Louisa County Supervisors to consider increases in lodging tax; public hearing on short-term rental changes 

The seven member Board of Supervisors in Louisa County meets at 5 p.m. for a closed session followed by a regular meeting beginning at 6 p.m. They meet in the administration building at 1 Woolfolk Avenue in the Public Meeting Room. (meeting overview)

I reviewed the tape from the September 18, 2023 meeting and the recording does include the citation of Virginia code that allows the Board to go into closed decision. These aren’t printed in the agenda but worth reviewing. 

The last closed session covered a performance review for public safety employees as well as a discussion with legal counsel about the performance agreement with Amazon Web Services. Last week, a company filed an application with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the first of two data center campuses to be built as part of an $11 billion investment. (read my story)

The open session for October 2 begins with the usual opening items. Supervisor Toni Williams will give the invocation. There’s also the Pledge of Allegiance, adoption of the agenda, and approval of the September 18, 2023 minutes. (review those minutes)

There are a few items on the consent agenda worth reviewing:

• Louisa will use $145,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds for renovations to the Voter Registrar Building, the Louisa Medical Center Building, and the Sheriff’s Storage Building. (resolution)
• The General Services Department is requesting up to $98,000 in funds to repair a bulldozer used at the county landfill. (resolution)
• The Sheriff’s Department seeks approval to proceed with a $50,000 project to upgrade recording equipment. (resolution)
• Supervisors will approve the pass-through of $158,212 in funds from the Virginia Department of Fire and Rescue for the county’s fire and EMS services. (resolution)

The first item of business is a discussion on a potential increase to Louisa County’s tax on hotels and other forms of lodging. Virginia code allows localities to levy a transient occupancy and guidelines for how a portion of the revenues are to pay for tourism marketing. 

If the rate is over two percent of the bill, then the county gets to use those revenues how they want. Anything over that amount has to go to marketing, unless the total levy is above five percent. 

Currently Louisa has a two percent rate. That yielded $389,331 in FY23. A projection in the presentation calculates what would happen if the total rate was seven percent. That would have generated $583,997 for tourism and another $389,331 for the county to use as Supervisors directed. 

After reports, there will be a public hearing for amendment to the county’s short-term rental ordinance.

“The proposed amendment aims to align local regulations with evolving needs and opportunities while preserving the community’s character and safety,” reads the staff report written by Deputy County Administrator Chris Coon. 

The major change is to allow short-term rentals as a commercial activity in specific zoning districts. Currently they require a conditional use permit county-wide and no one has been granted one. But there’s a caveat according to the presentation.

“The Virginia Attorney General Opinion has clarified that short-term rentals on agricultural property are categorized as agritourism activities and, therefore, cannot be subjected to regulation by the local zoning code,” reads the presentation.

That opinion was issued on January 12, 2023. (read the opinion)

The ordinance would allow short-term rentals by-right on A-1 land, A-1 land in a Growth Area Overlay District (GAOD), and A-2 land in a (GAOD). Short-term rentals would be allowed with restrictions in R-1 land in a GAOD, R-2 in a GAOD and R-D. 

“If you have waterfront property on Lake Anna, you are most likely in a growth area,” the presentation continues. 

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