Public school is back in session this week across all of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District. Charlottesville Community Engagement does not have the capacity to cover educational policies except school construction, but the main point of this work is to educate as many people about the workings of local governments and how they relate to regional, state, and federal agencies.
Why? Good question. I ask myself that all of the time. The answers depend on my mood at the time as well as how much of my day’s work I’ve completed. Sometimes it just feels like inertia as this is the 377th edition of a weekly newsletter that provides a thorough preview of what’s coming up at meetings. Sometimes it feels like this is the most important thing I can be doing.
But, really. Why? On the one hand, I want to know what I might be writing about and spending Sundays is a good way to begin the process. I want to bring you as many stories as I can about decisions made and policy positions stated.
I also believe this work informs other journalists who may also be looking for stories. Other than my work with WTJU and C-Ville Weekly, I don’t have any formal partnership with other producers of civic journalism. I would like that to grow in the future, but for now I am hopeful my eight hours of work each Sunday provide a way in for younger reporters who may need some context.
I also hope that this work will inspire those who want to get involved in public service. We live in a complex civilization and I believe that civilization has a longer lifespan if people are more informed about how the mechanisms work and how they might be changed.
My self-appointed job, ratified by paid subscribers and sponsors, is to shed light on as much as I can in the name of transparency, explanation, and the hope for common ground.
Thanks to the Piedmont Environmental Council for their support of this work.
Some highlights this week:
The Greene County Board of Supervisors will meet with the Planning Commission Monday at the site of a potential county-owned industrial campus to test out aerial drone equipment.
Charlottesville’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee on Monday will review a new allocation policy for fields, courts, and other resources
Albemarle County is holding a design public hearing Tuesday for the extension of Eastern Avenue in Crozet, a project now bundled with a project to extend Boulders Road to serve an industrial park.
Greene’s Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will once again take up a proposal to limit public comment to county residents and other county stakeholders.
The Nelson County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will consider a settlement with a regional solid waste body that it is a member
The Charlottesville City Council on Wednesday will meet with the School Board to review how to proceed with additional funds from a sales tax increase if voters approve one this November
Louisa County’s Planning Commission on Thursday will continue reviewing policies to reduce the number of residential units that can be built in rural areas
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In July, the Greene County Planning Commission held a work session on a county-initiated rezoning for county-owned land. That would allow for the county to apply for a special use permit for those privately-owned parcels as well as on 88.52 acres owned by the county.
“The proposed campus is identified as the Greene County Advanced Autonomous Systems Research Campus, a County-owned research and testing campus supporting research, testing, training, demonstrations, and evaluation of autonomous systems, including unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), unmanned ground vehicles (UGV), robotics, agricultural technologies, public safety technologies, and related autonomous platforms,” reads a staff report for that meeting.
The county would own and operate the facility and would be available for educational institutions, contractors, and other users.
“The proposed campus provides a controlled location for research, testing, training, demonstrations, and technology evaluation involving autonomous systems,” reads the staff report for the special use permit. “The large size of the property allows operational areas to be located within the interior of the site, reducing potential impacts on adjoining properties.”
I did not have the capacity to write up the work session in advance of a site visit that the Board of Supervisors and the Planning Commission will attend on Monday night. I’m hoping other reporters will be able to attend.
“The purpose of the meeting is to provide attendees with an opportunity to observe a demonstration of the proposed unmanned vehicle and drone operations at the project site,” reads the public notice. “Participants will have the opportunity to observe the drones in operation, view the associated equipment and operational procedures, and hear from the operators regarding the proposed use of the facility.”
Surely television reporters would like this one?
The Nelson County Planning Commission meets at 5 p.m. in the General District Courtroom in the Nelson County Courthouse.
According to the agenda, there will be an update on the final draft of the zoning and subdivision ordinance and the open house that is coming up on August 19. Learn more about that at this website.
There will also be a presentation on a Rural Long Range Transportation Plan. Is this the one being done by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. The agenda doesn’t say.
There will also be a discussion on the future of county-owned properties. How might the Economic Development Authority and the Nelson County Service Authority assist?
The next regular meeting of the Planning Commission is August 26.
The Charlottesville Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee recently moved its meetings to Mondays. This body is appointed by staff, not City Council, and reviews decisions made about facilities and services offered by the Parks and Recreation Department. This month they meet in CitySpace at 5 p.m. (meeting packet)
The group will be presented with a new policy for the allocation of public courts for various sports. According to the minutes of the June 24 meeting the idea is for the August meeting to be a review followed by a vote at the next meeting.
The materials begin on page 10 of the 38-page packet.
Reviewing the minutes, an error in my reporting was discussed at the June 24, 2026 Parks and Recreation meeting. That was a Wednesday, not a Thursday as the minutes suggest.
“Prior to Public Comment, [Parks Director Riaan] Anthony clarified a misprint in the May meeting presentation regarding fee and hour changes. A reporter mistakenly believed the department planned to close Smith Aquatic Center on weekends. Mr. Anthony stated that Smith will remain open on weekends, and staff are proposing extended Friday hours.”
The bolded section is not an accurate description of my reporting. Today is my birthday, so indulge me on this one.
I previewed the June 24 meeting in the 370th edition of the Week Ahead version of this newsletter as you can see here. There was to be a vote on hours of operations and feeds. As is a standard practice for a journalist, I had questions and followed up in an email to the city’s Communications and Public Engagement office on June 23.
“Are the proposed fee changes and hours of operation changes for parks available for the public to review? The parks and recreation board are voting on them tomorrow. Is such a vote binding or is it advisory? Who has final say over fees, hours of operation?”
Public Engagement Coordinator Caroline Rice sent two items to me in response, presentations from the May 11 meeting of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board that were not in the packet for that meeting. One of them was a memo and the other was a presentation with proposed hours. Both are uploaded to cvillepedia.
After getting these materials, I asked another follow-up:
“Can you confirm the proposal is to close the Smith Aquatic and Fitness Center on weekends?” I asked at 9:47 a.m.
I did not get that confirmation but I had to publish a newsletter anyway and the language used is conditional upon that lack of confirmation as you can see in the bolded language.
“The Parks and Recreation Advisory Board will also vote on a proposal that would appear to close the Smith Aquatic and Fitness Center on weekends,” I wrote.
My question was never answered. That happens a lot as I ask the city dozens of questions a month. I follow-up when I need to do so.
This is the second time this summer that a city staff member has corrected my reporting at a public meeting without notifying me of a potential error. The first related the city’s mobility study currently underway which is not the same as a traffic impact statement required as part a legal settlement. Read that if you would like here.
I guess it is good they are reading, but I take my reporting seriously. I wish I had a team of reporters but those days are gone and likely won’t come back. We are in a different era now than the one I grew up in.
In one other meeting:
The Places29-Hydraulic Community Advisory Committee meets at 5:30 p.m. in the Greer Elementary School in the Media Center. That’s at 190 Lambs Lane. They’ll elect new officers and get a presentation from the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority. (meeting info)
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This week, Albemarle County will hold a required meeting to get feedback on the extension of Eastern Avenue, a long awaited roadway that when finished will connect U.S. 250 with Route 240 to provide a north-south option for travel.
For some reason, this design public hearing is not listed on Albemarle County’s calendar of meetings. Neither was a design public hearing for the extension of Boulders Road held on August 6.
Both projects are now being bundled together as one package as I learned from this recent report by Lisa Martin in the Crozet Gazette. This approach is frequently used to attract a large contractor who can save additional money by sharing costs across multiple pieces of infrastructure.
In recent years, Albemarle County has begun overseeing management of some transportation projects funded in the Capital Improvement Program (CIP). You can track the progress of these in the quarterly reports produced by the Facilities and Environmental Services Department.
These projects are also listed on the website of the Facilities Planning & Construction Division.
“The CIP also allows staff to coordinate community planning, financial capacity and physical development; as well as anticipate the county’s needs for new public buildings and facilities; major renovation and maintenance of existing buildings and facilities; transportation and stormwater improvements; enhancements such as roadway landscaping and street lights; and new and replacement equipment,” reads the website for FP&C.
This division is separate from the Community Development Department which plans for transportation projects. In June, the Board of Supervisors endorsed a new priority list with 169 projects as I reported at the time. The consent agenda of the July 15, 2026 report from transportation planners has updates on two projects also listed on the FP&C website.
One of them is the long-awaited southern extension of Eastern Avenue in Crozet.
“Preliminary design work continues, [Virginia Department of Transportation] is scheduled to hold a public hearing this August and will advertise the Request for Proposal (RFP) in October 2026,” reads page 7 of the quarterly report.
That statement is not entirely accurate as we learn in a public notice printed in the July 30, 2026 Charlottesville Daily Progress.
“The County of Albemarle will conduct a design public hearing to provide information and receive public comments related to a new section of Eastern Avenue including a bridge over Lickinghole Creek,” reads the public notice required by law.
This will take place at the Meadows Community Center at 5735 Meadows Drive in Crozet.
This item is also not listed on the county’s calendar of meetings. Neither was a design public hearing held on August 6 for the extension of Boulders Road.
“Boulders Road is an existing road extending from [U.S. 29] into Rivanna Futures / Rivanna Station where it dead ends,” reads that public notice from the July 28 Charlottesville Daily Progress. “This will provide a second option for accessing the Rivanna Futures property that is being developed. 2000 linear feet of roadway, an interior roundabout, a bridge over Herring Creek, and intersection improvements will be included in this project.”
That transportation report from CDD to the Board of Supervisors dated July 15, 2026 has no information about Boulders Road, a project that has received $20 million in funds from VDOT’s Transportation Partnership Opportunity Fund.
“This really is a critical road project to serve the existing functions that are at this site, but also are needed in the advancing of the AstraZeneca project that the governor announced a couple of months ago in our work with the state,” said Deputy County Executive Trevor Henry at the December 9, 2025 Commonwealth Transportation Board as I reported at the time.
If you really want to dig in a little deeper, you can periodically look at Albemarle’s procurement page to get details. On July 15, a request for qualifications was issued for firms to build both the Boulders Road and Eastern Avenue extensions. These are due on September 15.
If you just want more information about the Eastern Avenue South project, you can find that here on the FP&C website. While the website states that the “major funding source” is VDOT’s revenue-sharing program, the website leaves out that a local match is required.
If you just want more information about the Boulders Road extension, you can visit here.
The five members of the Nelson County Board of Supervisors will meet at 2 p.m. in the General District Courtroom in the Courthouse in Lovingston. (meeting packet)
After the call to order, public comments, and the consent agenda. There will be two resolutions of recognition.
One is for Animal Control Officer Jessee Johnson and Deputy William Brown for their help in locating a non-verbal four-year-old with autism. (learn more)
The second is for North District Planning Commissioner Phillppa Proulx for serving 33 years in the position. (learn more)
Then there will be four presentations with the first being from the Virginia Department of Transition. This is not in the packet.
There will also be a further report from the Nelson County Service Authority on the Wintergreen Wastewater Treatment Plant. I lament I did not have the capacity to write up a meeting in July that I previewed in late June.
Then a report from Nelson County Parks and Recreation followed by an update on the Department of Social Services building. The Parks update includes information about a planned playground in Lovingston. Learn more beginning here.
The DSS building is about halfway complete according to an August 6 memorandum from PMA Architecture.
“The overall approved budget for the project is $8,270,212 (4/4/25),” reads the memo. “Currently the projected project cost to finish the overall project appear to be $7,928,234, including remaining contingency funds of $150,926.”
Under new business, Supervisors will consider rescheduling the November meeting. They’ll also discuss a settlement agreement with Region 2000, a regional solid waste entity to which Nelson belongs with the City of Lynchburg, Campbell County, and Appomattox County. If you want more details, read this memo or read the resolution.
After a series of other reports from County Administrator Candy McGarry, there will be a break. This includes a request from a citizen for the Board to remove the Central District representative on the Planning Commission for a lack of attendance. Learn more in the packet.
No closed session is currently on the agenda. That’s at the end of the evening session.
The evening session begins at 7 p.m. with four public hearings, the first three of which are related.
The first is an amendment to the building code to update the prices of permits. The presentation begins here. (resolution)
The second is an amendment to the ordinance on permits and business regulations related to amusement devices. (resolution)
The third is to amend the fee schedule for land-disturbing permits and add a new $75 fee for site visits when there are complaints. (resolution)
The fourth is to amend the FY2026 budget related to recent expenditures including the $8.925 million purchase for the second Larkin property purchase, $2.6 million to refinance the loan for the 2022 Larkin property purchase, and $3.1 million in funds to the Nelson County Service Authority related to their costs to become compliant with a Department of Environmental Quality consent order. (learn more)
The Greene County Board of Supervisors will meet at 5:30 p.m. in the administration building at 40 Celt Road. They’ll enter into an open session at 6:30 p.m. (meeting overview)
One item on the agenda is a presentation on the Solid Waste Management Plan being put together by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. One interesting piece of information from the presentation is that per capita waste generation is much higher in Greene than in other localities.
Under action items there will be an action item on changes to the by-laws. At the last meeting there had been a proposal to limit general public comment to Greene County residents, property owners, and businesses. Supervisors put the measure on old on a 3-2 vote for further study. They’ll consider the matter again at this meeting.
The Fluvanna County Planning Commission will meet at 6 p.m. for a work session on the Comprehensive Plan where the introduction and chapter 1 will be reviewed. They’ll meet in the Morris Room at the administration building at 132 Main Street in Palmyra. (meeting packet)
The regular meeting begins at 7 p.m. There will be three public hearings.
The first is on a special use permit for a Small Home Industry at 1266 Gold Mine for the fabrication of precision metal parts. (learn more)
The second is for a zoning text amendments to add additional regulations for building permits in R-3 districts. (learn more)
The third is on a zoning text amendment to require special use permits for electric transmission lines. (learn more)
The Albemarle Planning Commission meets at 6 p.m. in Lane Auditorium of the county’s office building at 6 p.m. in Lane Auditorium at 401 McIntire Road. (agenda)
There are two public hearings for special use permits.
The first is for a request from the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority to fill in the flood plain for a new pump station to serve the urban water supply for Crozet at Beaver Creek Reservoir.
“The applicant has shown that fill in the floodplain is possible without raising the flood elevation or having an impact on neighboring properties,” reads the staff report.
The Beaver Creek Reservoir dates back to 1964 and the dam is no longer compliant with safety regulations and is considered a high hazard. To become compliant, the spillway is being enlarged to handle more capacity and that means its pump station needs to be relocated. The amount of fill is about 450 cubic yards.
The second is for an amendment to the special use permit that allows Camp Waterworks to increase the number of allowed overnight camp sessions and to increase the number of campers. There is a founded zoning complaint.
“The owner is still working to resolve a number of outstanding code violations related to structures added to the property without permits,” reads the staff report.
In one other meeting:
The Charlottesville Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on a Comprehensive Plan amendment as well as a special exception request. I’ll have a more full preview in the Monday or Tuesday newsletter because this edition is running out of space. (meeting info)
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This November 3, voters in Charlottesville and other localities across the Thomas Jefferson Planning District will go to the polls to vote on whether the city should levy an additional one percent sales tax with the proceeds to go to school construction.(meeting overview)
The City Council has had two work sessions this summer on the topic and now will have a third with the School Board in City Space beginning at 5 p.m.
“Because revenues are legally restricted solely to new construction, major renovations, or new debt service, this option offers a sustainable, dedicated funding mechanism for critical school infrastructure without placing the entire financial burden on local property taxpayers,” reads the School Board agenda.
I wrote up the two other Council work session with the date reflecting publication date on Information Charlottesville.
Charlottesville City Council favors Early Learning Center option that would build new gym, June 20, 2026
Charlottesville City Council discusses how $12 million a year from sales tax increase might be used for financing school construction, July 18, 2026
Council has one item to vote on, something that typically does not happen at work sessions. The United States Department of Justice has notified the city that it owes $206,933.23 in local matches for the Charlottesville / Albemarle Family Drug Court.
In other meetings:
The James River Water Authority will meet at 9 a.m. at the Fluvanna County administration building at 132 Main Street.
The Nelson County Service Authority will meet at 9 a.m. at their administration building at 620 Cooperative Way in Arrington. There’s no agenda that I could find on their website.
The Louisa County Community Development Department will hold a neighborhood meeting for a request for a rezoning of 269.44 acres of land from Agricultural-2 to Residential-2 for a subdivision. This takes place in the public meeting room at 4 p.m. Details here.
The Crozet Community Advisory Committee will meet at 7 p.m. in the Crozet Library Meeting Room. They’ll get an update on the implementation of Albemarle’s Comprehensive Plan. Will they talk about the Eastern Avenue extension? Do members know about the design public hearing? (agenda) (meeting info)
The Louisa County Planning Commission will meet at 5 p.m for a work session on growth management strategies including a discussion of a “transfer for development rights” program. There will also be a discussion of regulations for electronic message signs. (work session overview)
The work session is intended to go over the latest set of changes to be made in response to Louisa County’s population growth since 2020.
“The changes are intended to encourage more development in designated growth areas, where roads, utilities, schools, and other public services can be provided more efficiently, while helping protect the rural character, farms, forests, open spaces, and natural resources in other parts of the County,” reads the staff report.
Some of the changes include increasing minimum lot sizes in agricultural and residential districts, increasing setbacks, and increasing minimum frontage requirements.
Louisa County is also exploring the possibility of creating a Transfer of Development Rights system intended to encourage density in the growth areas. Albemarle County reviewed such an idea about 20 years ago and I really need to update the relevant cvillepedia article as it has been years since I wrote those stories.
The regular session begins at 7 p.m.. There will be eight public hearings with six of them on proposed additions to Agricultural and Forestal Districts. The seven is on a rezoning request and the eighth is for an amendment to the county’s Land Development Regulations related to recreational vehicles at campgrounds. (meeting overview)
In other meetings:
Albemarle County had a meeting of the Places29-North Community Advisory Committee but it was canceled.
The Nelson County Social Services Advisory Board will meet at 3:30 p.m. in the Nelson County Social Services building at 203 Front Street in Lovingston. There’s no agenda posted. (meeting info)
The Albemarle Solid Waste Alternatives Advisory Committee will meet at 4 p.m. in Room 246 of the county’s office building at 401 McIntire Road. They’ll hear from Eric Walter of Black Bear Composting. (agenda) (meeting info)
The Albemarle Conservation Easement Authority will meet at 4:45 p.m. in Room 235 of the county office building at 401 McIntire Road. (agenda) (meeting info)
The Charlottesville Police Civilian Oversight Board will meet at 6:30 p.m. in CitySpace. There are no materials available in advance. (agenda)
The Charlottesville Historic Resources Committee meets at 10 a.m. in the Neighborhood Development Services Conference Room. Learn more in the meeting information.
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