Our Region

PEC focuses on nine counties and one city in the northern Piedmont of Virginia: Albemarle, Charlottesville, Clarke, Culpeper, Fauquier, Greene, Loudoun, Madison, Orange, and Rappahannock.

We also team with local organizations to promote thriving communities and healthy natural resources in a much larger region, including the Shenandoah Valley, the central Piedmont, and the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Corridor. In addition, we are proud to serve as fiscal sponsor of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, an organization that focuses on land use and policy in the greater Washington D.C. area.

Winter Updates from Albemarle & Charlottesville

Posted on by Faith Schweikert

This text was taken from an email sent Jan. 30, 2025. Sign up for email alerts →

Biscuit Run Park covered in snow. Photo by Peter Krebs/PEC.

Dear Supporter,

In the last week, I’ve wandered around the County’s new Biscuit Run Park and advocated for data center reform in Virginia’s General Assembly Building in Richmond. Both feel like the right kind of places to spend a winter: enjoying easy-to-access nature and taking action on environmental issues that impact us all. Read on to learn about ways PEC has been working with community members to make Albemarle and Charlottesville better.

And if you’re interested in hearing about all of this directly from us, mark your calendars to join PEC’s Charlottesville staff for an Open House next Mon., Feb. 3 from 4 – 7 p.m. RSVP or swing by to hear about all the land use, conservation, and transportation and mobility work we’re working on this year. 

Conservation: Impact of 2024 Conservation Easements in Albemarle

Permanently conserved farmland in Albemarle County. Photo by Kim Biasiolli/PEC. 

As an accredited land trust, PEC helps Virginia realize its conservation, climate, and biodiversity goals by partnering with landowners who wish to permanently protect their lands by placing a conservation easement on their property. In 2024, Albemarle County landowners protected 665 acres through conservation easements held by PEC, the Albemarle County Easement Authority and the 500 Year Forest Foundation.

Eighty-three percent of land in Virginia is privately owned, and these private lands contain irreplaceable waterways, prime agricultural soils, forest blocks, scenic viewsheds, historic resources and wildlife habitat. Locally, examples of this impact include over 500 miles of streams, 1,500 acres of wetlands, 76,00 acres of forests, and over 40,000 acres of prime farmland protected by conservation easements in Albemarle County alone.

Protecting these conservation values and a myriad of other public benefits that conserved lands give the community, such as climate and flood resiliency, is crucial. This is why we’ve been advocating for increased support for conservation programs in Albemarle County to advance more conservation locally and ensure that landowners of all income levels can participate.

Take Action: Support Conservation Programs

Land Use: Albemarle Comprehensive Plan Update

The Albemarle Comprehensive Plan update process (AC44), which seeks to outline the vision for the County for the next 20 years, will soon wrap up discussion about land use decisions in the Rural Area, the Development Areas and the Growth Management Framework. The Board of Supervisors will hold a work session Wednesday, Feb. 12 on these topics, so we’ll share our comments with those signed up for our AC44 update emails beforehand. Throughout this process, PEC has continued to wave the flag for smart growth, access to nature, and protection of the rural areas for biodiversity, water supply and the rural economy. 

Next topic up is Parks, Recreation, and Open Space. The Planning Commission will hold a work session Tuesday, Feb. 11, and a Board of Supervisors work session is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 19. As for all community topics, we encourage you to write to your supervisor if you have an opinion on parks, recreation and open space. County planning staff will continue to consolidate information as they work through the draft chapters before producing a draft document this summer. 

Parks & Trails: Biscuit Run Park Opens to the Public

Albemarle County Board of Supervisors and supporters cut the ribbon to open Biscuit Run Park in December. Photo by Hugh Kenny/PEC.

Two decades in the making, 1,190 acres of woodlands and meadows has opened to the public as the new Biscuit Run County Park. PEC had a direct hand in ensuring this land be publicly accessible green space and in pushing the project forward along the way. We’ll continue to be involved as we work toward:

  • Connecting the park to Southwood via a new bridge and trailhead at Hickory Street
  • Designing a greenway connection to future Monacan Nation Tribute Park
  • Expediting walk & bike connections to the rest of the community, including the City of Charlottesville

This new park is located in the heart of the community. Its many offerings, including seclusion, diverse habitats, more than 8.5 miles of well-marked trails, and abundant fresh air, are now available to far more people within a walking, biking or a short drive’s distance. Its heritage trees, multiple streams, a pond with beavers, historic home sites and much more can now be part of people’s everyday lives.

At this year’s Charlottesville / Albemarle Mobility Summit, March 6 and 7, we’ll be celebrating this and continuing to work toward greater access to the outdoors, including launching the study of a path that extends from Charlottesville to the Afton Tunnel near Waynesboro. 

Upcoming Events

Our PEC and Buy Fresh Buy Local signs on East Water Street. If your business would like to be added to or support this year’s Buy Fresh Buy Local Guide, please email [email protected]. Photo by Faith Schweikert/PEC.

E-Bike Voucher Registration
Registration ends Friday, Jan. 31

E-Bikes could be game-changers as ways to get people out of cars, while dramatically reducing emissions, congestion, and parking. They transform cycling in some fundamental ways that are particularly important in our region, which is hilly with four very distinct seasons. To reduce barriers to entry, the City of Charlottesville is offering a $1,000 voucher for e-bike purchases. Register for several drawings throughout 2025. The first registration period will end this Friday, Jan. 31. Learn more at https://cvilleebike.com/

PEC’s Charlottesville Office Open House
Mon, Feb. 3, 4–7 p.m., 410 East Water Street #700

Come join us in celebrating the past year and learn about our work going forward. We’ll gather in community with drinks, light bites, and conversation about PEC, the community, and how we can all work together to make it better. Let us know you’re coming and stop by the King Building anytime that evening. 

Charlottesville / Albemarle Active Mobility Summit
Two days! Thurs., Mar. 6, 5:30–8 p.m. + Fri., Mar. 7, 9 a.m.–noon,
The Wool Factory (1837 Broadway St.)

The fifth annual Charlottesville / Albemarle Active Mobility Summit invites cyclists, walkers, runners, and people interested in promoting active lifestyles for an evening of presentations, followed by morning work sessions. This year’s Summit will be the unofficial launch of the Three Notch’d Trail study — an 18-month process to determine the best route for a paved, shared-use path connecting Charlottesville to the Afton Tunnel and beyond. 

You don’t need to attend both sessions to benefit, but it is encouraged. Both sessions will include snacks and drinks. The Mobility Summit is free but registration is required.

Lastly, these emails are meant to inform, to engage and to remind our members and readers that their participation can make a difference in issues that are important to them. In the midst of great change, local action matters. As always, we encourage you to get involved.

Hope to see you at the Open House next week,

Faith Schweikert
Communications Specialist
[email protected]

Support Loudoun’s Agricultural Industries Jan. 29 

Posted on by Tia Earman

This text was taken from an email sent Jan. 23, 2025. Sign up for email alerts →

Honey production falls under next week’s Agricultural Processing stakeholder discussions. Photo by Liz Dennison. 

Dear Supporter,

In November, Loudoun County began a series of seven work sessions as the first step to update the Zoning Ordinance and Comprehensive Plan for Western Loudoun in an effort to better support the modern farms of Loudoun, address harmful inconsistencies within the existing ordinance, and reduce negative impacts on neighboring properties within Loudoun’s Rural Policy Area. The second Transportation and Land Use Committee work session is Wed., Jan. 29, with the focus this time on Agricultural Processing and Farm Worker Housing. We encourage you to provide fresh, public comments to support our agricultural community. 

Rural Area Stakeholder Meeting: Agricultural Processing
Wed., Jan. 29 @ 5 p.m.
1 Harrison Street, S.E., Leesburg

Submit Commits

The year-long update process began well with the first stakeholder work session, focused on Equine Uses and Indoor Recreational Uses, held Nov. 21, 2024. The discussion was productive, with direct and thoughtful questions from County staff coupled with knowledgeable feedback from the stakeholders involved. 

Hopefully it will result in a draft Zoning Ordinance and Comprehensive Plan that adequately addresses the ongoing issues impacting these industries and the productivity will continue into the second work session, focused on Agricultural Processing and Farm Worker Housing.

Greatest Concerns for Jan. 29 Stakeholder Meeting

Loudoun County is home to a vibrant farming community working to keep active agriculture alive and well in this unique region. Changes to regulations on agricultural processing and farm worker housing, more than any of the other six work topics, can best support many of Loudoun’s farmers. Whether they are growing a variety of vegetables for farmers markets or specializing in a single product such as strawberries for a CSA, many of Loudoun’s most successful operations are processing their own products for market and employing numerous people during the growing season to do so. Therefore, its critical that any updates to the Comprehensive Plan take this into account.

According to the newly adopted Loudoun County Zoning Ordinance, agricultural processing is “the processing and/or preparation of agricultural products, including changes to the physical state or form of the agricultural product.” The industry term is broad and includes a range of activities like harvesting and jarring honey, washing and packaging berries and rolling oats.

Grain processing at Hanging Rock Hay in Lovettsville, Va. Photo by Chris Van Vlack.

Specific areas to address:

1. Broaden local processing definition. 
Farmers in Loudoun often lease numerous parcels of different sizes that may or may not be contiguous with their farming operation. They are allowed to harvest and process their products on the farm as an accessory use, but are severely restricted because the current ordinance requires that 51% of that product to be processed must be grown or raised on one parcel (“on-site”). This is an unrealistic expectation that does not match the realities of modern farming in Loudoun, with its high land prices. The 2022 Census of Agriculture shows that in Loudoun, far more farmers are farming on smaller parcels of land than ever before, meaning that more operations are utilizing multiple parcels to grow their products. 

The current regulations were written over 20 years ago for single large site operations in mind. They have not been adapted since then to reflect today’s typical producers, who run “farms” composed of four or more small parcels. As new uses in the Rural Policy Area arose, like breweries and event venues, they were not inhibited in the same way that smaller and medium-sized farms now are.

Because of this, PEC supports changing the language of the ordinance from “on-site” to “within Loudoun County” to ensure that we are supporting both local production and Loudoun farmers’ ability to process their product.

2. Remove arbitrary limits on number of employees and equipment.
Regulations for agricultural businesses are often more stringent than other nonagricultural businesses in western Loudoun. Two other unequal standards limit the number of employees a business may have and heavy equipment (tractors, trailers, and business vehicles) that may remain onsite. These limitations on employees and critical equipment hamper farm businesses, small and large. 

PEC supports removing these limits to allow businesses to operate with the tools and workforce necessary to thrive. Should the standards remain, the limitations must be reduced and/or clarified to determine if standard farm equipment is considered “heavy equipment.” Identical regulation should also be placed on other business industries.

3. Adjust screening regulations to be more consistent.
Many of the same restrictions that impact the equine industry, discussed in the first stakeholder work session, are also negatively impacting agricultural uses. The restrictions in place today impede innovative farm practices for many properties and should be modified to recognize the limited negative impact of farm processing operations on nearby neighbors.

Therefore, we encourage the county to work with the farmers to adjust or remove, where appropriate, expensive screening requirements, which can be barriers to entry for new businesses and visually screen the very scenery that agritourism depends on. Ironically, the restrictions on small farming operations with onsite processing are more stringent than large, high impact uses like wedding venues!

PEC supports consistency in the setback requirements for western Loudoun businesses, and encourages the county to work with production agricultural operations to adjust hours of operations in a way that fits the day to day realities of their businesses.

4. Provide reasonable solutions to the lack of farm worker housing.
Farm worker housing is a vital component of a successful business plan for many of Loudoun’s production operations, as farmers rely on temporary labor to support their businesses in the busy season. Short-term, seasonal housing options for farm workers within the county provides them with a more stable and healthy environment that in turn helps businesses grow. PEC supports finding a more reasonable, flexible, and sustainable solution than the ad hoc, insufficient options that exist today. 

Submit Commits
Farmers and agricultural producers will be stakeholders in the Wed., Jan. 29 work session. Photo by Hugh Kenny/PEC.

Review Process & Stakeholder Groups

Please check out the official county webpage where all of the documents and schedule updates are available. We also encourage you to fill out and submit an official public comment form for the upcoming work session Wed., Jan. 29, even if you have given comments in the past. Please remember newer input relevant to the topic at hand has the greatest impact on the process. 

The stakeholder input process will take place over the next 12 months through seven meetings of the Transportation Land Use Committee. Three distinct groups of stakeholders, identified by the Board of Supervisors — comprised of agro-businesses and preservation and agricultural businesses — will contribute to these meetings:

  • Residents: These will be nominated individually by the three supervisors whose districts comprise western Loudoun. Contact Supervisors TeKrony or Kershner or Chair Randall if you’re interested in serving as one of these representatives.
  • Agro-businesses: For these meetings, this group represents an array of business interests chosen by Beth Erickson of Visit Loudoun. They will largely focus on the diverse agrotourism sector including you-pick farms, wineries, breweries and equine event centers. 
  • Preservation and Agriculture: This group represents all other agricultural businesses and farmers of western Loudoun. Loudoun leads the Commonwealth of Virginia in 10 different agricultural industries, including equine, vegetable production, cut flowers, berries and goats. Representatives from this stakeholder group will be chosen by Chris Van Vlack of Loudoun Farm Bureau.

These stakeholder work sessions started in November 2024 and are currently slated to run through early 2026. Towards the second half of 2025, county staff will develop the draft language for the comprehensive plan and zoning amendments, which staff is working on. They will begin to be reviewed and worked on first by the Zoning Ordinance Committee. Finally, the amendments will move on to a Planning Commission public hearing and work sessions and a Board of Supervisors public hearing for any final revisions and adoption. This process is expected to conclude in 2027.

Although the process will include opportunities for public input at each of these phases, it is vital that the public and interested parties give their input now, while there is ample time to address the most pressing issues.

Meeting Schedule

Over the holidays, the county removed the tentative schedule for the stakeholder sessions from the official webpage. It was previously posted as follows:

  • Meeting 1: Liveries/Stables/Outdoor Recreation – Nov. 21, 2024
  • Meeting 2: Ag Processing / Other Farm Related Uses – Jan. 29, 2025
  • Meeting 3: Value Added Farming / Other Farm Related Issues/ Conservation Easement Density – Mar. 2025
  • Meeting 4: Mountainside Overlay District / Signage Anticipated –
    May 2025
  • Meeting 5: Farm Wineries/Limited Breweries / Limited Distilleries/Events – July 2025
  • Meeting 6: Food Trucks / Food Service / Rural Restaurants – Sept. 2025
  • Meeting 7: Outstanding Issues – Nov. 2025

With the number of topics to be covered, new issues are still being identified, and given the county’s already-full workload, it’s likely these dates will move around a bit, but we appreciate vital topics being given ample time for consideration. The meeting following Jan. 29 has tentatively been scheduled for April 24. PEC and partner advocacy groups have worked hard to support residents’ needs and keep active agriculture thriving in western Loudoun for many years. We will keep you updated as this process moves along and share our concerns in advance of each meeting. 

Thank you for all of your support and submitting your input at this critical time for these agricultural producers! This is the moment to show the Board of Supervisors that the public is paying attention and engaged on these issues.

Sincerely,

Tia Earman
Senior Land Use Field Representative
Loudoun and Clarke Counties
[email protected]