Nelson Supervisors to consider new location for social services building, temporary sawmill

The five members of the Nelson County Board of Supervisors will meet in both an afternoon and an evening session today. They gather in the General District Courtroom in the Courthouse in Lovingston. (meeting info) (agenda packet)

The afternoon session begins at 2 p.m. 

In addition to approval of the recent minutes, the consent agenda contains a resolution for a budget amendment which includes information about a refund Nelson has to make to the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice. Details on the budget amendment begin on page 35 of the agenda.  

That refund pertains to a $10,364 payment from the state for services in FY2024 related to the incarceration of youth offenders. According to a certification form reported to the state, Nelson County only used $7,171 of the funding and now has to pay the state back $3,395 back. 

“Additional funds for FY2025 may not be released to your locality until the FY2024 unexpended funds are returned,” reads an August 16, 2024 letter from the Department of Juvenile Justice to Nelson County. 

The consent agenda also includes a real property tax refund of $3,319.97 to a resident of Faber. 

There will also be a proclamation for Patriot Day. Take a look at the details on page 69. 

Under presentations, the Virginia Department of Transportation will give their monthly report. That’s not in the packet. 

That will be followed by a departmental report from Parks and Recreation which is in the packet.

“We received great feedback from the Pickleball community on the newly painted lines at Rockfish Valley Community Center,” reads that report. “It was well received and our Sunday group was very thankful to not have to repair and replace tape.”

Over 6,000 people visited the Blue Ridge Tunnel in August. 

Then, David Blount of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission will update the elected officials on what happened in the 2024 General Assembly. 

Then there are two proposed work orders for Supervisors to consider. One is for a company to to work on amendments to the zoning and subdivision ordinance. That company is the Berkley Group, the same firm that worked on the update of the Comprehensive Plan. The Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors had a kick-off meeting on the zoning ordinance in late August. The scope of work has a cost estimate of $143,556 according to a handwritten note on a May 13, 2024 letter from the Berkley Group to Nelson County Planning Director Dylan Bishop. 

The other work order is an amendment to the contract for the design of the new building to house the Department of Social Services. On August 13, Supervisors authorized the purchase of 37 Tanbark Place in Lovingston for $775,000, an adjustment to a previous plan to locate the structure on Callohill Drive. Further investigation of that option revealed the need to remove a lot of rock to prepare the site for development. 

The existing building at 37 Tanbark Place was originally constructed in the 1970’s as a grocery store. 

“This location for DSS keeps them within Lovingston proper and adjacent to the local Community Services Board, which provides a higher level of convenience to citizens utilizing these services,” reads the staff report. 

There are other financial adjustments to the agreement related to connecting to a water main for a sprinkler system. For anyone interested in a well-written narrative of what it takes to repurpose a building, take a look at what PMA Architecture produced.

Supervisors will then go into closed session to discuss litigation regarding the Region 2000 Services Authority.

The evening session begins at 7 p.m. and features two public hearings.

The first is for a special use permit for the creation of a new sawmill to assist in the construction of St. Dunstan’s Academy, a new Anglican boarding school planned for Roseland. The school itself is a by-right use, but construction of equipment to harvest timber for the project requires a special use permit. 

“The mill is a portable band saw mill that can be moved around our property,” reads a handwritten application from headmaster Thomas Fickley. “Harvesting and utilizing our own timber fits within our County’s agricultural nature, and fits well especially given how large and secluded our property is.” 

A letter Fickley wrote to an adjacent property owner is also in the meeting packet. 

“If we don’t use our own sawmill, we would have to bring in logging trucks to remove our logs and then have our trucks deliver the sawn timbers back to the property as well,” Fickley wrote. “Timber-framing and forestry are important parts of our program and we are following a timber-management plan designed by a professional forester to allow us to protect, cultivate, and sustainably use our forests.”

The second is for consideration of a new agricultural and forestal district in the Montebello / North Fork area that would include 58 properties totaling 2,418 acres. 

“An agricultural/forestal district provides stronger protection from development pressures for farmers and other open space landholders than does agricultural zoning,” reads the Nelson County website. “Unlike agricultural zoning, which for all practical purposes encourages low-density residential sprawl, districts discourage land uses not in keeping with agricultural, forestral or open space land uses.” 

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 September 9, 2024 Week Ahead edition of the newsletter.