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.

Resources from our Solar on the Farm Workshop

Resources from our Solar on the Farm Workshop

On Friday, January 27, 2023, more than seventy participants gathered together to learn more about small agricultural solar. This workshop hosted by The Piedmont Environmental Council covered the latest information on incentives offered by USDA Rural Energy for America Program for improving energy efficiency and/or installing renewable energy, information about ag net metering and small generators options with utilities, tools for analyzing return on investment and tips for finding reputable solar installers.

Week Ahead for January 30, 2023: Two budget meetings in Charlottesville; Albemarle Supervisors to consider grant program for affordable housing

It is another one of those strange weeks that begins with a Fifth Monday that also includes a First Wednesday. There’s a rhythm to all of these meetings and an extra couple of days at the end of the month either allows for a break or allows for an extra meeting that no one anticipated.

Week Ahead for January 23, 2023: Albemarle PC to review future public safety operations center; CRHA to invest over $1.5 million in three sites

The year 2023 in local government has certainly gotten off to a fast start. There are still so many stories I will want to write from the past three weeks. This week is a little bit of a slowdown with no meetings in Fluvanna County and Louisa County. But this is a community with nearly 250,000 residents that is planning for more. Every week there’s something important going on somewhere.

Week Ahead for January 16, 2023: Charlottesville to review proposed precinct boundaries; Albemarle Supervisors to learn of microtransit progress

This week, you’ll see there are a lot of links to stories I’ve already written. Sometimes these stories have more information than what’s in a staff report or what’s in the minutes. My goal is not to compete with the various governments to get out information. Instead, my goal is to make sure as many people as possible know what’s coming up and what’s happened.