Week Ahead for July 14, 2025: Fluvanna County Planning Commission to learn how tax increment financing works for an affordable project
Plus information about other meetings in the Thomas Jefferson Planning District
Today is the fifth anniversary of the first edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. If you click that link, you’ll see a very rudimentary version of what I produce now. I was not yet in the habit of doing this every day. Now I am, but this week may be a little different.
We’re now in summer and I’m on summer vacation. Or at least, as close to a summer vacation as I’ll get. I may share where I am going if there’s something useful. I had thought I might go interview people in this far-flung location, but it doesn’t begin with “Ch” so it may not fit the paradigm for the project I really want to but have held off due to a lack of capacity. There’s so much to do and see!
But, there may be a work-around and any time I am in a new place, my brain seeks to make comparisons between Charlottesville and other places. With so many different places to choose from, focusing on places that also begin with “Ch” could go a long way to opening doors between different parts of the country.
Or at least, might be a nice excuse to travel.
For now, a confession. This edition is not complete but my journey is about to begin and I don’t want to think about it once I’m on the road. So, a few entries will be in the next newsletter which will come out tomorrow. Otherwise it might be a quiet week as I really would like the opportunity to explore a place that I’ve always wanted to visit and now I have the opportunity to visit one.
Highlights this week:
Nelson County meets on a Monday to hold a closed meeting and then to possibly award a contract for a firm to construct the new social services building
Fluvanna County’s Planning Commission also breaks convention to meet on a Monday to get an overview of what overlay districts can do for land use outcomes
Fluvanna County’s Economic Development Authority will get a briefing on how tax increment financing has helped to construct an apartment complex intended for workforce housing
Albemarle County’s Economic Development Authority will meet and discuss the economic development strategic plan
Charlottesville’s Housing Advisory Committee will also learn about how tax increment financing, or tax abatement, could work
Greene County’s Planning Commission will have a public hearing on the rezoning of land near the new WaWa on U.S. 33
There are no meetings in Louisa County this week
Tomorrow’s edition will have more about the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors and other meetings. I dislike hitting send so early but I want to pay attention to the road trip that begins in 12 minutes!
Thanks as always to the Piedmont Environmental Council for their support of this newsletter. It has been five years now and that’s 60 months of a sponsorship that helps keep Town Crier Productions going.
Now, let’s get going!
Monday, July 14, 2025
Nelson County Board of Supervisors to meet in closed session
One forthcoming capital project initiative in Nelson County is the construction of a new building to house the Department of Social Services. A request for proposals for the project was issued earlier this year.
At 4 p.m. the Nelson County Board of Supervisors will have a special called meeting in the former Board of Supervisors Room at 84 Courthouse Square in Lovington for a closed session. I’ll quote the entire notice to remind readers that it is a best practice for elected bodies to be very clear about what they’re going to be discussing when they kick the public out of the toom.
“The purpose of the Special Called Meeting is to provide for the conduct of a closed session pursuant to Code of Virginia
§2.2-3711 A: (8) Consultation with legal counsel employed or retain by a public body regarding specific legal matters requiring the provision of legal advice by such counsel
§2.2-3711 A (7) Consultation with legal counsel and briefings by staff members or consultants pertaining to actual or probable litigation, where such consultation or briefing in an open meeting would adversely affect the negotiating or litigating posture of the public body.
Afterwards the notice states that the Board may also vote to authorize moving forward with an award for the social services building.
“The Board of Supervisors may also consider other matters at the Special Called Meeting, predicated on the attendance of all members of said Board at the Special Called Meeting,” the notice continues.
That may be tricky given that North District Supervisor Tommy Harvey has not attended a meeting in over a year.
Fluvanna County PC to review Village Residential Overlay District
Last week’s meeting of the Fluvanna County Planning Commission was postponed to this Monday meeting. The five members meet in the Morris Room in the Fluvanna County Administration Building in Palmyra. (meeting packet)
The first item is a work session at 6 p.m. on both the Village Residential Overlay District as well as special event permits.
What is a planning overlay district?
“Overlay districts are a flexible land-use planning tool that allows communities to tailor regulations to address specific needs and achieve targeted goals within a defined area,” reads the introduction to the item in the packet. “This can include things like controlling building codes, urban design, permitted land use, and density.”
The packet uses examples from Goochland County which has three overlay districts, Franklin County which has one for an area around Smith Mountain Lake as well one for Boone’s Mill. Other examples come from Lancaster County, Loudoun County, Rappahannock County, and Roanoke County.
According to the draft minutes from the May 13 meeting, Fluvanna County is looking at village overlay districts as a way to overcome particular zoning issues in the unincorporated community of Columbia as well as guide the future of Fork Union.
As for the events item, the report in the packet has examples from Albemarle, Buckingham, Chesterfield, Cumberland, Goochland, Greene, Louisa, Madison, Nelson and Orange.
There are no public hearings scheduled.
There will be a resolution to approve a public hearing on August 12 for a zoning text amendment that would provide a definition for food trucks.
There is also a resolution to approve a zoning text amendment related to the process the county used to review development plans. This is related to legislation that passed the 2025 General Assembly.
“SB974 changed the statutory review process to eliminate Planning Commission review of plats and plans, and to assign that review authority to a Designated Agent, as defined in the bill,” reads the staff report. “HB 2660 shortened the timeframes for various local government approvals of subdivision plats and site plans.”
Under unfinished business there will be an update on the Comprehensive Plan and the various community meetings that are being held. I’ll have a story on that in the next regular newsletter.
Fluvanna EDA to get update on workforce housing incentive
The Economic Development Authority of Fluvanna County will meet before the Planning Commission in the Morris Room at 5 p.m. (meeting packet)
After a series of reports, the EDA will review the budget for FY2025 and FY2026. They’ll also discuss an incentive grant for the Coves at Monticello development.
The latter is an affordable workforce housing development the Board of Supervisors approved on March 2, 2022. That came with a performance agreement to provide semi-annual grants of incremental tax revenue. The project is now complete and the first payment has been made.
In 2021, the assessed value of the property was $71,439.14. At a hearing in June, the Board of Equalization adjusted the assessed value to $16,855,552.86.
“At a current real estate tax rate of $0.75 per 100, that equals an annual 2025 Performance Incentive Grant of $126,416.65, equaling a first half payment at $63,208.33 and second half payment at $63,208.32,” reads the staff report.
Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Albemarle EDA to meet
If you go to the Albemarle County calendar, you can click on the link for the meeting of the Economic Development Authority which begins at 4 p.m. in Room 241 of the county’s office building at 401 McIntire Road. (meeting info)
When you click on the agenda accessible via the calendar, you will get a one-page listing of what the appointed body will take up at this meeting. There are no links to any of the materials.
However, when you look at the meeting on the EDA’s website, all of the materials are there for your review. Take a look!
These include the draft minutes from the April 15 meeting. There was a closed session at the meeting but the minutes do not indicate what section of the VIrginia’s open meeting was invoked.
There’s also the draft minutes from the May 20, 2025 meeting. This was a work session on the economic development strategic plan that is being crafted at the moment.
There’s also a financial report for the EDA through July 9, 2025. The EDA has $1,414,493.12 in contingency funds to use.
There’s also a review of all of the various performance agreements the EDA has entered into. Take a look!
Under unfinished business, the EDA will continue to review the economic development strategic plan, a plan being developed at the same time the Comprehensive Plan is under review.
Under new business, there is a new fiscal services agreement, followed by a request from Venture Central for a matching grant for something called FUEL, and then the staff report. The middle bit has a resolution that can be seen here.
The agenda called for closed meeting motion “pursuant to section 2.2-3711(A) of the Code of Virginia” but there’s also a disclaimer saying the actual section code is subject to change.
The resolution has more details and evokes subsection 6 and subsection 29. Here’s the actual language.
“The expenditure and investment of public funds related to existing performance agreements with Bonumose, Inc., and with Agrospheres, Inc., and related to a potential performance agreement for a commercial development on Seminole Trail in the Rio Magisterial District, where bargaining is involved and where, if made public initially, would adversely affect the EDA’s negotiating strategy and the financial interest of the EDA and the County.”
Bonumose announced plans in October 2021 to invest $28 million in a laboratory space and one day I’ll do a follow-up!
In other meetings:
The Nelson County Board of Social Services will meet at 1 p.m. in the Social Services Office at 203 Front Street in Lovingston. (calendar item)
The Charlottesville Electoral Board Meeting will meet at 6 p.m. at 120 7th Street NE, Room 142, in Charlottesville. There’s no agenda posted. (calendar item)
The Fluvanna County Board of Zoning Appeals will meet at 7 p.m. (calendar item)
Wednesday, July 16, 2025
Greene County PC to hold public hearing of rezoning on U.S. 33 near the new WaWa
The Greene County Planning Commission will meet in the County Meeting Room at 6 p.m. (meeting info)
The main item on the agenda is a public hearing for a rezoning requested by Route 33 Holdings LLC for about 6.4 acres of land from residential to business. The business is connected to developer Frank Stoner and his Milestone PartnersThe parcel is part of a larger one owned by the company.
The Comprehensive Plan calls for mixed-use residential. There does not appear to be a specific use associated with the request.
There is a report in the document that lists various activities such as the recent launch of a CivicPlus system to track land use applications.
“The system enables community members to submit all applications electronically, allowing staff
to streamline both the intake and approval processes,” reads a section of the report. “Building permit applications will be added to the system starting in August.”
Charlottesville Housing Advisory Committee to learn more about tax abatement program
A major purpose of this newsletter is to provide comparative examples of what different localities do. For instance, make sure you go back and take a look at the Fluvanna County EDA meeting from this week.
On Wednesday at 1 p.m. the Charlottesville Housing Advisory Committee will meet at CitySpace. Kellie Brown, the city’s director of Neighborhood Development Services, will review the proposed Charlottesville Affordable Housing Tax Abatement Program. The Planning Commission had a review at their meeting on July 8 that in a perfect world I would be able to write up in time. (meeting info)
They’ll also update the minutes from the April 30 and June 18 meeting, but those don’t appear to be in the meeting packet.
Thursday, July 17, 2025
Charlottesville committees to meet
Charlottesville has different kinds of boards and commissions. Some have members appointed by the City Council. Others have members appointed by City Manager Sam Sanders.
The Charlottesville Parks and Recreation Advisory Board will meet at 5:30 p.m. and there’s no agenda as of yet. This body is appointed by staff and at least two members also serve on the board of directors for a Charlottesville Parks Foundation.
“The Charlottesville Parks Foundation collaborates closely with the city's Parks & Recreation Department to bring essential community projects to life,” reads the website. “We raise funds to build and renovate parks, advocate for a robust park system and promote volunteerism to improve the parks.”
The fiscal agent for the foundation is the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission Corporation, a nonprofit that is connected to the government body.
“The TJPDC Corporation is intended to be tied to the mission and activities of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission (TJPDC),” reads the website.
The Charlottesville Parks Foundation is not listed as one of the active projects on the website. There’s also no mention of the foundation in the city’s budget.
There is also an Albemarle County Parks Foundation as well. The entity was created in the fall of 2023 and advocates for specific projects along the Rivanna River. The county budget for FY2026 also has no reference to the foundation, nor does the county’s parks and recreation website.
The city’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board meets at 5:30 p.m. at the Carver Recreation Center at 233 4th Street in Charlottesville. (meeting info)
The other meeting today is the Charlottesville Human Rights Commission. They meet at 6 p.m. in CitySpace. There’s no agenda at publication time. They’re appointed by City Council. (meeting info)
And that’s it for WAN322!
I don’t do post-scripts for the Week Ahead. I may not again, but…five years!
So many people have helped me to get to this point, where I’m able to write as much as I can, and I keep pushing myself to find new gears so I can write even more. That’s been the goal of Town Crier Productions from the beginning.
For the beginning of this week, I will be in a different community. I made the decision to go on this journey without realizing the 5th year anniversary, but I’m so glad I did. Since the pandemic I’ve made a lot of road trips across the east coast and now I’m off on another!