Alright. Good afternoon. I call the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors to order for our 03/04/2026 1PM meeting here in Lane Auditorium. With us today, we have supervisor Sally Duncan of the Jack Jewett District, supervisor Bea Lapisto Kirtley of the Ravenna District, supervisor Fred Missle of the Samuel Miller District, supervisor Ann Malik of the Whitehall District, supervisor Mike Pruitt of the Scottsville District and myself, supervisor Ned Galloway of the Rio District. Our county attorney is with us, Andy Herrick. Our county executive,
Mr. Jeff Richardson. Our board clerk is Claudette Borgeson. And our senior deputy clerk, Mr. Travis Morris, is manning cameras today, so he is with us as well. I want to thank, the Albemarle County Police Department officers who are present. We have Sergeant Jason Freistout with us and Master Police Officer Eric Ketchum. Thank you, gentlemen, for being with us here, this afternoon. And with that, if everyone could please rise as you are able for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the
Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. And if everyone would please now join in a brief moment of silence. Thank you very much. Board, before we move to adopt the agenda, we do have two minor modifications here. At Supervisor Malek's request, we are going to add to the agenda under item number 17, which is from the Board Committee reports and matters not listed on the agenda, a discussion regarding a letter from the Board requesting the governor's veto of Senate Bill
four forty three. And also for item number 10, which is the Smart Scale Transportation Project Funding Applications, there was an update to Attachment A in the Smart Scale Transportation Funding Apps. The updated attachment was posted to the website on March 3, which was yesterday, but just calling that to everyone's attention, as that was a change in information. So with that, are there any other changes to today's agenda? All right. Is there a motion to adopt the final agenda as amended? Question. Yes. And do you want to announce about any
consent changes are going to happen, or is that late? We do have two items, just FYI. We will have two items pulled from consent today. We'll deal with that when we get to the consent agenda motions. So moved. So Second. All right. We have a motion made and seconded. Without objection, if the clerk will please call the roll. Miss Lupisto Kirtley? Aye. Miss Mallett? Yes. Mr. Nissle? Yes. Mr. Pruitt? Aye. Miss Duncan? Yes. Mr. Galloway? Yes. Alright. Thank you, board. And with that, we will move to, brief announcements by board members. Supervisor Pruitt?
I have nothing today. Thank you. Supervisor Lapisto Kirtley? Yes. I attended the, Boston show to Boston, event that they had last Friday. I think some other supervisors were there. I I know that supervisor Malik and Missal were both there. And it was very interesting because and if you have a chance to look at their website and give your opinion on whether or not you would like a plane that goes from Cho to Boston, that's what they're looking for. So there is a survey out there, and maybe we could put that on our newsletter or something.
I'm not sure. But there is a they are asking for people who's interested, who would be interested in that flight, a direct flight. So and they're looking at enlarging the airport, enlarging the parking, having a double decker, and then a larger facility. Because right now, when the planes back up, they actually back up onto the runway. We only have one runway. So that's not good. But, I mean, they we get over 300 flights a day. I think 350,
something like that. So it's very important to support our airport. Now this is going to take a long time. It's not gonna be done overnight. It will take years and years and years because they'll have to get the funding and everything, but that's what's in the, in the stars, so to speak, for the Cho Airport. Thank you. Thank you. Supervisor Missal? Nothing to add. Thank you. Supervisor Duncan? Just one thing. I just wanted to point out that PEC is hosting the active mobility summit tomorrow night and Friday at the wool factory, and this is kind of about the focus this year is on the economic and
social benefits that communities have when we have kind of active lifestyles and outdoor activities and sort of working towards how can we work on that more and promote that. So that looks like it will be a really great event. Alright. Thank you. Supervisor Malek? Thank you all very much. The, I do want to say I feel as if my equilibrium is returning after a month of total disaster during all the snow and ice and all the stress involved with that. And, hopefully, others who were similarly affected are gonna be back to normal here now that we
can see the Earth and and it's not six degrees anymore. That was bad. But I do have some starting off with some bad news and then good news later. The, new March 2026 drought outlook from the noaadrought.gov website shows that we are in a severe drought now, and it is expected to continue for three to six months. So I went to a presentation at the NACO conference from someone from NOAA talking about drought.gov and all the information that one can get there. I went and played on it and,
encourage all of you to have a look because there's a whole lot of detail about your particular very granular detail about precipitation and a whole lot of other information, which is helpful. But it made me feel as if I was back in 2002. In 2002, we were 36 inches below normal after three years of lower rainfall. Today, we are 26 inches below over the last three years. And these kinds of things can change very quickly, so I do want to bring, people up to that.
In the good news category, on Friday, April 17 at 11AM is the sixtieth rededication of the Dogwood Vietnam Memorial, McIntyre Park East End. When we'll be able to park drive in through the skate park and around to the hill just above the location to participate in that and hope everybody will come. Secondly, it is time to sign up for your Virginia Tech sponsored and, the tremendously reduced cost well water testing clinic. So, you can contact the Cooperative Extension office, and I will also have,
the clerk will have this information here in case anybody would like to do it. But now is the time to sign up and get one of those spaces. For $70, you get over $300 worth of water testing, all sorts of different components in your well water. Really, really important for those of us who have well water that we know what we're drinking and cooking with. And that is all I have. Thank you very much. Great. Thank you. I do not have any announcements today. We do not have any proclamations or recognitions this afternoon. So that will take us to item number seven, public comment on matters previously considered or currently pending before the board other than scheduled
for public hearings. And vice chair Missal will read our rules for public comment. Thank you, chair. During the time set aside for public comment on matters previously considered or currently pending before the board, Other than public scheduled public hearings, individuals may address the board of supervisors concerning matters previously considered by the board or matters that are pending before the board other than items listed on the agenda for public hearing. Individuals are offered one opportunity for up to three minutes to speak at each board meeting. The sign up sheet is managed by the clerk's office and up to 10 persons may speak during each matters from the public session.
Timekeeping is conducted through a timer and light system at the podium. The green light will go on when you begin speaking, which begins your allotted time. The yellow light indicates you have one minute to finish speaking, and the red light indicates your time has expired and you will be asked to end your comments. In order to give all speakers equal treatment and courtesy, the board requests that speakers adhere to the following guidelines. When addressing the board, state your name, and if you live in Albemarle County, you're a Magisterial District. Address comments directly to the board as a whole. Any written comments or other supporting material may be given to the clerk. If representing a group or organization,
you may ask others present to raise their hands in recognition. Speakers may not share any unused time with another speaker. Back and forth debate is not permitted. Do not speak from your seat or out of turn. All comments are live streamed, recorded, and published at the county on the Albemarle County website. And as a reminder, please be sure to introduce yourself and speak directly into the mics. Looks like we have two up there. Looks like we have five, folks signed up, and we'll begin with Gary Grant. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. I don't always have to be first. Gary Grant, Ryo district.
I don't think I've ever made it clear that I don't dislike any of you, whether your county executive or his staff. However, from time to time, I don't like some of the things that the board does or your county executive does or your staff does or don't do. Again today, I have another list. It's not personal, it's business. Your county executive, to my knowledge, still has never apologized for the negative impact on people who had their personal information
jeopardized by the county's lack of adequate online protections last year. How about this board apologizing for him? Your county assessor incorrectly reassessed my property by over $33,000 for 2026. That's been corrected now because I challenged my reassessment and won. However, I wonder now why I didn't challenge my reassessments every year for the forty years I've owned my property in Albemarle.
How much does the county owe property owners like me for real estate that has been assessed over market value for years. The millions of tax dollars your county executive recommends be spent on the affordable housing expenditure fund is not taxpayers' responsibility. Don't be taking money from those of us who pay our own rents and mortgages only to be forced by the county executive and actions by this board to also
pay for other people's rents and mortgages. A question about change in the county's snow cone expenditures for FY '27 has been emailed to your budget department. I promise to update you on an answer whether it comes from the budget department or comes finally from supervisor Galloway himself. Lastly, page 20 of your county executive's f 27 recommended budget states, and I quote, we will provide every customer with an experience that is professional,
empathetic, and responsive. Professional, yes. Responsive, at times. Empathetic, never. Thank you. Thank you. Next, speaker is Rob Probst. Good afternoon, Chair Galloway, board members. I do live in Albemarle County in the Rivanna District. Mr. Probes, your voice is a little light, so I'm going to ask you just lean in there and just be aware of that. Okay. How's that? That better? Okay. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to share some comments with you this afternoon. I'm with a company called CEP Solar. We're a Richmond based solar development company. I live and work here in Albemarle County as as well as a couple of
my other colleagues, and I'm here to just provide a couple of comments as relates to the Turkey Knob solar project, that you guys will be taking up, in the agenda later on under a couple of special exceptions. First, I just wanna commend, the board for its vision and pragmatism to create a buy right provision for small solar projects. That's, as you know, groundbreaking for the Commonwealth. And, we hope to be among the first projects to take advantage of the buy right provision in your solar ordinance.
And, it's our mission and goal to, develop a project that not only we're proud of, but this board and the citizens, the community can be proud of. And, even though it's it provides a streamlined process, I think it's you've established something that certainly has, a lot of elements to it to make sure that you have high quality projects. And and, of course, that's what we intend to deliver, a high quality project without cutting any kind of corners. And, again, that's something that's protective of the environment and,
also helps stabilize energy prices. So thank you so much. That's all. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Next is Tom Loach. Good afternoon. Tom Loach, Whitehall District. Several months ago, I appeared before the Board to bring to your attention attention concerning deficiency found in the current land use subsidy program. The documentation I provided for you came from the 1991 report by then County Administrator, Mr. Robert Tucker. In his report, Mr. Tucker stated that implementing the land use program would entail additional taxes and by necessity,
this would mean shifting the cost to those who do not benefit from the program. At the time, I requested several changes to the current policy, which for years has hidden the program's cost from Albemarle County taxpayers. However, despite my request for greater openness in the county government, when I reviewed the current proposed budget for the county, I found no reference in the documentation to the course of land use to taxpayers. You have 40 pages of documentation describing programs you fund from all blessings flow to the women's initiative, but not one sentence dedicated to the land use program,
which cost taxpayers over $14,000,000 While it is my responsibility as a resident of Albemarle County to pay tax, it is responsibility to the county to give me a fair and accurate accounting of what taxes I'm paying. It is not a privilege, but the right of every citizen of the county who is required to pay an additional tax to clearly understand just how much that cost them and what it pays for. And Mr. Tucker's report, he states, the critics of land use are correct in their assertion that land use program costs the county millions of dollars per year.
As a resident of Albemarle County, I have already stated I have no problem in supporting rural preservation. However, I found myself once again reminded the Board of the current situation with regard to the imposition of additional taxes to only a select segment of our residents without disclosure. This should not continue. Therefore, I am once again calling for the inclusion of the county budget, the total cost born to taxpayers to support the land use program. Two, that those who pay the additional tax must clearly see a line item on their tax to show the total cost of that their tax they're paying and also the
reason the tax is levied. And three, since the program clearly exists to preserve rural character of the county and since the county's second program aimed at the same goal that being the ACE program, then those who pay the additional tax should be given the choice to which program they want their tax money to go to. To do any less would be a demonstrative violation of the county administration and board of their obligation to ensure complete visibility of the system of taxation they administer. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Neil Williamson? Good afternoon. I am Neil Williamson.
I serve as the president of the Free Enterprise Forum, a privately funded public policy organization focused on Central Virginia's local governments. Later today, you'll be conducting a work session on the lengthy zoning modernization project designed to implement the vision of your recently adopted AC 44 comprehensive plan. I am told all the cool kids are calling this process Z mod. This means folks working on this consequential three plus year zoning rewrite might be best described as Adenaar's Z Mod Squad.
In the late nineteen sixties, the Mod Squad series, which aired just a few years before the current development area lines were drawn, squad mentor captain Adam Greer famously stated, the times are a changing. The same is true for Albemarle County zoning ordinance. It's beyond time for the ordinance language and intent to catch up with reality. Many changes are needed. In addition to language changes, the Z mod squad is seeking to implement up to three seventy eight individual actions contained within the comprehensive plan.
While the free enterprise forum is particularly interested in the Board of Supervisors finally taking action on our long advocated position of allowing residential and commercial and industrial properties, we also ask that you answer three questions when evaluating the zoning changes suggested by the three seventy eight proposed comp plan action items. One, does this make housing easier or harder in the development areas? Put another way, does it make housing more or less affordable? Two, will the proposed change help or hinder economic development?
And finally, number three, does the proposed change matter? By focusing your energy on these three questions, you may help the community move forward or back. In the last ten years, Albemarle County has taken huge substantive changes to become more business friendly. Unfortunately, at the same time, Albemarle has become less receptive to new housing within your quarter era development areas. The z mod squad is not considering development area expansion, though they should,
but the least they can do is make it easier to develop properties as the AC44 comprehensive plan dictates. To do anything less would be creating an ordinance as stated as the Mod Squad series is today. Thank you. Thank you. Next is Peter Krebs. Good afternoon, supervisors and members of the public as well as county staff. I'm from the my name is Peter Krebs. I'm from the Piedmont Environmental Council. We protect and preserve, the lands and waters of the Virginia Piedmont while advocating for strong,
healthy, and resilient communities. I'm here to, announce the Active Mobility Summit. However, supervisor Duncan beat me to it and actually probably said it better than I could. I'll just add a few program notes about the summit just to to give a little more detail and color. So the mobility summit is this Thursday night and Friday morning at the wool factory. Thursday night will be a celebration of the many wins that the community has had in the last year and look forward to more community wins next year.
We'll have a keynote speaker named Pete Eshelman, who's on the economic development team in Roanoke and also founder of an organization that promotes outdoor access. There'll also be a a great invocation by local poet, Mikasia Tolbert. Then Friday morning, we're going to have, a special guest who I can now announce. That's, Adam Spanberger, first gentleman of Virginia. So he'll be there right at 09:00 giving welcoming remarks. We're going to have two panels. One of them will include local leaders.
It'll be moderated by our own Kevin McDermott and also our own Anne Wall will be on the panel, plus Jim Friess from the city, Julia Monteith from UVA, and also, one of my favorite, local business owners, Zach Roberts from the Great Outdoors Provision Company. There'll be lots of fellowship and inspiration throughout the both days. It's free. There'll be food and drink and also a bike bus departing from the downtown mall. So if you don't wanna drive, you can ride your bike there.
If you do choose to drive as in all cases with the Wolf Factory, please arrive via Broadway Street, which I noticed was recently restriped. I don't know if that'll be on our list of community wins, but there is that. So, yeah, I look forward to seeing you all. A couple of you are already signed up. There's still room, but we do expect to sell out. Looking forward to seeing you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And last on our list is Sivo Flynn. Good afternoon, Board. Saivo Flynn, Climate Justice Policy Manager with the Community Climate Collaborative.
Last Monday, February 23, Charlottesville City Council sent a letter to Fluvanna County Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors in advance of Fluvanna Planning Commission meeting. The meeting was to decide on some elements of the massive gas plant expansion that's being proposed for Fluvanna County out by Scottsville that I know you're all aware of. The planning commissioners ultimately decided to recommend that the board reject the special use permit. Monday, March 2, Charlottesville passed a resolution on the consent agenda ratifying the letter as an official city
action. As you know, Albemarle residents will be impacted if this proposal goes ahead. There'll be a significant increase of early death and the development and exacerbation of respiratory illnesses and cancers not to mention the environment and climate harms that it will cause. Supervisor Zermattic, he warned us that we may need to expect up to six months more of severe drought. We know from the county's climate risk assessments that drought is one of the primary impacts from climate change we can expect to enjoy in the region for the foreseeable future. Climate change is caused by burning fossil fuels.
Natural gas is a fossil fuel. Projects like these are directly responsible for Albemar's climate change impacts like drought. C3 had previously drafted a proposed joint resolution between the county and city. In light of the action taken by the city, we are now asking for you to sign on to a joint letter from local leaders in local governments across the jurisdictions that will be impacted by the proposal if it goes ahead. The sign on deadline is end of business Monday, March 16. The letter will be sent on March 17, the day before the March 18 Trivanna Board of Supervisors vote.
Aldmerald residents are increasingly aware of the proposal and its risks and while we know it's not in the board's power to reject the proposal supervisors constituents will be heartened to see a public stance from individual board members asking Cubana leadership to reject the proposal. As you'll see on the packet that I'll submit, Supervisor Pruitt has already signed on. We hopefully anticipate adding five more names to reject this extremely damaging plant. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Thank you to all those who came to participate in public comment today.
Public comment is now closed, and we will move to our next item on the agenda, which is our consent agenda. Today we have two items that have been requested to be pulled from consent. Item 8.4, which are proposed projects for affordable housing investment fund support. That first request came from Supervisor Duncan, and I know a few others have joined in that request. The second item is eight point eight SE twenty twenty five-thirty nine, turkey knobs solar farm. How we're going to handle these today, that was request,
that pull request was made by Supervisor Malek, and I know others had some questions about that as well. We will address item 8.4. I recommend we address that right after we vote on the remaining consent agenda. We will address item 8.8, the solar farm, at the end of the afternoon's work session and prior to our closed meeting so that we can keep our other scheduled items on schedule. And then, and if action is going to be taken,
we'll take them at that time. Are there any other let me look. I got another note here. I do not. All right. Are there any other items that need to be pulled from consent that were not previously, requested? All right. Is there a motion to adopt the consent agenda as amended? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Alright. Without objection, if the clerk would please call the roll. Missalpisto Kirtley? Aye. Miss Malek? Yes. Mister Missal? Aye. Mister Pruitt? Aye. Miss Duncan? Yes. Mr. Galloway? Yes. Thank you, board.
So that will bring us to then item 8.4, proposed projects for Affordable Housing Investment Fund. As this is an item that all of us have, had some interest in, I think it's just more it's easier to manage to just go through our normal speaking order. I'm going to so that's Supervisor Pruitt will start. So I'm just going to turn to Supervisor Pruitt to get us going. And thank you, Stacy, for joining us. And I know Packy is here as well, if we have questions, etcetera. Thank you so much. Before I just jump in, I realize this has kind of been added to the docket as a thing we're
going to discuss in the last forty eight hours. Was there any component that you would want to present before we just jump into questions? I'm gathering from the fact that there's not one on the screen that the answer is no, but I just want to confirm. Stacy Petha, Director of Housing. And I did throw together a real quick presentation, three or four slides, if you would like me to do that real quick, which might answer some of your questions. I'm not sure. And Stacy, you're going to definitely have to use the louder voice and into the microphone, please. Maybe I need both microphones. Does that make it better? The mouse sorry. The mouse has disappeared on me.
Again, my name is Stacy Petha. I am Director of Housing. And this is in response to the agenda item proposed projects for affordable housing investment fund support. And since there are some new members of the board, I thought I'd do a real quick history of the affordable housing fund. It was created in fiscal year twenty nineteen, initially to support the Southwood redevelopment in Phase one. It has expanded over time. It's really designed to support affordable housing projects that are one time costs. So no ongoing support throughout this fund.
And those projects should also support county strategic and housing goals. And historically, the funds have been distributed really on a first come, first served basis. So a non profit would come and say I have a project, this is how much money we need to fill a gap or to make the project work. And then through discussions, it would be decided whether or not staff would make recommendations to the board for funding. As some of you may remember, May, staff came to the Board with a change in how the housing fund was operated. And that came in response to discussions and comments with the Board in previous work
sessions as well as with other community partners. And to look for ways, particularly from the board's perspective, on how they know, the recommendation staff brings forward are the best use of county funds for those projects. And so what came out of the work session last year and that the Board approved was a change in how the fund is administered. So it is now a competitive application process that will be opened once or twice a year depending on balance of the fund. The affordable housing fund balance is now split in three ways.
So 40% of the fund balance would be used for grants primarily, 40% of the loans funds would be primarily for loans towards projects and 20% of the balance would be set aside for staff identified emerging needs. The applications are reviewed by non Office of Housing staff. We thought that was very important to bring some different perspective from outside of the housing world. And applications that are submitted must score at least 75% of the maximum possible score per each category in order to be considered for funding.
And so as you saw in your agenda packet, four projects for applications rose to that minimum score of 75%. Those four projects were a rental housing project with Habitat for Humanity. They requested a grant in the amount of $1,350,000 and a loan of $450,000 Support Works Housing requested an additional almost $378,000 and that is to replace a federal grant that was for energy efficiency work on the Premier Circle site,
the VISTA 29 that the government has discontinued, at the beginning of last year or this year. Piedmont Housing Alliance requested $1,400,000 for, capital improvement work on all of the rental properties that they have in the county. That work will be really instrumental in keeping those properties moving along for another fifteen to thirty years. And the Local Energy Alliance Partnership or LEAP requested $776,000 for energy efficiency upgrades with low and moderate income homeowners in the County.
There was an additional request from staff to provide 110,000 of that 20% set aside for staff identified projects to support the Salvation Army's family shelters. There is a lack of family shelter beds for homeless families within the counties, so it's really important to get those up and running. Based on I do have some numbers, based on that 80% of the fund that was available for loans or grants, the total available was just over $3,900,000
and those four applications that scored reached the scoring threshold, really came into $4,400,000 total, a little over that. So through discussions with the review team and the Chief of Human Services and Housing staff, the review team really recommended providing funding or recommending to fund these four projects at a level based on the score that they scored. That was a bad sentence, sorry. So as you can see, if Habitat scored 76% of the maximum total scores, then the review team recommended providing 76% of the total funding asked.
If the board approves, funding for all of those projects, there would be, I did have that written down somewhere, about wrong slide, about $485,000 left for loans and grants for future projects. That money could be rolled over into the next fiscal year and used for projects with the next funding round. The additional money that is set aside for staff projects would equal if approved for the Salvation Army shelter. There would be an additional $882,000 remaining to be used for staff identified projects.
And staff has a few on the radar that will be coming forward later this summer and into the fall. Those include a potential landlord risk mitigation fund, a potential family preservation housing assistance pilot program and assistance with the emergency shelter being considered by the city. That's all of my presentation at the moment. So any questions you have, I'm happy to ask answer. Thank you. And thank you, Supervisor Pruitt, for requesting she do the presentation. Thank you. I think as you probably anticipated, you you bit one of the questions,
but I just wanna make sure I'm clarifying a question I came in with that I think you answered. But both I looking at the spreadsheet that's contained in this consent agenda and members of the public, including applicants, expressed the concern of, oh, this does not add up to equal the total amount in the AHIF fund. Where's the remaining 1,500,000.0? It it's the 20% set aside for staff identified emergencies, some of which we've already identified, but it's not in this request in front of us. Is that accurate? This does I just this is more of a conversation, kind of question.
It is a 20% earmark per funding cycle. We're now actually at the end of a budget cycle, and we're considering another budget. And we have not already dispersed the the emergency fund. As we get into a round where we might be re infusing new money into the housing trust fund before we've spent down the emergency fund, is this a a context that y'all have already, considered? Do you expect to fully spend down the emergency reserve? What's it going to be 20% of in the future if we don't?
Right? Because you're gonna be carrying over a previous 20%. Now we're gonna have a new 20. Percent. You take my point. Yes, I understand. That's a great question. At the moment, we are looking at using a good majority of that $882,000 for the three projects that are sitting in front of you. We just wanted to wait until after the budget has been adopted, so we don't get in the way of that discussion, and then bring this forward for your consideration. Okay. So basically, the amount that we're carrying over is going to remain earmarked for emergency staff considerations. There will be a new 20% of the currently 5,000,000
So 1,000,000 that will be oh, what easy math. 1,000,000 that will be identified for future, emergencies. Thank you on that. Now this is gonna be the trickier part because it's gotta start to become some normative policy considerations. And I want to apologize in advance because this is something I think we all could have hypothetically caught when we were talking about and approving the current formula that we use, but it hadn't occurred to me. And sometimes we need to see the rubber hit the road for it to occur. And so I don't I realize I'm in the position now of kind
of bringing up concerns about the formula as we're implementing what staff was already directed to do. But a a concern that has leapt out to me is that the these are actually two distinct concerns, that the criteria for scoring grants and, loans are the same and separately that grants and loans, as I understand it, are considered in a single funding application. So a blended application is considered together. I see having watched the process play out, both of those separately seem like problems. One that it would make sense for the scoring criteria to be different because the
kind of projects that would benefit from them are different. Right? A a YTECH project serving 70% AMI at 10070% AMI, would very strongly be benefited by a loan because it fully counts as equity for their funding stack, and it is a much more achievable, gap for them to close, whereas a deeply affordable, development targeting 30 to 50 would not as much benefit from a loan and would more benefit from grants. And it seems like we would want to we would want to encourage the former to apply for loans and encourage the
latter to apply for grants. And the other problem is that they're coming in the same application, which, hypothetically, if an applicant is going to be is going to be behaving as a rational actor, That combined with the previous point means that no applicant should ever ask for loans. Mhmm. And so I I would reflect that to you. I I would first kind of get your your reaction to that and see if you think that's an accurate kind of evaluation of what we've seen play out here. Well, I will say staff did not really consider the potential of an applicant asking for
both a grant and a loan in the same application. That had not been something I have seen in the past, so that took me slightly by surprise. The way the fund the way the requirements for both loans and grants is structured is that for profit entities are not eligible for a grant. They are only eligible for the loans. And so that sort of takes out that pool. That the product Can you remind me is that a disability on our authority or is that a decision we have made? That's a decision we have made. Okay. I don't believe there's any restrictions on,
the county's authority to do that. Nonprofits can request both. There are other jurisdictions throughout, particularly Northern Virginia that staff will make the decision once those applications come in, if those projects should be provided a grant or a loan. At the moment, we have decided to allow the applicant to decide which is more appropriate for their project. Some of that is staff capacity, some of that is because this is a new process for the county and we'd like to see how it works first. But that's definitely something we can examine. It strikes me as prudent that this be updated moving forward.
I might ask this as an open ended question because I know it's challenging. Do you see this as something that could be reevaluated for this current funding cycle? There are applicants who are frustrated because they feel like they undermine their own application. I don't think we don't have enough time for that this time. But there is a plan to open to a second cycle of funding with FY 2027 funding after the budget has been adopted. So we could certainly look at doing it that way then. The 2027 money hits sooner than the 2026 money did because we had to adopt the policies to say differently.
Thank you. I think that makes sense. And that's kind of what I'd come in expecting, right? This is a a policy problem rather than an application problem that I'm talking about, and so I don't think it makes sense to address a policy problem in the instant case in front of us. But I I do think there's an application problem here or rather, sorry, a policy problem here that that we should and could address in the upcoming funding cycle, because I have concerns about it. I I have concerns that I mean, very, regionless. Right? I have concerns that projects in my district have accidentally undermined their own ability to
secure a strong amount of funding. The other thing I wanted to ask, you talked a few times about the review team that contains non housing staff. Could you give us without naming names, I'm not going to ask you to do that. Could you give us a little sense of what that group looks like? Yes. So ultimately, the plan will be to have in the community members doing this. It wasn't a lot of time to get that set up. It takes some time to do that, figure out qualifications. During the work session last May, the board indicated that they would like to be able to appoint read through the
application to decide who is on that committee. So that's going to come probably, next year, not next fiscal year, but next calendar year, so we can get everything together and do it properly. So we chose representatives from different county departments. So, the Department of Finance and Budget, the Office of Grants and, Agreements as well as, Facilities and Environmental Services. And this committee mostly reviews are they cause there's a quantitative part that determines the final output score, which is eligible, non eligible. And there's also narrative components that are introduced.
Can you help me understand how that quantitative part, the review committee and the final percent on the dollar ask, what that parsing out looks like? Where does one influence the other? Certainly. So there is a scoring matrix that goes along. There were separate scoring, criteria, very much the same for both rental housing and for sale housing. A few differences like rental housing does require submission of a property management plan that is not required for homeownership. So each component has different scores associated with it.
All of the applications that we reviewed are exactly what is all of you received yesterday. So that is what the review team sees. They see them online. They score sheet as they go along. That score sheet tallies automatically in the system and determines what the what their number score is. And then staff takes that and says right, there's a total of two seventy five points that this application could score because it's rental housing. This is the score that they received and this is the percentage of points that they earned.
Thank you. The final kind of thing, and in my mind, I would just say I'm mentally comparing this a lot to the process we have for our nonprofit partners for social services disbursements, right, where we have a very procedural, process with a, non elected committee that reviews these, or historically, that was how it was done. And frankly, we've gotten to a point where there is not only is there not much second guessing from the board, but, it's kind of almost politically verboten. We've deliberately insulated it from elected decision making because we would all do things like
I represent Southwood and want to fight for more Southwood dollars. I want to reflect that as the goal of where we get there, but I think in the short term, there might be an expectation of a higher level of transparency to make sure it's working under the hood before we develop that trust in the process. So I would begin by saying this. So with that on the table, I don't mean this to sound unkind. The the document that we received in in here looks rushed. It is a single slide. There looks to be some working calculations numbers at the bottom of the Excel spreadsheet that I don't understand.
And I say this is someone who I would pride myself as having a decent level of understanding with what we're talking about here. And I would also reflect that there are members there are applicants who have questioned in kind of the eleventh hour whether or not some math was done correctly. I'm not sure if this has been raised to you. I only just heard about it this morning. There was concern that was reflected to me before that. There was a concern more recently that actual math had been done wrong. I had not expected to say this, forty eight hours ago, but I'm now wondering if it might be prudent because also these applications that,
you mentioned sending out to boards had less than 24 to sit with. Some of them might not even seen it yet because it was at the end of the workday, which I recognize that means you were working through and past the end of the workday. I am wondering I think at this point, it might be my desire to have a moment to review this, to have staff to be able to investigate the the suggestion that there was improperly conducted math on Saudis before we review it possibly at the either on consent or as a as a quick thing on, next two weeks Whenever it's ready. In in soon.
I don't want it to delay the disbursement of funding. I don't want it to delay any of these nonprofits. But I I do think there might be an additional level of scrutiny that members of the board would like to take. And I would just close by saying that, and I'm curious if you have any immediate reaction to that. Otherwise, I will go along in the order. No. I did go back. I will say it was, I just missed that calculation. So it's just setting up spreadsheets. It's that you put the calculate that what is that thing called the equation in the top cell and then you just brought it down. I had intended to go back and fix that and I forgot to do so.
So that is my fault. I did go back through and review the applications and see what the change of score would be and it would not have had an impact on, the scores that were received. So the four that stood out and reached that 75% threshold were still the four that reached that 75 threshold. Okay. I I don't doubt that. I might want to see an updated spreadsheet to review those scores myself before approving it. That's all I have, Chair. Thank you, supervisor Pruett. Supervisor Lupisto Kirtley? Yes. Point of clarification. I wanna make sure I heard you correctly that the people who are getting grants,
that is separate from the people who are that doesn't score as high as are the people who are non profits? The scores are based solely on the type of project, whether it is rental housing or homeownership or rehabilitation. The percentage of the score, the max there is a maximum number of score you can get for rental housing project applications, home ownership applications and so forth. The scores are based on they are modified for each application. So you are only going to read a rental housing application against the rental housing
score sheet. There are different maximum scores that you can get for the different types of projects based on what is required in the application. So rental housing applications would require a thirty year pro form a to show that that project would be viable and financially healthy for thirty years, whereas you don't have that for homeownership projects. So the 10 points or five points that you would get for the pro form a with the rental housing application, you get 110 points for rental housing,
you would get 100 points on the homeownership application. You were addressing people or organizations that are eligible for loans or for grants now? It's for both. For both. Okay. Because people applying for grants, if they're a for profit, you're not allowing that. You're just allowing grants for nonprofit. Did I hear that correctly or am I mistaken? So, grants are primarily for non profit organizations building housing or rehabilitating housing. If a for profit organization is going to build a 100% affordable property then they
would be able to apply for a grant. Nonprofits are able to apply for loans or grants. Okay. That's what I was okay. That's what I was thinking about. Thank you very much. Thank you. No other questions. Thank you. Supervisor Missal? Yes. Thanks. Hey, Doctor. Preethy. Thanks for thanks for the information, for the presentation. It was really helpful. It clarified a lot of things, and I won't repeat questions that have already been raised. I I did have similar questions. I have a few additional ones. One is maybe just I don't fully understand why we do not have visibility into
the specific applications that we're requesting these funds. Is there a reason for that? Are you I'm sorry. So when the when the applicants applied for this funding Mhmm. Are we the are we able to see is the public able to see the applications, or is that kept confidential? It was decided, because this is going on consent agenda to keep them out of the agenda packet, but they can certainly be provided in the future. Okay. That would be helpful. We will have to look at how to present them in your packet because they do require a large number of
supporting documents, some of which can be hundreds of pages long. So I don't want to overwhelm everything. So we'll just need to look into how to do that. Right. And I didn't know if any of that was proprietary or if there were any confidentiality issues that the applicants would wish to remain confidential, but just a thought. Some of that would probably need to remain confidential, and many of it doesn't. It's it's it's really a a file size matter. I think a summary of each of those would be helpful. Yeah. Absolutely. The other thing, and I know I saw this in an e mail and you responded today, I haven't had a chance to review it.
But general comment, it would be helpful to see a comment or to see an accounting of sources and uses for housing investment funds in general just to get a general sort of big picture, but that's sort of out of the realm of this discussion. We touched on some calculation discrepancies. I do think that's an issue that we'd like to I'd like to look into further. And as we as I referred to my e mail, just does that impact any of the awards? I know that you mentioned, let's see. You mentioned that those that you confirmed that the four that received the 75% or
reached the 75% threshold were still the four that reached that 75% threshold. I would be interested to know if are there others, however, beyond those that would have otherwise reached that threshold if there had been? So you're saying no? Yes, correct. It had that mistake. First that mistake was strictly in housing world that was not shared with the review team. I see. That was just for our purposes and I made a last minute decision to include it in your agenda packet to provide more information and I just forgot to double check my work.
I apologize. So it would not have had that did not influence their reviews. Got it. Okay. It was very helpful to hear about that 20% and supervisor's clarification of that, so thank you. I do have a question about how we plan to distribute that. So that 20%, you mentioned that there were some uses right here. Yes. These three uses, how do we identify what those uses are for those? So that 20% comes out of staff identified needs. So they could be emergency needs that we see coming up such as the Salvation
Army family shelter beds. We know there's a lack in the county and the Area in general. So this was a good way to support, that project. These, projects that are listed here are related to, issues that staff has identified over several years. A landlord risk reduction fund, risk mitigation fund, whatever we're going to end up calling it, really helps to move, helps lower income families that may not have a security deposit to move into housing. It provides sort of a security blanket for landlords. We're looking at a family preservation housing assistance pilot,
that would provide, it would help families that are struggling to either keep their child at home due to lack of housing stability or have their child returned from care due to lack of housing stability. So this would be a pilot program to help overcome that. We're still putting details together, but that's a huge issue. The county does provide hotel space for many families in that situation. So this is the way to potentially save money in that regard. And then there's always the homeless shelter project that the city is working on in Holiday Drive that the county
will probably come back with a recommendation for that as well. Got it. And I don't have any issues with any of those. They're important for the community, etcetera. I my only question is, you mentioned that there are rollover funds. We're talking about the potential for that. It just surprises me this is kind of an editorial comment I guess, surprises me in this community where there is so much need that we have any funds that are rolling over. And I would, I think, encourage us to try to find every resource we can to distribute those funds, as needed. And then the last thing I'll just say is to echo again what,
Supervisor Pruitt mentioned, which is I think it would be prudent to hold these materials and do a little bit more of a deep dive. I also think it's helpful potentially to provide some airtime for applicants, if they want to touch base with staff to get any clarifications, beyond today. That's all. Thank you. Great. Thank you. Supervisor Duncan? Yes. Thanks for this presentation and the future recommendations. I also had concerns with the money left over because I think we need to be spending down to zero every year. My one little comment on this, and I know these are just potential, but the landlord risk, it sounds like it's actually helping tenants by providing them security deposits that I would
love to see tenant reflected in the title and not just landlord. I initially asked for this item to be pulled more because I think it's important for the public and for us to acknowledge when we're spending affordable housing money and to see what can happen when we invest in affordable housing. And so I just wanted to highlight that some of these projects are providing housing for people making mostly less than 60% AMI. One of them is for almost 200 units for people making less than 30% AMI. So these are, you know, housing projects for people who would not be able to not be able to afford
housing otherwise. I think it's important to recognize, especially I know later tonight we're gonna get public comment about funding for affordable housing initiatives, that when we fund affordable housing, we're having literal tangible effects on people's lives. And, you know, investing in housing is a public health initiative. It's public safety. It's good climate policy. It's economic development. And so investing in housing, we're able to basically, you know, invest in almost everything that we say our priorities as a county are. So, you know, spending this 3,500,000.0 on housing is a good decision that I think should be publicly recognized.
And obviously we need to spend much, much more on it. But I also agree with supervisor Missal and Pruitt, on making sure that we're taking a second look at the funding and the scoring for this particular one. Thank you. Supervisor Malek? Thank you, and thank you to my three colleagues who have asked many of the questions I had written down and for raising this to begin with. Let me go back up here. I had some things highlighted. The, I guess my original confusion, which has not yet been clarified, the original matrix that was sent showed a per unit cost.
And yet now we're being told that that if the and they were combined grants and loans, which I have personal concern about. It seems like you shouldn't be punished for asking for a loan that the county is gonna be paid back. You should be consider the cost to public dollars that is granted. And that would probably, although I didn't do any of the math, change the per unit cost significantly which then would change the 76% or the 84% which then would change the percentage of the allocation So I don't think it's
immaterial. And maybe I just don't understand, but I going along with all of the others, there is still so much that is not clear, and not explained well enough for me to explain it to a constituent who calls me. That's always been my bottom line, is I have to be able to understand it well enough to turn around and say something to somebody else that sounds coherent and doesn't just destroy the trust of the county in somebody else's eyes and ears. So, that connection seems pretty clear to me, and I haven't heard anything yet that would change that. So those are things that I need to learn more about before I'm willing to,
support this. Well, the concept is very important, and I know that the connection of housing to school student success and health and all those other things is incredibly important, and for someone who lives in a three generation household, I know how important it is to have family around. So I get all that. But the details matter. And we know that there are always more needs than we have funds for, and therefore, we have to do it right and not just say, oh, we gotta spend this down real quick, and let's just do it. That sends me running in the other direction really fast because we need to have
the details and make sure that we're making the very best investment that we can make in every one of these categories. So I am all for doing the homework. I could not do it when I finally got stuff late yesterday or at 11:00 this morning. So I have catching up to do, and I get it. I think the comments by others about the transparency is really important. There is I would disagree. There is significant pushback on the community grants process because I think there are people who are not really informed about the topic,
arts, for example, making decisions that impact the board. And the board has more recently become reluctant to argue about it. I'm maybe the only one this year too. But it makes a difference when we're spending x tens of thousands for national things and we're giving nothing to our local people. In the same way, I think it's really important that we analyze everything. While I have no criticism for the the having county staff advise, none of those people in the positions that were listed have particular expertise in housing
other than being people. And maybe that was the basis on which you wanted advice, was just as human beings, what do you think about this? I would find it very difficult with my limited expertise in housing to score anything. I mean, the zero to 10 is a terrifying thing for me to have to do, whether it's evaluations for staff or anything else. So these are my concerns. I may be the only one who has them, but I think that it's I will benefit tremendously from postponement of decision and a lot more discussion, when I did write somewhere. Things that'll come back to the board at e I guess when when choices are
made for each level of these, they would come back to the board for processing. That is what I remember from the adoption of the process last spring. Is it it may be a consent agenda if the information is sufficient for the board members to read it and understand it and say, yes, I'm willing to bless this. But I that's my understanding. If it's different and staff is asking for the ability to spend a million dollars all by themselves, I'm not ready for that. So that transparency is important for me. The, I don't know how many county residents are have accessibility to any family shelter in
the city. And taxpayers in Albemarle pay a considerable amount to the city every year in revenue sharing and, therefore, are already creating a very big pot of money for a lot of these services. So I'm wondering what other county benefits more directly can be provided to county residents, through some of the other categories on your list, and why I would like to know more about all of those things as well. Thank you. As it relates to this specific item, what I'm hearing is we would all like you to show the math.
So I think the deferral for this to come back at the next board meeting, whether it's on this has got enough airtime that it will we may have to work with the clerk to put it on the actual agenda, just to satisfy some of the concerns that I've heard surface here that I also agree with. A couple of the questions that I have build on others, and I think if we do defer until then, it will give me a chance to ask those questions, just in the interest of time. I will put in one comment that kind of climbs an elevation on this. When we passed Housing Albemarle and the specific nature of the trust fund that we
were shooting for in that document, we also talked about coming with a standing housing advisory committee, that if that committee is set up properly, does this work, which is why I want that committee and I've kind of brought that up several times in the past, because then it's a combination of the staff work and the committee work. That stand up of that committee is more on not more on us, is on us to give that specific direction, which has been a little,
as I've said before, foggy after the passing of the policy document versus what Housing Advisory Committee means, and then wanting clarifying direction, perhaps. So I'm willing to forego probably four or five years of other comments I've made to say this is something that shows that maybe goes a little differently if we had that committee stand stood up in the way that I think folks would like to see happen. And the parallel committee or advisory group would be our economic development authority,
how they process applications, make judgments on them, make decisions on them and then bring that to the Board for final consideration. Could happen in a very parallel way, and I think a lot of other places that do this sort of thing on large scales do it that way. So that's my commentary for it. But if there's no objection, what I would hope for, and I could probably work with Mr. Richardson, stem may can use Doctor. Pethea to figure out what exactly should be in the coming packet for the next one. But I think all of us want to hit pause just so that we can
understand it, see the math that's behind all the numbers and then make a good solid decision at the next meeting. But I think it's appropriate to delay the I know it delays the dollars going back out the door, but I don't think we can, in good faith, let those dollars go out the door without a better level of understanding. And then we'll go from there. Are there any questions from staff about what we're asking for or what we're directing? I'm sorry. What? I wanted to ask add to the list. Please. Oh, so in regards to the committee, someone is going to have to make a recommendation,
or are we going to figure out the capability or the qualifications of the various sectors and stuff is going to be on there? I was thought that's what we were waiting for, and so I didn't do it. But I think we'll have an opportunity to probably get into that a little bit with the next agenda item. Thank you. Because we're going to be talking about priorities, and housing Albemarle is on the list of priorities for the AC44 implementation. Yes, please. I think staff has everything we need from you. I just want to say that if there is any additional information as you're reading through what was sent late yesterday and early this morning,
please let us know and we can we can send additional information. Awesome. Thank you so much. Yes. I'm sorry. Did I understand you to ask about the previous awards and the detail or somebody asked about the sort of history of we've given this much to Premier Circle and the follow-up to that and because that that dollar amount has been reported. But where they are in the process, how many years it's been going on, what are the delays, what is the delivery so that we have a performance report as well because there's been a lot of money that's gone out the door without any perceived thing happening.
So that would be nice to have information to be able to share that with constituents who call. We can certainly provide that. The spreadsheet that was sent this morning, does include all of the funding through the housing fund that has gone to the project since 2019. It does not have the details of of status project, but we can certainly get that for you. Thank you very much. And with the exception of the 300 and some thousand that you've that surfaced today, all those other dollars were voted on by this board to go to that project. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The the board will always, vote on, recommendations for staff never makes does not approve funding without staff board approval.
We just bring the recommendations to you. Thank you. Alright. Thank you. Now if there are follow-up questions, I'm going to ask that you send those to Stacy and Kaki and then copy, Mr. Richardson on them as well. And then, I would recommend, just because of all the folks interested in it, to copy your fellow Board members with those questions too from from the get go, so we're all on the same page. And this won't get delayed further, when it comes before the board in two weeks. All right. Thank you very much. All right. We are behind, so I'm just going to just call that to everybody's attention, so that as we move through the next item,
we don't need to rush, but we also just need to not think we have a lot of extra cushion time either. So that will take us to item number nine, zoning modernization, AC44 implementation priorities. I know Leah is joining us, and we have others who are moving about that will be ready to come on, Bart. You know you're gonna have to step up at some point, so you better get down here close. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, members of the board. Chair Galloway. You're not yet up. Leah, pull it pull the mic down towards you too because you're very quiet.
Thank you. Is this mic on? I think I, along with everyone else, is getting over a cold. Yeah. The mouse wasn't working. Yes. There we go. Yes. So, with that in mind, to keep this moving quickly, good afternoon, Chair Galloway and members of the board. My name is Leah Brumfield, senior planner two in the zoning division of community development. And today, I will be presenting the staff recommended list of prioritized AC 44 implementation actions, essentially, how we are combining the two projects, the way that I have combined the two logos here.
These, implementation priority actions are based on the goals and vision of the comp plan, particularly looking at the big moves, the strategic plan, and also stated board directives. So the recommended list of prioritized actions will make up this regulatory modernization stage of the project, phase three, and will be a not insignificant part of the implementation of the comp plan for the immediate couple of years. So quick rundown. In this presentation, we'll be touching on the project background.
We'll do a quick review of Phase two of the project. We did discuss that at length at the last zoning modernization presentation November. And since this work session is on prioritization of Phase three, we won't be going too deeply into it at that point. But I will go into the work that has brought us to this point today, how the implementation actions in the comp plan relate to the staff recommended priorities of phase three, which is shown in attachment C of the board's packet. And I will be summarizing the actions we recommended to be prioritized,
and then finally, we'll go into next steps for phase three. At the end of the presentation, we will be asking for the board's feedback on our recommended priorities and our phase three plan in general, but we don't have any specific approval requests at this time. So for background, phase one, we established the tone, modern language style and ordinance format of the new, new project. We worked with the Berkeley Group drafting four foundational articles of the new ordinance. Article one was general provisions, two, administration, three is permits and applications,
and 10 was nonconformities. And in August 2024, we presented these four articles to the board, at which point they were reviewed and given a general approval. However, we did not adopt the articles at that time since the new format of the ordinance will require a wholesale reorganization of all the new articles, and we're not able to piecemeal sworn those into place, at this time. However, that work has already been very useful, to this point. We've been putting the new layout and language into in already to work,
using it to rewrite our riparian buffer regulations and, also our rewritten form based code overlay district regulations. So this is actively working, and we are moving forward with it already. Phase two, which is currently underway, expands those foundational principles of the tone, the language style, the format, of the of those four forced articles and expands it to the rest of the ordinance. We're currently rewriting the sections that will become article six, the use matrix, and article seven, the use standards. And we are drafting those and other sections,
and we'll be continuing that, and then bringing any questions or any issues, to the planning commission and the board in work sessions over the next year or so. We'll also be doing reviews of those drafted language with internal and external stakeholders, but we're keeping in mind that the goal of this particular phase is to adopt the rewritten, reorganized ordinance quickly without substantive regulatory changes, so we are trying to move that along quickly. That new new layout will provide us a foundation that is easier to work with,
and that'll make the regulatory changes in phase three much faster and simpler. So phase three, is also running concurrently. We are in that right now at this meeting, and it is encompassing the larger, substantive work of enacting the comprehensive plan. This is just a couple of key dates. Not every single thing that's going to happen over the next year, but this kind of illustrates how we're looking at the concurrency of both phase two and phase three at the same time. And just keeping in mind, as with every zoning text amendment, as we are aware, projected dates are approximate.
So, how do we translate that, which was on 10/15/2025, we adopted our updated AC 44 comp plan, and that provides us with the framework for the shape of regulatory modernization. This this document that we, adopted envisions a county that is green and resilient, welcoming and equitable, connected and accessible, and thriving and prosperous. And it has four documents, the plan policy, growth management policy, implementation, and the appendix. So within that implementation document, different aspects of the county are addressed,
from the development land use, development area land use, the rural area land use, economic stewardship, thriving economy, all those different things, in their own chapters. And then at the end of each of these topic area chapters is a list of actions, which address the chapter's stated objectives, in ways that staff, the board, and the community have recommended, for this next, phase of the county's growth cycles. Here we have just on the left a very small snippet of the rural area land use actions that are recommended just to show you what that looks like on
that page. All these actions are grouped by objective, and they touch on things from, grants the county should pursue to, new public private partnerships to zoning ordinance recommended actions, recommended changes. There are almost 400 implementation actions in the comprehensive plan. Fortunately, not all of them directly relate to zoning ordinance changes. As noted, some of them are about policies. Some of them are about grant funding. Some of them are about internal policies or board initiatives that could be addressed at a later date or are
currently underway as well. 40 of them, however, are directly related to zoning ordinances, ordinance changes, that we're looking at near the short term. So it's around 40 actions. So in the addition, in addition to the implementation actions, in the end of each topic chapter, we also looked through, staff zoning staff and planning staff together, looked through the comp plan to find the embedded AC 44 assumptions, goals, and visions for the county that are not explicitly listed as actions. So, for example,
looking at this particular page, we have the neighborhood residential, comp plan map designation description. This is the language that describes what a place that we are calling neighborhood residential should look like. And if in this description, we talk about primarily residential use with some neighborhood scale commercial, retail, and institutional uses. However, the zoning ordinance currently has extremely limited lists of nonresidential uses that are permitted either by right or by special use permit or at all achievable in residential districts that
would correlate with this neighborhood residential designation in the comp plan. So in order to close that gap, in phase three of this project, we're looking at an amendment to the ordinance, that, would allow some kind of additional nonresidential uses in a neighborhood of scale appropriate use. So that would be, something that is possibly by special use permit, most likely with a, number of supplemental regulations. But these are the kinds of things that we're pulling from the text that are
not explicitly listed as ordinance actions that are in the end of the implementation chapter. So where where we've seen these these, gaps in that action list at the end of the implementation chapter, zoning and planning staff together wrote, what would we need to close that gap? And where those where those, sections are something that is repeated multiple times in the ordinance, something where it is a high priority for the county, we added those to the actions list,
which, again, is, attachment c, in the staff's pack in the board's packet. Those ones are listed as UL or unlisted actions, because they're not in that first list in the comprehensive plan. So in reviewing both the, listed and also the unlisted or implied actions in the comprehensive plan, we worked very closely with our recently retired community development director, Jody Filardo, special guest this eve this afternoon, prioritizing the actions with this criteria. First, we're looking at aligning those actions with the highest AC44 priorities,
described either in the topic chapter objectives or described as a big move at the end of that chapter. Additionally, the prioritized actions should have an impact on multiple community goals, something that could enrich activity centers as well as availability of affordable housing, for example. We prioritized actions that are ready for implementation, something that will not require a, you know, five, ten year study. And also regulatory changes that address issues that we see a lot, things like step back waivers on four story residential multifamily structures.
We get that with almost every single, application that comes in for those. And then, finally, staff prioritize actions that are dovetailing with existing ongoing work, things that are already happening. And then, any actions that would immediately address staff or board identified directives, which I'll go into a little bit, a couple of slides down. So this, this is what our attachment c looks like, and this shows how all of these actions are coming from maybe different chapters within the implementation chapter of, the comprehensive plan. This is development area land use and also housing chapters,
but they are all moving towards affordable housing initiatives. And the recommended prioritization ended up with three tiers of actions. Tier one is the actions that are crucial for immediate pressing implementation. They will be addressed in phase three of the zoning modernization project. We'll be trying to, bring all of those to life. And there are 30 such, actions, both the listed in the comp plan and unlisted, in attachment c. Tier two is actions that will require additional technical research beyond the immediate capacity of
this project. These actions could be rolled into phase three if time and staff resources allow, But, they also may be addressed through individual zoning text amendments at a later date due to their nature of being something that is not, as as widespread, or something as embedded in different sections of the text. And then, finally, tier three contains actions that will require a larger scale additional planning effort. For example, the biggest one is things that will require, more intensive engagement and and community research to create our rural area land uses plan,
which is a little bit ways out. But it's something that would touch almost all the aspects of rural area life and rural area land use planning. So these can these things cannot be taken under zoning modernization because we just don't have the data. We don't have the information yet, and we don't have the prioritization and guardrails for these topics at this time. So these Tier one recommended priorities, we've organized into seven often overlapping topics. They loosely correlate with topics covered in the comprehensive plan, but there are some that are just pulled out a little bit,
and are not necessarily mentioned in the big moves. The seven topics are not necessarily organized in any particular order, but they are affordable housing initiatives, activity center initiatives, economic development initiatives, modernizing and streamlining development review processes, increasing density across the development areas increasing mixed use accessibility across the development areas and the rural area special topics. We won't go over all 30 of the recommended actions, but I will review two of the priority topics and their associated actions to walk
the Board through our prioritization process. So starting with the affordable housing initiatives, the actions related to affordable housing, we found in two chapters of the implementation document of the comprehensive plan. The first was the development area land use chapter, and that one had action 1.2, which allowed res sorry, recommends allowing residential uses in commercial districts. And just, as a brief note, the actions that I have on the screen are very truncated, and they're summarized. This is not the entire action.
But, that allowance of residential uses in commercial districts would have an increase in availability and availability of units, increasing, hopefully, the affordability of residential units throughout the county, and in different places. When we're looking at the housing chapter of the comprehensive plan, the actions recommended for prioritization range from incorporating the, housing Albemarle affordable dwelling unit program into the zoning ordinance to reducing the lot sizes and parking requirements. So it there's a whole laundry list there. Overall,
these actions are large and they will require, pretty intensive review drafting and a lot of work with community and development partners. But they are listed as recommended priorities because of their outsized impacts on affordable housing, which is one of the highest priorities in the comprehensive plan and one that both the board and the public have repeatedly strongly supported. With the drafting of the comp plan, the community endorsed these this recommended priority as affordable housing, which is a fundamental community value that we are aiming for. So bringing these actions from the from that approved community,
recommended comprehensive plan into the zoning ordinance is a direct and powerful step of bringing that value to life in the actual community that we live in. So skipping around a bit, we're looking at another topic area, which is the rural area special topics. And these ones are, majority of rural area sorry, majority of the rural area recommended actions are, intended to be addressed at a later stage. But these particular actions are something that, can be addressed sooner because they are a single identified high priority issue or they're
something that, doesn't necessarily require a large scale land use research, plan associated with it. So looking at the rural area land use actions, action 4.5 on page four of the attachment c in the staff report recommends revising the regulations for special events. The ordinance language that we currently have is very out of sync with the way we approve and administer special use permits in the rural area. Sorry, special events, special use permits. And since there is a perennially high amount of interest in special events, special use permits,
this is something that is prioritized. Looking at the narrative of the rural area land uses chapter, one of the, again, unlisted actions is a repeated mention of protecting historic resources. On page eight of the rural area chapter of the implementation document, they mention adaptive reuse of existing historic structures. But, again, there's currently a, very limited opportunity for adaptive reuse of those structures unless a the structure was historically a restaurant, tavern, or inn. So under this special topic,
prioritization, we are looking at investigating feasibility for additional permitted uses for registered historic properties, hopefully encouraging property owners to be able to protect that historic resource. And then that would also meet the chapter objective of protecting natural systems, water supplies, and historic and cultural resources. Then looking at the thriving economy chapter actions, the two that are listed here, seven point two and seven point three, enable, enabling agriculture related agricultural support services, and then also allowing additional revenue streams for agribusinesses,
like restaurants, lodging, or other kinds of recreation. So these two actions impact both the rural area goals of preservation of unfragmented parcels and supporting local agriculture, and also support the thriving economy chapter's objective of encouraging a thriving and modern agricultural economy, which is why these particular ones are prioritized here. So with that in mind, staff strongly recommends the prioritized list of actions in attachment C of the staff report for implementation of AC44. And as we are moving forward with phase three,
our next steps will be to receive the board's feedback on our prioritization, begin our general broad engagement for the topic, for the project, on all of these kinds of topics and the project in general, building community awareness and also building community learning about the zoning text amendment process and zoning in general. We will be building our focus topic groups with people with relevant experience in the topics we'll be addressing in phase three and working with those groups to get input on details of how we'll be enacting
these recommended actions from the comp plan into the zoning modernization project. And then we'll be drafting that new ordinance with the feedback in mind. And finally, reviewing it both internally and externally. So with that, thank you for your time today. And, at this point, I would request the board provide any feedback they have on our recommended priority topics list and, our general phase three plans. Thank you very much. Supervisor Pruitt. It's just the first little AI me I've ever seen. I think that's supposed to be me in the bottom left.
It's uncanny. Slightly unsettling. Briefly stunned. No. That's not I I wanna begin by just asking a quick question. So we reviewed today the kind of the tier one lifts. I I don't want to borrow the the language that I know we had an implementation plan of the comp plan, and I'm blanking on it, but something like the big blocks or something. These are kind of kind of comparable. Big moves. Thank you. Big moves. Is there a meta prioritization within these tier one elements, or is this kind of representing, peak staff capacity for things that can be handled simultaneously?
When you say prioritization, you mean within tier within the tier one Yes. Topics? We don't really have a prioritization of that. We're looking at those. The the goal for all of those is to be within this project. Mhmm. So when you do public, community feedback sessions, they would be providing feedback on all the different things that have been identified in the tier one section. We would be handling each topic separately. Okay. Okay. But they would still be roughly at pace with one another. Is the I don't think we're gonna be having seven topic meetings,
within a week. I think we will probably be handling them sequentially, but we don't have any particular, sequence in mind at this point. Understood. Not to put words in your mouth? It sounds like there will be a a meta prioritization, but it is not clear what that prioritization schedule is going to look like yet. I think I wouldn't really say prioritization. It's really more what comes up first. That that'll really be a, which groups can we build, which topics do we have time for at, you know, as we're handling phase two, topics, that kind of thing. Great. That's actually all I have in the interest of getting us back out of schedule.
Supervisor Lupisto Kirtley? Thank you very much for the presentation. I'm I really like what you're doing, and it sounds to me, and correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds to me like you're taking things that can be easily or more easily completed in an a shorter amount of time, and because some of the other areas are going to take a lot longer. And so this way, it shows that we're getting things done because we are getting, you know, we're moving a little faster on the simpler things.
I think you used that word, the simpler things. Yes. So that is definitely what we're doing with phase two. Phase two is bringing those changes, that we can do as staff because they're really more administrative. Those things are moving quickly, and we're trying to bring those, to fruition at the end of phase two at a much more rapid pace. The phase three things, those ones, there are some larger topics, which is why we have a longer time span allotted for them. Things like, increasing mixed use in residential districts, I know, is not a small topic.
So that's the kind of thing that we'll be addressing on a larger, a larger time span. But then, some of the things that we have not, we have not allocated staff and time resources for finishing within that definite period, like the rural area land uses plan. Those are things that we're not encompassing within phase three. Okay. Where are you encompassing that? That is, a long range planning, topic that is on the work program, which, I will not speak about that work program. But I do know that it is on the docket.
It's just not on the necessarily, like, this next couple of years. Okay. Thank you. Those are all the questions I have. Supervisor Missal? Thanks. Thanks. Thanks for the presentation, too. And, I just have a few kind of broad questions, and I'll keep the specifics until later. One is, I really appreciate you walking us through the process every time and building showing us the building blocks that have gotten us to this point because it's a good reminder. I think it's really important. When you showed one of the slides, I didn't catch the number, but it was early when you had the little time line that zigzagged back and
forth. Can you remind us where there are opportunities? So between now and, I think it was, July is the next meeting, if I remember correctly, where the opportunities are for public input throughout this time, March and July? So the, public input was primarily in the comprehensive plan. We do not intend to have town hall meetings for this. We will be hearing from the public on things that they need clarification on. I know that we are working closely with, the CAPE team to get more information from the public on what information they need.
But it's really more of an enactment of the comprehensive plan that we have already approved. So individual details on things that are very technical, things like, soil volumes for tree health or, the heights of buildings for safety. Those kinds of things are not necessarily things that we really need the public to weigh in on. Things that are, should we have more affordable housing, we have already weighed in on as a community, and that answer is yes. So I don't want to we don't want to go and ask the same question
over and over again. Yeah. I understand that. I guess I'll I'll go I'll riff a little bit off of that a little bit further. It just seems that maybe and maybe Mr. Svoboda is going to answer this. It seems like as you to your point, yes, there are definitely things that were in the AC44 process that were well voiced by the community. I think there are certain things in a zoning ordinance, though, that there could be some input on, for example, how well are we doing in terms of, efficiency, right, or turning projects around more quickly or sustainability being interact
involved and, intertwined in the zoning ordinance. Like you used affordable housing as an example where affordable housing adding resi to commercial is one way to help with those types of things. So I think there are ways to support other initiatives, right, like sustainability or rural areas or whatever those are that will need to be baked into this zoning ordinance and could benefit from public feedback. Just something to think about. Bart Svoboda, Deputy Director of Community Development. I'd just like to add to that, and give you a little preview of the AC44 will be another update from that
team will be coming in April. So that will help tie some of this together. Got it. And as far as feedback goes, we'll be focusing a lot with the stakeholders. So on specific things like lighting or signage or housing, we'll have specific groups to do that rather than a mass, public work session or public input session on the individual things because we feel like those took place during the comprehensive plan, and that's reflected in the goals. Okay. Hope that helps. So you will be getting in information, you'll get input,
you'll have reviews of some of the initiatives that you're proposing. Yes. Okay. That's great. Let's see. I think in terms of the priorities, just a couple of questions. One is, has the planning commission weighed in on the priorities at this point? No. We came to the board to ask about the board's priorities for, for this project. So no information from the planning commission on it. Okay. And, I think I heard this. Maybe I didn't. I maybe heard this incorrectly. You mentioned that the tiers you went through, tier one, two, three, that was really helpful. Tier three, did you mention that an example of that is the rural areas plan?
So some of the actions in the comprehensive plan talk about things like, allowing nonresidential, nonagricultural uses to be, to be allowed in existing structures in what could theoretically be a crossroads community, although we don't really have a designation for that at this point. Looking into things like the crossroads communities and, how that land use would be impacted, whether we have a designation for those, whether we're looking at village residential properties, a lot of different questions like that.
That's the kind of thing that we would look at in the rural areas land use plan. Yeah. And that's a tier three initiative. Yes. So when you when you're talking about the near term special topics like revising regs for special events, additional historic property, all good things, I I think at some point, I guess, they'll be a part of a larger plan. And I would just want to make sure that we ensure that we have an action plan associated with the rural areas plan so that these Tier three items don't just get sort of swept under the rug and kind of forgotten about for a
couple years. And then, you know, meanwhile, we're making a lot of smaller initiatives that are really part of a broader, potential plan. Yeah. I do, as mister Svota brought up, I do think that, you will be hearing, a lot more about the real areas plan and the intentions for the timing of that project, and those particular initiatives that they're bringing forward when the long range team, brings their, brings their presentation to you. Excellent. And then the last thing I'll say, I think hopefully this is in the scope of your question is just a reminder, I know you'll do this,
just keep your eyes on affordable housing, keep your eyes on sustainability, how those are all interwoven since the intent was that AC44 would focus on climate action, resilience, etcetera. As we're going through this, those lenses are really important as we think about priorities and we think about more specific zoning, categories. That's all. Thank you. Supervisor Duncan. Yeah, this is great. I really love everything that you guys have in attachment C. The priorities, if all of these were in the zoning ordinance and match the comp plan,
I would be absolutely overjoyed. So, yeah, I like what you guys have picked out. I also really like, the kind of community outreach and sort of the creativity with, you know, the online resource, the podcast, all that kind of stuff. This looks really, really great. So I know this is was a lot of work and will be a lot of work, but this is just looks really fantastic. Thank you. Supervisor Malek? Thank you. And, in concurrence with what others have said as well, but I do have a couple things I wanted to clarify. Let me zoom back here.
So if I heard correctly from Bart, focusing on the stakeholders is what And we're getting a sign. If you could Oh, not okay. There we go. I guess I'm ready here. So the stakeholder groups will be your primary source of input on this next element? Stakeholder groups and internal, and ex and, external partners, like things like VDOT, parks and rec, all of our departments that we work with. So these are considered customers? Yes. And but we always need to remember that our citizens are customers.
So I'm glad to know from the second page about the podcast and the other ways for people to say about it. It was very difficult with the earlier stakeholder groups for the AC forty four for anybody not in the secret group to even find out what was going on or what was I mean, there were no minutes. There was nothing available. I wasn't allowed to listen in. I mean, it was very bizarre. So anyway, I hope I think there was some negativity from that from the public. So I'm glad to know that you're gonna have more information available as you go along because, as I would say to my teenage newly teenage children,
I will find out. And when I find out from somebody else instead of from you, I will be even more angry than I am right now. So I think it's always important to, share that information appropriately at the beginning. You mentioned four categories of growth management, policy implementation, blah blah blah. Environmental protection, sustainability was not there on that list that you mentioned. Where is it? In the I mean, it's in the framework, but it wasn't mentioned today. So I just wanna make sure that it is in this next So the, the categories of the,
the topics that are prioritized are based on the primary actions that are from the comprehensive plan. So the sustainability topics that we have in the comprehensive plan right now are much more policy based and less regulation based. A lot of the a lot of the actions in the comprehensive plan, as I read them, are things like expanding credits or reaching out to create partnerships or having initiatives. Those are things that are not regulatory. Those are policies, or they are,
board level initiatives that are not necessarily written into the zoning ordinance. But things like water protection, buffers, those those are regulatory. Absolutely. And so that that's what I'm looking for is to make sure that those environmental sides, where we've sort of fallen down in the last twenty years or since 2014 for sure in our enforcement of because of the way the laws were changed. The, for for stream protection and I mean, this is clean water, which is why the Whitehall District was downzoned, basically, in 1980. And so we wanna make sure not to lose that advantage that we have now
for water protection. And, yes, it's a policy, but it also has to be regulated. Otherwise, it will fail. That's all. I'm sorry. Are you referring to the riparian buffer ordinance? Well, that's just one example of the many ways that that this has to be done. And Bart is nodding as if I'm to be reassured that everything's under control. Yeah. Because that that one is that one is coming. Okay. Very good. Secondly, I'm glad to hear you used the example of neighborhood residential in the rural area and a list of other uses, which will certainly help some of my constituents who have been sitting in a residential,
you know, property on a unlivable on a on a crossroads that, you know, have not been able to basically do anything, even have a garden center for the last twenty years. So I assume that this sort of expansive approach may help people in that circumstance to be able to move forward, which is wonderful. I know your staff has spent a lot of time with one of my constituents for that very thing, so hopefully this is coming from that. Also very glad to hear about the ADUs for zoning. Smaller lot sizes, incredibly important, because having smaller houses requires a smaller lot.
Otherwise, it's not financeable. No bank is going to loan money if the land is costing more than 15 or 20% of the whole thing. So that's important. Modular homes, I'm really glad to see that because they actually allow people to build, equity, whereas manufactured homes do not. So any place where, in my opinion, we could foster modular home use instead of manufactured, that would be a benefit for the people who live there and buy them. And someone mentioned a while ago that modular homes are forbidden in our county zoning.
And Bart is shaking his head, and I keep trying to say, no, I have them all around me. Why in the world would you think that? But they've been told that maybe twenty years ago. But anyway, I'm glad to know. I will put a big no by that so I have the rest best information. And I'll be interested to see how the changes are proposed for the special events in rural area. I think we haven't seen many of those because so many of the people doing them are doing a runaround through a you know, I'm gonna plant a hot plant and a raspberry bush and call myself a brewery, and the state says fine. And so that's how they're getting all of these special events.
But, there have been plenty historically over the years who have done the proper process very successfully, and so hopefully, we will still have that available. And I think oh, and the public input. I will just say that last night in my report to the Croze Community Association, which is 46 years old this year, I said, remember, the zoning modernization is starting, and please share your ideas. So people will be watching, I think. Thank you. I like the approach of track and react, given the public that ability versus having to do a whole another engage and we just did, years of engagement on this.
Mhmm. And it's go time. And this board is the one that has to determine what the actions are and prioritize those actions and go. And anything else, frankly, process wise, it's not about bouncing or blocking or boxing anybody out. It's about saving the time. I mean, we get enough criticism about how long things take. Well, you know, we just, at the MPO, had to reconsider a citizen advisory committee that's been longstanding and that was created thirty years ago because citizen engagement was very different thirty years ago than what we how
we all do things now. And a track and react kind of method is pretty good. Here's where I can find it. I can see what's going on. If I have an opinion, I can weigh it in. But and it moves with the speed of the actions that are happening. So I appreciate that. And when the board feels we need Advisory reaction from regardless of which committees kind of live under our umbrella, then we can specifically ask for that. Let's send that out to x, y or z. But it doesn't slow us down in the meantime because I mean,
look, you know, I think all of us, I've heard at different points, I know in my CAC meeting, in trying to get to the final vote on the comp plan, where I had, you know, our citizen advisory committee members are a little more engaged because they're paying you know what I mean, just because it'd be in nature of that committee member. And they're kinda looking back at you with eyes with, like, get on with it already. So they're happy to track and react, but I don't know that they would say, oh, you gotta bring that back here on everything that you do, and let me take a look at it. It. Move along. I think I misspoke or was earlier made a confusing statement myself,
so I appreciate, oh, right, we're just looking at the zoning modernization. We're not looking at all the policy pieces related to that. But that is coming in April then, because my comment earlier was about housing Albemarle. And we committed during the comp plan that, that would be an immediate supposed to get a regular five year review, but it would need to be immediate upon the closure of this last comp plan. So I'm assuming in April, we're going to learn about those prioritizations. Is that what I was catching on? Yeah. The April Other work lists. The April meeting is the work list for,
the planning team. Housing Albemarle has some aspects of that rolled into both sides of this, both Z mod and the long range planning team work. But the overall housing Albemarle, is outside of Z mod. As well as other policy. Yes. It's Yeah. Yeah. The policy. Just have to get my hat on that says, all right, or, you know, put the zoning stuff in one silo and then the policies in another. Because when I see AC44, I'm still like, it's all there. But the action plan, you have to coordinate out.
So I appreciate that. In terms of getting this whittled down to these 40 items, I think it's well done. Like I don't go through this and look at the other list and go, I mean, to march through it and go, well, you didn't include this one. We need to add a 41 or we need to do because it's not as if we're saying we're not going to do any past the top ones. It's just the prioritization of they're here. The meta prioritization conversation was interesting, and I don't know that that has to be developed yet, because you can see how you go and what's working. Sometimes that changes right in front of you, like, oh, man, we could knock this one out right now.
And you might not know that, you know, in May or you know what I mean. So I appreciate that as approach. But for the most part, happy with all of the, action items that were whittled down in the 40. Are there any additional questions or comments for staff? Is there anything that we haven't reacted to that you wish we had? I think you've pretty much covered it. I do hear that we have some support and and some trepidation about our, alternative, digital selves, But other than that Yeah. We're going to weigh in on that by the next time too.
Yeah. I like it. I'm just, yeah, I'm just glad there's no bald spots visible. Where'd all these great bears come from? Alright. Well, thank you very much, Leah, for the presentation. Board, we would have had a recess, so I think we should take a quick I would call it a a five minute recess if we can, just a bio break, and we'll come back and return as soon as possible to move to the next item. You're live. Alright, board. We are coming back from recess, and we will move now to item number 10, smart scale transportation project funding applications,
and we welcome Jessica to the is this your first time here? This is. Alright. I'll let you do your introductions, because we got Anne and I got a little sneak peek at that MPO meeting, I know. Great. Thank you, Chair Galloway, and good afternoon, members of the board. I'm Jessica Dimock. I'm the new principal transportation planner in the community development department. If you remember Jessica Hirsch Ballering, I am filling the position that she current that chief used to fill, working with miss Tanya Schwartzen Druber and mister Kevin McDermott. Today,
I'm sharing information on eight transportation projects in Albemarle County that are being considered for smart scale funding applications. We're sharing this information today because the April 1 deadline for submitting pre applications is coming up. Today, I'll share a brief overview of the smart scale funding program and, review the eight projects that are being considered for this round. These projects were previously shared with the board in November as part of the transportation quarterly report. Smart Scale is the primary method for funding large scale transportation projects here in Virginia.
It is administered by the state office of intermodal planning and investment under direction of the Commonwealth Transportation Board and it can fund up to 100% of transportation project costs, including engineering, design, right of way, and construction. No local match is required. Localities and MPOs can each apply for up to four applications every four every two years. Pre applications are required and they are due on April 1. Full applications are due on August 1.
And we will be coming back to you all in June to request a formal, resolution of support to accompany those full applications. The Commonwealth Transportation Board selects projects through a competitive scoring process that reflects their transportation priorities, and projects that have been identified in state funding studies are generally most competitive. These are the eight projects that we'll talk about today. I'll walk through each one of these in a more in a little bit. Note that as staff, we are continuing to work with VDOT to refine these project descriptions and sketches.
And so what you see today will change, will be tweaked in some form, between now and the full application deadline. In fact, because these are moving so quickly, the project descriptions that we submitted at the time of the meeting packet deadlines have changed. And so I believe you have a special handout in your packet that shows, the updated project descriptions. So let's look first at Barracks Road and the 29250 Bypass. There are two projects that are being considered for applications here, one from the county and one from the MPO.
Both of these projects were identified in the Barracks Road project pipeline study to address safety and pedestrian and bicycle access needs. On the west side of the interchange, this is a project that Albemarle County would submit for. This project will add a right turn lane on eastbound Barracks Road going on to the southbound bypass. It would close the median opening at Ricky Road, relocate the bus stop that is currently at Surrey Road over to the southeast corner
of Barracks And Bennington Road and it would construct a pedestrian connection from that relocated bus stop across Barracks Road to tie into the existing sidewalk. That would include a crosswalk across the ramp, a crosswalk across Barracks Road, and new sidewalk on the south side of Barracks Road. Immediately to the east of that is a project that the MPO would submit for. This project would make modifications to the northbound off ramp, including extending the length of the deceleration lane,
widening and realigning the northbound off ramp to provide two left turn lanes and one right turn lane, adding sidewalk on both sides of Barracks Road from the existing sidewalk in the city to the intersection with the southbound ramps, and adding a crosswalk across Barracks Road. That crosswalk is the same crosswalk that's in the previous project such that if only one of these projects is funded, that crosswalk would get constructed. Moving west to Crozet, this project was identified in the Crozet master plan,
and it has been submitted in the past two rounds of smart scale, and it has narrowly missed being funded both times. It is a project to convert the signalized intersection at US 250 and Old Trail Road from a signalized intersection to a roundabout as well as add crosswalks and pedestrian connections. Moving on to Ivy Road near the 29250 Bypass. There are four projects being considered here. All of them have been identified in the Ivy Road project pipeline study,
and these are to address safety congestion mitigation and bicycle access needs. The first two are projects the MPO would submit for, and these make modifications to the mainline bypass. The first is to extend the length of the deceleration lane on southbound 250, to the off ramp to give motorists a longer distance to change lanes and slow down in advance of the off ramp. And then the other project is to extend the length of the acceleration lane to
give a longer distance to merge onto US 29 in the northbound direction. Both of these projects are intended to reduce congestion and reduce congestion related crashes. This project, project c, and the next project, project d, are related to each other. This project, project c, we're calling full recommendations. It has a variety of recommendations from the Ivy Road project pipeline study, including a roundabout at at Ivy Road and Canterbury Road, Old Garth Road, a roundabout at Ivy Road and Boar's Head Drive,
Coal Ridge Drive, a median in between the two for access management and to reduce conflict points, and a shared use path along Ivy Road in between the two. This project has a lot of benefits. It's also expected to be very high cost. And so the next project is a variation of the former project that focuses on the roundabout at Canterbury Road and the shared use path along Ivy Road. While this project has lesser benefits, it will also have a lower cost. We are planning to apply for both projects separately to increase the chances that at
least one of these projects would be funded at this location. And finally, the last project is at 5th Street and I 64 Exit 120. This is a project that has been many years in the making. It was it has been identified over twelve or more years. This project was identified to be a diverging diamond interchange with a shared use path. That was identified as a preferred alternative and was submitted in the prior round of Smart Scale. Vyat determined that the existing bridge over I 64 could not accommodate the width of
the shared use path. In order to accommodate a shared use path, they would need a bridge replacement, which would make the project cost almost $80,000,000 Because that project was so high cost, it did not score very well and was not selected for funding. So VDOT has conducted this most recent study to value engineer the concept to be more competitive for funding. This is the current concept which we are continuing to work with VDOT to refine. You can see it includes a diverging diamond interchange. It retains the existing bridge over I 64 and the existing sidewalk.
It would add a new shared use path from the northern part of the bridge deck to connect to the future 5th Street Trails Hub project at the Starbucks, and it would also add a new sidewalk connecting from the south point of the bridge deck further south along 5th Street to connect and tie into the existing sidewalk. So that's an overview of the eight projects that are that are being, considered for, submission. Pre applications are required. They're due April 1,
after which point we cannot we cannot submit any new projects. And I would be happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Supervisor Pruitt? Thank you. Can we, go back just one slide to slide 15? Can you help me understand? There's only one thing. I'm a little unclear what I'm looking at. In the in the in the ramp onto 64 going west or sorry, going east, is that the shared use path going under the ramp? Are you looking at up and to the right of you. Further. Further.
Keep going. Keep going. Is that the shared use path going underneath the the traffic ramp? I'm unclear what I'm looking at there. I see what you I see your question. This is a shared use path tying into the existing sidewalk on on the bridge. So the path would narrow and be and tie into the existing sidewalk. It's not going under. Okay. And and it's using the fact that there's I I'm just I I also wanna clarify because I'm seeing crosswalk striping in other locations, but not there.
Here. It's missing the crosswalk Okay. Striping. That is a comment that we've identified to submit to VDOT. Okay. And I wanna make sure I'm correctly understanding also. This, the the revaluation survey has been fully conducted. This is the product of that. And so there is no more there is not an additional step that we are still conducting between now and, submission of a of a product for actual deployment funding. Or am I best understanding that? I I think you're correct there, supervisor Pruitt. They are still doing some minor refinements to this,
such as we're asking them to reevaluate the full extent of the shared use path and see if we can maybe bring it all the way to the actual bridge. At the bridge, as we said, they can't add a shared use path on it and retain the bridge. So I think what we're probably going to end up having is a sign that says bikers must dismount to cross the bridge. But, other than that, you know, it's going to be minor tweaks and and, cost estimating that they're making between now and the final submission. I don't think there's going to be any major changes. Thank you.
And, Ken, this is Kevin, just for the record, if you would. Yeah. Of course. Kevin McDermott. I'm the deputy director of planning. Can you, for both my own reminder I'm I'm almost certain I've asked this question before, but also for the for the board and the public reminder. Is there an anticipated gap in a continual shared use path between the project outside, Cobb 5th Street and this, if both of these projects, proceed forward? There is still a gap that we are working to address.
So if, there is the roundabout that's going in in front of Cob 5th that that should be under construction within this year, so likely this summer. And that will add a shared use path along with the ABC development down, heading north to the next intersection. And then we are working with, developers on the attain project to possibly extend that shared use path across their property. And then you end up with a section of sidewalk that we currently don't have funding for that we'd have to continue look look for a way to complete,
and that brings you to this project. Got it. So it's there's a gap of what would we would call a shared use path, but it is still sidewalk. It's just a less robust path width. Correct. Got it. Great. I think that will be all. I will leave my questions there for now. Supervisor Lopisto, currently? Yes. I don't I I didn't pay attention to the slide number, but if you go back to the very, I think it's slide two or three where Barracks Road was, and you talked about, the yes. Okay. So there will or will not be a left turn lane
going east from Birch Road. Is that correct? Mhmm. This left turn lane eastbound to go southbound on the bypass? No. No. Am I getting my direction? No. Westbound. North south. It's under the the left turn is is down and past the bridge. Here? Would that be on this one? Are you asking about the east sorry. The eastbound left turn to go north on the bypass? Okay. So that would be going under the bridge. You couldn't okay. That that movement will be retained.
Okay. There is a left turn lane. Alright. Yes. Thank you. Because you mentioned the median, and I was a little confused. Sorry. Thank you. Good presentation. Supervisor Mitchell? Great. Thanks. Nice to meet you. Welcome to the team. And just a couple of quick questions. On this slide while you've got it up, and the the next slide, I think, do the do the lane if you look to the left of this slide, so further, I guess, that's south, there's an additional turn lane. Sorry. Go to the next slide, slide seven. Slide seven. And then go to slide eight
and nine. Gosh. Well, there was a slide I I thought there were some improvements. It's the one at, Ivy. So did those yes. There. Does that does that lane connect to right, sort of, to the right there? Does that lane actually is there an additional lane that goes all the way down to Barracks Road on the north side northbound side? On the northbound side? Yeah. So this this is extending the acceleration lane. Right. But it does acceleration tie into a deceleration lane?
Yeah. The it's not shown on here, or you can't see it clearly, but the intent of that, of that acceleration lane is actually gonna allow people to get off at, the Leonard Sanders? Leonard Sandridge exit. Yeah. So you would be able to because we see so many, vehicles that are actually try just trying to get from Ivy or Old Ivy up to Leonard Sandridge. Yeah. This would be a continuous lane to connect to that. It does not connect to the, Barracks Road, though. It doesn't go all the way down that far? No. Just goes to Leonard Sandridge.
There's no additional right turn I got it. Out off of Leonard Sandridge Drive. Okay. Got it. Thank you. Then I can't help it, but I know you had in here you addressed Exit 19118. Can you give us a little bit of an update there, or is it just we're still studying? HEDOT is still studying it. They presented three they they identified three potential solutions, and they were negatively received. All three were negatively received, and they need more time to figure out a solution that works. So it this it's going to continue to be studied,
but we will not have a solution ready in time for the smart scale funding deadlines. Thank you. And does that if I'm remembering correctly, that does not include the improvements at Fontaine, or does that include the fund the improvements at Fontaine? The improvements at Fontaine are a separate project. Yeah. Plus okay. That's all I had. Thank you. Supervisor Duncan? Yeah. I'm happy to see the Barracks Road stuff on here, and the roundabout at Canterbury. I hate that intersection. The smart scale funding comes through six years after it's approved, correct? It's programmed four years out,
so we're filling the last two years of the six year program. So, unless there's some sort of change by, the administration to move a project forward, typically, those projects are four years after the, decision is made to award the funding. And that's when you, like, you get the money and then you start designing and constructing. And so, like, from application to if a project was picked, how long is it before you can start before it's finished? Well, that depends on the project, obviously, and time lines.
But, we typically see up to eight years between, when a project's picked and when it actually gets completed for construction. So is there any way, like, say the Barracks Road with the crosswalks and the sidewalk got picked, would there be any way to, like, speed up the crosswalks so that we're not waiting eight years for a crosswalk? We can try and work with our, VDOT partners and, partners at the state to see if there's a possibility. It's difficult. They they would have to probably move project money from another project to put it
on there. So it's something we can always try, but, we we have not done that really frequently. And, historically, how many projects are selected out of the applications? Is it, like, one? What we have in Albemarle County, we've been up and down. I think some of the other board members saw a presentation on this a few months back, but, the past couple rounds, Albemarle County has received a single project in the past few. Prior to that, I mean, we've had up to nine projects actually funded through Smart Scale in a single year.
So we've had a a lot of success in the past these past couple rounds, not so much, but still getting at least one every every year. Yeah. And then just one other comment. It's also my understanding that not all VDOT districts work with municipalities in kind of the pre application, and so I just think it's we're fortunate to be in a district that does work with us so that we have a good idea of what projects are feasible and have a chance of being more successful. So I do really appreciate that. That's all. Supervisor Malek? Thank you. Yes. This is actually really good news that I I'm hearing.
I've seen lots of dramatic improvements to what was talked about a couple of years ago in almost all of the projects, which is great. And hopefully, the powers that be in Richmond will agree. The, on the shared use path from COP 5 North, the the one on the county side will go to Stagecoach, basically, and then there's a gap on the east side. Do I have that right that from the roundabout on the county property, it's easy to put one no. We do not have a shared use path on the On the east side. Cobb 5th Side. On the east side of 5th Street.
On the west. There is as part of that roundabout project, they are making a sidewalk connection that goes to the bus stop in front of Cobb 5th. Got it. But that's where it ends, and then we don't have any other facilities. So people who wanted to go the distance would hop over to the other side and go along on the, ABC project and On the west side. Correct. And that right away is already set because of the approvals of both of those projects. So there's no gap there. There is a gap apparently way at the end on the south north end, 50 yards or something by the houses there. So,
as I I was maybe not clear enough to explain there, there is no gap in the network, but it does go from a shared use path to a sidewalk, and that sidewalk would connect all the way to our project. Okay. So that wasn't the area where there was a gap in funding anyway. We were just scrounging around the line. So there is there you can see even see right here in front of that single family home that's out there, there is a sidewalk that goes from here down to the entrance to the apartments, the first set of apartments there.
And then and then from that point on, we would have the shared use path all the way to the roundabout. Okay. Makes very good sense. I know over many years, other communities have talked about, mostly with railroad bridges, hanging the pedestrian side off the side of the bridge, and it's been very successful. And BDOT has said, oh, hell no, double hell no, on things like that. But it's a really good idea and expands the use without having to put all those expensive peers in. So I'm sorry we aren't able to make progress here when they do in other districts. And the,
you mentioned the high cost of c for the ivy. Is that from the right of way? Two roundabouts? I mean, it's just the roundabout the right of way at Bergwood, basically, is all you would need. It's the magnitude of the improvements. So two two roundabout projects, plus a shared use path plus median is going to be a high cost. We don't yet have cost estimates from VDOT. They're working on those, but we know that anything in the 30 to $40,000,000 range is kind of the upper range for being,
actually competitive. So we don't have cost figures yet, but we're trying to hedge our bets, so to speak, and get at least something funded there. Yeah. Well, the one at the trestle on 2425680 is $5,000,000 So hopefully, the roundabouts you're proposing, which are incredibly helpful, will not be triple that. That would be sad. Very good. Thank you very much. Yeah. I mean, I'm happy to have these move forward. I think for the some of the newer folks, it's like this, 01/15 exit, this is a value engineered down project on resubmission.
What you're seeing with 01/18 is really that they they were going down, and they hit the ground, and now they know they have to bounce the hell back up. Because none of those I mean, that's what Sean was saying. They're all half baked at best. That's a direct quote from mister Nelson. So the idea is, just making costs less in money doesn't necess well, I guess they might score better, which isn't a foregone conclusion. Does it mean it's the best project for the improvement for the area. So sometimes you have to stick to it,
I think, and keep pushing on the project that you want, because I think that impacts your multimodal usage here. But then the state changed. Who knows what happens now if we've got new members of the CTV, a new governor, if the scoring, you know, I mean, it's set for this round, but in two years, who knows? The scoring could get reweighted and changed around again. And just don't know where you're going to go with that. Kevin, I'm going to pick on you. I did not give you a heads up about this, but you love fielding on questions like that. But back in the fall, I had inquired about our transportation priorities list.
And I know that, at that time you had mentioned, about the last time that report of the whole list of priorities was done, if you it's going to be what, three two, three years ago, And that we were kind of on hold with some AC44 work and things like that. Happy doesn't impact what I think about these smart scale applications, but thinking ahead to not just two years from now, any time we put a list of Svartsco applications together, it means other projects weren't selected. And I'm I'm starting to lose sight, because I'm working on an old transportation priorities list,
of what we need to be thinking about that's two, four, six years ahead of us. So all I'm asking for is update on when whether it's a new process, new considered process, what have you, might be coming back before the board. We have picked that effort back up. Stimic is actually gonna, lead that. What we're doing right now is we are taking the the similar process to what we've used before for prioritization, and we're gonna update that, and try and do minor refinements and bring that back to the board.
We expect in late spring of this year, so that we have a list to work off of, and then we'll move from there. That point on, we're gonna look at the potential, multimodal transportation plan that could make broader updates to that process that would come back in the future. And, this will all be part of the discussion when our long range team comes back, in about a month from now, I believe it is, so next month. So you'll hear a little bit more about that, but it is on its way. But the actual transportation list would be at a different point.
It won't be next month. Yeah. That's correct. And next month is just letting you all know what these different projects that we're working are on on are, and then, one of those is the is the initial prioritization, and that will be coming back a few months after that. Because that really drives beyond smart scale then. It could drive sidewalk projects. It could drive I would just because I have the opportunity to, as you're thinking about the new prioritization process, thinking too about framing it in ways,
in terms of where they fall on a priority list of, is this a project that really impacts where affordable housing is going up, where it could further economic development, not just initiatives, but benefits. So I think of how, when we did the incentive for Home Depot, we were able to acquire almost all the right of way needed for the Hillsdale realignment. And that changes the likelihood, because we just significantly reduced the project of that or the cost of that project. So that should, I think, alter where sometimes it falls on a priority list versus just going one,
two, three, four, five, because the waiting might even be different. And I don't know that we missed maybe we did that in the past. I never thought thought about that. But I'm just saying is when when that time comes and that comes forward, have that in mind because I know that's been something that that I've been thinking about. Thank you. Will do. Appreciate the feedback. Awesome. Thank you. Well done, Jessica. Thank you. Are there any other questions here? No, sir. All right. We will then move to Where are we at? We're at number 8.8, which we pulled from the consent agenda. So this is now SE 2020 Five-thirty 9,
the Turkey Knob Solar Farm. This was pulled, pulled from, by supervisor Malek, and I'm just gonna look to staff. Do we wanna start with a presentation on this one, or should I let supervisor Malek tee up her concerns? Bart Strother, Deputy Director. I'm here with Rebecca Ragsdale, our manager of our review unit and planning. Bart, just point those up. Oh, I'm sorry. Until you're pretty good at and the podium does adjust too, so you can hit the little arrows and raise that podium up if you need it. Okay. I guess the board's pleasure on whether we have a few slides that we have
that we can do. I know, we're running a little bit behind. We can address questions. To do the presentation, I'm going to Okay. I'm going to go to Supervisor Malek because she pulled the, pulled the item for some framing, and then we'll go from there. Thank you. Good afternoon. Rebecca Ragsdale, as Mr. Suboboto mentioned, planning manager for the current development review team, and representing the review staff that have provided input for this item that included Mr. Lopacker, Mr. Fritz, Mr.
Clark. So I will try and, be brief, give you a quick, refresher on the solar regulations that were adopted in July 2025 and then, narrow in and highlight some things that we included in the staff report packet and wanted to clarify for you, as you consider this item. So, this this is a, by right this this request is related to a by right solar facility, and what we allow now by right in the rural areas is a facility with a fenced area of 21 acres or less.
That fenced area must include the solar panels, and any stormwater facilities. The even the by right projects, that disturb more than 10 acres would, need a special exception if they are in an area that has been identified as a forest block or has been identified, as a prime ag soil area. No solar energy facilities are allowed in forest blocks of a conservation value of 4.1 or greater, and we'll pull up that map in a second. So this request is for two modifications
for a facility that would be up to 21 acres, but more than more than 10 acres, and less than 21 acres. And that is, within an area that has been identified as a forest block generally, and then also, by the USDA, soils maps. Even with updated information and a very, detailed field analysis and change in existing conditions, there's no administrative provision. So these are through the special exception process, and again, it allows us to look at existing site conditions and additional information, like soils testing,
for example. So orienting you to the site, this, as we mentioned in the packet, is a 200 acre site that's shown in blue on the screen. And it is off of Buck Island Road, which is about a mile south of its intersection with Thomas Jefferson Parkway. This application was received, in December 2025 after, the regulations were adopted in July. The total parcel acreage is 200 acres, and that's what's shown in blue. Some features of the site we'll go over in a little bit more detail, but it is, South Of Buck Island Creek. This is the concept plan for the request that was in your packet,
and I know it has a lot of, information on it, so I will walk walk you through that. Let me get my laser pointer here. So the focus of the 21 acres is the fenced area. So that is limited to 21 acres and is shown in the black outline that I'm snaking around. So you can see just a illustrative representative representation of panels and stormwater areas. This is a concept plan, so the solar facility would require, a site plan level of detailed plan review, which would follow.
So it is, illustrating around outside of the fenced area where required buffers, would be located and then the rest of the 200 acre site remaining. So it's a it's a 21 acre, request and then the project area is about 50 acres, so about 155 acres of the site, not impacted by solar facilities at all. There are a number of regulations we codified in section 5,166 that were standard conditions you were seeing with special use permits related to these facilities.
So those other standards, we included those regulations in your packet, but they include things like height limitations, the buffer requirements that I mentioned, pollinator certification, fencing that is wildlife corridor friendly, and it prohibits, these facilities in stream buffers, for example, and, the forest blocks. So we we set, unfortunately, just this morning, calling your attention to some of the information I'm gonna show you on the slides. The regulation, is the standard in the regulation, as I mentioned, is referencing maps in our comprehensive plan. This particular site is highlighted in red on the map.
The one on the left ranks the conservation value of forests in the comprehensive plan, so this is one that did not score, even two points or greater. I don't believe it had a score in terms of forest blocks, but it was identified more generally as a forest block, a small a small forest block in our mapping that's applicable based on the regulation. There's information in the packet that the applicant provided that we can go into, where the, site had been cleared and trees removed for by right agricultural uses, and they've identified what is remaining on the property.
So the special exception process is to consider allowing a portion of the facility excuse me, a portion of the site adjacent to the power line, which runs through about the middle of the property, for solar panels. The, soils analysis, again, we we have what was, I think, characterized in the, applicants, analysis packet as a as a desktop sort of look at the soils and potential for prime ag soils. And they have done the field work and the testing of the soils, and that information was included and, did not
find that all of the soils within that project area met the definition of prime agricultural soils. So we looked at the criteria, and the well, the factors for consideration and, looked at the analysis that the applicant did, which we, didn't have any concerns with as far as their methodology. And we had recommended approval of this item. So I will pause now for any questions. Thank you. And before we do questions, Supervisor Malek, this was pulled at your request. If you want to set up any framing or piece, I'll give you a first go, and then we'll Thank you very much.
The yesterday was the first time that I received a packet that I could open, because the one that came originally was 14 megabytes, and in the country, that's not possible. So last night and this morning, I've been trying to catch up on some of this information that was in the giant packet. But what I did not see in anything that was provided by staff was an analysis of what the ordinance says we're supposed to consider. Just here's the information from the applicant. Do what you're gonna do. That was my first takeaway over the weekend when I was trying to do my homework. Secondly,
there were no maps that showed topos or anything like that until late last night when I was able to get the big packet. Claudette was able to resquish it so that I was able to open it later, but it took some time to get get it squished enough for country broadband. So that was my original concern was without enough information provided to be able to give a waiver. I was rebelling against that and wanted to have some more information provided. So one of them is the, well, several things. The the prime soils, I went through diligently all the packet,
and there are two. The but Bayward something, or fifty one and ninety one, or ninety five and fifty five, or whatever the numbers are. There are two that are not prime, that are down in the edges, generally down in the swales. But a lot of the area where the panels are planned is prime soil according to the individually or the, private soil test that was done by NRCS, all 25 pages of it. So the does not seems like something that we should just be casting aside because there may be a little bit that doesn't qualify, but that wasn't under the panels anyway.
So there seems to be some nonconnection going on there. Secondly, the, the forest element is of concern, because one of the concerns when we talked about the ordinance originally was that people would be cutting down forests and creating a moonscape, and therefore making it easier to get something by right. Because it was very clear from public discussion and board discussion during the adoption of the ordinance that we were not gonna be interested in harvesting and for purposes of a short term twenty years solar project,
forest that could be providing all sorts of carbon and and, ecological benefits. So, thus, I am wondering, since no information was provided, about the whole sequence of the twenty one nineteen of the 2021 harvest. It was unclear whether it was hardwood or pine, and so that's another interesting, gap in the information. And so that is what I'd like to have more information about. Let's see, Do you have that information? I mean, either a forest is a forest,
in which case, even if it's cut, it's still a forest. And so that doesn't it shouldn't mean that it gets a waiver right away just because somebody cut it. So So the, the the fact that it was already cut is not the primary reason for the recommendation of approval. It was the context. It's heavily mentioned in the materials, and leads to the fact that the forest cover is no longer there, but it was also the overall context and the conservation value of the forest block that was identified to begin with, was part of it. And Bart may want to chime in, but in terms of the timeline of the property,
I think that the packet does mention that the trees were removed in most recently in 2021, beginning in 2021. And then, you know, forestry is a by right activity. These regulations weren't adopted until July 2025. The special exception process is to review this these types of requests on a case by case basis. Other properties with different characteristics or a set of circumstances with higher conservation value, we may not lead to the same conclusions that we did with this one, that we would find it at an acceptable location,
for that limited, solar solar facility. But And 914,000 square feet is, in my mind, not limited. But, anyway, that's just a different interpretation of the size of things when you're talking about 21 acres of panel area. Okay. Were the stumps removed from the land when it was timbered? So they included some photos in the packet. I was not clear about I didn't see any stumps, but that doesn't I studied the pictures. But that's another reason that it's not in forestry anymore, and I'd just like to get that information. Mhmm. So I guess I will stop there and see what information is provided.
Oh, I do have one more, actually. Sorry. It's Hatboro Ninety Five and Bugley Fifty One were the only ones who were not prime soils. Everything else on the map was. So I just wanted to clarify that I had done that amount of homework. And so I that's why it matters that we when we write down that we're not putting stuff on prime soils, then we should be living up to the ordinances as we adopt it. Secondly, the the infiltration studies that were done, the site where where compaction is tested really depends on where you're doing it.
And some of the sites were on there were actually where the landings were and where the 80 ton 80,000 pound lumber trucks are driving back and forth every day. So it seems very logical that, that land would be totally compacted and therefore not infiltrate. But it also doesn't mean that the other 100 acres are impacted similarly. So these are my concerns. And as I said, half in the dark because I didn't have all the packet, but that's the way it goes. Thank you very much. Supervisor Pruett. Can we go back to the slide?
You had one up there that had in red the areas that were identified as prime. Am I correct that this analysis of the prime soils is pre or post, the applicant's analysis with the boreholes? This is pre. This is pre. And the applicant suggests that their borehole analysis would indicate that the the soils identified here as prime are are not in fact prime and they're only being listed as prime due to alluvial estimations of the soil quality in in TOPO?
They they provided that analysis of the there is some remaining prime soils, but not the extent that's shown on here. Sure. And the the applicant's total footprint is less than 21 acres, and it would only trigger if this exception only becomes relevant if there's more than 10 acres that are overlapping as prime. This is already an incomplete overlap. Right? Because they're Well, there's no map to show where the overlaps are. That's There's no map showing them both on the same thing at once.
We do have a map of the the notional footprint of it. We have a map of the the challenged, agricultural soil. The one other thing I I guess I would raise is the applicant's kind of argument. We are in a special exception posture with this. The applicant's argument seems to be that neither criteria for special exception actually applies to them, that the soil is not of agricultural quality, despite what our estimates show. But they they're like, we have more up to date information on soil quality,
and, additionally, we have more up to date information on, nondisturbed forest block. It this is almost going to be more of a comment, and I'm also looking over to county attorney on this. This is almost more of a comment than a question. But it it seems like they are presenting to us, this actually does not apply to us, but the only way to adjudicate this is through a special exception because that's going to be cheaper for everyone than adjudicating it in circuit court. This is, supervisor Pruitt. That's a great question. This is a discussion that we had at the staff level as to what the applicable standard was,
and the ordinance does refer to the county's maps, rather than to any additional information that, is provided by the applicant. I know there's been some concerns expressed about, the ability of an applicant to clear cut a forest and then sort of move the goalpost so that the standard no longer applies. The standard in this case is the county's maps, which date to 2016. So that does provide sort of a standard and fixes the goalpost so that subsequent clear cutting doesn't affect the county's analysis of what constitutes a forest block and what constitutes prime farm farmland.
Understood. And it also makes it pretty clear that we are definitely in a a normal special exception posture, and the applicant's arguments are just that there, I would say. Persuasive arguments in favor of approval, but they are not saying that it does not apply to them. That that's correct. And the only way for those standards to change would be if the board, by, an ordinance amendment, wanted to identify a different standard as to what constitutes a forest block or prime farmland. Yeah. I appreciate that point. I think our previous policy based discussions on why to kind of fix a line in the sand are are prudent.
But, similarly, I actually do find the argument that is presented by the applicant through their engineering firm also quite persuasive. And I think there's a there's a principle of equity at play, given that there was clear cutting before we actually adopted the policy. We adopted that policy with that clear goal line to to avoid what I think the board would consider bad faith applications of their by right use of forestry. I don't think that's what we see with the applicant unless we're saying they were prognosticating on our likelihood of passing this ordinance and preemptive. That that gets into a meta analysis of what the applicant is thinking that I
don't think is helpful. So I hear the concerns. I think it is an interesting kind of test case of our, of our new ordinance, but I also find that applicants' arguments for why this should be approved to be to be about as persuasive as they could be, given the context. Thank you. Supervisor Lupisto Kirtle? Thank you. I don't have any questions at this time. Supervisor Missal? Thanks. Just a couple of quick questions. One is, to sort of echo, I think moving forward as we see more of these applications having an overlay would be helpful to see because it gives you that connect direct connection.
Second thing, and I hope I didn't miss this in this conversation, and it's tied to my third question, so I'll just combine those. You've made a modification or a recommended modifications to the res to the resolution. You struck language that relates to the additional property beyond this current application, just the larger piece. Can you explain why you made that change? And, if there are any regulations or plans for that larger property outside of the fence or outside of this project. Well, that was that change was in part based on some concerns from the applicant.
And also, when we discussed it, we focused on the general accord condition. We felt like that covered, the concerns about limiting the facility to the project area. So we refined it so that the condition was more closely aligned with the project area instead of the entire 200 acre parcel. Got it. There is a great deal of stream buffer and, existing vegetation, in that eastern part of the property, which is to the to the right there. So we didn't feel like it was necessary the way it was written. It just said it would be allowed to go back to forestry,
which is the ordinance allows that already. So, that was the reason for that change. That's helpful. Thanks. So, essentially, it just can revert back to forestry? Yes. Okay. That's all. Thank you. Supervisor Duncan? I have no questions. That comes to me. I don't have any questions. Supervisor Malek, I'll hit you on the order. Thank you. I do have one follow-up. There is some harvested buffer area within the fence line. That's what I was understanding was just gonna be left ignored. And if that is it's bare dirt now,
and if it's not remediated, it's just gonna grow up in Atlantis and other invasives. So are is the staff intention to have the area within the fence that's already been clear cut mediated in some way, remediated in some way, so that it does not create a disaster? Yes. What will be re required? So it will be required, there are several sections of the ordinance that are applicable, WPO and the site plan section of the ordinance. And, we have, it won't be it will have to be replanted and restored and stabilized.
It can't be left, disturbed. There's different planting standards. I'm not sure the exact area you're pointing to, but, the applicable planting standard, would apply. Okay. So then the visible buffer is one thing, but the Basic takeover protection is another thing. Bart has something to add. Bart's will go to deputy director of community development. Within that 21 acres, there will be and, their supplemental rights do apply. So we have things in in the regulation already done at the site plan stage that will stabilize
that that those port that portion of land that's disturbed and also part of the planting plan for what happens within the the boundaries of the solar facility. Along with that, there's another 22 acres of buffer around the fenced area that basically is forestry, but it's buffer. So that is also a protection. So we have the 21 acre solar site, 22 acres of buffer, and then 155 acres of, we'll call it, regular agricultural property beyond that,
which equals about the 200. Well, all of that is very helpful. And as I may be the only one who would find it helpful, but when these come up next time, if there were a link that could say these will take you to the regulations that staff will be using, that would be a wonderful thing to put people's minds at ease when the public is finding out something, and none of us can find anything on the website. So having that link would be really, really helpful. Yes, ma'am. We there are some lessons learned for us here, and and we will adjust appropriately. Super. Appreciate your help. I'm seeing additional questions. Supervisor Pruitt,
then Missal, I'll just follow the order. Just one quick saved round. Am I this is actually a two pronger. So two quick saved rounds. Am I correct in remembering that we have clustering provisions in our, in our solar ordinance? I'm I vaguely remember a discussion about this. Right? Like, if you have within one mile multiple different but I don't remember how that exactly works. There's a church somewhere here. We do. There's a table based on size of fenced area and, and then a separate a corresponding separation.
So this is beyond any of those, separation requirements. And kind of the where you might guess I'm leading into this, I know that Buck Island Road has a recently approved larger, community scale. I think it was community scale, not utility scale. It was near the cusp, solar project. And before that, one of our first, solar projects in the county is right across the street from that. Can you help locate us in in proximity to those? I I don't have Rivanna Solar on the map. Mhmm. And this is the measurement is from fenced area to fenced area.
So going from memory, Buck Island Solar is over here. This was approved by Special Use Permit. And then Ravenna Solar is off the map, but there's a little bit of it that's To the north of the fence. Yes. On the other side? Yes. On the same side as this site. Same side of the road as this site. Thank you. And those are past the fenced area markers that would trigger any of our Yes. It's 2,000 feet. K. They're web beyond that. Supervisor Missal? Thanks. Just briefly, could you go back to the site plan, please? I think my question is answered.
I'm good. Thank you. Alright. No further questions or discussion. This is in Scottsville. There would need to be a motion to Yes. And if I might suggest, I would point out to the supervisors that, we provided the, revised, resolution in the yellow. So to the extent that there's a consensus to adopt this, the motion would be a motion to adopt the resolution to approve, Turkey Knob Solar, as revised March 2. Would it still be Attachment F? It would not be Attachment F. This supersedes Attachment F. I move to adopt the resolution to approve SE twenty twenty five TEC 39, as amended in the staff report on the LO sheet.
Is there a second? Second. Alright. The motion has been made and seconded. Any further discussion? Alright. If you would please call the roll. Miss Lupista Curley? Aye. Miss Malek? No. Mister Missal? Aye. Mr. Pruitt? Aye. Ms. Duncan? Yes. Mister Galloway? Yes. Alright. Motion carries five to one. Thank you. And we're at 04:00. Mister County Executive, did you have reports from the County Executive this evening? No, sir. I do not because of the fact that we'll be presenting the budget at six. Yes, sir. All right.
I just was gonna pull that ahead if you did. Yes, sir. All right, Board. We're ready for our closed meeting motion then. I move that the Board of Supervisors convene a closed meeting pursuant to Section 2.2-three 711 of the Code of Virginia under subsection one to discuss and consider appointments to various boards and commissions, including without limitation, the Fifth and Avon Community Advisory Committee, the Community Policy and Management Team, the Crozet Community Advisory Committee, the Equalization Board, the Fire Prevention Code Appeals Board, the Local Board of Building Code Appeals, the Piedmont Virginia Community College Board,
the Police Department Citizens Advisory Committee, and the Village of Rivanna Community Advisory Committee. Second. Alright. Motion has been made and seconded. Without objection, if the clerk will please call the roll. Miss Lupista Kirtley? Aye. Miss Malek? Yes. Mister Missal? Aye. Mister Pruitt. Aye. Miss Duncan. Yes. Mister Galloway. Yes. Alright. Board, we will meet in room Alright. Good evening. I'm gonna call the board back to order. We are coming out of closed meeting. Is there a motion to certify the closed meeting? I move that the board of supervisors certify by a recorded vote that to the
best of each supervisor's knowledge, only public business matters lawfully exempted from the open meeting requirements of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and identified in the motion authorizing the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered in the closed meeting. Second. Alright. The motion has been made and seconded. Without objection, if the Clerk will please call the roll. Miss Lakisha Kirtley? Aye. Ms. Malick? Yes. Mr. Missal? Aye. Mr. Pruitt? Aye. Ms. Duncan? Yes. Mr. Galloway? Yes. And thank you, Board. And motion's coming out of closed meeting.
Yes, sir. I am pleased to make a motion to appoint the following to various boards and commissions. 5th And Avon Street, Aaron Lieback, Crozet, CAC, Nathan Alderman, Ewa Harr and Aaron Houlihan. Equalization board, David Mitchell and James Naughton. PVCC board, Diantha McKeel. Police department citizens advisory committee, Bonnie Brewer, Denny King, and Donna Price. Village of Ravenna community advisory committee, Edward Doug Earl. Second. All right. The motion has been made and seconded without objection. If the clerk will please call the roll.
Miss Lakisto Kirtley? Aye. Miss Malek? Yes. Mister Missel? Aye. I do have one addition, though. One correction to that. I left off three names. Go ahead with the vote and then we'll do a new motion. Aye. Mr. Pruitt? Aye. Ms. Duncan? Yes. Mr. Galloway? Yes. And go ahead with the other three. Thank you. I'd like to amend my motion at the Village of Urbana Community Advisory Committee. In addition to Edward Doug Earl, I'd like to add Howard Hottinger, Renee King, and Richard Randolph. Alright. Is there a second? Second. Alright. If that objection, if the Clerk will please call the roll.
Miss Lupista Kirtley? Aye. Miss Malik? Yes. Mister Missal? Aye. Mister Pruitt? Aye. Ms. Duncan? Yes. Mr. Galloway? Yes. All right. Thank you, board. And, earlier today, we moved item number 14 from the county executive, which did not include a report earlier to the agenda, but that will take us right to Item 15. This is public comment on matters previously considered or currently pending before the board. And we do have sign ups this evening. The Vice Chair will go through our, rules.
Thank you, Chair. During the time set aside for public comment on matters previously considered or currently pending before the Board other than scheduled public hearings, individuals may address the Board of Supervisors concerning matters previously considered by the Board or matters that are pending before the Board other than items on the listed on the agenda for public hearing. Individuals are allowed one opportunity of up to three minutes to speak at each Board meeting. The sign up sheet is managed by the clerk's office. Up to 10 persons may speak during each matters from the public session. Timekeeping is conducted through a timer and light system at the podium.
The green light will go on when you're speaking when you begin speaking, which begins your allotted time. The yellow light indicates you have one minute to finish speaking. The red light indicates your time has expired and you will be asked to end your comments. In order to give all speakers equal treatment and courtesy, the board requests that speakers adhere to the following guidelines. When addressing the board, state your name and, if you live in Albemarle County, your magisterial district, address comments directly to the board as a whole. Any written statements or other supporting material may be given to the clerk. If representing a group or organization, you may ask others present to raise their hands in recognition.
Speakers may not share any unused time with another speaker. Back and forth debate is not permitted. Do not speak from your seat or out of turn. All comments are live streamed, recorded, and published on the Albemarle County website. And just as a reminder, please introduce yourself and please speak into the microphone. Thank you very much. So I'll begin with Susan McCully. Hello. I'm Susan McCully, and I'm a resident of the Samuel Miller District. When I was a kid and our family went anywhere crowded or unfamiliar, we always made a plan. This was before cell phones.
The only tool we had was that my dad was tall and easy to spot in a crowd. So we approached whenever we approached a concert or a subway station or a country fair, we decided if anyone gets lost or we get separated, we meet back here at the venue entrance or the next subway station or at the fried dough stand. You get the idea. I don't think we ever had to use the plan, but it helped us to have one. We knew we'd be okay if something frightening happened. The plan let us relax and trust each other,
and we knew what we would do. Now if my parents had had a plan, but they didn't share it with all of us, it wouldn't have helped us at all. The only way this works is when the plan is made and then clearly communicated. You see where I'm going, don't you? I'm here again to urge you to make a clear statement and establish policies regarding how the county will respond when federal immigration agents arrive in this community. Just like preparing for last month's snowstorm or making plans for the Luke Combs concert
in April, getting clear on how the county will handle what could happen in an ICE action simply makes sense. It's not hypothetical. It's practical. And communicating about those plans allows the community to understand what the county can and cannot do for them. The resolution that the city passed regarding immigration enforcement actions and their letter to the Virginia congressional delegation and statewide leaders is a good model. Like them, we ask you to make commitments to civil rights,
due process, and community trust and to make clear how you will respond in the case of a frightening incident with federal agents. What we ask isn't radical. What we ask is common sense. What we ask is for you to make your position clear and to communicate that position to reassure our community facing rampant fear. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you. Alicia Lanahan? Good evening. My name is Alicia Lenahan. I live in the Scottsville District. I've reread all the remarks we've delivered over the last ten months.
We talked about Kumar Abrego Garcia and the other egregious mistakes made by ICE early on. Now we watch them abduct and detain infants and toddlers and little boys in blue bunny hats. We've learned that cruelty is the point. We've talked about how ICE, bolstered by the National Guard, escalated their tactics in LA, Chicago, and Portland. Minneapolis taught us that this administration is willing to kill people. All along, we've asked you to take a principled stand, one that reflects our commitment to the constitution,
to the rule of law, and common decency. You've remained silent. We submitted a thoughtful, resolution articulating community values that also reflects legislation working its way through the General Assembly that will restrain ICE. You remain silent. When asked by CEVA Weekly how or if the county government is preparing to protect us from ICE, you remained silent except for this terse statement. The county cannot disclose public safety tactics, to which I call rubbish. We have attended these meetings for ten months.
We know that the county executive works tirelessly to ensure every department has the resources it needs to provide an effective community response. The winter storm was a case in point. You received a report about preparations before the storm and an after action report when it was over. The roads retreated, schools and other activities were canceled. We knew who to call in an emergency. All the relevant information was available to the public. The threat posed by this administration continues to be a moving target. Actual responses will depend on facts on the ground.
Nothing prevents you from passing a resolution. Nothing prevents you from reassuring the public with formal statements as well as direct messages to those who are most likely to be affected by a federal action. Whether it's immigration, protests, or election interference, you must be, we must all be, prepared. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Bruce Eads? Good evening. My name is Jim Carpenter. I'm in the Jack Jewett District, and I'm here with the Dogwood Vietnam Memorial. And I have the three minutes, and Bruce will follow-up with his three minutes if that's okay.
The Dogwood Vietnam Memorial will hold its sixtieth rededication ceremony on Friday, April 17 at 11AM honored to 56 fallen heroes. We appreciate how many of y'all will be saving the date for us and showing up. The past year our foundation completed a $250,000 memorial brick plaza and the UVA wall phase two addition to the memorial. Now our focus is to turn the ADA access to their beloved Heal The Hills. In the 2019,
Airfare City Council approved setting up a working group of veterans organizations along with city staff to meet six times that spring and summer determined the best solution toward gaining ADA access to the memorial and the park. For our citizens, We all agreed the best solution was to construct a pedestrian bridge across the John Warner Parkway with an adjacent, sim accessible parking lot on the knoll on the East Side. We presented,
findings to, to a 2,500,000 budget in the city manners in November. It was well received by the with the ideas, and it looked like on 2020, it was gonna be a group session, and they would have go ahead and prove that. However, COVID hit. Fast forward to December 2022, the city council revisited our proposal and passed a resolution endorsing the solution that we could receive a Virginia DHR grant for $600,000
to be used on the project only. We've received this funding May 2023 and immediately engaged RACI Engineering of Little Ray, Virginia to design the project. One year later, RACI Engineering completed the required testing and design pertaining to bids on the project, and that, basically enough, was at $2,500,000 My name is Bruce Ease. I'm from the Whitehall District. I live in live in Urlottesville. So, I grew up on Cherry Avenue, but, anyway,
I still love Charlottesville, obviously. Plants, were then tweaked and then in November 2025 submitted to city engineer, Brendan Duncan, for site review where they are at this time. Of course, DDOT must approve the pet bridge design since it is all all bridges in the area registered and but it is the same supplier of the other Pru Bridges in the area, so we don't think that's going to be a problem. We need to make sure that, we needed to make sure the city said that utility right of ways are clear,
and we did extend the bridge 10 feet to address that problem. So it's now 110 feet long to get us out of that right of way. There may be other questions from city staff, but we have Tyler Austin with RACI Engineering on it. They're our design contractor. Of course, the good news is city council has approved the resolution that they will accept the ADA access project into their parks and trail system if it is constructed according to city engineers plan approval, and they already have the project in their CIP at $100,000.104
actually. We want to thank the, Albemarle County for putting it in their FY '27 county budget with and includes a donation of 250,000. Our first casualty, of course, was Champ Lawson Junior from from Murleysville, and, he was first of many, but, that we lost in Vietnam. So it's been a long road since the city council first passed the pedestrian bridge concept, alternate g, in 2008 and founder, James D. Schishler, you may remember him, He worked for the city for many years,
and I were on the Dogwood Festival together, and we began working with the city on proposed Meadow Creek Parkway interchange and how it would affect the historic Dogwood Vietnam Memorial. Jim insisted that not be moved as it is the oldest and first public civic Vietnam Memorial in the nation, so the lost access through the McIntyre Golf Course parking lot due to the interchange construction required that a new ADA access be found. We all know we found a solution.
The city agrees we found a solution, and we just need to, and it was approved by city council in January, resolution of this year. We now now and we veterans just need to fund it and build it. Thank you, and Semper Fi. Thank you. We have one more name on this list, although there were several who signed up, for an item related to a later public hearing, so they've been moved to the public hearing. So if you don't hear your name called, it has been moved to the public hearing list. Our next speaker is Tom Olivier. Good evening. I'm John Olivier from the Samuel Miller District.
Today, many of the Earth's natural systems are unraveling. These disruptions stem from vast recent increases in human numbers and the rise of industrial societies. Now climate change, biodiversity losses, and other crises are worsening and reinforcing each other. If we do not begin commensurate corrective actions quickly, today's young people and our future generations will live on a damaged and far less supportive planet. Given its environmentalist history, you might think Albemarle County would be a leader in containing environmental crises.
Not now. Albemarle County has dropped its former cautious approach to growth and is busy playing developer. The county is promoting large projects such as Rivanna Futures and the 29 North Innovation Corridor with seemingly scant examination of surely extensive environmental costs. The planning division in community development appears to have lost much of its previous commitment to environmental protection. For example, planning staff proposed cutting the rural areas chapter from the recent comprehensive plan.
They also proposed capping open space easements. Outside of comprehensive planning, staff proposed a data center ordinance without evaluating likely large effects on local greenhouse gas emissions. I recently sent you a proposal for significant restructuring of county planning processes. The restructuring is designed to enable a more complete response to worsening environmental crises. A key provision calls for the reestablishment of a new department focused on rural areas planning, natural resource conservation,
and climate action. It would exist outside of community development. This new department would offer expert policy recommendations directly to the planning commission, board of supervisors, and work on a path for our community toward a more sustainable state. Economist Milton Friedman once wrote, only a crisis actual or perceived produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. With more and bigger ecological crises headed our way,
you might find it useful to keep this proposal somewhere lying around. Thanks for your consideration. Thank you. That concludes our list. All right. We will close matters from the public. Thank you for all those who came out to speak this evening, and we will move to the next item on this evening's agenda, number 15, which is our public hearing on the county executive's fiscal year twenty twenty seven recommended budget. Mr. Richardson, good evening. Good evening, Mr. Chair, members of the board. Thank you so much for the opportunity to be here this evening, and I will point out to members of the public and the community that may
be listening tonight, this will be the second presentation that we have done, to the Board of Supervisors on the fiscal year 'twenty seven recommended budget. The full presentation from last Wednesday afternoon, is posted on the county's website and can be found, if someone listening this evening would like to go back and look at the full presentation. This evening's focus is on, of course, the FY '27 investments and our five year CIP, and I will start with some comments that lead into that, but this will be a bit of an abbreviated version from what we went through
last evening. And Mr. Chair, I do have members of the, executive team from the finance department, our budget team, many of those members are here tonight and our goal, of course, is that after we, turn it over to you, you conduct a public hearing. If there are any, questions, tonight from board members or anything that you would like to clarify before we move into the budget work sessions next week, we certainly want to do that this evening for the board. Alright. So board, again, thank you for the opportunity, to be here this evening. My name is Jeff Richardson. I'm the county executive,
and I I would always start by thanking our staff for helping to get us to this point in the process. We have a lot of work left ahead of us, but this evening, I'm going to go through and and hit the framework of what's included in the fiscal year 'twenty seven budget. I'm going to talk with just a couple of slides starting out before we get into the details And I want to talk about the board commitment and the staff commitment to maintaining a set of financial policies and that we adhere to these policies, every year as we work through the budget process,
which really starts in earnest in the fall, takes us through December and then we get into the, the nuts and bolts of the budget when we present it, followed by a number of work sessions. Adhering to the policies allows us to maintain a triple AAA bond rating and that allows us to be good stewards of taxpayer funds. Ultimately, this means that we save money and that we can do more with the money that we have over time. Being a county that has a AAA bond rating, we're one of 54 counties out of 3,000 counties in The United States and that data is of October 25.
13 of the 54 counties are in the Commonwealth of Virginia. So Virginia is known from a fiscal standpoint as a good government state, and we're proud to be a part of that group. In our community, the University of Virginia is also AAAA, one of four public universities in The United States as well as our partner city, the city of Charlottesville. They also carry this rating. So board, I'll just start by talking about that framework, and this is something that's been alive and well in Alamar County for decades, and I'm certainly proud to be a part of of an organization that,
is is built is built on sound financial policies. So board also our commitment to performance improvement and cost savings as we talk a little bit about what our organizational values include. Another principle of our county is a culture of continuous improvement and placing structure and change with our project management work that we do to advance programs within the county to ensure return on investment of our people, process and systems. Process and systems modernization. This board has been very supportive over the last few years in our counties investing
in technology to enhance government efficiency, to enhance customer service, modernizing many of our processes, our systems. This would include, let me give you a couple of examples, our human resources information system, which now we are much more apt at streamlining, integrating HR processes for our employees into technology and software while removing the use of outdated technology. It also includes, our financial systems, which is known as EP and L I'm sorry, which is known as FMS,
Financial Management Systems, which improve is aimed at improving financial systems integration, and this helps us with our vendors on procurement, accounting and budgeting. And finally, EP and L, our enterprise accounting and budgeting. And finally, EP and L, our enterprise performance and learning, which is in our community development department. This is another example of significant technologies, investment where we're in the process of working through streamlining processes and modernizing platforms, not just for our staff, but for our customers. Or this also involves staffing and efficiency studies. We continue to conduct staffing studies to review current operations and and administration,
the interrelationship between departments, internal and external in our county, as well as providing insights as to how it compares to industry standard, similar localities and best practices. So, Board, you might ask, when we do this work, what's the result of the work? The result is in the far right box where we are able to reduce positions, year over year. For the last two years. We've reduced positions and this is outside of public safety. We have less positions than we had two years ago and that's with a mounting
increase for, calls for service across county government. And so this investment in efficiency, this investment in performance improvement, us measuring what we do and then reporting back to the board in our annual report, this all is meant to be able really to do more with less. Alright. So let's talk a little bit more about the recommended budget. One of those common questions that we get from the community, and the board gets this and certainly the staff does, where does the money go? This is a graph that was put together by our,
community relations, staff trying to show on a dollar, brought into the county, where does the money go? And this doesn't trace every single penny, but we're looking for where the the big the big blocks go. Over half the money, 52% of all the money that comes into Albemarle County for public services is earmarked for education. This includes the local transfer for, for the school's operating budget as well as the planned projects in our CIP and also the service on our existing debt. The next largest category is public safety.
Public safety receives $0.14 of every dollar. This includes funding for our police department, our fire and EMS services, as well as the support for our volunteer fire departments. In fiscal year twenty seven, community development will include CIP investments for the build out of Boulders Road, out at the Ravenous Future site, and this will bring the total investment to 11¢. Within county operations, we are holding at 10¢. And you find you will find county operations that are covered, but it also includes investments such as the Climate Action Fund.
And finally, health and welfare and the growth of our affordable housing fund is at $0.08 respectfully. So board, to cut excuse me. I got choked. I'm sorry. It would've it would've been more appropriate for me to get choked last year when I was recommending a 4¢ tax rate increase. Take your time. Thank you very much. Board, I apologize. This budget is balanced on a real estate tax rate of 89.4¢ per $100 of assessed value. That is our current tax rate, for Almore County.
And if you look at the slide, there are no recommended changes to the tax rates, for what was, adopted in fiscal year twenty six. I wanna take a minute and I wanna look at fiscal year twenty seven obligations. You're gonna hear us talk a lot about obligations in this budget. Obligations really mean what we look at over year over year, the the the commitment we make to do certain things in our budget and for our community, and it has a multiyear effect on us paying for what these obligations are.
Examples of what I'm talking about are operating cost in next year's budget for two new schools. We also have a commitment as we have pulled down federal dollars, from FEMA to pay for firefighters within our fire and rescue department. Those those, federal dollars have three year life cycles. And after three years, it's expected that that federal funding as it goes away, that local government must pick that up. We also have key partner agency agreements and those agreements are growing. We have a commitment to market based compensation.
We also have a change in federal funding landscape, revenue sharing agreement with the city and increasing debt service, all of that are examples of obligations. Excuse me one more second. Jeff, do you want us to take a few minutes so we can Yeah. We can reconfigure. I don't want you to struggle through this. We can stop for a few minutes and and pick right back up. I just apologize to the board and to the general public. I've not been coughing today, and I just got I I I just started coughing. I apologize. Tell you what, why don't we take five minutes, and we'll just pick pick right back up. It'll give you a second because under stress, I don't know how anybody regains there.
So we'll take the if it's, I don't think anybody on the board would object. All right, Board, I'm going to call us back to order. Mr. Richardson, you are welcome to continue when you are ready to do so. Miss Cherry, thank you very much, and members of the board, I'm I'm very sorry. I did not mean to get choked up. I'm sorry I kind of stumbled through those last three slides getting to where we are. From the members of the public who are here this evening, I apologize for the delay and for folks at home as well. So let's talk just a minute about multiyear tactics. The funding bridge, the the the county executive's proposed budget for fiscal year 'twenty seven,
it includes revenue from the county's budget stabilization reserve. We have a 2% budget stabilization reserve that we have had in effect now for about four years and the budget this year's budget recommends using one quarter of the 2% reserve, a half of a percent, both in fiscal year 'twenty seven and again in fiscal year 'twenty eight. This will leave us with an additional 1% that will remain in the reserve to provide flexibility should we encounter unexpected financial needs over the next twelve to twenty four months. In addition,
in this budget, I am recommending that we transfer to the CIP, dollars 6,400,000.0 that would be in the CIP for a determined project in the future. I would recommend to this board that we put this out in year five and that, over the course of the next couple of years, let's continue to keep an eye on our economy. As Doctor. Bailey pointed out last fall that we we've got a partly cloudy, partly sunny, economy. And at a regional and state level, we're continuing to watch things with a watchful eye on anything that could affect county funding. In addition to that,
this also includes, a school transfer, a school operating transfer, that we'll talk about in just a minute, but over the next couple of years, we've noticed a couple of things within the school's budget at the state level that is volatile and that $6,400,000 held in the CIP, it could go to a future school project that's yet to be determined or if we hit volatility in the next twelve to twenty four months, this board may need to, consider a recommendation that would reprioritize that CIP placeholder to replace lost revenue, so that's something that is embedded in this year's manage managers recommended budget.
So we tend to focus on the general fund during budget season because that's where the tax revenue is received. It is a primary funding source for schools, capital, and debt, and it's where this board has the maximum amount of policy discretion. General fund expenditures, as you can see, is balanced at $512,000,000 And I'd like to point out to the, maroon area in the bottom left corner of the donut that that's a, 43% transfer to schools. That is from the general fund.
And as we get into the school's budget work session, our budget finance team will be able to talk the board through, the funding that is recommended for schools, the the guideline with the the funding split, and answer any of the board's questions that you may have. Okay. As I promised, we're going to move into some of the key investments recommended in this year's budget. These services and initiatives prioritize our community's safety and well-being and education and, of course, always ensuring a high level of quality service and maintaining a strong quality of life.
In police, we're providing funding for three new police officer positions starting midyear next year to support public safety. We've added 19 police officer positions since 2021. These officers, along with previous additions and investments, will help, our will help ensure coverage meets demand across our community. I would point out that over the last three years, our calls for service and police have gone up 19%. We've recently undertook a comprehensive public safety staffing study that assessed our police and fire rescue departments to help ensure that we're most effectively providing those public safety resources and
response to our community. This study reviewed industry standard and best practices and it made multi year recommendations that will serve us well over the next five to seven years. It studied infrastructure, deployment, staffing, staffing strategy. It addressed our changing risk profile as a county and as we continue to grow and change year after year. The budget continues the multiyear implementation of those recommendations. In addition, this budget contains $2,300,000 to keep salaries in our police department competitive for purposes of recruitment and retention.
Turnover in public safety is extremely expensive. And based on, this assessment, the pay scale for the police department will be revised to maintain competitive positioning within our respective labor market. Albemarle County is committed to ensuring fire rescue has the resources needed to serve our community effectively. Just as I benchmarked, police calls for service going up 19% in the last three years. Fire rescue and EMS related call request have gone up 14% in the last three
years. In recent years, this board knows that the county has successfully leveraged federal grant funding for FEMA SAFER grants to help us to be able to bring on paid professional firefighters with federal money. We've been successful in obtaining four grants to date, and we have hired, positions in fire rescue and that's to offset shortages with our professional volunteer firefighter programs that, stations that are all across the county. As I said, we've successfully competed for four grants since fiscal year twenty one totaling $12,700,000
and we have hired 57 firefighters with that money. In this coming budget, we have local funding for 30 positions in FY '27. That federal funding is going away and as you can see on the slide, that amounts to $1,700,000 This has been a strategy board that has paid off very well for us because when you pull down three years of federal funding it gives you three years to begin to feather in the cost locally for these firefighters, otherwise we'd had to pick up the cost right out of the gate or deal with the gap in service delivery.
This budget also contains $900,000 for fire rescue to continue to keep salaries competitive for recruitment and retention. As I've said, turnover is expensive and we've also positioned ourselves to pursue a fifth FEMA grant to implement staffing study recommendations. And as I said earlier when we were talking about police, this, the fire department also underwent the, the, recommend the, the study for the public safety staffing study within the department, there are recommendations that we will begin to put into play over the next several
budgets. Also included in next year's budget is a recommendation for three additional sheriff deputy positions. With the opening of new courts over the past year, more facilities coming online in future years, these positions are being added to assist with the day to day operations of the office, including courthouse and courtroom security, inmate transportation and civil processing. Emergency management, this is an important area for Albemarle County government and we're recommending that, and this is a budget neutral reorganization.
We're pulling the Office of Emergency Management from the Fire Rescue Department to a standalone office within the public safety function of Almore County. This function would report directly into the County Executive's Office. The Office of Emergency Management is responsible for strategic planning, coordinating and execution of emergency management activities across all phases of emergency management. This includes preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation. OEM serves as the central point of contact for emergency management activities,
including coordination with state and federal agencies as necessary as well as state and federal regulations and maintaining alignment with the National Incident Management System, NIMS and the Incident Command System, ICS standards. So emergency management has been a key priority for Albemarle County for several years. Most oftentimes, it's going to be weather related events, multi day weather related events, and it takes a lot of coordination with the city, with the University of Virginia, the state and our regional partners. We think this next step is a prudent next step as we continue to,
strengthen this function. Also included in this budget is, dollars 20,700,000.0 of new funding for the Alamar County School Division, this is a 7.3% increase year over year from this year to next year. It also embedded in that $20,700,000 is $9,000,000 of additional local funding that I'm recommending go to schools. At this funding level, we are we believe that there's funding operations included in this for two new schools
that will open next year and we believe they have full funding necessary to open and operate those two new schools. This also, we believe, fully meets the obligations of public schools with their collective bargaining agreement, including salary increases for staff, teachers, additional positions that are included in their recommended budget for that's necessary due to planning time, lunch breaks and so forth. They also have a commitment to market based pay and keeping the positions that
they survey every year market competitive and then finally I would point out per the schools that they continue to rank very high across the state for per pupil funding and low class sizes. So we're excited to continue to partner with schools. This slide shows increased revenue for public schools operating budget over the last ten years, and this includes the FY 2027 recommended budget. On average, the total Public Schools Fund ongoing operating revenues have grown 5.8%
every year. This period incorporates a wide range of changing circumstances, as you can see by this graph, such as tax rate increases that have been earmarked for public education, the opening of school additions, changes in state funding and the pandemic's initial revenue decline followed by the historically strong revenue growth that followed it. Board, I'll point out that this chart shows ongoing sources. For example, this chart does not include that in the FY 'twenty six budget that the board
approved a $7,700,000 one time allocation that went from local government to schools to, to take that money and put into the joint local government schools health care fund. That $7,700,000 is not is not anywhere on the screen. Based on how their budget is designed, they're not allowed to keep, reserves above 2%. That's why we've got to keep an eye on our reserves to be able to help the schools if they have a drop in state funding or they have something unexpected happen,
and we're trying to help them to stabilize operations. For fiscal year 'twenty seven, for the second year in a row, we have a total of $5,000,000 for the affordable housing investment fund that we've recommended. Investment in Albemar housing, the county continues to invest in developer incentives and other initiatives to expand affordable housing options. Efforts focus on increasing the supply of affordable homes and rental units, supporting workforce housing and assisting residents in securing stable housing. Since the Affordable Housing Investment Fund was created in fiscal year 'nineteen,
Albemarle has invested over $22,000,000 into affordable housing projects and programs. Funding for these sources and for these projects and programs came from a variety of sources including the Affordable Housing Investment Fund, American Rescue Plan Act, ARPA and Human Services funding programs. These, funds have supported the construction or preservation of over 1,700 units of affordable housing, both rental and owner occupied. It's also served to support shelter and supportive services for over two eighty victims of
domestic violence and five thirty nine individuals experiencing homelessness, and then also housing counseling and navigation support for over seven eighty eight individuals and families. I also want to talk at the bottom of this slide a 20% increase to the elderly and disabled tax relief program. The FY '27 budget includes a 20% increase. This provides real estate and mobile home tax exemption for taxpayers who qualify under age, finance, financial or medical guidelines. Total funding available for the program for the coming year will be $2,800,000
That's almost $0.01 on the tax rate. The increase is due to expenditure trends of the program and changes in income thresholds, financial approved by the Board of Supervisors in January. Exteriors budget has a recommended, continuation of dedicated water resources funding, to cover water resources operating and debt service payment cost and reserve for CIP projects. Climate action funding is also included with $300,000 of onetime funding that would go in fiscal year 'twenty seven, and it will match the, onetime funding that was put into the program in fiscal 'twenty six.
There is a carryover projected going into next year of reappropriated money from this year, for programs yet to be completed. Those would include residential energy improvements, county building energy efficiency programs, the Energy Resource Hub, the Climate Action Collaborative Initiative, the Climate Resilience Cohort Support. Also, board, I'll point real quick to $140,000 that is earmarked from the plastic bag tax for a continuation of our, roadside litter program. As you know, we have a vibrant volunteer program in the county that does quite a good job,
but we've collected $440,000 since the implementation of the disposable plastic bag tax was created in fiscal year twenty three. From December '24 to December '25, the plastic bag funded roadside litter cleanup program has cleaned in Albemarle County over 1,000 miles of road and has collected over 3,900 bags of trash from our from our roads in Albemarle County. So this is an example of the board diversifying the tax revenue, creating a consumer tax,
and that is 5¢ on plastic bags. It's devoted to, cleanup programs in the county, and we've got good data to show how that's working for our community. We'll take a minute and talk about economic development. The fiscal year 'twenty seven recommended budget includes $4,150,000 of additional one time funding for economic development. This fund was designed to provide ready, flexible funding to support economic development opportunities. I'll give you an example that we learned during the AstraZeneca attraction effort over the last year that our ability to quickly respond to the needs of the state,
the questions they have on infrastructure improvements and commitment to being site ready, it was critical in landing the company here in Albemarle County. Economic development opportunities don't come on a predictable schedule, this board knows that, so we always need to balance cash on hand against unknown future opportunities. Having a sufficient fund available allows us to have stronger comfort approving funding for good opportunities aligned with our strategic plan, our economic development strategic plan knowing that we have got a focus,
a very razor focus on the type of industry that fits best in Albemarle County. Board of County recently undertook a study on how to understand the different, classes of property that drive the services that we deliver. You've got that, a summary of that in in this slide in front of you. What I wanted to point your attention to is the the orange yellow color at the bottom. That's commercial and the industry, And I'll point your attention to in 2015. In 2015, ten years ago, we had a 15% tax base that covered commercial and industry.
Ten years later, we have slipped to 11.3%. In the far right bottom box, you can see that the cost for service on business and industry commercial investment for every dollar we receive, we pay 0.32 in service delivery. So there is a revenue margin of 68¢ that we plow back into our budget for services, operations, and investment, all aimed at quality of life and service delivery in Albemarle County. I want you to look at the residential and multifamily over the same period of time.
It's gone from just over 65% to almost 74%, and that really is not so much new homes, it's a combination of new homes and assessed value growth. And we've not significantly lost commercial in the industry, it's just that residential has significantly outpaced it. And when you look at the top right hand box for service delivery and the cost for every dollar received on residential and multifamily, it cost a dollar 31 to serve. These are statistics that match up nationally.
This is not just Albemarle County. This matches up across The United States. And so when we talk about revenue diversification strategy to keep Albemarle County affordable We've got to pay attention to the amount of commercial and industry investment in our county because it is a, affordability strategy, and it is a tax based diversification strategy. It's in my work plan over the next five years to get that to get that 15 that 11.3% number back to 15%.
With the investment that we've seen over the last couple of years, we predict that in five years, we will be back hovering around 15%. And I believe that in order for us to begin to see the relief that we need, we need to be into the 17 to 18% range at a minimum. I'll switch and talk just for a few minutes about our workforce. It's one of our six strategic goals. As you can see, it supports goal number six, which is a strong workforce and good customer service within our county, consistent with county with past county budgets. Our county's compensation philosophy,
the '27 budget includes a review of classified scale positions on a two year cycle and to make appropriate market adjustments so that we maintain market competitiveness and keep our turnover rates low. It also includes a 2% COLA and a onetime bonus for classified staff. It also includes $1,400,000 in our budget devoted to staff training and development as well as recognizing that our health care fund, while stabilized, is still, dealing with health care inflation, and we're gonna need to invest an additional 8% in that over the next year.
Well, this is a busy slide, and we talked about it last week. It's intentionally busy because this slide represents 68 partner agencies in which we devote $40,700,000 of funding on a yearly basis. We recognize that our local government cannot meet every need alone. By funding non profit and community organizations, we strengthen the regional safety net and improve residents, access to bottle services. Let's look just for a minute at what some of this looks like.
Public safety, dollars 14,500,000.0 next year. That's a 20% increase in FY '27 from '26, and it's really across five partner agencies, including the Albemar Charlottesville Regional Jail, the Emergency Communications Center, the nine eleven center, which is a partnership between the city, the county and UVA. And then also Charlottesville Albemarle SPCA, this is, funding increases to support operating cost and service demands in our animal sheltering through our third party contract. It also includes transit agencies at $8,200,000
That includes Charlottesville Area Transit, CAP MicroCap, which is the on demand public ride share service that operates in the Charlottesville area transit and paid for by the county, as well as JONCT. JONCT is a regional public transportation system providing paratransit services and Alamar's rural demand response and commuter services. It also includes libraries and tourism. That includes our Jefferson Madison Regional Library, which is a partnership, and we're investing more money there as well as the Charlottesville Albemarle Conventions and Visitors
Bureau, and it's trying to us for us to continue to strengthen our regional tourism and economic impact. It also includes health and welfare, nonhuman service priority funding for Region 10, the Blue Ridge, health department, AHIP, and the Jefferson Board on Aging. And then finally, public works at 3 and a half million dollars. That's Robanna Solid Waste Authority taking almost all of that, which provides for our county recycling solid waste, household hazardous waste disposal services across the county. Human services funding, 29 programs,
dollars 1,600,000.0. This prioritizes programs that serve the most vulnerable members of our community, including elderly residents, households with kids under the age of six, medically vulnerable individuals, enhance compliance to ensure that funded programs are both effective and and accountable. Let's take a second and look at our CIP. Board, this has gotten a lot of attention and it will continue to in our budget, talking about our CIP and and, five year CIP and what we're able to afford to do. So, I'll talk just for a minute that the county's in the process of executing the
five largest CIP projects in the history of the county. That's the Quartz Complex, the Ravenna Futures property purchase and the construction of three new schools. These five projects have budgets that total together $296,000,000 And as they are complete, they create a funding obligation over the next twenty years following issuing the bonds to pay for them. And, board, I remind you with respect that the county's debt service is our mortgage payment and it continues to grow because you and the staff through our strategic plan,
we're trying to address the strategic needs, the not just the operational, but the capital investment in order for us to address problems and opportunities and maintain a strong quality of life here in Albemarle County. This is a snapshot of the schools, the the, CIP plan that is right now earmarked for school projects over the next five years, and that totals $196,800,000 And you have an upcoming budget work session where we will dig into the details of what that means. Also, you in the,
CIP, you've got about $160,300,000 that's dedicated to a variety of local government projects. And you'll notice, board, that in years three through five, and that's years 29, '30, and '31, that we look like in the in new projects because we're having to focus on maintaining ongoing programs and paying our debt service and keeping an eye on out year obligations. So board, that wraps me up. The staff was supposed to time me to see how long it took. I respectfully asked that the time that I was coughing and that we had to
take a break that that be taken away from the time, please, and that not that not be unduly counted against me, but the key takeaways from the FY twenty seven recommended budget, no proposed changes to the tax rates, obligations continue to rise and we are planning with a multi year eye on paying for those obligations. Service demands are evolving and we need to continue to evolve to meet the changing community needs. We have an evolving tax base. We need to plan ahead for significant investment and folks, what you're seeing is us doing prudent multi year planning that will continue to shape
the future. This budget prioritizes education, public safety, and a strong workforce. It includes funding the schools, transitioning our FEMA funding to local, government funding for our firefighters, adding new police, adding new sheriff positions, keeping our pay competitive, and we need to continue to recruit and retain high quality public servants. Most of our investment is tied directly to the board's multi year strategic plan, and I'm excited about that. This plan, that we hear about from our community includes affordable housing, environmental stewardship,
economic development, while following our own financial policies and preparing for significant future capital needs. Finally, this budget is a two year bridge budget that maintains stability now and positions Albemarle County for long term success as we strengthen and diversify our tax base. Mr. Chair, thank you for the time this evening. I'll turn it over to you for the public hearing and again the staff will be available to take, questions as, as they come up. Thank you very much. Great. I'll do it. Just a quick pass to see if there are any questions before we hear from
those who signed up to speak. Supervisor Pritvedt? Yes. So I I will just note, so this is a summary of what I said during previous, previous budget hearing, having thought about it a little bit more and also just for the public's benefit. I had, I had a constituent talk to me recently in the grocery store, and asked me very pithily like, so what's in the budget? What are we looking at? And for my own, kind of thinking through it, I I've started to think every year having done this now twice. There's kind of the key budget stories. And from our legislative perspective,
there's the things that we recognize that we can change between now and then in a really compressed timeline. And so I've started trying to think of the budget in terms of what are the asks and what are the places that might have give to get there. From my reckoning, and this is also going to be speaking a little subjectively, I'm thinking it looks like the big asks that I'm expecting us to be talking about a lot this year and other supervisors might have differing things. The thing the three that I'm tracking on is big asks I'm expecting possible movement on. School capital. It's a huge story.
It's all over the news. The housing trust fund, we're halfway to the target, but we're not there. And school operating funds. That's always going to be a a tension point, and here is the first time in a long time that we've changed our percent wise contribution to schools. The places that might have a give to help get toward any of those, things, there's $6,200,000 that we're putting into, capital reserves, on behalf of the schools. There is an economic development fund that is refunded up to 4,000,000, or, sorry, not up to.
That is refunded at 4,000,000. 4,000,000 new infused when 4,000,000 is previously what took several years to fill the economic development fund up. And there is always the possibility of a tax rate being considered. Right? Those are the things that I see as possibly having give, and those are the things that I know from public comment, from the emails that I get, and the angry phone calls I get are are places of community concern. And those are I I'm not saying I'm specifically going to use any of those tools, and I'm not committing to getting toward those three goals.
But those are the things I'm hearing as the goals from the community, and those are the places at this point in time, very, very early in the budget cycle, I see as potentially being targets of where to find that money. And with that, I will turn it over. All right. Supervisor Lupisto Kirtle? I like your proposed budget. I think it's fair. I think it's balanced. I think it meets, a lot of our needs. We don't have unlimited amounts of money to do everything that we want. Otherwise, we would do it. It just doesn't work that way. People do want us to be very cognizant of the tax rate,
the real estate property, the real estate tax rate because it's costing them a lot of money also to to fund a lot of these other programs. So we have to be cognizant of that. I like what's been proposed. Anytime you change something, then you're gonna have to take from someplace else, and I think you're gonna have a lot of pushback because I do believe we've, I think you've done a great job as far as narrowing it down, what the community wants, what we can do and how we can pay for it.
Thank you. Supervisor Missal? Thank you, Chair. I want to commend staff for the great work to get us to this balanced budget to this point. Also echo something that you've said in the past, which is we have more problems than opportunities than we have money. And so keeping that in mind as we move into the budget season is going to be, sobering, I think, but also, in some cases, hopefully rewarding as we look to some of those trade offs that Supervisor Pruitt mentioned, which I agree with. And I'll just say that I look forward to working on, with schools on the two on twos and with,
all of us on the work sessions coming up in the next few weeks to better understand some of the details that you've gone through. I do have specific questions, but I know they'll likely be answered next week and through the work session. So I will pause there. Great. Supervisor Duncan? Yeah. I'm sure during the work sessions, we'll get into a lot. I would just say kind of off the top, my main concerns are, funding for housing. I'm also pretty uncomfortable with the 6.4 to, CIP instead of to the schools. And then I also would like to see more funding for climate initiatives,
but again, recognizing that there are always lots more requests than there's money for. Supervisor Malek? Thank you, and thank you for the homework. We all have a lot to study and come up with good questions to ask in the upcoming meetings. I see this as the beginning of the process, not the end. So I all have a lot to learn. We also have to figure out what we can control and what we can't. And the local government, being the bottom of the, the governmental hierarchy, has to pick up the pieces when other levels of government fail to do their job. So we know there are increasing state of federal mandates,
and we will have to decide how to manage to protect our citizenry. And also in our minds, I think, is the large number of Albemarle County residents who are strapped to the end to meet their tax obligations. And so we have to be keeping them in mind as we go forward with all this work. But I appreciate you all being here. I look forward to hearing what you have to say. Thank you, supervisors. This will be the first of of a couple of public hearings, and then obviously we'll be doing work sessions in public for folks that give your
comments today. But we hope that you'll come back and give us additional comments as we work through the process. But with that, we will move to those who have signed up to speak this evening on the recommended budget, and Vice Chair Missal will take us through our, speaking rules. Great. Thank you, chair. During public hearings, the board will acknowledge speakers addressing the item listed for public hearing. Speakers are limited to one appearance of three minutes per public hearing item. Timekeeping is conducted through a timer and light system at the podium. The green light will go on when you begin speaking, which begins your allotted time.
The yellow light indicates you have one minute to finish speaking. The red light indicates your time has expired and you will be asked to end your comments. In order to give all speakers equal treatment and courtesy, the board requests that speakers adhere to the following guidelines. When addressing the board, state your name and if you live in Albemarle County or our magisterial district, Address comments directly to the board as a whole. Any written statements or other supporting material may be given to the clerk. If representing a group or organization, you may ask others present to raise their hands in recognition. Speakers may not share any unused time with another speaker. Back and forth debate is not permitted.
Do not speak from your seat or out of term. All comments are live streamed, recorded, and published on the Albemarle County website. And again, just a reminder to please introduce yourself and to speak directly into the microphone so we can hear you. Alright. With that, I will start with Denise Zito. Just gonna clear this out really quick. Miss Zito, to the your left, you're gonna see little arrows. You can move that podium down if you look to your So we can see you. Because we can't. Oh, there you are. And I would just as a general note to everyone, you can adjust that podium up or down if you are,
if you if you're too tall or too A challenge. If you're challenged. I think am I supposed to speak into both? Please do. You can. Alright. Impact, raise your hand. Good evening. My name is Denise Zito. I live in Fruehle Union, which is in the Whitehall Magisterial District. But in addition to being here with Impact, I'm a member of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul. This is a 200 year old worldwide Catholic organization that gives direct assistance to those in need. Our group in Charlottesville was founded six years ago. Those in need call us, we send two volunteers to visit with them,
We hear their situation, and then we pay up to a thousand dollars of their rent to keep them from being evicted. We only help a family or individual once every twelve months. Last year alone, we collected and distributed over $200,000 in direct aid. We receive over a 100 calls a week, and, of course, we can't help everyone who calls, but the stories are heartbreaking, people who are disabled and they can't pay their rent. We heard about a trailer with a hole in it, no lighting, no heat. Mothers with their children sleeping in their cars because they can't afford a deposit and
a first month's rent. But others are working two or three jobs to try to afford their rent. Their car breaks down. They're injured. They lose a week of work. The university lays them off when school's not in session. We are not talking irresponsibility. We are talking about people living on the edge through no fault of their own. The local apartment complexes make it difficult for the renters and us to pay. There's the rent, and then there's separate fees for trash and for utilities. Some of the Some of the local apartment complexes, if a renter is late,
require that renter to take cash from their bank account and pay at the Walmart or seven Eleven where the payment is then wired to the apartment owner. I myself have carried a thousand dollars in cash to the seven eleven to pay someone's rent, and, of course, there is the $3.99 privilege fee for the privilege of doing so. Impact has been talking to this board for nine years. The problem is overwhelming for the churches trying to help these people. We provided a viable solution in the form of $10,000,000,
not 5,000,000, 10,000,000 commitment to affordable housing. While you wait, these people are drowning, and the churches alone cannot help everyone. All the impact congregations pour money into this community in direct aid to those in need, and we will always do so. But this is clearly a public policy issue where rents skyrocket and wages don't keep up. It's a supply problem. The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul joins Impact in urging you to finally fully fund the Affordable Trust Fund Affordable Housing Trust Fund with a recurring $10,000,000
annually. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Vicki, bravo. I'd invite folks, if you're in support of the speaker, that you can raise your hand to show that support. It's actually visually easier to see how many are supporting a speaker that way versus the claps. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Vicky Bravo, and I'm a member of Impact. We're so pleased that the Affordable Housing Investment Fund is up and running. It represents years of work and thoughtful consideration by doctor Pethea and the board of supervisors. It won't help reduce the affordable housing crisis unless it has a meaningful amount of
funding. We know that every year, the county receives more proposals than you can fund. The proposed budget calls for 5,000,000 in the fund, and we need at least 10,000,000. When we first recommended 10,000,000 a year, it was estimated that it would fund about 330 units per year, so 3,300 units in ten years. Now it won't fund that much, but it will be able to make a dent in the need. UVA has a goal of 1,000 to 1,500 affordable units in ten years.
The city also plans to build several thousand over the next ten years. If all this happens, we won't solve the problem, but we also won't continue to fall behind in the way we have in recent years. We commend doctor Pethea and the board of supervisors for the many hours of work that have gone into this. We need the funds to make it worthwhile. As Albemarle County grows business, we must have the housing to support it for all the necessary levels of workforce. We're already behind.
Thank you. Thank you. Heidi Gilman Bennett. Hi there. Heidi Gilman Bennett, Samville Miller District. I'm a volunteer leader at family council with members representing all public schools in Albemarle County. I'm here tonight speaking personally on funding for schools. First, operating budget. High quality public schools are expensive to run, as you know. Spending about $20,000 per student is not actually unreasonable, especially given the high cost of living in Albemarle County and the critical need to
keep competitive with Charlottesville City Schools and others for teacher salaries, compensation, working conditions, like getting teachers, short lunch and bathroom breaks that are negotiated in collective bargaining. This is the shirt that I wore recently in Richmond to advocate for state funding. It says, Fund our schools. Many of us, elected and volunteer, as well as students, have worked really hard to ensure that Albemarle County receives its fair share from the state. But although the state CIP formula shifted for the better,
you are proposing to withhold $6,400,000 I am not a fan. The county executive's proposal is to place that money, both this year and next, in your hands, the board of supervisors, to spend as you see fit, which could be on schools or maybe not? Seems to me you're playing a game to force school leaders to reduce budgets. I get it. But what you need to understand is that under the direction of the new chair and vice chair of the school board, our elected school leaders and members of the public, including myself, are already asking an insane number of questions and getting answers.
It's different than past years. I urge you to let them do their jobs, to come to you with a needs based budget for serving your kids and educators, and to not withhold money that belongs to the schools. Second, capital budget. I'm a mom with an MBA. I see the financial situation the county is facing. I see many yellow vests behind me asking for important things. I'm here on my own, and I'm personally grateful to every one of you for visiting schools in person this winter with family council. What you saw are schools that have not been renovated in too many decades,
kids in temporary trailers, and schools that are bursting at the seams. The physical buildings are harming our kids' ability to learn. These are not school buildings that will convince future AstraZeneca employees to relocate here. I'm worried. I ask, are these school buildings that reflect the community's commitment to children and families and teachers? I think not. So, yes, I will continue to advocate to the school board for effective use of operating budgets and well planned capital improvement. But I also urge you as you go to your constituents in town halls to
stop The Us versus them of the two boards of adults and focus on the kids. We need you to build confidence in our public school system, please, especially as we look towards a potential ballot initiative. Thank you. Thank you. Karen McClurkin? Good evening. My name is Kara McClurkin, and I'm the executive director of Bennett's Village. We're building a multi generational all abilities play space at Penn Park. Bennett's Village is one of the community's third places, public and welcome spaces that serve as essential, accessible community gathering spots for social interaction,
belonging and physical and mental well-being. I stand before you tonight as both Bennett's mom and as the Executive Director to advocate for the recommended money in the CIP budget to help us build the next phase of Bennett's Village, the central play space. I grew up in Amarillo County and my parents still live in the same house that I grew up in. Over the years, we've had four, five generations of our family gather together in county and city parks for play dates or to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays. For five years, my son, Bennett, joined those celebrations as well,
as did his grandparents and great grandparents who used walkers and other mobility devices. Bennett lived with spinal muscular atrophy and used a power wheelchair to navigate the world. Unfortunately, our community parks are not designed for kids or adults in wheelchairs. They're not designed for many community members, those with cochlear implants, those who need bigger changing tables or quiet calm spaces. They're not designed for those who need access to electrical outlets for medical or communication purposes, those who have difficulty regulating body temperatures, who need additional bunches in order to take frequent breaks.
Many playgrounds use wood chips, gravel, or sand, making it difficult for wheelchairs, strollers, or those with balance issues to safely navigate. We used to take that all the way to Richmond to an all abilities playground where he could play independently with his friends and family. But he longed for a place within his own community where the barriers for play could be lowered for him and many others. Bennett died unexpectedly in 2018, but his dream of a place to play in our community lives on in Bennett's Village. Many of you tonight have probably already experienced the first phase of that dream,
the treehouse at Bennett's Village. I wonder how many in the audience have visited since we opened that project in January or have already been part of Bennett's Village programming. Feel free to raise your hand. The treehouse we are working on now that the tables is complete, we're working on the central play space which will feature numerous inclusive design elements, a ground level merry-go-round, swings for all abilities, cardio equipment for parents and caregivers to get exercise as well, a track with frequent shaded seating for those with respiratory mobility or other medical needs, a freestyle track to support safe thrill seeking movement,
a climbing play tower with a concrete slide, concrete does not interfere with cochlear implants, and an open area for relaxation or group play. Successful models of inclusive play spaces have significant financial investment from local government resources in public private partnership. Many of our potential funders, individuals, foundations, and other government agencies wanna know more about local support. Please support us. Thank you. Thank you. Reverend Susan Carlson? My name is Susan Carlson. I'm a member of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Charlottesville.
I live in the White Hall District in Crozet, and I am one of the co presidents of Impact. This year, Impact will hold its Nehemiah action on March 24 where 1,400 people will gather together because we have all heard the need for 10,000,000 a year for affordable housing in Albemarle County. We're glad to have the majority of supervisors committed to attending the Nehemiah action on March 24,
and we're grateful that the current budget proposal allocates 5, excuse me, 5,000,000 this year to go towards the affordable housing investment fund. Unfortunately, the housing crisis in our community is a huge problem that you well know because you've heard about it every single year. It's a huge problem that's getting worse every year. And how do we know that? We know that because we hold meetings in our congregations, in our community. We hear the stories from people,
as you've heard some today. And so we know that this is a huge problem that people cannot afford to live in Albemarle County. They have to live far away from their jobs, from their health care, from their children's schools, from, from their places where they have to take cars that may, maybe can't afford either, that cost so much in gas these days. We cannot abide by this moral travesty, for we believe that a budget is a moral document,
and this is getting worse and worse every single year. It's hurting our people, and we've heard it for the last eight years during testimonies at the Nehemiah Action. You've heard it too. I cannot urge you strongly enough to fully support the investment fund so that the housing crisis doesn't blossom and bloom even more. This crisis requires bold leadership, commitment, and action, and we believe that you, our supervisors, have the moral authority and the will to change this through the budget,
and we'll support you as you do it. Thank you. Thank you. Jane Colony Mills. Bless you. Good evening. I'm Jane Colony Mills. I'm a resident of the Whitehall District and executive director of Loaves and Fishers in the Jack Jewett District. I'm here to say thank you, but also to help raise awareness of the affordability crisis in our community. With Alpemarle County's first ever funding for Loaves and Fishes in the f y twenty six budget, we've provided a week's worth of free healthy groceries customized for dietary restrictions, cooking and storage capacity,
and cultural preferences to nearly 97,000 people since 07/01/2025. 50% of those people are Albemarle County children, adults, and seniors, more than 6,000 Albemarle County residents each month. The need is growing 13% over the previous year. Albemarle County's FY $2,640,000 dollars CIP grant allowed Loaves and Fishes to replace a thirteen year old walk in freezer with a safer, more efficient unit, expanding our capacity to store healthy frozen foods and feed more people.
The freezer replacement project is actually a testament to the power of community partnerships with founding funding from Albemarle County, the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, the Perry Foundation, and four individual family donors, and with construction management by the Building Goodness Foundation. Loaves and Fishes was able to demolish and remove the original freezer, excavate the concrete floor, insulate the footprint beneath the new freezer, pour and cure a new concrete pad, install a new freezer and cooling equipment, upgrade electricity and drainage systems to eliminate condensation issues,
and bring the new new freezer fully online while only missing six food distributions. But we were quickly back to providing the critical safety net net services because insecure food food food insecure Albemarle County residents rely on us for their monthly food. I'm very grateful for Albemarle County support for what we do and that mister Richardson and the county finance budget have proposed a 7.3% increase in funding for Loaves and Fishes, the largest direct to the public free food distributor in our community.
I hope the Board of Supervisors will approve this increase and I want to thank you for partnering with us to increase access to healthy culturally appropriate food for our neighbors. Thank you. Michael Monaco. Good evening, board. My name is Michael Monaco. I live in the Whitehall District in Crozet, and, personally, I want to pay a little more in taxes. Like many of my neighbors, I'm here to speak about the Affordable Housing Investment Fund. It seems like the point is, bit by bit, struggling to life or staggering to life. Notwithstanding today's decision to bounce approval of 3,600,000.0
in grants and loans to the next board of supervisors meeting, we are finally seeing the fruits of having an actual fund with an actual governing policy. But the investment fund will always be weaker without strong dedicated funding. I heard several supervisors earlier today express a desire to see the fund spent down entirely every year to make the most of our budgeted dollars. I would support that choice. The need in our area is evident, and it's just a matter of connecting that need to the dollars with a coherent application process. But I only see $1,300,000
in dedicated funding for the foreseeable future. Without reliable year after year funding, I worry that we will discourage the long range and long long range and large scale investments in affordable housing that we really desperately need. I recognize too that our obligations do continue to grow. I do not envy the set of choices ahead of you. I know too the pressure that you receive to keep assessments and real estate taxes low, but I see what my neighbors in the city of Charlottesville pay as their tax rate. It's more than me.
I see what my city neighbors pay into affordable housing, more than me, and I think about how few people I know who can accurately tell you exactly where the city ends and the county begins around our boundaries. I think about how the tents at the Free Bridge Encampment might sit in the city but look right over 200 feet to the county. We are one community. This is why I'm asking you to consider a 1¢ real estate tax increase dedicated entirely to affordable housing. I believe that a 1¢ increase this year would come out to a little over
3,300,000 in revenue, which would bring the overall total when you include the projected carryover from FY 'twenty six to about 9,700,000.0 in FY 'twenty seven. That 1¢ increase for the median homeowner in Albemarle County would cost them $4 a month. Personally, speaking for myself, I would rather pay an extra $4 a month to contribute to a $10,000,000 affordable housing investment fund. I believe that this budget, a moral document, should reflect the needs and priorities of the people it serves.
I know there are thousands of families who are living on the thin line burdened by the cost of rent, thousands of my neighbors who are not sure where they will lay their head next month or even tomorrow. I know what I am asking for tonight. I am asking for permission to pay about $4 more in taxes every month in order that my government might serve my neighbors. Thank you. Thank you. Francis Lee Vandel. Sorry. I also live in Whitehall. I'm Frances Lee Vandell, and I often speak for more low income housing in Albemarle,
probably since the nineties. Charlottesville carries the bulk of the housing that we have, and they're doing well with it. I visit these, the crossings, the Crescent, and and, the people are very grateful for being able to live there, and they take good care of their facilities. I'd also like to say that Albemarle puts 10% of its development of its land into
development. 50% of that is in the private market, and the people who own the 50% do not wanna develop it. So we are left with 5% often. And there's a need, possibly, I think you should consider it, of broadening the development area because I don't know how we're gonna find housing. Thank you. Thank you. Theresa Willis. Good evening. My name is Theresa Willis, and I'm from the Rio District.
I serve as a Board of Directors member of Foothills Children's Advocacy Center. I'm here to express both appreciation and concern regarding the proposed FY twenty twenty seven allocation of $97,527 for Foothills. It's a 5% increase over the last year, which we appreciate, but it does not adequately reflect the scope of the work of Foothill staff in
our essential role of Albemarle's Child Abuse Responsive System. The Children's Advocacy Centers in Virginia are codified in the code of Virginia as part of the Commonwealth's response to child abuse and neglect. We are embedded in the crimes against children investigative process. Foothill serves as a neutral, child focused location where forensic interviews are conducted,
on-site medical examinations are conducted, family advocacy takes place and multidisciplinary team case reviews occur. When a child discloses abuse, law enforcement, the Department of Social Services and the Commonwealth's attorney rely on our Fort Hills team to coordinate the investigative process. Yet Foothills is the only investigative partner in that system that is not fully publicly funded.
Law enforcement is funded. DSS is funded. The Commonwealth Attorney's Office is funded, but although we're embedded, we're not. For FY '27, the projected cost to serve Albemarle children and facilitate this work for Albemarle is $355,177 We are requesting just a portion of that, which is $130,000 And this will help to ensure children continue to receive timely forensic
interviews, coordinated medical care, strong family advocacy, and effective multidisciplinary team reviews. We thank you for your continued commitment to protecting children in Albemarle County, and we welcome to meet with you individually to provide Thank you. To provide additional data to answer questions about this. Thank you. Thank you. Richard Fox. Richard Fox, Jack Jewett District. This may come as a surprise to some of you all, but we actually have a lot in common and we can agree on a lot.
Ned, I commend you for your approach to community development and your business sense. Mike Pruitt, we first met while I was working a table for Dave Norris on election day. That also may surprise some of you guys up there. Dave's a good friend. But what you've done and how you've listened to the agricultural community really does mean a lot to them and it's gone a long way in building some trust there, between local farmers and the board. Sally, I look forward to working with you as my representative in Jewett. I really think we can work together, and I'm excited for a fresh start in that district. B, we've never really had anything to work on until now,
but I look forward to working with you. Mr. Missle, Liz speaks highly of you. I like your background, and I like what you've had to say about working on some community development projects, removing some possible red tape if it means getting the right projects put forward. I think that's going to open up a lot of great projects even from some people who financially can't afford to bring stuff through the general process of getting those developments looked at. And, Anne, you know, I ran a campaign against you, but I commend you and I respect the daylights out of you and appreciate everything you've brought to this board over the last twelve,
sixteen plus years, and you've been a staple on here, and I commend you for that. And I think we can work together on other things too. I think one thing I wanna start working on and have an open mind and open conversation about is the revenue sharing agreement and how we can bring some of those funds back into the county and how we can help specific county causes. We could help the housing budget. We could help the health and wealth welfare budget. We could avoid tax increases in the future. I'm not saying nuke the thing. I mean, I would love it if we nuked it personally, but I understand we made a commitment.
We have an agreement. We have to follow it to a certain extent, but we should at least be willing to have a conversation and an open mind about what we could possibly do to renegotiate, get out of it, whatever, put something on board, and just collectively have positive thought. And I think we can achieve that. I look forward to working with you all on that, in the coming weeks and meeting with you all and emailing you all about that topic. Thank you. Thank you. Karen Mann. Hi. My name is Karen Mann. I am a new resident of Albemarle County in the Scottsville District. I'm also the pastor of Sojourner's United Church of Christ.
My congregation is one of the many congregations that participate in Impact. We've also been active in Patching for many years and had the privilege of hosting the men for two weeks at the beginning of this winter shelter season in November. We're honored to make this commitment every year because we believe that caring for our poor and unhoused neighbors is central to our faith. But as much as we are honored to host our neighbors experiencing homelessness every year, we also believe that everyone should have access to affordable housing, not simply temporary shelter. We believe that justice requires not only to meet our neighbors' immediate needs,
but to change the systems that perpetuate those needs in the first place. So I'm here with other folks from Impact this evening to ask you to commit to that 10,000,000 for the county's housing fund. I mentioned that I am a new resident of Albemarle. We just moved. We bought a new house in January. It It took a lot of fancy financial footwork to make that happen, and we are definitely feeling the pinch now. But I recognize that we carry an immense amount of privilege to make that move happen even with the high cost of housing here.
But not all of my neighbors, not even all of my parishioners are able to afford to live here. Just this evening, I met with a couple that I am marrying next month. They would love to stay in this area to be close to their jobs and their community, but even after they combine their two incomes, they are having to look further and further out to find something they can even remotely afford. We need affordable housing. You know this. And not affordable in name only, we need deeply affordable housing that is safe and accept accessible for all residents of our community. With the looming cuts to basic social safety nets,
more and more of our neighbors will be at risk of losing their homes or will be unable to continue to live in this area, and many of our would be neighbors will not be able to find affordable housing in our community. Our well-being is bound up with the well-being of all of our neighbors regardless of their economic status. We cannot enjoy the beauty and peace of our community. I cannot enjoy the beauty and peace of my new home until all of our residents and neighbors are able to live in beauty and peace in a home that they can afford. And we have to do it in a way that centers the voices,
needs, and dignity of those who are most directly impacted by the lack of affordable housing. Thank you. Thank you. Tom Ekman? Good evening. I'm Tom Eckburn. I'm from the Vineyard District. I've been working on affordable housing for a long time, and, I really believe that the real need for housing is for people at lower income. That's where the biggest shortage is, and that's where the biggest need is. And eight years is a long time to be working out. I'm really glad that we're finally getting it started. But during that eight years,
I've lost about six members of my church, that needed affordable housing, but they couldn't get it. We've got too many luxury apartments, but we need our more lower rent incomes. And the best way to do that is with the housing trust fund because it can take that $10,000,000 and leverage it up to eight times. And that is a good investment for me, because now all of the you'd all of a sudden, you put $10,000,000 in, you leveraged it by eight times, and that gives you a return on investment because now you're gonna get some taxation
from that in addition. And it's gonna create homes for the people who need it the most. I think our budget is, like, $5,100,000 or whatever it is, but $10,000,000 is 2% of that budget. You got 52% going to the schools. Most of the income coming into our budget is coming from real estate, and we can't afford $2,000,000 to help the people who need it the most, I think we need to find that $10,000,000
on a recurring basis and be like the other counties that are are doing it across the country. I think we've got a great place here, and we've got a lot of wealth in our community. So I encourage you to put $10,000,000 in the housing trust fund. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Tanis Fuller? Look at this fancy up and down situation. Good evening, members of the board. My name is Tannis Fuller. I live in the Scottsville District and I'm here as a resident and the director of administration for Foothills Children's Advocacy Center. I'd like to thank you for the support that you have given to the CAC
over the years and As the board begins the budget review process now, I ask that you reconsider the proposed grant award to Foothills allocated in the FY twenty seven budget and increase it to our requested amount. When a young person, a child or a teen, has or is suspected to have been the victim or survivor of a crime, physical or sexual abuse, there are four key players in the investigative process, law enforcement, the Department of Social Services, the Commonwealth's Attorney, and Children's Advocacy Centers. For two decades, law enforcement, DSS, and the CA have relied on Foothills to provide a neutral,
child focused location where children and teens receive an age appropriate, trauma informed forensic interview conducted by specialized, trained interviewers. We also provide forensic medical exams performed by medical experts in conjunction with UVA. Caregivers benefit from family advocacy and referrals to community resources that happen concurrently with the forensic interview and the medical exam, and our work directly strengthens criminal investigations, protects evidence integrity, and supports successful prosecution outcomes. I'll repeat a little bit of what my colleague Teresa noted.
Virginia code requires that each jurisdiction in the commonwealth establish a multidisciplinary team to conduct regular reviews of new and ongoing reports of sexual assaults involving a child, including child abuse or neglect. The code additionally requires that participate the participation of four agencies, the Commonwealth's Attorney, law enforcement, Department of Social Services, and Children's Advocacy Centers. Unfortunately, only three of those agencies are fully publicly funded. Foothills Children's Advocacy Center is not. For fiscal year twenty seven,
the projected cost to serve the approximately 85 children we anticipate seeing from Albemarle County is in excess of $350,000 We have requested $130,000 from the county and hope that the board of supervisors understand the critical role that we play in ensuring that young people continue to receive the support and the services that we offer. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Peggy Peggy Gilgus. Gilgus. You got that right, Fred. Good evening. I'm Peggy Gilgus, and I live in the Jack Jewett District.
I'm here this evening to ask that you give more attention and more support to sustainability in your planning and budgeting. Sustainability is defined as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. I agree with Tom Olivier that sustainability deserves a higher profile within county government operations and should be its own department similar to the Office of Sustainability in the City Of Charlottesville. Listening to the initial budget meeting from February,
I heard much more emphasis on economic development than on conservation or climate action. I don't think I'm alone in worrying that the population growth that economic development brings affects our sustainability. Environmental impacts and big infrastructure expenditures come with growth. And as an example, there's some eye popping expenditures in the fiscal year 'twenty seven's budget, including, I think, dollars 10,000,000 of the dollars 42,000,000 that's required to build Boulders Road extension.
And in the next few years, dollars $250,000,000 investment in a new high school. The budget also proposes more regular investment. And I'm not making judgments about these investments. I'm just saying. $5,000,000 toward affordable housing and $4,000,000 toward economic development. By contrast, the Climate Protection Department is budgeted to receive a relatively puny $300,000 and the ACE conservation program has not been funded for several years now.
Meanwhile, humanity has crossed seven of nine crucial planetary boundaries, causing dramatic changes to our climate, putting, to our biodiversity, levels of pollution, land use, fresh water, and oceans, putting the ecosystems that support us at risk globally. So I think that here in Albemarle, we need to do our part to prevent compromising the ability of future generations to have a good quality of life and a habitable planet. We have a climate action plan, a biodiversity action plan,
a stream health initiative, a plan to create a rural area plan, and, I just think that a standalone sustainability department could advance these interrelated plans together. So please consider this as you discuss the county's future planning and budgeting. Thank you. Thank you. Phil Rees. Good evening, Mr. Chairman and members of the board. My name is Phil Rees and I live in the right district. My chief concern with this budget is that it is 13.5% more than last year's budget.
I've now heard this presentation twice and I still have not heard that this budget is an increase of 13.5% year over year. With inflation at 2.7%, do you think it is reasonable to have a budget that is rising five times faster than the rate of inflation? I appreciate the county executive's desire not to increase the real property tax rate. There's a lot of talk about this budget being balanced, but in order to do that, it requires adding 49,000,000 in debt and taking 7,000,000 from the use of fund
balance. When county taxpayers take on this much debt, it puts added stress on future budgets. For next year's budget alone, the debt service will cost $40,000,000 for both school and county government debt service, and the county executive said earlier tonight that this figure amount is going to continue to increase. If I recall correctly from last week's presentation, debt service will double in five years. Every dollar spent on debt service is a dollar that can't go to new classrooms, public safety or tax relief. We need a clear plan of slow borrowing.
You are building financial obligations that will long outlast this board. Rising debt service is diminishing future flexibility and increasing the probability that future boards will face a choice between cutting core services or raising real estate taxes. This is not a sustainable path. I want to give you all some credit where I think it is due. Your financial policies enable Admiral to continue holding its AAA bond rating. Thank you for having that part of your financial policy. That indeed does ensure we get low interest rates but at the same time,
you have not been seeking to get the lowest interest rates possible and the only way to do that is through general obligation loans. I ask that you seriously consider using general obligation loans going forward so that our county can get the lowest interest rates possible. Why would the board not want to save money in this way? Lastly, I think the county needs to seriously consider options to change the revenue sharing agreement with the City of Charlottesville. I understand that both parties need to agree to a change, but this is costing El Nol taxpayers $20,000,000 a year and rising. Consider putting the money in an escrow account.
Let the City take us to court. Force the City to come to the negotiating table. Demand that delegate any law firms sponsor legislation that would null any revenue share agreements whenever the annexing of land is under a moratorium. These are just a few ideas I came up with in the last couple hours. By creating by creating, I sure hope that our county is not under the same revenue sharing agreement forty years from now. Thank you. Thank you. And last on our list is Rebecca Brown. Does it not appear? Is Rebecca Brown here? All right. Thank you.
That concludes our list. And there was no online, correct? No online. Awesome. All right. Thank you for everyone who came out to give the, speaking. We will, close the public hearing, but we're going to come back to the board for comments, questions. So you're welcome to stay and listen to us chat if you'd like, but you also, not that we can see the yellow getting up to to to I'm just gonna go through our order for additional this would be, everything, guys. This is, comments, questions, reactions, anything you heard tonight to kinda set up our work session. Supervisor Pruitt? I'm not sure I have much substantively to add,
although I will just mention we had more than one person mention revenue sharing. I think it goes without saying that as someone who represents the county of Albemarle, I would love it if we were not beholden to a revenue sharing agreement. That would significantly expand our taxing authority. As as an amateur lawyer, not the county attorney, but as a as a lawyer, I can't think of a way to wriggle out of it unilaterally, and that includes, legislation. Any legislation would almost certainly not be able to retroactively affect a contract that's already been agreed to. The only way to get out of it is going to be political.
It's going to be by playing nice, and it will be challenging. Folks, if you could take your conversations out into the hallway, please. We are still conducting our meeting. Thank you. Is that all your thoughts? That's fine. Supervisor Lupisto currently? Yes. I'm satisfied. Thank you very much. No questions. Supervisor Missal? I'll just briefly thank the public who's come to speak tonight, and a lot of the comments that were raised resonate with me. And I'm looking forward to being able to able to, work through these challenging, budget decisions and be an advocate for you all. And that's I'll leave it at that.
Supervisor Duncan? On the revenue sharing, that was one of the first things I asked the county executive when we had one of our first meetings. So, yes, I also, you know, obviously would be in favor of changing it. And I think it is, fair to recognize too that our counterparts in the city are reasonable people. Some of us are friends with them, that I don't think it necessarily has to be a contentious discussion, but I do think it maybe eventually is worth raising. The other thing that I'll just say for the purpose of preparing our budget work
sessions is that I also would be in favor of a 1¢ tax raise for housing. And then that's kind of all I have right now. Thank you. Supervisor Malek? Thank you very much. No questions right now, but I'm very grateful for for all the people who came and spoke and shared their concerns because we always learn a lot from our residents and need to keep struggling along here. Thank you. Supervisor Prie? One quick note, and I apologize. I meant to catch this before everyone left. So if the other folks from Impact could share it.
I like to mention this every year. The practical deadline for a lot of your advocacy is sooner than you think it is. So either if you're mister Reese and want us to reduce our tax rate or if you're mister Monaco and want us to raise it by a cent, that decision needs to be made by this board. Our willingness to make that decision needs to be made in two weeks from now. At the next regular full board meeting is when we advertise the maximum tax rate. That caps and hems in a lot of the future possibility for budget discussion.
It doesn't mean budget can't change, but that is kind of, I would say, an important advocacy deadline. Can't go up. Can't go up. Great. All right. So I would just put out there that we haven't heard the revenue sharing come up in the last couple of years. It's come up before in the past. But we do have to remember that the future county or the past county residents did vote for it, which sometimes when you have your own referendums that they vote for, makes it interesting when you go try to advocate to go the other direction.
At least that's what because there are creative ways that you can which we have lobbied the state for, where it's not necessarily been to get rid of the revenue sharing agreement, but it's ways to tweak where that funding counts when they do things like local composite index. So we all have to remember that at $22.20000000 dollars in revenue sharing, when they calculate that out, the state acts like it's in our coffers. And if we could get them to adjust it, and say that $20,000,000 is not in our coffers, that would be helpful to us. In our past advocacy of that effort at the state,
the state said, your voters passed this. Go fix it through your voters. So there wasn't a lot of interest. Now, we haven't attempted that in ten or twelve years, that sort of effort, but even those type of things have ran into what you have to basically accept your past, if you would, and what voters have agreed to do. I don't I don't think there'd be a supervisor here that wouldn't like to have that $22,000,000 on our side of the fence. I mean, dollars 6,400,000.0 for the schools. We're getting asked for $5,000,000 more for affordable housing. We've had people in the past,
whether it was tonight or in things, ask us to equalize the tax rate, which would be at least probably $6.07 dollars $8,000,000 to get down, and I haven't even done that math yet as we get into the work session. I don't know the exact dollar that the Bennetts Village request was. Another $40,000 for the Foothills Advocacy Center that was being asked for tonight. So right away, we're already up to $12.13, $14,000,000 in requests just in the last ninety minutes. And, we could cover that with $22,000,000 But every, you know, that bit of what did we this $22,000,000
That's probably what? 7¢ on the tax rate? So that so we are paying for city services. I mean, that's just the the reality of the situation. But I bring all this up as a long way to say, Board, of course, if there's talk or discussion about increasing revenue, which would be a tax rate increase, then that will equate to about $3,300,000 per penny, just to just to play around with some of the requests that we're receiving. If you want to stay within the recommended budget, but you want to see things go to different obligations, then you have to be ready to say where it's going to come from in
order to do that, which is what Supervisor Pruitt was also alluding to. So as we're working through the work sessions, that's going to be an important, part of the work that we'll have to do since since this is in our laps now to to work through. But do appreciate all the input tonight, from the members of the public, and we'll be working through the work session. So, please, I hope I hope all the folks paying attention tonight just don't pay attention tonight, but pay attention to all those work sessions as well, and would come back out and give us feedback at our town halls and in the additional public hearings that we have.
So thank you all very much. Tonight we still do have number 17 from the board, committee reports and matters not listed on the agenda. And there is a specific item about, Senate Bill four forty three. We'll handle that with Ms. Malek when we get to her in the order, but I'll just go through the general comments of, or where you're at with committee reports or other matters. Supervisor Pruitt, any items here this evening? Mister Chair, I've had no committee meetings since last, last board meeting. All right. Supervisor Lapisto Kirtley? No report. Thank you.
Supervisor Missal? No, sir. No reports. Supervisor Duncan? I don't have any committee reports, but I did sit on in on the town hall on Sunday afternoon that Amy Wofford and Katrina and Kreditz had, and that was super helpful to hear kind of an update on where things are. But the one thing that I found, really interesting is that Amy said that they have put money in the budget to study sort of the school funding and the LCI in general. She said it's been in like, they've wanted to do it before,
but there's never been funding, and this time there is funding. So hopefully, you know, the outcome of that will be interesting to see, but at least they're gonna study it. Like a JLARC study or what kind of study? It's like, to study whether or not they should fund schools based on need instead of just general per people, and just sort of look at making school funding more fair, or I'm not sure. Great. Is that all? I'm sorry. So Yeah. That sounds Yeah. Supervisor Malek. Thank you very much. The meeting, Corozay Community Association, I mentioned earlier, a large collection of people from many different neighborhoods,
talking about reporting into each other about what they were learning about what was going on in the Crozet community. It's a wonderful other opportunity in addition to the Crozet Community Advisory Council, which is chartered to work on the master plan areas, but this is community wide and very similar to what many neighborhood associations across the, jurisdictions across the county do. The, thing I will bring up now is I sent you all an email about the
passage of senate bill four forty three, and I will just shoot across. This is a draft that you can consider rather than digging around in your emails. There's one of those for everybody. And while you're looking at this is part of what came in the email as well. I just took it from the template that was sent for discussion purposes. The, in addition to taking away local decision making, the legislation which is passed exempts installations from requirements that applicants have already given to localities. So we have, I think in the letter, I said 1,500
1,676 acres already approved for utility scale and mid scale mid scale solar development. Where the impact will be from this bill is that every one of those applications will be able to buy right with no regulation, no site payment, no agreement with the county to offset costs. They'll be able to plunk down these battery, locations anywhere even adjacent to where their approved parcel is. And there's there so I think this is an incredible overreach and another unfunded mandate in addition to
taking away the local decision making. Other communities have talked about the impact to their fire and rescue. There's no provision for communication as we have for our ordinance. It would basically undermine the ordinance, which we worked years to adopt. To require the county to basically minimize what work we have already done. So it punishes the localities who have done work already, and there's no impact at all for commodities who have not approved any solar installations. I refuse to use the word solar farms because there's no production of food or
anything going on there. So anyway, I will leave this for your consideration and hopes that you might agree to send with the chair a version of something, from these facts in the in the draft to the governor, and also I have the contact information for the commerce and labor secretary as well as the local government liaison in the cabinet. So I will try to answer any questions you have or get any feedback you have. Any questions now for supervisor Malek, mister Pruitt? I actually I have a question stemming from this for counsel.
For already approved projects, I could kind of see two different arguments for how this would affect them. One argument would be, oh, the state supersedes us. The state, therefore, says this shall be allowed as an accessory use. The other argument is we have an understanding at contract with the, with the party, and that, therefore, can't be interfered retroactively with the state. I don't know which one it is. Right. And that's a that's a good question, and the the, implication isn't entirely clear. There is an enactment clause with this particular bill,
that stipulates that any, connection request that's been filed, prior to 07/01/2030 will be subject to the local ordinance as it existed on 07/01/2026. Okay. So there is a bit of grandfathering through an enactment clause. But but, again, the question you raise is is a valid one in terms of, this just creates one of the downsides of this bill is that creates uncertainty for previously approved projects. Okay. In addition to that, I will use the machinery and tools tax as an example. In previous solar installations,
there have been contracts, part of our approval for the special permit. The legislature has wiped those out by changing the rules and the percentages up to 500 megawatts. You don't have to pay anything. It has basically taken away revenue that the county was counting on to offset the expenses of these things. So that has been the legislature's behavior already, and I do not expect this to change. Supervisor Lopusta Kirtley, any questions here for supervisor Malek, supervisor Missal? No no questions. Supervisor Duncan? No. I guess my thing would be you're asking us to take this consider it,
and then if we would like to do it as a board, we can get back together and figure that out. Do we have an idea of timing? Is this on a shot clock? It has gone to the governor, so it's seven days. It's my understanding. And, Deutsches, I'm sorry I didn't figure this out before 05:00 on Monday. I would, 06:30. I think if the if if the super are the supervisors prepared to say that they would that where they stand on this, or do they need some time to consider it if they support or disagree or agree with? I just have one quick question. I mean, I generally am just giving this and reading the other counties,
the other communities' motions or or, I I guess I wonder if something like this, do we usually or have we in the past run this past staff just to get a quick over some thoughts and Our legal staff is the only one who would be. Okay. In the past, anyway. You know, stuff. Okay. I mean, I don't see any issues with it personally, but, I would like some time to just Well, and there's two layers because we can individually, we can write and send any letter we wish. Sure. So the the mat the reason it's being discussed send it, with a stance on it. So you all can leave here,
and you agree, send a letter. So that's not really the question. The question is, do we want to do this as a board to send to the governor? Over here. Say it to you. Right. Mhmm. On behalf of the board type of thing. Supervisor Pruitt? I I would say I'm I hear and I understand the argument that supervisor Malek is raising. I find it sympathetic. I don't know that I find it sympathetic to overcome what I think, the delegation in the general assembly is trying to accomplish. I find their cause similarly sympathetic, because not every, locality that houses solar in this Commonwealth is as,
thoughtful on the issue as as this locality is, and I understand there are real land use concerns that the general assembly is trying to overcome. I would raise just right next door to us in Fluvanna. Right? You can only house solar in, light industrial and industrial zoning. And there are therefore a lot of land use hurdles that need to be overcome to make solar even remotely viable. So I hear the concern you're raising, and I I also hear, like, the muddiness that this creates because our friends in the general assembly aren't the best
draftsmen all the time. I I hear the muddiness it creates. I I don't know that I personally would support, this if it goes to a vote for the board. Alright. Supervisor Lupista, Curtin? Yeah. I I just don't know enough about it. Haven't had time to study it or anything. So I would just if everyone wants to do it, you know, on their own, I think that's great. But I just I don't have know enough to really commit, so I don't feel good about that. Supervisor miss I'm sorry. Were you done? Yeah. Supervisor missle? Yeah. No. I I appreciate this.
Generally sympathetic. Just like a little bit more time to look at it and support individuals sending it. As a board, I I guess that's a determination we have to make as a board. Supervisor Duncan? I still, to be quite honest, don't know a lot about the solar stuff, so I don't have an opinion on this. I would just say as a principal, if we're going to start sending letters from the board about bills, I could come up, I'm sure, with a whole list of things that I would love the board to sign on, but I just don't know if in practice it's a good idea.
So with what I'm hearing, we do not have the support to send a letter on behalf of the Board. I would say for those of you who are still saying I would like a little time to consider it, that you can send an individual letter, you know, directly to, and you have the template here that we can, we can consider. And if you have your own bills that you track, remember, you don't always have to you can whip away and send stuff to delegates, senators, and the governor as well. Just be mindful that you can't say you're speaking on behalf of the board. You're just speaking on your behalf as a One person.
One person, in in Virginia. All right. Did you have other committee reports or items from I do not. Okay. Then that's up to me. So NACo, we did go to NACo, and did, I think I saw Anne send out, like, a summary From one of the committees. From one of the committees that come out. So as the NACo folks send things, it's kind of easy to forward things over there. We got a lot of great information on federal legislation. If you're tracking that, there is movement on things that could be helpful to us relative to housing coming
from the federal level. It does seem to be one thing that has been getting some bipartisan support, because it seems like very little is moving through. But housing is one spot where there's some legislation that is moving, and we'll see what else can potentially come from it. It was interesting, I had the opportunity to hear the Japanese ambassador to The United States talk, and it was in the economic development type of conversation. And now I think with the type of thing that he was representing Japanese investors and the type of places they're investing in,
communities like a Charlottesville Albemarle isn't necessarily their target. I mean, I'm talking big metro areas where they're going. But it was interesting when he was asked what do investors tend to look for regardless of the size. And the the two things he mentioned was, regulation and infrastructure. So is regulation, right, easy to get projects up and running as fast as possible? And then is the infrastructure in place to allow us to operate effectively and efficiently? So it was interesting to hear that as the response. But as other things come up,
I'm sure Ann and I will be sharing that. At the Metropolitan Planning Organization, we did finalize what would be going through MPO, which you saw earlier today, through the Smart Scale applications. We did put a pause on our Citizen Transportation Advisory Committee, which whose purpose had become, I guess, unfounded or unclear over the years. It was originally doing a lot of work with the long range transportation plan, but we had a lot of good people in that committee, and it just seemed like they, in terms of advisory and what its point was, was not being met.
And the committee decided to take a pause on it, since the purpose is not clear. It will give us about a year before the work on the next long range transportation plan begins, and we're going to look then at more of an ad hoc committee type style of how we could stand up a Citizen Transportation Advisory Committee to be useful to the MPO on projects that may also then be of interest to folks there. So if you hear anything about that from any of our own appointees, that's what's going on there. A lot of them live in Rio, so I think I've already got they're already covered. And MPO,
out of the December meeting, you've all heard Anne and I talk about the funding how transportation funding works in the Commonwealth. If you haven't had a chance to watch that meeting, you can still go back to December 17 and watch the presentation. From that meeting, Sean Nelson, who's the chief engineer of the Culpeper District, had made a recommendation that it would be a good idea for the city and the county via the MPO, the representatives on there, to come together and start to strategize more on how to get projects done, not even necessarily just smart scale. So we will be having a special meeting that's going to start having that kind
of conversation, and it built out of the funding conversation, discussion with staff from both the city and the county. It's the first time that that type of suggestion has come from VDOT, or from anyone, frankly. So I'm looking forward to that kind of conversation, because, you know, the folks at VDOT are saying, yeah, well, let's see what else we can try to get done, and get creative, and be more strategic in making in getting some of these projects through. So looking forward to that conversation in in April. Yeah. I will add on to that that it's really important as the, as agreements are made
covering improvements. I'm thinking of Fontaine Research Park and the for the rezoning for extra buildings there, the university or foundation, whichever it was back then, made the commitment to cover the Fontaine Improvements. And yet, all of a sudden, it landed on the county's dime. When I reached out to staff about clarifying that, they said, well, it's been transferred to the foundation or academics, whichever way it was, and so we can't hold them to it anymore. And that's just one of the reasons why it's so important when something is granted,
agreed upon, you get it closed up right away. Whether it's a donation of an easement, get it closed up right away. Don't let it linger for twenty years because all of a sudden, new owners will say, oh, I don't wanna do that. And then you're going to round and round in circles. I remember that twenty years it took to open the road between, wood I mean, Hollymeade and South Forest Lake because it had sat so long that the neighbors said, oh, I don't want that there. And it literally took ten years of constant work to get it done. And now, of course, everybody counts on it. Mhmm. But it was, one of those difficulties to to carry forward.
But, Sean is Sean Nelson is a great blessing in the Culpeper VDOT, so I'm looking forward to that. And I just remembered too that he had mentioned that this during the last snow event, how we had some roads that had been put into the public system, but they hadn't updated on the plowing. So I know VDOT's working on that to get that rectified. So I was I was pleased to hear that report as well. So I'll just share that with with the with the other supervisors. Awesome. Alright. Great. Thank you all for those reports. Alright. Well, then without objection, we're there. We will adjourn to 03/09/2026 at 5PM in Room 241 for our budget work session.
And just as a reminder, you can send questions to Andy Bowman and team, ahead of time, and those will be tracked and sent to us, but also listed on the website for a review. Alright? Thank you, everyone. Have a good evening.