Albemarle Supervisors to hold public hearing on policy change for taller cell towers

The Albemarle Board of Supervisors will resume their work after taking off the first week of the month. The six elected officials will meet in Lane Auditorium at 401 McIntire Road beginning at 1 p.m. (meeting info)

On the consent agenda are a few items of note:

• Albemarle County wants to pursue the ability to recoup costs associated with “emergency response to terrorism hoax incident, bomb threat, or malicious activitation of a fire alarm.” A public hearing would need to be held first and this is a resolution to begin that process. (proposed ordinance)
• There would also need to be a public hearing to increase the salary of Planning Commissioners from $7,534 a year to $7,685 a year. Members of several other boards are paid per meeting and the proposal would be to increase that from $83 to $85 per attendance. (proposed ordinance)
• The Class of 1974 will be honored with a proclamation. (read it)
• Reports from the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority and the Albemarle County Service Authority are both in writing and not presentations. (RWSA) (ACSA)
• The report from the Virginia Department of Transportation is also in writing.

There are two work sessions and the first is a “review of proposed changes to the outside agency funding process.” There are no materials available in advance but currently Albemarle has something called the Agency Budget Review Team that scores applications from nonprofit agencies. Albemarle and Charlottesville used to do this together but that ended a few years ago. 

Next Supervisors will be asked to consider changes to the Comprehensive Plan process. The Planning Commission had their discussion on July 9 and I will write up that story before Wednesday. (materials)

The afternoon continues with an update on the county’s litter collection program which is funded in part by the recently levied tax on plastic bags.

“Based on revenue generation rates, staff projects total revenues in FY24 of $120,000 and a similar amount in FY25,” reads a staff report for a request to use the proceeds to create a program to remove materials from county roadways. Staff recommends creation of a one-year pilot program to hire a contractor to do the work. There’s a list of routes in the materials. 

There are four public hearings that begin after 6 p.m. 

• The first is on Tandem Friends School’s request to increase their enrollment to a maximum of 400, up from 250. The Planning Commission voted unanimously on May 28 to approve the amendment to the special use permit they hold for educational use. (materials)
• The second is on Olivet Preschool’s request to increase their maximum enrollment from 24 to 48. This one also had a 7 to 0 vote in favor at the May 28 Planning Commission meeting. (materials)
• The third is on further easements for the developer of 999 Rio Road across a piece of land owned by the county. (materials)
• The fourth is on changes to the county’s policy on siting of towers for wireless communications. Under the proposed changes, towers could now be visible thirty feet over nearby trees and antennas can extend much further out from the pole. The Berkley Group and Cityscape were both hired to help revise the policies. The Planning Commission voted 5-1 to approve the changes with one member absent. 

Before you go: The time to write and research of this article is covered by paid subscribers to Charlottesville Community Engagement. In fact, this particular installment is from the July 15, 2024 Week Ahead edition of the newsletter.