This week in county government; School Board to appoint interim member; JRWA opts to move pump station to new site; Louisa to receive $775k for affordable housing; BOS set for busy meeting
This week in county government; School Board to appoint interim member; JRWA opts to move pump station to new site; Louisa to receive $775k for affordable housing; BOS set for busy meeting
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, March 21 through March 26
Monday, March 21
Louisa County Board of Supervisors, Public Meeting Room, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 6 pm. The board will convene in closed session at 5 pm. (agenda packet, livestream)
The board’s agenda includes one public hearing and several presentations and discussion items. See below for more information.
Tuesday, March 22
Louisa County School Board, Called Meeting, Central Office Administration Building, 953 Davis Highway, Mineral, 7 pm. Louisa County School Board meetings are currently unavailable via livestream or archived video. The only way to access the meeting is to attend in person. (agenda)
The board will hold a special meeting to appoint an interim member to fill the Mineral District seat through Dec. 31, 2022. See below for more information.
Wednesday, March 23
Louisa County Electoral Board, Administrative Conference Room, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 10 am. At publication time, an agenda was not publicly available. The public is invited to attend in person or call in at 967-3405.
Lake Anna Advisory Committee, Public Meeting Room, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 7 pm. (public notice) 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.
School Board to appoint interim member to Mineral District seat at March 22 meeting
The Louisa County School Board will appoint an interim member to fill the Mineral District seat at a special meeting Tuesday night.
Long-time board member Sherman Shifflett died in mid-February just a month and a half into his fifth term, prompting the appointment. The appointee will serve until December 31 with a special election set for November 8 to fill the remaining three years of the term.
Six applicants submitted letters of interest for the position, according to Board Chair Greg Strickland. Strickland said that the division confirmed with the Registrar’s office that all applicants are registered voters in the current Mineral District, a requirement to fill the seat. The board declined to release the names of the applicants prior to Tuesday night’s meeting.
Engage Louisa submitted a Freedom of Information Act request seeking the applicants’ names and letters of interest, which the board denied. Strickland said that the board chose to withhold the information under a FOIA exemption that allows public bodies to shield personnel records.
In a follow up conversation, Strickland said the board elected to follow the same protocol it used to fill the Green Springs District seat in 2014 after it was vacated mid-term. During that process, Strickland said, several potential applicants suggested they’d only apply if they could quietly “put their name in the hat” versus publicly standing for the office. He said the board feared turning off some applicants if they opted for a public process.
Strickland said that Virginia law grants school boards the power to appoint a member to fill a seat vacated outside of the normal electoral process and he and his fellow board members take that duty seriously. He pointed out that Mineral District residents will have a chance to weigh in at the ballot box this November.
Strickland shed some additional light on Louisa’s process, noting that the board doesn’t plan to conduct formal interviews with each applicant. He said that board members have the applicants’ contact information and letters of interest and are free to reach out on their own to discuss the position.
On Tuesday evening, board members will gather in closed session at 5:30 pm to discuss their selection. They’ll convene a public meeting at 7 pm where they’ll formally vote on the appointment. Strickland said that the board doesn’t plan to allow public comment during the meeting.
While some applicants have opted not to publicly discuss their application, David Rogers has taken a different approach. After he submitted his letter of interest last month, Rogers attended the board’s March 1 meeting to introduce himself to members. In a phone interview with Engage Louisa, he said he decided to apply for the position because, as an African American, he believes he’ll bring a perspective that the board currently lacks.
Rogers said that the school division likes to talk about diversity, and, with this appointment, the board has an opportunity to take concrete action. He suggested that board members can ensure that the body includes voices that reflect the division’s diversity, pointing out that the board is currently all white.
Rogers, who has lived in the county since 2009 and whose family has deep roots in the community, said that he’d bring several valuable skills to the board. He pointed to his 27 years working in the insurance industry, noting that he’s developed keen negotiating skills and the ability to effectively “communicate with all different types of people.”
Rogers said, that as of Friday morning, no one on the board had reached out to him to discuss his interest in the seat. When he spoke with board members at the March meeting, he said he was told the board had received his letter of interest.
While state code empowers school boards to appoint an interim member to fill a vacated seat, city and county boards have approached the task in different ways with some opting for a closed-door process like Louisa and others allowing for considerable citizen input.
The Fauquier County School Board appointed a new member in January, seeking letters of interest then interviewing applicants in closed session just before selecting the appointee. Prior to making an appointment for a recently vacated seat, the Madison County School Board held a public hearing then followed the hearing with formal interviews for each applicant. When the Chesapeake City School Board filled a vacant seat in February, the board released the names of all 26 applicants and held a public hearing where applicants were invited to speak in support of their candidacy.
James River Water Authority opts to move forward with pump station at new site
The James River Water Authority voted Wednesday to begin the permitting process for its water pump station at a new site, abandoning plans for its construction at a controversial plot at the confluence of the James and Rivanna rivers that’s believed to be Rassawek, the ancestral capital of the Monacan Indian Nation.
In a letter to the authority, Cultural Heritage Partners’ Marion Werkheiser, the Monacans’ attorney, expressed the tribe’s support for the new location, situated about 2.3 miles upriver from the original site. Chief Kenneth Branham reiterated that stance, while acknowledging past tensions between the authority and the tribe, during JRWA’s monthly meeting at the Fluvanna County Public Library.
“It has been a long road—a lot of pain, distrust and disagreement—we are glad to be moving forward in a spirit of cooperation to ensure the citizens that they get their drinking water and our sacred capital Rassawek and the burials of our ancestors are all protected,” he said.
JRWA Chair D.D. Watson, a citizen member representing Louisa County, also acknowledged the difficult path that led to Wednesday’s vote.
“We all know that mistakes can be made, but they’re not final until you leave them,” he said. “We chose not to leave the mistakes that we made.”
JRWA’s decision to move the pump station and reroute a stretch of pipeline to connect to it, marks the end of a contentious battle that pitted the authority against the tribe and its allies including indigenous rights’ advocates, preservationists, and some local residents eager to protect the historic site.
The authority, a joint venture between Louisa and Fluvanna counties tasked with channeling water from the river to feed development along the Interstate 64 corridor, began the permitting process to site the pump station at Rassawek in 2015, formally notifying the Monacan of its plans in 2017. The authority said it selected the site because it afforded the shortest waterline route and lowest operation cost, among other factors.
But, in doing so, JRWA failed to adequately recognize the site’s prominent history even as the Department of Historic Resources and preservationists sounded the alarm.
Captain John Smith plotted Rassawek on a 1612 map and noted it was considered the “chiefest town” among Monacan villages. Rassawek served as a center for trade and tribal administration for 200 generations and is home to ancestral burial grounds, according to the tribe.
After a flood unearthed an archeological site at the confluence of the James and Rivanna in the 1880s, a Smithsonian ethnographer documented Rassawek, noting the presence of 40 to 50 fireplaces, many artifacts, and about 25 burials, according to a timeline compiled by Cultural Heritage Partners. In 1980, DHR officially recognized Rassawek’s location where the rivers meet, a site also known as Point of Fork.
The Monacans gained federal recognition as a tribe in 2018, significantly enhancing their ability to protect their cultural and historic resources. The tribe requested that the authority move the pump station later that year and its fight to save Rassawek soon began to pick up steam.
In 2020, as JRWA pursued a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers to begin construction, more than 12,000 individuals and organizations opposed the project during a public comment period. In November 2020, the National Trust for Historic Preservation named Rassawek one of the country’s 11 most endangered historic places.
With pressure to move the pump station mounting and assurances from the Monacans that they’d support an alternative site if certain conditions were met, including that archeological field work didn’t indicate evidence of human remains, JRWA agreed to consider other locations. The authority eventually decided to undertake more extensive studies at a site dubbed the 1C Forsyth alternative, which the Monacan originally recommended.
Prior to JRWA’s March meeting, consulting archeologists from GAI and Gray and Pape delivered a Phase 1 report that showed no evidence of human remains at the Forsyth site. Archeologists noted that they found far fewer artifacts than expected in the study area.
While Wednesday’s decision marked a significant milestone in JRWA’s years-long effort to complete its pipeline, the authority has plenty of work ahead before water flows. It must still acquire either a new or modified withdrawal permit from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers.
The authority voted unanimously to approve Timmons Group’s work plan and budget to prepare a joint permit application to DEQ and the Corps for the new site. The plan comes with a roughly $150,000 price tag for pre-application work.
AquaLaw’s Justin Curtis, who is guiding the authority through the permitting process, provided a rough timeline for the project’s completion, which he cautioned included many “moving pieces.” According to that document, JRWA could begin construction between March 2023 and January 2024 and the project could reach completion between March 2025 and January 2027.
It’s unclear exactly how much the pump station and four-mile segment of pipeline will cost Louisa and Fluvanna counties. At its outset, the entire project was expected to cost $50 million with Louisa County footing much of that bill. The authority has already constructed most of the pipeline and a water treatment facility at Ferncliff.
As for Rassawek, the authority has agreed to transfer its part of the site to the Monacan, Werkheiser told The Washington Post. She said her firm plans to begin conversations with other property owners in hopes of facilitating tribal access, stewardship, and, eventually, ownership of the entire site, according to the Post.
Louisa to receive $775k in federal funds for mixed-income housing development
Louisa County will receive $775,000 in federal funds to develop a mixed-income affordable housing community, Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (D-7th) announced Tuesday. The money is part of a $1.5 trillion appropriation package that President Joe Biden signed into law last week.
Louisa plans to use the money to “help provide the opportunity of home ownership — not just affordable rental assistance — to more individuals and families in the area,” according to a press release from Spanberger’s office. But questions remain about where the county will build the development.
The money, which Spanberger requested on the county’s behalf last year, was originally intended for Ferncliff Place, a mixed-income community proposed for 13.3 acres of county-owned land near the corner of Mallory Road and Route 250. The county planned to develop the project with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville. It was expected to include a community center and some 80 homes with 25 reserved for families making between 25 and 60 percent of the area’s median income.
But the proposal met strong resistance from some Ferncliff residents, particularly those with homes near the site. Neighbors complained that the parcel was ill-suited for dense development, citing concerns about the destruction of wetlands, traffic, and public safety.
Supervisors eventually shelved those plans and formed a two-member committee, including Patrick Henry District Supervisor Fitzgerald Barnes and Cuckoo District Supervisor Willie Gentry, to look for other sites. Gentry said that he’d like to see the project built around the Town of Louisa “where we have the infrastructure and services.”
The board hasn’t publicly discussed locations for the development since its September 20 meeting. But Barnes told Engage Louisa last week that supervisors continue to work with Habitat for Humanity to identify prospective sites. He said the county would use the money to build a mixed-income community as articulated in the Ferncliff Place proposal. He added that it’s the committee’s preference that current Louisa County residents benefit from the affordable housing units.
Spanberger brought more than $6.4 million to her district via the appropriations package. She requested the money through the Community Project Funding process, a program that allows Members of Congress, in concert with the communities they represent, to submit direct applications for federal funding to support locally planned projects. All 10 counties in the current 7th are set to receive funding for specific projects with Spotsylvania County scoring the largest chunk: more than $1.8 million for the expansion of the Motts Run Water Treatment Plant.
BOS Preview: Supes to hold public hearing on real estate tax rate, hear update on broadband, discuss roaming dogs and more
The Louisa County Board of Supervisors will gather for its second March meeting Monday night and hold its first public hearing of the FY 2023 budget cycle. As a complement to the hearing, Finance Director Wanda Colvin will provide an overview of where the county budget currently stands.
The agenda also includes an update on Firefly’s plans to bring universal fiber access to the county by 2025 and several discussions items. Topics include a draft dogs running at large ordinance, the New Bridge Fire and EMS Station, and “Clean Community Efforts.” In addition, the Louisa County Water Authority and the Virginia Department of Transportation will provide quarterly reports.
Agenda highlights
Supervisors to hold public hearing on tax rate, get budget overview: The board will hold its first public hearing of the FY23 budget cycle Monday night, allowing residents to weigh in on a potential real estate tax increase.
According to the public notice, the county proposes to maintain the current real estate tax rate of 72 cents per $100 of assessed value. If the board opts to keep that rate, real estate tax bills will increase an average of 10.84 percent thanks to rising assessments.
During a budget work session in early March, Finance Director Wanda Colvin told the board that real estate tax assessments are up more than 14 percent including new construction. Assessments are up more than 12 percent excluding new construction and improvements.
Prior to the public hearing, Colvin will provide an overview of where the FY 23 budget currently stands. The board will hold a public hearing on the budget at its April 4 meeting. Read Engage Louisa’s coverage of the board’s budget work sessions here and here.
Supervisors to discuss draft dogs running at large ordinance: Supervisors will discuss a draft ordinance aimed at reining in roaming dogs.
The ordinance under consideration would revamp the county’s current dogs running at large regulations, barring roaming dogs year-round and implementing an escalating penalty structure.
Dog owners who allow their canine to run at large would receive a written warning for their first offense. A second violation within one year of the first violation would result in a second written warning. A third violation within two years of the second violation would result in a $100 fine. A fourth violation within two years of the third violation would result in a Class 4 misdemeanor. Animal control would pick up roaming dogs and return them to their owner, if they’re able, under each tier of the penalty structure.
Under state and county code, a dog is considered running at large when its “roaming or running off the property of its owner or custodian and not under its owner's or custodian's immediate control.” The draft ordinance includes a specific exemption for hunting dogs as required by state law.
During public comment at several recent meetings, residents asked the board to crack down on roaming dogs, arguing that the current ordinance doesn’t provide animal control officers adequate tools to remedy the problem. Several residents complained that dogs regularly cross their property, at times endangering their pets.
Chief Animal Control Officer Alyssa Ellison echoed that argument at the board’s March 7 meeting, saying that current county-wide regulations “don’t have a lot of bite.” She noted that the regulations are particularly problematic in addressing habitual offenders.
The county currently bars dogs running at large only in April, May, and June. Violators may be subject to a summons and fine. The remainder of the year, there’s no penalty for dogs running at large. Animal Control officers can pick up roaming dogs and return them to their owner or take them to the animal shelter if the owner is unknown or not home, according to Ellison.
The ordinance applies county-wide except in about 25 subdivisions, mostly around Lake Anna, and the Mineral Trailer Park. Those areas bar dogs at large year-round and violators are subject to a maximum $150 fine. The towns of Louisa and Mineral also bar roaming dogs year-round under their own ordinances.
Board Chair Duane Adams appointed Louisa District Supervisor Eric Purcell and Patrick Henry District Supervisor Fitzgerald Barnes to a working group tasked with bringing draft regulations back to the board for consideration at Monday’s meeting.
Any changes to the county’s dogs running at large ordinance would require a public hearing prior to adoption.
Board to discuss New Bridge Fire and EMS Station: At a March 7 budget work session, County Administrator Christian Goodwin told supervisors that the cost of the New Bridge Fire and EMS Station continues to rise. That news sparked an, at times, contentious discussion. The board will revisit the topic Monday night.
The station is currently slated for construction on 2.4 acres of county-owned land near the Lake Anna Food Lion. The site was formerly home to a small dog park.
Goodwin said that on top of a $1.2 million construction estimate, which the county received late last year, the lot requires more than a half million dollars in site work due, largely, to its sloping topography. He explained that the parcel needs a considerable amount of fill work to address concerns about large emergency vehicles sliding in inclement weather and water running toward the building.
Goodwin said that the total cost of the project could reach $2.3 million, far exceeding the $800,000 that the county originally appropriated in FY21. The Foundation for Lake Anna Emergency Services, a citizen advocacy group, chipped in another $100,000 to help cover the facility’s cost.
After receiving the latest construction estimate in November, the board appropriated an additional $600,000 for the project, an increase county officials attributed to “inflation and other factors.”
Goodwin said that staff was still negotiating final numbers but suggested that the board would likely need to appropriate another $800,000 to cover construction, site work, and initial operating costs. He told supervisors that he expected to have a proposal for the board’s consideration at the March 21 meeting. The agenda packet doesn’t include a formal proposal detailing the latest quote.
The facility’s ballooning budget caused concern among some board members with Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams suggesting that the board reconsider a land swap that Stillwater Equity Partners, the developer of the nearby Cutalong community, proposed last November.
The developer offered to trade the county a flatter parcel along Kentucky Springs Road on the other side of the Food Lion and, in exchange, take the current site. A Stillwater representative said the company was in negotiations with a national hotel brand and the county’s parcel would provide key visibility along Route 208.
The board briefly entertained that option before moving ahead with the current site. County officials held a ceremonial groundbreaking in late December.
Cuckoo District Supervisor Willie Gentry complained that the project’s initial cost estimate had been “misleading” and suggested that board members knew that $800,000 wasn’t enough to pay for the project.
Goodwin countered that, since the project’s inception several years ago, construction costs have risen, which is beyond the county’s control.
Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams, who has advocated for the project for several years, dismissed both Williams’ and Gentry’s suggestions, urging the board to stay the course and finish the facility at its current location.
“We can have a knee-jerk reaction here and say people have been misled and say we want to go back and revisit a land swap or we can continue and build where we’ve told the people for two years it’s going to be, where the county had a groundbreaking, where this board decided twice by a vote (to build it),” he said.
Firefly to update board on county-wide broadband initiative: Firefly Fiber Broadband will update the board on its efforts to bring universal fiber access to the county by 2025. Last year, supervisors committed nearly $9 million to Firefly’s Regional Internet Service Expansion Project, a key piece of the company’s plan to deliver high-speed internet to every corner of the county.
The RISE project is a partnership between the region’s three major electric providers, Central Virginia Electric Cooperative, Firefly’s sole owner, Rappahannock Electric Cooperative, and Dominion Energy, as well as local governments and the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. It aims to deliver fiber access to some 36,000 homes and businesses across 13 central Virginia counties. Firefly will act as the internet service provider and lease fiber lines from Dominion and REC.
In September, Firefly CEO Gary Wood estimated that the RISE project would cost about $75 million in Louisa County alone. Supervisors included nearly $3 million for the project in the preliminary Capital Improvement Plan for the next three fiscal years. In addition to county funding, the Virginia Telecommunications Initiative awarded Firefly and its partners $79 million in state grant funding last December. About $18.5 million in VATI funds were requested for Louisa, according to Wood. The three utilities are expected to chip in about $47 million for the local portion of the project.
Board to discuss ‘Clean Community efforts:’ Supervisors will continue a discussion from its March 7 meeting about community clean-up efforts and potentially re-forming the county’s Clean Community Commission, a citizen-led group that once served as a locus for litter removal initiatives. Supervisors discontinued the commission several years ago, citing lack of interest.
In response to constituent concerns about litter along roadsides, Patrick Henry District Supervisor Fitzgerald Barnes suggested reinstating and revamping the commission, but the board didn’t lay out specific plans.
Patrick Henry District resident Beth Ann Boone told the board during public comment that she recently launched LouisaClean, a citizens’ group “dedicated to organizing a movement to get the county clean and keep it clean.” She said the organization planned to hold two county-wide clean up days a year and asked the board to support its efforts.
LCWA and VDOT quarterly reports: Residency Administrator Scott Thornton will deliver the Virginia Department of Transportation’s quarterly report, summarizing VDOT’s activities in Louisa County over the last several months and the status of current and future road maintenance and construction projects.
Monday night marks Thornton’s first official appearance in front of the board as Louisa’s residency administrator. He replaces former Residency Administrator Alan Saunders, who recently accepted a job as engineering manager with the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation.
Thornton brings significant experience to the Louisa residency. He served as the assistant residency administrator in Petersburg for four years followed by a stint as the construction manager for the Richmond District’s local assistance program, according to a VDOT news release.
Pam Baughman, manager of the Louisa County Water Authority, will also deliver a quarterly report.
Click here for contact information for the Louisa County Board of Supervisors.
Find agendas and minutes from previous 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 to access past editions of Engage Louisa.