This week in county government; BOS set for first meeting of 2024; A look back at 2023; How Louisa County works to save centuries-old records
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, Jan. 1 through Jan. 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).
Tuesday, January 2
Louisa County Board of Supervisors, Public Meeting Room, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 6 pm. (agenda packet/livestream) The board will hold its annual organizational meeting at 5 pm before convening in closed session. The regular public meeting starts at 6 pm.
Louisa County School Board, Central Office Administration Building, 953 Davis Highway, Mineral, 7 pm. (agenda, livestream)
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 to consider CUP request, choose chair and vice chair at first meeting of 2024
The Louisa County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday night will convene for its first meeting of 2024 with a relatively light agenda on tap and two new members on the dais.
After saying goodbye to veteran board members Willie Gentry and Eric Purcell in late December, the board will welcome a pair of newcomers: Louisa District Supervisor-Elect Manning Woodward and Cuckoo District Supervisor-Elect Chris McCotter.
Woodward, a Louisa native who served four years on the Planning Commission, won a three-man race for the seat in November while McCotter, a longtime Lake Anna resident who chaired the Lake Anna Advisory Committee, ran unopposed.
McCotter will join three other Republicans on the board—Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams, Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams and Green Springs District Supervisor Rachel Jones—to give the party a majority. The board’s three other members—Woodward, Patrick Henry District Supervisor Fitzgerald Barnes and Mountain Road District Supervisor Tommy Barlow—run as independents.
Supes to hold annual organizational meeting, choose chair and vice chair: Before convening in closed session, supervisors will kick off the new year at 5 pm with their annual organizational meeting where they’ll choose a chair and vice chair. For the last two years, Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams has served as chair and Mountain Road District Supervisor Tommy Barlow has served as vice chair.
Beyond electing leadership, supervisors will adopt bylaws that govern the conduct of their meetings and set their meeting calendar. The bylaws included in the meeting materials are the same as what supervisors adopted last year except for the addition of a section related to board members’ remote participation. According to the proposed calendar, the board will continue to meet the first and third Monday of each month unless the meeting conflicts with a legal holiday. In that case, the meeting will be held the next day.
Supes to consider CUP for civic use building: Supervisors will hold a public hearing and vote on whether to approve Louisa County’s request for a Conditional Use Permit to erect a building designated for civic use at the end of Sacred Heart Avenue (Route 825) off Mica Road (Route 700) in the Cuckoo Election District (tmp 59-112).
The 104-acre county-owned parcel is mostly zoned Agricultural (A-2) with a portion zoned Industrial Limited (I-1). It’s already home to several county facilities including the Louisa County Animal Shelter and dog park, a fire training area, parking, storage and a telecommunications tower. The property adjoins the Louisa County Landfill.
Deputy County Administrator Chris Coon told the Planning Commission at its December 14 meeting that the county intends to construct a building that includes storage space, training/conference rooms, offices and multi-purpose rooms to support various county departments. He said after the meeting that the facility would cover about 4,000 square feet and primarily be used for storage.
Coon also told the commission that, with the CUP, the county could expand existing structures at the site including the animal shelter, which frequently operates at or near capacity.
In 2021, the county updated its zoning code, requiring civic use structures to obtain a CUP in A-2 zoning. Though the existing uses are considered nonconforming, meaning they’re grandfathered in, obtaining a CUP would bring them into compliance with current code, Coon said.
Supervisors will also determine if the building and the county’s related plans for the property are in substantial accord with the 2040 Comprehensive Plan. The determination is required under state code because the county proposes to expand public facilities.
The Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval of the CUP and found the use in conformance with the plan.
Board to discuss code amendment related to nuisance littering: Supervisors will discuss potentially amending county code to address “health, safety and welfare concerns related to litter as a public nuisance.”
The meeting materials don’t include much information about the item, but they do reference two relevant code sections. County code section 38-1 prohibits anyone from maintaining “a nuisance” and empowers the Board of Supervisors to “abate, raze, or remove” a nuisance if it presents an imminent and immediate threat to life or property. A nuisance can include dangerous or unhealthy substances that leak or accumulate on property and unsafe structures, among other items. Code section 62-29 requires that property owners and tenants keep the exterior of all residential private property “free of litter.”
Supervisors occasionally field complaints about residents who pile trash and other debris on their property, but it’s unclear what they can do about it in much of the county because of a recent change in state law.
At their October 16 meeting, Cuckoo District resident Jeffrey Bullock told supervisors that, over the last two years, his neighbor has piled mounds of debris in his yard. Bullock contended that the trash is an eyesore and potentially an environmental hazard.
“This is what we see every day. It’s got stuff all down in there that runs down toward a creek where you have wildlife that uses the creek,” he said.
Bullock said that he had been working with county staff to address the issue and that the county took the landowner to court. After initially ordering the property owner to clean up the yard, the court reversed the decision, he said.
Former Assistant County Attorney Kyle Eldridge explained that the court reversed course based on a change in state law. Eldridge said that, in 2021, Virginia updated its code to exempt properties used for farming or zoned agricultural from “duty to keep residential property clean” ordinances like Louisa’s code section 62-29. Though the subject property isn’t used for farming, he said, it is zoned agricultural, so state law ties the county’s hands.
Eldridge noted that most property in the county is zoned either A-1 or A-2, and it’s exempt under state code regardless of whether it’s a farm.
Board Chair Duane Adams asked staff to research other ways the county could address the issue.
Dominion to update board on Belcher Solar Facility: Dominion Energy will update the board on its troubled Belcher Solar Facility off Waldrop Church Road (Route 632). Problems with stormwater runoff and erosion and sediment control have plagued the 88 MW site since its construction three years ago. The company was initially expected to brief the board at its December 18 meeting, but that presentation was postponed.
In June 2021, Dominion publicly apologized to the board because of ongoing problems at Belcher including complaints from neighboring farmers along Bickley Road near the southern end of the property. The farmers said that runoff from the sprawling 1300-acre facility was causing severe erosion, flooding and other damage to their land.
Belcher’s issues also caught the attention of state regulators. In March 2021, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality fined Dominion $50,000 for the unauthorized discharge of sediment into Harris Creek near the northern end of the site.
Dominion last briefed the board on its efforts to correct the problems at Belcher in September 2022. Dominion representative Sarah Marshall told the board that the company was making progress in its effort to effectively handle stormwater runoff. She expressed confidence that, as Dominion implemented the next steps in its stormwater management plan, neighboring property owners’ concerns would be resolved.
The fallout from Belcher prompted the Board of Supervisors to rethink the county’s approach to utility-scale solar development. In 2022, the board unanimously adopted a revised solar ordinance that significantly beefs up erosion and sediment control standards for large solar projects, mandates a 300-foot buffer around the facilities and caps the number of acres that can be used for utility-scale solar generation at roughly 9,800, three percent of the county’s land.
When the board greenlighted Belcher in 2016, it was only the second utility-scale solar facility approved in the county. Since then, the board has okayed five more. When complete, the seven sites will cover some 5,200 acres. Only Belcher and Dominion’s Whitehouse facility off Davis Highway (Route 22) are fully constructed and providing power to the grid.
LCWA, Central Virginia Small Business Development Center to update board: Louisa County Water Authority General Manager Pam Baughman will deliver the LCWA’s quarterly update, briefing the board on the authority’s activities over the last three months as well as its near-term plans. The board will also hear a presentation from the Central Virginia Small Business Development Center. The center helps fledgling entrepreneurs develop small businesses through one-on-one assistance. Supervisors appropriated $15,000 to support the center’s work during the FY24 budget process.
A look back at 2023
2023 was a busy year in Louisa County government and politics, and Engage Louisa was there covering it every step of the way. From Louisa County’s announcement of a blockbuster economic development deal with Amazon Web Services to the Board of Supervisors’ approval of a controversial mixed-use development on Lake Anna, the year was marked by several key events that could shape the county for years to come. Here's a month-by-month review of 2023 with links to some of our most-read stories.
January
2023 got off to a hot start when the Board of Supervisors approved LA Resort, LLC’s (LAR) plan to rezone a prime piece of real estate on Lake Anna for luxury condominiums and a hotel. The project, slated for 15 acres just west of the Route 208 bridge, sparked the ire of neighbors who complained that the complex would overwhelm local infrastructure and spoil the rural charm of their community.
In a related action, supervisors greenlighted the purchase of a troubled wastewater treatment plant on the other side of Route 208 with plans to upgrade and expand it to serve the LA Resort development and future commercial growth. Though LAR proffered $1 million toward the plant’s upgrade, neighbors said that buying the facility was a bad deal for taxpayers and a subsidy for wealthy out-of-town developers.
Beyond controversial actions by the Board of Supervisors, January was also notable for Louisa County’s receipt of an $11.59 million state grant to bring wet utility infrastructure to the Shannon Hill Regional Business Park, a 700-acre industrial site the county is developing just north of Interstate 64 in south-central Louisa. The grant, awarded by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership’s Business Ready Sites Program, will cover about 40 percent of the roughly $28 million required to deliver public water and sewer to the site. Supervisors included the rest of the money in the FY24 capital budget.
February
In early February, Cuckoo District Supervisor Willie Gentry told Engage Louisa that he wouldn’t seek a sixth term. Gentry, a retired VDOT traffic engineer, said that, at nearly 74 years old, he wanted to travel and spend more time with his grandchildren.
March
Another controversial mixed-use development took center stage in March when supervisors approved a scaled-down version of a proposed expansion to Zion Town Center, a Planned Unit Development (PUD) slated for 113 acres behind Walmart at Zion Crossroads. In a 4-3 vote, supervisors greenlighted Emerson-Roper’s plan to add 50 residential units to the 599 dwellings they approved in 2019. The Chesterfield-based developer had hoped to add 124 units.
In mid-March, Engage Louisa broke the news that a second supervisor wouldn’t seek re-election: Louisa District Supervisor Eric Purcell. Purcell, who has served two nonconsecutive terms, said that he decided not to run to deal with health concerns and spend more time with family.
After real estate tax assessments rose about 14 percent county-wide and supervisors signaled that they didn’t intend to lower the tax rate, residents sounded off about their rising taxes during the first public hearing of the Fiscal Year 2024 budget process.
April
With the goal of attracting lucrative tech sector development, supervisors adopted a Technology Overlay District, a special zoning designation encompassing some 6,000 acres in parts of eastern and central Louisa. The district allows data centers and other tech industry uses by-right and imposes standards for future development. The TOD faced resistance from some residents who argued the county doesn’t have the infrastructure to support tech sector uses and the district would detract from the community’s rural character.
In response to citizens’ concerns about rising home assessments, supervisors opted to provide a five percent rebate on real estate tax bills while keeping the tax rate at 72 cents per $100 of assessed value.
May
May brought a few notable political headlines. At a May 6 convention, Republicans in the 10th state Senate District selected Delegate John McGuire as the party’s nominee. McGuire beat three other contenders, including Louisa County Board of Supervisors Chair Duane Adams, in a high-intensity battle for the nomination.
Not to be outdone by Republicans at the state level, the Louisa County Republican Committee hosted a mass meeting in mid-May that decided another dramatic nominating fight. At the packed meeting, Louisa Sheriff Donnie Lowe easily defeated challenger Tim Sansone to earn the party’s support for re-election. Sansone, a newcomer to the county who runs a Fairfax-based private security company, spent over $80,000 of his own money during the campaign, some of it on ads criticizing Lowe.
Supervisors adopted a $188.2 million budget for Fiscal Year 2024 in mid-May including $147 million for daily operations and $41.2 million for capital projects.
June
Electoral politics garnered headlines again in June when Louisa voters cast ballots in several primaries for state legislative seats. In the 59th House of Delegates District, Del. Buddy Fowler defeated Louisa attorney Graven Craig and another contender to claim the Republican nomination. In the 55th House District, Democrat Amy Laufer easily beat Kellen Squire for the right to represent her party in November. In the 11th Senate District, Sen. Creigh Deeds won a highly competitive Democratic primary, edging Del. Sally Hudson by about 500 votes.
July
Harmful Algal Bloom advisories returned to Lake Anna in July, marking the sixth consecutive summer that the Virginia Department of Health warned residents and visitors to avoid contact with the water in parts of the lake. Local officials and the county’s legislative delegation in Richmond continued to marshal state resources to fight the blooms.
In a sign that some supervisors are souring on utility-scale solar development, the board voted 4-1 to reject an application to build a 5 MW shared solar array near Gordonsville. Several supervisors cited insufficient buffers as a reason they opposed the project.
August
Supervisors took a small step toward addressing the county’s dire need for affordable housing, approving the Fluvanna-Louisa Housing Foundation’s request to build a 25-unit affordable housing complex near the corner of Davis Highway (Route 22) and Chalk Level Road (Route 625). The project, partially funded by a federal grant, will provide rental units to income-eligible essential workers, and elderly and disabled residents.
September
As summer ended, supervisors rolled out what could be the biggest economic development deal in county history or, at least, since the Virginia Electric and Power Company announced in the late 1960s that it would build the North Anna Nuclear Power Station and a cooling reservoir called Lake Anna.
County officials announced in late August that Amazon Web Services plans to invest at least $11 billion to develop two data center campuses in the Technology Overlay District: the 146-acre Lake Anna Technology Campus at the corner of Kentucky Springs Road (Route 652) and Haley Drive (Route 700) adjacent to North Anna and the 1444-acre North Creek Technology Campus south of Jefferson Highway (Route 33) and east of Mount Airy Road (Route 644).
County officials hailed the deal as a way to generate significant revenue for county coffers and create good jobs. But some residents expressed concerns about data centers’ environmental impact, the potential for noise pollution, and the tax breaks and other perks the county is offering the company. The Louisa County Historical Society also raised concerns about the Lake Anna campus’ impact on historic resources.
October
After nearly two years of discussion both in and out of public view, supervisors adopted limited regulations for short-term rentals, a popular lodging option around Lake Anna. The new rules pleased many STR operators, who cited the importance of tourism to the local economy and argued against adopting more stringent regulations. But they disappointed some year-round lake residents.
Former County Attorney Helen Phillips left her position in October. County officials declined to discuss the circumstances surrounding her departure.
November
In November, Louisa native Manning Woodward won a hotly contested three-man race for the Louisa District Board of Supervisors seat while Bernie Hill defeated one other contender for the right to represent the Jackson District on the School Board. The two races were the only contested elections among the 11 county offices on the ballot. Incumbents won all the other contests except the Cuckoo District Board of Supervisors race where Lake Anna resident Chris McCotter ran unopposed for the seat vacated by Willie Gentry.
At the state level, Republicans John McGuire and Buddy Fowler cruised to victories in the 10th state Senate District and 59th House of Delegates District while Democrats Creigh Deeds and Amy Laufer prevailed in Senate District 11 and House District 55. Democrats narrowly won control of both chambers in the General Assembly, claiming a 21-19 edge in the Senate and a 51-49 advantage in the House.
Just eight days after winning a state Senate seat, Del. John McGuire announced that he’ll challenge Rep. Bob Good for the Republican nomination in the solid red 5th Congressional District in 2024. The announcement sparked outrage from some local Republicans who accused McGuire of lying about his plans during his Senate campaign.
More details emerged about Amazon Web Services’ plans to develop two data center campuses in the Technology Overlay District, and supervisors approved an incentive package designed, in part, to entice the tech giant to invest beyond its initial $11 billion commitment.
December
The year ended with a much-anticipated announcement from the Virginia Department of Transportation: construction of a roundabout at Wares Crossroads—the intersection of Routes 208 and 522—is scheduled to begin in January. The state-funded project is expected to be complete by December 2024.
Note to readers: The article below was written by University of Richmond sophomore Rosalie Hinke as part of coursework for Professor Tom Mullen’s Community Journalism at Home and Abroad class. Engage Louisa is grateful for Rosalie’s contribution.
How Louisa County works to save centuries-old records
By Rosalie Hinke
A once-popular method to preserve documents may actually be endangering them, including important Louisa County records from the 1700s.
Even libraries aren’t invincible to the allure of fads. In the 1930s, many adopted a trending, cutting edge preservation method that would supposedly save deteriorating documents from their fate. Instead, it doomed them to it.
“The lamination involved sandwiching a document between two superheated sheets of cellulose acetate and pressing it so as to attach or melt the plastic to the document surface,” wrote Eddie Woodward for RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage.
Today, this preservation technique is endangering old Louisa County records, some dating back more than two centuries. To preserve the books, a removal process is required, but it’s expensive and relatively tedious.
Each year, Patty Madison, the county’s circuit court clerk, can apply for a grant to repair the damage. Madison starts by meeting with a consulting archivist who then develops a treatment plan. The archivist’s treatment plan is then given to conservation vendor candidates who give a price quote for each item.
“I’ll do the paperwork for the grants and then the books are sent off and then six months later, nine months later, whatever - they come back,” Madison said.
The books are evaluated by consulting archivists at the Library of Virginia. Tracy Harter, the senior local records consulting archivist for the Library of Virginia, said that the grant is dictated by which books need assistance and by the Circuit Court Preservation Program (CCRP) Grant Review Board who makes the final decision.
Localities can choose which project they prioritize when it comes to saving the records, but the CCRP Grant Review Board decides whether the grant will be awarded, Harter said. She added that Louisa County has a mix of books with some being destroyed by cellulose acetate and some books that have just fallen into disrepair.
The grant program has a limit of “no more than six volumes or, if loose records, no more than 1500 items,” according to the CCRP Grant Application for 2024.
Harter and her group come to Louisa County to examine the records yearly and choose which books deserve priority. “Pages are falling out or they have yellow sticky tape on them, so those are also high priorities,” she said.
Localities then choose a vendor who specializes in this type of work. The LVA consulting archivists can share potential vendors with the clerks, and the clerks choose a company to fix the records.
The vendor notifies the LVA when the work is done, and the library ensures that the work was done correctly. If it was, the county clerk can schedule the return of the materials. If not, LVA will let the clerk know that the repairs do not meet the required specifications and more work needs to be done.
There are numerous reasons for cellulose acetate to decay the records. Some of the ink applied to the old records have iron gall, which is extremely acidic, causing the paper to outlast the ink and the iron gall becomes the primary concern. Though, Harter said it’s extremely subjective which documents deteriorate, even down to the thickness of the handwriting on the records.
Harter added that some localities, like Louisa County, “have cellulose acetate laminated volumes as well as volumes with other conservation issues, so we work with the clerks to help them prioritize what is most at risk.” Items that have been cellulose acetate laminated require specialized treatments, making conserving them more time consuming and often more expensive compared to other treatments.
In Louisa County, six or seven books have been treated for cellulose acetate removal, with around 15 more remaining, according to Harter. “If she [Madison, the county clerk] only depended on the grants, it might take 4 or 5 more years for her to finish them all,” Harter explained, noting that some localities have “so many cellulose acetate laminated items that if they were dependent solely on CCRP item conservation grants it would take decades to conserve them all.”
About the author: Rosalie Hinke is a sophomore at the University of Richmond, planning to major in journalism and minor in environmental studies. In her spare time, she works for the school library and is part of an acapella group and a sorority on campus.
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.
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