Supervisors reject tighter limit on solar development, agree to permit truck stops with CUP in some commercial zoning; PC to hold six public hearings; Water Authority to consider rate hike
Supervisors reject tighter limit on solar development, agree to permit truck stops with CUP in some commercial zoning; PC to hold six public hearings; Water Authority to consider rate hike
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, June 10 through June 15
For the latest information on county meetings including public meetings of boards, commissions, authorities, work groups and internal county committees, click here.
Tuesday, June 11
Louisa County Electoral Board, Office of Elections, 103 McDonald Street, Louisa, 12 pm. (agenda)
Wednesday, June 12
James River Water Authority, Fluvanna County Administration Building, 132 Main Street, Palmyra, 9 am. At publication time, a meeting agenda wasn’t publicly available.
Neighborhood Meeting, Public Meeting Room, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 4 pm.
The Louisa County Community Development Department will hold a neighborhood meeting on two pending land use applications: a request for a proffer amendment from Louisa Mini-Storage, LLC and a request for a conditional use permit from Louisa County for a proposed wireless communication tower in Holly Grove (public notice).
Louisa County Water Authority, Public Meeting Room, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 6:30 pm.
LCWA will hold a public hearing on a proposed rate increase. See the article below for more information. (public notice)
Thursday, June 13
Louisa County Planning Commission, long-range planning work session, Public Meeting Room, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 5 pm. (meeting materials, livestream)
Louisa County Planning Commission, Public Meeting Room, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 7 pm. (meeting materials, livestream)
Other meetings
Tuesday, June 11
Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission, Move Safely Blue Ridge Community Meeting, Betty Queen Center, 522 Industrial Drive, Louisa, 6 pm. (meeting notice)
TJPDC will hold a community meeting to solicit input about its development of Move Safely Blue Ridge, a multi-jurisdictional safety action plan aimed at reducing roadway fatalities and serious injuries in the region.
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.
In busy meeting, supes reject tighter limit on solar development, agree to permit truck stops in some commercial zoning with CUP
The Louisa County Board of Supervisors on Monday night held a busy meeting including three public hearings. Check out a recap below. (meeting materials, video)
Supes reject new limit on utility-scale solar development
Amid pushback from residents who said placing new limits on utility-scale solar development would infringe on property rights and strip the county of a source of tax revenue, the board of supervisors on Monday night narrowly rejected a proposal from its solar committee to cap large-scale solar generation at 6,343 acres, two percent of the county’s land mass.
The county already has a three percent cap, which limits utility-scale solar to 9.800 acres. But Patrick Henry District Supervisor Fitzgerald Barnes and Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams, who comprise the solar committee, recommended lowering the threshold, citing concerns about the negative impact of existing solar projects—namely Dominion Energy’s sprawling 88.2 megawatt (MW) Belcher facility off Waldrop Church Road where stormwater runoff has caused significant erosion and flooding on neighboring farms.
The cap they wanted was slightly less than two percent of the county’s total acreage because it excluded Lake Anna. It would’ve nearly shut the door on solar development in the county.
Adams characterized Louisa as a leader in energy generation, noting the county is home to Dominion’s North Anna Nuclear Power Station, which produces about 45 percent of the state’s carbon-free power. He added that the board has already approved more than 5,000 acres of solar development and, in his view, that’s enough.
“There is a balance in my mind in how much is enough and how much is too much and when do we say enough,” Adams said, adding, “No more solar in Louisa County. I’ll say that out loud.”
But the majority of the board wasn't inclined to tighten the screws on solar.
Barnes’ motion to approve the two-percent cap failed 3-4 with he, Adams and Cuckoo District Supervisor Chris McCotter voting in favor and Mountain Road District Supervisor Tommy Barlow, Louisa District Supervisor Manning Woodward, Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams and Green Springs District Supervisor Rachel Jones voting against the proposal.
To date, supervisors have greenlit seven utility-scale solar projects, covering 5,211 acres. The proposed cap would’ve allowed space for the board to approve the three solar projects currently working their way through the public approval process—the 5 MW, 60-acre Green Boot facility off Peach Grove Road; the 20 MW, 304-acre Horsepen site near Buckner; and the 15.6 MW, 247.6-acre Turkey facility off Route 15—but could’ve shut out developers that haven’t applied for a conditional use permit from the county.
One of those projects is under development in the Green Springs District by the international clean energy company, Invenergy. While Invenergy has been performing due diligence for several years, it hasn’t filed a CUP application and details of the project haven’t been publicly disclosed.
Several property owners leasing land to the company or otherwise involved in the project spoke during the public hearing, urging the board not to lower the cap. They said the move would stop them from using their property as they see fit and prevent the county from enjoying the benefits of the project, including increased tax revenue.
“The proposed reduction to the solar cap would strip away [the] freedom [to use my property as I see fit], an action that contradicts the major ideological draw to rural living,” Green Springs District property owner Keith Pillow, Jr. said. He added that Invenergy’s proposal is “estimated to produce more than $10 million in local tax revenue over the course of the project.”
Two representatives from organizations that advocate for clean energy statewide also spoke against the proposed limit.
Logan Sawyers from Virginians for Clean Energy said that Louisa has a strong solar ordinance—beefed up in response to the issues at Belcher—and projects should be considered on their own merits.
Chloe Hodges from Energy Right, a conservative pro-solar group, also argued the cap isn’t sound policy.
Hodges said if localities continue to adopt solar caps, the General Assembly could be compelled to usurp local authority over the use to ensure the state meets clean energy goals laid out in the Virginia Clean Economy Act. Passed in 2020 to combat climate change, the law mandates that the state’s largest electric providers—Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power—pull all their power from carbon-free sources by mid-century.
“If localities are persistent in constraining solar then the state could intervene and that’s something that has been brought up this past General Assembly session. I think that caps could lead to this and it’s important that we again consider each project individually to showcase that we are considering each project and not just banning solar,” Hodges said, noting her group supports local control over land use decisions.
In total, six people weighed in during the public hearing, all against reducing the cap. That’s a notable shift from the opposition to large-scale solar development typically voiced at public meetings where residents have emphasized the problems at Belcher and argued that solar generation is marring the county’s rural character.
Barnes and Adams reminded their colleagues of those concerns.
Barnes shared photographs of an overflowing creek near the Belcher site to illustrate its impact on downstream property. He acknowledged the state could step in to prevent localities from sharply restricting utility-scale solar. But he said his job is to stand up for people in his district.
“I don’t represent the state. I represent the citizens in my district, and they are hurting right now because of some of these failed projects. I have to respond the way they elected me to respond,” he said.
Adams said he supports property rights, but he doesn’t support a use that’s been detrimental to neighbors.
But other board members said they saw no need to lower the cap because the county significantly strengthened its solar ordinance in response to Belcher and the board has the power to approve or reject individual projects, some of which could benefit the county.
“[We’ve] put in place a pretty extensive solar ordinance that was put in place to alleviate some of those problems [at Belcher] and, hopefully, take care of them,” Barlow said.
Board agrees to permit truck stops in some commercial zoning with CUP, addresses tiny homes
Amid concerns about a proposed truck stop off the Gum Spring exit on Interstate 64, supervisors agreed to allow truck stops in some of the county’s commercial areas, but only after a robust public approval process.
The board voted 5-2 to permit truck stops in General Commercial (C-2) zoning in growth area overlay districts (GAOD) and to only allow the use with a Conditional Use Permit (CUP). The issuance of a conditional use permit allows the county to impose conditions on the use and requires approval by the board of supervisors.
The decision comes as Love’s Travel Stop, an Oklahoma City-based company that operates some 600 truck stops in 42 states, has asked Louisa County for permission to build a truck stop on about 31 acres of a 51-acre site near the Gum Spring interchange along the interstate.
The company has applied to rezone, from General Agricultural (A-2 GAOD) to General Commercial (C-2 GAOD), parts of three parcels along Route 522 just south of the interstate in the Gum Spring Growth Area Overlay District (tmp 100-87, 100-88, 100-90) where it hopes to build a gas station, restaurant and parking facility with accommodations for long-haul truckers and other motorists. Love’s has a contract to buy the parcels from the W.W. Whitlock Agency.
The company submitted its application in early 2023 based on a 2018 zoning determination letter from then-Community Development Director Robert Gardner. The letter, initially provided to another company for the subject parcels, said the conglomeration of uses that comprise a truck stop—a gas station, fast food restaurant and parking facility, among others—could be permitted separately and were by-right in C-2 zoning.
Since the parcels are split-zoned, with 28 acres in the front zoned General Commercial and about 23 acres in the back zoned Agricultural, Love’s believed it could establish a truck stop by-right in the C-2 section, necessitating a rezoning only for the A-2 portion.
But Louisa County determined that a truck stop isn’t a permitted use under current code and can’t be approved via its component uses, throwing Love’s application in limbo.
That determination is apparently the result of a 2021 rewrite of the zoning code, which defined truck stop as a use but didn’t include it in the matrix of uses, which delineates where uses are allowed or disallowed. Prior to 2021, the use wasn’t included in county code at all.
Since the use is defined in code but not explicitly permitted anywhere in the county, staff determined that, unless the use was added to the matrix and permitted in at least one zoning designation, the only path forward for Love’s to establish a truck stop was to obtain a special exception from the board of supervisors.
The board’s action on Monday adds the use to the matrix, eliminating the need for a special exception.
To move forward with its plan as currently presented, Love’s would be required to rezone the Agricultural portion of its property and acquire a CUP for the parcels. The company’s application hasn’t been deemed complete by county planning staff and could change.
Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams, who supported adding the use, said it’s the fairest path forward, echoing comments that planning commission chair John Disosway made last month. The commission voted 5-2 at its May meeting to recommend the board permit truck stops in C-2 GAOD zoning with a CUP.
“[This makes the application] go through the process, which would make it more transparent to the neighbors, to the community, to the citizens of the county,” Adams said, noting Love’s other option—a special exception—would go directly to the board of supervisors, limiting opportunities for public input. The CUP process requires a neighborhood meeting and a public hearing in front of the planning commission and the board.
But Cuckoo District Supervisor Chris McCotter, who opposed adding the use, suggested that placing truck stop in the matrix was the wrong move.
“I don’t believe Louisa County is the appropriate place for a truck stop,” he said, noting that he fears permitting the use, even with the CUP requirement, could lead to multiple truck stops in the county.
Love’s proposal has sparked strong opposition from some Gum Spring residents, who’ve argued that a truck stop is ill-suited for their quiet community and would lead to dangerous roads, increased crime, light and noise pollution and harmful environmental impacts.
Several residents spoke during the public hearing with two saying they supported adding the use to the matrix and limiting it to C-2 GAOD zoning with a CUP. They said that process allows for maximum public participation.
“We want to encourage as much review by the staff, as much oversight as possible by the county, and as much public input and community meetings as possible for any truck stop including the Love’s truck stop,” Gum Spring resident Hunter Benes said.
The board took up the issue of adding truck stop to the matrix as part of a larger proposal that sought to add 13 uses to the table that are defined in code but not explicitly permitted anywhere in the county. Those uses run the gamut from truck stop to tiny home.
The planning commission recommended supervisors only add truck stop and consider the other 12 uses during a review of the 2040 Comprehensive Plan later this year. Supervisors mostly adhered to that advice, only acting on one other use: tiny home. They opted to remove the definition of the use from county code entirely.
Like truck stop, tiny home was defined in code but not included in the matrix, thus not permitted anywhere in the county unless the board granted an applicant a special exception. Also, like truck stop, the county has received an application for the use.
By removing the definition of tiny home from code, the structures are essentially allowed by-right in any zoning designation that allows residential dwellings sans a public approval process. And they’re subject to the same minimum lot size, setbacks and other local regulations imposed on larger dwellings.
Tiny homes are defined in the statewide building code as homes between 120 and 400 square feet, and the building code lays out specific standards for their construction including requiring that they’re on permanent foundations.
If someone wants to build a tiny home—a home with 120 to 400 square feet of living space—in the county, they would go through the normal building permit process for a single-family dwelling, but the structure would be subject to different building code standards.
Several supervisors worried that deleting the definition of tiny home could make it harder for residents to pursue the use. But interim County Attorney Dale Mullen said that isn’t the case.
“By voting to remove it from the definitions, you are voting to have homes of any description, so long as they fit the building code, treated identically,” Mullen.
The board voted to remove the definition of tiny home from the code and add truck stop to the matrix on a combined motion from Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams. He, Adams, Patrick Henry District Supervisor Fitzgerald Barnes, Mountain Road District Supervisor Tommy Barlow and Louisa District Supervisor Manning Woodward voted in support while McCotter and Green Springs District Supervisor Rachel Jones opposed.
Board moves Louisa 1, Patrick Henry 2 polling locations ahead of November election
Voters in the Louisa 1 and Patrick Henry 2 precincts will cast their ballots at new polling locations in the November 5 presidential election.
At the request of General Registrar Cris Watkins and the Louisa County Electoral Board, the board of supervisors voted unanimously to move the Louisa 1 polling place from its longtime home at the Louisa Volunteer Fire Department just down the street to New Life Community Church at 509 East Main Street in the Town of Louisa. The board voted to move the Patrick Henry 2 polling place from Standing on the Promises of God Church on Waldrop Church Road to Moss Nuckols Elementary School at 2055 Courthouse Road (Route 208).
Moss Nuckols is already home to the polling place for the Patrick Henry 1 precinct. While the two precincts will share a location, each will have its own election officers and voting machines.
Changes to the polling locations won’t take effect until the November election. Voters casting ballots in the Democratic or Republican primary in the 5th Congressional District on June 18 will vote at their current polling place. (Voters can also vote early at the Louisa County Office of Elections, 103 McDonald St. in the Town of Louisa, through June 15. Click here for more information).
Supervisors also voted to remove the Louisa Arts Center as a satellite early voting location. In-person early voting for this fall’s election will take place at the Office of Elections.
While neither supervisors nor county staff discussed the reasons for moving the Louisa 1 and Patrick Henry 2 polling places during the meeting, Louisa County Electoral Board Chair Eva Schatz said in an email to Engage Louisa that the Fire and EMS Department had expressed concern about the use of the fire station, noting fire trucks and rescue squads could face difficulty leaving the facility if there’s an emergency on Election Day. Schatz said the registrar and electoral board suggested moving the Patrick Henry 2 precinct because the current location lacks adequate parking and is out of the way.
Schatz said the Office of Elections would send new voter information cards to every registered voter in the impacted precincts to notify them of the change. The county will also use its social media accounts to spread the word.
With respect to removing the Louisa Arts Center as a satellite voting location for the 45-day early voting period, Schatz said a satellite is no longer needed.
The county used the arts center for early voting during the 2020 presidential election because the facility provided more space during a high-turn out cycle impacted by public health mandates related to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Office of Elections last year moved from cramped quarters in the Louisa County Office Building to a spacious new home just across the street, providing ample room to accommodate the high volume of early voting anticipated this fall.
Staff, supervisors to explore affordable housing trust fund
At the request of Patrick Henry District Supervisor Fitzgerald Barnes, the board directed staff to explore ways to chip away at the county’s affordable housing crunch including investigating the establishment of an affordable housing trust fund. Barnes and Green Springs District Supervisor Rachel Jones, who sits on the board of the Fluvanna-Louisa Housing Foundation, agreed to work with staff on the issue.
Over the last several years, Barnes has repeatedly raised concerns that cops, firefighters, teachers and other essential workers can’t find adequate housing in the county and that local government, along with nonprofits, churches and businesses, need to work together to identify ways to tackle the problem.
He reiterated that point on Monday night, telling his colleagues that housing affordability is a serious problem in Louisa and it’s not going away.
“It is getting to the point now where a lot of people cannot afford to live here. And I’m not talking about people moving here. I am talking about people that live here can’t find suitable housing,” he said.
Barnes said that Louisa should look at what other localities are doing to increase the supply of affordable housing, specifically pointing to Henrico County, where local officials recently announced plans to dedicate $60 million in tax revenue from data center development to establish an affordable housing trust fund.
Under the program, the county will take a multi-pronged approach to addressing affordable housing, issuing grants to nonprofit and for-profit entities to acquire lots for affordable dwellings, waiving building permit and utility connection fees for qualifying units and fast-tracking review and approval of developments that include affordable housing.
Barnes said that Louisa should consider the trust fund idea because its potentially a way to bring public and private sector stakeholders to the table.
“When I say a trust I mean private people, churches and local government working together to try to come up with solutions to provide affordable housing. More and more localities are starting to take that [approach],” he said, adding, “If we can come up with six new homes that are affordable, 12 new homes that are affordable, it’s starting to get a dent in [the problem].”
In the last several years, Louisa County has taken one notable step toward addressing the dearth of affordable rental units, directing $775,000 in federal funding to the Fluvanna-Louisa Housing Foundation for a 25-dwelling rental complex its building between the towns of Louisa and Mineral. When complete, the project will provide housing for income-eligible elderly and disabled residents and essential workers.
Supes recognize LCSO for accreditation
Supervisors recognized the Louisa County Sheriff’s Office for earning accreditation from the Virginia Law Enforcement Professional Standards Commission.
The commission, comprised of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police, the Virginia Sheriff’s Association and the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS), oversees an accreditation process that evaluates the department on a range of professional standards.
The accreditation program is aimed at increasing law enforcement agencies’ ability to prevent and control crime through more effective and efficient delivery of services; enhancing community understanding of law enforcement agencies and their role in the community; and raising citizen confidence in agencies’ policies and practices, according to the commission’s website.
Tina Sumpter, representing DCJS, told the board that a team of assessors visited the department in April to determine its compliance with nearly 200 professional standards. During the accreditation process, the assessors evaluated “every aspect of [the] sheriff’s office,” Sumpter said, including reviewing its training and personnel policies, conducting a ride-along with a deputy, auditing its evidence room and interviewing staff.
Sumpter said the assessors found the office in full compliance with the standards.
In completing the program, LCSO became the 110th of more than 400 law enforcement agencies in the state to earn accreditation.
Accreditation has been a hot button issue in the last two elections for Louisa County Sheriff. In 2019, when Sheriff Donnie Lowe sought his first term, his opponent made achieving accreditation a key component of his campaign.
Though Lowe didn’t face an opponent in the general election last year, he fended off an aggressive challenge from Lake Anna resident Tim Sansone for the Republican Party’s nomination. Sansone sharply criticized Lowe for LCSO’s lack of accreditation and said it was preventing the department from accessing federal grants, which could improve training and fund additional staff.
In response, Lowe said the department planned to pursue accreditation in the coming months, noting that space limitations had prevented the organization from doing so sooner.
CV editor asks board to return public notices to local paper
Mitchell Sasser, editor of The Central Virginian (CV), spoke during the meeting’s public comment period, urging the board to return state-mandated public notices to the local newspaper.
The county stopped publishing notices for public hearings and other meetings in the weekly paper last summer, instead placing them in the Richmond Times-Dispatch (RTD), which publishes daily.
Sasser said moving the notices from the CV to the Times-Dispatch represents a serious threat to the local paper—the notices are a significant source of ad revenue—and is a disservice to the community. He noted that the CV has a circulation of more than 4,000 while the RTD, owned by Iowa-based Lee Enterprises, has limited subscribers in the county.
“There have been several times during my tenure when community members were blindsided by a proposal, by a development, by a plan where they did not feel adequately notified,” Sasser said. “The decision to move these public notices from the largest local media outlet to an out-of-town mega-company causes irreparable harm to the CV. At a time when news deserts are becoming more and more commonplace, it is literally an existential threat to remove public notices from Virginia community newspapers including the CV.”
County officials have said they moved the notices due to a change in state law, effective July 1, 2023, which tightened the timeline for their publication.
The law requires the first of two public hearing notices to be published no more than 14 days prior to the hearing. Because The Central Virginian publishes on Thursdays and the Louisa County Planning Commission meets on the second Thursday of each month, officials said they were concerned they couldn’t meet the 14-day requirement. Officials also said they opted to move all the county’s notices to the RTD—as opposed to just the planning commission’s—to streamline the publication process.
Sasser said when he took the reins of the paper last December, one of the first issues brought to his attention was the county’s decision to pull the notices. He said he met with County Administrator Christian Goodwin and interim County Attorney Dale Mullen in February to better understand the county’s concerns and, in response, offered to change the paper’s distribution day to Wednesday and adjust its rate for public notices.
To date, the county hasn’t taken him up on that offer.
But a new state law takes effect July 1, which axes the 14-day notification requirement and provides localities a significantly longer period to inform the public about public hearings. In light of the new law, Sasser asked the county to bring the notices back to the paper.
Since 1912, The Central Virginian has provided coverage of local government, neighborhood events, youth and scholastic sports and other community news. For nearly a century, it was locally owned until its sale in 2008 to Morristown, Tennessee-based Lakeway Publishers, Inc. Lakeway is a privately-held media corporation that publishes about two dozen community newspapers across three states as well as magazines and specialty publications.
Board oks SMART SCALE applications for three roundabouts
With no discussion, supervisors voted unanimously to authorize staff to submit three applications for state-funded road improvements to the Virginia Department of Transportation’s SMART SCALE program.
Each application requests construction of a roundabout at a busy and accident-prone intersection including:
the intersection of James Madison Highway (Route 15) and Three Notch Road (Route 250) at Zion Crossroads
the intersection of James Madison Highway (Route 15) and Louisa Road (Route 22) at Boswells Tavern
the intersection of Three Notch Road (Route 250) and Courthouse Road (Route 208) at Ferncliff
The county has applied for funding for all three projects in the past but hasn’t been successful.
The board previously discussed the applications during an April 8 work session. Read Engage Louisa’s coverage of that meeting here.
Planning Commission to hold six public hearings
The Louisa County Planning Commission on Thursday night will convene for a pair of meetings. At 7 pm, the commission will meet for its regular monthly meeting with six public hearings on tap. At 5 pm, the panel will hold a pre-meeting work session where they’ll discuss the evening’s action items.
Commission to make recommendation on Community Development Department fee hikes
The cost of doing business with Louisa County’s Community Development Department could be going up.
The planning commission will hold a public hearing and consider whether to recommend to the board of supervisors approval of an overhaul of the department’s fee schedule. The proposed changes would mean higher costs for building inspections, land use permits, site plan reviews and other services.
According to a report to the commission from Deputy County Administrator Chris Coon, staff recommends hiking fees for a range of department services because the current fees aren’t enough to cover its costs.
“The current fee schedule does not adequately cover the department's operational costs. There remains a significant funding gap despite savings from vacant positions and excluding vehicle maintenance and fuel costs,” Coon said “This gap necessitates a reliance on general tax revenue to subsidize the department, placing an unfair burden on taxpayers who may not directly utilize its services.”
In Fiscal Year 2023, Coon said, department expenses totaled $1,395,757.87, but fees generated just $1,201,687.72, resulting in a $194,070.15 funding gap. For the current fiscal year, which wraps up June 30, expenses total $1,351,979.54 with fees offsetting $1,210,173.01 of those costs, leaving a $141,806.53 deficit.
Coon noted that the department has had several vacant staff positions. When its fully staffed, its expenses will be higher.
The recommended revisions adjust fees for services that are currently underpriced, Coon said.
According to the proposed fee schedule, the cost to obtain a building permit for a single-family dwelling or addition would jump 400 percent, from a minimum of $300 to a minimum of $1,500. The cost to apply for a conditional use permit would increase some 233 percent, from $750 to $2,500. The cost to apply for a rezoning would soar 150 percent, from $1,000 to $2,500 plus $25 per acre. Fees for a range of inspections, mandated by the state building code, as well as for other services would also rise.
The board of supervisors last overhauled the fee schedule in 2022, citing the department’s growing workload and longstanding goal of generating enough revenue to cover its expenses.
Commission to make recommendation on future of TOD
Commissioners will hold a public hearing and consider whether to recommend that the board of supervisors slash the size of the county’s Technology Overlay District (TOD) from about 6,400 acres across six assemblages to less than 2,900, encompassing just three.
The proposal comes at the recommendation of the board’s TOD committee, which includes Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams and Green Springs District Supervisor Rachel Jones.
Supervisors adopted the TOD barely a year ago with an eye toward attracting lucrative tech sector development. The district, which currently covers six parcel groups in eastern and central Louisa County, allows data centers and other high-tech uses by-right, which means they don’t require a public approval process.
Just a few months after establishing the TOD, Louisa County announced a deal with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to build two data center campuses in the district. The company plans to invest at least $11 billion in the facilities by 2040.
One of the campuses is slated for 150 acres at the corner of Kentucky Springs Road and Haley Drive adjacent to the North Anna Nuclear Power Station. The other is planned for parts of 1,444 acres south off Route 33 and east of Mount Airy Road near the Northeast Creek Reservoir.
With that deal in hand, the TOD committee recommended that the board roll back the district, a move apparently aimed at quieting concerns that tech sector development could mar the county’s rural character.
Under the committee’s proposal, three of the six assemblages currently included in the district would be removed. Those include the Gum Spring TOD, more than 1,300 acres just north of Interstate 64 in southeastern Louisa; the Fisher Chewning TOD, nearly 1,400 acres between Routes 33 and 22 north of the reservoir; and the Shannon Hill TOD, comprised of the 700-acre Shannon Hill Regional Business Park.
The park is already zoned for industrial use while the assemblage north of the reservoir is slated for a 150 megawatt (MW) utility-scale solar facility under a conditional use permit green-lit by the board in 2020.
The AWS campuses would remain in the TOD as would the Cooke Rail Park, a 1234-acre parcel group north of Route 22 and west of Chopping Road. In 2022, the board approved a CUP for an up to 118 MW solar facility and 50 MW battery storage bank on the site.
While the rail park would stay in the district, any uses allowed in the TOD but not permitted in the park’s underlying agricultural or industrial zoning would require a CUP.
While Fisher Chewning and the rail park have been approved for solar, construction hasn't begun on either project.
In a memo to the commission, Deputy County Administrator Chris Coon said staff talked with property owners whose land could be removed from the district. Coon said that Fisher Chewning, LC, which owns the roughly 1400-acre tract known by the same name, and Duke I, LC, which owns roughly 200 acres in the Gum Spring TOD, requested the properties stay in the district. Both entities are owned by former Louisa District Supervisor Eric Purcell and his father, Charles.
Commission to consider renewal of CUP for NAPS spent fuel installation
The commission will hold a public hearing and consider whether to recommend that the board of supervisors renew a conditional use permit (CUP) that allows Dominion’s North Anna Power Station to store highly radioactive nuclear waste on a 95.5-acre site (parts of tmp 30-91 and 30-90) on the shores of Lake Anna. The permit, first granted in 1996, requires review and renewal by the board every seven years.
According to staff’s report, the CUP permits North Anna to store spent nuclear fuel in an Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) including three pad sites. The ability to store the fuel on site is necessary for the plant’s continued operation.
In a project narrative submitted by Dominion, the company reiterates that the fuel storage system is necessary to support its twin Westinghouse reactors, which together produce about 1.8 gigawatts (GW) of carbon-free power for the grid.
Dominion says it plans to continue to store high-level nuclear waste on site until the federal government develops an interim or permanent depository for the material and the facility agrees to accept waste from the plant. The federal government has pursued both interim and permanent depositories for years but has so far been unsuccessful in developing either facility.
Staff recommends approval of the CUP with several small revisions to its 15 conditions. The conditions mandate that North Anna continue to monitor groundwater near the installation, not accept any nuclear waste generated off site and remove its high-level waste if and when an interim or permanent depository agrees to accept material from North Anna, among other provisions.
PC to consider CUP for emergency communication tower
Commissioners will hold a public hearing and consider whether to recommend that the board of supervisors approve a conditional use permit for an emergency communication tower, designated for civic use, in Holly Grove. The commission is also tasked with determining if the use is in substantial conformance with the 2040 Comprehensive Plan.
Louisa County is requesting the permit to construct a 195-foot wireless communication tower with a four-foot antenna on a two-acre parcel (tmp 98-96) on the east side of Factory Mill Road (Route 635) immediately south of its intersection with Holly Grove Drive (Route 610) in the Mountain Road Election District. The parcel is owned by the Holly Grove Volunteer Fire Department.
County officials have said the tower is necessary to improve emergency communications in the southeastern portion of the county where first responders struggle with connectivity.
Staff recommends approval of the CUP with 14 conditions including that the tower and its antenna not exceed 199 feet and any ground equipment be shielded from pedestrian view. The conditions also require any lighting around the tower to comply with dark-sky standards and the structure to be grey or another neutral color acceptable to the director of community development.
Commission to hold two public hearings on AFDs
The planning commission will hold a pair of public hearings related to agricultural/forestal districts (AFD). AFDs are a conservation tool that allow landowners to voluntarily prohibit development on their property. They require review and renewal by the board of supervisors every 10 years.
In the first public hearing, commissioners will consider whether to recommend that supervisors approve William Coleman’s request to remove from the Gold Mine Creek AFD 10 acres of a 75-acre parcel (tmp 15-28) on the west side of Daniel Road (687), north of Mansfield Road (Route 613).
Coleman requested the land’s removal so he could complete a division to his son, according to staff’s report. Under AFD regulations, participants are allowed to subdivide property under the county’s family subdivision rules but not otherwise. The Colemans don’t plan to divide the property as a family division, necessitating early removal from the AFD.
The Ag/Forestal and Rural Preservation Committee recommended approval of the request, noting the Colemans own most of the property in the Gold Mine Creek AFD and intend to continue farming the parcel.
In the second public hearing, the commission will consider whether to recommend that supervisors remove the Inez AFD in southeastern Louisa County.
During the renewal process, property owners requested the removal of five of the district’s eight parcels, leaving it short of the 200 core acres required for an AFD under state code, per staff’s report.
Water Authority to consider rate hike
For the second year in a row, water and sewer rates could be going up for Louisa County Water Authority (LCWA) customers.
LCWA’s board of directors on Wednesday (June 12) will hold a public hearing and vote on whether to raise residential and wholesale water and sewer rates as much as 24 percent for Fiscal Year 2025, which starts July 1. The authority’s last rate increase came just a year ago when the board hiked rates about 15 percent.
This year, LCWA proposes a $5.55 hike in the monthly base rate for residential water consumption, from $23.13 to $28.68, and a $8.22 hike in the base rate for sewer use, from $34.23 to $42.45. The base rate applies to water and sewer use up to 3,000 gallons per month.
Beyond that threshold, water rates would jump $1.85 for every 1,000 gallons used, rising from $7.71 to $9.56. Sewer rates would increase $2.74 per 1,000 gallons, jumping from $11.41 to $14.15.
A residential customer that falls at or below the 3,000-gallon usage threshold would see their monthly bill rise from $63.36 to $77.13 including LCWA’s $6 monthly administrative fee. The bill for a household that uses 4,000 gallons of water and sewer service a month would increase about 19 dollars.
Wholesale water rates would rise $1.43 for 1,000 gallons, increasing from $5.99 to $7.42. Wholesale rates apply to customers who source at least 4.25 million gallons of water from the authority each month.
In a letter to customers, LCWA board chair Judson Foster said that the authority determined a rate increase could be necessary to ensure it continues to run compliant water and wastewater systems in the face of mounting regulations. He pointed to a federal requirement that LCWA inventory all lead pipes in its system and noted that the authority is testing for PFAs, also known as “forever chemicals,” ahead of regulations currently being formulated.
Foster also said that the water and wastewater industry has encountered significant inflation, translating into increased costs for treatment chemicals and supplies. In addition, the authority is adjusting compensation for employees to ensure its treatment plants are adequately staffed.
“At a small utility with between 1,100-1,200 customers, these fixed expenses do not spread as far as they would with a larger customer base,” Foster said.
The increase would directly affect customers billed by LCWA for water or sewer service. The authority draws water from the Northeast Creek Reservoir for customers in central Louisa County, public wells near Zion Crossroads for customers on the county’s southwestern edge and a public well adjacent to Lake Anna Plaza for lake area customers.
It provides sewer service via a regional wastewater treatment plant outside the Town of Louisa, the Zion Crossroads Wastewater Treatment Plant and the New Bridge Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The Town of Louisa buys water from LCWA at the wholesale rate then sells that water to its residents. Town residents’ rates are set by the Louisa Town Council.
The Town of Mineral buys some of its water from the authority but doesn’t qualify for a wholesale discount because it doesn’t meet the usage threshold, according to LCWA General Manager Pam Baughman. Residents who receive public utility service from Mineral’s system are subject to rates set by the Mineral Town Council.
Residents can weigh in on the proposed rate increase during Wednesday’s public hearing, which is scheduled for 6:30 pm in the public meeting room at the Louisa County Office Building.
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