Week Ahead for January 27, 2025: Big week for Albemarle’s Comprehensive Plan update; Charlottesville City Council to hold budget work session
Plus: A group from Virginia Tech will present their findings in a feasibility study for how Greene County plans to pay for enhanced water and sewer
This is the final week of January and it is a relatively slow one for local government but a busy one for state government with the General Assembly in session. At the national level, all eyes are on Washington as the presidential transition continues. For Town Crier Productions, this will be a busy week of trying to get caught on as much as possible. Just in time for Groundhog Day!
Here’s some of what’s happening this week:
Consultants from Virginia Tech will present analysis to the Greene Board of Supervisors on the feasibility of the county’s plan to pay for the costs of water and sewer infrastructure
The Albemarle Planning Commission on Tuesday will review the drafts parks and recreation chapter of the county’s Comprehensive Plan update and will hold a public hearing on a rezoning for 54 units on over three and a half acres
Albemarle staff are holding a community meeting on Wednesday to go over the Comprehensive Plan to date and to get feedback on the environmental stewardship chapter and the parks chapter
Charlottesville City Council will have a budget work session Thursday and will likely hear about how assessment increases will increase the amount of available revenue to spend
Staff at the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority are not recommending formation of a committee to create a long range planning committee for trash and recycling
There are no meetings in Fluvanna County, Louisa County, or Nelson County this week
Thanks as always to the Piedmont Environmental Council for their sponsorship of this weekly look at what’s happening in local and regional government.
Monday, January 27, 2025
Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority to meet for first time in 2025
As of publication time, the website for the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development has not yet been updated to reflect the new administration of Donald Trump. A career official named Matt Ammon is serving as interim secretary while Trump nominee Scott Turner goes through the confirmation process. Learn more on Ballotpedia.
Meanwhile, the Board of Commissioners for the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority will meet at 6 p.m. in City Council Chambers. This is a meeting with lots of updates and presentations, but no action. (meeting packet)
In other meetings:
The Finance Executive Compensation Subcommittee of the University of Virginia Board of Visitors will meet virtually at 11 a.m. for a closed session. (meeting info)
The Albemarle Historic Preservation Committee is scheduled to meet at 4:30 p.m. in Room 241 of the county’s office building at 401 McIntire Road. They’ll welcome two new members and review the latest demolition report. (meeting info)
The Pantops Community Advisory Committee meets at 6:15 p.m. in the Martha Jefferson Hospital Outpatient Center in the Kessler Conference Room. This is at 595 Martha Jefferson Drive. They’ll talk about what they’ll talk about in 2025. (meeting info)
Tuesday, January 28, 2025
Greene County Supervisors to get review of financial model to pay for water infrastructure
For years, Greene County has had a plan in place to expand their community water supply. In the fall of 2023, Supervisors were briefed on the status of permits to impound White Run for a new reservoir and were told the clock is ticking before they expire.
The Virginia Tech Institute for Policy and Governance (VTIPG) has been commissioned to review plans for how to pay for expanded water and sewer infrastructure. Their presentation to the Board of Supervisors begins at 4:30 p.m. in Stanardsville. (agenda)
“Greene County has invested significant time and funds for well over 22 years to secure a new water reservoir in accordance with the Commonwealth of Virginia’s requirement of a regional water supply plan after the severe 2002 drought,” reads the executive summary. “With approval of the issuance of bonds, Greene County is ready to proceed with the construction of the reservoir.”
The summary states clearly that it takes a long time to move forward with water supply plans and notes that deferred maintenance can lead to public health crises. For instance, a winter storm earlier this month knocked out Richmond’s water treatment plant, which also provides Hanover County with drinking water. The report notes Hanover County is now thinking about a long-term solution for their needs.
“The Hanover County Administrator currently projects that a new reservoir would take almost $500 million, and potentially more by the time it started, and approximately 20 to 25 years to develop,” the summary continues.
Greene County is expected to continue growing due to national trends as well as efforts to attract more jobs in the defense and intelligence sector.
“New development and growth in the County provide an opportunity to expand the county’s tax base that can be used to help address the existing deferred and ongoing maintenance needs of the current water and sewer system as well as build future water and sewer capacity,” reads more of the summary.
For anyone interested in a detailed history of Greene’s water supply plan, the report offers a lot of detail. Hopefully I’ll be able to find the time to report what gets said.
After the work session, there will be three presentations. One will be on the retirement of Glen Collier, a 27-year employee of the Animal Shelter of Greene County. The second will be on an EMS license for the Ruckersville Volunteer Fire Department. The third will be on clarifications to the recent audit. There are no action items.
AC44 process turns to Parks, Recreation, and Open Space
Since November 2021, Albemarle County has been participating in a long, slow marathon to update the Comprehensive Plan. The third of four phases of what is known as AC44 is underway and that involves a chapter-by-chapter review.
Since October, the Albemarle Planning Commission takes a first look at a 4 p.m. work session for each chapter followed by a discussion at the Board of Supervisors. Last Wednesday the elected officials spent over two and a half hours going through the Environmental Stewardship chapter. (meeting info)
I’m very far behind in documenting the process, which is happening while there’s a great deal of other things to report about such as Albemarle’s transition to a new online portal which no longer allows the public direct access to applications, correspondence, and other communications related to special use permits, rezonings, and other public business.
In the spirit of trying to stay current, this time around the Planning Commission will review draft language for the Parks, Recreation, and Open Space chapter.
“The majority of Albemarle County’s large parks and open spaces are located within the Rural Area, which contains 95 percent of the County land area,” reads the staff report. “Given the allocation of dedicated land and recreation amenities within the Rural Area, AC44 places special emphasis upon expanding the parks, open space and recreation amenities within the Development Area, where most county community members reside.”
The staff report said there will be an emphasis on expanding shared use paths. There is no mention of coordination with the City of Charlottesville or the University of Virginia in the 18 page draft chapter. Charlottesville’s draft master plan for parks and recreation calls for a dramatically expanded network of shared use paths.
Which leads me to a question for anyone interested in doing some research. What is total length of the perimeter between Albemarle and Charlottesville?
Resources:
There are two public hearings.
The first is for a rezoning for a project called Berkmar Flats which if approved would see 54 units on a 3.62 acre parcel at 2175 Woodburn Road. The specific request is to have the land altered from R-6 (six units per acre) to R-15 (15 units per acre).
Staff is recommending denial due to a lack of interconnection to other parcels. This project was last before the Planning Commission in June 2024 when four people spoke at a public hearing in opposition. A deferral was requested and granted.
All of the documentation for the project through the end of 2024 can be viewed here. This level of documentation will not be immediately available for future rezonings under the current Civic Access system.
The second public hearing is for a commercial kennel in the rural area at 3225 Gilbert Station Road. Staff recommends approval and identities no concerns. You can review all of the documentation here as this predates the Civic Access system.
Rivanna Authorities to get updates on strategic plan, grant opportunities
Both the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority (RSWA) and the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority (RWSA) will meet on Tuesday and there are three shared items that will be the subject of a joint meeting.
The RSWA goes first at 2 p.m. The consent agenda has some interesting items. (agenda)
The Board will consider a $3.84 million contract for the firm R2Build of Vienna to build a 16,800 square foot baling facility at the Ivy Solid Waste and Recycling Center. This will replace an outdated paper sort facility off of Meade Avenue.
A one-day tire collection event has been scheduled for March 8 at the Southern Albemarle Convenience Center open to residents of the county. Households can dispose of up to 12 tires. Advance registration will be required.
The Board of Directors will consider creation of a citizen planning committee to plan for the long-range future of solid waste services. Staff suggests it may be redundant given the existence of Albemarle’s Solid Waste Alternatives Advisory Committee and the closed-door Land Use and Environmental Planning Commission.
After the consent agenda, the joint meeting will begin with a review of the strategic plan for both authorities, followed by an update on asset management, and then a review of grants.
The RWSA agenda does not have any independent action items except those on the consent agenda. (agenda)
In one other meeting:
The University of Virginia Board of Visitors Audit, Compliance, and Risk Committee will have a closed session at 2 p.m. (meeting info)
Wednesday, January 29, 2025
Albemarle holding “check-in” meeting for AC44
Another stretch of the AC44 marathon comes at 6 p.m. when Albemarle County holds a “check-in” that focuses on the Environmental Stewardship chapter and the Parks, Recreation, and Open Spaces chapter.
“In-person attendees will be invited to ask questions and visit the two Open House-style rooms dedicated to each chapter,” reads the meeting notice. “Staff from Community Development, Parks and Recreation, and Facilities and Environmental Services will be available to answer questions and capture your feedback on the various topics.”
In other meetings:
The Charlottesville Retirement Commission will meet at 8:30 a.m. in the basement conference room in City Hall. They’ll have a closed session to discuss investment strategies for the pension fund for city employees. (agenda)
The Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority will hold a project information meeting on a pending project to install a 36-inch raw water main and pump station between the Ragged Mountain Reservoir to Observatory Water Treatment Plant. Thalle Construction of North Carolina will perform the work which has a budget of $61.5 million. The meeting will be held in-person at Rivanna’s Administration Building, 695 Moores Creek Lane, 2nd floor Conference Room, and a virtual participation option will be available through Zoom at the following link: (https://zoom.us/j/98532566954)
The Albemarle Broadband Authority will meet at 5 p.m. in Room 241 of the county’s office building at 401 McIntire Road. (meeting info)
Thursday, January 30, 2025
Charlottesville City Council to hold work session FY26 budget development
In recent years, the budget for the City of Charlottesville has increased due to increased real property values. In FY2015, the total budget was $150,742,327. The budget for the current fiscal year is nearly $252 million, a 10.29 percent increase over FY2024.
What will the total budget for FY26 be?
There is not yet an agenda for a budget work session Council has scheduled for 5 p.m. in CitySpace. One possible update the five elected officials might get will be a dollar amount of additional revenue that will come from another year of increased assessments.
“When residential, commercial, and new construction are averaged together taxable properties in the City increased by 7.74 percent in 2025,” reads an information release sent out on Friday.
Residential property was up an average of 8.81 percent with nearly 95 percent increasing in value
Commercial property was up 6.37 percent with nearly 82 percent increasing in value
Mixed-used property was up 7.36 percent
More information on the assessments in this story.
Want to get caught up on the budget development to date? Charlottesville Community Engagement is the only place you’re going to get detailed stories.
Charlottesville budget staff brief Council on development of FY26 budget, September 20, 2024
Charlottesville seeks review of solid waste services in advance of FY26 budget, September 27, 2024
Charlottesville PC gives broad direction on capital improvement program, October 3, 2024
Charlottesville City Manager Sanders announces upcoming “community interventions” including $5 million for the Salvation Army, October 23, 2024
Charlottesville now pays the private Charlottesville Parking Center $1.8 million a year to rent the Water Street Parking Garage, October 23, 2024
Sanders briefs Council on other community interventions such as purchase of portable restrooms, November 1, 2024
Sanders tells Council he will try to present balanced budget without a tax increase, November 22, 2024
Charlottesville Planning Commission gives more direction on capital improvement program, December 6, 2024
Charlottesville City Council briefed on upcoming spending on housing and infrastructure, December 12, 2024
Charlottesville Planning Commission seeks more funding for affordable housing, planning for schools, December 19, 2024
Charlottesville City Council briefed on increasing costs for public safety and transit, December 20, 2024
Sanders addresses low-barrier shelter before Council approves $3 million for other Salvation Army project, December 20, 2024
Finishing touches underway on Charlottesville Parks and Recreation Master Plan, January 22, 2025
City Council holds public hearing Charlottesville’s draft Capital Improvement Program, January 24, 2025
I have a few others to write before Thursday, too.
In other meetings:
The Albemarle Agricultural and Forestal District Committee will meet at 5:30 p.m. in Room 241 of the county’s office building at 401 McIntire Road. (meeting info)
Hi Sean- I have some info on the cville parks and rec master plan’s negative impact on specific communities. How can I get in touch with you to share? I have internal emails.