Cville Area Land Use Week Ahead for July 14, 2025

Posted on by Sean Tubbs

Highlights this week!

  • Albemarle County Supervisors will have a public hearing Wednesday on changes to the county’s zoning code
  • Nelson County meets on a Monday to hold a closed meeting and then to possibly award a contract for a firm to construct the new social services building
  • Fluvanna County’s Planning Commission also breaks convention to meet on a Monday to get an overview of what overlay districts can do for land use outcomes
  • Fluvanna County’s Economic Development Authority will get a briefing on how tax increment financing has helped to construct an apartment complex intended for workforce housing
  • Albemarle County’s Economic Development Authority will meet and discuss the economic development strategic plan
  • Charlottesville’s Housing Advisory Committee will also learn about how tax increment financing, or tax abatement, could work
  • Greene County’s Planning Commission will have a public hearing on the rezoning of land near the new WaWa on U.S. 33
  • There are no meetings in Louisa County this week

Thanks as always to the Piedmont Environmental Council for their support of this newsletter. It has been five years now and that’s 60 months of a sponsorship that helps keep Town Crier Productions going.

Now, let’s get going!

Monday, July 14, 2025

Nelson County Board of Supervisors to meet in closed session

One forthcoming capital project initiative in Nelson County is the construction of a new building to house the Department of Social Services. A request for proposals for the project was issued earlier this year.

At 4 p.m. the Nelson County Board of Supervisors will have a special called meeting in the former Board of Supervisors Room at 84 Courthouse Square in Lovington for a closed session. I’ll quote the entire notice to remind readers that it is a best practice for elected bodies to be very clear about what they’re going to be discussing when they kick the public out of the toom.

“The purpose of the Special Called Meeting is to provide for the conduct of a closed session pursuant to Code of Virginia

  • §2.2-3711 A: (8) Consultation with legal counsel employed or retain by a public body regarding specific legal matters requiring the provision of legal advice by such counsel
  • §2.2-3711 A (7) Consultation with legal counsel and briefings by staff members or consultants pertaining to actual or probable litigation, where such consultation or briefing in an open meeting would adversely affect the negotiating or litigating posture of the public body.

Afterwards the notice states that the Board may also vote to authorize moving forward with an award for the social services building.

“The Board of Supervisors may also consider other matters at the Special Called Meeting, predicated on the attendance of all members of said Board at the Special Called Meeting,” the notice continues.

That may be tricky given that North District Supervisor Tommy Harvey has not attended a meeting in over a year.

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Fluvanna County PC to review Village Residential Overlay District

Last week’s meeting of the Fluvanna County Planning Commission was postponed to this Monday meeting. The five members meet in the Morris Room in the Fluvanna County Administration Building in Palmyra. (meeting packet)

The first item is a work session at 6 p.m. on both the Village Residential Overlay District as well as special event permits.

What is a planning overlay district?

“Overlay districts are a flexible land-use planning tool that allows communities to tailor regulations to address specific needs and achieve targeted goals within a defined area,” reads the introduction to the item in the packet. “This can include things like controlling building codes, urban design, permitted land use, and density.”

The packet uses examples from Goochland County which has three overlay districts, Franklin County which has one for an area around Smith Mountain Lake as well one for Boone’s Mill. Other examples come from Lancaster County, Loudoun County, Rappahannock County, and Roanoke County.

According to the draft minutes from the May 13 meeting, Fluvanna County is looking at village overlay districts as a way to overcome particular zoning issues in the unincorporated community of Columbia as well as guide the future of Fork Union.

Some of the language in Loudoun County’s zoning code for overlay districts.

As for the events item, the report in the packet has examples from Albemarle, Buckingham, Chesterfield, Cumberland, Goochland, Greene, Louisa, Madison, Nelson and Orange.

There are no public hearings scheduled.

There will be a resolution to approve a public hearing on August 12 for a zoning text amendment that would provide a definition for food trucks.

There is also a resolution to approve a zoning text amendment related to the process the county used to review development plans. This is related to legislation that passed the 2025 General Assembly.

“SB974 changed the statutory review process to eliminate Planning Commission review of plats and plans, and to assign that review authority to a Designated Agent, as defined in the bill,” reads the staff report. “HB 2660 shortened the timeframes for various local government approvals of subdivision plats and site plans.”

Under unfinished business there will be an update on the Comprehensive Plan and the various community meetings that are being held. I’ll have a story on that in the next regular newsletter.

Fluvanna EDA to get update on workforce housing incentive

The Economic Development Authority of Fluvanna County will meet before the Planning Commission in the Morris Room at 5 p.m. (meeting packet)

After a series of reports, the EDA will review the budget for FY2025 and FY2026. They’ll also discuss an incentive grant for the Coves at Monticello development.

The latter is an affordable workforce housing development the Board of Supervisors approved on March 2, 2022. That came with a performance agreement to provide semi-annual grants of incremental tax revenue. The project is now complete and the first payment has been made.

In 2021, the assessed value of the property was $71,439.14. At a hearing in June, the Board of Equalization adjusted the assessed value to $16,855,552.86.

“At a current real estate tax rate of $0.75 per 100, that equals an annual 2025 Performance Incentive Grant of $126,416.65, equaling a first half payment at $63,208.33 and second half payment at $63,208.32,” reads the staff report.

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Albemarle EDA to meet

If you go to the Albemarle County calendar, you can click on the link for the meeting of the Economic Development Authority which begins at 4 p.m. in Room 241 of the county’s office building at 401 McIntire Road. (meeting info)

When you click on the agenda accessible via the calendar, you will get a one-page listing of what the appointed body will take up at this meeting. There are no links to any of the materials.

However, when you look at the meeting on the EDA’s website, all of the materials are there for your review. Take a look!

Under unfinished business, the EDA will continue to review the economic development strategic plan, a plan being developed at the same time the Comprehensive Plan is under review.

Under new business, there is a new fiscal services agreement, followed by a request from Venture Central for a matching grant for something called FUEL, and then the staff report. The middle bit has a resolution that can be seen here.

The agenda called for closed meeting motion “pursuant to section 2.2-3711(A) of the Code of Virginia” but there’s also a disclaimer saying the actual section code is subject to change.

The resolution has more details and evokes subsection 6 and subsection 29. Here’s the actual language.

“The expenditure and investment of public funds related to existing performance agreements with Bonumose, Inc., and with Agrospheres, Inc., and related to a potential performance agreement for a commercial development on Seminole Trail in the Rio Magisterial District, where bargaining is involved and where, if made public initially, would adversely affect the EDA’s negotiating strategy and the financial interest of the EDA and the County.”

Bonumose announced plans in October 2021 to invest $28 million in a laboratory space and one day I’ll do a follow-up!

Charlottesville to hold public hearing on Dairy Road replacement bridge

At issue in White v. Charlottesville is whether the city’s road network can handle additional density enabled by the Development Code adopted in December 2023 and implemented two months later.

While we wait to see how the legal process works, the city continues to manage its own transportation projects including a project to replace a bridge that carries Dairy Road over the U.S. 250 Bypass.

A design public hearing will be held for that project Tuesday night from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Walker Upper Elementary School.

“Come see plans the replacement,” reads a public notice published in the Charlottesville Daily Progress. “This project will replace the aging and load-restricted bridge.”

Funding for the project comes through a maintenance program managed by the Virginia Department of Transportation known as State of Good Repair. The hope is to get the project underway next year.

When that happens, the bridge will be closed for at least one year. The plans are under review and comments can be taken through the end of the month.

The city keeps two calendars on its website notifying the public of upcoming meetings. This meeting is now on the one that’s run through CivicPlus nor the one on the city’s main page.

The city did issue a notice through its press release page on July 9.

The Dairy Road bridge replacement is also not listed on VDOT’s list of projects in the Culpeper District.

In May 2024, City Council learned that VDOT had found the city to be deficient in managing transportation projects for which it had been awarded. For instance, the city won three Smart Scale awards in 2016 for three streetscape projects. None have gone to construction

The city has handed over management of the Fontaine Avenue Streetscape project to VDOT, and VDOT has made that part of a bundle which is listed on the website. A design public hearing was held on May 22, 2025.

For historical content for the Dairy Road bridge, here’s an uncategorized article my colleague Tim Dodson wrote for Charlottesville Tomorrow in August 2016.

In other meetings:

Wednesday, July 16, 2025

Albemarle Supervisors to hold public hearing on solar ordinance changes

The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors will have their first and only meeting of July on Wednesday the 16th. This will begin at 1 p.m. in Lane Auditorium in the county’s office building at 401 McIntire Road. (meeting agenda)

The first item on the agenda is a work session on the implementation chapter of the update of the Comprehensive Plan that the county refers to as AC44. The Albemarle County Planning Commission took a review last week and there’s a 25 percent chance I’ll write that up in advance.

“The current draft of AC44 has over 200 actions across the nine (9) topic chapters within Part III,” reads the staff report for the PC meeting. “The quantity and scope of these actions presents a challenge for implementation, including the reporting and tracking of implementation progress.”

I really feel it is important for people to know what is in these documents because once a government puts something in a plan, there’s a chance it will be implemented. What will the Board of Supervisors prioritize and does it match what the public wants? Does that matter in a community where only one out of three magisterial districts has a contested election this November?

The second work session is a review of legislative priorities from the 2025 General Assembly as well as a look ahead to the next session. One request Albemarle Supervisors made this year was $1.37 million in state funding for a connector trail at Biscuit Run Park. That made it through both chambers of the legislature, but Governor Glenn Youngkin vetoed the funds.

This item had been scheduled for the June 16 meeting but the item was pulled from the agenda.

After that, Supervisors will get a quarterly report from the Virginia Department of Transportation. For many years, these were done concurrently with an in-person report from Albemarle transportation staff but that’s not the case this time around. There is no information available in advance for the VDOT report, but Albemare’s report is in written form and on the consent agenda.

Supervisors will go into a closed session at 5 p.m. but do not indicate what the reason is. One could make an inference that this will be to consider appointments to board and commissions as that is the first item after the Board returns at 6 p.m. But should we have to make inferences? (more information on vacancies)

There are three items up for public hearing.

The first is to take comments on a declaration of “spot blight” for 50 Churchill Lane in the Samuel Miller District. That will allow the county to make improvements including demolition and then charge the property owner

50 Churchill Lane (Credit: Albemarle County)

The county sent a letter to the property owner last July informing them that staff believed the deteriorated structure there is blighted because it is open to the elements and because parts of it are falling down. Staff also estimates the work will cost $61,000, leaving $56,451 available for other projects.

The second public hearing is for a special use permit to divide 342 acres of land in the Samuel Miller District into six large tracts for six single family homes. The Planning Commission anonymous recommended approval on May 27, 2025. (materials)

The third public hearing is related to changes to the county ordinance that governs utility-scale solar arrays as well as battery energy storage facilities. I have been unable to prioritize this work. (materials)

There are several items on the consent agenda worth noting:

  • For many years, Albemarle and Charlottesville had a joint review process for funding for nonprofits but that ended about five years ago. Both have now established their own criteria. Albemarle County is updating their rules for the three areas subject to funding. The documents in question are “Human Services Funding Process” and “Cultural, Arts, and Festivals Process Framework” and “Community Non-Profit Capital Process Framework.” This probably merits its own story, and possibly a discussion by Supervisors themselves.
  • A second item is a request to formally participate in the Boulders Road extension project mentioned in one of the stories above. (materials)
  • There is a 12-page report from Albemarle’s transportation planners with more information than can be summarized in this blurb. There is a 25 percent chance I’ll write this up before Wednesday. (read the report now)
  • There’s also a 5 page report from the chair of the Albemarle School Board. This is also worth a story. People like information, right? (read that report too)

Greene County PC to hold public hearing of rezoning on U.S. 33 near the new WaWa

The Greene County Planning Commission will meet in the County Meeting Room at 6 p.m. (meeting info)

The main item on the agenda is a public hearing for a rezoning requested by Route 33 Holdings LLC for about 6.4 acres of land from residential to business. The business is connected to developer Frank Stoner and his Milestone PartnersThe parcel is part of a larger one owned by the company.

The Comprehensive Plan calls for mixed-use residential. There does not appear to be a specific use associated with the request.

There is a report in the document that lists various activities such as the recent launch of a CivicPlus system to track land use applications.

“The system enables community members to submit all applications electronically, allowing staff

to streamline both the intake and approval processes,” reads a section of the report. “Building permit applications will be added to the system starting in August.”

The section of the property for which the rezoning is requested is marked in Greene (Credit: Route 33 Holdings LLC)

Charlottesville Housing Advisory Committee to learn more about tax abatement program

A major purpose of this newsletter is to provide comparative examples of what different localities do. For instance, make sure you go back and take a look at the Fluvanna County EDA meeting from this week.

On Wednesday at 1 p.m. the Charlottesville Housing Advisory Committee will meet at CitySpace. Kellie Brown, the city’s director of Neighborhood Development Services, will review the proposed Charlottesville Affordable Housing Tax Abatement Program. The Planning Commission had a review at their meeting on July 8 that in a perfect world I would be able to write up in time. (meeting info)

They’ll also update the minutes from the April 30 and June 18 meeting, but those don’t appear to be in the meeting packet.

Thursday, July 17, 2025

Charlottesville committees to meet

Charlottesville has different kinds of boards and commissions. Some have members appointed by the City Council. Others have members appointed by City Manager Sam Sanders.

The Charlottesville Parks and Recreation Advisory Board will meet at 5:30 p.m. and there’s no agenda as of yet. This body is appointed by staff and at least two members also serve on the board of directors for a Charlottesville Parks Foundation.

“The Charlottesville Parks Foundation collaborates closely with the city’s Parks & Recreation Department to bring essential community projects to life,” reads the website. “We raise funds to build and renovate parks, advocate for a robust park system and promote volunteerism to improve the parks.”

The fiscal agent for the foundation is the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission Corporation, a nonprofit that is connected to the government body.

“The TJPDC Corporation is intended to be tied to the mission and activities of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission (TJPDC),” reads the website.

The Charlottesville Parks Foundation is not listed as one of the active projects on the website. There’s also no mention of the foundation in the city’s budget.

There is also an Albemarle County Parks Foundation as well. The entity was created in the fall of 2023 and advocates for specific projects along the Rivanna River. The county budget for FY2026 also has no reference to the foundation, nor does the county’s parks and recreation website.

The city’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board meets at 5:30 p.m. at the Carver Recreation Center at 233 4th Street in Charlottesville. (meeting info)

The other meeting today is the Charlottesville Human Rights Commission. They meet at 6 p.m. in CitySpace. There’s no agenda at publication time. They’re appointed by City Council. (meeting info)

This post was contributed by Sean Tubbs. Sean is a journalist working to build a new information and news outlet centered around Charlottesville and Virginia. In 2020, he launched a daily newscast and newsletter and also created a semi-regular podcast on the pandemic.

Support for Sean’s “Week Ahead” update comes from The Piedmont Environmental Council.