This week in county government; Supervisors to hold first public hearing of FY25 budget process; Planning Commission defers action on controversial solar facility proposed for Peach Grove Road
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, March 18 through March 23
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).
Monday, March 18
Technology Overlay District Committee, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 4 pm.
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)
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.
Supes to hold first public hearing of FY25 budget process; Board to consider financing for James River Water Project
The Louisa County Board of Supervisors on Monday will convene for its second March meeting with two marquee items on the agenda.
Supervisors will hold their first public hearing of the Fiscal Year 2025 budget process, giving citizens a chance to weigh in on a potential rise in real estate taxes.
The board will also consider a resolution green-lighting the James River Water Authority’s issuance of more than $42 million in debt to pay for a four-mile stretch of water line, and a water intake and pump station on the banks of the James. The infrastructure is part of a larger project that will one day channel millions of gallons of water to feed economic development along the Interstate 64 corridor.
Board to hold public hearing on potential increase in real estate taxes
Louisa County property owners could see their real estate tax bills rise again this year. They’ll have a chance to weigh in on the potential tax increase Monday night.
Taxes could be going up because the assessed value of the county’s real estate, excluding new construction and improvements, rose 7.83 percent for 2024 and the Board of Supervisors, which sets the county’s real estate tax rate as part of the annual budget process, hasn’t proposed a decrease to offset the jump.
Real estate tax bills are calculated by multiplying a property’s assessed value by the tax rate. If the Board of Supervisors opts to maintain a level rate of 72 cents per $100 of assessed value, property owners whose assessments increased would see their tax bills rise. A resident whose home is assessed at $400,000, for example, would pay $230 more based on an eight percent increase. Supervisors would have to lower the rate to 66.8 cents to offset the tax hike.
While supervisors haven’t formally settled on a tax rate for FY25 or explicitly discussed it at three budget work sessions, they’ve neither raised nor lowered the rate since 2015, when they hiked it four cents, and frequently point out that it ranks among the lowest in the area.
The board opted to retain a level tax rate the last two years in the face of rising assessments, including a nearly 14 percent jump in 2023 and a 12 percent increase in 2022. But, amid pushback from residents who accused them of repeatedly hiking taxes, supervisors issued a one-time five percent real estate tax rebate last year, effectively lowering the rate by three cents.
The value of real estate is assessed every year in Louisa County by the county assessor’s office, which falls under the umbrella of the Commissioner of the Revenue. Assessed values are based on a property’s market value with the assessor’s office drawing on a range of property comparisons and characteristics in calculating valuations. As the price of real estate has climbed In Louisa and across Central Virginia, assessments have followed suit. (Read Louisa County’s Property Assessment FAQ here).
Monday night’s public hearing—the first of the Fiscal Year 2025 budget process—will give citizens an opportunity to weigh in on the potential tax increase and other aspects of a county budget that could exceed $238 million in the coming fiscal year, a 27 percent increase over last year.
About $156 million of that total is earmarked for the county’s daily operations including everything from employees’ salaries to fuel for fire trucks. That’s a nearly six percent increase over last year, driven, in part, by a proposed two percent pay hike for staff and additional employees for the Fire and EMS Department.
The other $82 million is for capital projects, big-ticket items that are the primary reason for the potential 27 percent increase. The lion’s share of that money—about $62 million—is slated for two significant construction projects proposed by Louisa County Public Schools: a 500-seat addition to Louisa County Middle School and a 54,000-square foot career and technical education center adjacent to Louisa County High School.
Another $7.5 million would pay for revamping the Lake Anna Wastewater Treatment Plant just west of the Route 208 bridge. The county purchased the plant last year with plans to upgrade and expand it to support future economic development in the Lake Anna Growth Area.
While the tune may change on Monday night, most residents who’ve shown up at county meetings to weigh in on the FY25 budget haven’t complained about rising taxes or increased county spending. They’ve instead urged the board to expand public investment—namely, to improve recreational facilities—arguing that citizens need more space to gather, exercise and play.
About a dozen members of the county’s burgeoning pickleball community spoke during public comment at board meetings in January and February, urging supervisors to support a $6.6 million budget request from Parks and Recreation Director James Smith to build a multipurpose sports complex with space for pickleball, volleyball, basketball, martial arts and exercise classes and more. Smith asked for $600,000 in the coming fiscal year to plan and design the building and $6 million in FY26 for construction.
Other community members have pushed county officials to make good on a decade-old promise to replace a skateboard park, which was dismantled in 2012 to make way for a temporary home for the health department. Since the health department moved to a permanent location in the Town of Louisa in December, skateboard enthusiasts have said its time to rebuild the park. Smith asked for $375,000 in FY25 to make that happen.
Based on preliminary budget discussions, key supervisors have signaled support for appropriating some additional funding for Parks and Rec. The board’s finance committee, which includes Board Chair and Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams and Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams, recommended giving Smith $600,000 in seed money for the rec center in the coming fiscal year. But the committee recommended that the skatepark wait until FY26.
There are still plenty of outstanding questions in the FY25 budget including how the state budget could impact county finances. The General Assembly sent Governor Glenn Youngkin its proposed $188 billion biennial budget in early March, but it’s unclear what action he’ll take.
In the meantime, supervisors will continue to craft the local budget. Following Monday night’s public hearing, the board will formally advertise a proposed budget and tax rates and hold a second public hearing at its April 8 meeting. Budget adoption is currently slated for April 29 and the new fiscal year kicks off July 1.
Board to consider green-lighting debt issuance for James River Water Project
Supervisors will consider authorizing the James River Water Authority (JRWA) to borrow a maximum of $49 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.
But the exact timing of the debt issuance depends on when the authority obtains an elusive permit from the Army Corps of Engineers (COE). JRWA has been chasing the permit for the current project for about 18 months and for a previous version far longer.
Fluvanna County Administrator Eric Dahl told his county’s Board of Supervisors at its March 6 meeting that JRWA intends to borrow $42.5 million via the Virginia Resources Authority’s (VRA) spring bond pool to fund the bulk of the project, which includes 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. The cost of the project will be split evenly between Louisa and Fluvanna.
Dahl said that, based on preliminary projections, the authority could borrow the money at a four percent interest rate over 30 years, putting both localities on the hook for $1.225 million in debt service payments annually.
The infrastructure is expected to cost $45.6 million—a figure okayed by both counties' boards of supervisors last September. The authority plans to draw on money left over from $7.6 million worth of bonds it floated via VRA in 2016 and the spring debt issuance to cover the costs.
But, to do that, JRWA must first secure the COE permit authorizing the infrastructure’s construction. Dahl expects JRWA to obtain the permit in April or May. But if the authority doesn’t receive it by early next month, it will miss the April 15 deadline to secure funding through VRA’s spring pool. That would force JRWA to consider interim financing to keep the project afloat until it can borrow through a bond pool later this year.
Since Louisa and Fluvanna joined forces to build the infrastructure about a decade ago, they’ve faced delays and mounting costs.
The authority first opted to place the pump station and intake 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.
Dahl said that, in 2017, JRWA expected to pay at least $9.7 million to build the infrastructure at the original location, noting that the pipeline would’ve only been about a mile long versus the four-mile stretch required at the new site.
Before JRWA can secure its permit for the current location, Dahl said that it must complete the National Historic Preservation Act’s Section 106 process to mitigate impacts on cultural resources. As part of that process, JRWA submitted to COE Phase I and Phase II archeological studies and a draft Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for how it plans to limit the project’s impact.
JRWA’s project team has been meeting with stakeholders including the Monacan, the Fluvanna County Historical Society, Preservation Virginia, the Department of Historic Resources and the National Parks Service to review the documents.
In an email to Engage Louisa in December, attorney Justin Curtis, who’s guiding JRWA through the permitting process, said that the authority doesn’t “anticipate any significant obstacles” in the review process or in securing stakeholders’ approval of the MOA.
“It is not a question of whether JRWA will get a permit; it’s a question of how soon,” Curtis wrote (emphasis his).
Provided the COE permit is in hand this spring, Dahl said that work on the water line and related infrastructure could begin in June with an expected completion date of September 2026.
He noted that JRWA already holds other major permits including a water protection permit from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, issued in October, and a Virginia Department of Health Waterworks Construction Permit, issued last month.
The authority is working to complete due diligence and prep work, including right of way acquisition and tree clearing, to ensure construction can begin shortly after it gets a green light from the COE, Dahl said.
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.
Board to consider supplemental appropriation for multiple LCPS capital projects
Supervisors will consider appropriating more than $1 million to Louisa County Public Schools for six items included in the FY25 Capital Improvement Plan. The as-yet-unapproved plan is being considered as part of the annual budget process.
According to the resolution up for approval Monday night, the school division is asking for the appropriation of $1.034 million ahead of budget adoption to ensure completion of the projects prior to the start of the 2024-25 academic year. The Board of Supervisors typically adopts the county’s budget in late April.
Pending approval, the supplemental appropriation will green-light: $855,000 for new school buses; $75,000 to resurface the high school’s track; $40,000 for locks at Trevilians Elementary School; $30,000 to upgrade the fuel tank at the bus garage; $17,500 for “elementary school refurbish;” and $16,500 to refinish the high school’s stage.
The money will be drawn from the school division’s long-term capital reserves.
Other business
Virginia Department of Transportation Residency Administrator Scott Thornton will provide the board with his agency’s quarterly report, updating supervisors on road construction projects, maintenance and related issues.
Planning Commission defers action on controversial proposal for utility-scale solar array on Peach Grove Road
Amid staunch opposition from neighbors and lingering questions about several aspects of the project, the Louisa County Planning Commission on Thursday night deferred action on BW Solar’s (BWS) request for a Conditional Use Permit to develop an up to 5 megawatt (MW) utility-scale solar array on 60 acres of a 132-acre agriculturally zoned parcel off Peach Grove Road near the upper end of Lake Anna. (meeting materials, video)
But even as the commission agreed to hold off until next month’s meeting on making a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors on whether to approve the project, at least two commissioners suggested that allowing the applicant more time to answer questions likely wouldn’t change their inclination to oppose the project.
Jackson District Commissioner Cy Weaver perhaps summed it up best when he expressed exasperation about the onslaught of information required for solar applications, referring to BWS’s 500-plus page application, and suggested that the county might be better off no longer considering the use.
“It’s just too much to comprehend…I’m [getting] more and more to the point that the county needs to preserve [our] forestry land and farming land if we want to take care of the young people,” Weaver said to applause from some community members who oppose the project.
BWS Senior Developer Bridgette Kelly initially suggested that the commission defer action on the application until its April meeting after several commissioners expressed concern during a pre-meeting work session that they hadn’t received a staff report on the project or BWS’s latest application until a few days before the meeting.
A couple commissioners also noted that staff had included eight items in its report that require either more information or clarification from the applicant, several of which relate to erosion and sediment control and wetlands protection for a project that would be just a stone’s throw from Lake Anna. They said they’d prefer to vote on the application after that information is submitted.
Though commissioners opted to delay action on the item, they heard a detailed presentation from the applicant and held a public hearing in which neighbors voiced opposition to the proposal, mostly arguing that it would harm the lake.
The proposal
BWS proposes an up to 5 MW utility-scale solar array, dubbed the Green Boot project, on 60 acres of a 132-acre parcel, which stretches from Goldmine Road to Peach Grove Road in northwestern Louisa County (tmp 14 71). The parcel is owned by Dustin Madison and his wife, Megan, who live on the property.
If approved, the facility would be the smallest utility-scale solar site okayed by the county. Kelly portrayed it as a low-impact use that wouldn’t disrupt the neighborhood post-construction or tax county services. She said solar panels would cover only about 15 acres of the project site and would be screened from view by generous buffers. Over its 35-year lifespan, the project would generate little traffic and noise.
“The project is nice, quiet and tucked away and does not disturb neighbors at all once operational,” she said.
Kelly emphasized that the project would meet all the requirements laid out in the county’s revised solar ordinance, which the Board of Supervisors adopted in 2022 to toughen standards for large-scale solar development. Those include: a 300-foot setback from neighboring properties inclusive of an opaque vegetative buffer with trees and pollinator plantings; beefed up erosion and sediment control standards to guard against runoff; and a decommissioning plan and decommissioning bond to ensure that the property is restored to its current use when solar panels are removed, among other provisions.
The ordinance was prompted by significant issues at Dominion’s sprawling 88 MW Belcher Solar Facility off Waldrop Church Road where hundreds of acres of timberland was cleared to make way for solar panels. Stormwater runoff from the site has caused significant damage to neighboring farms including severe erosion and flooding.
Kelly and BWS Director of Engineering Lance Pittman sought to differentiate their project from Belcher, noting that its far smaller and land disturbance would be minimized as much as possible.
The developers said they recognize that the site is close to Lake Anna and steps would be taken not to harm the lake. According to BWS’s construction plan, any clearing and grading would be done gradually and in stages to minimize impact and the site would be closely monitored to ensure that stormwater management and erosion and sediment control features were effective.
Within the project site, the solar panels would be setback 75 feet from wetlands and 50 feet from ditches. Kelly indicated that of the 60 acres under lease, roughly 40 acres would be comprised of buffers, pollinator plantings and undisturbed area. Grasses would be used to control waterflow after tree removal.
The panels would be enclosed by a 7-foot tall “animal friendly fence,” Kelly said, which provides space along the ground for rabbits, squirrels and other small animals to travel through the site.
The facility would be accessed off Peach Grove Road, a roughly two-and-a-half-mile secondary road that dead ends at the lakefront Thalia Shores subdivision. The entrance would be situated near the center of the parcel and provide some 700 feet of sight distance.
Kelly estimated that the project would take between four and six months to construct with work beginning as soon as the second quarter of 2025. During construction, the facility is expected to generate 15 car trips a day from workers traveling to and from the site and one daily visit by a large truck. After that, she said, a vehicle would visit the site a few times a year.
The project would generate up to $387,900 in revenue for county coffers over its 35-year lifespan via real estate taxes and a revenue sharing plan, per a fiscal impact analysis conducted on the applicant’s behalf. Under its current use, the property would generate about $3,690 in tax revenue in the same time frame.
The facility would connect to an on-site 12.47 kV distribution line owned by Rappahannock Electric Cooperative, helping the utility meet the clean energy goals outlined in the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA). Passed by the General Assembly in 2020 to combat climate change, the VCEA aims to decarbonize the state’s power grid by mid-century.
Community and commission concerns
Ten community members weighed in during the public hearing to oppose the project, most of whom live or own property along Peach Grove Road. They said that a solar facility isn’t a good fit for their neighborhood, citing concerns that runoff from the site could impact Goldmine Creek and Lake Anna and damage neighboring farms. Some residents also said that Peach Grove Road can’t handle the traffic that the facility would generate during construction including visits from tractor trailers bringing solar panels and other materials.
Nearly every speaker argued that replacing hundreds of pines trees with thousands of solar modules would spell trouble for Goldmine Creek, Lake Anna and neighboring property owners because of stormwater runoff and related issues. Several recalled problems with flooding around the site when it was logged more than a decade ago and argued that removing the pine trees that currently cover much of the property would cause the same issues today.
“When this property was clear cut more than 10 years ago and before the current landowner, we would have summer afternoon thunderstorms. The rainwater runoff from these storms would flood Goldmine Road, leaving red mud in the ditches and the road. VDOT would come and flag the road for high water. The standing pine trees were no longer there to protect the runoff,” neighbor Anna Anderson said.
Many speakers asked the county to require the applicant to submit complete stormwater management and erosion and sediment control plans for review by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), the Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies, prior to approval of the CUP.
While Louisa County’s solar ordinance includes a range of standards related to erosion and sediment control and stormwater management, complete SWM and E&S plans are typically submitted and reviewed after a project gets a green light from the Board of Supervisors.
But Peach Grove resident Garnie Horne said that there are too many questions about BWS’s plans to approve the project as presented given the fragility of the lake.
Horne and other speakers noted that the lake is already plagued by Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB) and runoff from the project could exacerbate the issue. The blooms, which can cause skin rash and gastrointestinal illness, have prompted the Virginia Department of Health to issue “no swim” advisories for the lake’s upper reaches—including the Goldmine Creek area—every summer since 2018. While the causes of HAB are complex, the blooms are generally attributed to excess nutrients—like phosphorous and nitrogen—in warm, stagnant water. Those nutrients can come from agricultural runoff and runoff from development.
“The Lake Anna Civic Association has spent a lot of money that has been donated by citizens and over a million dollars [has been] donated by the Virginia legislature to try to fix the HAB problem. The Louisa Board of Supervisors are also seeking federal money for this problem. How can we ask for money when we are actively adding to the problem?” Horne said, referencing efforts to garner local, state and federal resources to mitigate the blooms.
Neighbor Brian Coleman, who farms 230 acres adjacent to the subject parcel, said that he’s not only worried about how the project would impact Lake Anna, but also his land. Coleman said that the US Department of Agriculture has determined that his property is “highly erodible” and he assumes that’s the case for the neighboring parcel. He worries that runoff from the site would impact his ability to grow crops.
“We have croplands down there and we don’t want to lose any cropland that we already have established to sediment coming down there and water flooding our fields,” Coleman said.
In response to community concerns, commissioners quizzed BWS representatives on various aspects of how they’ll manage water flow, drainage and sediment control. The applicant agreed to provide more information about its plans prior to the commission’s April meeting.
For his part, Madison directly addressed some of the issues raised by his neighbors. He said that, as a farmer, he understands concerns about runoff and erosion because they’re issues he deals with every day. He contended that the project would likely improve conditions in the area, pointing to extensive measures that would be implemented to control sediment and water flow.
Specifically, he said, some 3,000 feet of filter strips—narrow bands of grasses and other vegetation used to limit sediment, nutrients, pesticides and other contaminants from entering waterways—would be installed along ditches as part of the project. He compared that to the alternative: a continuous cycle of cutting and replanting pine trees sans those protections.
“There is a problem right now. It’s nothing but dirt. It’s never been anything but dirt. It’s pines. It was cut. It’s pines. It gets cut…I think we are going to see an improvement,” he said.
With regard to submitting E&S plans prior to a vote, Madison said that providing detailed plans are a condition of the CUP and the project ultimately can’t be built without approval by regulators like DEQ.
A couple community members also expressed concerns about using Peach Grove Road to access the site with one suggesting that Goldmine Road would be more suitable.
While the Virginia Department of Transportation has given preliminary approval for BWS’s proposed entrance off Peach Grove Road, the county’s professional planning staff has recommended that construction crews access the site via Goldmine Road and only use Peach Grove as an emergency entrance.
Louisa District Commissioner Matt Kersey, a retired postmaster, said using Peach Grove Road as the primary access point was “a nonstarter” for him, recalling his time managing mail delivery on the road.
“It’s a dangerous road and we don’t need to put this kind of traffic on it,” Kersey said.
But Madison and BWS took a different view.
BWS representatives said that accessing the project site off Goldmine Road would have more extensive environmental impacts because it would require a stream crossing, so they couldn’t recommend it.
‘Avoid. Minimize. Mitigate. That is our process and, if we can avoid going over a waterway, we want to do that,” Pittman said.
Madison said there are already large trucks traveling the road to build houses and, as residential growth continues, car traffic will increase. He said that his proposed use would have virtually no traffic impact post-construction and, even during construction, it wouldn’t generate traffic that’s much different from what’s already on the road.
“There are concrete trucks. There’s truckloads of trusses that come up and down that road every day, and they’re building those houses and putting more cars on that road. This is the best way that we can say there won’t be any traffic on that 60 acres whenever this project is complete,” Madison said.
The commission will take up BWS’s application again at its April meeting. The Board of Supervisors has the final say on whether the project is approved.
Other business
At request of applicant, commission delays action on rezoning, CUP for storage facility
At the request of the applicant, the Planning Commission agreed to defer action on Louisa Heights, LLC’s request to rezone, from General Industrial (I-2) to Industrial Limited (I-1), 3.14 acres on Duke Street in the Louisa District for a mini-warehouse facility (storage) with outdoor parking (part of tmp 41-187). The applicant is also requesting a Conditional Use Permit, which is required for the use in I-1 zoning.
The property is located off Davis Highway (Route 22) just east of the Town of Louisa in the Louisa Growth Area and designated for industrial use on the Future Land Use Map in the 2040 Comprehensive Plan.
In its land use application, Louisa Heights argues that the use fits with the character of the neighborhood, noting that the surrounding properties are all zoned industrial and another storage business adjoins the subject parcel. The applicant says that its roughly 31,850-square foot storage facility would generate “a peak hourly volume of 46 vehicle trips per day.”
During a brief presentation, Louisa Heights principal Gary Deal said the property is part of a 60-acre assemblage that his company purchased from the Louisa County Industrial Development Authority (IDA) and he thinks it’s appropriate to talk with the IDA before seeking county approval for the proposed plan.
“We are basically downzoning the property. We are carving out uses that I think would negatively impact the area as far as noise and clutter,” Deal said, referencing proffers attached to the rezoning that would limit the property’s future use. “We want the industrial park to be very clean, light industrial, offices, technology, perhaps. We are anxious to get started there and try to provide something that Louisa County is going to be proud of.”
Deal said he hopes to come back next month to ask the commission to recommend approval of the rezoning and CUP after “get[ting the IDA’s] blessing on the use.”
In his presentation, Senior Planner Tom Egeland said that the applicant had submitted updated proffers prior to Thursday night’s meeting. If the rezoning is approved as currently proposed, the parcel could only be used for a contractor’s office and shop, financial institution, funeral home, general office, guidance service, medical office and veterinary clinic, per the proffers. Additionally, with a CUP, the property would be limited in future use to a storage and parking facility—the proposed use—trade school, clinic, communication services, equipment sales and rental, and custom manufacturing, among several other uses.
Louisa Heights also agreed to proffer a 10-foot-wide walking trail across the southwestern portion of the site, which would connect Duke Street to fitness trails adjacent to the Betty Queen Center.
“This is the first step in creating a pedestrian network in Louisa County,” Egeland said.
Staff recommends approval of the rezoning with the attached proffers and approval of the CUP with eight conditions.
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