May 29, 2025: Streambank restoration work at Biscuit Run in progress and three other stories about Albemarle County
An edition created to welcome dozens of new subscribers!
Correction: This newsletter originally went out with the wrong year. I regret the oops.
The Northeast Regional speeds along the tracks between Charlottesville and Culpeper, bound for Boston. This May 29, 2025 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement will only be published if I can manage to get stories written between wherever I am now and wherever I’ll end up being.
Will I make it to the end? You’ll have to sort through the following paragraphs and images to find out. I’m Sean Tubbs, and I’m only writing this because of the forty new subscribers who joined in the past 24 hours. See the closing paragraph for more information.
In today’s installment:
Albemarle County on track to close fiscal year 2025 with $5.7 million more than budgeted
A look at how Albemarle County is picking up the cost of dozens of new firefighters after a federal grant expired
The new joint General District Courts is close to being open in Charlottesville’s Court Square
Work is underway to restore the streambank on Biscuit Run
First shout-out: Camp Albemarle
Today’s first subscriber-supported public service announcement goes out to Camp Albemarle, which has for over sixty years been a “wholesome rural, rustic and restful site for youth activities, church groups, civic events and occasional private programs.”
Located on 14 acres on the banks of the Moorman’s River near Free Union, Camp Albemarle continues as a legacy of being a Civilian Conservation Corps project that sought to promote the importance of rural activities. Are you looking to escape and reconnect with nature? Consider holding an event where the natural beauty of the grounds will provide a venue to suit your needs. Visit their website to view the gallery and learn more!
Albemarle County on track to exceed revenue forecast for FY2025
There is still one more month and two days left in Fiscal Year 2025 and it won’t be too long before localities will audit their accounts to see how well revenues and expenditures performed against the adopted budget.
Projections shown to the Albemarle Board of Supervisors earlier this month indicate that the county expects to bring in $5.7 million more in general fund revenue. While elected officials adopted an operating budget based on revenues of $432,530,850 in May 2024, the budget was later revised to $443,909,582.
The projections show collections are on track to be around $449,610,328, or about 1.3 percent above budget. Several sources of revenue exceeded expectations such as the Business, Professional, and Occupational Licenses (BPOL) tax which is forecast to bring in $21.5 million, 7.6 percent above the revised budget.
“BPOL revenues are primarily driven by stronger than anticipated local economic activity during CY 2024,” reads the report.
Another source outperforming expectations is the Recordation and Sellers tax. The report states that this source is 9.1 percent above budget.
“This is also due to stronger than anticipated year-to-date collections in delinquencies, penalties, and interest,” the report continues.
There is another category with the title “Other Local Revenues” which is projected to end the year with $20 million, or 18.1 percent above budget. That’s three million more than expected.
“This is primarily due to revenue related to the Community Development Department, Emergency Medical Services Cost Recovery revenue and interest earnings on investments, all of which exceed the FY 25 Revised Budget,” reads the report.
This category also includes revenue from speed cameras. Those were not anticipated in the adopted budget.
Not all revenues are on target. Funding from both the United States government and the Commonwealth of Revenue are lower than expected. Revenue from the Commonwealth is projected to be 4 percent under the budgeted amount and federal revenue is down 4.3 percent.
The audit will also take a look at expenditures and the projection provides a glimpse.
“General Fund expenditures are forecast to total $461.8 million at the end of FY 25,” reads the report. “This amount is $10.6 million or 2.3 percent below appropriations through the third quarter.”
For more details, take a look at the full three-page report.
Another new source of revenue not identified in the report comes from fees charged to use the electric vehicle charging units at the two county office buildings.
“We are averaging 1,115 individual sessions per month with about 27.5 kWh per charging session,” reads the latest quarterly report from the Deparmtent of Facilities and Environmental Services (FES). “The fees have brought in $28k in revenue, which covers the cost of electricity operating the stations.”
Albemarle Supervisors adopted an ordinance in June 2024 allowing for the fee to be collected.
Report details how Albemarle will slowly pick up cost of new firefighters
The budget adopted by the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors in May includes the first real estate tax rate increase for several years. Eighty-percent of revenue from the four cent hike will go toward public safety.
A report on grant activity between January 1 and March 31 offers details about how some of that money will be used to begin covering the cost of paying new firefighters that were initially hired using funding from the the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“As those grants feather away, for the local government to step in and to take that burden over,” said County Executive Jeffrey Richardson when he introduced the budget in February.
Albemarle County received several SAFER grants with SAFER being an acronym for Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response.
The first was in 2020 to cover the cost of ten new personnel to staff stations at North Garden, Earlysville, and Stony Point. The county picked up half of the $853,291 cost in FY2025 but will cover the full amount in FY2026 going forward. Projections show that amount increasing to $1,043,563 in FY2029.
The second was in 2022 to cover the cost of 30 firefighters for southern Albemarle. The federal grant will expire in FY2028. Albemarle County covered $580,446 of the $2,852,114 in FY2025 and will gradually increase that amount. In FY2029, these 30 firefighters will cost $3,531,728.
The third SAFER grant was in 2023 to cover seven staff at North Garden. The total cost in FY25 is $418,389 with Albemarle picking up $127,826 of the cost. This grant expires in FY2029 when Albemarle will pay the full amount which will have increased to $676,876.
Here are some other highlights from the grant report:
Albemarle has requested $50,000 from the Virginia Brownfields Restoration and Economic Redevelopment Assistance Fund to help with clean-up of the Purvis Store site in Esmont. If awarded, the funds will be used to demolish a collapsed structure to prepare the land for another purpose. A local match is required. Albemarle will serve as a fiscal agent for Friends of Esmont, a group seeking to revitalize that unincorporated community.
Albemarle has made two requests from the Virginia Dam Safety Flood Prevention and Protection Assistance fund. One is $44,060 to design improvements to the Greens Dam at Rivanna Station to bring it up to compliance with safety regulations. The other is $500,000 to construct improvements to the Middle Dam at Mint Springs Valley Park to bring it up to compliance.
Albemarle received $596,570 from GO Virginia to help bring the Rivanna Futures site from Tier 3 to Tier 4 under the Virginia Business Ready Site program. To learn more on that, go back and read this story from April 1.
Second shout-out: Alliance Française de Charlottesville
The Alliance Française de Charlottesville promotes the French language and francophone culture through educational and cultural programs. Visit the Alliance Française website to learn more about group classes, private lessons, cultural events, and social activities for both kids and adults.
New Albemarle/Charlottesville General District Court soon to open
Just before the fiscal year ends, a new era will begin for the legal system in Albemarle County and Charlottesville.
Beginning on June 16, people who work for the Albemarle County courts system will begin moving into their new offices in the recently-completed joint General District Courts building in Court Square.
“This project also includes renovations of the historic Levy Opera House that will become the new home of the Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office,” reads an article in the latest quarterly report from the county’s Facilities and Environmental Services.
The Levy Opera House dates back to the 1850’s.
Contractors are still putting in the final touches for the building, including installation of the security system, testing of the elevators, and the placement of directional signage.
The completion of the first phase is the culmination of a process that included a discussion of relocating the courts outside of downtown Charlottesville. Charlottesville City Council agreed to a deal in December 2018 to allocate parking spaces to Albemarle County for court purposes. You can learn more about that process on cvillepedia.
The FES report states that construction had to take place in an area with limited space.
“To overcome the logistical challenges, a significant amount of time had to be devoted to coordination of trade contractors, and material and equipment deliveries,” reads the report. “The FES team has prioritized effective planning related to traffic patterns and road closures as well as impacts on the surrounding community.”
The overall project has $63 million according to page 15 of the report. The second phase will involve renovation of the historic Albemarle County Courthouse to allow for an expanded Circuit Court.
“Construction on the Circuit Court will begin after the General District Court is completed and operational, allowing the Circuit Court to temporarily relocate to the new facility,” reads page 55 of the FES report.
Work underway to restore stream at Biscuit Run
Years of development in Virginia’s Piedmont region have transformed the landscape with roads and other types of impervious surface. Over time that has had the effect of creating more stormwater and speeding up the velocity of area waterways.
Over the decades, the cumulative effect has resulted in streams that have eroded with scoured banks. This results in less habitat for all manner of species and worsens flooding conditions.
To help counter the effect, the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation helps fund efforts to restore streambanks back to their pre-development conditions.
One such project is underway at Biscuit Run Park in Albemarle County following a master plan developed in 2022 by county staff and the firm Ecosystem Services LLC.
“Surveys of Biscuit Run’s insects and other macroinvertebrates show that the stream is officially ‘impaired’ and un-able to support a healthy aquatic community,” reads the master plan. “The restoration techniques considered in this plan aim to ‘reset’ how water flows through Biscuit Run to reduce velocities in the stream channel, reduce streambank erosion, and ultimately reduce smothering of habitat by excessive silt, sand, and clay.”
The first phase got underway in late winter. Crews began cutting down trees the week of March 10, according to the latest quarterly report from the county’s Facilities and Environmental Services.
“With just three weeks to complete the process before the northern long-eared bat restrictions resumed, time was of the essence,” reads the FES report.
Northern long-eared bats are on the federal Endangered Species Act in part resulting in protection, according to the Virginia Department of Forestry.
The fallen trees will be used to create structures that will be placed in the stream to raise the water level. That will allow floodwater to flow into the flood plain, a natural condition.
To make way for the work, some of the trails at Biscuit Run are closed until the project is complete in the spring of 2026.
In late April, the Federal Emergency Management Agency granted a conditional amendment to the floodplain map allowing work to begin in the stream itself.
“Facilities Planning and Construction (FP&C) is coordinating with Community Development to complete the remaining permit reviews to allow work to resume,” reads another section of the FES report.
The technical name for that document is a Conditional Letter of Map Revision.
Albemarle is asking for the public’s help in documenting environmental changes in the park.
“Two Chronolog stations have been installed adjacent to the project,” reads the FES report. “One is near the trail closure from Mill Creek on the north side of the stream and the other on Hickory Ridge trail on the south side.”
For more information, take a look at the county’s website for the stream restoration project.
Another project at Biscuit Run will be built as the stream restoration process winds down. Design is underway for a pedestrian Bridge to connect the park with Hickory Street in the Southwood development. The project has been allocated just over $500,000 in funding.
“FES is monitoring tariffs and the potential impacts to budget given the volatility of steel and other construction material pricing,” reads the report. “Alternate deducts and contractual risk management are being contemplated to help manage this uncertainty.”
Details of that are on page 60 of the report.
Reading material:
Walking and biking trail from Manassas to Alexandria? Officials commission study, Rick Horner, InsideNOVA, May 28, 2025
JROTC program comes to Louisa County High School in 2026, Gabby Womack, WVIR 29News, May 28, 2025
Middle school students compete in robotics competition at Monticello High School, Gabby Womack, WVIR 29News, May 28, 2025
A week into activation, Charlottesville says school zone cameras doing their job, Avery Davis, WVIR 29News, May 28, 2025
Charlottesville Chamber names CEO, Emily Hemphill, Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall), May 28, 2025
Nelson supervisors talk space issues at county courthouse, Justin Faulconer, Lynchburg News and Advance (paywall), May 28, 2025
State lawmakers chew on possible food safety updates for Virginia in wake of federal cuts, Charlotte Renee Woods, Virginia Mercury, May 29, 2025
The caboose of #872
The Northeast Regional has pulled into Wilmington. I have another 50 minutes or so on the train, but when we get to Philadelphia I’ll likely need to begin preparing for the end of my journey. I’ll be out of Charlottesville for a week, but I’ll still be working each day to bring information to those of you have subscribed.
I’m up to about 50 new subscribers in the last 24 hours. This happens sometimes. Someone drops the link in a social media post and people find out about it. In the five years of doing this work, I’ve not done a coordinated marketing post. My strategy is just to focus on getting stories out that people might want to read.
Today’s stories are purely from research from two different items on the consent agenda of the May 21, 2025 meeting of the Albemarle Board of Supervisors. I’ve been wanting to get to this for a while and today was the day.
My approach to journalism is slightly different. I don’t think any of this stuff is boring. I know others might, but after over twenty years of writing about the Charlottesville area, I see things others may not see. I’m a rare journalist who has been able to devote my career to one place. I’m dedicated to doing what I can to bring you information that I believe you may need.
I do not have a staff. It’s just me, driven by a passion and spirit that even I question sometimes. I’m grateful for the opportunity I have to put my knowledge to work, but please know I will not claim to have wisdom! I’m just a very curious person who chose journalism because it was the best way to understand this county.
If you want to know more about the business model, check out this page on the Information Charlottesville website. That’s my archive website where stories are posted so I can find them when I need them.
This is all a work in progress. If you have questions, please ask. I’ll try to answer.
For now, here’s a live stream of a train yard back in Virginia.