Board of Supervisors Regular First Meeting   6/4/2025

We thank you for your service today and every day on behalf of the citizens and residents of Albemarle County.

If all present could now stand as you are able and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you.

If you now ask if you join us in a moment of silence.

Without objection, if the clerk will call the roll.

Mr. Pruitt.

Aye.

Mr. Andrews.

Yes.

Mr. Galloway.

Yes.

Aye.

Thank you.

And we will go through our order for this meeting, starting with Supervisor McKeel.

Anyway, but the graduations have been fun.

Supervisor Mallek.

And thank you very much.

Supervisor LaPisto-Kirtley.

Supervisor Gallaway.

So thank you for allowing me to take a moment to state that.

Supervisor Perley.

That's all.

So, thank you.

I'll turn to Supervisor Malek to recognize National Gun Violence Awareness Day, the proclamation in a motion.

Second.

Without objection, the clerk will call the roll.

Mr. Andrews?

Yes.

Mr. Galloway?

Yes.

Aye.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you all for prioritizing our community's safety and raising awareness.

Supervisor McKeel.

So it just seems like we have a lot of work to do.

There's so much to do.

It took bravery for you to come, and we thank you.

Supervisor Malle.

Thank you.

So thank you for showing up and being here.

Supervisor Galloway?

Thank you.

Supervisor Pruitt.

Thank you.

And thank you for being here.

Thank you.

Thank you for being here.

We have a few sign-ups and Supervisor McKeel will read the rules and introduce the speaker.

So the first speaker is Allison Webb.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Drew Goodman.

Welcome.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Tom Lowes.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Neil Williamson is the next speaker.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak.

Without objection, if the clerk will call the roll.

LaPisto-Kirtley

Thank you.

Our action item on the Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail, as I've mentioned before, was pulled.

Welcome.

With that, I will turn it over to Margaret.

And as always, any other questions or feedback is welcome.

Supervisor McKeel.

I think as we go through I'll be able to answer those questions so that was pretty fast actually.

Thank you.

Supervisor LaPisto-Kirtley.

Satan's in the details.

No, it's the same thing.

That's it for now.

What did staff want in place of what exists now in Dunlorn and Belvedere if this vision was brought to fruition?

suggestions that the Historic Preservation Committee has made over the years is that those original houses could be retained and incorporated into the developments that are built around them.

And who would have been responsible for that?

Possibly a homeowners association could use it as a clubhouse or other similar

So we would just require it and they'd have to deal with the financial constraint.

It's one option, there may be many others.

But is staff thinking that the county would then provide an incentive so that the burden of that cost wouldn't be put on the private partner?

It's possible.

Financial?

No.

And does staff have a, where do we get that money?

We don't have the program completely figured out.

So I'll stop there, because I know we're going to have a few other passes here.

So that's all I have.

With that, I hope that gives us some feedback on those questions, but obviously I think that we're going to have to say that details matter and we're going to look, I hope, at some of those details if we go through the rest of the document.

And if you think I'm mischaracterizing this, and that is captured somewhere here, like art, theater, contemporary work, I didn't see it leap off the page to me.

I think you're probably right that we haven't focused on that in the chapter, but I will point you to page four where we've sort of listed all, or maybe not all, but many of the resources that would be considered in the broad category of cultural resources.

And so I don't know that we regulate some of these the same way.

Definitely not regulated the same way.

So maybe you hire a consultant, I don't know, but I'm just putting that in there when I'm looking at this list and what we're talking about.

Or are we going to actually?

I mean, the Ridge Overlay District for the cell tower ordinance would be a way that we would protect that.

They were off limits for cell towers.

So those are my comments.

Or do we want to make general comments on the document before we get to the implementation of the factions and objectives?

from my brain, I'd rather go through having the paper and the annotations that we've done to prepare.

Before you get to the implementation and the actions?

If you're saying take all of it, it was, I don't think.

Well, I'm not sure that's a good idea either.

Jim, do you think if we address the objection, we go through the objectives and the action items that we would actually get at the narrative?

Sure.

I have a question mark about 2.1 and 2.2.

The other is working with that information and getting it out.

And so I am very concerned about who is the community.

So is there some language that you're thinking of that we should add?

Jim, I'll stop with that and let you go to the next person.

And I guess I'm the end of two, so I will stop there.

Because those would be photos.

contact property owners and make resources available, help them understand what the value of the property is and to try to move towards maintenance.

Pardon?

I didn't mean to interrupt you.

Thank you.

That's the way I was thinking about it.

Identify these and make them available on one of the GIS layers.

Sure.

Some of those committee members are aware of those resources and can bring that information to the group.

I mean maybe they have some information we don't.

We do not have a specific program in place right now to partner with other groups, but that is what that 2.5 is getting at.

I mean that's important too, but not just historical but current because that's part of our culture also.

Those are all my suggestions.

But even that was grant related, I believe.

Well, fundraising mostly.

Thank you.

Supervisor Pruitt?

I think that's all I have.

And I'll note that's the first time that phrase has been used.

So Supervisor McKeel.

I guess, tell me what you mean by toolbox.

information sources to help with the project.

I mean, I get that in the vernacular, but anyway.

can't see in the cell tower.

That's helpful.

And we've had that happen for an attempt, multiple attempts.

Right.

Supervisor Mallek.

But it's not punitive or beyond that.

That's what I remember when it was passed.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So tell me what's in place now.

What you're referring to would be projects that are maybe road projects that have federal or state funding, which are subject to requirements, Section 106 requirements.

but there was down in the corner shared it was closer to the property the SPCA property and they basically had to kind of fence it and they had to put they provide parking and they provided that now they weren't doing that out of the goodness of their I mean they were but there was also a requirement and I don't remember if it was a condition so sure then it must have been through a special use permit or rezoning then you'll have the ability to impose conditions or proffers where that sort of resource so you're saying had that been a by right project that they wouldn't have had to do that

We just don't have a mechanism to achieve it unless there is one of those special permits.

That would have been through a special use permit condition or a rezoning proffer.

So I'm just trying to understand what the yardage is between what currently exists and what we may want to exist, because I think that's a smaller lift than creating a brand new something regulation.

So just to be clear, the cemeteries are their own special thing.

people saying, well, we're going to do the proper blah, blah, blah to understand what's going on.

cultural resources be considered and negative impacts be mitigated.

But if it were some other archaeological find or something of significance other than that, that the by-right, unless it says it's by-right, they wouldn't have to comply.

Correct.

So just tell me what that means.

It is exactly what was referred to.

Just require extra protection or are we providing extra incentive?

There could be more focus on it.

He gets extra, she gets extra points for that application to get into the conservation easement because they have a historic resource on the property.

You don't just get to have it if you let it fall down.

Thank you.

Supervisor Pruitt.

And so help me understand what is meant by broad view of eligibility criteria.

So it was really meant just to broaden it, be more inclusive.

Can you help me with that?

That's another standard.

To prevent demolition, right?

One form of an ordinance would be to require the documentation before the demolition.

4.11, we've already talked about a good bit, but help me remember, are historic resources considered at all in the ACE program currently?

Yes, I believe they are.

So they are a top-up, like a point boost already, and we're saying we want them to be more of a point boost.

But yes, I think that's accurate.

Standing outside, I wish I'd come, having done more research on the conservation easement program, to refresh my memory.

And whether that can be weighed or not in the process, I think, is something that is reasonable to ask.

In that case, I don't know that I have a problem with the languages presented.

to if you have any questions or concerns before we go into a break.

So I think it's been, frankly, a little disjointed.

And we're on to objectives five and six.

Supervisor McKeel, you're up.

I'm coming.

Sorry.

You want to move on to the next person?

We'll come back.

LED is just one type.

There are all sorts of different LEDs.

not so high lumens or you know so that we don't look like a light bulb from space.

issue would be encompassed in the wording of that action.

Public service announcements if we can do that.

I think that would be included in that.

to address, speak with them and seeing what they can do.

OK.

And along 29, the car dealerships, the ones that are already established, is there any way to lower their lumens or lower their warmth?

You could write into the ordinance that the existing developments need to come into compliance, but we have not chosen to do that in the past.

Did I misunderstand that?

It's an option, but we have not done that.

You have to go back and change that or change the light bulbs, whatever.

Yeah.

Thank you.

We'll go back to Supervisor McKeel.

So 5.3 is talking about

And we are not applying entrance quarter regulations on those corridors.

Yeah.

Ryan Homes.

Can you help me with that, Margaret?

So I don't understand what you said, because that would suggest that there have been dozens of applications that the ARB has turned down, and that's not the case.

It's not that they just blanket disapprove of them.

Correct.

And what do you mean when you say on 5.10 prioritize protection zones?

The way these resources stack up might give us a... it's a way to look at it as ways to prioritize.

Again, I'm not saying throw the baby out with the bathwater, I'm just concerned about blanket statements and

But if you can look at the areas where they are stacking up and you have more significance in certain places, these may be the places that you want to protect.

I mean, we have lights on athletic fields that are not used at night and those lights stay on all night long.

That's really a problem.

Thank you, and I'm sorry I was late.

Thank you.

Supervisor Mallek?

Thank you.

On 5.6, when you say to elevate the quality of design, can you tell me what that means?

That comes from a discussion with the ARB and the Planning Commission asked the same question and I'm sorry I wanted to go back and look through the ARB comments so that I could get you more details on that and I've not done that but we will get that for you.

Because I got to tell you, if we're not strict enough, how the hell are we not strict enough?

I think that there are the... I got it.

Because I didn't know that.

We are working with the ARB to finish up an addenda to the design guidelines that studies each of the corridors and that would make that more easily done.