PEC outlines its recommendations for the Housing and Economic Development chapter’s goals and objectives.
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.
Piedmont Environmental Council sues Orange County for VFOIA violations
In the interest of good governance and transparency, The Piedmont Environmental Council filed a lawsuit yesterday against Orange County for improperly denying public access to documents pertaining to a local rezoning application, in violation of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. The lawsuit comes after Orange County officials were unresponsive to PEC’s petition for a Writ of Mandamus, served on Oct. 26, which gave county officials a number of days to correct their VFOIA deficiencies. The lawsuit reflects PEC’s growing concern about the dramatic loss of public access to information about land use decisions in Orange County and across the Commonwealth.
AC44 Update: Nov. 7, 2023
Two significant and positive milestones were announced at the Oct. 10 Planning Commission Work Session.
Transmission line update and community meeting invite
In September, I wrote to you about the explosive growth of Virginia’s data center industry and one of the side effects: a major push for new transmission lines.
Cville Area Land Use Update: Week Ahead for November 6, 2023
Louisa PC to review Amazon’s data centers; Charlottesville City Council to consider $5.9 million purchase of floodplain land slated for development
Help choose our photo contest winners
Here are the 2023 PEC Photo Contest finalists. Take a look and vote for your favorites now!
Putting the Pieces Together on Digital Gateway
Since 2021, PEC has been supporting our partners’ heroic efforts to stop the largest data center campus in the world from being built on rural land next to Manassas National Battlefield Park, along Pageland Lane in Prince William County, Virginia.
The proposal, dubbed “Digital Gateway,” is massive and is projected to require around 3 gigawatts (GW) of energy. For context, that’s equivalent to the power used by 750,000 homes – roughly 5 times the number of households currently in Prince William County!
Return of the Grassland Birds: Albemarle Magazine
The Virginia Grassland Bird Initiative was featured as the cover story in the October/November issue of Albemarle Magazine!
Cville Area Land Use Update: Week of October 30, 2023
Albemarle Supervisors to preside over MicroCAT launch, review external transit study; Charlottesville continues zoning review
AC44 Update: October 10, 2023
Join us for the County Planning Commission Work Session this evening from 6 – 9 p.m. to discuss Environmental Stewardship, Parks and Recreation, and Historic, Scenic, and Cultural Resources.