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.

Solarize Piedmont Back for a 2020 Campaign

Solarize Piedmont Back for a 2020 Campaign

Interested in going solar? We’re excited to announce that Solarize Piedmont, our joint campaign with the Local Energy Alliance Program, is back through the end of the summer. If you’ve been curious about getting a solar system for your home, farm or business, but haven’t priced it out, now is a good time to sign up for a free quote!

Walk Bike Ride: Join the Piedmont Mobility Alliance

The Piedmont Environmental Council is pulling together an alliance of organizations that share a vision of a better-connected community for walking, biking and other forms of active transportation in Charlottesville and Albemarle County.

Week Ahead for July 27, 2020 (Alb/Cville/Greene)

Week Ahead for July 27, 2020 (Alb/Cville/Greene)

We’re approaching the end of the seventh month of this life-changing year. It has now been four and a half months since the beginning of the pandemic. Yet the business of local and state government goes on, even as local governments push for a return for more precautions to be in place to limit human contact. More and more meetings are making the transition to virtual, increasing the need for more scrutiny and review. 

Banbury Cross – Public Hearing on July 27

Banbury Cross – Public Hearing on July 27

Today I wanted to give you an update about the proposed Banbury Cross residential development outside of Middleburg. This proposal was first submitted back in June, 2019 and was rejected by the Middleburg Planning Commission after the public hearing in September due to deficiencies in the application. Reconsideration of the application has since been delayed due to a variety of factors including Covid-19.

Week Ahead for July 13, 2020 (Alb/Cville/Greene)

Week Ahead for July 13, 2020 (Alb/Cville/Greene)

Our community, state and country all face an uncertain future as a series of crises continues. The pandemic is straining every aspect of society. Many continue to risk becoming infected to protect systemic racism, demanding new forms of accountability. The threat of a world altered by climate change requires adaptation and resilience. 

Banbury Cross Update

Banbury Cross Update

The Middleburg Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on July 27, 2020 for the Banbury Cross residential development application, which had its first public hearing in September 2019.

The application is for 28 clustered lots that are between 1 and 4 acres in size and 10 Rural Economy lots that are a minimum of 25 acres each. The entire development is on 570 acres that lay partially within the One Mile Subdivision Control Limits of the Town of Middleburg. It has been in a holding pattern since the Middleburg Planning Commission denied the application in September. In its rejection, the Commission required the applicant to fix many deficient and missing details that the Commission had noted.