And like that the final third of 2024 begins with a holiday, sending the government week into an alternate configuration with Tuesday meetings that would have instead been held on a Monday.  Here are some highlights:

• Charlottesville City Council will get a report Tuesday from a University of Virginia professor on human trafficking in Albemarle County before the Civil War, part of an effort to ensure the full history of Court Square is told in any future memorialization work in the city park there. 
• Charlottesville City Council will also consider a sidewalk waiver for 2117 Ivy Road, one of the only privately-owned properties on the northern side of that roadway. UVA or its real estate foundation own most of the rest. 
• Louisa County will hold a public hearing Tuesday on a rezoning and special use permit for a Love’s truck stop at the Gum Springs exit on Interstate 64. They’ll also accept a lot of grant funding for the county airport. 
• The Albemarle Board of Supervisors has several public hearings Wednesday including one on allowing modular buildings for a Christian academy. Elsewhere in the meeting they will hear from the School Board Chair and the written report said county enrollment is down this year. 
• Should Fluvanna County sell an old tanker truck to another community in Virginia at an agreed-upon rate, or do they put it out to the highest bidder? That’s one item on a light agenda Wednesday.
• The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission will get an update on efforts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, efforts that have fallen short of a 2025 deadline. They’ll also be briefed on a routine review of boundaries for planning districts. 
• There are no meetings in Greene County or Nelson County this week but each locality’s Board of Supervisors will gather again on September 10. 

Thanks as always to the Piedmont Environmental Council for their sponsorship of this weekly look at what’s coming up in local and regional government.

Tuesday, September 3, 2024

Charlottesville City Council to learn of role Court Square played in slave trade pre-Civil War

Meetings of the Charlottesville City Council begin with a work session at 4 p.m. that offer more time for elected officials to learn about particular issues facing the city. Sometimes these include presentations from University of Virginia students and other times staff are the ones in front of the dais. (meeting info) (agenda overview)

The first item at the September 3 meeting is presented by Jalane Schmidt, an associate professor of religious studies at the University of Virginia and the director of the Memory Project. 

“The Memory Project is rooted in projects centered on Charlottesville, which in the past years has become a pivotal space in defining and shaping broader debates about memory in the United States,” reads the website for the initiative, which is part of the Karsh Institute of Democracy and is partially funded by the Mellon Foundation and the Ford Foundation. 

Schmidt will present the research from Albemarle County Court between 1830 and 1865 to document all mentions of the sale of human beings. 

“These enslaved people were sold in Court Square, very likely on an auction block, though Chancery records rarely mention a specific place of sale,” reads the staff report. 

The two-page report included in the report describes the role the court played in determining what happened to enslaved people when the person who legally owned them as property died. Sometimes ownership would pass to the next of kin but other times court commissioners would order their sale, dividing families in the name of liquidating their monetary value.

“In summation, this report argues that any effort to commemorate and memorialize enslaved people at Court Square must take into account that the County Court of Albemarle adopted an active role in enslaving and trafficking people of African descent,” reads the two-page report.

The second work session item is a presentation on a management plan for trees on the Downtown Mall. The firm Wolf/Josey Landscape Architects was hired in 2023 to create those guidelines and to make recommendations. 

In addition to a high level of detail about the impact tree grates have on different specimens, the recommendations also recommend changes to seating areas for the downtown mall to share trees with the public. 

“Cafe zones generate economic revenue but declare the trees as private,” reads a slide on page 23 of the presentation. 

A theme in the document is how to restore the Downtown Mall with some of the elements in the original design by Lawrence Halprin. That includes making the existing fountains more visible. There are specifics about how to rearrange café space at several locations. 

Council to consider sidewalk waiver for rare mixed-use development on Ivy Road 

The regular meeting of the Charlottesville City Council begins at 6:30 p.m. with three recognitions and proclamations. (meeting info) (agenda overview)

• The Charlottesville High School Varsity Boys Tennis and Soccer Teams will be recognized as will Elaina Pierce for her track and field career. 
• International Day of Democracy is September 15, 2024 (read the proclamation)
• This year is the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Sister City Besançon, France, by the combined Forces françaises de l’intérieur and the United States Army 3rd Infantry Division. (read the proclamation)

After the public comment period, Councilors will adopt the consent agenda which includes:

• Second reading of a $452,704 grant from the Virginia Juvenile Community Crime Control Act that supports the Community Attention programs for youth offenders. (staff report)
• Second reading of the CAPER, an acronym that stands for the report the city must send to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to show how Community Development Block Grant funds are spent. There’s also a resolution to set spending priorities for the 2025 program year. (staff report)
• Second reading of a resolution to formally eliminate biking as an allowed recreational activity at the Ragged Mountain Natural Area. Two people spoke at the public hearing on August 19, a public hearing that was not clearly identified in the agenda for that meeting. (staff report) 
• First of two readings for an appropriation of $76,480 from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program offered by the U.S. Department of Energy. The funding goes to support the nonprofit Local Energy Alliance Program and their energy audits. This will allow for 160 such audits of low- and moderate-income households. (staff report)
• First of two readings for a $250,000 pass-through in funds from the Virginia Department of Social Services to the private Tonsler League, a basketball association run by former City Councilor Wes Bellamy. The funding was requested by Delegate Katrina Callsen in the biennial budget. There are terms by which the funding will be transferred. In the section on “Budgetary Impact”, the staff report does not note the additional $10,000 City Council appropriate to the league earlier this year. (staff report)
• First of two readings of the appropriation of $238,581 from the Virginia Fire Program Fund that comes from a levy the State Corporation Commission charges to insurance companies. (staff report)
• First of two readings on an ordinance that will allow the developers of the Belmont Point subdivision to build a retaining wall into the city’s right of way. (staff report)

One item on the consent agenda is worth breaking out into a longer section. 

There is the first of two readings on $470,805 in funding from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development that will go to the Blue Ridge Area Coalition for the Homeless. Just over a quarter of the funds are from the category State Rapid-Rehousing. The money goes to eight specific categories but there’s no specific break-down in the packet.  (staff report) (resolution) (grant agreement with Virginia Homeless Solutions Program)

• Coordinated Assessment: Funding goes to The Haven which “serves as the physical front door to the homelessness system of care.”
• Emergency Low Barrier Shelter: This funding goes PACEM for their cold-weather emergency shelters that operate at a rotating series of churches. 
• Rapid Rehousing and Housing Navigation: This funding goes to The Haven 
• Case Management: This fund goes to The Haven for “supportive services, including crisis intervention, case management, and service referrals.” 
• Targeted Prevention: The Haven runs this program which assists households that are two weeks or less from losing their home.
• Homelessness Management Information System: This goes to the Blue Ridge Area Coalition for the Homeless to run their database of people who are experiencing homelessness. Other agencies also use this data, which goes by the acronym HMIS.
• Continuum of Care: The Blue Ridge Area Coalition for the Homeless gets funding for providing leadership of the overall system.
• The City of Charlottesville gets a cut for administration. 

Under action items, Council will take a second reading to make Ranked Choice Voting the method by which people will select candidates in the June 2025 City Council primary. The seats held by Brian Pinkston and Juandiego Wade are up for election. There’s also a resolution to allocate $26,460 toward additional software as well as a voter education campaign. (learn more)

Two-thirds of Albemarle County’s Electoral Board are not in support of ranked choice voting in that locality, as I reported in August.

There is also the first of two readings that would extend all departmental benefits that firefighters currently receive to professional staff who only perform emergency medical services (EMS). The staff report cannot give an amount that this will cost “due to ongoing negotiations with the union that are parallel to this process.” (staff report)

Next up is a resolution to approve, for the seventh time, an agreement between the city government and the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority for a supplemental amount of funds the city gives for housing rental assistance.

“To date, the City Council has approved a total funding of $5,295,000 for [the Charlottesville Supplemental Rental Assistance Program], distributed across various fiscal years,” reads the staff report. “The most recent analysis indicates that, despite a slight decrease in the total number of participants in FY24 due to the successful transition of several households to self-sufficiency, the program has overall achieved its goals of stabilizing housing for low-income residents.”

The staff report does not mention that CRHA has tapped into the fund to purchase property such as the purchase in September 2022 of two duplexes on Coleman Street in the Locust Grove neighborhood. As with the Dogwood properties also purchased by CRHA, the city owns a share of those properties. This is a significant piece of information to keep in mind as the Housing Advisory Committee continues to have a “hearty conversation” about what shape a city land bank should take. 

Finally, the developers of a student apartment building planned for 2117 Ivy Road seek a waiver from a requirement to build a sidewalk on a portion of Copeley Road. This project was approved by City Council in January under the old zoning rules, which means Council still has a role to play as opposed to leaving it up to staff to decide. 

“Additional sidewalk installation along Copley Road is not advisable or consistent with good engineering practice due to the lack of current or future sidewalk connectivity,” reads the narrative for the application written by the Timmons Group. 

The narrative goes on to list other upgrades for pedestrians and bicyclists that the project will provide. This is one if not the only private projects on Ivy Road in city limits. The others are either owned by the University of Virginia Foundation or have been transferred to the University of Virginia for the construction of their new campus. That includes the Karsh Institute of Democracy. 

Louisa County Supervisors to hold public hearing on Love’s Truck Stop 

The Louisa County Board of Supervisors will meet at 5 p.m. in the Louisa County Public Meeting at 5 p.m. for a closed session. They go into open meeting at 6 p.m. (meeting overview)

There are several items on the consent agenda worth reporting. 

• The Circuit Court will get a new audio-visual system with the appropriation of $21,452.07 for funding that will be reimbursed from the Commonwealth of Virginia. (learn more)
• Supervisors will approve a resolution to join an application for a planning grant from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development for creation of a digital equity plan. The other Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission localities are also applying. (staff report) (memorandum of agreement)
• Supervisors will appropriate $10,400 in federal funding to cover the costs of Sheriff’s Office employees being trained on traffic safety enforcement. (staff report)
• Supervisors will appropriate two grants from the Virginia Department of Aviation for the Louisa County Airport. One $805,000 grant will go toward the T-Hanger Taxilane Rehabilitation Construction project and $117,000 will go toward design of the Airfield Lighting and Signage Replacement project. (staff report)
• A third airport-related grant is $72,000 from the Virginia Department of Aviation to relocate a fuel tank. (staff report)
• A fourth airport-related item is the authorization of $60,000 to help build a new storage building for the county-owned airport. (staff report)
• The cost of a project to build a water tank at Shannon Hill are over by over three-quarters of a million dollars and the county’s share to make up the difference is $306,827. (staff report)

There are two items under information and discussion items. The first is a discussion of the county’s legislative priorities heading into the 2025 General Assembly. One set has been put together by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. (see that list)

The other will be more specific to Louisa County, such as funding to help prevent harmful algae blooms on Lake Anna. 

“Costs to mitigate HAB in Lake Anna have been estimate at [around] $20 million, and the County is grateful for the $1M in mitigation funds approved by 2023 General Assembly,” reads the 2024 priority list. “Ongoing support in future years is requested to combat this issue.”

They have sought funding for maintenance of buoys on Lake Anna as well as efforts to stop the proliferation of hydrila. 

“The presence of hydrilla is a statewide issue, and mitigation in each body of water plays an important role in minimizing transference to other resources,” the 2024 list continues. 

There’s one item under unfinished business and that is to amend the Land Development Regulations to amend the schedule of fees for land use applications.

“The current fee schedule does not adequately cover costs, necessitating reliance on general tax revenue, which unfairly burdens taxpayers who may not use these services,” reads the staff report. 

The proposed new fee for a rezoning application will increase from a base fee of $1,000 to $2,500, with an increase in the per-acre fee from $10 to $25. View all of the changes here.

There are two items under new business. The first is a resolution to award a contract to Hawkins Creek Construction to build a synthetic turf field at Louisa County’s school complex. They had the lowest bid of $2,499,000. This represents a lower scope to the project due to higher than expected costs. 

The second is a resolution to purchase pharmaceutical and drug storage boxes for the Department of Fire and EMS to comply with new federal regulations that take affect this November. 

“Local hospitals have handled this in the past, but due to changing policies and protocols, each emergency service provider will be required to manage their own,” reads the resolution. “The cost of the needed software, storage units, and boxes to establish one drug box system in a central location for the County will be $56,385.” 

Then there are four public hearings.

The first is the public hearing for a conditional use permit and rezoning to allow for a Love’s Truck Shop at the Gum Springs exit on Interstate-64. The Planning Commission recommended denial on August 8 on a 6 to 0 vote, according to the staff report. 

Staff has twenty conditions for the Board of Supervisors to consider. Love’s has responded to these in a letter to Louisa County dated August 21, 2024 and is in agreement with most of them except they cannot guarantee to provide a pump for off-road diesel. (read the letter) 

The packet also has an altered conditions letter as a result. (read that letter)

The second public hearing is on an unsolicited proposal to construct water and sewer infrastructure for the two data center campuses Amazon is building in Louisa County. (read the memo)

The third public hearing is for the sale of up to $66 million in general obligation bonds for improvements to Louisa County Middle School and the construction of a Career and Technical Education (CTE) Building. (read the resolution)

The fourth public hearing is related to changes to the Land Development Regulations related to buffers and requirements for specific vegetation types. (read the resolution)

In other meetings: 

• The Albemarle Architectural Review Board will meet at 1 p.m. in Lane Auditorium in the county’s administration building at 4 p.m. There is only one item on the consent agenda. (meeting info) (agenda)

Wednesday, September 4, 2024

Albemarle Supervisors to hear from School Board Chair about SOL scores, lower enrollment

The six members of the Albemarle Board of Supervisors will meet at 1 p.m. in Lane Auditorium in the county’s office building. (agenda) (meeting info)

The first item on the agenda is a proclamation recognizing September as National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. 

“During the last two decades youth suicide has reached its highest rate in more than 20 years,” reads the proclamation. “From 2007 through 2021, suicide rates for Americans ages 10 to 24 rose 62 percent.” 

The proclamation states that Albemarle County has worked toward solutions such as the creation of the Human Services Alternative Response Team and by the School Board adopting a resolution to promote secure firearm storage. They also offer any resource for anyone who feels totally alone. 

“The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline plays a helpful role in suicide prevention and mental health support by offering immediate confidential assistance 24/7 to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress with a simple, three-digit number for people to call, text, or chat online,” the proclamation continues. 

I sincerely hope if you are experiencing hopelessness, you’ll reach out. Life can be very difficult at times, but suicide leaves so much pain behind in its wake. 

Next up the Supervisors will consider a special exception for a homestay at 6316 Estes Lane. In this case, the property owner needs permission to use an accessory structure for short-term rentals. (item information)

After that, School Board Chair Judy Le will present the September report from Albemarle County Public Schools. (read the report)

The report explains how Albemarle will comply with Governor Glenn Youngkin’s July 2024 order to eliminate cell phones from classrooms. 

“In our elementary schools, cell phones are to remain off and away for the entire school day,” reads the report. “At the secondary level, our policy differs slightly from the [Virginia Department of Education] guidelines by allowing students to access and use cell phones during class changes and lunch periods.” 

The report also provides an update from the recent release of school performance data as measured through the Standards of Learning tests. 

“SOL data released by the VDOE on August 19 shows division gains in overall passing rates in Math, Reading, Writing and Science — which are the four categories that impact accreditation — as well as improvement in passing rates in 21 out of 24 reporting demographic groups that typically have achievement gaps,” the report continues. 

Supervisors have also been told that enrollment in Albemarle County Public Schools has decreased for the current academic year. 

“Total enrollment for the division as of the first day of the 2024-25 school year shows 13,713 students in our schools,” the report reads. “This is about 250 students less than the 2023-24 school year.”

A final number for the year will be recorded on Tuesday. 

There will also be a report from the United Way, a report that is not available in advance. Check here after the meeting to see if it will be uploaded. (check here)

In the evening session, there will be an “action item with public comment” which will be a final vote on the changes to the county’s rules on the siting of cell towers. This went to public hearing on July 17 and several changes were made to the ordinance. (staff report)

Then there are three public hearings: 

• The first is for a rezoning of a 1.33 acre parcel at 1928 Scottsville Road to allow for eight residential units, up from the one allowed now. The Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend the permit on June 11. (staff report)
• The second is for a special use permit to allow Community Christian Academy to operate out of modular buildings at 1410 and 1414 Old Brook Road. The Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend the permit on July 23. (staff report)
• The third is a request to amend the jurisdictional area for the Albemarle County Service Authority to permit sewer service at 4874 Three Notched Road in Crozet. This would allow the property to connect to public service rather than repair or mitigate a failing septic field. The Virginia Department of Public Health has denied that request. The Planning Commission is not consulted on these matters. (staff report)

There are five items on the consent agenda for approval and here are some highlights:

• A public hearing needs to be scheduled related to an easement with the United States Army for a cable easement under Boulders Road next to Rivanna Station. (staff report)
• There is a resolution to request new driveway access to two tracts at Ragged Mountain Farm that are under conservation easements held by Albemarle and the Albemarle Conservation Easement Authority. (staff report) 
• There is a resolution to accept, endorse, and refer the Broadway Blueprint Phase 2 Implementation Study to the Economic Development Office and the Community Development Department. Supervisors were presented with the blueprint in June and I wrote about their request that it remain industrial, not mixed-use. Since then, the City of Charlottesville agreed to guarantee up to $8.7 million to help Habitat for Humanity and the Piedmont Housing Alliance purchase the nearby Carlton Mobile Home Park. I wrote about that, too. (learn more about the Broadway Blueprint Phase 2 implementation plan)
• Supervisors will adopt the proclamation recognizing September 15 as International Day of Democracy. Why isn’t this one before them at the beginning as it is with Charlottesville City Council? (learn more)

Fluvanna Board of Supervisors have a very light agenda 

The five members of the Fluvanna County Board of Supervisors will meet at 5 p.m. in the Circuit Courtroom in the Fluvanna Courts Building. (meeting packet)

After the usual start to the meeting, there will be two presentations. 

The first is a quarterly report from the Virginia Department of Transportation. There is nothing in the agenda in advance. 

The second is a presentation from the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission on the legislative program for the 2025 General Assembly. There is a one-sheet from the TJPDC are in the packet. 

Under action items, there will be an authorization to advertise a public hearing for an amendment to the dangerous dog ordinance. This will be scheduled for October 16 and will update this section of the ordinance for the first time since 2015. (learn more)

There is also a resolution to sell a 200 Freightliner Tanker Truck with Supervisor getting to pick one of three options. Should they put it on the open market, sell it the fair market value of $26,000, or let it go below that amount? A volunteer fire company in Charlotte County would like to purchase it. The surplus property determination form lists the odometer at 52,348 miles and the condition and good. The fire truck is red and can pump 750 gallons per minute. (learn more)

The consent agenda has several interesting items.

• There’s an agreement with the Fluvanna Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for operation of the county’s official animal shelter. (learn more)
• There are several memorandums of understanding with several groups related to polling stations. 
• There are also two CRMFs. What’s a CRMF? It’s a Capital Reserve Maintenance Fund Request. One is a $19,318 request for a HVAC replacement at the Public Safety. The second is for a $5,700 request for a HVAC replacement at the Treasurer’s office. Specifically the one that serves the southeastern corner of the office. 

There are no public hearings and no unfinished business. 

In other meetings:

• The Piedmont Virginia Community College Board will meet at 4 p.m. in the Woodrow W. Bolick Advanced Technology and Student Success Center Event Space. That may be the longest name for a venue around. There’s an official ribbon cutting on September 17. (agenda) (meeting materials)

Thursday, September 5, 2024

Regional body to get update on efforts to clean up Chesapeake Bay

Though this newsletter’s primary name is Charlottesville Community Engagement, the geographic scope covers all six localities in the Thomas Jefferson Planning District. Albemarle Charlottesville Fluvanna Greene Louisa Nelson Community Engagement doesn’t quite work. 

Most of the stories I am able to follow up with relate to Albemarle, Charlottesville, or the University of Virginia. But as I continue to do this work, I see six different places that have six different cultures. I’m fascinated to write about them and learn more. 

One place where they all come together is the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission which has its first regular meeting since the first week of June. They meet at 7 p.m. at 407 Water Street in Charlottesville. (meeting materials)

There are three presentations. 

The TJPDC and Charlottesville jointly administered the federal HOME funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. That requires them to submit a Consolidated Annual Performance Evaluation Report which lists how the money has been used. 

In 2023, a total of $248,075 was spent on rental units and $166,050 was spent on homeowner rehabilitation projects. Another $219,816 was spent to help people by homes. A total of one household was served in the rental units category, 14 on rehabilitation projects, and six households were assessed with buying a house. 

The $5 million purchase by Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority of the 74 units known as Dogwood housing is considered a local match. (See also: Council agrees to $5 million in funds to CRHA to purchase 74 units across Charlottesville, April 19, 2023)

The second is a presentation on the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative. The project classified as the 2022 Broadband Project totals $288 million including $79 million from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development. That covers 13 counties and includes four utility partners and has laid fiber past 36,000 businesses and homes. 

The third is a presentation on the Watershed Improvement Program, a name given to efforts to reduce the amount of pollution that enters the tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay. The U.S. The Environmental Protection Agency established a pollution diet known as a TMDL for the Bay in December 2010 which set specific targets. TMDL stands for Total Maximum Daily Amount and is perhaps one of the most confusing acronyms to explain. 

Those targets will not be met in time for 2025 and this presentation will be good fodder for a localized story about why. 

Hidden under new business is a discussion about a review of potential changes to the boundaries of the planning districts. Public comment is being taken through October 25. 

“The Regional Cooperation Act outlines the duties and responsibilities of the Virginia Planning District Commissions (PDCs) and DHCD is required by § 36-139.7 to complete a review of planning district boundaries following each United States decennial census of population,” reads the appropriate section on the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall.  No one has made a public comment yet. 

As a side comment, I will note that I am considering extending my coverage to Augusta County and the City of Waynesboro. 

In other meetings:

• The Albemarle County Electoral Board Meeting will be held at the 5th Street County Office Building at 9 a.m. (meeting info)
• The Albemarle County Natural Heritage Committee will meet at 5:45 p.m. in Room 235  of the county’s office building at 401 McIntire Road. There will be updates on wildlife corridors and Biophilic Cities. (meeting info)
• The Quality Subcommittee of the Health System Board of the University of Virginia will meet from 8 a.m. to noon in the Board Room of the Rotunda. They will form a Mortality subgroup. (meeting info) (agenda)

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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.