Amid concerns about data centers and residential sprawl, Adams, Williams eye changes to zoning code; With start of 2026, supervisors' salaries jump; BOS and PC roundups
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, Jan. 12 through Jan. 17
For the latest information on county meetings, including public meetings of boards, commissions, authorities, work groups, and internal county committees, click here.
Tuesday, January 13
Airport Advisory Committee, 335 Industrial Drive, Louisa, 10 am.
Wednesday, January 14
James River Water Authority, 214 Commons Blvd., Palmyra, 9 am.
Finance Committee, Administrative Conference Room, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 2 pm.
Comprehensive Plan Open House, Jouett Elementary School, 315 Jouett School Road, Mineral, 4:30 pm to 7:30 pm.
County officials will host the second of at least four open houses focused on an upcoming review of the Comprehensive Plan, a long-range planning document that lays out a vision for the county’s future. The events are designed to give residents an opportunity to learn more about the Comp Plan process, ask questions in an informal setting and provide feedback on development, growth management, county services and more. Learn more here.
Louisa County Water Authority, 23 Loudin Lane, Louisa, 6 pm.
Thursday, January 15
Louisa County Industrial Development Authority, Public Meeting Room, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 8:30 am.
Other meetings/events
Monday, January 12
Mineral Town Council, Mineral Town Hall, 312 Mineral Ave., Mineral, 6:30 pm. (agenda packet)
Quote of the week
“I'd like to see some things we can do to start limiting some of the residential growth in the A-1 and A-2 [zoning] that’s not in the growth areas. I’m prepared to stand behind that, move forward and, if necessary, burn or expend as much political capital as I need to…We’ve probably almost lost the county. We've got to do some things if we're going to maintain some of the rural nature. It's real. It's in real time, and we’ve got to get serious about it.”
-Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams during Monday’s board of supervisors meeting on his desire to implement changes to the zoning code aimed at slowing residential sprawl.
Amid concerns about data centers and residential sprawl, Adams, Williams eye changes to zoning code
Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams and Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams on Monday night both signaled that they’d like to see significant changes to the county’s zoning code with Adams suggesting that he wants the board to consider rolling back the county’s Technology Overlay District to stymie new data center development and Williams calling for concrete plans to slow residential growth outside the county’s designated growth areas.
“I’d like to see some things we can do to start limiting some of the residential growth in the A-1 and A-2 [zoning] that’s not in the growth areas. I’m prepared to stand behind that, move forward and, if necessary, burn or expend as much political capital as I need to…We’ve probably almost lost the county. We’ve got to do some things if we’re going to maintain some of the rural nature. It’s real. It’s in real time, and we’ve got to get serious about it,” Williams said.
Adams and Williams made their remarks at Monday night’s board of supervisors meeting during a new standing agenda item called “supervisor comments,” which provides board members an opportunity to opine on topics related to county government or otherwise of interest to the community.
Both men tackled issues that have emerged as key concerns in recent years: the county’s rapid residential growth hastened by the proliferation of new homes in its rural areas and the buildout of massive data center campuses that county leaders have touted as smart economic development, but many residents say they don’t want in their neighborhood.
Adams says he wants to pull undeveloped property out of TOD
Adams said that he’s interested in removing the two undeveloped tracts remaining in the county’s Technology Overlay District (TOD), a special zoning designation that supervisors adopted two and a half years ago to lure lucrative data center development.
That property includes the roughly 1,400-acre Fisher Chewning tract, which lies north of the Northeast Creek Reservoir, and the 1200-acre Cooke Rail Park, which sits north of Davis Highway (Route 22) between Chalklevel and Chopping Roads. Both are in Adams’ district.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) submitted an application last year for a conditional use permit (CUP) to develop up to 7.2 million square feet of data center buildings on the Fisher Chewning property but pulled the request amid staunch opposition from neighbors, who expressed concern about construction traffic, noise and light pollution and the facility’s potential environmental impact.
The company is already building data centers on the other two sites in the TOD: a 1,444-acre tract south of the reservoir and a 150-acre site adjacent to the North Anna Power Station.
Adams has expressed support for those projects, calling them “smart economic development” because of the tax revenue they’re expected to generate. But he opposed AWS’s proposal for a third campus, saying at a town hall last summer that he wants to press pause to gauge the impact of the campuses already in the works.
Adams reiterated his opposition to continued data center development at Monday’s meeting, asking staff to present to the board a report on the property that remains in the TOD at its next meeting, in preparation for sending the issue to the planning commission.
“I would like to ask staff to provide details and acreage information on the undeveloped land assemblages that have a TOD zoning at the board’s January 20th meeting. As I stated last June, I was opposed to additional data center development then and I remain opposed now,” Adams said. “I very much want to look at sending these parcels back to the planning commission to reevaluate the current zoning designation.”
In a follow-up interview, Adams said that he doesn’t think the Fisher Chewning or Cooke properties are appropriate for data centers, and he hopes his colleagues will join him in voting to remove them from the district.
“It is my hope and my intent that once the board sends this back to the planning commission and once it gets back to the board of supervisors, we remove the TOD zoning for both [tracts]. I do not think either one of those sites are suitable for data center development…This is just the next step in making sure that those sites are never developed,” he said.
If the board removes the tracts from the district, it wouldn’t necessarily prevent future data center campuses in the county as the TOD ordinance would remain in county code. But it would create another hurdle for data center developers hoping to pursue new projects. Property proposed for data center development would have to be placed in the TOD, via board action, and acquire a CUP.
This isn’t the first time Adams has pushed for changes to the TOD. Shortly after the county inked its deal with AWS in mid-2023, he suggested that the board consider shrinking the district, arguing that the county had accomplished its economic development goals by reeling “an awfully big fish.”
The board initially opted to hold off on changes but, in early 2024, initiated a review of the district. Supervisors subsequently agreed to remove two of its assemblages, which covered about 2,000 acres, and to require a CUP for data centers and other tech sector development, instead of allowing the uses by-right, as the original ordinance did.
In revamping the TOD, the board removed the 700-acre Shannon Hill Regional Business Park. Staff said the industrially zoned property already included proffers that allowed data centers so its inclusion in the district wasn’t necessary. EdgeCore Digital Infrastructure acquired the property last year with plans to build 1.1 million square feet of data center capacity.
Any changes to the TOD would require public hearings in front of the planning commission and the board of supervisors and an affirmative vote by the latter body. Per Adams’ request, the board is expected to hear a staff report on the TOD at its January 20 meeting. It could then send the item to the planning commission to begin the process of making changes.
Williams presses for measures to rein in residential sprawl
For his part, Williams made clear that he’s ready to consider changes to the zoning code to slow residential growth outside the county’s designated growth areas. He suggested that residential sprawl threatens the community’s “rural nature,” echoing concerns residents have shared at county meetings and on social media.
Williams said the Jackson District, which covers a swath of eastern Louisa County where he lives and farms, is a prime example of the problem, noting that it’s inundated with new homes even though it’s the only district that doesn’t include a growth area.
“The county is undergoing some tremendous change right now. We’ve already undergone a lot…I would venture to bet you that [the Jackson District] probably has the most residential new construction…county-wide,” he said.
Williams called on county staff to present options to the board to rein in residential sprawl as soon as its next meeting, acknowledging that he could be wading into a thorny political issue. But, he said he’s willing to “burn or expend” as much political capital as necessary to get something done.
Williams’ comments come as several board members have signaled they’re keenly interested in finding ways to slow growth. Since the 2020 census, Louisa’s population has grown more than 10 percent, according to the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, making it the third-fastest growing locality in the state. That stat has alarmed local leaders, who’ve scrambled to pay for new school buildings and hire more firefighters to accommodate the influx of residents.
Supervisors and county staff have pitched a range of measures that could temper growth—but none have been publicly discussed in detail at county meetings—including increasing the minimum lot size required to build a new home on agriculturally zoned land, slashing the number of times agriculturally zoned land can be divided for residential development and requiring a public approval process to subdivide land.
While those changes could limit new construction in the county’s rural areas, they could also infringe on property rights and potentially increase housing costs, serious concerns for some residents.
Patrick Henry District Supervisor Fitzgerald Barnes, long an advocate for affordable housing and likely the board’s most pro-development member, didn’t directly respond to Williams’ comments. But Barnes said later in the meeting that, as supervisors consider changes to the zoning code, they need to remember residents who are struggling to stay in the community.
“I understand some of the things that Mr. Williams said earlier tonight, but I am concerned about people’s ability to own a home in Louisa. I’m very concerned about that, and this is coming from a guy who grew up with no running water until I was 17 years old…We’ve got to strike a balance,” he said.
While it’s unclear if the board will discuss any specific proposal aimed at slowing growth or limiting sprawl at its next meeting, that conversation appears to be imminent as the county prepares for a state-mandated review of its Comprehensive Plan, a long-range planning document that lays out a vision for the community’s future.
The county is currently hosting a series of open houses to discuss the plan with community members and soliciting feedback via a 54-question survey that covers everything from growth management and rural preservation to county services and infrastructure. County officials will consider survey responses as they craft amendments to the plan and likely changes to the zoning code to align with its vision.
In his remarks on Monday, Williams encouraged residents to get involved in the process. The next open house is this Wednesday, January 14 from 4:30 pm to 7:30 pm at Jouett Elementary School in the Jackson District.
Fill out the Comp Plan survey here.
BOS roundup: Board again chooses Adams as chair, Barlow as vice chair; County sees uptick in building permit fees thanks to data center development
While Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams and Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams made headlines on Monday night by signaling they want to see changes to the county’s zoning code to stymie data center development and slow residential growth, respectively, the rest of the meeting was a relatively low-key affair. Here’s a recap. (meeting materials, video)
Board chooses Adams as chair, Barlow as vice chair
For the fifth year in a row, supervisors chose the same two men to lead the board. In unanimous votes, they selected Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams as chair and Mountain Road District Supervisor Tommy Barlow as vice chair.
A Republican and retired insurance executive, Adams resides on Lake Anna where he runs a boat and jet ski rental company. He won his third term last November. Barlow, a licensed surveyor, is beginning his fifth term.
After retaining the gavel, Adams thanked his colleagues for entrusting him to lead the board.
“It’s my honor to continue to serve in [this] capacity,” he said.
In addition to choosing their leadership for the coming year, supervisors also approved bylaws, which govern how they conduct business, and their meeting calendar.
The board adopted the same bylaws as last year, save one tweak—the addition of a standing agenda item called “supervisor comments,” which provides board members an opportunity to share their thoughts on issues related to county government or otherwise of interest to the community.
Supervisors kept the same meeting calendar as last year. They’ll convene on the first and third Monday of the month—except in April—unless those days coincide with a federal holiday. In that case, they’ll meet the next day. In April, the board will meet on the first and fourth Monday.
The meetings will start at 5 pm, allowing members time to convene in closed session. The board will take up public business, including public hearings, at 6 pm.
County sees uptick in building permit fees courtesy of AWS data center development
Louisa County is anticipating significant tax revenue from data center development, primarily from real estate and business personal property taxes. But most of that money hasn’t started rolling in just yet.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is still in the early stages of building a pair of sprawling data center campuses, one adjacent to the North Anna Power Station and the other near the Northeast Creek Reservoir. And EdgeCore Digital Infrastructure hasn’t put a shovel in the ground at the Shannon Hill Regional Business Park, which it acquired for data center development last year.
Still, the county is starting to see some financial dividends from the projects in the form of hefty building permit fees, courtesy of AWS.
According to Finance Director Wanda Colvin, the county has received more than $2.6 million in building permit fees from the tech giant in Fiscal Year 2025 and the first half of FY26. That total includes fees for five large-scale data center buildings, which ranged from $360,000 to nearly $488,000.
The county pulled in about $1.32 million in fees, permits and licenses across all departments in Fiscal Year 2024, according to county budget documents.
Data centers are giant warehouse-like facilities housing equipment that powers artificial intelligence, cloud computing and other web-based services. The county calculates building permit fees for the structures by multiplying the base fee for the building type and use by its square footage.
Per state law, any money derived from the fees must be used by the local building department—in this case Louisa County’s Community Development Department—to offset the expenses it incurs enforcing the Uniform Statewide Building Code. The board of supervisors on Monday allocated $1.135 million to the department’s reserves, which Colvin said represented “excess” revenue from fees collected in FY25.
“Normally, [the department doesn’t] quite break even. We’re close, but not quite. With the new Amazon fees, we have collected in excess. So, this is just putting this money in an assigned fund [that’s] committed [and] can only be used for things that would benefit community development,” Colvin said.
Colvin and Deputy County Administrator Chris Coon said data center building permit fees would likely help the department remain self-supporting for years to come even as it grows to meet the demand for its services. Coon noted that the department had failed to break even prior to FY25, forcing the county to rely on money from the General Fund to cover its costs.
“We have adjusted the fee schedule for community development, I think, three times since I’ve been here to try and get that gap smaller and smaller,” he said. “We did it.”
The county expects to pull in a lot more money from building permit fees in the coming years. According to site plans submitted to the county and the Army Corps of Engineers, AWS plans to build seven large data center buildings on its site by North Anna, covering more than 1.7 million square feet. It plans to build at least 18 data center buildings near the reservoir. EdgeCore said in a press release last June that it would develop more than 1.1 million square feet of data center capacity at its Shannon Hill campus.
Supes ok tax exemption for Fluvanna-Louisa Housing Foundation
Supervisors held a public hearing and voted unanimously to authorize a tax exemption for the Fluvanna-Louisa Housing Foundation (FLHF).
Under the exemption, the not-for-profit organization doesn’t have to pay real estate taxes on 12 properties and personal property taxes on two—a mobile home and trailer. The properties have a combined assessed value of just over $3.3 million and netted the county about $24,000 in tax revenue in 2024.
Green Springs District Supervisor Rachel Jones, who serves on the foundation’s board of directors, applauded the move, noting that it’s aimed at helping some of the county’s most vulnerable residents.
“This will go a long way to help the foundation put that money back into helping our seniors and those who need the assistance in housing. I really believe this is what counties need to do. We need to invest in those citizens that need some assistance…All that money, it’s not going in anyone’s pockets. It’s going directly back to help the foundation to continue to stay strong and support those who are in need,” she said.
For more than 30 years, FLHF has played a key role in addressing the need for affordable and accessible housing in the county, providing critical home repairs to income-eligible residents; rehabbing dilapidated homes; offering affordable rental units; installing accessibility ramps; and conducting a first-time homebuyer education program.
The organization is in the process of building 25 affordable rental units off Chalklevel Road (Route 625) adjacent to the Louisa County Resource Council. The units will be available to income-eligible elderly and disabled residents and essential workers like first responders and school staff.
According to county officials, those units wouldn’t be exempt from taxes unless the county formally adds them to code in a separate public hearing.
Supervisors have provided some direct support to the foundation. They allocated $118,250 to the group in the FY26 budget to assist with its programming.
State law allows localities to exempt nonprofit organizations from paying real estate taxes and personal property taxes, provided the property is used for “religious, charitable, patriotic, historical, benevolent, cultural, or public playground purposes.”
Board backs effort to establish new tourism region
Supervisors voted unanimously to formally back a request that the Virginia Tourism Corporation (VTC) create a new tourism region dubbed “Virginia’s Piedmont” to better market some central Virginia localities.
The region would include the counties of Louisa, Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Nelson, Madison, Orange, Culpeper, Rappahannock and Fauquier and the City of Charlottesville, the same localities that comprise GO Virginia Region 9, an economic development initiative that encourages collaboration between local governments, higher education, private industry and other stakeholders.
VTC currently splits the Region 9 localities between the Northern Virginia Tourism Region and the Central Virginia Region with Louisa included in the latter. The region stretches from Madison to Sussex and encompasses much of the greater Richmond area.
The approved resolution notes that it makes more sense to package the Region 9 localities together because of their shared characteristics, “including rich agricultural landscapes, vibrant main streets, historic sites, wineries and breweries, and proximity to the Blue Ridge Mountains.”
Community Engagement and Tourism Manager Cindy King emphasized that point in a brief presentation to the board. King said that while the region was the brainchild of officials in Greene County, she thinks it would be a plus for Louisa because it better reflects the way visitors’ travel and would likely lead to more collaboration.
“We definitely could fit easily into this [region],” she said.
King added that the county doesn’t lose anything by leaving the Central Virginia Region, noting it’s the only VTC region that doesn’t have a destination development manager.
“A potential perk of this would be that this might cause a little shakeup for Virginia Tourism, and we might actually have a destination development manager representing us, which would help us be seen more in the VTC materials,” she said.
Supervisors have placed more emphasis on promoting tourism in recent years, including developing a county-wide sign plan to welcome visitors and create a sense of place. They’ve also formed a Tourism Advisory Committee tasked with recommending how to spend revenue from the county’s transient occupancy tax, a seven percent levy tacked on to visitors’ bills when they stay the night at a hotel, bed and breakfast or short-term rental. Per state law, about 40 percent of that money must be spent on tourism-related initiatives.
BOS moves $10.69 million to long-term capital reserves that wasn’t spent in FY25
Supervisors agreed to move nearly $10.69 million from the county’s General Fund to save for future capital projects.
The bulk of that money—about $7.9 million—will go to Louisa County Public Schools’ long-term capital reserves while the rest is slated for the county’s capital reserve fund.
Finance Director Wanda Colvin said the schools returned its share, which was allocated as part of its roughly $90 million operating budget for FY25 and wasn’t spent. Per county policy, the division gets to keep money for future projects that it doesn’t use during the previous budget cycle.
While the division usually returns some money—called “turnback” money in county budget parlance—the nearly $8 million sum was significantly more than usual. LCPS Finance Director David Baker said in an interview with Engage Louisa that the excess money was a result of a variety of factors.
For one, Baker said the division was allowed to claim a $2.1 million reimbursement for school bus purchases it made in previous years. The reimbursement was permitted after a change in guidelines for how federal pandemic relief funding could be used. The division also saw a roughly $2.6 million shift in state funding and received slightly more money from a handful of state and federal grants than initially anticipated.
Baker also said that the division typically budgets with the goal of having a three percent contingency so school officials don’t have to ask the county for funding every time they encounter an unexpected hiccup.
The school division will likely need its capital reserves in the not-so-distant future as it prepares to build a fifth elementary school. Officials are asking for $3 million to begin planning for the school as part of the FY27 capital budget and tentatively requesting $52 million the next year for construction. The division is currently working with a firm to determine the best site for the 700-seat facility.
Colvin said the $2.79 million slated for the county’s capital reserves also came from savings in FY25 though she didn’t breakdown the sources.
Supes to ask General Assembly to pay for potential special election for redistricting constitutional amendment
Supervisors are poised to ask the General Assembly to pay for a special election this spring to consider a proposed constitutional amendment should lawmakers pass legislation to trigger it.
When the Democratic-controlled legislature convenes in Richmond this week, one of lawmakers’ first orders of business will be to take up a proposed constitutional amendment allowing them to redraw Virginia’s congressional districts.
Democrats are pushing the amendment as a counter to Republican efforts in Texas and elsewhere to gerrymander congressional districts, via a mid-decade redistricting process, to achieve better results for their party in high-stakes midterm elections this fall.
Virginians five years ago amended the state’s constitution to take the power to draw districts out of legislators’ hands by creating a bipartisan redistricting commission. Now Democrats want to amend the constitution again to temporarily deviate from that plan, enabling lawmakers to draw new districts, through late 2030, if other states take the step.
Changing the constitution requires that a proposed amendment twice pass the General Assembly with an election intervening, then win voters’ approval via a referendum.
Just ahead of last November’s election, Democrats convened a special session and passed the amendment the first time. Passing it a second time will trigger the special election, likely in April, where voters will decide if they want to amend the constitution, allowing Democrats to redraw districts before the midterms.
Louisa County Registrar Cris Watkins told the board on Monday night that her office has only budgeted for two elections this year—a November general and June primary. But she said the General Assembly’s potential action could force the county to hold as many as four elections, including the special for the redistricting amendment and possibly a second primary later in the summer to accommodate newly drawn districts. Watkins said elections typically costs the county between $25,000 and $35,000 each.
Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams said the General Assembly should cover the cost of the special election since its members would be mandating it.
“If it happens, [this] is a concerted effort on behalf of the General Assembly to change congressional districts. To me, this falls under the category of an unfunded mandate, because they’re going to require us to have that election, and we have to find a way to pay for it,” he said.
At Adams’ request, the board unanimously agreed to consider a resolution at its January 20 meeting asking the General Assembly to cover the local costs of the special election. The resolution would be sent to the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission, which lobbies on behalf of Louisa and other central Virginia localities in Richmond, and the four lawmakers who represent the county.
AWS donates money for buoy equipment
The board authorized a $9,750 pass-through appropriation to the Lake Anna Advisory Committee [LAAC] for buoy equipment. The committee received the money from Amazon Web Services’ Rappahannock Region Community Grant Fund.
LAAC is an interjurisdictional body that includes representatives from Louisa, Spotsylvania and Orange counties, the three localities home to Lake Anna shoreline. It’s tasked with maintaining a network of no-wake buoys on the public side of the lake, which flag navigational hazards.
Cuckoo District Supervisor Chris McCotter, who represents the lower end of the lake and serves as LAAC’s chair, said that maintaining the buoys is costly and thanked the tech giant for its support.
“It’s really expensive to maintain these buoys and volunteers cannot do it. That’s why [LAAC] entered into a contract to do it with people who are qualified with the right equipment and personnel to do that. On the other hand, here’s Amazon basically coming to the rescue. This is a good example of their footprint in our community,” McCotter said.
AWS is developing two massive data center campuses in the county’s Technology Overlay District. One is adjacent to the North Anna Power Station, a stone’s throw from the lake, in McCotter’s district.
Supes accept donation on behalf of FEMS Department
The board okayed a $8,040.05 pass-through appropriation to the Louisa County Fire and EMS Department. The money comes courtesy of the Foundation for Lake Anna Emergency Services (FLAES) in partnership with the Charlottesville Area Community Fund. It’s earmarked for the purchase of brush truck equipment.
A group of Lake Anna residents launched FLAES about eight years ago with the goal of raising $100,000 in seed money for construction of the New Bridge Fire and EMS Station. After achieving that goal, the organization has continued to raise money, chipping in more than $650,000 to county coffers to support New Bridge and other FEMS needs.
With start of 2026, supervisors’ salaries jump
The Louisa County Board of Supervisors just got a significant pay increase.
As of January 1, board members’ salaries jumped about 75 percent with the chair’s annual pay climbing from roughly $10,710 to $18,764 and the board’s other six members’ salary rising from about $9,450 to $16,556.
“Board members spend multiple hours, often evenings and weekends, each month preparing for and attending meetings, interacting with constituents at district events and individually, and other county efforts,” Finance Director Wanda Colvin said in an email to Engage Louisa, breaking down supervisors’ salaries and benefits.
Beyond their annual pay, board members are eligible for health insurance through the county.
The pay hike has been a few years in the making, thanks to a provision in state law, which requires supervisors to set their compensation prior to July 1 each year with the salary taking effect on January 1 in the year following an election.
In December 2023, the board approved a $6,000 pay raise for board members and a $6,800 hike for the chair and greenlit a policy tying compensation increases to raises for staff. Whenever the board approves a pay hike for staff, supervisors get a matching increase, per the policy.
Since no board seats were on the ballot in 2024, but four seats were up in 2025, the raises didn’t kick in until this January.
Supervisors also approved three pay raises for staff and, in turn, board members over the last two years: a pair of two percent increases and a three percent raise. The board appropriated the money for the raises last May as part of the FY26 budget process.
Prior to the most recent jump, supervisors last received a pay increase at the beginning of 2024—albeit a small one—after they approved a five percent raise for staff the previous May and extended the same increase to board members. Since three board seats were on the ballot in November of 2023, the raise took effect the following January. Before that, the board’s last pay hike came in 2002 when its salary jumped $3,000.
Former Louisa District Supervisor Eric Purcell pushed for the pay increase two years ago, just before he left the board. Purcell said at the time that low pay and long hours likely deter some residents from running for public office. He argued that even a modest pay hike could draw more candidates that better reflect the community.
“We shouldn’t have a situation—I’m just going to be as honest as I can—where you need to either be a retiree or have money to be on the board,” he said.
Currently, five of seven board members are either retired or self-employed. The other two work for Louisa County Public Schools. Over the last two election cycles, only three of seven races for board seats have been contested.
PC roundup: Commission recommends approval of changes to fee schedule
At their first meeting on calendar 2026, the Louisa County Planning Commission on Thursday night dispatched with public business in less than 20 minutes, selecting a chair and vice chair and holding one public hearing. Here’s a quick recap. (video)
Commission chooses Disosway as chair, Dickerson as vice chair
For the fifth year in a row, the planning commission unanimously chose Mineral District Commissioner John Disosway as chair. Commissioners selected Green Springs District Commissioner Jim Dickerson as vice chair for the third consecutive year. Disosway is a retired engineer who worked at Dominion Energy’s North Anna Power Station. Dickerson is a realtor.
Commission recommends approval of tweaks to Community Development Department fee schedule
Commissioners voted 6-0 to recommend that the board of supervisors approve changes to the community development department’s fee schedule, which are aimed at offsetting the costs of maintaining and replacing road name signs on streets serving new developments.
The changes include several fees hikes and new fees, which staff says are needed to ensure developers pay their fair share for the upkeep of the signs. Staff has noted in several presentations that developers pay for the signs when they’re first installed, but the cost of replacing them typically falls to the Fire and EMS Department.
Currently, street signs cost $270 each and staff must ensure their properly maintained so first responders can easily find homes in an emergency.
“These are just some mechanisms to offset some of those costs due to the number of replacements of signs due to damage or whatever the case may be,” Community Development Director Linda Buckler said.
The commission’s recommended changes would increase from $50 to $75 the fee to create a new parcel or change an existing parcel in the county’s GIS system; raise from $75 a mile to $100 a mile the fee for digitizing a new road; add a $75 fee for assigning a new address; and add a $275 fee for a street sign for a road serving a new development of three or more parcels. The county would also hike various fees for special GIS mapping projects
The changes to the fee schedule are intended to work in concert with proposed amendments to a county ordinance governing street naming and signage for new roads. Those changes would clarify when a public or private road is named, specify the responsibility for costs associated with the initial installation of road signs as well as for their maintenance and/or replacement.
Because the proposed amendments don’t fall under the zoning code, the planning commission wasn’t required to make a recommendation on the ordinance changes. The board of supervisors will hold a public hearing on the tweaks to code and the fee schedule at its February 2 meeting.
PC hears capital budget requests at work session
Prior to their regular meeting, the commission heard from a host of county leaders, who pitched some of their big-ticket budget requests for the next few years. Those requests are included in the preliminary Fiscal Year 2027 to Fiscal Year 2046 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), a 20-year roadmap for spending on tangible and high-value items for purchase or construction. (video)
The commission will hold a public hearing on the plan next month before forwarding it to the board of supervisors for consideration during the FY27 budget process. For a deep dive into the draft CIP, check out the December 21 edition of Engage Louisa. Read the preliminary plan here.
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.
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