There are a few meetings this week, but there aren’t really enough for me to go on WINA with Courteney Stuart so we’re taking a break. The highlights highlight meetings I don’t usually cover.

• A quick snapshot of economic development in Nelson County in advance of their EDA meeting on Thursday 
• There is an opportunity to comment Monday on the future of Market Street Park and Court Square Park at a public meeting in Charlottesville on Monday, but don’t count on swimming at Smith Pool
• The recount in the Fifth District Republican Primary is scheduled Wednesday with incumbent Bob Good seeking enough votes are found for him to overcome a deficit of hundreds of votes
• Want to learn how to finance energy efficiency projects for your commercial space? Albemarle has a work session this Wednesday 

Thanks to the Piedmont Environmental Council for their support of this research each week. 

Monday, July 29, 2024

Charlottesville taking public input for Court Square and Market Street parks

Charlottesville’s Parks and Recreation Department is creating a new master plan for its next ten years. The process includes the creation of framework plans for four of the city’s parks. These plans “provide strategic direction and vision to meet current and emerging public needs, as well as remain the primary steward of the significant natural, cultural, and historic resources.” 

There will be a meeting for Court Square Park and Market Street Park in City Space at 6 p.m. on Monday. Check the right-hand column of this website for links to surveys for each space. Market Street Park was formerly Lee Park and Court Square Park was formerly Jackson Park. 

Charlottesville City Council was scheduled to take public comment at their meeting on July 15 as well. 

The city has hired PROS Consulting to produce the master plan. There’s a mapping activity too.

The other two framework plans will be created for Benjamin Tonsler Park and Booker T. Washington Park. (calendar item)

Smith Pool in Charlottesville to be closed through August 13

This is not a meeting based anecdote but it is on one of the two city calendars I look at each week. 

“Smith Aquatic & Fitness Center will be closed July 29 – August 13 for annual maintenance and cleaning,” reads an entry on the first calendar. “Pass holders will receive instructions on alternate facilities to use during the closure.  Both outdoor pools and the spray grounds remain open during the closure of Smith.”

A question I would like to ask reporters in other communities is whether it is common for one facility where they live and work to close so often. Smith opened less than 14 years ago and has been plagued with problems. The fitness center and pool was closed for over two years during the pandemic. 

City Council made a decision in the summer of 2007 to build a new indoor pool on the site of a previous one and to also contribute to the Piedmont Family YMCA’s project to build a pool as part of a athletic complex at McIntire Park. Crow Pool was to have been abandoned as a public pool but remains open to this day as a rental facility. 

The new Smith opened in the fall of 2010 and cost $11.2 million and received LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The adopted budget for fiscal year 2011 anticipated an increase in revenue for Parks and Recreation due to the opening of Smith and the outdoor Onesty Pool. 

“Parks and Recreation is projecting to collect $433,000 more in revenue that the previous fiscal year principally due to a full operational season of Onesty Family Aquatic Center and the fall opening of the Smith Family Aquatic Center,” reads a budget message from acting City Manager Maurice Jones. (page 5)

That year the budget projected for recreation income of $1,216,278 from Parks and Revenue. There is no breakdown of details in the document. 

For more information and to try to track performance, we can look at the FY24 budget which contains a detailed snapshot of revenue received by the Parks and Recreation Department. In FY19 the amount brought in from aquatics was $569,813. Three quarters of FY20 passed before the pandemic began as actuals for that year were $324,024. 

The next year actuals for FY2021 dropped to $56,308. That rebounded to $231,825 in FY22. Take a look at the chart below for more information. 

What experiences have people had? What might the new parks and recreation master plan say about the future of the city’s aquatics facilities? 

Fluvanna County Electoral Board to meet twice this week

There is an official recount planned for the Republican nomination for the United States House of Representatives Virginia’s Fifth District seat. Challenger John McGuire defeated incumbent Bob Good 31,583 to 31,209 in the certified results, and Good filed for a recount. (Virginia Department of Elections results)

This prompts a challenge for this week. The Charlottesville Daily Progress republished a July 18 article by Dave Ress in the Richmond Times-Dispatch that described how the recount process would work with a tentative starting date of July 31. According to the article, Judge Claude Worrell acting in Goochland County Circuit Court issued an order for that to happen pending confirmation. Worrell will sit with two other judges to be named by Chief Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn. (read the paywalled article)

This being a weekly look ahead at upcoming matters in Virginia’s democratic form of government, I was first prompted to check this by a notice that the Fluvanna County Electoral Board is scheduled to meet twice this week with the first being Monday at 2 p.m. There is no agenda but they meet at 265 Turkeysag Trail, Suite 115. (meeting info)

They’ll meet again on August 2. Also no information about what’s on their agenda on the Fluvanna website. (meeting info)

So, how can we confirm Judge Worrell’s order? Along with Albemarle, Charlottesville, and some of the northern half of the Fifth Congressional District, Goochland is in the 16th Judicial Circuit in Virginia. I didn’t see anything in a “hearing date” search of 7/31/2024. Surely the order is out there so I can confirm other reports?

Here are two other articles to read as the recount approaches:

• Recount will decide if conservative US Rep. Bob Good loses primary to Trump-backed challenger, Denise Lavoie, Associated Press, July 18, 2024
• Rep. Good to pay for recount with campaign funds, 29News Digital Team, 29 News, July 25, 2024

The latter has a link to the July 25, 2024 Federal Election Commission hearing in which the federal body agreed to allow Good to use campaign funds to cover the cost of the recount. There’s also this great detail: 

“Worrell estimated it would cost around $96,500 to recount the 63,000 ballots cast last month,” their story reads.

I could not find the order. In general, Virginia’s judicial system is difficult to navigate for people who are seeking information. I like the challenge of reporting what I can. In this case, there’s also no notice on the Virginia Department of Elections page. Our system of governance creates information gaps that are filled by journalists and I’m grateful for what I was able to read thanks to my colleagues. 

In one other meeting: 

• The Albemarle Board of Equalization will meet in Lane Auditorium of Albemarle’s county office building at 401 McIntire Road. There’s no agenda. (meeting info)

Tuesday, July 30, 2024

There are no meetings scheduled. Unless I am missing one? This doesn’t happen much. I’ll still get a newsletter out because of all of the other meetings I have yet to write about. So grateful for paid subscriptions.

Maybe others would like this too? Share so I can grow the audience and we can all know more things together.

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Wednesday, July 31, 2024

Albemarle offering seminar on financing for more energy efficient buildings

Recently Charlottesville City Council got an update on efforts to reduce greenhouse has emissions. The climate action plan describes many programs homeowners can take advantage of to pay for more efficient building systems, as well as something with the acronym C-PACE. 

“C-PACE is a clean energy financing tool that allows commercial building owners to borrow money for energy efficiency, renewable energy, and resilience building projects and make repayments via an assessment on their property tax bill,” reads page 23 of the city’s climate action report. 

This tool is not yet available in Charlottesville because Council has not yet adopted an ordinance. The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors has done so and two county departments have scheduled a webinar on Wednesday at noon for people to learn more how C-PACE could help cover the costs of reducing community-wide emissions. 

“Albemarle County’s Environmental Services Division and Economic Development Office invite you to a webinar to learn more about Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE), a powerful financing tool that pays for up to 100% of a wide variety of commercial building improvements, including energy efficiency, renewable energy, and stormwater management,” reads the calendar item.   

Featured speakers include: 

• Abby Johnson, Executive Director, Virginia PACE Authority, program administrator for the Virginia statewide C-PACE program 
• Jason Schwartzburg, President, MD Energy Advisors, registered capital provider for the VA PACE program 
• Gabe Dayley, Climate Protection Program Manager, Albemarle County 

Learn more about PACE financing in Virginia in this YouTube video:

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/ixXb76VRvfg?rel=0&autoplay=0&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=0

Thursday, August 1, 2024

A snapshot of economic development in Nelson County

The Nelson County Economic Development Authority meets at the Nelson Center at 8445 Thomas Nelson Highway at 3 p.m. 

“The mission of the Nelson County Economic Development Authority is to promote the diversity and growth of the County’s economic base,” reads the website of the appointed body.

There’s no agenda for the meeting. This being a slow week, let’s take a look at the state of commerce and business in Nelson County. 

We start with the most recent community profile put together by the Economic Information and Analytics Division of the Virginia Employment Commission. (read the document)

The first odd thing I notice is the commission is still using the 2010 Census as a source in the first few pages rather than the 2020 county which showed a decline in population to 14,475. The 2023 estimate from the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia shows a slight decline since. Their projections show the population not growing at all through 2050. Again, the VEC document is pointing to older projections. 

Other data is up to date in the VEC document:

• In 2023, unemployment in Nelson County was 2.7 percent, less than 2.9 percent for Virginia and 3.6 percent nationwide. 
• There were 567 employers in Nelson County in in the first quarter of 2024 with 4,135 total employees. The vast majority of businesses were between 0 and 4 people with one listed between 250 and 499 employees. 
• Wintergreen Resort is the top employer. Blue Mountain Brewery is the 7th. California Sidecar Escapade is 21. 
• The highest paid industry is the federal government with a weekly average wage of $1,811. That’s followed by finance and insurance at $1,613. Accommodations and food service pays $582 a week. The average for all industries is $875. All of this data comes from the VEC’s quarterly census of employment and wages. 

Will that turn out to be the case if the county’s economic base were to grow? What’s there now? I next went to the recently completed Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) adopted by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. This is an overview of all six TJPDC localities but there are some interesting items for Nelson. (download the report)

This document has a snapshot of agriculture in 2017 that begins by stating there were 409 farms on 67,841 acres of land. There is more updated data in the 2022 Census of Agriculture which depicts a further reduction to 399 farms but an increase in geographic area covering 68,566 acres. (view the Virginia page) 

The CEDS report notes that of all the TJPDC localities, only Nelson County saw a reduction in businesses that use a payroll. The regional document also measures economic competitiveness using a metric called “shift share.”

“Competitive effect is a metric that indicates how much of the job change in the region or industry from 2017-2022 is the result of a unique competitive advantage for that particular region or industry by comparing it to the average national job change,” reads page 63 of the CEDS. 

This is not something I am familiar with but I will put in an image of a chart. There’s so much more in the CEDS report that seem to indicate Nelson County isn’t very interested in economic development that attracts residents to the community. 

Finally for anyone interested in economic development in Nelson County, Here are some areas for further reading:

• In 2017, the TJPDC created an economic development plan for the U.S. 29 corridor. There’s been a lot of turnover since then and this might be worth a look. (read the document)
• The Central Virginia Partnership for Economic Development has a fact sheet that identifies Nelson County as an “ideal location for companies seeking to do business in the midst of incredible natural beauty without sacrificing access to transportation infrastructure and a skilled workforce.” (see their website)
• The Comprehensive Plan has multiple references to recommendations in the CEDS

So no agenda, but a lot for them to discuss. How will it turn out? I hope to keep watching and writing what I can. 

Albemarle’s Natural Heritage Committee will meet online

When appointed meetings convene virtually, it’s much harder to report about them. That will be the case this week when I record the Albemarle Natural Heritage Committee at 5:45 p.m. This group is charged with advising the Board of Supervisors on matters of biodiversity. (agenda) 

Charlottesville Community Engagement came into being when the pandemic was in full effect and all meetings were virtual. This allowed me to cover an awful lot of information including NHC meetings. When they went back to in-person, it’s hard to justify the time actually attending. 

So I’ll be checking in to see what this body has to say about potential changes in Albemarle’s solar ordinance. I’m curious to know what their work plan is and what budget requests the group might make. There’s also an update on wildlife corridors. (meeting info) (minutes from July meeting)

In other meetings:

• The city’s website listed a meeting of the joint Community Policy and Management Team at 9 a.m. in the county’s office building at 401 McIntire Road. There’s no agenda. There’s no entry for this meeting on Albemarle’s calendar. (city meeting info)
• The Charlottesville Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee will meet at 5 p.m. in the conference room of the city’s Neighborhood Development Services department at 610 East Market Street. There’s no agenda at publication time. (calendar item)
• The Charlottesville Human Rights Commission will have a work session at 6:30 p.m. in CitySpace. There’s no agenda at publication time. (meeting info) 

Friday, August 2, 2024

Three meetings with no published agenda:

• As mentioned above, the Fluvanna Electoral Board will meet (meeting info)
• The Albemarle Board of Equalization will meet at 8 a.m. (meeting info)
• The Albemarle Electoral Board will meet at 11:30 a.m. at the 5th Street County Office Building (meeting info)

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This post was contributed by Sean Tubbs. Sean is a journalist working to build a new information and news outlet centered around Charlottesville and Virginia. In 2020, he launched a daily newscast and newsletter and also created a semi-regular podcast on the pandemic.

Support for Sean’s “Week Ahead” update comes from The Piedmont Environmental Council.