Week Ahead for February 2, 2026: Charlottesville City Council to learn more about power sharing agreement that might yield solar atop schools

Plus: Budget season heats up with work sessions in Fluvanna, Louisa, and Greene

Will this be the week in which the current ice age across Charlottesville ends? Meteorology is beyond the scope of this newsletter which instead is intended to take a look at what’s happening in upcoming meetings of local, regional, and sometimes state government.

One reason I do this is because I am hopeful that many in the audience will begin to get involved with the details. That could be as a more informed voter or perhaps someone who wants to begin to attend meetings. Or maybe there are those of you who might like to learn to write about these issues?

I write about this stuff because I find it all fascinating and I’ve spent my entire career rejecting the advice of editors who tell me that no one would find any of this interesting. This is how I learn what’s happening which helps me do my job.

A healthy democracy needs many people who understand how things work and what’s going on. I’ve seen a reduction in coverage locally in the past 20 years and do my part to try to keep people informed.

Some highlights this week:

• At the end of its meeting Monday, Charlottesville City Council will adopt a resolution taking a stand against federal tactics being used to enforce immigration and will adopt a policy for city staff.

• They’ll do that after a work session on how to proceed with additional units at the fourth phase of the Piedmont Housing Alliance’s Kindlewood project. They’ll also get more information about how to finance solar panels atop two city schools.

• Greene County Supervisors will formally adopt a letter Tuesday requesting a special election to fill a vacancy for the at-large Supervisor seat

• Albemarle Supervisors will have two public hearings including a rezoning for Habitat of Humanity of Greater Charlottesville, and a former Supervisor may rejoin the Planning Commission.

• Louisa County Supervisors will hold a budget work session on Tuesday as will Fluvanna Supervisors on Wednesday.

• The Albemarle Economic Development Authority will further discuss the strategic plan at a virtual meeting Thursday

• The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission will hold a virtual meeting but I’m writing up those details later this week

• There are no meetings in Nelson County this week.

Thanks as always to the Piedmont Environmental Council for their support of this weekly look ahead!

Monday, February 2, 2026

Charlottesville City Council to adopt stance on federal immigration enforcement

Charlottesville City Council will meet at 4 p.m. for a work session followed by a regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. with a closed session in between. (meeting overview)

There are two items at the work session.

The first will be a discussion of a power purchase agreement for Charlottesville High School and Charlottesville Middle School.This would be for the installation of solar panels atop both in order to help the city meet its greenhouse gas reduction goals.

“The potential solar system sizes for these two CCS facilities come with substantial installation costs that have been deemed infeasible to pursue with local capital funding at this time,” reads the staff report.

One alternative is to enter into a power purchase agreement.

“The PPA model involves a long-term contract and site access arrangement on the property of a host customer,” the report continues. “The developer retains ownership and operational responsibility of the solar array and the host customer purchases the system’s electric output at a negotiated rate (proposed to be lower than the prevailing utility rate) and for a predetermined period (usually up to 25 years).”

There is a presentation in the packet with more information (Credit: City of Charlottesville)

The second will be an update on plans for Phase 4 of the Kindlewood project that has been overseen by the Piedmont Housing Alliance. I need to go through Council’s January 29 work session to see what might have been said at that event so a preview of this will be in Monday’s newsletter.

The consent agenda contains the second reading of several affordable housing initiatives. You can learn about those in an article I wrote in the most recent C-Ville Weekly

There’s also a first reading of $60,000 in funding from the National League of Cities’ Southern Cities Economic Initiative. This would support a program to expand the workforce for child care in a partnership with the United Way.

“Anchored within the City Manager’s Community Prosperity Laboratory, under the leadership of the Chief Prosperity Officer, this initiative directly addresses two local barriers to economic mobility: the shortage of qualified early childhood educators, which constrains childcare availability and family workforce participation, and the lack of accessible, paid, and supported career pathways for residents seeking to enter or advance in the early learning field,” reads the staff report.

Then there are several regular meeting items.

The first would eliminate the requirement to have two readings for many items.

“The existing first and second reading requirements were adopted to promote transparency and deliberation, but in practice they can delay noncontroversial or time-sensitive matters even where Council consensus is clear,” reads the staff report from City Attorney John Maddux.

The second pertains to how the city makes payments to allow the City Attorney to handle more of them without Council’s approval. (staff report)

The third would transfer additional money into a fund the city uses to help people buy e-Bikes. (staff report)

The fourth would designate a section of West Main Street as Mel’s Walk after the late “Mel” Eugene Walker. (staff report)

The fifth is the first of two readings of a $45,000 allocation to the Piedmont Family YMCA to allow them to make upgrades to allow their childcare section to be compliant with the building code. (staff report)

The sixth is first reading on the transfer of $469,000 previously allocated to a low barrier shelter for other projects. While the city has purchased space, they are not ready to operate it.

• $65,000 would go to PACEM to close a funding gap for the current fiscal year

• The Blue Ridge Area Coalition for the Homeless would get $234,000 to replace federal funds lost for 32 households in permanent supportive housing. This is related to a shift in the U.S. Housing and Urban Development away from “housing first” initiatives.

• The Salvation Army would get $170,000 to upgrade part of its Ridge Street space to house six families. They had requested $340,000.

The final item is a resolution against current enforcement of immigration by federal officials.

“The City finds that, in the context of federal immigration enforcement, practices such as concealing an official’s identity, operating in plain clothes, using unmarked vehicles, failing to clearly and promptly identify authority, or engaging in confrontational tactics without clear legal justification create an unreasonable risk of violent escalation,” reads a portion of the resolution. “Moreover, tactics that deny persons access to basic human needs and rights guaranteed by the Constitution, such as operations aimed at schools, medical facilities, courthouses, and houses of worship run counter to the American spirit and should not be tolerated.”

There is also a letter to the state’s two top officials and Virginia’s executive branch seeking greater oversight of federal immigration enforcement.

There is also a memo from City Attorney John Maddux with guidance to city staff.

“Federal agencies, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), may sometimes seek access to City facilities, City records, or City employees in connection with immigration enforcement activities,” reads the letter. “This document explains the basic legal framework that governs those interactions and provides practical direction to City employees.”

Louisa Supervisors to hold budget work session, public hearing on street naming

The Louisa County Board of Supervisors will meet in a budget work session at 3 p.m. in the Louisa County Public Meeting Room. There’s not a lot of information in the packet. If you’re interested in learning more, perhaps take a look back at recent budgets in Louisa? There was a preliminary discussion at the January 20 meeting according to the minutes. One potential item is a 15 percent decrease in the personal property tax rate.

To see what I’ve been able to write about in the past, check out this column on Information Charlottesville.

Louisa County’s tax base has increased over three years and I’m curious to see what the actual revenues will be for FY2027 (Credit: Louisa County)

The regular meeting begins at 5 p.m. with a closed session and an open session beginning at 6 p.m. (agenda)

The consent agenda includes a thank you to a former member of the Planning Commission, a reappointment to the Board of Zoning Appeals, and ratification of a declaration of a local state of emergency.

There are presentations scheduled from Reynolds Community College, the Louisa County Commission on Aging, and the use of drone technology. None of these are available in advance.

There are three items under action items.

• One is for a budget supplement of $70,000 for a match for a Virginia Department of Emergency Management grant to pay for a generator at the Betty Queen Center. (learn more)

• Another is for a budget transfer of $40,000 to the Louisa County airport to replace flooring in the terminal. (learn more)

• A third is for a budget transfer of $50,000 for the replacement of communication systems in county government offices. (learn more)

There are two public hearings, both of which are related to the naming of streets.

One is for proposed amendments to the Streets and Sidewalks chapter of county code and one is to the Land Development Regulations chapter.

“The proposed amendments are intended to address maintenance and replacement of street name signs; update current ordinance language; and recommend fee changes to help offset the cost of sign maintenance and replacement,” reads a memo for the public hearings.

The intent is to clarify timing for when streets get names, who pays for the initial signage, and who will be responsible for replacements.

Tuesday, February 3, 2026

Greene Supervisors to ask Circuit Court for special election to fill at-large vacancy

The ice storm led to the cancellation of the January 27 meeting of the Greene County Board of Supervisors. They’re going to do all of that business on February 3.

The four remaining members met on January 29 to accept the resignation of at-large Supervisor Francis McGuigan who attempted to rescind that action. Supervisors are moving forward with a process to ask people to apply to serve on the Board.

In any case, the Supervisors will meet at 4:30 p.m. in the administration building in Stanardsville at 40 Celt Road. (agenda)

The meeting will begin a workshop on budget priorities. There’s no advance material but you can take a look at information for previous years on the Greene County budget page.

There will be a closed session at 5:30 p.m. and the Supervisors will reconvene at 6:30 p.m.

There will be a public hearing on a request to add an 81.51 acre parcel on Welsh Run Road to the James Agricultural and Forestal District.

There will be three presentations with the first a monthly update on water projects. There will also be an update on Shenandoah National Park. And then Matthew McLaren of Robinson, Farmer, Cox and Associates will present the audit of FY2025. You can take a look at the document here.

On the consent agenda are several items including the acceptance of $93,750 in funds from the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation for creation of a countywide resilience plan. This requires a 25 percent match from the county for a total project cost of $125,000.

Another item on the consent agenda is a writ of special election for the open At-Large seat to be held in November.

An image from the presentation on the addition of land to one of Greene’s two agricultural and forestal district (Credit: Greene County)

In other meetings:

• The technical committee for the Charlottesville-Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization will meet at 10 a.m. for an all-virtual meeting. They’ll take a look at the status of Smart Scale applications and get a sense of what area demographics might be like in 2050. (committee page)

• There will be a pre-application workshop at 1:30 p.m. in CitySpace and another one virtually at 7 p.m. for those who seeking funding through the next CDBG / Home cycle. You can learn more in a story I wrote in January. (1:30 p.m agenda) (7 p.m. agenda)

• The Rural Area Transportation Committee will meet at 1 p.m for a virtual meeting. (calendar item)

• Charlottesville’s Tree Commission meets at 5 p.m. and will get updates on the Urban Forest Management Plan expected to be completed in August, the invasive plant control work underway, and the recent completion of tree maintenance on the Downtown Mall. (agenda)

Wednesday, February 4, 2026

Albemarle Supervisors to make minor changes to Ashwood Connector road technical plans

The first February meeting of the Albemarle Board of Supervisors is a fairly light one that begins at 1 p.m. in Lane Auditorium of the county’s office building at 401 McIntire Road. (agenda)

What makes this a light meeting? There is only one item on the agenda for the afternoon and then two public hearings in the evening session.

The afternoon item is an update on license agreements for land given to the county by the developers of the Brookhill community north of the South Fork of the Rivanna River. Supervisors approved a rezoning on July 17, 2019 that donated land for a future connector road to Ashwood Boulevard to be called Archer Avenue.

“The developer has proposed modifications to the location of their improvements on the County parcel,” reads the staff report. “The previously issued non-exclusive revocable license agreements must be revised to reflect the modified areas of improvements.”

For some reason the quarterly transportation report is on the consent agenda which deprives the public of hearing Supervisors ask questions about existing projects. This newsletter exists to get the information out to an audience anyway. Here’s some of what is in the document which you can also read here.

This is a year where Smart Scale applications are due and Albemarle is planning on submitting three applications. Another four will be submitted on Albemarle’s behalf by the Charlottesville-Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization.

• An eastbound right turn lane from Barracks Road to southbound U.S. 29 / 250 bypass (Albemarle)

• A roundabout at Old Trail Drive and U.S. 250, a project that was also submitted unsuccessfully in 2022 and 2024 (Albemarle)

• Roundabouts on Ivy Road at Canterbury Drive and Boar’s Head Drive (Albemarle)

• Barracks Road Northbound Ramp and sidewalk to connect to an existing one in the City of Charlottesville (MPO)

• Conversion of Interstate 64’s exit 120 into a diverging diamond (MPO)

• Reconfiguration of the interchange of U.S. 29 and Interstate 64 (MPO)

• Ramp extensions from U.S. 29 to Old Ivy Road to increase capacity for vehicles going onto Old Ivy Road (MPO)

Noticeably absent from the quarterly report is the extension of Boulders Road, a project that has been spearheaded by the Office of Economic Development. Has the Board of Supervisors ever discussed this project in public? Why not include it in a ten-page update of transportation projects, especially if county funds are to be used? Wouldn’t this be a good opportunity to point out that the Economic Development Authority has committed $500,000 toward the $42 million project and that the Commonwealth Transportation Board allocated $20 million in January?

Also from the written report is any further discussion of Eastern Avenue, which the county tried and failed to pursue as a public-private partnership.

One more question: When will Albemarle update the transportation priority list? That’s officially not happened since 2019.

Supervisors did get an in-person briefing from the Virginia Department of Transportation at their first regular business meeting of the year as I reported.

Supervisors will end the first portion with a closed session to discuss appointments to boards and commissions.

One of them is a vacancy representing the Scottsville District on the Planning Commission. Former Supervisor Rick Randolph has applied to serve once again in the position and is the only applicant in the packet.

Former Supervisor Diantha McKeel has applied to represent the Jack Jouett District on the Albemarle County Service Authority. If appointed, she would join fellow former Supervisor Liz Palmer who represents the Samuel Miller District.

The landscape plan for the future Archer Avenue extension (Credit: Collins Engineering)

The 6 p.m. session has two public hearings.

The first is for a rezoning at 5546 Three Notched Road in Crozet from R-2 to R-4 for a Habitat project. This would be for a duplex.

“Habitat for Humanity seeks to subdivide the property into two lots with the internal property line located on the shared common wall of the duplex,” reads the narrative prepared by Roudabush, Gale & Associates.

The second is for a special use permit for Funk Brothers Furniture for a business at 3756 Richmond Road in the Rural Area. (item materials)

An image from the conceptual plan for the Habitat project (Credit: Roudabush, Gale & Associates)

Fluvanna Supervisors to hold budget work session, discuss ‘expressive activity’ policy

The five members of the Fluvanna County Board of Supervisors will meet at 5 p.m. in the Circuit Courtroom of the Fluvanna Courts Building. A budget work session is scheduled for 7 p.m. (meeting packet)

The meeting will begin with a special presentation recognizing the retirement of Andrew Sheridan, the former Commission of the Revenue.

There will be presentations on an upcoming leadership retreat, a review of the public hearing process, and a discussion of an “expressive activity policy.”

Fluvanna Supervisors have held retreats before as a way of identifying a two-year plan. The last was held on October 2, 2024 and there is $7,000 in the budget to hire a facilitator.

The agenda packet has the latest updates from the most recent two-year work plan. Review the document here. (Credit: Fluvanna County)

The Expressive Activity Policy would govern how people can communicate on or within county property. The draft policy has this as a definition:

“Expressive activity: non-commercial canvassing, leafleting, petitioning, or similar activity with the primary purpose of exercise of the rights of assembly and free speech as guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.”

There’s no unfinished or new business. The budget work session takes place at the end. For information on Fluvanna County’s revenue and expenditures balancing, here’s an appropriate website.

RWSA to hold info session on South Fork to Ragged Mountain reservoir pipeline

Albemarle Supervisors and Charlottesville City Council agreed to a community water supply plan in January 2012 that called for a new dam at Ragged Mountain and a reservoir with more storage.

The plan also called for the eventual construction of a new pipeline to allow water to be transferred between the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir and the one at Ragged Mountain. That work is finally about to begin.

“The proposed alignment of the new 36-inch raw water pipeline generally follows Woodburn Road, Rio Road West, Hydraulic Road, Lambs Road, Colthurst Drive, and Old Garth Road, with crossings beneath Barracks Road and Route 250/Ivy Road near Birdwood,” reads an information release sent out by the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority on January 9, 2026. “A new raw water intake and pump station is planned near the South Rivanna Dam, located at the end of Woodburn Road.

The RWSA is holding an information session at 6:30 p.m. at the Albemarle County office building at 1600 5th Street Extended. The meeting can also be viewed on Zoom. For more information and the link, visit the RWSA website.

On December 17, 2025, the RWSA Board of Directors awarded a $87,633,497 contract to Garney Companies of Fairfax for the work. Construction details will be shared at the information session.

A map showing the alignment for the South Fork to Ragged Mountain pipeline (Credit: Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority)

In other meetings:

• The Albemarle County Electoral Board will meet in Room B of the county’s office building at 1600 5th Street Extended. As with all such bodies across Virginia, the make-up of the body has now changed to reflect a partisan change in the Governor’s office. (meeting info)

• Charlottesville’s Retirement Commission will meet at 8:30 a.m. in Cityspace and one item will be a review of proposals from the collective bargaining unit that represents police officers and personnel. (agenda)

• Charlottesville’s Electoral Board will meet at 6 p.m. There’s no agenda. Why don’t they post one? Are they required to do so? (calendar item)

Thursday, February 5, 2026

Albemarle Economic Development Authority to talk about strategic plan at virtual meeting

The primary force driving policy in Albemarle County is economic development and the seven-members of the Economic Development Authority are appointed to represent the six magisterial districts plus a seventh at-large member.

There is a virtual meeting at 4 p.m. The county’s calendar itself does not have a link to the agenda at publication. The EDA website does and this meeting will be a work session on implementation of the Economic Development Strategic Plan adopted by the Board of Supervisors in August 2025.

You can read the plan here.

There’s no information about what will be discussed exactly but guests include Steven Pedigo, a person who was project manager for development of the EDSP under one firm but has since moved on to another firm he co-founded called CivicSol.

Other guests are Marjette Uphshur, Lynchburg’s director of economic development and the executive director of Virginia Tech’s Center for Economic & Community Engagement.

I’ve written several stories about the development of the EDSP which I provide below.

• Albemarle moving ahead with update of economic development strategic plan, August 4, 2024

• Albemarle Supervisors briefed on economic development plan, June 19, 2024

• Albemarle’s next economic development strategic plan likely to be adopted before AC44, July 22, 2025

• Albemarle County Supervisors adopt an updated economic development strategic plan, August 22, 2025

In other meetings:

• Charlottesville’s Bike and Pedestrian Advisory Committee will meet at 5 p.m. There’s no agenda at publication time. (calendar item)

• The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality will hold a public meeting and take public comment for a pollution clean-up plan for the South Fork Rivanna and some its tributaries. This will be at the Greenwood Community Center. (learn more)

• The Albemarle Natural Heritage Committee meets at 5:45 p.m. in Room 241 of Albemarle County’s Office Building at 401 McIntire Road. There will be a presentation from the Botanical Garden of the Piedmont. (agenda)

• The Charlottesville School Board will meet at 6 p.m. in the Booker T. Reaves Media Center Charlottesville High School 1400 Melbourne Road. You can navigate to the agenda here.

• The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission meets virtually at 7 p.m. and I’ll write up a preview during a regular meeting later this week as the materials are not online at publication time. (TJPDC events)