Quiet coming week for public meetings; Supervisors approve solar facility, battery storage system; BOS roundup; Peake's HAB bill clears Senate panel
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Quiet coming week for county government meetings
According to Louisa County’s website, there are no public meetings scheduled for the coming week.
UPDATE: The Louisa County School Board has called a special meeting for Thursday, January 27, to address the division’s mask policy. The public portion of the meeting will begin at 6:30 pm. The meeting will be held at Louisa County High School (Alan Jackson Theatre), 757 Davis Highway, Mineral. 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 approve solar facility with battery storage system
The Louisa County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the county’s seventh utility-scale solar facility Tuesday night and its first with a battery storage component. (meeting materials, video)
Two Oaks Solar LLC, a subsidiary of Energix Renewables, plans to construct and operate an up to 118 MW solar array and an up to 50 MW battery storage system covering about 793 acres of a 1234-acre site between Chalk Level and Chopping Roads (Routes 625, 623).
The Louisa County Industrial Development Authority owns about 800 acres of the site, which comprises the Cooke Industrial Rail Park. The William A. Cooke Foundation owns about 400 acres, mainly via Rail Park North LLC.
Two Oaks also plans to construct transmission lines and a substation. Several smaller parcels, located just east of the facility, are included in project to accommodate those uses. The substation is slated for property along Old County Road (Route 746). The facility will connect to Dominion Energy’s electric grid via a nearby 230 kV transmission line.
Much of the property is zoned industrial but it also includes parcels zoned General Agricultural (A-2) and General Residential (R-2). All but six parcels lie within the Mineral Growth Area Overlay District and are designated for industrial use on the Future Land Use Map in the 2040 Comprehensive Plan. The remaining parcels are designated rural/agricultural. Currently, most of the site is covered in pine trees.
Entrances to the facility will be located along Chopping and Chalk Level Roads. Two Oaks estimates that construction could begin in late 2022.
Solar panels are becoming a common sight across Virginia, but battery storage systems are a newer technology. Two Oaks’ up to 50 MW system will include banks of lithium-ion batteries, fully enclosed in noncombustible steel. The batteries will store power produced from the solar array, allowing for its redistribution on the grid during peak demand. According to a preliminary site layout, the battery storage system will be located in the southeastern corner of the site on a parcel zoned industrial.
In its review of the project, the Planning Commission removed the battery storage component from the CUP request at the suggestion of an attorney for the applicant. Planners quizzed Two Oaks representatives about the potential for fire at the facility and local emergency services’ ability to respond. The commission unanimously supported the rest of the project.
In response to concerns about the battery storage component, Two Oaks agreed to proffer about $515,000 in Fire and EMS equipment to the county including a new 3,000-gallon tanker truck, a mobile breathing air station, and thermal cameras. Fire and EMS Chief Robert Dube wrote a memo suggesting that the equipment is needed to effectively respond to a fire at the site. The company will also provide annual training to local Fire and EMS staff.
The approved CUP includes several stipulations specific to the battery storage facility. It requires that the containers storing the batteries are spaced in accordance with National Fire Protection Association safety standards to limit the potential of propagation in the event of a fire. The facility must also implement a battery management system for around the clock monitoring. Like the solar array, the battery storage system requires a 150-foot vegetative buffer.
While the battery storage system raised some eyebrows among planners, the proposed substation worried neighbors. Residents in Hidden Farms Estates off Chopping Road expressed particular concern about noise from the substation.
Two Oaks representative Dominika Sink said that the company met with community members prior to Tuesday’s meeting. She said that the substation is preliminarily sited 230 feet from the property line but the company agreed to move it as far south as possible, placing it closer to Old County Road. Two Oaks provided a study that shows substations produce little noise beyond 300 feet.
Two Oaks also agreed to place vegetative screening around the substation and to pay a third-party engineer to measure a baseline decibel reading from some adjoining property lines prior to the substation’s activation. The engineer will then measure decibel levels when the substation is in use. If decibel readings are higher in those readings, the company is required to take additional steps to mitigate noise.
In its land use application, Two Oaks projected that the solar array and battery storage site could contribute more than $15 million in tax revenue over its 35-year lifespan. Two Oaks has also agreed to provide $20,000 to the county for broadband deployment.
The William A. Cooke Foundation, which is leasing more than 400 acres to the project, could increase its funds for local grant-making and scholarships by $700,000 a year, according to Two Oaks’ application. The foundation provides annual scholarships to Louisa County High School students and awards grants to local nonprofits.
The Louisa County Industrial Development Authority will also draw significant revenue from the facility. The IDA signed a ground lease agreement with Two Oaks in 2020, which said that the authority will receive about $700 an acre annually for usable land under lease during the life of the solar array.
Several residents provided comment during the public hearing in support of the project, citing its economic impact on the county and the Cooke Foundation.
“Since 2002, the Cooke Foundation has awarded $3.5 million in local scholarships. I personally witnessed their impact. It has made attending college or trade school possible for many students who were the first generation to pursue education beyond high school,” Dr. Deborah Pettit, former superintendent of Louisa County Public Schools, wrote in an email. She noted that lease revenue from the solar facility would allow the foundation to increase its charitable giving from $500,000 a year to $1.2 million.
Two Oaks’ parent company, Energix, already has one solar facility approved in the county: a yet-to-be constructed up to 11 MW array off School Bus Road (Route 767). The Two Oaks’ facility is the seventh utility-scale solar project green-lighted by the board. It’s the third site that supervisors approved under a new solar ordinance enacted last year.
Community Development Director Robert Gardner described that ordinance as a “first step” toward establishing a fixed standard for large-scale solar development. The board’s solar committee, comprised of Patrick Henry District Supervisor Fitzgerald Barnes and Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams, recently unveiled recommendations to guide solar development going forward and suggested pausing CUP applications for utility-scale solar projects while the board considers the committee’s proposals.
Supervisors have already beefed up conditions that address erosion and sediment control measures and oversight. Among other provisions, they required Two Oaks and another recent applicant to construct their facilities in phases that don’t exceed 100 acres. The new requirements are largely a response to fallout from Dominion’s Belcher facility off Waldrop Church Road where stormwater runoff has caused significant damage to neighboring farms.
BOS roundup: news and notes from supervisors’ Jan. 18 meeting
The Louisa County Board of Supervisors addressed a variety of public business in a roughly three hour meeting Tuesday night, holding public hearings, forming a pair of working groups, and hearing two presentations. (meeting materials, video)
Supervisors table amendment to prohibit vulgar signs: Supervisors voted unanimously to table a proposed amendment to county sign regulations that would prohibit “any sign that displays vulgar, obscene, indecent, or profane language” in public view.
Mountain Road District Supervisor Tommy Barlow crafted the proposed amendment in response to constituent concerns about a cluster of political signs in eastern Louisa County that prominently display the F-word. Barlow said that he based the amendment on federal regulations that seek to limit the use of profane language over public airwaves.
But, Barlow acknowledged Tuesday night that his proposal raises First Amendment concerns and made the motion to table it.
“I am being told that the amendment may be a violation of free speech and that vulgar language is protected by the constitution. I have a hard time believing our founding fathers ever intended this to be something that was protected,” Barlow said, adding that he’d like the proposal tabled “for further review.”
No one spoke for or against the proposed regulation during the public hearing. Following its public hearing in December, the Planning Commission recommended that supervisors reject the amendment, citing concerns that it would infringe of residents’ right to free speech.
Court precedent suggests that the regulation would run afoul of the First Amendment. In 1971, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Cohen vs. California that, generally, government can’t bar the display of profane language. The case was brought after the arrest of a Vietnam War protester who wore a jacket adorned with the words, “F- the Draft” into a California courthouse.
“Government might soon seize upon the censorship of particular words as a convenient guise for banning the expression of unpopular views,” Justice John Marshall Harlan II wrote in his majority opinion.
Supervisors hear Smart Scale application recommendations: Virginia Department of Transportation Resident Engineer Alan Saunders provided a brief presentation detailing the 2022 Smart Scale application process and recommending three local projects for submission.
Smart Scale is a state program that awards funding for road improvements based on a data-driven scoring system. For Louisa County, the system emphasizes a project’s potential for safety improvement and impact on economic development.
Saunders explained that localities are permitted to apply for Smart Scale funding every other year. The county will soon begin a pre-application process with final applications due August 1. Projects are then evaluated and scored. Next spring, the Commonwealth Transportation Board will make the final decision on which projects receive funding based on their scores.
Using Smart Scale’s scoring criteria, Saunders and his team recommended three intersections in Louisa County for submission to the application pool. They include:
the intersection of James Madison Highway (Route 15) and Spring Creek Parkway;
the intersection of Three Notch Road (Route 250) and James Madison Highway (Route 15);
the intersection of Three Notch Road (Route 250) and Courthouse Road (Route 208).
Saunders said that the latter two projects were previously submitted and applying again this year would be “an easy lift.” He noted that the project at Route 15 and Spring Creek Parkway ranked highest in his team’s analysis, pointing to a crash history from 2016 to 2020 that shows 32 accidents around the intersection. Eleven crashes resulted in a combined 19 injuries. Saunders said the intersection is currently part of a VDOT study, which will recommend specific safety improvements.
Supervisors responded favorably to the presentation, voting unanimously in support of VDOT and county staff continuing their work on Saunders’ proposed plan.
Louisa County has been relatively successful in acquiring state support via Smart Scale, winning 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). The project, submitted in 2015, had an estimated cost of about $7.5 million.
The Commonwealth Transportation Board also approved a pair of roundabouts at the intersection of Cross County Road (Route 522) and Broad Street (Route 250) and at the intersection of Zachary Taylor Highway (Route 522) and New Bridge Road (Route 208). The 522/250 project, estimated to cost $2.6 million, is currently under construction. VDOT is expected to begin construction on the 522/208 roundabout, with an estimated $5.4 million price tag, in 2023.
Board gets early preview of FY23 budget: Budget season is underway in Louisa County.
Supervisors got their first public preview of the county’s Fiscal Year 2023 budget Tuesday night, which included preliminary revenue and expenditure projections.
Finance Director Wanda Colvin told the board that staff estimated revenue and expenditures for FY 2023 when crafting the FY22 budget and that preliminary figures show both categories exceeding those projections.
Colvin said that budget requests for FY23 top $134.3 million while preliminary revenue estimates exceed $137.8 million, leaving a roughly $3.5 million operating surplus. Outside of those figures, capital requests top $14 million. Colvin emphasized that her current numbers are “very, very preliminary” and that there are significant unknowns including the impact of the state budget, expected to be finalized by the General Assembly this spring.
Colvin told supervisors that preliminary figures suggest that revenue from real estate taxes could increase more than seven and a half percent and personal property tax revenue could jump about 16.5 percent. Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams clarified that those figures are not a result of an increase in tax rates but reflect increased assessments. He added that there may also be more taxable personal property.
Colvin said that operational expense requests are up nearly 11 percent or about $12.9 million. She noted that requests for capital projects from county departments and related agencies came in $6.7 million higher than last year and requests from outside agencies came in $345,000 higher.
Colvin pointed out that her expenditure projections include a five percent increase for salaries as a placeholder, which is reflective of former Governor Ralph Northam’s proposed state budget. That budget included a significant pay hike for state-supported employees. Colvin also said that county departments have submitted $1.14 million worth of requests for additional staff.
Colvin noted that the county has nearly $10 million in uncommitted money in its general fund and over $11 million in its capital savings fund. The general fund is sometimes referred to as the county’s checking account while the capital fund could be considered its savings account.
Louisa currently has one of the lowest real estate tax rates in the region at 72 cents per $100 of assessed value and the lowest personal property tax rate at $2.43 per $100 of assessed value, Colvin said.
Williams said that the board’s finance committee, comprised of he and Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams, has begun to dig into the budget and will continue its work over the next several weeks. The entire board will hold a two-hour budget work session prior to its Feb. 14 meeting.
Budget work sessions, in part, provide an opportunity for supervisors to consider requests and hear pitches from various agencies. The board and county staff will craft the final budget over the next several months with adoption expected in mid-April.
Supervisors hold public hearing on towing services and impoundment yards, adopt part of proposed amendments: Over much of last year, the Planning Commission worked with county staff to craft amendments to land development regulations that would permit the establishment of impoundment yards and towing services in Louisa County.
The commission forwarded its recommendations to the board for its consideration and a public hearing Tuesday night.
But supervisors balked at amending county code to include most of the commission’s proposed changes with Louisa District Supervisor Eric Purcell declaring that the amendments aren’t “ready for prime time.”
Community Development Director Robert Gardner explained that several people approached the county about establishing a towing and impoundment operation but county code doesn’t define the use so starting such a business isn’t currently permitted.
Gardner forwarded the issue to the Planning Commission who opted to delete the county’s current definition of impoundment lot, which Gardner said was “kind of useless” because the use isn’t assigned to any zoning districts. Planners opted to replace that use with definitions for motor vehicle impoundment yard and motor vehicle towing services and delineate where and how they could be established.
It defined an impoundment yard, in part, as “the storage of motor vehicles towed or otherwise removed from one place to another by the use of a motor vehicle specifically designed for that purpose. Storage of towed vehicles means the keeping of such vehicles in an approved impoundment yard for a time not to exceed that which is required to return it to the owner or dispose of it in accordance with the Code of Virginia, state and local law enforcement, judiciary order, or insurance settlement.”
Planners also laid out criteria required to obtain a Conditional Use Permit for a impoundment yard including fencing and visual screening. They determined that the use would be permitted with a CUP in the county’s industrial zoning designations in Growth Area Overlay Districts.
The commission’s definition of towing services applied to smaller operations that tow and store vehicles temporarily, defining the use, in part, as “a business that tows or otherwise moves vehicles from one place to another by the use of a motor vehicle specifically designed for that purpose. Motor Vehicle Towing Services may include the temporary storage of motor vehicles. For towing services that store less than six (6) vehicles, the business is exempt from fencing, visual barriers, or other local ordinances that apply to Motor Vehicle Impoundment Yards. Towing services that temporarily store less than six (6) vehicles may do so up to thirty (30) days.”
Planners’ draft amendments stipulated that towing services would also require a CUP but would be exempt from conditions required for impoundment yards. Towing services would be permitted in all the county’s zoning designations except residential.
Gardner explained that, in his view, any towing and impoundment operations that currently exist in the county would be “grandfathered in,” meaning they would be exempt from the amendments unless they chose to make changes to their business.
After some discussion, supervisors opted not to act on the proposed definition of impoundment yard. Patrick Henry District Supervisor Fitzgerald Barnes wondered if the county even wanted to permit such a use on property zoned industrial.
“I don’t know that we want to use that much industrial land anyhow for impoundment,” he said.
The board did adopt the definition of towing services with some modification. It upped the number of vehicles that can be temporarily stored from 6 to 10 and stipulated that the use is permitted by-right on property zoned agricultural (A-1, A-2).
Adams appoints Barnes, Williams to redistricting working group: Chair Duane Adams appointed Patrick Henry District Supervisor Fitzgerald Barnes and Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams to the board’s redistricting working group. Barnes and Williams, along with county staff, will work on the county’s new voting districts. The districts are required to be redrawn every 10 years based on data from latest census.
The Supreme Court of Virginia recently approved new state legislative and congressional districts, which the county was awaiting before beginning its own redistricting process. Thanks to a constitutional amendment approved by voters last year, Virginia implemented a new redistricting process that included public meetings and direct citizen involvement.
But, the state’s bipartisan redistricting commission, made up eight citizens and eight legislators, failed to produce new maps, leaving the task to the Supreme Court. SCOVA appointed a pair of special masters to draw the districts, who first released drafts then incorporated citizen feedback in crafting final maps.
So far, Louisa County has opted not to follow the state’s lead and directly involve citizens in the map drawing process. But, at minimum, supervisors are required to hold a public hearing before adopting new districts. Adams said he expects the county attorney will provide a timeline for the local redistricting process at supervisors’ February 14 meeting.
Check out Engage Louisa’s previous coverage of local redistricting here.
Board forms working group to study through truck traffic restrictions: Chair Duane Adams appointed himself and Cuckoo District Supervisor Willie Gentry to a working group to study through truck traffic restrictions on some county roads. Gentry spent much of his career as an administrator with the Virginia Department of Transportation.
The working group was first suggested during a public hearing on a proposal to bar through tractor trailers from Chopping Road (Route 623) and part of Davis Highway (Route 22). A proposed alternative route would’ve sent the trucks, many of which are cutting through from Interstate 95 to Interstate 64, through the Town of Mineral.
Mineral officials pushed back on the plan, prompting Adams to suggest a working group to study the issue. He represents both Chopping Road and the Town of Mineral. Requests for through truck traffic restrictions and alternative routes require a public hearing and state approval.
Check out Engage Louisa’s coverage of the public hearing on through truck traffic restrictions on Chopping Road here.
Board set to spend $1.35 million in ARPA funds on renovations: The board approved a $1.35 million budget transfer to renovate a newly acquired office building and for renovations at the Louisa County Sheriff’s Office. To cover the costs, supervisors will tap money the county received from the American Rescue Plan Act, federal pandemic relief legislation passed last year.
The county is expected to receive more than $7.3 million in ARPA funds with the first tranche arriving last May and the second tranche coming this May, according to the US Department of the Treasury.
Supervisors recently spent $2.1 million in ARPA money to buy the office building and a vacant adjoining lot in the Louisa County Industrial Air Park. The office building formerly housed the headquarters of Virginia Community Bank and, according to County Administrator Christian Goodwin, requires gutting and reconfiguration to meet the county’s needs.
Goodwin hasn’t publicly provided details on exactly how the county will use the new space. He suggested at previous meetings that it could serve as a home for the Human Services Department. He also said that the Health Department, currently leasing mobile units adjacent to the Betty Queen Center, is looking for a more permanent home.
The county used federal funds it received from the CARES Act, a pandemic relief package passed in 2020, to move its Fire and EMS offices out of the County Administration Building to a new home just down the street. That move freed up additional space for the Sheriff’s Office, which also needs renovation.
Supervisors earmarked $1 million to renovate the office building and $350,000 for the Sheriff’s Office. The county has just over $200,000 in ARPA funds remaining from the roughly $3.65 million it received in the first tranche of funding.
Mountain Road District Supervisor Tommy Barlow raised concerns about the high cost of the renovations, particularly for the office building.
“I know we just talked about purchasing the building but I don’t recall this extra amount of money coming into it,” Barlow said. “That’s the reason I was kind of taken aback by the additional money that’s going to be put forward with it. That seems like an awful lot (for renovations).”
“It’s more set up like a bank administration building then it is for a building that will provide services to the public. It’s just an extensive renovation that’s required,” Goodwin responded, adding that county staff will do “everything they can to keep the cost well below that amount.”
Supervisors authorize assessment, agreements for Cutalong CDA: Supervisors voted 5-2 to set a special assessment for the Cutalong II Community Development Authority and authorize a Memorandum of Understanding and special assessment agreement.
At its December 6 meeting, the board authorized the establishment of the Cutalong II CDA, which will serve as a financing vehicle for infrastructure at the Cutalong resort community at Lake Anna. The authority will issue $30 million in bonds to finance water and sewer infrastructure, a roadway, and walking trails in the 743-acre CDA district.
Per Virginia law, supervisors are charged with setting the special assessment owed by property owners in the community to pay off the bonds. The county collects the assessment then redistributes it to the development. According to the adopted ordinance, any administrative costs will be covered by the CDA.
At a previous meeting, Michael Graff, a bond attorney with McGuire Woods, noted that the CDA assessment is voluntary arrangement and likened the authority’s structure to a homeowners’ association. He pointed out that CDAs are gaining popularity in Virginia as a way for developers to pay for costly infrastructure.
“It’s not a tax that’s imposed on folks without their consent. Rather, it’s an assessment that a developer imposes on himself and his land. When he, in turn, sells land to home builders and, ultimately, to people that purchase residences in the development, the assessment has already been imposed, it’s recorded in the land records and travels with title to the property, and it’s completely disclosed to anyone that purchases property within the district,” Graff explained.
Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams and Mountain Road District Supervisor Tommy Barlow both opposed authorizing the assessment and accompanying agreements. They also opposed establishing the CDA.
Williams said that the county shouldn’t be involved in collecting an assessment for a private development. Barlow worried that the board was overly involved in the CDA though he appeared to be confusing the role of the Board of Supervisors with that of CDA’s Board of Directors.
Board delays next meeting until February 14: Supervisors voted unanimously to move their next meeting from Monday, February 7, to Monday, February 14. No reason was publicly provided for the change. The board also scheduled a two-hour budget work session for Febraury 14. The work session begins at 3 pm.
Peake’s HAB bill clears first hurdle in Richmond
One of Louisa County’s chief legislative priorities for the 2022 General Assembly session cleared its first hurdle last week.
State Senate Mark Peake’s bill, SB 171, which directs the Departments of Health and Environmental Quality to develop a Harmful Algal Bloom mitigation plan for Lake Anna, passed the Senate’s Health and Education committee Thursday with a 15-0 vote. The panel referred the bill to the Senate’s Finance and Appropriations committee, where it could encounter trickier legislative terrain.
Peake’s original bill directed VDH to formulate and implement a statewide mitigation plan to address the blooms, which have prompted no swim advisories in parts of Lake Anna during the last four summers.
The committee instead advanced a substitute that directs VDH and DEQ to develop a Lake Anna-specific mitigation plan through or in conjunction with a public institution of higher learning and other organizations as deemed necessary.
Peake (R-SD22) said that he amended his bill to specifically address freshwater blooms, which differ from saltwater varieties, and elected to focus on Lake Anna though HAB is a problem in lakes and rivers across the state. He told the committee that he met with both VDH and DEQ last week to discuss their collaboration on the plan and learned that Virginia Tech has a program studying the blooms.
“(The blooms affect) the people who live (at Lake Anna). A lot of people from Northern Virginia have retirement places there or come down to the lake for recreational purposes so it really affects a lot of people across the commonwealth,” Peake said, adding that the bill will have to go to Senate Finance for funding.
“We are going to have to put some money on this issue,” he said.
HAB is a growing concern in inland lakes and rivers throughout Virginia though no state resources are directed toward mitigation efforts. The blooms are comprised of toxin-producing cyanobacteria that can cause skin rash and gastrointestinal illness when ingested. They can form in warm, stagnant water when excess nutrients are present.
The Louisa County Board of Supervisors has pushed its legislative delegation in Richmond to leverage state resources to address the blooms. In a work session with legislators in October, Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams sounded the alarm about HAB and its potential consequences.
“There is a tremendous economic engine at Lake Anna for Louisa County, both from property taxes from the homes that are built at Lake Anna to tourist business. The economic impact of the HAB problem at the lake—I don’t use this word very often—has the potential to be catastrophic, not only to our residents and visitors but to both county governments that have a lot of tax revenue on it,” Adams said, referring to Louisa and Spotsylvania counties.
Peake agreed to carry legislation this session that follows up on a language-only budget amendment he passed last year. The amendment directed VDH and DEQ to study the blooms’ occurrences and causes, and to suggest mitigation strategies.
DEQ and VDH issued a report in September, which stated that the agencies lack the necessary resources to adequately monitor the blooms “to determine causal factors and protect human health.” The report estimated that appropriately monitoring and studying the blooms at Lake Anna to better understand their specific cause could cost some $400,000.
Click here for contact information for the Louisa County Board of Supervisors.
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