Albemarle Supervisors to hold public hearing on proposed solar ordinance changes

The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors will have their first and only meeting of July on Wednesday the 16th. This will begin at 1 p.m. in Lane Auditorium in the county’s office building at 401 McIntire Road. (meeting agenda)

The first item on the agenda is a work session on the implementation chapter of the update of the Comprehensive Plan that the county refers to as AC44. The Albemarle County Planning Commission took a review last week and there’s a 25 percent chance I’ll write that up in advance.

“The current draft of AC44 has over 200 actions across the nine (9) topic chapters within Part III,” reads the staff report for the PC meeting. “The quantity and scope of these actions presents a challenge for implementation, including the reporting and tracking of implementation progress.”

I really feel it is important for people to know what is in these documents because once a government puts something in a plan, there’s a chance it will be implemented. What will the Board of Supervisors prioritize and does it match what the public wants? Does that matter in a community where only one out of three magisterial districts has a contested election this November?

The second work session is a review of legislative priorities from the 2025 General Assembly as well as a look ahead to the next session. One request Albemarle Supervisors made this year was $1.37 million in state funding for a connector trail at Biscuit Run Park. That made it through both chambers of the legislature, but Governor Glenn Youngkin vetoed the funds.

This item had been scheduled for the June 16 meeting but the item was pulled from the agenda.

After that, Supervisors will get a quarterly report from the Virginia Department of Transportation. For many years, these were done concurrently with an in-person report from Albemarle transportation staff but that’s not the case this time around. There is no information available in advance for the VDOT report, but Albemare’s report is in written form and on the consent agenda.

Supervisors will go into a closed session at 5 p.m. but do not indicate what the reason is. One could make an inference that this will be to consider appointments to board and commissions as that is the first item after the Board returns at 6 p.m. But should we have to make inferences? (more information on vacancies)

There are three items up for public hearing.

The first is to take comments on a declaration of “spot blight” for 50 Churchill Lane in the Samuel Miller District. That will allow the county to make improvements including demolition and then charge the property owner for the work.

The county sent a letter to the property owner last July informing them that staff believed the deteriorated structure there is blighted because it is open to the elements and because parts of it are falling down. Staff also estimates the work will cost $61,000, leaving $56,451 available for other projects.

The second public hearing is for a special use permit to divide 342 acres of land in the Samuel Miller District into six large tracts for six single family homes. The Planning Commission anonymous recommended approval on May 27, 2025. (materials)

The third public hearing is related to changes to the county ordinance that governs utility-scale solar arrays as well as battery energy storage facilities. I have been unable to prioritize this work so the image in the post will have to suffice for today. (materials)

Before you go: This story was first published in the July 10, 2025 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement and then posted here on July 14. Town Crier Productions is a one-person operation that seeks to produce a lot of information. If you’re interested to learn how how can help keep this going, take a look at this website.