Engage Louisa (April 18-24)
A community newsletter focused on Louisa County government
Engage Louisa is a community newsletter, which seeks to keep folks informed about Louisa County government. We’ll start by bringing you weekly updates about upcoming county meetings. We hope to expand our content to include brief summaries of county meetings, information about other community events, aggregated Louisa County-focused content, and more.
Engage Louisa is a nonpartisan resource. It’s free and powered by volunteers. We believe our community is stronger and our government serves us better when we increase transparency, accessibility, and engagement.
This Week in Louisa County Government
Monday, April 19
Louisa County Board of Supervisors meeting, 1 Woolfolk Ave. Louisa, 6 pm. The Louisa County Board of Supervisors will meet for their regularly scheduled meeting and hold three public hearings. Click here for the agenda packet. Click here to livestream the meeting. (The board meets in closed session at 5 pm).
Agenda highlights include:
A resolution establishing and adopting several county tax levies for FY22. These levies will remain the same as FY21 but real estate assessments rose nearly 6 percent, meaning many homeowners will see increased real estate tax bills.
Per $100.00 Assessed Value
Real Estate: $0.72 (Includes Mobile Homes)
Personal Property: $2.43 (Exclusive of household furnishings)
Business Personal Property: $1.90 (Exclusive of household furnishings)
Machinery and Tools: $1.90
Merchant’s Capita: $0.65
Aircraft: $0.48
Resolutions to adopt both the FY22 Operations and Maintenance Budget ($121,360,450) and the FY22 Capital Improvement Plan Budget ($7,414,840). Click here for more information about Louisa County’s budget process.
A discussion about the marijuana legislation that passed the General Assembly during the 2021 session. The bill legalizes possession of small amounts of marijuana July 1 and allows for limited home cultivation. Parts of the bill. particularly as it relates to Virginia’s regulated marijuana market, must pass again in the 2022 session. Regulated sales of recreational marijuana are currently set to begin in 2024.
The board will hold the following public hearings:
CUP2020-06 Apple Grove Solar, LLC, Applicant; Seth Maughan, Agent; Robert Bunting III & GPS Property, Inc., Owners; Apple Grove Solar is applying for a conditional use permit to construct a 15MW solar facility along Route 33 (Jefferson Highway) just north of the intersection of Rt. 657 (Apple Grove Road) and Rt. 33. The combined parcels total 225 acres with the proposed solar array covering approximately 88 acres. The parcels are located in the Cuckoo Voting District (tax map parcels 83-1, 83-4 ). Click here for the land use application.
Apple Grove Solar previously applied for a CUP to construct a larger solar facility at this location, which was denied by the Board of Supervisors. The developer made what the county deemed substantial changes to its CUP application and resubmitted for approval. The Planning Commission recommends approving this project.
ZTA2021-01 to consider amending Louisa County Code, Chapter 86 Land Development Regulations, section 86-13 Definitions to add the following new definition; The board will consider defining the term “substantially the same.” Currently, this undefined phrase does not provide specific criteria needed to prevent either denied or withdrawn land use applications from reconsideration before a required 12 month limitation expires. The proposed ordinance change seeks to define the phrase by adding,
“ Land use applications of any type are considered to be substantially the same as a previous application if the application includes one of the following
1. A previously requested identical land use; or
2. Requests action that may result in the ability to gain the same land use; or
3. Any parcel(s) included in a previous application filed by the same landowner and/or applicant.”
CUP2016-01 to consider amending its conditions per the request of Kinetic Endeavors, LLC (Greg Hawkins), applicant; Vallerie Holdings, LLC, owner. This CUP was last modified on September 3, 2019, for holding annual triathlon events on property identified as tax map parcel 47-(11)-B2; The board will decide if they want to amend the existing CUP to allow two triathlons at Pleasants Landing (Jackson Voting District) on April 24-25 and Oct 9, 2021. No triathlons were held on the property during 2020 due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Wednesday, April 21
Louisa County Board of Zoning Appeals, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 7 pm.
Louisa County does not provide BZA agendas to the public prior to the board’s meetings. Click here for the public notice.
However, according to the county’s publicly available land use application, the BZA is expected to hear Gary Griffith’s request for a temporary conditional use permit. Griffith is constructing a home on Lot 25 (tax map parcel 17-7-25) on Sunset Loop in the Sunset Cove Subdivision (Mineral Voting District). He is essentially asking the BZA for permission to temporarily reside in the office/garage already constructed on the property. Click here for the land use amendment application.
The BZA is also expected to hear a request for a variance from Vallerie Holdings of Virginia, LLC. The applicant constructed an entryway into a second floor residence on a structure located at 349 Pleasants Landing Road, Bumpass (Jackson Voting District, tax map parcel 47-11-B2) that encroaches on the 5-foot setback along the boundary line with an adjoining parcel. The adjoining property is shoreline along Lake Anna controlled by Dominion Energy. Click here for the land use amendment application.
In accordance with Covid-19 guidelines, in-person attendance at Louisa County public meetings is limited. Click here for the county’s public meeting protocols.
Click here for contact information for the Louisa County Board of Supervisors.
Find agendas and minutes from previous meetings as well as archived recordings here.
This is really great and I look forward to learning more about Louisa through your work!
This is a great resource for the community – thanks for doing this! I want to make people aware of a high-density housing project planned for 3949 Three Notch Road (tax map parcel 67-2-D) in Louisa County. The County only informed adjoining landowners even though this project will affect everyone in Louisa County. Habitat plans to build 70 to 120 homes and townhouses on 60-foot-wide lots, with 5 to 10 feet between homes. Habitat plans to fill in wetlands that drain into Venable Creek. They will ask for up to three-quarter million Louisa County taxpayer dollars to pay for the project. Habitat’s traffic study indicates each home will make up to 10 car trips a day, totaling between 700 and 1,200 trips daily. The significant traffic increase will affect Rt. 250, Mallory Rd., Courthouse Rd., and the surrounding area. No studies were performed to determine how increased noise will affect the neighborhood. Habitat’s representative states he is not aware of how many children will live in the neighborhood. This is important information since according to the Virginia Department of Education the average cost in local taxes per child is $11,560. Landowners can likely expect higher real estate taxes due to this project. Regular use of pesticides on 70 to 120 closely packed manicured lawns will contaminate ground water in nearby wells and will pollute Venable Creek. We are asking community members to voice their opposition to their local Board of Supervisors member. For Patrick Henry District contact Fitzgerald A. Barnes, Board of Supervisors, phone: 434-996-7900, email: LCBS_PHD@louisa.org; for other districts please refer to https://www.louisacounty.com/462/Board-of-Supervisors. Please also contact your Planning Commission member – for Patrick Henry District it is C. Ellis Quarles, phone: 804-539-7900, email: EQuarles@louisa.org; for other districts please refer to https://www.louisacounty.com/Directory.aspx?did=58. We also understand that Abigail Spanberger has helped to obtain Federal funding for this project. You can voice opposition to her office at 202-225-2815. Since this affects the whole community more people should have been informed. At the very least Habitat should not be destroying wetlands. Although we support affordable housing, we object to the location (destruction of wetlands) and high-density of this project. According to public records Louisa currently owns at least 108 properties in the county totaling 2,009.59 acres of land. Of those at least 85 properties appear to be undeveloped/vacant, totaling 1,484.56 acres of land. If the project is to go through we recommend a lower density project on another property that does not destruction of wetlands and pollution of nearby creeks. Louisa County has postponed the next public meeting regarding this project. They stated that if Habitat decides to move forward with the project that they can proceed without any public meeting but the adjacent landowner would be notified. If there is a public meeting it will be advertised in the Central Virginian newspaper.