Supervisors to hold five public hearings; Board hires Louisa native as county attorney; HAB advisory issued for part of Lake Anna; VDH closes lake-related E. coli investigation
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, July 1 through July 6
For the latest information on county meetings including public meetings of boards, commissions, authorities, work groups, and internal county committees, click here. (Note: Louisa County occasionally schedules internal committee/work group meetings after publication time. Check the county’s website for the most updated information).
Monday, July 1
Louisa County Board of Supervisors, Public Meeting Room, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 6 pm. (agenda packet, livestream) The board will convene in closed session at 5 pm.
Wednesday, July 3
James River Water Authority, Fluvanna County Administration Building, 132 Main St., Palmyra, 9 am. At publication time, a meeting agenda wasn’t publicly available.
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 to consider shrinking TOD, hold four other public hearings
The Louisa County Board of Supervisors on Monday night will convene for its lone July meeting with a busy agenda, including five public hearings, on tap. Check out a meeting preview below.
Board to consider shrinking Technology Overlay District
When the Louisa County Board of Supervisors established a roughly 6,400-acre Technology Overlay District (TOD) 15 months ago, board members said they hoped it would help the county attract lucrative tech sector developers to bulk up the tax base and create jobs.
The special zoning designation, which encompasses more than 100 parcels in six assemblages in parts of central and eastern Louisa County, allows data centers and other hi-tech uses by-right, meaning they don’t require a public approval process. The district’s rules lay out a range of development standards for the uses, mandating specific buffer and landscaping requirements, among other restrictions.
Just four months after adopting the TOD, the board announced that Amazon Web Services plans to invest at least $11 billion to build two data center campuses in the district by 2040. One of the facilities, dubbed the Lake Anna Technology Campus, is slated for 150 acres adjacent to the North Anna Power Station. The other, called the North Creek Technology Campus, is planned for parts of a 1,444-acre assemblage south of Route 33 and east of Mt. Airy Road near the Northeast Creek Reservoir. At full buildout, the campuses are expected to generate millions of dollars in local tax revenue annually and create dozens of jobs.
Now the board’s TOD committee, comprised of Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams and Green Springs District Supervisor Rachel Jones, says it’s time to slash the size of the district and make other changes.
“We feel like we’ve been fishing. We caught an ample supply of fish, and it’s now time to release some of the nets,” Williams said at the board’s April 8 meeting.
While the committee has made limited public comments about its recommendation, the proposal is apparently aimed at quieting concerns that widespread tech sector development would mar the county’s rural character.
As the board created the TOD last year and subsequently announced its deal with AWS, some residents complained that data centers aren’t a suitable use for the area. They’ve said that the hulking, warehouse-like facilities, which house the infrastructure that keeps the internet running, would overwhelm local infrastructure—including straining the power grid and water supply—and bring unwanted traffic and noise.
Supervisors on Monday night will hold a public hearing and consider shrinking the district to less than 2,900 acres, meaning more than half of the acreage currently included would no longer be targeted for data centers.
Under the proposal, the county would remove three of the TOD’s assemblages: 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 (CUP) green-lit by the board in 2020.
The AWS campuses would remain in the TOD as would the Cooke Rail Park, a 1,234-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 Fisher Chewning and the rail park have been approved for solar, construction hasn't started on either project.
The TOD would be altered in one other significant way, per the proposal. Any uses permitted in the district but not allowed by the property’s underlying zoning would require a conditional use permit instead of being permitted by-right.
While that provision would apply to the three remaining assemblages—the rail park and the Lake Anna and North Creek campuses—Amazon wouldn’t need a CUP for its projects because they’re already underway, according to county staff. But if the AWS deal fell through and another user wanted to develop data centers on the campuses, they’d be subject to the county’s new rules assuming they’re adopted as proposed.
The planning commission, at its June meeting, recommended approval of the proposal with one significant tweak. The commission suggested that the CUP requirement apply to both permitted uses, like data centers, and accessory uses.
Under the committee’s initial proposal, the 11 accessory uses explicitly allowed in the district are permitted by-right if the applicant has obtained a CUP for the primary use. Those uses include everything from water and sewage treatment plants to food service facilities and parking structures.
“Each one of those [accessory uses] could have a different impact on public services, which we are trying to evaluate when somebody puts a CUP in,” Cuckoo District Commissioner George Goodwin said of the reason for the change. “When you put in a CUP for [a permitted use], you’ve got to specify which of these ancillary uses you plan to take advantage of. So, when we look at the CUP, we’re looking at it in totality and not handing [the applicant] a blank check for the rest of this stuff.”
Goodwin also asked why the TOD committee recommended removing the Shannon Hill site. The county has invested millions of dollars developing the property as an industrial park with the goal of one day hosting distribution centers, advanced manufacturing or other large-scale industry.
Deputy County Administrator Chris Coon said the park already has land use permits in place that allow the uses county officials envision for the area, so there’s no advantage to leaving it in the district.
With respect to the two other assemblages proposed for removal, Coon said that Fisher Chewning, LC, which owns the roughly 1,400-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.
But the commission dismissed that request with its 6-1 vote to adhere to the TOD committee’s recommendation to ax all three assemblages.
Louisa District Commissioner Matt Kersey was the only member to vote against the proposal. Kersey, who joined the commission in January after the TOD’s adoption, said he didn’t like the idea of the district from the start, but the county had made its decision, and it should live with it.
“We’re batting gnats now. We’ve already done it,” Kersey said.
Supes to consider renewal of CUP for North Anna spent fuel installation
Supervisors will hold a public hearing and consider renewing 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.
The CUP permits North Anna to store spent nuclear fuel in an Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI), which covers approximately three acres. A previous version of the permit allowed storage in two pad sites. Dominion has since completed construction of a third pad, which has been added to one of the proposed CUP’s conditions.
Dominion representative Sarah Marshall told the planning commission in June that renewing the CUP is necessary for the plant’s continued operation. Without it, she said, the company would be forced to shutter its twin Westinghouse reactors, which provide about 1.8 gigawatt (GW) of carbon-free power to the grid—enough electricity to keep the lights in about 450,000 homes.
Marshall said that Dominion plans to store high-level nuclear waste on site until the federal government or a private entity establishes a permanent or interim depository, and the facility agrees to accept waste from the plant.
The US Department of Energy has been searching for a storage site for decades but has been stymied by a range of factors. Marshall noted that earlier this year federal officials took “the first procedural steps” toward establishing an interim facility while two privately-owned depositories have been approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission but haven’t been constructed.
Marshall said that the third pad site would provide the plant enough space to store waste through 2038 and 2040 when the license for each reactor expires. Dominion is currently applying for a Subsequent License Renewal to run the reactors through 2058 and 2060, Marshall said, which would require an expansion of the ISFSI.
The planning commission recommended renewal of the CUP with several small revisions to its 15 conditions including adding the third pad site. The conditions also 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 when an interim or permanent depository agrees to accept material from the plant, among other provisions.
In addition, the commission recommended that the board “take an official position” to the county’s representatives in Washington “on the issue of interim and [permanent] storage.”
Board to consider CUP for emergency communications tower in Holly Grove
Supervisors are expected to take a step toward improving emergency communications in the Holly Grove area.
The board will hold a public hearing and consider approval of Louisa County’s request for a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) to construct a 195-foot wireless communication tower, topped 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.
The CUP is also required because the tower is designated as a civic use. In addition, the board is tasked with determining if the use is in substantial conformance with the 2040 Comprehensive Plan.
County officials say the tower is necessary to improve emergency communication in the county’s southeastern corner where first responders often struggle with connectivity.
The county received a $1 million federal grant to pay for the project. The money was awarded at the request of 7th District Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (D-Henrico), who represented the county through 2022.
The planning commission, at its June meeting, recommended 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.
Supes to hold two public hearings on AFDs
Supervisors will hold a pair of public hearings focused on agricultural and forestal districts (AFDs), a conservation tool that allows landowners to voluntarily prohibit development on their property. The districts require review and renewal by the board of supervisors every 10 years.
In the first public hearing, supervisors will consider whether to 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 his son can build a home on the property. Per AFD regulations, participants are allowed to subdivide property under the county’s family subdivision rules but not otherwise. According to state code, property owners are permitted to give only one parcel to each qualifying family member per county during their lifetime.
Coleman told the planning commission at its June meeting that he didn’t want to divide the property under the family subdivision ordinance and instead preferred to use one of its by-right divisions, necessitating early removal from the AFD.
“The main purpose of this [is] I’m trying to save the family division and use a division right of the property,” Coleman said. “In this day and time, you don’t know what may happen down the road or what changes may take place. That’s the sole purpose of why I want to save his family division for just an emergency.”
The planning commission voted unanimously to recommend that the board approve Coleman’s request. The Ag/Forestal and Rural Preservation Committee also recommended approval. The committee noted that the Colemans own most of the land in the Gold Mine Creek AFD and plan to keep farming much of the parcel.
In the second public hearing, supervisors will consider not renewing the Inez AFD in southeastern Louisa County and removing the district from county code.
During the district’s renewal process, property owners requested the removal of five of its eight parcels, leaving it short of the 200 core acres required for an AFD under state code.
Board to discuss amendments to Growth Area Overlay District buffer and landscaping standards
Supervisors will discuss potentially amending buffer and landscaping standards for “commercial and civic uses; multifamily dwellings” in the county’s Growth Area Overlay Districts.
In a memo, Deputy County Administrator Chris Coon presents the board with two amendment options, which would essentially allow staff to administratively waive or alter planting requirements for the use “provided the project meets the intent of the requirements.”
“This is an administrative question that has come up several times since adoption of these regulations in February 2021,” Coon writes. “Most recently, this matter has been discussed during review of a civic project, where staff was unable to administratively approve any alternative planting options.”
Board to discuss construction contract for turf field
Supervisors will discuss a contract for construction of a turf field adjacent to Louisa County Middle School, according to the meeting agenda. The meeting materials don’t include any additional information about the item.
As part of its FY24 capital budget, the board allotted $3.4 million to build two turf fields on the high school/middle school campus. Parks and Recreation Director James Smith requested the appropriation, noting that the county lacks adequate playing fields for youth sports like football and soccer.
When complete, the fields will provide an all-weather playing surface for both youth and scholastic sports.
Supes hire Louisa native as county attorney
A Louisa native is coming home to fill a key role in county government.
Louisa County announced in a press release on Friday that the board of supervisors has named Patricia Smith as county attorney. Supervisors will formally appoint Smith to the position at their Monday, July 1 meeting, per the meeting agenda.
Born and raised in Louisa County, Smith holds a law degree from the University of Virginia. She brings varied and extensive legal experience to the job, having spent nearly 30 years practicing law, mostly in Texas.
During her career, Smith has handled environmental litigation and government contracts, and performed legal work for various businesses, “provid[ing] her a well-rounded perspective in approaching complex issues,” according to the release.
“Ultimately, Ms. Smith met the needs of the Board from both a qualification perspective as well as in her objective approach to law which often includes considering second opinions on complicated issues. Her background in practicing law is varied among several industries and we believe her experience will bring new viewpoints to the Louisa County team,” Louisa County Board of Supervisors Chair Duane Adams said in an email to Engage Louisa.
In her role as county attorney, Smith will advise the board of supervisors, other boards and committees and county staff on land use and zoning issues, ordinance language and county policies. She’ll also craft public contracts and other legal agreements, handle litigation and act as the board’s parliamentarian, among other duties.
The board’s decision to hire Smith comes after a seven-month search. Adams said the county received interest from “a number of qualified applicants” during the process “with many going through two rounds of interviews.”
“Finding the right person for the position of County Attorney was something the Board knew we couldn’t rush, so we took our time in making this decision,” he said.
Since November, the county attorney’s office has been run by interim County Attorney Dale Mullen and his firm, Whiteford, Taylor & Preston. Supervisors hired Mullen after former County Attorney Helen Phillips left the position in mid-October. County officials have declined to comment on the circumstances surrounding Phillips’ departure.
As for Smith, she’ll join a close relative on county staff. Her brother, James, heads Louisa’s Parks and Recreation Department.
News of note: HAB is back at Lake Anna; VDH closes lake-related STEC investigation
Here’s a quick look at some significant Lake Anna-related news with links to other news outlets’ coverage.
HAB is back at Lake Anna
For the seventh consecutive year, Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB) have disrupted the height of summer tourism season at Lake Anna.
The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) on June 21 issued a swimming advisory for the lake’s Upper North Anna branch in Louisa County after testing found high concentrations of cyanobacteria that can be detrimental to human health and harmful to wildlife and pets.
The area under the advisory stretches from the upper inundated waters of the North Anna arm, including the “Sandbar,” downstream to the Route 522 bridge.
The public is advised to avoid direct contact with this area of the lake until algae concentrations return to acceptable levels. The advisory warns people and pets to avoid activities that may involve ingesting water like swimming, windsurfing and stand-up paddle boarding. In humans, cyanobacteria can cause skin rash and gastrointestinal illness including nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
Tests conducted on June 17 found unsafe levels of cyanobacteria at one test site. Cyanobacteria can also produce toxins and one cyanotoxin was detected at the Upper North Anna and Pamunkey branch testing locations. Both were below levels of health concern, per VDH.
The next round of monitoring is scheduled for the week of July 15, weather permitting.
According to VDH, the blooms are unrelated to the outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) that recently impacted the Lake Anna area, as that pathogen is not associated with HAB. (See below for more information).
While the advisory is the first HAB warning for Lake Anna this summer, the blooms have prompted VDH to issue “no swim” advisories for parts of the lake’s upper reaches every summer since 2018. In 2022, the advisories reached as far south as the Route 208 bridge and, for several weeks, encompassed the main beach at Lake Anna State Park.
The persistence of the blooms has alarmed local and state officials and, in August 2022, prompted the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to place the lake on its list of impaired waterways.
The state has pitched in funding for both a three-year lake-specific HAB study, spearheaded by DEQ, and near-term mitigation and remediation efforts, led by the Lake Anna Advisory Committee (LAAC). The committee is an inter-jurisdictional panel comprised of elected officials and citizens representatives from Louisa, Spotsylvania and Orange counties, the three localities home to Lake Anna shoreline.
The former study was launched last year and funded by a $3.5 million appropriation earmarked to investigate HAB in both Lake Anna and the Shenandoah River while the latter project is just getting underway thanks to a $1 million allocation green-lit by the General Assembly last September.
While the exact cause of HAB at Lake Anna is complex, the blooms’ growth is generally attributed to excess nutrients—namely phosphorus—in warm, stagnant water. LAAC’s mitigation and remediation project aims to reduce phosphorus in both the North Anna branch and Terry’s Run, another up-lake tributary that’s been repeatedly impacted by the blooms.
Read VDH’s press release about the HAB advisory here. Read Lake Anna Life & Times’ coverage of LAAC’s Lake Anna Cyanobacteria Mitigation and Remediation Program (LACMRP) here and here. Read about the DEQ study here and here.
VDH closes lake-related STEC investigation
In other Lake Anna-related news, the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) announced on Friday (June 28) that it’s closing an investigation into an outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) that recently caused gastrointestinal illness among some lake visitors.
Most of the people involved in the outbreak were in the Lake Anna area over Memorial Day weekend, May 24–27. A total of 25 STEC cases were identified, per VDH. Of those, 23 were in people who visited the lake and two were in people who had close contact with someone with STEC. Twelve of the cases were caused by STEC O157, the most common type of STEC.
VDH said that while it’s likely the STEC outbreak was a result of exposure to the lake’s water over Memorial Day weekend, the department has not yet been able to confirm the presence of STEC O157 bacteria in water samples though laboratory testing is ongoing.
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) collected water samples from Lake Anna, including near the Sandbar, Cocktail Cove and Lake Anna State Park, for three consecutive weeks in June and fecal bacteria counts were below levels of public health concern. For the most recent samples, collected on June 25, the state lab used a different test to look for specific strains of STEC. Results of those tests are pending.
The department said that it’s “unlikely {it} will be able to specifically identify the source of bacteria in the water.” Potential sources that could impact the lake include environmental pollution from heavy rains, livestock, failing septic systems, boating discharge and swimmers.
VDH is closing the investigation because it hasn’t identified any new confirmed or probable cases of STEC among people who visited Lake Anna on or after Memorial Day weekend and, at this point, it doesn’t expect to find new cases associated with the Memorial Day weekend exposure.
The department will conduct enhanced surveillance for STEC through July 17 and continue to monitor and investigate any STEC reports it receives.
DEQ conducts routine monthly water quality monitoring on Lake Anna from April to October. The testing includes looking for fecal indicator bacteria, specifically E. coli.
STEC is a toxin-producing form of E. coli, bacteria that normally lives in the intestines of humans and animals, such as cows.
STEC infections typically cause stomach cramps and diarrhea (often watery or bloody), and symptoms can also include vomiting, fever and chills. In severe cases, the infection can damage organs, especially kidneys.
Most of the STEC cases identified around Lake Anna involved children with at least five children requiring hospitalization, according to a previous report from VDH.
Check out VDH’s latest update here. Read the Washington Post’s most recent coverage of the outbreak 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.
Click here for minutes and agendas for School Board meetings. Click here for archived video.
Click here to access past editions of Engage Louisa.
Thank you!
Another excellent newsletter, Tammy! You're great at capturing both the essence and details of the Board's work. We really appreciate your clear and unbiased reporting. Keep up the good work!