight designated growth areas—would likely be developed some day. But they said that a truck stop didn’t belong in their neighborhood, in part, because it doesn’t have the infrastructure to handle it, lacking public utilities like water and sewer and roads capable of accommodating an onslaught of 18-wheelers.
They zeroed in on a determination by the county’s professional planning staff that the proposal conflicts with the 2040 Comprehensive Plan. Though the project site is in the Gum Spring Growth Area Overlay District (GAOD) and designated for mixed-use development on the plan’s Future Land Use Map, staff noted in its report that the mixed-use area is designed for “neighborhood scale” development and a regional truck stop missed the mark.
“The reality is that Gum Spring is in a commercial zone, and we expect it to be developed. But, as the 2040 [Comprehensive] Plan states, the development should be in keeping with neighborhood scale development, and a truck stop is not a project that serves residents. It serves through traffic. The infrastructure is not in place yet,” Gum Spring resident Celeste Coulter said, reminding the board that the planning commission last month voted unanimously to recommend supervisors reject Love’s proposal, and she hoped they’d take that advice.
Long-time resident Wayne Thacker agreed, insisting that a truck stop would forever change Gum Spring and not for the better.
“[Love’s proposal] would overwhelm a longstanding rural neighborhood. An industrial scale project doesn’t fit in the Gum Spring neighborhood, especially a project with a heavy traffic burden. That means the proposed project is not fixable through negotiating details,” Thacker said.
Neighbors also expressed concern that a truck stop would turn their quiet and safe community into a haven for drugs, prostitution and other ills, lower their property values and tax emergency services on both sides of the county line.
Gum Spring resident Melanie Cleaver said, when she lived in California, a truck stop was built in her neighborhood and, as she put it, “it’s horrible.”
“[The truck stop] caused numerous accidents and backed up traffic. Crime came with the truck stop. We saw an increase in drugs, and prostitution came as well…We were rural off of that exit, so it was really heartbreaking to see what it did to that community over time,” Cleaver said.
In voting to reject Love’s request, supervisors echoed some—but not all—of community members’ concerns. Several said that while they’d like to have Love’s in Louisa County, Gum Spring wasn’t the right place, reiterating that it lacked public utilities and emphasizing that, even with the $2 million in road improvements Love’s proposed, the area couldn’t handle hundreds more cars and trucks.
“When my wife and I travel, we always stop at Love’s. I think it’s a great truck stop, and I think it’s a great company. I’d like to see a Love’s truck stop in Louisa County, but when I look at this location, it boils down to three things: water, sewage and traffic,” Board Chair and Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams said.
Adams added that he appreciates the extensive road improvements Love’s planned to make around the interchange—upgrades that the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has no plans to invest in—but he worried the truck stop would still lead to snarled traffic, pointing to a two-lane bridge over the interstate that wouldn’t be widened. He and others insisted the bridge would create a bottleneck.
Before motioning to deny Love’s requests, Mountain Road District Supervisor Tommy Barlow, who represents Gum Spring, expressed similar concerns.
“The Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend denial of the Love’s project due to the lack of infrastructure. Due to that lack of infrastructure—public water, sewer, a two-lane bridge, an interchange that already has too much traffic congestion—and having heard from the involved citizens of Gum Spring, I cannot support this either,” Barlow said.
Green Spring District Supervisor Rachel Jones echoed Adams, saying that she frequently stops at Love’s when travelling, and she noted that Zion Crossroads, where she lives, is home to a truck stop that hasn’t brought rampant crime or lowered property values.
But she questioned Love’s Director of Real Estate Chad Bruner about the availability of ground water—a persistent issue in her district—and Love’s proposed traffic improvements and, in the end, joined her colleagues in voting against the project.
During his presentation, Bruner argued that Love’s had worked hard to address community concerns, holding four neighborhood meetings and tweaking its application in response to issues raised by residents.
He said the company worked closely with the county’s planning staff to develop more than a dozen conditions to mitigate potential negative impacts and ensure the project “fit[s] in Gum Spring and Louisa County.”
Those conditions responded to a variety of issues—from crime and noise to the facility’s potential impact on the environment and the water supply.
“We went to four community meetings, listening to all the folks for a total of seven-plus hours of going back and forth through different comments. We’ve made site adjustments, based on those comments. We’ve worked with the county on the conditions that you have in front of you,” Bruner said. “I feel like we’ve done the work. I feel like we’ve made considerable concessions.”
Bruner zeroed in on one significant concession, noting that a proffer attached to the rezoning would limit development to 31 acres of the roughly 50-acre site and require Love’s to maintain in perpetuity a 200-foot tree-lined buffer on parts of the property.
Bruner also sought to allay concerns about the facility’s impact on traffic and ground water, which Gum Springs residents and businesses rely on for their wells.
He detailed the extensive road improvements Love’s would make around the interchange, including installing a traffic light at I-64’s westbound ramps and turn lanes at its east and westbound ramps on either side of the bridge. And he emphasized that the company had worked with VDOT for over year to develop the traffic plan.
Bruner said the improvements would be designed to handle 3,200 additional vehicles per day, but that Love’s only expected to draw about 400, insisting that the upgrades would improve traffic flow even without widening the bridge.
“We are designing for eight times the amount of traffic that we actually expect in this area,” Bruner said. “We’ve had several comments talking about the width of the bridge and, honestly, that’s just not something we can touch. One, VDOT would have to allow us to touch it, and, two, the expense would just be too great to rebuild that bridge…what we can do is we can address either side of the bridge. As you think about it, nobody is really wanting to turn in the middle of the bridge, they’re wanting to turn on either side of the bridge.”
With respect to water, he said Love’s had conducted a hydrology study, which determined there’s sufficient water available to support the business. And he noted that, should water availability become an issue, Love’s would have a contingency plan in place that could include an on-site storage system. In addition, he said the company would drill monitoring wells to track its impact on the aquifer.
“We have several locations in Arizona, in Southern California, where it’s a real drought, but we still have wells in those locations. We have the experience, the engineering and expertise to be able to put those contingency plans in place to meet our water demands,” Bruner said.
Bruner also agreed to a condition limiting the company to using no more than 20,000 gallons of water per day and requiring it to connect to public utilities should they become available.
But those assurances weren’t enough to convince board members that Love’s was right for Gum Spring.
“There are other locations in Louisa County that don’t have the traffic issues, that have county water and county sewage, and I would urge you to look at those locations…I do think there’s an opportunity for your company in Louisa County, but I don’t think it’s at Gum Spring,” Adams said, just before voting to reject Love’s requests.
County prepares for major infrastructure project to support AWS data center campuses
Louisa County is poised to begin a multi-million dollar infrastructure project to serve a pair of data center campuses under development by Amazon Web Services (AWS).
According to Economic Development Director Andy Wade, the county is negotiating a comprehensive agreement with Faulconer Construction, Timmons Group and MEB to design and build the infrastructure, which will include publicly owned water and sewer lines and pump stations.
Faulconer, Timmons and MEB, operating as Louisa County Infrastructure, LLC, were the only firms to bid on the project. Supervisors held a statutorily required public hearing Tuesday night, which cleared the way for moving forward with the bid, but officials haven’t determined exaclty how much the infrastructure will cost.
“We are going to continue to negotiate the pricing on the comprehensive agreement. My hope is to have [the agreement] to the board at the first October meeting for consideration and approval,” Wade said.
According to water service agreements inked between the county and AWS last December, the tech giant will foot the bill for the infrastructure with some of that cost offset by local and state grants. County officials have said any local grant funding would be drawn from net new tax revenue generated by the campuses.
Under the agreements, Louisa County, in cooperation with the Louisa County Water Authority (LCWA), will construct, own, operate and maintain the water and sewer lines and pump stations, and the authority will acquire any easements necessary to build them, also at AWS’s expense. In addition, the company will pay the authority for water and sewer service at the same rates that apply to LCWA’s residential customers.
Louisa County announced in August of last year that AWS, one of the world’s largest technology companies, plans to invest at least $11 billion to build two data center campuses in the county’s Technology Overlay District. The smaller of the sites—dubbed the Lake Anna Technology Campus (LATC)—is slated for 150 acres at the corner of Kentucky Springs Road (Route 652) and Haley Drive (Route 700) adjacent to the North Anna Power Station.
According to a conceptual plan submitted to the Army Corps of Engineers last year, the campus is expected to include seven standard data centers, covering more than 1.7 million square feet and providing 420 megawatts of data center capacity.
The larger site—the North Creek Technology Campus (NCTC)—will encompass more than 800 acres of a 1,444-acre tract south of Jefferson Highway (Route 33) and east of Mt. Airy Road (Route 644) near the Northeast Creek Reservoir. It’s unclear how many data centers AWS plans to build on the campus, but a company official told the planning commission last year that it could include 20 to 25.
Data centers are a critical piece of 21st century infrastructure, which house servers and networking equipment that keep the internet running. They typically require large quantities of water to cool the equipment.
To provide that water, Wade said that Faulconer, Timmons and MEB will design and build a two-headed water pump station near the reservoir, an 11-mile, 16-inch raw water line from the station to the LATC, traveling along a Dominion transmission line right-of-way, and two-way and four-way fiber conduit, which will allow the pump station to communicate with the campus.
For the NCTC, the firms will construct a 24-inch, 2,000-foot raw water line from the pump station to the campus, a 2,250-foot, 12-inch potable water line, two new sewer pump stations, including one at Thomas Jefferson Elementary School, and a sewer force main running along Route 33 from the school to the campus.
Per the water service agreements, AWS is tasked with designing 30 percent of the project with the county taking over after that.
Along with approving the comprehensive agreement with the design-build team at the board’s October 7 meeting, supervisors will likely hold a public hearing to “infuse the amount of the project into the budget,” Wade said.
The Louisa County Water Authority, which will own the water line easements, is also expected to hold a public hearing on the raw water line routes to authorize the use of eminent domain to acquire easements, if necessary, Wade said. Though the 11-mile line will run along a Dominion right-of-way, the authority is still required to obtain easements from landowners who own the underlying property.
Wade anticipates the project will be fully permitted by March 2025 and easement acquisition completed by June of next year. He expects the NCTC’s water and sewer lines to be “substantially complete” by June 2026 and the LATC’s line to be done by January of 2027.
AWS intends to develop the Lake Anna Campus first and county officials have said a data center could be online as soon late 2025. Clark Construction, the general contractor handling the project, held a pre-construction meeting at the campus in mid-July in anticipation of starting initial site work as soon as August.
As of mid-August, work hadn’t started on the campus, according to Louisa County Code Enforcement and Erosion and Sediment Control Manager Kris Nelson.
AWS intends to build the LATC in phases with the first phase including one standard data center and an administration building. The campus will initially rely on ground water for cooling, switching to public water when the raw water line arrives in early 2027.
AWS’s plan to build data centers in Louisa has sparked concern from some residents, who fear bringing large-scale tech sector development to the county will overwhelm local infrastructure and threaten the community’s rural character.
But only one community member weighed in during Tuesday’s public hearing. Vicky Harte, a member of the Louisa Town Council, expressed some concern about AWS’s water use, noting that LCWA earlier this summer implemented mandatory water restrictions for its customers, including town residents, amid severe drought.
“Having the inability to water my garden did not make me a very happy camper. I just want to know if we are under water restrictions, does that apply to these commercial entities?” Harte asked.
Neither supervisors nor Wade responded to Harte’s question. LCWA General Manager Pam Baughman said in an August 22 email to Engage Louisa that, should water restrictions be implemented in the future, AWS would be subject to the same limitations as other customers. The restrictions implemented earlier this summer applied only to outside water use.
The authority serves customers in central Louisa, who rely on the reservoir, and customers at Lake Anna and Zion Crossroads, who rely on wells. Zion’s wells were deemed substantially low during the drought.
Wade has repeatedly assured county officials that, as he put in December, “there’s plenty of capacity” in the reservoir to meet AWS’s needs and support future commercial and residential growth in central Louisa. As evidence, he’s pointed to a capacity study conducted by Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson on the county’s behalf last year, which determined the reservoir has a safe yield capacity of 3.2 million gallons per day.
The campuses are expected to use, on average, 620,000 gallons of raw water daily with that figure soaring to more than seven million gallons a day at peak demand, according to county and company officials. Wade has said peak demand refers to only the hottest days of summer, noting that the campuses would rely on the ambient air temperature for cooling in winter.
Residents and businesses that currently rely on the reservoir draw about 300,000 gallons daily and 500,000 gallons at peak demand, meaning AWS and current customers would tap the body for an average of more than 900,000 gallons daily.
Still, in anticipation of AWS’s arrival and as the towns of Louisa and Mineral prepare for potentially significant residential growth, Baughman said in her email that the county and authority are in the early stages of exploring "incremental upgrades" to its water system to “ensure there’s enough water for everyone.”
Those upgrades could include piping water from James River Water Project to the center of the county and raising the reservoir by as much as six feet to increase its capacity. The James River Project is a 17-mile water line and related infrastructure linking the river to Ferncliff, which is expected to be complete by late 2026.
“Decisions on who, what, where, when or how have not occurred or been fully vetted to date,” Baughman said of the county and authority’s long-range plans.
Adams ready for another run in SD10
Louisa County Board of Supervisors Chair Duane Adams is set to run for higher office.
Adams, a retired insurance executive turned small business owner who’s represented the Mineral District on the board since 2018, plans to seek the 10th District state Senate seat should its current occupant, state Senator John McGuire, win election in the 5th Congressional District this November.
If McGuire beats Democrat Gloria Witt in the solidly Republican 5th, he’ll trade Richmond for Washington, vacating his senate seat and setting up a special election in the district, likely just before the start of the General Assembly session in January.
Adams, who finished second to McGuire in a hard-fought Republican nominating contest in the 10th last year, said in a statement, provided to Engage Louisa this weekend, that he again plans to vie for a spot in the state legislature’s upper chamber. He said he made the decision after residents from across the district encouraged him to get in the race.
“Many folks have been asking me to run for Senate next year in SD10, after our Republican nominee wins in the 5th Congressional District. I’m honored by the outpouring of support that I’ve received and hearing how many folks across the community trust my leadership. After praying on this and talking about it with family and supporters, I will be running to be your next State Senator,” Adams said.
In his statement, Adams touted his record as a Louisa supervisor as evidence that he’s prepared to deliver for the district.
“Serving as the Chairman of the Louisa County Board of Supervisors, I’ve been hard at work, getting results for our community. Over the past two years, we have delivered millions of dollars in property tax relief while bringing in the largest economic development in Virginia’s history, over 11 billion dollars, all while preserving the rural character that makes Louisa so special,” he said, referencing a blockbuster deal the county inked with Amazon Web Services last year to build two data center campuses.
As it stands now, the Lake Anna resident will have plenty of competition for his party’s nomination in the ruby red 10th should a special election happen. The rural district includes most of Louisa and all or part of 10 other localities, stretching from western Hanover to Appomattox.
Three other candidates are already in the race: former state senator and far-right firebrand Amanda Chase, her one-time legislative aide Shayne Snavely and former Powhatan Republican Committee Chair Jean Gannon.
Chase, ousted from the senate in a Republican primary last year, moved to the 10th earlier this year, trading suburban Chesterfield for rural Appomattox. In an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch last week, Chase said she’s the right person to replace McGuire, touting her commitment to fighting for her constituents’ priorities.
“There's been no one to represent the people. While I was there for eight years, I did that,” Chase told the paper. “I pushed back against a lot of the COVID-19 mandates to make sure that it was a person's choice, not a mandate from the government. I have pushed back against a lot of the vaccine mandates, once again, to make sure that it's a choice, because that's what the people wanted.”
Snavely, a veteran and small business owner from Amelia County, announced his bid in the 10th shortly after McGuire edged two-term incumbent Bob Good to claim the Republican nomination in the 5th in a mid-June primary.
Snavely said on his campaign website that he’ll bring positive leadership to the district and rely on his experience working with lawmakers to advance impactful legislation that improves residents’ lives.
“As your Senator, I will serve with integrity, passion and a vision for a brighter future. We need experienced leadership that understands our district’s issues from the ground up. Working with Virginia legislation and owning my own businesses has given me that vital perspective,” he said.
Gannon is a real estate appraiser and party activist from Powhatan, who’s lost two bids for a spot on the Republican National Committee. She told Richmond’s WRIC News 8 in August that she got in the race “because, when John McGuire goes to congress, we will need a strong conservative in the senate who will defend life, oppose sanctuary cities and be a strong ally for Governor [Glenn] Youngkin in Richmond.”
After spending six years in the House of Delegates, McGuire won his senate seat less than a year ago, beating three other candidates, including Adams, in a spirited intra-party convention before running unopposed in the general election.
Eight days after securing the seat, McGuire announced a primary challenge to Good, contending that the hard-right congressman was insufficiently loyal to former President Donald Trump. Good’s offense was initially supporting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for president. He backed Trump after DeSantis dropped out of the race.
Armed with Trump’s endorsement, McGuire beat Good by just 366 votes in a viscious and expensive primary, earning the right to represent his party in this fall’s election.
Assuming McGuire prevails in November, 10th District Republicans will have a tight timeframe to anoint his potential successor as Youngkin would likely call a special election for early January to ensure the seat is filled for the General Assembly session.
It’s unclear how the party would choose its nominee but, no matter the method, nominating contests for special elections tend to draw only the most dedicated party activists.
Given his previous bid in the 10th, Adams is well known to committee chairs and party insiders across the district. He’s also demonstrated his fundraising prowess, pulling in more than $300,000 during his last senate campaign—a solid haul in a nominating contest for a General Assembly seat.
Though he’s launching his campaign just before the start of early voting in this fall’s high-stakes presidential and congressional elections, Adams said he intends to spend the next few months focusing on Washington, not Richmond.
“In the meantime, I will be focusing my efforts on big Republican wins in 2024. We must hold the U.S. House, flip the U.S. Senate, and elect President Donald Trump as the next President of the United States,” he said.
BOS roundup: Board oks debt issuance for school construction, raises some county fees
In their first meeting in over month, supervisors covered a range of business, from okaying debt issuance for a pair of major school construction projects to green-lighting a contract to build two turf fields to serve youth and scholastic sports. Check out a meeting roundup below.
Supes ok debt issuance for two major school construction projects
Supervisors voted unanimously to issue up to $66 million in debt for two major school construction projects: a 500-seat addition to Louisa County Middle School and an accompanying alternative education center and a 54,500-square foot career and technical education center (CTE) adjacent to Louisa County High School. The board allotted more than $62 million for the projects in the FY25 capital budget.
According to the approved resolution, the county will issue the debt by selling an up to $66 million general obligation school bond to the Virginia Public School Authority (VPSA) with $62.1 million in requested proceeds. The county will pay off the bond over the next 30 years at a maximum 5.5 percent interest rate.
The school division has been pushing for the projects for the last several years as it grapples with growing enrollment. School officials have argued that the middle school addition is needed to alleviate crowded conditions at the facility where some classrooms are housed in trailers outside the school building. According to the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE), the division enrolled 1,168 students in grades 6 through 8 during the 2023-24 academic year. The middle school currently has a 1200-student capacity.
The addition will encompass some 64,000 square feet across two stories. The middle school section includes 32 classrooms and a 200-seat cafeteria while the alt ed center includes 14 classrooms. The division also plans to renovate three science classrooms, expand the auxiliary gym and replace the school’s chiller, part of the HVAC system.
The project is expected to cost $25.4 million, including contingencies, based on a bid from Nielsen Builders, Inc., the Harrisonburg-based firm handling construction.
Nielsen broke ground on the project this summer. During a presentation to the school board at its September 3 meeting, Director of Technology Dave Childress, one of the school officials overseeing the project, said construction crews have nearly finished installing footers, and they’ll begin pouring slab in the coming week. The facility is expected to be complete by the end of 2025, according to Superintendent of Schools Doug Straley.
The CTE center will allow the division to expand its thriving vocational and workforce development programs while also freeing up space at the high school, according to school officials. Completed in 2015, the high school has a 1700-student capacity and enrolled 1617 students last year, per VDOE.
CTE Co-Director Kenny Bouwens told the planning commission earlier this year that the center will allow the division to expand current classes and add new areas of study including HVAC service, computer-aided design and drawing and graphic design, among others. Officials have said the space will be designed to be as flexible as possible to accommodate changes in the job market.
The facility, which hasn’t been fully designed or put out for bid, is expected to cost between $31 million and $37 million, per estimates provided by the school division during the FY25 budget process. Straley said the center will be put out for bid in February with a target completion date between January and June 2027.
Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams, who serves on the board’s finance committee, said the committee decided to wait until VPSA’s fall bond pool to borrow money for both facilities. He said lumping the projects together would save the county some money, and it could score additional savings if the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates.
To fund construction of the middle school addition in the short-term, the county is using cash reserves. It plans to pay itself back when proceeds from the bond sale arrive, Williams said.
The school bond sale is the third major debt issuance the board has authorized this calendar year.
In early March, the board agreed to borrow more than $20 million, via the Virginia Resource Authority (VRA), to bring wet utility infrastructure to the Shannon Hill Regional Business Park, a 700-acre industrial site that the county is developing just north of the Shannon Hill exit off Interstate 64, and to construct two turf fields adjacent to Louisa County Middle School. The bulk of that money—some $17 million—is allocated for the utilities with the rest going toward the fields.
Later that month, the board authorized the James River Water Authority to issue up to $49 million in bonds via VRA for construction of the final leg of the James River Water Project, a joint effort with Fluvanna County to draw raw water from the river to meet both localities long-term needs. The localities are splitting the cost of the project with both on the hook for more than $1.2 million in debt service payments annually over the next 30 years, according to an estimate shared by Fluvanna County Administrator Eric Dahl earlier this year.
As required by state law, the board held a public hearing before authorizing the bond sale. Vicky Harte, a member of the Louisa Town Council, was the only community member to weigh in. Harte said that, as a substitute teacher, she’s “in full support” of borrowing money for the schools.
Board oks revised Community Development Department fee schedule
After delaying action last month, supervisors adopted a revised fee schedule for the Community Development Department, raising some fees by more than 150 percent. The schedule lays out how much residents and developers pay for a range of county services including land use permit, building permits, site plan reviews and inspections.
Most notably, the new fee schedule hikes the minimum building permit fee for a single-family dwelling from $300 to $1500, a 400 percent increase. The county levies the minimum fee for new homes than tacks on one dollar per square foot after that.
Other significant hikes include increasing the fee to appeal a zoning decision from $350 to $1250 and raising the fee to apply for a variance from $500 to $1,250. Fees for additions, a range of inspections and other services will also rise.
Deputy County Administrator Chris Coon said in memos to the planning commission and board of supervisors that fee increases are necessary to help the department reach cost neutrality, meaning the revenue it generates covers the cost of its services.
Coon said that’s not happening now, noting that, in Fiscal Year 2023, the department’s costs outpaced its revenue by more than $190,000. Through most of FY24, the department operated at a $142,000 deficit, according to Coon, even with several vacant staff positions.
To cover the funding gap, the county dips into its general fund, Coon said, so taxpayers who don’t use the Community Development Department’s services are subsidizing those who do.
The fee schedule adopted on Tuesday’s differs in several ways from Coon’s initial proposal. Instead of hiking the fee to apply for a rezoning from $1,000 plus $10 per acre to $2,500 plus $25 per acre and the fee to apply for a conditional use permit (CUP) from $750 to $2,500, the schedule sets a base fee for CUPs and rezonings at $750 than tacks on additional fees based on how much acreage is involved, the planned use, and the amount of land disturbed, among other factors.
Coon made those changes after several supervisors pushed back on the sharp increase in the CUP fee. The county requires a CUP for a range of uses—from running certain home-based businesses in agricultural zoning to operating a truck stop in general commercial zoning in a designated growth area.
Mountain Road District Supervisor Tommy Barlow, who runs a surveying business out of a home office, said at last month’s meeting he didn’t think it was fair that people hoping to start a small home-based business would have to pay the same amount for a CUP as a large business whose application required far more staff time.
Coon said the new schedule “reflects more accurate and proportional fees for the size and scope of the application.”
Barlow thanked Coon for addressing his concerns.
“Small-scale projects, when it comes to CUPs, are not going to be held at the same level as some major project, and it looks like, the best I can tell, you’ve done a really good job,” Barlow told Coon.
Aside from tweaks to CUP and rezoning fees, Coon noted the increase in the minimum building permit fee for single-family dwellings applies only to new homes and not additions, which fall under the fees assessed for remodeling. His initial proposal applied the minimum building permit fee to both single-family homes and additions.
While the board adopted the new fee schedule Tuesday night, fee hikes that apply to residential uses won’t take effect until October 1. Fee increases that apply to commercial uses take effect immediately.
Board green-lights contract for phase one of turf field project
With little discussion, supervisors voted unanimously to green-light the start of construction on a pair of turf fields adjacent to Louisa County Middle School even as the project is expected to come in significantly over budget.
At the request of Parks and Recreation Director James Smith, the board has allotted nearly $3.6 million for the project, mostly in the Fiscal Year 2024 capital budget. Smith said the fields are needed to provide adequate outdoor playing surfaces for youth sports like football and soccer.
The board opted to move forward with phase one of the project, accepting a $2.499 million bid from Bumpass-based Hawkins Creek Construction. Phase one includes tree clearing, rough grading, building 300 feet of retaining walls, leveling, grading and asphalting the parking lot and installing stairs and bleachers, according to Deputy County Administrator Chris Coon.
The bid pushes the project more than $1.3 million over budget based on preliminary projections included in a memo from Coon to the board.
But Coon didn’t directly address that issue during his presentation, saying only that staff is working to determine final costs for other components of the project including field installation, lights, a score board and utility services.
“Once that is finalized, these items will come back to the board with detailed cost estimates, funding requirements and potential sources,” Coon said.
Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams, who serves on the board’s finance committee with Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams, said the committee had reviewed the project and “has a plan in place.” He said he’d detail the plan when the board holds a public hearing, potentially to allocate more funding for the fields.
The board has already authorized $328,395 in spending on the fields for engineering and design work, nutrient credits and bonding, according to Coon’s memo. And it had budgeted about $2.07 million for installation of the fields. The nearly $2.5 million for rough grading pushed the project from $3.556 million to roughly $4.9 million, at least $1.34 million over budget.
Other business
Supes tweak buffer and landscaping requirements for some uses: Supervisors held a public hearing and voted unanimously to authorize the zoning administrator to waive or alter buffer and landscaping requirements for commercial and civic uses and multi-family dwellings in Growth Area Overlay Districts (GAOD). The uses are subject to stringent buffer and landscaping requirements that don’t consider existing vegetation, leading to onerous and impractical requirements for some applicants. Under the approved code amendment, the zoning administrator now has the flexibility to make changes so long as they meet the intent of the ordinance.
Board green-lights $56k for FEMS drug box system: Supervisors voted unanimously to allocate $56,385 to the Louisa County Fire and EMS Department to purchase specialized software, storage containers and boxes for its new drug box system. In the past, hospitals managed pharmaceuticals administered by emergency service providers. But Finance Director Wanda Colvin said the Board of Pharmacy last spring adopted a new policy requiring local EMS providers to manage their own boxes. Because the policy change wasn’t enacted until May, Colvin said the board didn’t include the necessary funding in this year’s budget. She said the county would tap a contingency fund to cover the expenditure.
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