Week Ahead for June 2, 2025: Charlottesville City Council to hold public hearing on utility rate increases, $12M in spending from CIP contingency fund
Plus: Albemarle County Supervisors will hold a public hearing on a request to fill in the floodplain for a future industrial building in the Woolen Mills
Five months into the year now and we’re entering the summer season. That doesn’t mean local and regional government stop. The world doesn’t stop and there are things to pay attention to even if it would be nice to take a break.
Charlottesville Community Engagement takes very few breaks because it would be easy to lose sight of the bigger picture if the minor details are not at least minorly observed. However, this may be a week where I take less time to do the work. Descriptions may be on the terse side with many links to stories I’ve already written.
But how many times do I say this only to wake up after I’ve written 5,000 words?
This one tops out at under 3,000 words and comes out later because I spent a couple of hours with my parents today.
In any case, some highlights this week:
Charlottesville City Council will hold a public hearing on a proposal to spend $12 million from the city’s capital contingency improvement program fund, as well as a hefty increase in water rates
The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors will consider a final vote on financing for a renovation of the regional jail on Avon Street Extended. I had expected to see this on the agenda for Charlottesville City Council but I do not see it.
UVA’s Board of Visitors will meet this week but there’s not enough information at publication time to really discuss it.
Louisa County’s Planning Commission wants the Board of Supervisors to hire a consultant to
There are no meetings in Greene County or Nelson County this week.
Thank you to the Piedmont Environmental Council for their ongoing sponsorship of this work. They’ve been doing so for nearly five years now!
Monday, June 2, 2025
Charlottesville City Council to hold public hearing on use of $12 million from capital contingency fund
Charlottesville City Council will meet at 4 p.m. for a work session followed by a regular session at 6:30 p.m. There’s a lot on this agenda.
In between the two open sessions they’ll hold a closed meeting to appoint a member of the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s Board of Commissioners. The terms of Wes Bellamy and Laura Goldblatt expire on June 30 according to the city’s website.
This meeting marks the debut of a new format for the agenda which includes a description of what the closed session will be about. I’m very glad to see that information publicly posted.
The work session will feature an update on the city’s transportation program.
“This presentation is an annual update on the city’s ongoing efforts to manage and execute a comprehensive transportation strategy,” reads the staff report. There’s no advance information in the packet, but if you want to catch up on recent stories check out this section of Information Charlottesville.
If you want to know where things were this time last year, here are two stories:
Charlottesville transportation planners seeking to rebuild public trust, May 16, 2024
Transportation planning manager updates Charlottesville City Council on existing projects, May 17, 2025
There are two items on the consent agenda I want to highlight. The first is a resolution to appropriate $266,387 in a surplus the city-owned Meadowcreek Golf Course has from fiscal year 2024. The funds will be used to reinvest in the course in a series of repairs. In all there were 43,618 rounds of golf played in Pen Park between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024. Learn more in the staff report.
The second is a resolution allowing City Manager Sam Sanders to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Local Energy Alliance Program for work they will conduct to advance the city’s climate protection program. There’s also a resolution to appropriate $125,350 in city funds for this purpose.
“In 2024, in response to the recognized need to scale up community adoption of energy efficiency and electrification actions to reach our community greenhouse gas reduction goals, the City partnered with Albemarle County, LEAP, and the Community Climate Collaborative (C3) to launch the Energy Resource Hub, an online and in-person service to assist both residents and businesses in navigating and accessing energy programs and incentives,” reads the staff report.
After the consent agenda, Council will hear from CRHA Executive Director John Sales regarding the properties his agency bought jointly with the city in the spring of 2023. Council agreed to contribute half of the $10 million to purchase dozens of units known collectively as Dogwood Housing. These date back to 1980 when Eugene Williams began buying and renovating properties to keep them affordable. Woodard Properties purchased them all in 2007 and agreed to follow suit.
CRHA has been adding to the portfolio by purchasing additional properties. Council last got an update last spring as I wrote about for C-Ville Weekly.
Council will then move into action items with two public hearings. The first regards a granting of easements to Dominion Energy at Pen Park and Quarry Road to allow for some equipment to be placed underground.
The second public hearing will attract more attention. This is on the allocation of funding over $12 million from the city’s Capital Improvement Program contingency fund. Council agreed to park $22.4 million from the fiscal year 2024 surplus into the contingency fund as well as $2.7 million in “gainsharing” funds from the School Board.
On May 19, Sanders described how he wanted to use $5.4 million of that funds. In addition to the staff report, you can learn the details in an article I wrote about his presentation.
“In addition to these items, two additional community intervention items have been added as well as a few items to ensure compliance with budgetary guidelines and financial policy,” reads the staff report.
The report doesn’t spell out what the new two items are but they appear to be $1.1 million for “Downtown Mall Improvements” as well as $1.5 million for “City Environmental and Mobility Plans.”
There’s an additional $5,135,000 in those “few items” which do not appear to have anything to do with capital infrastructure needs.
They are:
$3.5 million for “Health Care Fund Reserve Replenishment”
$1.1 million to cover additional funding need to pay for items in the city’s contract with the Teamsters for the fourth collective bargaining agreement
$300,000 for implementation of an asset management implementation system
$175,000 in legal fees incurred by the City Attorney’s office
$60,000 to cover losses the Human Services department had in Fiscal Year 2024.
Included in the packet is a list of how the CIP contingency fund has been used since 2006. One item that jumps out at me is a transfer of $9 million on June 17, 2024 as a contribution to the city’s retirement fund. Another is the appropriation of $1.4 million last year to the Charlottesville Parking Center related to an increase in the rent the city pays for the ground lease. If you want to know more about that, here’s a story from last October.
After that is a public hearing on utility rate increases. I wrote a story about this last week which you can read here. My goal is to write up a story from the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority meeting last week that will explain the reason for the proposed increases. But I encourage everyone to read the source materials. A second reading will be required.
Next up there will be an ordinance to readopt the ordinance that governs the city’s transient occupancy tax.
“After years of wrangling with AirBnB over its role in providing localities with the data that will allow local tax assessors to fairly and equitably administer transient occupancy and other local taxes, HB 2398 passed the 2025 General Assembly,” reads the staff report. “That legislation removed the language on which AirBnB was basing its (dubious) claim that sharing address and gross receipts data was a violation of its hosts' privacy.
After that will be a vote to adopt the Move Safely Blue Ridge study put together by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission as well as to authorize a demonstration project to alter the traffic patterns on East High Street. Details are here and I’ll try to write up this portion of the meeting.
The final item is for Council to officially appoint John Maddux as City Attorney. Maybe there will be a question about that $175,000 in legal fees? Either way, here’s a story I wrote in May about his appointment.
I had expected there to be an item about financing for the Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail. More on that when we get to the Albemarle Board of Supervisors.
Louisa Supervisors to consider Planning Commission’s request for a growth study
The seven members of the Louisa County Board of Supervisors will meet at 5 p.m for a closed session. There’s no indication of what they’ll discuss. These will eventually be in the minutes but it would be nice to know in advance.
At 6 p.m. they will convene in the Louisa County Public Meeting Room for the regular meeting. (meeting packet) (meeting overview)
There are three items under information and presentations.
The first is a proposal from the Louisa County Planning Commission. The appointed body wants the county to hire a firm to review the by-right potential for growth under existing zoning. Read the solution for more information.
The second is an update of the Comprehensive Plan review. There’s no information in the packet. The last plan was adopted in August 2019. Learn more here.
The third is an update on the short term rental compliance. There’s no information in the packet.
There’s a fourth item visible in the “meeting overview” tab labeled “Future Revenues” but there’s no information.
Under new business there is a resolution to waive the permit fees for Bowler’s Mill Reservoir and to authorize reciprocal use by permit holders in the Northeast Creek Reservoir. Take a look here if you are interested.
There are two public hearings and both of them relate to the land development regulations. The first is on places that sell controlled substances and the second is for several miscellaneous changes.
“In prior discussions with the Planning Commission, members expressed a desire to find a way to allow licensed medical facilities to operate by-right while still maintaining appropriate controls over the retail sale of controlled substances,” reads the staff report for the first.
“These amendments remove conflicts and outdated provisions; improving consistency in the organization of regulations, including additional standards to ensure safety in the application of the regulations; and providing language within the subdivision regulations regarding review, road standards, completion of improvements and responsibility for completion,” reads the staff report for the second.
In two other meetings:
The University of Virginia Board of Visitors Finance Executive Compensation Subcommittee will meet at 1 p.m. in an all-virtual meeting. (learn more)
In Fluvanna County, the Housing Advisory Group will meet at 2 p.m. Where? I’m not sure as it is not on the calendar. This is related to the ongoing Comprehensive Plan review. (learn more)
Tuesday, June 3, 2025
Is this really a Tuesday where there is no major meeting? That appears to be the case. In any case, these are three meetings:
The Albemarle County Board of Zoning Appeals will meet at 2 p.m. They do not have any public hearings this time around but will adopt their rules of procedure and have a discussion about the budget. This will take place in Lane Auditorium in the county’s office building at 401 McIntire Road. (agenda) (meeting info)
Charlottesville’s Sister Cities Commission will meet at 4:30 p.m. in CitySpace in the Small Conference Room. (agenda packet)
Charlottesville’s Tree Commission will meet at 5 p.m. in the offices of the Parks and Recreation Department in the basement of the Market Street Parking Garage. (agenda)
Wednesday, June 4, 2025
Albemarle Supervisors to hold public hearing on proposal to fill-in floodplain in Woolen Mills
The six members of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors will meet in Lane Auditorium at 1 p.m. in the government building at 401 McIntire Road. (meeting info)
They’ll begin with a proclamation recognizing National Gun Violence Awareness Day.
“Virginia has 1,200 gun deaths every year, with a rate of 13.6 deaths per 100,000 people, and has the 34th highest rate of gun deaths in the US, and localities across the nation, including Albemarle County, are working to end the senseless violence with evidence-based Solutions,” reads the proclamation.
“Anyone can join this campaign by pledging to wear orange on June 6th, the first Friday in June in 2025, to help raise awareness about gun violence,” the resolution continues.
The first item will be a presentation of a financing plan for renovations to the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail Authority presented by Davenport Public Finance. Design and engineering services have been paid for through interim financing through a mechanism known as a Bond Anticipation Note (BAN).
The anticipated level of permanent financing is $36.9 million in bonds. The Commonwealth of Virginia is contributing $11,689,250 toward the project but Davenport is recommending a separate Grant Anticipation Note (GAN) of $12.1 million to cover that amount until the reimbursement is official.
After that there will be a work session on the draft Comprehensive Plan chapter on Cultural Resources and information on Resilient Communities. The Planning Commission reviewed this last week. It’s on a long list of items I suspect I’ll never get to. (staff report)
Albemarle County does not usually list what a closed meeting will be about before it is held. This is not a best practice. They’re scheduled to meet behind closed doors at 4:30 p.m. and return at 6 p.m. for the regular meeting.
The first item is a public hearing on amendments and appropriations in the FY2025 budget. Read the details here and read the resolution here.
There are two land use public hearings.
The first is for a special use permit for the Living Earth School to be able to operate a boarding camp on 287 acres adjacent to Walnut Creek Park. The Planning Commission recommended approval on a unanimous vote on March 11, 2025. (meeting materials)
The second is for a special use permit to fill in a portion of the floodplain to allow for construction of an additional building at the Woolen Mills Industrial Park. The Planning Commission voted 4 to 3 to recommend approval on April 22, 2025. I wrote a story about this for C-Ville Weekly.
In one other meeting:
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 at 72 Main Street in Palmyra. As I’m late for a Sunday, I’ll write up more in a newsletter later this week. (meeting packet)
Thursday, June 5, 2025
This is a day where there are meetings but there isn’t information yet to really write them up and I am somewhat late in getting to it. Here are four meetings:
The University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors will begin their two-day business meeting. Packets for each committee were not available at publication time. I’ll do a full preview later this week. One thing to note is that these meetings will all be held at the Boar’s Head Inn and not at the Rotunda. (learn more)
Charlottesville’s Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee will meet at 5 p.m. in the Neighborhood Development Services Conference Room in City Hall. There’s no agenda at publication time. (look here anyway)
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. On the agenda is a discussion of committee recommendations for the county’s Comprehensive Plan update. (agenda)
Charlottesville’s Human Rights Commission will have a work session in CitySpace at 6 p.m. There’s no agenda available at publication time. (look here anyway)
Friday, June 6, 2025
Lunch and Learn in Albemarle on the economic development strategic plan
A couple of weeks back in Albemarle, both the Economic Development Authority and the Board of Supervisors got updates on the creation of a new strategic plan for economic development efforts in the county. I was not able to write up either, but I am hopeful I can do in time for a “Lunch and Learn” webinar Albemarle County is putting up this week.
“Connect with local leaders, gain valuable insights, and explore how we’re shaping the future of economic growth in our community,” reads the item on the Albemarle County calendar.
This will take place at noon.
There’s no link in the calendar item for the Engage Albemarle page that deals with this plan. This includes a survey that was sent out on May 21. I will try to get more information out about this by Friday.
A total of 152 people responded to the most recent questionnaire.