This week in county government; County provides more details about planned AWS data centers; BOS roundup; PC to hold public hearing on STR regs; State budget deal includes $1 mil to fight HAB at lake

Sep 11, 2023

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, Sept. 11 through Sept. 16

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, September 12

Louisa County Electoral Board, 103 McDonald Street, Louisa, 10 am.

Wednesday, September 13

James River Water Authority, Fluvanna County Administration Building, 132 Main St., Palmyra, 9 am. At publication time, an agenda was not publicly available.

Louisa County Water Authority, Public Meeting Room, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 6 pm.

Thursday, September 14

Louisa County Planning Commission, long-range planning work session, Public Meeting Room, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 5 pm. (meeting materials, livestream)

Louisa County Planning Commission, Public Meeting Room, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 7 pm. (meeting materials, livestream)

Other meetings

Monday, September 11

Mineral Town Council, 312 Mineral Ave., Mineral, 6:30 pm. At publication time, an agenda was not publicly available.

Additional information about Louisa County’s upcoming public meetings is available here.

Interested in taking your talents to one of the county’s numerous boards and commissions? Find out more here including which boards have vacancies and how to apply.

County provides more details about planned Amazon data center campuses

Louisa County announced in late August that Amazon Web Services plans to invest $11 billion by 2040 to build two data center campuses in the newly created Technology Overlay District, a special zoning designation approved by the Board of Supervisors in April to attract lucrative tech sector development. The project is part of a planned $35 billion investment by AWS to build data centers across Virginia, a deal that Governor Glenn Youngkin announced in January.

Economic Development Director Andy Wade, at the board’s September 5 meeting, provided more details about the tech giant’s plans for the campuses and the carrots the county is using to lure the company, presenting an initial performance agreement that provides a broad outline of what both parties are expected to bring to the table. The board approved the agreement in a 7-0 vote, but county officials acknowledged that it doesn’t include some key information and requires future amendments. (meeting materials, video)

Amazon plans to build 11 data centers across its two campuses, according to Wade. The smaller of the sites, dubbed the Lake Anna Technology Campus (LATC), will sit on about 150 acres at the corner of Kentucky Springs Road and Haley Drive adjacent to the North Anna Nuclear Power Station. The larger site, called the North Creek Technology Campus (NCTC), is slated for 1,400 acres south of Route 33 across from the Northeast Creek Reservoir. (map)

The county has promised that the centers will deliver “hundreds of jobs,” making AWS one of the county’s largest private sector employers. Wade estimated that each facility will employ about 25 people, meaning the campuses would generate about 275 jobs at full buildout, which is expected to take 15 years. The jobs will likely be a mix of tech, maintenance and administrative positions based on reports on data center employment in other localities.

Compared to large-scale manufacturing facilities and distribution centers, data centers aren’t significant job creators, but they are prized by local governments because of the sizable tax revenue they generate—mostly from the pricey computer equipment inside—and their limited impact on core services like schools and roads. The facilities will house servers and network equipment that support AWS’s cloud computing and streaming services, helping “people connect to friends and family, work remotely, shop online, and stream movies, TV shows, music, and video games,” according to the county’s announcement.

Wade said that, at full buildout, the county could garner $25 million in local tax revenue annually from the campuses. About two-thirds of that money would come from the county’s business personal property tax levied on the computer equipment and other items while roughly one-third would come from real estate taxes. The $25 million figure is more than double the taxes paid by Dominion Energy last year for its North Anna Power Station. Dominion is the county’s largest taxpayer.

Though Amazon has promised to make an $11 billion capital investment in the county by July 1, 2040, according to the performance agreement, the county could see dividends from the project far sooner. Wade anticipates that work will start at the Lake Anna Technology Campus first, with a data center potentially in operation by late 2024 or early 2025. Based on an analysis by the Economic Development Department, Wade estimates that one data center could generate, on average, about $2.5 million in tax revenue a year over a 15-year span.

But tax revenue from data centers can be tricky to predict and Louisa’s anticipated windfall could be significantly impacted by several factors. According to the performance agreement, the county plans to lower the business personal property tax rate (BPP) from $1.90 per $100 of assessed value to $1.25 specifically for data center equipment, and implement an accelerated depreciation schedule that would rapidly decrease the taxable value of the equipment over five years. At the start, the county would tax the equipment at 50 percent of its value, but by year five and any year beyond that, it would tax the equipment at just five percent. The board will hold a public hearing and consider adoption of the tax plan at its September 18 meeting.

While Wade said that the anticipated $25 million in revenue accounts for changes to the BPP, exactly what the county pulls in via taxes would be impacted by how often the company replaces the equipment. Wade said that Amazon typically replaces its equipment every five to six years. If it opted not to, the county would receive less revenue.

Loudoun County, the global epicenter of the data center industry, is home to some 25 million square feet of the warehouse-like facilities, which contributed more than $600 million to county coffers last year. But, according to media reports, in tax year 2021, Loudoun faced a $60 million shortfall in its projected data center revenue because companies didn’t replace their servers after the pandemic. Loudoun is considering setting up a stabilization fund to protect itself against future shortfalls.

The performance agreement, which runs through 2050 to align with a state incentives package, also obligates the county to provide Amazon with both infrastructure grants over the first 20 years (beginning in 2026) and performance grants over the last five. County officials say that the grant money would be derived from new revenue generated by the campuses via real estate and personal property taxes, but the performance agreement doesn’t detail what percentage of that revenue the company would receive.

Legislation passed by the General Assembly last session to cement Amazon’s investment in the state establishes a $140 million grant fund available to data center developers that meet certain capital investment and job creation goals. The fund is essentially available only to AWS and the state plans to provide grant money on a proportional basis to localities where the company invests. The grant money is earmarked for infrastructure investment, workforce development and other project-related costs and designed to spur data center development in more rural areas that currently lack the infrastructure to support them.

The grant fund requires that localities provide two dollars in matching funds for every dollar invested by the state. Wade said the performance agreement would be amended at a future board meeting to show what percentage of tax revenue would be returned to the company, noting that the state hasn't issued guidance on how the grant fund will work and the county is still negotiating with Amazon on some incentives. The initial agreement says that the county’s payments to AWS could exceed what’s required by the state.

While the infrastructure grants assist AWS in getting its project off the ground, the performance grants are designed to spur additional capital investment in the county beyond $11 billion, according to county officials. The state incentive package includes milestones for up to $100 billion in investment statewide by 2040.

“The purpose of those incentives is to reimburse Amazon for some of those infrastructure costs. The same with the state grants so those two items align. The second is to continue to incentivize them to invest in the county over and above that $11 billion commitment,” Wade said, adding that “all indications are that the $11 billion will be eclipsed.”

Because data centers typically require large quantities of water to cool the servers inside, accessing the resource is perhaps the most significant piece of the infrastructure puzzle. Wade said that both campuses would rely on the county’s 187-acre Northeast Creek Reservoir for their water supply. The NCTC, located just across the street, will draw both potable and raw water from the reservoir and will be served by public sewer. The Lake Anna campus will draw only raw water.

Wade said that Amazon would pay for the water and sewer infrastructure, including a miles-long raw waterline to the Lake Anna campus, but the county would design build, own and operate it and charge AWS for its water use. Wade is working with Louisa County Water Authority (LCWA) General Manager Pam Baughman on a Water Services Agreement with the company that sets rates and connection fees, among other project parameters. The agreement will be considered by LCWA’s board and supervisors at future meetings.

One of the key concerns about data center development is the facilities’ demand for water. Wade said that the two campuses are expected to use 620,000 gallons of raw water per day and that the Northeast Creek Reservoir has a “safe yield” capacity of 2.77 million gallons of water daily. Baughman said in an email on Friday that the county recently conducted a capacity study on the reservoir, prompted by the AWS project, and the study found that the reservoir could safely yield some 3.2 million gallons daily though that figure hasn’t been approved by regulators. Baughman said that, from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023, the average daily withdraw from the reservoir was 277,000 gallons.

Wade said that the county could see another benefit from the deal. Amazon could donate up to 350 acres of unimproved land within the NCTC back to the county to develop as it sees fit.

BOS roundup: Supes ok more funding for James River Water Project

The Louisa County Board of Supervisors was back in action on Tuesday night after a light summer schedule that included just two meetings in the previous two months, a departure from supervisors’ regular bimonthly meetings.

Beyond approving an initial performance agreement with Amazon Web Services (see above), which plans to build two data center campuses in the county by 2040, the board okayed the latest cost estimate for the James River Water Project, green-lighted construction of a water tower at the Shannon Hill Regional Business Park, rejected a proposal to alter the color scheme of the county seal and more.

BOS oks more funding for James River Water Project: Supervisors authorized the James River Water Authority to spend up to $45.6 million to complete the James River Water Project, a joint effort with Fluvanna County to draw raw water from the river to meet both localities long-term needs.

The $45.6 million cost, which Louisa will split with Fluvanna, covers construction of a water intake and pump station on the banks of the James, a four-mile stretch of pipeline to connect it to an existing water main just north of Route 6 in southern Fluvanna, design and engineering, easement acquisition and related due diligence. It doesn’t include financing fees or interest on the debt issuance the authority is expected to tap to pay for the project. Fluvanna supervisors will consider approving the funding at an upcoming meeting.

The latest cost estimate is about $6 million more than what JRWA expected to pay earlier this year, according to county officials. It’s $8 million more than a cost estimate floated by JRWA's consultants last summer.

County Administrator Christian Goodwin and Louisa District Supervisor Eric Purcell, who represent the county on JRWA’s board of directors, attributed the cost increase to a combination of inflation and changes in the scope of the project. They said that JRWA is close to securing the necessary permits to start construction and green-lighting the additional funding is necessary to keep the project on track.

JRWA needs two permits to start building: a nationwide permit from the Army Corps of Engineers for construction and a withdrawal permit from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to pull water from the river. Goodwin said that a draft of the latter permit is out for public comment—meaning its nearly in hand—and the authority hopes to receive the COE permit by the end of the year. Assuming it does, Goodwin said that construction would start next year, and the pipeline would be operational by 2026.

Mountain Road District Supervisor Tommy Barlow said that JRWA should get its permits before asking for more money. He was the only supervisor to vote against the funding.

“We have spent an enormous amount of money on this thing and I am not ready to authorize more spending until we get that permit done,” Barlow said, referring to the COE permit. “Supposedly, it was coming around the middle of this month. My guess is that has probably moved back. I want to see the James River waterline happen. But I don’t want to see any more money spent until we know it’s going to happen, and we have a permit.”

Green Springs District Supervisor Rachel Jones said people in her district are “chomping at the bit” to see the project come to fruition. The pipeline will feed the Zion Crossroads Growth Area, relieving it from reliance on county-owned wells that, some say, can’t support current or continued development. Jones asked if holding off on more funding until the permits are in hand might delay the project.

Goodwin said it could.

“To answer your question succinctly, Supervisor Jones, yes. It can (put) the permit and, perhaps more worrisome, the cost of the project at risk,” Goodwin said, adding that delays could lead to cost increases for project materials. “You don’t want to slow design down too far…when you do get the permit, which I’m hopeful will be before we get out of 2023, if not sooner than that, we want to be able to pull the trigger and get in the ground and go to work so the cost doesn’t go up more.”

Louisa and Fluvanna joined forces to build the infrastructure about a decade ago, first opting to place the pump station and in-take near the confluence of the James and Rivanna rivers at a site that’s believed to be Rassawek, the ancestral capital of the Monacan Indian Nation. But the federally recognized tribe staunchly opposed the location, stymying the federal permitting process and delaying the project for several years. Facing increasing pressure from the Monacan, JRWA, in March 2022, agreed to move the pump station about two miles upstream and reroute the pipeline to connect to it, triggering a new permitting process. In a letter, the Monacan agreed to support the new site.

Louisa has already invested more than $40 million in the James River project outside of JRWA. The county built a 13-mile pipeline from Route 6 across Fluvanna and a water treatment plant at Ferncliff, both of which will be operated by the Louisa County Water Authority. When the final pieces of infrastructure are complete, the county will channel millions of gallons of water from the river to development along Interstate 64 including at Zion Crossroads and the Shannon Hill Regional Business Park.

When the county began the project in 2014, it estimated that its infrastructure north of Route 6 and JRWA’s portion of the project south of Route 6 would together cost between $40 and $45 million and be operational by 2017. Almost 10 years later, the project isn’t finished, and its price tag has roughly doubled.

Supes green-light Shannon Hill water tower project: The board green-lighted construction of a water tower at the Shannon Hill Regional Business Park. Supervisors allotted $4.9 million for the structure in the FY24 Capital Improvement Plan, part of a $27.55 million appropriation to pay for wet utility infrastructure at the park. The tower is now expected to cost $5.6 million, bringing the total price tag for the utility project to about $28.3 million.

The county plans to pay for the infrastructure using a combination of state grant funding, debt issuance and revenue from the Louisa County Industrial Development Authority. Specifically, the IDA intends to cover $4.9 million of the tower’s cost, drawing on proceeds from land sales and revenue it could receive from a utility-scale solar project slated for the authority-owned Cooke Industrial Rail Park. The county plans to pay for the tower up front with the IDA delivering annual reimbursements as it receives revenue.

Louisa District Supervisor Eric Purcell expressed concern that the IDA planned to rely, in part, on solar revenue to pay the county back. He said the solar project isn’t a done deal because PJM, the regional authority that oversees the grid, hasn’t issued a report on its feasibility.

Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams said that the finance committee, which recommended the arrangement, did so understanding that there was an “inherent risk” that the solar revenue might not materialize. But he said the plan was put in place to ensure that, if it did, the authority’s money is used to support economic development.

In a separate but related action, supervisors awarded a contract to Landmark Structures for construction of the 750,000-gallon spheroid elevated water storage tank. The company was the lowest of four bidders who vied for the project.

Both items passed 6-1 with Patrick Henry District Supervisor Fitzgerald Barnes casting the lone no vote. Barnes said that he isn’t inclined to support more funding for the park until the county has a business committed to locate there.

Board oks commercial rezoning near Zion Crossroads: Supervisors held a public hearing and voted unanimously to approve Three Notch Road, LLC’s request to rezone, from Industrial Limited (I-1 GAOD) to General Commercial (C-2 GAOD), 3.03 acres (tmp 52-2-2) near the intersection of Three Notch Road (Route 250) and Bybee Road (Route 607) to allow a recreational vehicle sales and service business.

The parcel is currently home to Peebles Golf Cars, a business that sells, stores and repairs golf carts. But, according to Steve Houchens, a representative of Three Notch Road, LLC, the property’s owner, Peebles wants to sell a new classification of golf cart that’s considered a “low speed vehicle.” To accommodate those sales, the property required a rezoning to general commercial because the use isn’t permitted in industrial zoning.

“This new classification of vehicle is built and operates like a car, but it looks and has the same speed limit and probably more capability than a golf cart. But it operates like an automobile, so it’s classified as an automobile. Basically, we are seeking this (rezoning) to be able to allow (our tenant) to sell a new product line. The site will not get used any differently than it is. It won’t look any different than it does,” Houchens told the Planning Commission at its August meeting.

In proffers attached to the rezoning request, Houchens agreed to exclude some 80 uses permitted in C-2 zoning. Three Notch retained the right to use the parcel for uses related to vehicles sales, service and storage and for most uses allowed in both commercial and the property’s current industrial zoning including a brewery and winery.

Board rejects proposed change to county seal color scheme: Supervisors rejected a proposed change to the dominant color in the county seal.

The seal, adopted in 1985, features Princess Louisa donning a blue and white dress and holding white flowers flanked by a tobacco leaf and a Dogwood flower. It’s predominantly yellow and includes a geographic representation of the county with a green backdrop. County Administrator Christian Goodwin requested that the board consider changing the dominant color from yellow to gold, noting that the seal is “very attention-getting” and it clashes with the gold coloring used on many of the county’s emergency vehicles.

“It’s extremely yellow…I’m fine with it being the same, but it would be nice to make it a bit more subdued when necessary, so that it matches some of our apparatuses a little bit better,” Goodwin said, noting that the code language describing the seal says that green and gold—not yellow—were chosen to match the high school’s colors.

Mountain Road District Supervisor Tommy Barlow said that he preferred to keep the seal the way it is, suggesting that altering it could cost the county money because it would require ordering new letterhead and changing other materials.

“I don’t see the necessity in changing it. It’s going to be a cost to do it, and I don’t see any gain or benefit,” Barlow said.

A motion by Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams to change the seal’s color to gold failed to get a second, leaving the current color scheme intact.

Supes discuss Bracketts Farm tax exemption request, delay action: Supervisors discussed whether to hold a public hearing to consider a real estate tax exemption for Bracketts Farm, a 500-acre working farm in the Green Spring National Historic Landmark District. The Elizabeth A. Nolting Foundation, which owns the farm, requested the exemption under a section of state code that allows localities to exempt nonprofits from real estate taxes on property used for “religious, charitable, patriotic, historical, benevolent, cultural, or public park and playground purposes.”

Jack Maus, a retired attorney and member of the board that oversees the farm, said supervisors should grant the request for a public hearing because Bracketts meets the criteria for the exemption. He said the farm is an important historical site that allows the public to visit and learn about the Green Springs Historic District. It’s listed as a birding destination by the Department of Wildlife Resources, offers a one-mile public heritage nature trail and operates a charity garden that produces food for the Louisa County Resource Council.

Maus acknowledged that the foundation earns rental income from the property—technically not a charitable use—but said that the money is used to “fulfill our responsibility” of keeping the doors open at one of the county’s most prominent historic resources. The foundation earns about $45,000 in rent annually from four dwellings on the farm.

“What you have to look at is the broad picture. What are we doing with the money that we get from those rents? We maintain our properties,” Maus said. “Our historic manor house was built in 1803. Old properties need to be taken care of. When you are not owner-occupied, you have to have somebody there to watch out for the property and make sure that when the roof leaks, somebody finds out about it, and it gets fixed.”

But County Attorney Helen Phillips cited case law that interprets the exemption statute to mean “if a property is not exclusively used for charitable purposes, an exemption should not be granted.“

Phillips’ argument, Maus contended, conflicts with previous decisions by the board to provide exemptions to other charitable organizations. He pointed specifically to the VFW in Mineral where the post’s auxiliary operates a restaurant on weekends.

“You can get a dinner there and that is not a charitable function. But they do it to raise money for the good that they do in the same way Bracketts receives rent in order to do the charitable things that we do,” Maus said.

The board didn’t decide on whether to move forward with a public hearing. Instead, Board Chair Duane Adams appointed Green Springs District Supervisor Rachel Jones and Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams to a committee to further explore the matter. Williams told Maus that the board would make a decision by its September 18 meeting.

Note: This post was updated to clarify the remarks of County Attorney Helen Phillips.

Board tentatively sets annual meeting with state legislators for November 20: Supervisors tentatively set their annual meeting with the county’s legislators in the General Assembly for November 20, just two weeks after high-stakes state legislative elections that will determine which party controls the body’s two narrowly divided chambers.

Supervisors each fall adopt a set of legislative priorities then discuss those items with legislators in hopes that they’ll carry a bill or otherwise advocate for the county’s wish list.

County Administrator Christian Goodwin acknowledged that this year’s legislative meetup would be later than usual because of the elections, which will determine who represents the county in both the House and the Senate. All 140 seats in the General Assembly are up for grabs this fall under new maps adopted during the decennial redistricting process.

Board passes resolution expressing concern with state funding related to services for children with special needs: Supervisors approved a resolution formally expressing concern with “the implementation of budget language on statewide rate setting for private day special education funded through the Children’s Services Act.”

Essentially, the board was concerned that the state intended to cap the amount it would reimburse localities for the cost of private day services for students with special needs.

A recent memo from the state said it wouldn’t reimburse localities for the costs of private day services in excess of a 2 percent increase from rates established for the 2022-2023 school year. But Louisa County uses 14 private day facilities, 11 of which increased their rates between 5 and 12 percent for the 2023-24 academic year, meaning the county would have to shell out more local funds to pay for the services.

But Finance Director Wanda Colvin said that a budget deal struck by the House of Delegates and state Senate in early September removed the cap, resolving the county’s issue. She encouraged the board to approve the resolution anyway because the budget bill hadn’t yet been adopted. The General Assembly passed the bill last Wednesday and it’s awaiting the governor’s signature.

PC to consider proposed STR regulations

Short-term rentals are back on the Louisa County Planning Commission’s agenda.

After convening several work sessions where they discussed draft STR rules, commissioners will hold a public hearing and consider whether to recommend to the Board of Supervisors approval of a proposed ordinance that would sanction and regulate the temporary lodging option.

STRs have exploded in popularity over the last several years especially in vacation destinations like Lake Anna. They’ve drawn tourists to the lake for short stays and investors who’ve scooped up waterside properties and, in turn, offered them for rent. For the last two years, the property management firm, Vacasa, named Lake Anna as the best place to buy a vacation home in the country, citing the potential for a hefty return on investment.

The proliferation of STRs around the lake has stirred controversy with some year-round residents arguing that the rentals are businesses operating in residential neighborhoods that threaten the character of their community, public safety and the health of the lake. They’ve specifically cited concerns that overcrowded STRs could lead to septic system failures that harm the lake’s water quality and urged the county to regulate the rentals by adopting an occupancy cap and other rules.

Many STR operators and business owners take a different view, contending that short-term rentals are essential to the lake’s tourism industry and strictly regulating them could decimate the local economy. Some STR owners say that they have a right to do what they want with their property just like their neighbors, noting that the county isn’t trying to regulate how many guests those who don’t run short-term rentals can have at their home.

In response to community concerns, county officials have been struggling with how to address short-term rentals for more than a year. Though the use isn’t permitted by-right in county code, more than 460 STRs are operating here, according to figures from the Commissioner of the Revenue’s office, which tracks the rentals to collect the county’s two percent transiency occupancy tax. Most, but not all, are clustered around the lake.

County officials drew on a section of state code that allows for the establishment of a short-term rental registry, among other rules, to draft an ordinance last year that would’ve strictly regulated STRs county-wide, mandating a two-person per bedroom occupancy cap unless state regulators approved more occupants, regular septic system inspections and annual registration.

But those regulations—particularly the occupancy cap—met stiff resistance from the Louisa County Chamber of Commerce, realtors and others in the business community who warned of the potential impact on tourism. Several STR owners urged the county to conduct an economic impact study before holding public hearings on the regulations.

The county didn’t move forward with the study, but did shelve the initial proposal, citing concerns that the state legislature would change how it allows localities to regulate STRs.

Officials have since put another proposal on the table that seeks to sanction and regulate STRs through the county’s zoning code, where the state gives localities more latitude to make their own rules. The commission on Thursday night will consider the draft and potentially recommend changes. Prior to their regular meeting, commissioners will hold one more work session to discuss the proposal.

What’s in the proposed ordinance

Broadly, the proposed rules impose some regulations on STRs in densely populated areas where they’ve seemingly caused the most concern while largely avoiding regulations in the county’s most rural reaches.

The ordinance defines an STR as “the rental of a dwelling for periods of 30 days or less” and designates it as a commercial use. It permits STRs by-right with some restrictions on property zoned residential (R-1 GAOD, R-2 GAOD) in the county’s designated growth areas, as defined in the 2040 Comprehensive Plan, as well as on property zoned for Resort Development (RD) and Planned Unit Development (PUD). Most waterfront real estate on Lake Anna is zoned residential and in a growth area. Spring Creek and Blue Ridge Shores are the two largest communities zoned for resort development. As currently proposed, STRs operating in these zoning designations would be required to:

provide a point of contact for their property to Louisa County and its subdivision’s governing body, if applicable;
provide to tenants a copy of Louisa County code sections pertaining to noise and solid waste as well as the definitions for Special Occasion Facilities and Gatherings as part of short-term rental contracts.
inform tenants that using the property for a special event typically held at a special occasion facility—a wedding, for example—is prohibited unless the property has a valid Conditional Use Permit;
provide tenants with at least one designated off-street parking space per bedroom and an off-street parking space for a trailer (20 ft by 8 ft);
provide to Louisa County documentation of septic system inspections and repairs whenever they are completed, if applicable;
comply with all applicable state building code and safety regulations;

If STR owners didn’t follow those rules, they would be required to obtain a Conditional Use Permit from the Board of Supervisors.

STRs operating inside or outside of growth areas in industrial (IND, I-1, I-2) and commercial (C-1, C-2) zoning designations would require a CUP as would STRs operating in residential zoning designations outside of growth areas. Short-term rentals in agricultural zoning (A-1, A-2) inside or outside a growth area would be permitted by-right and not subject to the rules governing STRs on residentially zoned property in growth areas.

The county wouldn’t impose rules on STRs in agricultural zoning to comply with an opinion that Attorney General Jason Miyares published earlier this year. The opinion essentially says that localities can’t use their zoning code to regulate short-term rentals on agricultural land because the use is considered agritourism.

If adopted, the ordinance would take effect on January 1, 2025.

State budget deal includes $1 million to fight Harmful Algal Blooms at Lake Anna

The General Assembly finalized amendments to the biennial state budget last week and delivered on one of the Louisa County Board of Supervisors’ top legislative priorities.

Lawmakers passed a budget deal on Wednesday that ended a months-long stalemate over what to do with a $3.6 billion funding surplus. The package includes a mix of one-time tax rebates and other relief and significant funding hikes for public schools, behavioral health services and water quality initiatives, among other programs. The bill still requires the signature of Governor Glenn Youngkin.

Of particular interest to Louisa County officials, the deal directs $1 million to the Department of Conservation and Recreation to fight Harmful Algal Blooms at Lake Anna. Composed of toxin-producing cyanobacteria that can be detrimental to human health and harmful to wildlife and pets, the blooms have prompted the Virginia Department of Health to issue no swim advisories for parts of the upper end of the lake every summer since 2018, disrupting the height of tourism season. Currently, the lake’s upper and middle North Anna branch is under an advisory, which warns people and pets to avoid activities that may involve ingesting water like swimming, windsurfing and standup paddle boarding. In humans, toxins produced by cyanobacteria can cause skin rash and gastrointestinal illness including nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

Supervisors and grassroots activists with the Lake Anna Civic Association have lobbied Louisa’s legislators to marshal state aid to address the blooms, which are a growing problem in freshwater bodies across the state. Those efforts bore some fruit last year when the legislature directed $3.5 million to study HAB in Lake Anna and the Shenandoah River.

While the exact cause of HAB at Lake Anna is complex, the blooms’ growth is generally attributed to excess nutrients, like phosphorus and nitrogen, in warm, stagnant water. Those nutrients can come from runoff from development and agriculture, among other sources. The three-year long DEQ study will include extensive data collection to determine exactly what sorts of algal species are present and identify pollutants contributing to the blooms and other causal factors. The study will then focus on developing prediction models for early detection, identifying management approaches, and working with stakeholders to develop a watershed plan. (Read more here).

Beyond long-range strategies to limit HAB and improve the lake’s water quality, county officials have pushed the state to fund short-term tactics aimed at mitigating the blooms, citing the lake’s role as an economic engine and the potential impact on tourism. The money included in the budget deal will “support cyanobacteria mitigation and remediation efforts” at the lake, according to the state budget website.

In a Facebook post, LACA hailed the state funding as “spectacular” news for the lake and thanked the “state legislators who proposed and fought for the budget amendment and our local county supervisors that supported this effort.” Over the last two years, the organization has conducted its own mitigation and remediation program funded by about $150,000 in private donations.

Louisa County Board of Supervisor Chair Duane Adams, who represents the upper end of the lake, said in an email that the state funding is an important step toward addressing the blooms, but more work lies ahead.

“I’m pleased to see the General Assembly and Governor Youngkin provide one million dollars in the recent budget for HAB mitigation for Lake Anna,” Adams said. “While this is a significant first step toward a solution, we must recognize the fact that resolving the HAB issue is a long and costly endeavor that will require continued state and federal funding. I look forward to working with our state and federal representatives to fully fund a solution.”

LACA activists told The Central Virginian last year that significantly reducing the blooms in the long-term can only be accomplished by changing practices in the watershed and could cost as much as $200 million and take many years.

Aside from the recent budget amendments, more state help could potentially be on the way because of the lake’s designation as one of the state’s impaired waterways. In its biennial Water Quality Assessment Integrated Report, released last summer, DEQ named Lake Anna and six other waterways impacted by HAB advisories to what’s colloquially known as Virginia’s “Dirty Waters List.” This is the first time the agency listed waterways as impaired because of HAB, signally a growing awareness of and concern about the problem in Richmond. Inclusion on the list can open the door to state resources for water quality restoration.

Read more about what’s in the state budget deal in Virginia Mercury.

Click here for contact information for the Louisa County Board of Supervisors.

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