Supes allocate $250k to fight VL transmission line; PC to consider Comp Plan addendum, code changes related to transmission projects; LCPS-owned plot recommended as site for new elementary school
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, May 11 through May 16
For the latest information on county meetings, including public meetings of boards, commissions, authorities, work groups, and internal county committees, click here.
Wednesday, May 13
James River Water Authority, virtual meeting, 9 am. At publication time, neither an agenda nor link to watch the meeting were publicly available.
Louisa County Water Authority, 23 Loudin Lane, Louisa, 6 pm. At publication time, an agenda wasn’t publicly available.
Thursday, May 14
Louisa County Planning Commission, long-range planning work session, Public Meeting Room, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 5 pm. (agenda packet, livestream)
Louisa County Planning Commission, Public Meeting Room, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 7 pm. (agenda packet, livestream)
Other meetings/events
Monday, May 11
Mineral Town Council, Mineral Town Hall, 312 Mineral Ave., Mineral, 6:30 pm. (agenda packet)
Tuesday, May 12
Louisa Town Council, budget work session, Louisa Town Hall, 212 Fredericksburg Ave., Louisa. 6 pm. (agenda)
Quote of the week
“I want to assure our citizens that Louisa County will continue to protect its residents at every level…This board hears our citizens. This board understands what our citizens are saying, and this board is committed to working with our citizens in regard to Valley Link.”
-Louisa County Board of Supervisors Chair Duane Adams on the county’s efforts to oppose Valley Link’s proposed Joshua Falls to Yeat transmission line. The board at its May 4 meeting appropriated $250,000 to cover potential legal expenses related to the project. Read more in the articles below.
Supes allocate $250k to fight proposed Valley Link transmission line; Board expands tax relief program for elderly, disabled
The Louisa County Board of Supervisors at its Monday, May 4 meeting ramped up its opposition to the proposed Joshua Falls to Yeat transmission line, expanded a real estate tax relief program benefiting income-eligible elderly and disabled residents, cleared the way for a farmers’ market at Zion Crossroads and more. (meeting materials, video)
Supervisors allocate $250k to fight Joshua Falls to Yeat transmission line
The Louisa County Board of Supervisors on Monday night stepped up its efforts to oppose a controversial ultra-high voltage power line that could slice through the center of the county, appropriating $250,000 to cover potential legal expenses related to the project.
“We are listening. We are working. We are taking action. We are being collaborative. We are doing the things that I think we need to do to make sure that we can have an impact on this project that reflects the concerns of our citizens,” Board Chair and Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams said before voting to approve the funding.
Valley Link Transmission Company, a partnership between Dominion Energy, First Energy Transmission and Transource, has proposed the 115-mile, 765-kilovolt (kV) transmission line that, if approved by state regulators, would cross as many as nine mostly rural counties as it travels from the Joshua Falls substation near Lynchburg to the proposed Yeat substation in southeastern Culpeper.
The line, which would carry electricity generated in the Ohio River Valley to power-hungry users in Northern and Central Virginia, is the biggest ever proposed for construction in Dominion territory. It would require a 200-foot cleared right-of-way along its path and poles as tall as 160 feet every quarter mile.
Dominion has said the line is necessary to meet the growing demand for electricity in the region—driven largely by data centers in Northern Virginia—and to stabilize the grid.
Valley Link has proposed two preliminary corridors and several potential variations that cut through farms and forestland and pass just a few hundred feet from some homes, traversing Louisa for about 20 miles. The company has said it plans to submit a single preferred route to the State Corporation Commission (SCC) for approval by September. It hopes to energize the $1 billion project by 2029.
The proposal has sparked widespread opposition across the nine potentially impacted counties—Louisa, Orange, Culpeper, Spotsylvania, Fluvanna, Goochland, Buckingham, Appomattox and Campbell—with some residents framing it as an assault on rural Virginia that mostly benefits data center development to the north.
Most of the localities have vowed to fight the project with some, including Louisa, signaling they plan to take a regional approach. The board’s appropriation follows a quarter million-dollar allocation by the Goochland County Board of Supervisors last month. Adams said he expects several other localities to make similar appropriations in the weeks to come as regional collaboration ramps up.
“The vast majority [of potentially impacted counties] are taking a regional approach. We think we are stronger working as a collaborative group than we are individually,” he said, noting that Louisa hosted a summit of county leaders from across the region last month to strategize about fighting the project.
The SCC is expected to evaluate the proposal for about a year before deciding whether to approve it and selecting a final route. During that process, impacted localities, landowners and other stakeholders will have multiple opportunities to weigh in.
In a significant sign of regional cooperation, Louisa, Fluvanna, Orange, Goochland and Culpeper jointly filed a Motion to Intervene and Protest in a case pending before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that could bolster Valley Link’s justification for the line.
PJM, the regional transmission organization that oversees the grid in much of the eastern United States, has asked the commission to allow it to fast-track approval of up to 10 large power plants a year through 2027 as utilities race to meet burgeoning demand.
Adams said the joint filing does two things: seeks to make the five counties parties to the case so they have a “seat at the table and the right to be heard” and identifies three gaps in PJM’s proposed “Expedited Interconnection Track,” the program that aims to shrink the time it takes to approve the power plants from about four years to just 10 months.
“We are asking FERC to make three fixes before approving the program: recognize Virginia counties as siting authorities where state law gives us that role; require developers to notify and give host localities 30 days to comment before their applications are deemed complete; and require PJM to publish, after each annual application window, a summary of where the new generation is being proposed and what transmission it will require,” Adams said.
Adams noted that the filing doesn’t challenge any specific transmission project or power plant. He reiterated that the power to approve transmission lines and routes remains with the SCC and, with respect to the Joshua Falls to Yeat project, the county plans to fully participate in that process.
“I want to assure our citizens that Louisa County will continue to protect its residents at every level — local, state, and federal,” Adams said. “This board hears our citizens. This board understands what our citizens are saying, and this board is committed to working with our citizens in regard to Valley Link.”
Other transmission infrastructure proposed for Louisa County
While Valley Link’s Joshua Falls to Yeat line is grabbing most of the headlines, it’s not the only transmission infrastructure proposed for the county. Two other projects are also in the works with both connecting to Dominion’s North Anna substation at the North Anna Nuclear Power Station.
Dominion’s proposed North Anna to Bristers project is a new 500-kV line with an additional 230-kV circuit that would primarily be constructed in existing right-of-way. The 70-mile line would start at North Anna, immediately crossing Lake Anna into Spotsylvania County. The line would connect to the proposed Thornburg substation, a Valley Link project, in Caroline County before heading north into Stafford and ending at the Bristers substation in Fauquier.
Dominion says on its website that though the 230-kV circuit would be constructed as part of the project, it wouldn’t be “energized at this time, allowing the line to support future energy needs while minimizing the need for additional construction later.”
“This investment strengthens the grid, supports Virginia’s energy security, and ensures reliable power for your community,” the company says of the project.
Dominion is also proposing to rebuild a 500-kV line that cuts through eastern Louisa, entering the county near Holly Grove and crossing the lake twice before reaching North Anna. Dominion plans to reconstruct the line, dubbed the Carson-Midlothian-North Anna project, within existing right-of-way.
On its website, the company says the line is approaching the end of its service life and “must be rebuilt to accommodate increased generation supply and customer needs.”
All three projects require approval from the SCC.
Learn more about the proposed Joshua Falls to Yeat project here. Learn more about the North Anna to Bristers project here. Learn more about the Carson-Midlothian-North Anna project here.
Board broadens tax relief program for elderly, disabled
The board of supervisors on Monday night voted unanimously to broaden a tax relief program for elderly and disabled residents, upping the income thresholds that determine eligibility and how much relief residents qualify for.
The program provides real estate tax relief to totally disabled residents and residents 65 years old and over who meet certain income and net worth requirements, discounting participants’ tax bills between 45 and 100 percent based on a sliding scale. It caps the amount of annual tax relief at $3,000 per participant.
With the approved changes, the program is now open to elderly and disabled residents whose total household income doesn’t exceed $55,000—up from $50,000—and whose net worth, excluding their home and 10 acres, doesn’t exceed $200,000.
The changes also impact the sliding scale, raising by 10 percent the income thresholds that determine the amount of tax relief participants get. For example, residents with a household income of up to $19,800—up from $18,000—and with a net worth up to $70,000 are eligible for an up to 100 percent exemption. At the other end of the scale, residents who make between $44,001 and $55,000 a year—up from between $40,001 and $50,000—and whose net worth is between $150,001 and $200,000 are eligible for an up to 45 percent tax break.
The changes are designed to ease the pain of rising taxes on some of the county’s most vulnerable residents. Though the board of supervisors hasn’t raised the real estate tax rate in about a decade, many residents have seen their tax bills soar due to an uptick in assessments. The assessed value of real estate, excluding new construction and improvements, rose an average of 6.88 percent this year.
Commissioner of the Revenue Stacey Fletcher told the board that nine residents recently applied for the program with incomes that slightly exceed the $50,000 threshold and her office plans to reach out to them to let them know about the change. The commissioner’s office has also extended the deadline to apply from May 1 to June 1.
“We are going to work as hard as we can in the next month to get the word out there to capture as many people as we can,” Fletcher said, noting that her office will be at the Commission on Aging’s picnic on May 14 to sign people up.
Fletcher said in an email to Engage Louisa that 461 applicants participated in the program in 2025, saving more than $770,000 in real estate taxes.
Susan Fletcher, a member of the Commission on Aging, was the only community member to speak during the public hearing. Fletcher thanked the board for broadening the program, emphasizing its importance to seniors. She also said the commission has a committee investigating ways to improve the program, drawing on what’s done in other localities.
“Anything we can do to help seniors stay in their homes and afford their real estate taxes in the county, we really want to do that,” Fletcher said.
To learn more about the real estate tax relief program, click here or call the commissioner’s office at 540-967-3432.
Supes green-light CUP for farmers’ market at Zion Crossroads
A farmers’ market is coming to Zion Crossroads.
Supervisors voted 7-0 to approve Zion United Methodist Church’s request for a conditional use permit (CUP) to host a year-round farmers’ market in the church’s parking lot at 1674 Zion Road in the Green Springs Election District. The 5.68-acre parcel is zoned agricultural and straddles the boundary of the Zion Crossroads Growth Area Overlay District.
Pastor David McWilliams told the board that the church hopes to increase the community’s access to fresh produce and support local farmers, while also providing a space that builds community.
“The basic idea here is to have a farmers’ market. The motive behind it is to create a third place for the community, a place where people can gather and get to know one another, develop relationships,” McWilliams said. “In addition to having the traditional idea of walking around and having an opportunity to buy things, two big features that we are working on is making sure that the playgrounds are open and having opportunities to have a food truck available--things that would encourage people to stay around longer and potentially get to know someone new.”
According to a set of “Guiding Procedures” proposed by the church, the market will operate only on Saturdays, opening no earlier than 10 am and closing no later than 4 pm. It will have no more than 13 vendors and offer free food distribution via the church’s food pantry. The market will also have an on-site manager.
McWilliams told the planning commission last month that though the church only plans to hold the market on select Saturdays in warmer months, it requested permission to host a year-round event, so it has room to grow.
The “Guiding Procedures” were adopted as a condition of the CUP, meaning if the church wants to change them, it will have to secure permission from the board of supervisors. Other conditions include prohibiting amplified music outdoors and barring the sale of mass produced or multi-level marketing items.
Supervisors mostly responded favorably to the request but raised a few concerns. Green Springs District Supervisor Rachel Jones, who lives near the church, wondered whether outdoor music should be permitted, noting that a neighbor had raised concerns about noise from the event.
Deputy Community Development Director Tom Egeland said that the condition related to music had been tweaked when the planning commission considered the request. The commission agreed to allow outdoor music but prohibited the use of speakers or microphones.
McWilliams added that, regardless of the condition, the market would have to comply with the county’s noise ordinance which limits noise at the property line in agricultural zoning (A-2) to 65 decibels during the day, roughly equivalent to the sound of a normal conversation at arm’s length.
Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams asked what items vendors would be allowed to sell, suggesting that some farmers’ markets are more akin to flea markets.
Egeland noted that the county has a specific definition of farmers’ market in its code, which the church explicitly agreed to adhere to as part of the CUP. That definition permits the sale of “fresh fruits and vegetables; other food-related items; and agricultural/horticultural products, which are home grown, homemade, and/or home produced.”
Given that definition, several supervisors wondered if vendors at a farmers’ market would be allowed to sell cannabis, referencing a potential change in state law that, if agreed to by Governor Abigail Spanberger, would expand the retail market for the substance. Currently, only licensed medical dispensaries are permitted to sell cannabis in Virginia, but the pending legislation would establish a highly-regulated market for recreational sales. Regardless of where the legislation lands, the church’s “Guiding Procedures” prohibit the sale of drugs, legal or illegal, related paraphernalia and alcohol at its market.
In addition, the board last year adopted an ordinance requiring a CUP to sell controlled substances that aren’t provided by a licensed medical facility operating under the supervision of the DEA. The ordinance only permits the use in commercial zoning.
No one spoke for or against the farmers’ market during the public hearing, but Jones said she’d heard lots of positive feedback from constituents.
“This is a good thing for the community,” she said before motioning to approve the request.
Supervisors adopt VDOT six-year secondary road plan
Supervisors held a public hearing and voted 7-0 to adopt the Six-Year Plan for Secondary Road System Construction in Louisa County.
Developed in cooperation with the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), the plan covers road improvements in the secondary system from 2026-27 through 2031-32, earmarking between $171,356 and $254,457 a year for improvements for a total projected allocation of roughly $1.366 million.
The funds are drawn from the state’s Rural Rustic Program, which is specifically aimed at improving or paving unpaved public roads that carry more than 50 vehicles per day, and “telefee” funds, money paid by telecommunications companies that use public right-of-ways.
The plan earmarks funding to upgrade or improve several unpaved roads and for traffic and engineering services, including speed studies, signage and incidental work.
The plan includes funding to pave or improve parts of the following roads over the next five years: West Green Springs Road; Harts Mill Road; Poplar Avenue; New Anna Road; Thurston Road; Turners Mill Road; Old Bickley Town Road; and Two County Lane.
In related news, VDOT Residency Administrator Scott Thornton, who has led the Louisa residency for the last four years, said goodbye to the board. Thornton is taking a job as the Residency Administrator in Petersburg.
“I’ve enjoyed working with you. You’ve always been responsive when I’ve called with concerns and never hesitated to meet out in the field where we needed to go,” Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams told Thornton.
Transmission lines, rural preservation efforts top Planning Commission’s agenda
Efforts to mitigate the impacts of large-scale transmission infrastructure and to preserve the county’s farms and forestland top the Louisa County Planning Commission’s agenda on Thursday night.
The commission will hold seven public hearings: two focused on establishing guidelines for new electrical transmission lines and related infrastructure and five to consider expanding Agricultural and Forestal Districts.
Prior to their regular 7 pm meeting, commissioners will hold a 5 pm work session where they’ll discuss the proposed transmission line guidelines, growth management strategies and a draft ordinance that would change how campground is defined in county code.
As concerns about Valley Link transmission line grow, commission looks to beef up land use guidelines
Commissioners will hold a pair of public hearings related to the siting of electrical transmission lines and related infrastructure. They’ll consider an addendum to the 2040 Comprehensive Plan that would establish priority corridors for high-voltage power lines and set other parameters for the infrastructure, and an amendment to county code that would set conditional use permit (CUP) requirements for electric transmission facilities and establish standards for the use.
Both proposals, which require approval by the board of supervisors, aim to provide guidance to local decision-makers, the State Corporation Commission (SCC) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) when considering proposed transmission projects while acknowledging that state regulators ultimately have the power to approve high-voltage transmission lines and federal regulators may also have oversight.
The proposed changes come amid widespread opposition to Valley Link Transmission Company’s Joshua Falls to Yeat line, a 765-kilovolt (kV) power line that, if approved by the SCC, would travel 115 miles from Campbell County to Culpeper, carrying power from the Ohio River Valley to feed burgeoning demand in Northern and Central Virginia, driven primarily by data centers.
The line—the biggest ever proposed for construction in Dominion Energy territory--would slice through Louisa for nearly 20 miles on one of two potential corridors, requiring a 200-foot cleared right-of-way and poles as tall as 160 feet planted every quarter mile.
It would cut through farms and forestland and travel within just a few hundred feet of some homes with one proposed route skirting the western edge of the Town of Louisa and other passing just west of the Louisa County High School/Middle School campus.
Dominion, FirstEnergy Transmission and Transource formed Valley Link, in part, to develop the $1 billion project. They plan to submit a preferred route to the SCC for approval later this year and hope to energize the line by 2029.
Valley Link’s proposal could be one of numerous large-scale electric infrastructure projects that impact the county as demand for energy soars in the commonwealth—the global epicenter of the power-guzzling data center industry—and Dominion and other utilities scramble to upgrade the grid and propose new generation facilities.
County staff has framed the addendum and proposed code changes as mechanisms to object to and potentially mitigate the impacts of Valley Link’s current proposal and as preparation for future projects.
“Together, they provide a consistent framework for decision-making; strengthen the county’s position in state and federal proceedings; [and] ensure alignment between long-term planning and day-to-day land use decisions,” Deputy County Administrator Chris Coon says in a memo to the commission.
The Comp Plan addendum would establish an “Electric Transmission and Corridor Policy,” setting clear guidance for siting the lines and encouraging entities proposing such infrastructure to consider the county’s growth management and rural preservation goals.
The Comprehensive Plan is a long-range planning document that lays out a vision for a locality’s future development. Under state law, the SCC is required to consider proposed transmission lines’ adherence to local plans when considering whether to green-light projects.
“With this, we feel that we’d be in a pretty strong position that there’s going to be several items that [Valley Link] is going to have to address with the SCC. And then, even if this project does go through, this would also help for any [transmission line] project in the future that may come. This would now be the guiding document that people would have to abide by to the best of their ability,” Coon told the commission at its April meeting.
Most notably, the policy prioritizes the use of existing corridors for the placement of new transmission lines, including existing power line right-of-way, utility easements for electric, gas, water and telecommunications infrastructure, public right-of-way along roads and “previously disturbed or developed linear infrastructure corridors.”
In addition, it encourages new transmission line corridors to avoid or minimize impacts on residential areas, agricultural and forestal lands, scenic and environmental resources, conservation easements and historic sites. That includes avoiding established residential areas when practicable and “maximizing the distance between homes and community facilities; not bisecting large agricultural parcels and minimizing fragmentation of working farms. It also includes minimizing visibility from scenic roadways and avoiding “ridgelines and prominent visual features where practicable.”
In acknowledging the importance of a reliable electric grid, the addendum encourages the evaluation of alternatives—from considering multiple routes to demonstrating how the selected route minimizes impacts consistent with the policy—and articulates the county’s support for undergrounding infrastructure.
“Louisa County supports the underground placement of transmission infrastructure where it is technically feasible, economically reasonable and results in a reduction of impacts to the community and environment,” the proposed policy states.
The proposed amendment to county code would strengthen existing conditional use permit requirements for substations and apply to all associated “switching stations, and related infrastructure for electric transmission lines operating at 69 kilovolts or greater.” That includes new transmission facilities and “expansions and modifications of existing facilities that materially increase capacity and footprint.”
Coon said the CUP wouldn’t apply to transmission lines themselves because they fall under the purview of the SCC, not local government.
The draft code section articulates standards for electric transmission infrastructure, requiring applicants to demonstrate that proposed facilities comply with the Comp Plan, minimize impacts on adjacent properties and surrounding communities; and are compatible with existing land uses in its vicinity. They also require applicants to evaluate alternative routes, including using existing transmission corridors and co-locating within existing utility easements.
In addition, the standards include a provision related to buffering and setbacks, requiring “reasonable separation” from homes, public facilities and agricultural operations. The draft says that the board of supervisors would set minimum standards based on voltage.
The amendment also sets standards for environmental protection, like minimizing land disturbance, and requires a construction management plan, among other provisions.
The board of supervisors is set to hold a public hearing on the Comp Plan addendum at its May 18 meeting. At publication time, it hadn’t advertised a hearing for the proposed code amendment.
Commission to hold five public hearings on expanding AFDs
After recommending that the board of supervisors add nearly 3,000 acres to the county’s Agricultural and Forestal Districts (AFDs) over the last two months, the commission on Thursday will hold five public hearings to consider whether to give a thumbs up to expanding the districts by another roughly 1,900 acres.
AFDs are a conservation tool that allow landowners to voluntarily prohibit development on their property for 10-year periods. In return, participating parcels are assured enrollment in the Use Value Taxation program, colloquially referred to as “land use.” The program places a special assessment on land used for agriculture, horticulture or forestry based on its “use value,” instead of its fair market value, translating into substantially lower tax bills.
In addition, AFDs place restrictions on local governments’ ability to enact ordinances that “would unreasonably restrict or regulate farm structures or farming and forestry practices,” per state code.
The districts have emerged as a key tool in the county’s effort to preserve working rural lands because they provide an opportunity to press pause on development amid burgeoning residential and industrial growth. The districts also help keep large tracts of land intact, thanks to restrictions on divisions and subdivisions.
In the five public hearings, the commission will consider whether to recommend that the board of supervisors approve the following items:
David and Sarah Truslow’s request to add 93.72 acres, comprised of two tax map parcels, to the Cuckoo Agricultural and Forestal District. The agriculturally zoned property (A-2) is south of Cuckoo Road (Route 643) west of Cross County Road (Route 522) and northwest of Indian Creek Road (Route 699) in the Cuckoo Voting District. It’s currently used for livestock production, including horses and cattle.
Charlotte Morford, Trustee and Hooves and Paws Animal Rescue Inc.’s requests to add 17.3 acres and 36.49 acres, respectively, to the Trevilian Station AFD. The agriculturally zoned parcels (A-1) lie east of Valentine Mill Road (Route 636), northwest of Poindexter Road (Route 613) and south of Louisa Road (Route 22) in the Patrick Henry Voting District. The former is used for pasture, crops and horticulture while the latter is used for livestock and crop production.
Sidney Barbee Cox’s request to add 157.49 acres, encompassing two tax map parcels, to the Shelton’s Mill AFD. The agriculturally zoned property (A-1, A-2), which is currently used for timber and crop production, sits along the Louisa-Hanover County line on Hopeful Church Road (Route 604).
Brandi Cox Douglass, Trustee, Brandi and Lindsey Cox, Sidney Barbee Cox, and SB Cox, Inc.’s request to add 1,332.9 acres, comprised of 12 tax map parcels, to the Indian Creek AFD. The proposed addition includes two assemblages with one east of Indian Creek Road (Route 699) and along the western side of Cross County Road (Route 522) and the other west of Cross County Road, along Indian Creek Road, and north, east, and south of the South Anna River. The properties, which are in the Cuckoo Voting District, are currently used for pasture, timber, crops and cattle.
James Kean’s request to add 253.6 acres, encompassing eight tax map parcels, to the Gold Mine Creek AFD. The property is zoned agricultural (A-1) and located along Ellisville Drive (Route 669), north of Goldmine Road (Route 613), and south of Cales Drive (Route 651) in the Mineral Voting District. It’s currently used for cattle, crops, hay, pasture and timber.
At work session, commission to talk growth management, campground definition
At their 5 pm work session, commissioners will preview the upcoming public hearings related to transmission infrastructure.
They’ll also continue a discussion from previous meetings focused on “zoning methods to help reduce growth impacts,” per the agenda. While the meeting materials don’t include any additional information about the item, the commission at its March meeting appointed Cuckoo District Commissioner George Goodwin and Mountain Road District Commissioner Todd Hicks to a committee tasked with recommending tools that could be incorporated into the zoning code to slow residential growth in the county’s rural areas.
Beyond that, the commission will discuss proposed amendments to county code that revise the definition of “campground” and tweak other provisions related to the use. Deputy County Administrator Chris Coon said at last month’s meeting that there are “a lot of individuals” interested in operating campgrounds to allow people to stay in campers long-term. He said that wasn’t the original intent of the use.
The proposed amendments beef up the definition of campground, requiring that the facilities are sited on at least 10 acres, comply with Virginia Department of Health regulations, and limit stays to no more than 60 days in a 12-month period. They also revise the definition of campsite, defining it as a plot in an “approved campground” intended for the exclusive occupancy of a “recreational shelter.”
The draft amendments add a definition of recreational shelter—defining the term as “units designed as temporary living quarters for camping and travel; including tents, tent trailers, travel trailers, recreational vehicles, campers”—and explicitly prohibit their use as permanent dwellings or short-term rentals.
Beyond that, the draft amendments adjust where campgrounds are permitted, prohibiting the use in agricultural zoning, where it’s currently allowed with a conditional use permit (CUP). The use would instead be permitted with a CUP in commercial zoning, where it’s currently barred. Campgrounds wouldn’t be allowed in residential or industrial zoning and would be permitted by-right in resort development zoning, consistent with current code.
While Coon provided limited insight into what prompted staff to propose the changes, Cuckoo District Commissioner George Goodwin alluded to a potential factor during the planning commission’s discussion last month. Goodwin asked whether there were upcoming activities at the North Anna Nuclear Power Station that would draw an influx of people looking for a place to stay.
The plant has periodic outages, which bring in hundreds of temporary workers, usually for about 30 days. The workers sometimes struggle to find lodging.
The draft proposal appears to tighten the screws on workers looking for temporary housing outside of traditional dwellings and landowners hoping to accommodate them.
Any changes to how county code treats campgrounds would require public hearings in front of the planning commission and the board of supervisors and an affirmative vote by the latter body.
LCPS-owned plot recommended as site of fifth elementary school
A 91-acre parcel adjacent to the Louisa County High School/Middle School campus and owned by the school division could be the site of the county’s fifth elementary school.
FutureThink, a consulting firm tasked with evaluating potential locations for the school, recommended the property during a presentation to the school board at its Tuesday, May 5 meeting. (video)
Tracy Healy, FutureThink’s president, suggested that the Davis Highway (Route 22) site would provide the division with flexibility to accommodate future growth and save time and money in the construction process, noting that it’s in the center of the county, has access to public utilities and is already owned by the division.
FutureThink settled on the site after studying growth trends, including evaluating where residential developments are planned and accounting for current school capacity. The firm also considered other division priorities, including minimizing travel times for students, balancing school capacity, achieving socio-economic balance among schools and ensuring the site has access to public utilities, including water and sewer.
In her presentation, Healy identified housing developments that are either being constructed or have been approved by the county and the two towns, ranging in size from the 1200-home Spring Creek development at Zion Crossroads, which is mostly built out, to the four-lot Shepherd’s Trail subdivision, which is under construction near Gum Spring.
Healy’s presentation indicated that growth is occurring, or is expected to occur, across the county, though most multi-unit development is concentrated in central and southwestern Louisa and near Lake Anna. She added that some of the lake’s developments, like the 891-unit Cutalong golf resort, aren’t expected to increase enrollment because they generally aren’t designed for year-round residency.
Healy said that, given those development trends and when factoring in existing school capacity, choosing a location in the center of the county makes sense.
“A new school should be located in the central part of the county. That central location would also allow a pool of students from all of the existing schools to provide that enrollment for the new school as well as allowing room for growth,” Healy said.
As part of its analysis, FutureThink projected the division’s growth through the 2030-31 academic year, estimating that the division will see a “moderate” uptick in enrollment, based on population growth and a rising birth rate. The firm projected slightly slower growth than an internal analysis that the division conducted with the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service late last year, which projected enrollment through 2029-30.
But both studies anticipate that the division will see steady growth, which will be particularly impactful at the elementary school level where three of four schools are at or near capacity.
FutureThink projected the division would grow about 12 percent between the current academic year and the 2030-31 school year, adding 654 students who raise total enrollment from 5,418 to 6,072.
In kindergarten through fifth grade, the division is expected to add 335 students, pushing all four elementary schools beyond capacity. That includes Moss Nuckols in south-central Louisa; Trevilians in the western end of the county; Jouett in the eastern end; and Thomas Jefferson near the center.
If enrollment rises to 2,950 students at the elementary school level by 2030, as the firm projects, the division would exceed its K-5 capacity by eight percent, or more than 200 students. Thomas Jefferson would sit 14 percent over capacity while Trevilians would exceed capacity by 12 percent.
“Where we really like to see elementary school capacity is in that 85 percent window. So, we are really seeing the need for a new elementary school to accommodate our current population as well as the future population,” Healy said.
While enrollment is also expected to increase at the middle school and high school, those facilities should be able to accommodate the uptick, Healy said, at least in the near-term.
The firm expects the division to add 161 middle school students and 158 high school students by 2030-31, pushing enrollment to 1,365 and 1,704, respectively. The middle school would be about 87 percent full while the high school would reach 82 percent capacity.
The division recently completed a 500-seat addition to the middle school and it’s in the process of constructing a career and technical education center adjacent to the high school, which will increase the school’s capacity by about 322 students.
Board Chair and Patrick Henry District representative Greg Strickland asked whether the proposed elementary school site would decrease travel times for students. Healy said that she didn’t expect it to make a significant impact but that would depend, in part, on how the school board decides to draw boundaries that determine where students attend school.
“With some of the scenarios that we ran, they were all under current travel times, but I wouldn’t say they were significantly reduced just because of the size of the county,” Healy said.
Board members reacted favorably to Healy’s recommendation, but it isn’t clear when they’ll formally select a site.
The board of supervisors recently appropriated $3 million for the project, enabling school officials to begin planning for the facility. The county has tentatively earmarked $52 million for the school’s construction in the Fiscal Year 2028 Capital improvement Plan though the timeline for the project is expected to be pushed back at least a year as supervisors sort out how they’ll pay for it.
Healy didn’t offer any other potential options should the board opt not to move forward with recommended parcel. Nor did she or school leaders delve into potential concerns with the site, including traffic impacts in an already congested area and large-scale industrial development that could take place nearby.
Davis Highway between the Towns of Louisa and Mineral is one of the county’s most traffic-clogged corridors, especially at peak morning and afternoon travel times when school is in session. Adding a third school on the road could exacerbate those issues. School officials have previously suggested that they could implement staggered start and dismissal times to mitigate the impact.
In addition, the recommended parcel sits less than 1,000 feet from one of the potential routes of Valley Link Transmission Company’s proposed Joshua Falls to Yeat transmission line, a 765-kilovolt power line that, if approved by state regulators, would slice through central Louisa. The school board and some residents have raised concerns about the proposed corridor’s proximity to existing schools. Valley Link is expected to settle on a preferred route in the coming months. It’s unclear how that might factor into the division’s selection process.
The property also adjoins the roughly 1,400-acre Fisher Chewning tract, which Amazon Web Services (AWS) acquired earlier this year. The property is in the county’s Technology Overlay District, an area targeted for data center development. AWS applied to build a sprawling data center campus on the tract last year but withdrew its application amid strong resistance from neighbors. Its long-term plans for the property aren’t clear.
Should the board of supervisors green-light data center development on the tract in the future, it could further complicate traffic issues and, potentially, raise environmental concerns.
News roundup: Louisa mourns passing of former mayor; SCOVA overturns redistricting
Engage Louisa focuses on Louisa County government. We recognize we can’t cover everything, and there’s plenty of other news in our neck of the woods. With that in mind, we occasionally include a roundup of links to the work of other journalists and organizations covering noteworthy events and issues that impact our community.
Town of Louisa mourns passing of former mayor -CBS 19 News, May 8, 2026
A memorial service for Garland Nuckols will be held on Thursday, May 14 at 11 am at New Life Community Church, 509 East Main Street, Louisa, with a reception to follow at the Louisa County Volunteer Rescue Squad, 83 Rescue Lane, Louisa. Click here for more information.
Supreme Court of Virginia voids redistricting election as unconstitutional -Cardinal News, May 8, 2026
A Louisa County doula tends Virginia moms and babies on Medicaid in her home community -WVTF, April 29, 2026
From loss to leadership: LCHS junior Hurley Lucckese channels grief into purpose and impact -The Central Virginian, May 7, 2026 (metered paywall)