Week Ahead for May 26, 2025: Charlottesville PC to review proposed amendments to new zoning code; Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority to hold public hearing on $550 million capital program
Tuesday is a very busy day in local government
Memorial Day is a chance to reflect on those in the armed services who lost their lives in various conflicts. For me, this is a day to reflect on the fragility of democracy.
I’ve spent this cloudy day combing through whatever meetings are happening in local and regional government this final week of May. For over five years now I’ve produced this newsletter as a way to explain what will be coming up at local meetings based on a conviction that democracies require a citizenry that has access to the primary sources that explain how civilization is set-up.
I’ve held this conviction while watching other information outlets retreat from routinely providing a window into what public institutions do. The fashion seems to be toward conflict rather than collaboration. Can democracy survive if that’s the only way we communicate? Can we transcend the calculus of winners and losers?
My work is not supported by any government and my revenue comes from a mix of paid subscribers, sponsors, and a very small amount of advertising. I made a bet five years ago that enough people will be willing to pay while I try to create a business around explanatory journalism. Can that last? The survival of Town Crier Productions is far from guaranteed.
Thank you to paid subscribers for allowing me to conduct this errand. Time will tell if I’m a fool. Some days I’m discouraged. Some days I’m enthusiastic about the message. Today is a mixture of both.
Some highlights this week:
Greene County’s Board of Supervisors will move one step closer to financing work on the creation of the White Run Reservoir
The Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority will hold a public hearing Tuesday on a $550 million capital improvement program budget for the next five years.
Charlottesville’s Planning Commission on Tuesday will get a first look at a series of amendments to the new Development Code.
The Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors in Albemarle County will both have meetings on the Comprehensive Plan this week.
Nelson County Superviors will hold a work session on the school system’s budget on Friday
There are no meetings in Louisa County this week.
The sponsor of this weekly look ahead is the Piedmont Environmental Council. They’ve got an annual meeting coming up on June 8, 2025 if you want to learn more.
Tuesday, May 27, 2025
Greene Board of Supervisors to consider bond refinancing proposal to move forward with reservoir project
I begin this entry with a plug for the Piedmont Journal-Recorder, an online publication that covers Greene County, Madison County, Orange County. When you go to their website, you’ll note that they prominently place the public notices for those localities on the website. They now serve as the official publication of record for announcements required by Virginia code.
Last week there was a sudden announcement from the Greene County Board of Supervisors that they had suspended the services of the Ruckersville Volunteer Fire Company. I only wrote a small version of the story because I got a release from the county on May 20, one I finally posted to Information Charlottesville while prepping this newsletter. I’ve got updated comments from one member of the body who appears to object to what happened.
Chuck Jackson wrote a version for the Piedmont Journal-Recorder that same day and I’m very appreciative of the on-going reporting. The Charlottesville Daily Progress also has an article but it is behind a paywall.
Will the topic come up at the Greene County Board of Supervisors meeting scheduled for 5:30 p.m? That’s when they go into closed session. The exact resolution is not specified.
“Matters pursuant to Section 2.2-3711 (a, 1-7) of the Code of Virginia”
In case you’re not familiar, that’s a provision of Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act that has the heading “Closed meetings authorized for certain limited purposes.”
Rather than specify a specific reason for going into closed session, the agenda just has through a blanket list for all of the possible reasons the Board could justify a possible closed session. One through seven covers a wide range of possibilities. It is a best practice to publicly print the exact reason for it is a privilege for elected officials to meet together without the public present.
Before the actual closed meeting, an elected body must adopt a resolution citing one of the reasons. At their last meeting on May 13, the Greene County Board of Supervisors cited three reasons, two of which could have covered the discussion of the Ruckersville Volunteer Fire Company. The Board took no action except to appoint Ralph Morton to the Agricultural and Forestal District Committee.
What will happen this time?
On to the rest of the meeting which has two items of business as well as several on the consent agenda.
The first item is a presentation on financing options for various water projects from Courtney Rogers of the firm Davenport & Company. In April, Supervisors directed the firm to prepare a request for proposals to refinance a previously issued bond for $14.12 million to help cover some of the costs to construct the White Run reservoir.
According to a resolution, these would include but not be limited to “costs for the acquisition of property for the reservoir project, road work and engineering and surveying costs.”
There were two responses and the resolution is to accept a proposal from Huntington Public Capital Corporation. Under the terms, the proceeds of the sale of the bond for $14.4 million to proceed.
If the Board agrees, the next step for this proposal is to proceed to the Greene County Economic Development Authority for their approval. That meeting is on June 4.
The consent agenda:
There’s a resolution to execute a $402,000 contract for the Rapidan Wastewater Plant Alum Feed project. (learn more)
There is a resolution to execute a contract with ZMM Architects and Engineers for the renovation of 8767 Seminole Trail to be the new Social Services Building. (learn more)
There is a resolution to declare a local emergency related to severe weather and flash floods on May 13. (learn more)
There is also a resolution to “end the existence” of a local emergency related to the same incident as of May 16. (learn more)
There is also to be action to approve the budget for Fiscal Year 2026. Is that the end of budget season? Stay tuned!
The Greene County Board of Supervisors return on June 10.
Public hearing for rates Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority charges Albemarle and Charlottesville
Do you know where your water comes from? If you’ll spare me a generalization, I suspect if you live in a rural area you have a better idea.
If you live in an urbanized area, you are most likely on public water and sewer. In Albemarle and Charlottesville, the job of providing raw water and treating sewage falls to the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority (RWSA).
The entity was created in 1972 to anticipate a growing population that has since arrived. The RWSA builds major infrastructure and sells this service to the Albemarle County Service Authority and the City of Charlottesville. Both of those entities have their own distribution and wastewater lines to provide service to businesses and individuals.
The RWSA is very close to moving ahead with the next phase of a Community Water Supply Plan ratified by the Albemarle Board of Supervisors and the City of Charlottesville in early 2012. The first phase involved the construction of a new dam at the Ragged Mountain Reservoir.
The second is a nine mile pipeline to connect that waterway with the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir. After years of planning, the new pipeline project will move forward in the next five years at a cost of $117 million. Another project in the near future is the “Central Waterline” which has a cost estimate of $79 million.
The RWSA Board of Directors will meet at 2:15 p.m. in the 2nd Floor Conference Room at 695 Moores Creek Lane. This will be the last meeting at that site for some time while construction gets underway for the RWSA headquarters for the next two years.
Before the RWSA meets, the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority will go first. They’ll hold a public hearing on their budget and rate schedule for FY2026. (meeting agenda)
There are four items under other business and two are related to the system’s finances.
There will be a public hearing and a vote on the FY26-FY30 Capital Improvement Program. The entire amount totals $550 million, $378 million of which will come from the Albemarle County Service Authority and $173 million from the city of Charlottesville. This is based on formulas established during the creation of the Community Water Supply Plan. There’s much more to this and maybe I’ll get a report out this week. (materials begin here)
There’s also a public hearing and a vote on the RWSA’s $64 million budget for FY26. Of this amount, $30.6 million goes to operations and $33.4 million goes to pay off debt service. (materials begin here)
Albemarle’s slow Comprehensive Plan review continues with Planning Commission work session
Should I continue to be agonized by not being able to keep up with coverage of the ongoing review of the Comprehensive Plan in Albemarle County. There do not appear to be many major policy shifts in the document, but how do I know for sure? Especially in a world where Supervisor minutes aren’t available for months after a meeting ends?
In any case, my backlog of unreviewed meetings will grow as the Albemarle County Planning Commission will hold a work session on the draft Cultural Resources chapter at 4 p.m. followed by a regular meeting at 6 p.m. (meeting info) (agenda)
“Cultural resources make Albemarle the unique county that it is,” reads the staff report. “These resources contribute significantly to the quality of life of residents and business owners, and they form the basis for the experience of tourists.”
“The importance of our cultural resources is reinforced by their inherent value in both climate resilience and placemaking,” the staff report continues. “However, many of these resources are not protected, and some of the protections that are in place are not as effective as they could be.”
One thing to note is that while the chapter is titled “Cultural Resources,” the draft goal as well as the objectives refer to historic and scenic resources. The existing Comprehensive Plan adopted in June 2015 has a chapter with the title “Historic, Cultural, and Scenic Resources.” Why the change, especially when objective 6 deals with light pollution?
The Board of Supervisors will take up this chapter and the Resilient Community chapter on June 4. I hope I get to tell that story but I’ve so far had to skip chapters on transportation, housing, and economic development.
Another item to note is that one person who has been involved with the Comprehensive Plan update since November 2021 has left Albemarle County. Tori Kanellopoulos has recently been hired as Charlottesville’s long range planner as I reported last week.
There are two regular public hearings.
The first is for a special use permit to allow for the division of a 342 acre property in the rural area into six lots, each of which will have a single family dwelling. This is in the Samuel Miller District. (staff report)
The second is a request from the Field School of Charlottesville to amend a previous special use permit to allow for a one-year extension of a condition for when construction was to have started. (staff report)
Charlottesville PC to learn about planned changes to Development Code
More than fifteen months have passed since Charlottesville’s new Development Code went into place, ushering in a new era where builders theoretically have an easier time constructing more units.
How’s it going? Last week, I wrote up a preview of a public hearing the Board of Zoning Appeals held on an administrative modification for 2030 Barracks Road. Greenshire Holding LLC. I wrote one version of what happened for C-Ville Weekly, but the preview gives a glimpse into what’s been happening with under a dozen projects to build additional density on land that was one zoned for single family residential.
On Tuesday at 5 p.m., the Charlottesville Planning Commission will hold a work session in CitySpace on a series of changes to the Development code that are being planned for adoption by the end of the year.
“This work session will serve as a platform for the Commission to examine the nature of the proposed changes, assess specific amendment language recommended by staff, and contribute additional recommendations and feedback to refine the amendments further,” reads the staff report.
Staff have been keeping a list of potential amendments as they go through individual applications. They’ve classified each according a to three-tier scale:
Tier 1: Minor grammatical revisions and small adjustments to ensure the Code accurately reflects its intended purpose and state mandated changes due to legislative action.
Tier 2: Modifications, additions, or removals that address oversights or clarify existing provisions. This tier also includes suggested amendments to facilitate improvements to the Development Review process
Tier 3: Policy changes or confirmations that require in-depth analysis and a comprehensive community engagement strategy.
Staff is recommending proceeding with the first two and considering anything over Tier 3 later in the fiscal year.
While many of the Tier 1 issues correct typos and oversights, two reflect legislation that passed the 2025 General Assembly that require localities to move faster with applications.
HB2660 requires applications to be accepted within five days and not ten.
SB974 removes Planning Commissions from the administrative review process entirely.
Tier 2 examples are more technical in nature. One of them cited in a presentation would appear to exempt two types of developments from the review process by adding a new addition to section 5.2.9 of the code.
“New Construction of up to two dwelling units on one Zoning Lot or Sublot.”
“Additions to an existing dwelling unit that does not expand the total number of units above two units post construction.”
A question that comes to my mind is what implication would have this on areas zoned Residential Neighborhood A. Those are the areas designated in the Comprehensive Plan as “Sensitive Communities” that needed extra protection from speculative development. Would removing all oversight by NDS remove that protection?
Further review of the Residential-A district will take place in Tier 3.
City Council will take a look at the same material on June 16, 2025. Staff will work on the materials over the summer with a public hearing before City Council to be held on October 20, 2025.
The next scheduled date in the lawsuit against the new zoning code is a jury trial in Charlottesville Circuit Court currently on the docket for June 22, 2026.
In the meantime, there are dozens of proposed changes which can be reviewed.
One of the Tier B changes would amend the definition of a fence in section 7.2.
“A constructed vertical barrier of wood, masonry, wire, metal, or other manufactured material, or combination of materials erected to enclose, screen, or separate areas,” reads the definition. “A fence differs from a wall in not having a solid foundation along its entire length.”
The note in the matrix listing all of the proposed amendments states this definition is too vague.
“Deck railings required by the building code meet this definition, which should not be our intent,” reads the list of amendments. “We need a better definition of Fence, or we should stop regulating fences (we did not regulate them under the old code).”
The presentation does not give the real-world example that likely triggered the comment. The owners of a coffee shop with frontage on East Jefferson sought to install a deck that runs along East High Street. That required a special exception to the property zoned Node Mixed Use 10 (NX-10 zoning district).
Special exceptions do require a public process. The Planning Commission recommended approval of the special exception at their meeting on February 25, 2025 and Council approved the permit at their meeting on March 4, 2025. Special exceptions do not require a public hearing. The railing is now under construction.
CRHA to hold monthly meeting for May
I begin this one with a question. I don’t know the answer and it is a holiday.
Is the Board of Commissioners of the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority is a public body subject to §2.2-3707? That has the heading “Meetings to be public; notice of meetings; recordings; minutes.”
I ask because if you go to the CRHA website, the meeting calendar lists the Board of Commissioners meeting happening today, Memorial Day. The CRHA is a separate entity from the City of Charlottesville and is not listed on their meeting calendars. The city’s Office of Communications broadcasts the meetings, but none is listed for this week on Boxcast.
I am on the list of people who have been asked to be sent the agenda and the meeting materials when they are available. The CRHA Board of Commissioners will meet Tuesday at 6 p.m. in City Council Chambers. I posted the agenda packet to cvillepedia and it appears to have most of the material. (take a look at the agenda packet)
The minutes from the April 28, 2025 meeting will be approved.
There will be a discussion on changes to the Family Self Sufficiency plan to reflect changes to the CRHA’s eviction diversion program.
There will be a discussion called “Security Discussion at South First Street” but no advance materials were sent out.
There will be an update from the Housing Director
There will be an update from the Housing Choice Voucher manager
There will be a verbal update from executive director John Sales. No advance materials were sent out.
There’s also a report on redevelopment that’s in a separate attachment here. Take a look here.
Two items learned from the agenda.
CRHA staff will meet with Charlottesville staff on June 4 to discuss the Dogwood Portfolio that is co-owned by the City of Charlottesville. There will be a joint meeting with City Council in August.
Unpaid rent through May 21, 2025 is $286,906.
Wednesday, May 28, 2025
Albemarle Supervisors to hold special meeting on transportation chapter of Comprehensive Plan
The clock is ticking on Albemarle County’s Comprehensive Plan update. Known as AC44, this review has been underway since November 2021. The last time Supervisors adopted a Comprehensive Plan was June 2015. (meeting info) (meeting items)
The Board of Supervisors will have a work session on the transportation chapter at 2 p.m. in Room 241 of the county’s office building at 401 McIntire Road. There is a two-page summary of feedback from the Planning Commission and the Board of Visitors to date.
“The Board supported multimodal transportation projects in the Development Areas, noting that project funding is a major constraint and consideration,” reads the description of a March 20, 2024 Supervisors’ work session on transportation. “The Board also emphasized the need to integrate pedestrian infrastructure and transit routes.”
Perhaps I’ve chosen wisely to focus on details where I can rather than spend time on policy conversations that don’t seem any different from when I was first writing about planning in Albemarle County. I suspect implementation is what people want to know so those are the stories I tend to write.
Albemarle Fire Rescue Board to meet
The budget for Fiscal Year 2026 adopted by the Albemarle Board of Supervisors includes a 3.2 cent increase on the real estate tax for the purpose of covering the increasing professionalization of the county’s fire and rescue operations.
Policy decisions are made by a public body known as the Albemarle County Fire and Emergency Medical Services Board. When was the last time you read a news article by any of them? This is another area where I feel I have failed you, because systemic changes have been occurring for years. Should people in a democracy know what’s happening?
The board will meet at 6 p.m. in Room 235 of the county’s office building at 401 McIntire Road. (meeting info) (agenda)
Let’s start with the minutes from February 26, 202. I’m not going to try to characterize them, but the extensive minutes document a discussion under the heading “volunteer department challenges and priorities” that’s worth a review if you’re interested.
In other meetings:
Charlottesville’s Retirement Commission will meet in CitySpace at 8:30 a.m. They’ll go into closed session after they approve the minutes of their April. They’re citing #4 under Virginia’s closed meetings provisions which states the meeting is exempt due to “the protection of the privacy of individuals in personal matters not related to public business.” (agenda packet)
The University of Virginia Health System Board Finance Working Group will meet at 10 a.m. in open and closed session “to discuss strategic financial, investment, facility needs, market considerations, growth initiatives and partnerships in light of market and regulatory issues for UVA Health, specifically, potential joint ventures and market expansion opportunities.” (learn more)
The Nelson County Planning Commission had been listed as having a meeting starting at 7 p.m. in the General District Courtroom, but the meeting has been canceled. (meeting info)
Thursday, May 29, 2025
There are two meetings today.
The Quality Subcommittee of the Health System Board of the University of Virginia will meet on Thursday, May 29, 2025, from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in open and closed session. (meeting info)
The Resilient Together Community Design Meetings continue at the Greenwood Community Center at 6 p.m. These events “are a chance for you to share your ideas and collaborate with neighbors on how we can adapt to increasingly hazardous weather events like extreme heat, flooding, and storms.” (meeting info)
Friday, May 30, 2025
Nelson County Supervisors to have a budget work session
No, Central Virginia! Budget season is not over! The Nelson County Board of Supervisors will have a work session beginning at 10 a.m. related to the school budget. This will be held in the Old Board of Supervisors Room (#420) in the Nelson County Courthouse. Details are not in the meeting info page. (learn more)
The Nelson County Planning Commission meeting scheduled for Wednesday has been canceled.