Supes set to greenlight AWS infrastructure project; School Board reviews $2.48 million CIP; Trammell seeks Dem nomination in SD10; PC roundup
Supes set to greenlight AWS infrastructure project; School Board reviews $2.48 million CIP; Trammell seeks Dem nomination in SD10; PC roundup
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: Nov. 18 through Nov. 23
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, November 18
Louisa County Board of Supervisors, Public Meeting Room, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 6 pm. The board will convene in closed session at 5 pm. (agenda packet, livestream)
Wednesday, November 20
Louisa County Electoral Board, Office of Elections, 103 McDonald Street, Louisa, 10 am.
Community Policy Management Team, Executive Board Room, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 1 pm.
Thursday, November 21
Lake Anna Advisory Committee, Public Meeting Room, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 6 pm.
Other meetings/events
Tuesday, November 19
Louisa Town Council, Louisa Town Hall, 212 Fredericksburg Ave., Louisa, 6 pm. (agenda)
Thursday, November 21
Mineral Town Council, 312 Mineral Ave., Mineral, 6:30 pm. (agenda)
Council will hold a disciplinary hearing in closed session. Read more in last week's edition of Engage Louisa.
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.
BOS preview: Supes poised to greenlight AWS infrastructure project
The Louisa County Board of Supervisors on Monday night will hold its second November meeting with one public hearing and several action items on the agenda.
Most notably, the board will consider greenlighting a wet utility infrastructure project that will pave the way for large-scale data center development in central and northern Louisa County. Check out a meeting preview below.
Supes poised to greenlight AWS infrastructure project
The board of supervisors on Monday night is poised to approve a multi-million infrastructure project to support large-scale data center development in central and northern Louisa County.
The board will hold a public hearing and consider infusing $87.9 million into the Fiscal Year 2025 budget to cover the cost of designing and building water and wastewater infrastructure to serve a pair of data center campuses under development by Amazon Web Services (AWS).
One of the campuses—dubbed the Lake Anna Technology Campus (LATC)—is slated for 153 acres at the corner of Kentucky Springs Road (Route 652) and Haley Drive (Route 700) adjacent to the North Anna Nuclear Power Station. The other—the North Creek Technology Campus (NCTC)—is planned for about 830 acres of a 1,444-acre tract south of Jefferson Highway (Route 33) and east of Mount Airy Road (Route 644) near the Northeast Creek Reservoir.
The campuses are located in the county’s Technology Overlay District, a special zoning designation adopted by the board of supervisors last year that’s aimed at attracting lucrative tech sector development.
The Lake Anna site is expected to include seven data centers, covering more than 1.2 million square feet and providing a minimum of 420 megawatts (MW) of data center capacity. It’s unclear how many data centers are slated for the North Creek campus. For the first phase of the site’s development, AWS has formally submitted plans for 10 data centers, covering 3.82 million square feet and providing a minimum capacity of 700 MW. The campuses are expected to be built out over the next 15 years.
The proposed infrastructure will draw raw water from the reservoir and deliver it to the campuses where it will be used to cool the data centers, massive buildings that house the servers and networking equipment that keep the internet running. The project will also bring potable water and public sewer to the North Creek site.
AWS will pay for the project and all its associated costs with some of that expense offset by local and state grants. Louisa County and the Louisa County Water Authority (LCWA) will build, own, operate and maintain it.
The company will buy water from the authority and pay for sewer service at the same rate as other customers, per water service agreements approved by county officials last December.
In addition to infusing the money to pay for the project into the budget, supervisors are set to approve a comprehensive agreement with Faulconer Construction, Timmons Group and MEB, operating as Louisa County Infrastructure, LLC, to serve as the design-build team.
The board is also set to hire Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson (JMT) as a third-party engineering firm that’s tasked with monitoring and managing the project.
Louisa County Infrastructure, LLC was the only firm to bid on the project. Its principals have deep ties to the county. They currently serve as the design-build team for the James River Water Project, a more than $80 million initiative to draw water from the river to meet long-term needs in parts of Louisa and Fluvanna.
Per the comprehensive agreement, the firms will design and build a two-headed water pump station near the reservoir, an 11-mile, 16-inch raw water line from the station to the LATC, traveling along a Dominion transmission line right-of-way, and two-way and four-way fiber conduit, which will allow the pump station to communicate with the campus.
For the NCTC, the firms will construct a 24-inch, 2,000-foot raw water line from the pump station to the campus, a 2,250-foot, 12-inch potable water line, two new sewer pump stations, including one at Thomas Jefferson Elementary School, and a sewer force main running along Route 33 from the school to the campus.
Per the water service agreements, AWS is tasked with designing 30 percent of the project with the county taking over after that. The infrastructure for the NCTC is expected to be complete by June 2026 while the waterline to the LATC should be done by January 2027.
The base cost of the water and sewer infrastructure is expected to be $55 million, per the comprehensive agreement. The agreement includes another $29 million for anticipated “change orders.”
Economic Development Director Andy Wade said in September that, in constructing the waterline to the LATC, the county plans to “drill a lot of the wetlands features so [it] doesn’t have to get into permitting the wetlands” hence, the project includes “a large contingency for rock encounter.”
The agreement says that a “rock allowance” will be negotiated after the design phase when “rock formations along the pipeline routes, types and quantities” are analyzed.
The agreement doesn’t cover some aspects of the project, which are assigned to the county. Those include, but aren’t limited to, performing necessary surveys and studies; negotiating agreements and paying permit fees for railroad crossings; independent inspections; and compensating landowners for easements and other property.
The county will pay JMT about $1.55 million for third-party engineering and construction management services, including project inspections, materials testing, reviews of the project material submittals, monthly reports, and infrastructure commissioning. In addition to paying for the infrastructure, AWS will also foot the bill for that portion of the project.
The tech giant’s plan to build data centers in Louisa has sparked concern from some residents, who fear bringing large-scale tech sector development to the county will overwhelm local infrastructure and threaten the community’s rural character.
Residents have expressed particular concern about the campuses’ reliance on the Northeast Creek Reservoir for cooling water. The reservoir is the primary source of drinking water for the towns of Louisa and Mineral.
Vicky Harte, a member of the Louisa Town Council, expressed some concern about AWS’s water use at a board meeting in September. She noted that LCWA earlier this year implemented mandatory water restrictions for its customers, including town residents, amid severe drought.
The authority serves customers in central Louisa, who rely on the reservoir, and customers at Lake Anna and Zion Crossroads, who rely on public wells. Zion’s wells were deemed substantially low during the drought.
Wade, who played a key role in bringing AWS to the county, has repeatedly assured county officials and the public that there’s ample water in the reservoir to meet AWS’s needs and support future commercial and residential growth in central Louisa.
As evidence, he’s pointed to a capacity study conducted by JMT on the county’s behalf last year, which determined the reservoir has a safe yield capacity of 3.2 million gallons per day.
The campuses are expected to use, on average, 620,000 gallons of raw water daily with that figure soaring to more than seven million gallons a day at peak demand, according to county and company officials. Wade has said peak demand refers to only the hottest days of summer, noting that the campuses would rely on the ambient air temperature for cooling in winter. The NCTC is expected to use 40,000 gallons of potable water daily.
Residents and businesses that currently rely on the reservoir draw about 300,000 gallons daily and 500,000 gallons at peak demand, meaning AWS and current customers would tap the 187-acre impoundment for an average of more than 950,000 gallons a day.
Still, in anticipation of AWS’s arrival and as the towns of Louisa and Mineral prepare for potentially significant residential growth, the county and authority are in the early stages of exploring "incremental upgrades" to its water system, according to LCWA General Manager Pam Baughman.
Those upgrades could include piping water from James River Water Project to the center of the county and raising the reservoir by as much as six feet to increase its capacity. The James River Project is a 17-mile water line and related infrastructure linking the river to Ferncliff, which is expected to be complete by late 2026.
“Decisions on who, what, where, when or how have not occurred or been fully vetted to date,” Baughman said of the county and authority’s long-range plans.
Board to consider new siting agreement policy for utility-scale solar projects
Supervisors will consider adopting a new policy that establishes minimum siting agreement standards for utility-scale solar projects. Siting agreements are essentially deals between localities and solar developers aimed at mitigating a project’s impact and providing other compensation. They can include cash payments for certain capital needs and broadband deployment, among other items.
The board’s solar committee, which includes Board Chair and Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams and Patrick Henry District Supervisor Fitzgerald Barnes, recommended the policy. In a memo to the board, the committee says that, if adopted, the standards would “help renewable energy development projects protect local values and resources.”
Under the policy, siting agreements for utility-scale solar projects would be required to meet several minimum standards. Most notably, developers would be required to remit an annual payment to Louisa County at least equal to .1 percent of the county’s operating budget per megawatt (MW) of power produced. The payment is “intended to provide the county with a consistent financial benefit proportional to the project's size,” according to the policy.
The draft policy further stipulates that 25 percent of funding generated by a siting agreement “should be allocated to affordable housing initiatives within the county.”
The draft policy also recommends that the owners of large-scale solar projects provide at least $500 in annual compensation to adjacent property owners in the form of either electric bill abatement or property tax abatement.
“This provision acknowledges the potential impact on neighboring properties and offers tangible benefits to nearby residents,” the policy says.
In addition, the draft policy requires utility-scale solar projects to start generating electricity no more than three years after approval. Failure to meet this timeline would require renegotiation of the existing siting agreement, reapplication for a Conditional Use Permit and updating the project’s decommissioning bond to comply with current standards.
If adopted, the policy would apply to any utility-scale solar project not yet permitted in the county. Currently, there are two projects preparing for public hearings: BW Solar Holding, Inc.’s proposed 5 MW facility off Peach Grove Road and Louisa Solar 1, LLC’s proposed 3 MW shared solar array off Kloeckner Road.
The board will hold a public hearing to consider BW Solar’s application at its December 2 meeting. The planning commission is expected to hold a public hearing on Louisa Solar 1’s request at its December 12 meeting.
After initially embracing solar development, several supervisors have since soured on the use, in part, because of problems with erosion and sediment control at Dominion’s 88 MW Belcher Solar Facility off Waldrop Church Road where stormwater runoff from the sprawling 1300-acre site has caused severe erosion and other damage to neighboring farms.
In response to the fallout from Belcher and broader concerns that the proliferation of solar panels would harm the county’s rural character, the board, in 2022, capped the amount of county land that can be used for utility-solar generation at three percent. Earlier this year, supervisors lowered the cap to two percent, or 6,343 acres. The board has already approved seven solar projects covering some 5,200 acres though only four have been constructed.
Board to appoint new assessor
Supervisors are set to appoint a new county assessor.
According to the proposed resolution, the board will appoint Theresa Born to the position, which was previously held by Rich Gasper.
Commissioner of the Revenue Stacey Fletcher recommended Born, per the resolution.
Assuming supervisors greenlight her appointment, Born will take the reins of the eight-person assessor’s office, which is tasked with annually determining the assessed value of real estate for tax purpose. As required by state code, the assessor’s office bases its assessments on a property’s market value, drawing on sales data from surrounding and similar properties, among other information.
Born comes to the county with deep experience in property valuation and appraisal. Since 2016, she’s worked as a senior property appraisal consultant and a certified general real estate appraiser with the Virginia Department of Taxation, according to her profile on LinkedIn. Prior to that, she served for four years as a senior review appraiser and litigation support/eminent domain coordinator at the Virginia Department of Transportation.
Annual real estate assessments have been a hot topic in Louisa County over the last few years as the assessed value of many homes has soared, and the board of supervisors hasn’t cut the tax rate to offset the rise. That means that even though the rate has remained flat, many homeowners have seen their tax bills jump. Real estate tax levies are calculated by multiplying the tax rate by a property’s assessed value.
In 2022, assessments on homes, excluding new construction and improvements, rose an average of 12 percent. In 2023, assessment soared nearly 14 percent while, this year, they spiked a more modest 7.83 percent.
While the board is tasked with appointing the county assessor, the assessor’s office isn’t under its supervision. The office operates in conjunction with the commissioner of revenue’s office. The commissioner is one of the county’s five elected constitutional officers.
Board to discuss roaming livestock ordinance
The board’s agenda includes one discussion item: “Update Animal Control Ordinance.” There’s no other information about the item in the meeting materials.
Mountain Road District Supervisor Tommy Barlow suggested at supervisors’ November 4 meeting that the board look at its ordinance governing at-large livestock after a community member spoke during the public comment period to express concern about roving animals damaging her elderly mother’s property.
Jackson District resident Amy Ware told the board that, over the last couple years, roaming goats, dogs, a donkey and a horse have repeatedly visited her 87-year old mother’s home, eating plants and damaging bird feeders and other items. Ware said that earlier this year her mother, who suffers from dementia, was knocked to the ground by the horse and that the animals have chased and harassed caregivers.
Ware said that she has called Louisa County Animal Control hundreds of times and contacted others in county government for help, but the problems persist.
“The lack of action by the sheriff’s office and animal control is appalling to me. I am told over and over by deputies [that] unless they witness the event, there is nothing they can do. Even with evidence on camera, [they claim] that this board will not put any penalties in place that make it worth their effort to impound animals or otherwise act because the animals will just be returned to the owner. Specifically, they say they can’t keep property when they know where the owner is or they’d be breaking the law. All I’m told is to go file with the magistrate to get the existing state law enforced,” Ware said, adding, “Then the board and county administration tell me animal control officers already have the tools they need to do their jobs, and I am not being given accurate information.”
In response, Barlow suggested that the board revisit an emergency ordinance that it temporarily adopted last year after roving goats and sheep repeatedly damaged a neighbor’s property and wandered onto Interstate 64.
The board decided not to permanently implement the ordinance or otherwise beef up its rules after some farmers argued that the move could unfairly penalize them and then-County Attorney Helen Phillips contended that, at least in some circumstances, animal control officers already had ample power to rein in roving farm animals.
“I would like to see us take another look at this thing and find out if we need to change our ordinances or if what we have is just simply not being enforced,” Barlow said.
Board Chair Duane Adams and County Administrator Christian Goodwin agreed to follow up with the sheriff’s office regarding Ware and Barlow’s concerns.
School Board reviews $2.48 million capital budget; Division eyes new elementary school
After requesting more than $53 million for two major school construction projects in Fiscal Year 2025, the Louisa County School Board is poised to make a more modest capital budget request for FY26.
The board, at its November 4 meeting, reviewed a $2.48 million preliminary Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) for the coming fiscal year, including a range of routine purchases and maintenance projects. (video)
The board is expected to adopt the plan at its December meeting. The CIP then moves to the board of supervisors for consideration as part of the FY26 budget process. Supervisors have the final say on what projects receive funding and when.
The lion’s share of capital requests for the coming fiscal year are earmarked for three departments: facilities and maintenance, transportation and technology.
Director of Facilities and Maintenance Todd Weidow has the biggest ask: about $1.13 million to cover improvements and enhancements at the division’s six schools. Most notably, Weidow requested $570,000 for road and parking lot maintenance.
Weidow said the division plans to lay fresh asphalt or make necessary repairs on the loops used by school buses at Louisa County Middle School and Trevilians Elementary School. New asphalt or related improvements are also in the works for two parking lots on the high school-middle school campus and the “activity area” at Jouett Elementary School.
The division plans to spend another $250,000 on upgrades to the HVAC system at Trevilians; $85,000 on security upgrades recommended by the division’s school safety taskforce; $75,000 for new furniture at Jouett and Moss-Nuckols Elementary; $46,000 on a new maintenance van; and $41,000 on exterior LED lighting, among other expenses.
In a separate but related request, Supervisor of School Nutrition Services Randy Herman asked for $100,000 to replace the cafeteria serving line at Trevilians.
Director of Transportation Deborah Coles requested $687,000. Of that, $612,000 would be used toward the purchase of three small school buses for special needs students while $75,000 would be earmarked for fleet vehicle replacement including acquiring a 10-passenger van, which the division would use to transport students.
Coles and Superintendent of Schools Doug Straley said that one of the division’s special needs buses was recently totaled in an accident while others are aging.
Coles noted that the division doesn’t plan to replace any of its full-size buses in the coming fiscal year because of previous funding allocations, adding that the buses have a roughly 15-to-20-year lifespan.
“We’re good. You have put forth some efforts in the last eight or nine years while I have been the director that have put us in a good place. We’re good to skip a year with [purchases of full-size buses] and pick up on those again next year,” she said.
Beyond routine maintenance and vehicle replacement, the capital budget includes $500,000 for technology upgrades, nearly double last year’s allocation.
Director of Technology Dave Childress told the school board that the money would be used to replace the division’s Chromebooks for three grade levels: second grade, sixth grade and ninth grade.
Childress said that the division replaces the devices annually, so that every second, sixth and ninth grader receives a new Chromebook. The students use the devices throughout elementary school, middle school and high school, respectively.
Childress noted that the cost of the Chromebooks has risen from about $250 per device before the Covid-19 pandemic to more than $400 today, which is reflected in his request.
“Chip cost and everything went through the roof, and they have not come back down…Supply and demand, inflation, you name it. The reality is those devices costs us a lot more,” he said.
Looking ahead, division eyes new elementary school
While the board of supervisors will only appropriate funding for FY26 during the upcoming budget process, the CIP projects 20 years of capital spending and there’s at least one big-ticket item potentially looming in the not-so-distant future.
The plan anticipates that at least $42 million could be needed in the next five years for a new elementary school. That’s $6 million more than was projected for the facility in last year’s CIP.
“We’re looking at the potential of a new elementary school coming in FY30...We are a few years away, but I think it’s something we certainly need to be talking about as a board and a school division as to what that looks like as the county continues to grow,” Straley said, adding that the cost of the project could rise.
Per the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, Louisa County ranks as the third fastest growing locality in the state over the last three years, growing 7.5 percent. The county has drawn a mix of retirees and young families, according to demographer Hamilton Lombard, with the latter contributing to a rise in school enrollment.
Preliminary public school enrollment projections released by Weldon Cooper last January placed LCPS among 15 school divisions that are expected to see enrollment climb by more than three percent over the next five years with much of that growth driven by new elementary school students.
The division currently has four elementary schools—Trevilians (TES) and Moss-Nuckols (MNES) on the western side of the county, Thomas Jefferson (TJES) in central Louisa and Jouett (JES) on the county’s eastern end.
According to data provided by the school division, three of those facilities are nearing capacity: TJES currently enrolls 678 students and has a 700-student capacity; TES is home to 542 students and has a 570-pupil capacity; and MNES enrolls 639 students and has a 700-student capacity. At Jouett, where supervisors funded a 20,000-square foot addition about five years ago, 651 students are enrolled, and the facility has an 855-pupil capacity.
While Straley briefly mentioned the potential need for a new school during his capital budget presentation, neither the school board nor the board of supervisors has had detailed public discussion about the facility nor have they solicited community feedback. It’s unclear where county officials are considering building the school.
The board of supervisors appropriated more than $62 million for two large school construction projects in the FY25 budget: a 500-seat addition to Louisa County Middle School and an accompanying alternative education center and a 54,500-square foot career and technical education center (CTE) adjacent to the high school. The costs of those projects climbed after the school division’s initial $53 million ask.
Construction of the middle school addition is ongoing and expected to be complete by December 2025. The division plans to solicit bids for the CTE center in February with a target completion date of June 2027.
Trammell seeks Dem nomination in SD10
A Louisa County resident who’s already run for federal office plans to vie for a seat in the state legislature.
Democrat Jack Trammell said last week that he’ll seek his party’s nomination for a special election in the 10th state Senate District. The district’s current representative, Republican John McGuire, is vacating the position after winning the 5th District congressional race two weeks ago.
Trammell is well known to many central Virginia politicos. In 2014, he lost the 7th District congressional race to former Congressman Dave Brat after Brat, a Tea Party favorite, shocked the political world by beating then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in the Republican primary.
Trammell is the first Democrat to enter the race. Six Republicans have announced their candidacy including Louisa County Board of Supervisors Chair Duane Adams. (Read Engage Louisa’s coverage of Adams’ announcement here).
The 10th is a mostly rural district that stretches from exurban Richmond nearly to Lynchburg and includes most of Louisa County. The nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project rates the district “strong Republican.”
While a date for the special election hasn’t been set, it could take place in early January just before the start of the General Assembly session.
Trammell, who spends a couple days a week teaching sociology and human services courses at Mount St. Mary’s University in Maryland and the rest on his farm in southeastern Louisa County, said in an interview last Thursday that the results of this year’s presidential election helped compel him to jump in the race. Trammell said that he’d been looking for ways to stay involved since his 2014 campaign, and figured now is a good time to get off the sidelines.
“Some key Dems in the district approached me this time and [they] reminded me [of] the tradition of V. Earl Dickinson, who had told me decades ago, ‘quit complaining, and go run for office and do something about it,’” Trammell said, referring to the once powerful Democrat from Mineral, who served for three decades in the House of Delegates.
Trammell acknowledged that, should he win his party’s nomination, he’ll face an uphill battle in the mostly rural and solidly conservative district. But he said that it’s important for voters to have a choice and a chance to hear the ideas of both parties.
“I believe that there’s an importance to having a candidate on every ballot, no matter what the odds are. There are people in our district who don't feel well represented by some of the ideas on the other side, and they need to have a voice, even if that voice is just one during a short campaign season,” he said, adding, “The turnout for the presidential was very disappointing, especially on the Democratic side, and I think that it's so important that people know they have a voice, and that's part of the reason I'm willing to run in an R +18 district.”
Trammell described himself as “a teacher, a farmer, a small business owner, a parent and grandparent and an active community member who loves this part of the state” and said that, as a resident of rural central Virginia, he understands many of the issues rural communities face.
He said that he’ll focus on those issues during the campaign, emphasizing that lawmakers in Richmond need to prioritize support for small farmers, promote economic development in rural areas, and address the public safety and transportation concerns that exist outside of major cities and suburbs.
“I live on a small farm myself. So, part of what I'll be talking about in the brief few weeks we have, are incentives for small farmers and other agricultural entrepreneurship. I want to look at sustainable forestry practices in our district. We have some transportation need with some roads that are too narrow and too curvy for the traffic load they have. We need to look at places like Lake Anna and look at sustainable growth models, and also how other parts of the region can access the amenities, services and businesses at Lake Anna,” Trammell said. “We have neighborhood safety issues in our rural areas because, even though we have fantastic law enforcement, they cover a huge geographic area, and we need to come up with better ways to help them keep everybody safe. And, of course, there are parts of this rural district that really need some economic development assistance because the economy is just not working for [them].”
As he did during his congressional bid, Trammell said that he’ll run an inclusive campaign aimed at drawing voters in, noting that he’s always willing to talk with folks who don’t normally support Democrats.
“I am a candidate and a politician, if you will, who is seeking to represent more people, not fewer people and to represent as many voices as possible. During the 2014 campaign, I made multiple appearances at Tea Party meetings and spoke, and my staff was sometimes critical of me for doing that. But I reminded them that, if I'm elected, I represent everybody,” he said.
While Trammell is the only Democrat in the race so far, there’s still time for others to declare their candidacy though how much is unclear.
Since the state Senate is technically in session, Sen. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth), its President pro-tempore, is tasked with issuing a writ of special election that sets the date for the 10th District contest. In a post on X last week, Lucas said that she has yet to receive a letter of resignation from McGuire, which “starts the process.”
Because of the timing of the vacancy, state law requires Lucas to set the election no more than 30 days after the member’s stated resignation date. State law gives the parties five days to select a nominee from the day the writ is issued.
Lucas set a special election in the 32nd state Senate District for January 7, the day before the start of the 2025 General Assembly session, after receiving a letter of resignation from its current occupant, Democrat Suhas Subramanyam. Subramanyam won the 10th District congressional race earlier this month.
Rachel Levy, chair of the Democrats’ 10th Senate District Nominating Committee, told Engage Louisa last week that the panel has tentatively decided to hold an unassembled caucus, also known as a firehouse primary, should more than one candidate enter the race.
The committee is waiting for Lucas to schedule the special election to finalize its plans, Levy said.
The Republican race
On the Republican side, the contest to claim McGuire’s seat is a far more crowded affair. Six people have declared their candidacy to date and more could be on the way.
The race includes:
Louisa County Board of Supervisors Chair Duane Adams, who finished second to McGuire in a hard-fought battle for the Republican nomination in the 10th last year;
Former state senator and far-right firebrand Amanda Chase, who traded suburban Chesterfield for rural Appomattox after she lost a Republican primary in June 2023 and was ousted from her senate seat;
Amelia resident Shayne Snavely, who previously served as an aide to Chase;
Real estate appraiser and party activist Jean Gannon, a former chair of the Powhatan County Republican Committee;
Political newcomer Luther Cifers, an entrepreneur from Farmville who founded YakAttack, a company that makes kayak fishing gear;
Bryan Hamlet, a member of the Cumberland County Board of Supervisors who, last week, won an endorsement from former 5th District Congressman Tom Garrett;
At a meeting this Tuesday, the 10th District Republican Legislative Committee is expected to consider the nomination method and other details including a date, time and location. The party could opt for a mass meeting, convention or firehouse primary.
The Cumberland County Republican Committee will host a debate this Friday, November 22 at 7 pm at the Spruceberry Farm Event Center.
While most of the candidates are expected to participate in the debate, Chase, who has referred to herself as “Trump in heels,” said in an email to supporters last week that she won’t be there, calling it a “sham.”
“The chair is supporting another candidate and isn't neutral. I'm not going to be strong armed into doing something I feel is rigged,” Chase said.
PC roundup: Commission tables action on CUP for construction yard
The Louisa County Planning Commission on Thursday night held a trio of public hearings, recommending that the board of supervisors approve a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for an event venue, tabling action on a CUP for a construction yard and giving a thumbs up to tweaks to the county’s land development regulations. (meeting materials, video)
In other business the commission okayed a private road waiver for RP20 Cutalong Consolidated, LLC, developer of the Cutalong resort community on Lake Anna, and determined that the waiver is in conformance with the 2040 Comprehensive Plan.
Here's a quick roundup of the meeting.
PC tables action on CUP for construction yard: At the recommendation of Louisa District Commissioner Matt Kersey, the commission voted 5-0 to table action on JWC Enterprises/On Demand Concrete’s request for a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) to operate a construction yard on a five-acre parcel on the north side of Louisa Road (Route 22) at its intersection with Spotswood Trail (Route 33) in the Louisa Election District (tax map parcel 24-17-A). The property is zoned General Commercial (C-2) and already home to Haymaker Auto Repair.
On-Demand Concrete owner Joseph Cutright and Holly Reynolds, who represented the property’s owner, Ronald Reynolds, told the commission that the company is using the property to store sand, gravel and other materials as well as concrete trucks. The parcel also provides space to load the materials on the trucks though concrete isn’t produced on site.
“What [Cutright] does is he loads the four components—gravel, sand, water, cement—on to his truck, all separate, and drives to wherever and mixes it on-site. So, he is a mobile concrete unit,” Reynolds said.
The commission decided to delay action on the application after Gerald Harlow, president of the Trevilian Station Battlefield Foundation (TSBF), said during the public hearing that he’d like to see a permanent barrier, like a tall wooden fence, erected alongside the construction yard to screen it from view.
Harlow said that he’s concerned about the business’ impact on the viewshed around the Trevilian Station Battlefield, where Union and Confederate soldiers fought one of the largest cavalry battles in the Civil War. TSBF owns more than 400 acres adjacent to the subject property.
Commissioners agreed to revisit the item next month to give staff time to craft a condition to address Harlow’s concern. Staff had recommended that the applicant erect an evergreen buffer and/or 10-foot wooden fence to shield the property but agreed to tweak that recommendation to ensure adequate screening. The applicant said he’s willing to work with the county to address TSBF’s concerns.
Commission okays updated CUP for Bowood Barn: Commissioners voted 5-0 to recommend that the board of supervisors approve Bowood Barn and its owner Mary Bland’s request that the county revise and renew a CUP first issued in 2016, which allows the operation of a bed and breakfast with outdoor gatherings at 500 Tisdale Road in the Patrick Henry Election District. The facility is situated on 32.55 acres, zoned for agricultural use (A-1, A-2).
The tweaked CUP would allow Bowood Barn to continue operating a bed and breakfast and tack on special occasion facility as an additional use. It would also make minor changes to three of the CUP’s conditions, most notably allowing the facility to host one event a year—the Louisa County High School prom—with up to 600 attendees. Otherwise, a maximum of 250 people are permitted at events, and the facility can hold no more than 25 “special occasion” events per year.
Commission approves private road waiver for Cutalong: Commissioners voted 5-0 to approve RP20 Cutalong Consolidated, LLC’s request for a private road waiver. They also determined the waiver’s in substantial conformance with the county’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan.
Cutalong Consolidated, a subsidiary of Reef Private Equity, is the developer of the Cutalong community off New Bridge Road (Route 208) and Kentucky Springs Road (Route 652) on Lake Anna. The community is already home to a golf course and, at full buildout, will include 891 dwellings.
Essentially, the developer asked the commission to allow the construction of a new internal private road network, which also includes existing roads and roads currently under construction. The developer intends to restrict roads that were initially intended for public use to private use only.
“All roads were developed to VDOT standards, and it was the intention that the roads not be private, but be public. We retained a sales agent. We are starting to sell our lots and our condominium product, and our sales agent’s first comment after the market research was ‘our buyer’s looking for a gated community,’” Project Director Joe Walsh said.
Beyond Thursday night’s business, Cutalong Consolidated is asking the board of supervisors to “formally abandon certain rights-of-way designated for public use,” which aligns with the shift to privately maintained internal roads, per staff’s report.
Cutalong is also asking the board to approve a proposed master plan amendment. The amendment would increase the number of estate lots, condos, villas, and townhomes in the community, while reducing the number of executive and cluster lots, maintaining a total of 891 residential units.
Commission greenlights changes to LDR: Commissioners voted unanimously to recommend to the board of supervisors approval of nearly a dozen tweaks to the county’s land development regulations.
Staff says the changes are necessary to “address discrepancies, clarify regulations, ensure alignment with more stringent State and Federal regulations, update standards to reflect current practices, and make adjustments based on community needs and the 2040 Comprehensive Plan.”
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