This week in county government; Craig launches bid in HD59; Board defers public hearing for LA Resort rezoning request; PC recap
Engage Louisa is a community newsletter aimed at keeping folks informed about Louisa County government. It’s free, non-partisan, and powered by volunteers. 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. 12 through Dec. 17
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 frequently schedules internal committee/work group meetings after publication time. Check the county’s website for the most updated information).
Tuesday, December 13
Human Services Advisory Board, Conference Room, Human Services Building, 103 McDonald Street, Louisa, 11 am. At publication time, an agenda was not publicly available.
Wednesday, December 14
James River Water Authority, Morris Room, Fluvanna County Administration Building, 132 Main Street, Palmyra, 9 am. (agenda packet)
Louisa County Water Authority, Public Meeting Room, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 6 pm. At publication time, an agenda was not publicly available.
Thursday, December 15
Industrial Development Authority, Public Meeting Room, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 8:30 am. At publication time, an agenda was not publicly available.
Other meetings
Monday, December 12
Mineral Town Council, 312 Mineral Ave., Mineral, 7 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.
Craig launches bid for 59th District House of Delegates seat
Former Louisa County Republican Committee Chair Graven Craig last week announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination in the new 59th House of Delegates District. The district includes most of Louisa County and parts of Hanover and Henrico.
“I am pleased to announce my candidacy for the House of Delegates for the 59th District. It is imperative that we nominate a candidate who will fight for job creation, family values, the life of the unborn, and the Constitution, including the Second Amendment and civil liberties,” Craig said in a press release.
Craig is an attorney and partner in the Louisa law firm Craig Williams. His campaign announcement touts his experience running the firm as providing first-hand knowledge of the “onerous regulations that all small business owners face” and pledges that he’ll fight “the bureaucratic red-tape that stifles the economic growth Virginians deserves.”
Craig joins two other Republicans already in the race: 55th District Delegate Buddy Fowler and Henrico Attorney Philip Strother. Democrat Rachel Levy, an Ashland educator, has also announced her candidacy.
All 100 seats in Virginia’s House of Delegates are up for grabs on new maps in 2023 thanks to the once-a-decade redistricting process. The new 59th draws about 42 percent of its voters from Hanover County, 33 percent from Louisa, and nearly 25 percent from Henrico. Based on results from previous elections, the district is friendly terrain for Republicans. Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) won the 59th by nearly 27 points in 2021 while Republicans claimed 60 percent of the district’s votes to Democrats’ 39 percent in last year’s midterm elections.
Fowler currently represents more than 40 percent of the district’s voters in the 55th House District though his Hanover County home was drawn into the neighboring 60th District during last year’s redistricting process. The new 60th is also home to Republican Delegate Scott Wyatt. Fowler told the Richmond Times-Dispatch earlier this year that he recently moved to Beaverdam, which lies in both his current district and the new 59th, to seek election in the district. First elected in 2013, Fowler is vying for his sixth term.
For his part, Craig is also a veteran politico, having served in the Republican Party at the local, state, and national level, according to his press release. The race marks his third bid for the House of Delegates. In 2017, Craig finished second to Del. John McGuire in a six-way primary for the Republican nomination in the 56th House District. In 2011, he was one of six Republicans who vied for the nomination in the 56th in an abbreviated nominating process decided by a committee vote. He lost that bid to former Delegate Peter Farrell.
At publication time, it’s unclear how 59th District Republicans will choose their nominee for the November 7 General Election.
10th District Republicans opt for convention to choose senate nominee: Republican leaders in the 10th District last week opted to choose their nominee for state Senate via a convention in the spring of 2023. The location and date of the event have not yet been determined.
Four candidates are vying for the Republican nomination in the 10th, a Republican-friendly district with no incumbent: Louisa County Board of Supervisors Chair Duane Adams, Powhatan resident Sandy Brindley, Hanover GOP Chair Jack Dyer, and 56th District Delegate John McGuire. The district includes most of Louisa County and western Hanover at its northern edge and stretches south encompassing all of Goochland, Fluvanna, Buckingham, Cumberland, Powhatan, Amelia, and Appomattox counties and part of Prince Edward.
BOS recap: Supes defer public hearing on LA Resort rezoning request
The Louisa County Board of Supervisors on Monday night delayed a public hearing on a controversial rezoning request then dispatched with their remaining business in short order. Prior to their regular meeting, supervisors convened a work session to discuss the county’s legislative priorities for the 2023 General Assembly session. Check out highlights of both meetings below. (meeting materials, video) (legislative work session video)
Supervisors defer public hearing on LA Resort rezoning request
At the request of the applicant, supervisors deferred a public hearing on LA Resort, LLC’s request to rezone 15.27 acres just west of the Route 208 bridge on Lake Anna from commercial (C-2 GAOD) to Planned Unit Development (PUD). The board is expected to hold the hearing and vote on the rezoning at its January 17 meeting.
If approved, the rezoning would clear the way for a mixed-use complex featuring an up to 96-unit residential condo building, a 130-room hotel, a restaurant, and marina along Mitchell Creek, a narrow cove just south of Route 208 that’s lined with single-family homes. The applicant is also asking for a Conditional Use Permit to allow the condo building to reach 80 feet high, 20 feet taller than what’s allowed for multi-family residential structures in a PUD.
The proposal has sparked strong opposition from neighbors, who’ve used the public comment period at Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission meetings to urge county officials to reject the rezoning. With the public hearing delayed, seven residents again weighed in during public comment to express concerns about the project.
Most speakers amplified issues raised at previous meetings, from the project’s potential impact on local infrastructure and the character of the community to the cost of a privately-owned wastewater treatment facility that the county is considering acquiring to support the PUD and continued economic development along the Route 208 corridor. The corridor is one of eight areas targeted for growth in the county’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan, but currently lacks public utilities.
Mitchell Creek residents also presented supervisors with about 300 comments in opposition to the rezoning solicited via an online petition. Many of the comments criticize the PUD, contending it doesn’t mesh with the county’s rural character and that it would overwhelm local roads, county services, and other infrastructure. Residents also said they fear the project’s approval would open the door to more high-density development on the lake.
“This development will destroy the Lake Anna environment, wildlife, and rural feel of our community. Please Just Say No to this oversized and dangerous development,” one commenter wrote.
“Condos represent overdevelopment of (the) lakefront, which cannot support waste management, nor lake and road traffic. Infrastructure is needed and services first,” another commenter wrote.
“Lake Anna is built up enough. We must resist, as a community, any more of these gaudy buildings for the wealthy tourists who would see Lake Anna become the next Myrtle Beach. I live at Lake Anna because I want to live in Lake Anna as it currently is. I’ve been to Smith Mountain (Lake) and I do NOT want to live in an area like that. If we allow projects such as this, then in a blink of a generation, this will no longer be the peaceful, rural community that makes Lake Anna so desirable,” a third commenter wrote.
After distributing the comments to the board, neighbor Phil Winston warned that, as word of the development spreads around the community, resistance is growing.
“This is not wanted in our county and if you, as a group, are here to represent the citizens of the county, you must understand that this is not wanted,” he said, noting that 50 people had signed the petition since he and another neighbor handed out flyers about the proposed PUD during Louisa’s holiday parade two days prior.
Winston also criticized the county for putting the developers’ wishes ahead of residents.
“I asked several weeks ago about if a group of residents wanted to defer (the hearing), would that be possible…I was told, ‘well, that’s never been done before.’ Then, this week comes up and (there’s) a deferral,” Winston said. “So, the developer gets what he wants and the citizens don’t.”
Prince William County Developer Mike Grossman, on behalf of LA Resort, LLC, asked that the board delay the public hearing in a Dec. 1 email to county staff just after the agenda for Monday’s board meeting was released. Grossman said that LAR “request(s) additional time to prepare prior to the public hearing.” Board Chair Duane Adams announced in a Facebook post later that morning that he anticipated the board would grant the deferral “as is customary with (such) requests.”
The deferral marked the second time the applicant postponed the hearing, which was first scheduled for the board’s November 21 meeting. Adams said that the applicant delayed the initial hearing to give community members more time to review the project. Several neighbors had complained at previous meetings that the public process was moving too quickly and residents didn’t have time to adequately study the proposal.
Grossman participated in a town hall in mid-November at Callie Opie’s restaurant that Adams moderated, where he listened to community members’ concerns and answered questions for about an hour and a half. More than 100 people attended the meeting.
Supervisors approve incentive program for county employees, green-light $1k bonuses
Following a public hearing, supervisors voted unanimously to adopt an amendment to county code that establishes a framework to provide financial incentives, bonuses, and awards to county employees for exceptional service.
According to the approved resolution, the incentive program allows the county to award a bonus of up to $5,000 or five percent of an employee’s annual salary, whichever is greater. The program will be administered by the Human Resources Department while the Board of Supervisors will approve directives determining the types of incentives, awards, and bonuses, the exceptional services for which they may be granted, their amount, and selection criteria.
Mountain Road District Supervisor Tommy Barlow expressed concern that the resolution didn’t clearly state that supervisors have the final say on the awards. The board agreed to add language stating that any bonus or incentive requires board approval.
The board then voted 5-1 to award all full-time and part-time county employees, excluding seasonal workers, a $1,000 bonus. Barlow was the only supervisor to vote against the measure. Patrick Henry District Supervisor Fitzgerald Barnes was absent.
Barlow said that he couldn’t support the bonuses because county staffers have already received raises and increased benefits. He noted that the payout would cost taxpayers $450,000.
Board okays Barlow’s split parcel proposal
Supervisors held a public hearing then unanimously approved a proposal pushed by Mountain Road District Supervisor Tommy Barlow that would change the way the county recognizes parcels split by dedicated right-of-ways on federal, state, and local roads, codify the process to recognize the split/non-contiguous parcels, and provide additional provisions for development.
The amendment to county code deems parcels separated by a dedicated right-of-way on a federal, state or local road as separate and individual parcels for taxation and development purposes subject to several conditions including the submission and recording of a plat with Louisa County identifying the parcels.
Barlow, a surveyor by trade, said at the board’s October 17 meeting that, prior to 2015, the county considered properties divided by federal, state and local roads as separate tax map parcels. But, since then, properties that straddle a road or highway have been considered “physically separated parcels but not legally separated.” In Barlow’s view, that doesn’t make a lot of sense.
“(This amendment) takes it back to what makes commonsense. If you’ve got a parcel split by a fee simple road than they are split,” Barlow said Monday night.
In meeting with state lawmakers, supervisors push for more funding to address HAB
Supervisors convened their annual legislative work session Monday afternoon to discuss with state lawmakers the county’s priorities for the 2023 General Assembly session. Sen. Mark Peake (R-SD22), Delegate John McGuire (R-HD56) and a representative from Sen. Bryce Reeves’ office (R-SD17) attended the meeting along with legislatives liaisons from the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission and the Virginia Association of Counties.
As he did during supervisors’ last meeting with lawmakers, Board Chair and Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams took the opportunity to sound the alarm about Harmful Algal Blooms at Lake Anna and push for more help from the state in addressing the issue.
HABs, comprised of toxin-producing cyanobacteria that can be detrimental to human health, are a growing problem at the lake and in other freshwater bodies across the state. The blooms have been especially problematic in the lake’s upper end, north of the Route 208 bridge, where they’ve prompted the Virginia Department of Health to issue no-swim advisories in each of the last five summers. Earlier this year, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality named the lake to its list of impaired waterways, citing the persistence of HAB. The blooms are generally believed to be caused by excess nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen in warm, stagnant water.
“(HAB) does have a material effect on the economy around the lake. It has an impact on property values. It has an impact on all the businesses that support the influx of visitors that we get at Lake Anna,” Adams said.
Adams said that while the county is grateful for previous state aid aimed at addressing HAB, he and his colleagues want to see money directed specifically at immediate mitigation efforts. The biennial state budget passed last June included $3.5 million for state agencies to study the blooms thanks, in part, to legislation Peake carried.
“We are grateful for what the General Assembly has done in the past, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” Adams said. “I think we need to continue to drive towards a mitigation on how we can correct the problem.”
Peake said that he’s been lobbying Governor Glenn Youngkin’s office to include in its budget proposal for the coming year $1 million for mitigation efforts. He said if the governor doesn’t include the money, he’ll carry a budget amendment and try to win funding that way. Youngkin will present his budget proposal to a joint meeting of the General Assembly’s money committees on Dec. 15.
“We are hoping that million dollars will be there…we are pushing for that so they can begin immediate mitigation,” Peake said, adding that he talked directly with Secretary of Finance Stephen Cummings at a recent budget retreat and he’s familiar with the problem.
Supervisors have also pressed the Youngkin administration for funding, sending a letter last month that echoed Peake’s ask.
“While we expect DEQ’s study to eventually produce useful and actionable information, that process will likely take many years to come to fruition. Meanwhile, there is an immediate need for treatment and mitigation of HABs at Lake Anna using any number of proven treatments that can help ensure the lake remains safe, open, and economically viable,” the letter states.
To read more about the county’s legislative priorities, click here.
PC recap: Commission okays grass parking amendment
The Louisa County Planning Commission on Thursday voted 5-2 to recommend approval of an amendment to county code that would empower the Zoning Administrator to permit the use of grass parking, on a case-by-case basis, at special occasion facilities or venues used for special events. Currently, code requires the use of gravel, stone, asphalt, or concrete parking and only allows the use of grass parking via a special exception approved by the Board of Supervisors. (meeting materials, video)
When reviewing a special exception request earlier this year, several supervisors wondered why the county didn’t allow grass parking at event venues in agricultural zoning, noting it could help maintain the area’s rural character. The board ultimately decided to send the issue to the Planning Commission for review.
A memo from Senior Planner Tom Egeland notes that, in the last five years, the board has considered four special exception requests for grass parking, each tied to a special occasion facility.
Egeland points out that requiring gravel or paved parking at such facilities can be an onerous, detract from the facility’s character, and prevent parts of the property from being used for agricultural purposes in the future.
“Many farm wedding locations want to continue farming operations outside of the wedding seasons. The current requirement of improved parking would take away land that could be actively farmed. Applicants have also informed staff that improved surface parking areas take away the farm wedding feel,” Egeland wrote. “Additionally, land disturbance over 10,000 square feet requires an engineered plan to be prepared and reviewed. The minor and major site plan development and review process can take several months and cost applicants thousands of dollars.”
While commissioners didn’t have a problem with allowing grass parking on a case-by-case basis, proposed provisions for how the county would monitor the condition of the parking areas sparked debate. As originally proposed, the amendment required property owners to submit a grass parking plan, schedule annual visits with staff during the first three years of operation of all approved grass parking locations and prepare a photo report for the Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission on the conditions found during these visits.
Cuckoo District Commissioner George Goodwin took issue with the latter two requirements. He said if the county wants a photo report, staff should compile it, otherwise it’s not needed. He also noted that allowing property owners to select times for site visits could ensure that officials’ only see the property in good condition.
“We are either going to trust (the applicant) or we are not. If we do trust them and business is going to regulate itself…we don’t need to talk about any inspections or photo reports,” he said. “But, if we don’t trust them, this doesn’t work. It’s one way for the other. This is kinda written both ways.”
After some discussion, Patrick Henry District Commissioner Ellis Quarles moved to table the amendment to allow time for “some more fine tuning.” But his motion failed to get a second.
Goodwin followed with his own motion to green-light the amendment but remove the site visit and photo report requirements. The commission backed that version with Quarles and Mountain Road District Commissioner Gordon Brooks voting in opposition.
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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