This week in county government; BOS set for penultimate meeting of 2023; Roundup of recent board appointments
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, Dec. 4 through Dec. 9
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, December 5
Louisa County Board of Supervisors, Public Meeting Room, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 6 pm. (agenda packet, livestream) The board will convene in closed session at 5 pm. Note: Supervisors will meet on Tuesday night, instead of Monday, due to a scheduling conflict for multiple board members.
Louisa County School Board, Central Office Administration Building, 953 Davis Highway, Mineral, 7 pm. (agenda, livestream)
Wednesday, December 6
Commission on Aging, Betty Queen Center, 522 Industrial Drive, Louisa, 10 am.
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 set for penultimate meeting of 2023
The Louisa County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday night will convene for its penultimate meeting of 2023 with a relatively light agenda on tap. The board will hold one public hearing and consider several discussion and action items.
Supervisors to consider CUP for ag operation just outside Town of Mineral: Supervisors will hold a public hearing and consider whether to approve Christopher and Katherine Myer’s request for a Conditional Use Permit to allow an agricultural operation on 42.51 acres of residentially zoned property (R-2) just outside the Town of Mineral.
The five subject parcels (tmp 43-115, 116, 117, 112, 113) are located at and around 142 Old Tolersville Road just north of the town in the Mineral Growth Area Overlay District. The area is designated for low-density residential development on the Future Land Use Map in the 2040 Comprehensive Plan.
Louisa County’s Land Development Regulations require a CUP to establish an “agricultural operation” in R-2 zoning, defining the use, in part, as “an activity devoted to the bona fide production of crops, or animals, or fowl including the production of fruits and vegetables of all kinds; meat, dairy, and poultry products; nuts, tobacco, nursery and floral products; or the production and harvest of products from silviculture activity.”
According to their land use application, the Myers purchased the land earlier this year and intend to raise cattle for beef production, keep horses on the property, and grow hay for the animals and other farmers. They plan to build accessory agricultural structures and new fencing, implement rotational grazing techniques to prevent overgrazing and soil erosion, and maintain buffer zones and natural habitats to promote biodiversity and protect wildlife.
In their application, the Myers note that, though the property is zoned residential and surrounded by similarly zoned properties, it’s historically been used for agriculture, and they want to continue that tradition.
“The land we purchased has always been in agriculture and deserves to be utilized as such. The previous owners, the Spicer Family, have raised cattle, horses and produce(d) a variety of crops, including hay and corn, since 1900,” the Myers write.
At its November 9 meeting, the Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval of the CUP, but instructed staff to work with the applicant on the wording of one of the proposed conditions.
During his presentation to the commission, Christopher Myer expressed concern about a standard condition included in the CUP providing that the Board of Supervisors or its designated representative “have the right to inspect the site at any reasonable time without prior notice.”
Myer said the condition “puts a ton of liability on us for anyone to walk on the property at any time,” citing concerns about animals escaping because a gate is left open.
County staff said the condition is regularly included in CUPs, but it’s not staff’s practice to enter a property without notifying the owner.
Staff has since tweaked the condition to state that supervisors or their designees have the right to inspect the site at any reasonable time without prior notice “under the condition that entry into livestock enclosure areas require the escort of the property owner.”
The commission also added a condition that would bar the Myers from using biosolids given the property’s proximity to the Town of Mineral. But that provision isn’t included in the recommendation forwarded to the board.
Supervisors to discuss repeal of Lake Anna shoreline ordinance: Supervisors will discuss repealing the county’s Lake Anna shoreline ordinance. Adopted in 2005, the ordinance lays out development and design standards for lakefront structures like docks, boathouses and boardwalks. The ordinance largely duplicates Dominion Energy’s development guidelines. Dominion owns the lake and its shoreline, but allows adjoining property owners to construct overwater structures via individual use agreements.
In a memo to the board, Community Development Department staff notes that the overlapping regulations cause confusion and increase project review times. Of the three localities home to Lake Anna shoreline—Spotsylvania, Louisa and Orange—only Louisa has a separate ordinance for use and design standards, staff writes.
Staff recommends repealing two parts of the ordinance, which address “Safe navigation” and “Neighbor policies,” because they mostly duplicate Dominion’s regulations. Staff’s recommendation would leave intact a third section of the ordinance related to erosion and sediment control, which isn’t covered in Dominion’s guidelines. A fourth section addressing dredging would refer to Dominion’s rules.
Supervisors will only discuss the item Tuesday night. Repealing any part of the ordinance would require a public hearing and an affirmative vote by the board.
Louisa County designated as drought area: The US Department of Agriculture has added Louisa County to its list of Virginia localities designated as drought areas. The designation opens the door to federal disaster relief for local farmers impacted by this summer and fall’s unusually dry weather.
According to a letter from Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to Governor Glenn Youngkin, which is included in the meeting materials, the USDA in mid-November designated four Virginia counties—Albemarle, Amherst, Nelson and Rockbridge—as primary natural disaster areas due to the recent drought. The department added another 17 counties to the list, including Louisa, because they adjoin one of the primary counties. In October, the USDA designated 15 counties, mostly in the Shenandoah Valley, as drought areas, bringing the total number of impacted localities to 36.
The drought designation means that local farmers can apply for assistance from the Farm Services Agency (FSA), including emergency loans, provided eligibility requirements are met. Farmers have eight months to apply for assistance from the date of the disaster declaration. To learn more, click here.
County preparing to apply for more grant funding for Shannon Hill Regional Business Park: After receiving an $11.59 million grant from the Virginia Economic Development Partnership to bring wet utility infrastructure to the Shannon Hill Regional Business Park (SHRBP), Louisa County is preparing to apply for more state funding.
According to a pre-application included in Tuesday’s agenda packet, Economic Development Director Andy Wade is preparing to ask VDEP’s Business Ready Sites Program (VBRSP) for $13.4 million to fund three more components of the park’s development: transportation upgrades; on-site utility construction; and recertification of work related to wetlands and endangered species. Together, the projects are expected to cost $17.4 million with $4 million of that coming from Louisa County and “other funding sources,” per the pre-application.
With respect to transportation improvements, the grant would help pay for construction of a new access road within the park and enhancements to a portion of Shannon Hill Road (Route 605) including road widening and new shoulders. The funding would also be used for construction of a primary commercial and industrial entrance off Shannon Hill. The transportation improvements comprise most of the project budget with an estimated price tag of just over $13 million.
Upon completion, the road improvements would be accepted into the state system for maintenance, according to the pre-application. Right of Way acquisition along Shannon Hill Road as well as the improvements’ design are already fully funded with some of that money coming from a previous state grant.
Regarding on-site utilities, the grant funding would help cover the estimated $4.2 million cost of installing public water and sewer infrastructure at the park including about a mile and a half of new water line and nearly a mile of sewer force main. Louisa County included in its FY24 Capital Improvement Plan about $28 million to deliver off-site utilities to the park and to erect an elevated water storage tank. A portion of that project was covered by the $11.5 million grant that VBRSP awarded the county earlier this year.
The grant would also help the county pay $100,000 for recertification of its wetlands and endangered species surveys. The work, initially conducted in 2018, requires recertification after five years.
The pre-application is only the first step in applying for VBRSP funding. State officials will screen the submissions and determine if projects are eligible to formally apply for grant money via the program.
In 2019, Louisa County spent $2.6 million to purchase 700 acres just north of the Shannon Hill exit off Interstate 64 with plans to transform the area into an industrial park that they envision as a future home to distribution centers, advanced manufacturing, or other large-scale economic development projects.
The site currently sits at Tier 3 on VDEP’s ranking of site readiness. The state uses the rankings as a measuring stick for site preparedness and a marketing tool. Once public utilities are brought to the park, it’s expected to reach Tier 4 status, which denotes sites where all infrastructure is in place or will be deliverable within 12 months and all permit issues have been identified and quantified. Tier 5 sites, the highest rung, are considered shovel ready. The pre-application notes that it’s expected to cost more than $40 million to move the SHRP to Tier 5. That figure includes ongoing, fully funded projects.
In the last several years, state officials have ramped up efforts to develop and market large-scale business parks and industrial sites. They’ve said the dearth of shovel ready sites hampers Virginia’s ability to land economic development projects that lead to significant capital investment and job creation. The biennial state budget approved in June 2022 included $150 million for VDEP’s site development program. Amendments to the budget greenlighted last September added another $125 million in funding.
Supervisors to consider supporting grant application for shuttered wood pellet plant: As part of their consent agenda—a group of resolutions typically passed in a block vote without discussion—supervisors will consider formally supporting a grant application aimed at helping reopen a shuttered wood pellet plant on Fredericks Hall Road in eastern Louisa County.
Lignetics Holdings, which operates 25 wood pellet plants across the country, purchased the facility in 2020 with plans to rehabilitate and upgrade it. The plant closed in 2016, in part, due to environmental issues. When it was in operation, the facility was capable of producing 115,000 metric tons of wood pellets, which were sold to commercial, industrial and retail customers.
Lignetics is applying for a grant from the US Department of Agriculture’s Community Wood Program to help fund the plant’s rehab. Bruce Lisle, a Lignetics executive, said in an email to county staff that the company is installing and implementing “best practices” used at its other facilities, which will improve “efficiencies.”
“Unlike the previous two owners of the Bumpass property, we know how to operate these plants,” Lisle said.
A draft letter from supervisors to the USDA in support of the grant application states that Lignetics “is working to completely rehabilitate the plant’s air emissions system since there were associated emissions issues with a prior operation at the site” and to “streamline systems to increase production and make the plant operations profitable and stable.”
Assuming it’s reopened, the plant will create 27 new jobs and be “an economic engine for the Bumpass area,” the letter says.
Supes to consider amendment to design contract for turf fields: Supervisors will consider approving an amendment to a contract for engineering and design work for a pair of turf fields set for construction adjacent to Louisa County Middle School. The board previously approved a $180,000 contract with CHA for the design work. But the amendment would raise that amount to $190,000.
According to the proposed resolution, a force main was discovered beneath one of the proposed field sites necessitating its relocation. The move will require $5,250 in additional survey work. Another $4,750 is requested for contingencies.
At the request of Parks and Recreations Director James Smith, the board included $3.4 million for the fields in the FY24 capital budget. Smith said that the fields would provide much-needed practice facilities for youth sports. They’ll also offer low-maintenance, all-weather playing surfaces for both the Parks and Rec Department and Louisa County Public Schools.
Board to hear presentation on county’s FY23 Comprehensive Financial Report: A representative from Robinson, Farmer, Cox Associates will brief the board on Louisa County’s Fiscal Year 2023 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, a document that includes the results of an independent audit and provides a snapshot of the county’s finances. The meeting materials don’t include any additional information about the presentation.
Supervisors to discuss IDA and airport: According to the meeting agenda, supervisors will discuss "Industrial Development Authority-Airport.” The meeting materials don’t include any additional information about the item.
Roundup of recent board appointments
The Louisa County Board of Supervisors appoints citizens and county officials to several dozen boards and committees, which inform policy decisions and oversee the operation of publicly-funded institutions, among other duties. These boards and committees often garner little attention but play a key role in local government administration. Below is a roundup of the board’s appointments from July 2023 through November 2023.
The board appointed Charles Rosson to the Ag/Forestal and Rural Preservation Committee to represent the Louisa Extension Office.
The board appointed Angela Critics to the Monticello Area Community Action Agency Board of Directors.
The board appointed Rick Dowsett to the Transportation Safety Commission to represent the Cuckoo District.
The board appointed Mark Tubbs to the Industrial Development Authority to represent the Green Springs District, effective January 1, 2024.
The board appointed Patricia Thomasson to the Human Services Advisory Board.
The board appointed Michael Hernandez to the Jefferson Area Board on Aging Board of Directors.
The board reappointed Florence Reece to the Commission on Aging to represent the Louisa District.
The board reappointed Lillian Morris to the Commission on Aging to represent the Mountain Road District.
The board reappointed J. Randolph Parker to the Jaunt Board of Directors.
Click here for contact information for the Louisa County Board of Supervisors.
Find agendas and minutes from previous Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission meetings as well as archived recordings here.
Click here for contact information for the Louisa County School Board.
Click here for minutes and agendas for School Board meetings. Click here for archived video.
Click here to access past editions of Engage Louisa.