Board of Supervisors Regular First Meeting   11/5/2025

Good afternoon.

I am pleased to call to order this Albemarle County Board of Supervisors meeting, the 5th of November at 1 p.m.

in Lane Auditorium.

I'd like to note at the dais we have Supervisor Ann Mallek of the White Hall District, Supervisor Ned Galloway of the Rio District, Supervisor Diantha McKeel of the Jack Jouett District, Supervisor Bea LaPisto-Kirtley of the Rivanna District, Supervisor Mike Pruitt of the Scottsville District, myself, Jim Andrews representing the Samuel Miller District.

The quorum is present.

We are also joined by our County Executive, Mr. Jeff Richardson, County Attorney, Mr. Andy Herrick, and our Clerk, Ms.

Claudette Borgerson.

Also, let me please welcome and introduce Albemarle County Police Officers present, Sergeant Jason Freistadt and Master Police Officer Dana, oh no, not Dana, it's so many, not sure, Dana's.

Board, our first business course is to adopt the final agenda.

I have not heard of any suggested changes.

If there is a motion to approve the final agenda.

So moved.

Second.

We have a motion from Supervisor McKeel, second from Supervisor Malek.

Ms.

Mr. Pruitt?

Aye.

Mr. Andrews?

Yes.

Ms.

LaPisto-Kirtley?

Aye.

Ms.

Abort, of course, first to be brief announcements.

And we'll go through the order for today's meeting, starting with Supervisor McKeel.

Sure.

The first item that I just want to mention is that on October the 18th, Greg and I attended the No Kings protest, which was at Stonefield, which I will remind everyone is in the Jack Jouett Magisterial District.

But what I want to say about it is just to thank our community.

There were just thousands of people at that protest.

And the community was peaceful.

and even enjoy us.

And it was just lovely to see folks come together in a peaceful protest.

But most especially, I just want to thank Albemarle County Police Department and Albemarle County Fire and Rescue for the presence that they had, which made everyone, they were very calm, made everyone feel very safe

and there were a couple of health incidences that they were able to respond to very quickly, the rescue department.

So just thank you for all of the work from our Albemarle County safety officers.

Thank you very much.

The second thing that I wanted to mention was that we are on a high alert today for fire.

Everyone, I think, as you came into the building realized how blustery it is outside.

And I'm going to take this opportunity because I see Trevor sitting there.

So Trevor, could you come up and just address?

We received a really informative email from you about the situation and what Albemarle County Fire and Rescue were doing to address the concern.

Thank you, Supervisor McKeel, members of the board, Trevor Henry, Deputy County Executive.

I communicated to the board early this morning just work that Fire Rescue had done overnight to make sure that we were fully staffed including we have holdovers in case there's any response needed today.

National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning.

What that means is a condition and it runs from 11 this morning till this evening around 6 p.m.

That means the weather conditions are such that low humidity and strong winds could cause fires that would advance rapidly.

So we have all our stations staffed, fully staffed.

We have holdovers and we've asked our volunteer partners if they could also staff up

just in the event that there are issues out there.

So we're pushing this out through our public engagement process as well, but just wanted to let the board know we anticipated this and have staffed up accordingly.

Yes ma'am, that's a great catch.

There were

There's only actually one burn permit that was active.

We reached out to that.

It's a commercial burn.

Reached out yesterday.

Great.

Thank you.

You can explain what staff is doing so much better than I can.

So I appreciate sharing that information.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

This really is truly Ann Mallek, despite the voice.

Sorry about that.

I'm very grateful for the Red Flag Day being already mentioned.

and I heard it a little bit on the radio coming in so it is trickling out but there's so many people who might not know unless they hear it in media that they're actually using so I think all the effort that's been made is going to be helpful and hopefully will save resources and lives potentially this afternoon.

My news is that last Wednesday I attended the Rural Center of Virginia's conference

was in Hanover and there were quite a few excellent presentations and the notes and materials I will share with board and staff.

Jason O'Koo, Juan Pablo Segura from the Virginia Economic Development Department talked about how to protect rural lands and the rural businesses which

live there and to spread some of the benefits of our economic growth to long established rural businesses and also new ones who might come.

But people mentioned about how important it is

that the environmental protection that many counties have actually is a benefit and telling the story of the culture that your county has is a way to make sure that the companies who work there or want to come there actually see the culture of the receiving community as a fit.

and to see how they will fit in.

The rural-urban interface is also, while it's a problem, it's also an asset because in the urban areas you have lots of customers and in the rural area you have lots of producing land.

So that can be made to be a benefit, but we all have to work diligently and carefully to facilitate those kinds of exchanges.

Back in 2010, the program to get farm-to-table or farmers directly to consumers was very much a regional effort and we're living in the benefits of many of those things now.

We talked about economic development and how the wide variety of different county levels, some have zero staff.

I thought about the fact that until about 2013, Albemarle County's philosophy was University of Virginia will take care of all of our economic development and we don't have to.

And it was through the efforts organizing of the board actually from 2010 to 2014 that began to put more of a focus on that.

One of the leaders' comments that stayed with me forever was

A good job or a better job is a wonderful way to solve the housing affordability problem.

So it's one of the many assets that we have and it certainly helped me to figure out how I fit in.

They talked about the AFID program, the agricultural investments that our county also has used.

So I was very proud to be thinking that Albemarle has been using these resources and these state programs

to great benefit for our local citizens and I hope that we will continue.

And I'm zooming down here.

The last program was about tax credit, historic preservation tax credits and how many communities have used them to tremendous benefit to restore or repurpose old buildings.

There's a river block.

in Danville.

And the owner was there with his designer and also a funding advisor person talking about the assets that they have created in eight properties all along one street and the tremendous return to the citizens and the community from that.

So anyway, that's my report.

Thank you.

Yes, thank you.

I'd like to just, I mean, we had an election yesterday.

I would like to first say thank you to the voters of the Rio district for allowing me the opportunity to serve a third term, which I'm looking forward to coming at the start of the year.

I also want to thank, there was a competitive race for school board in the Rio district.

Leslie Prior, who was appointed this past few months ago at the start of the year, and Jim Dillenbeck were the candidates.

So I thank both of them for running for school board and stepping up to run, as we all know.

has its challenges, so I appreciate that they did so.

And congratulate Mr. Dillenbeck on a successful candidacy as he was voted in to represent Rio come the start of the next year.

I had a chance to visit and go inside and see the operations at three of the five in the Rio district.

As always, we have got one hell of a volunteer team that run elections in this county.

They know what they're doing.

They know the rules.

They're pleasant.

So everything was going smoothly.

They all had the data.

They understood how early voting impacted it.

So it was just really nice to see and visit with those folks and see kind of behind the scenes what was happening in those three particular precincts.

but thank them for volunteer efforts to make sure we had safe and successful elections.

The other part that I'd like to note is that we have two political parties often set up at all of our precincts around the county.

And with all the ones I visited yesterday, as has been the case in the past, you've got Republicans and Democrats there all being cordial and respectful and having lovely dialogue with one another.

I sometimes wish our federal and state politicians would come down and see what that means and what that looks like.

because Augusta Wind would come, and it didn't matter whose sample ballots went flying over the parking lot.

Everybody scurried from their tent to help pick them up.

So they all understand what it takes to be out there.

So I'm grateful to the citizens who volunteered being out there advocating for their political opinions, but doing so in a way that was both courteous and respectful of the voters that coming through, but to one another, and not allowing any sort of partisan divide.

They were out there volunteering and doing it in a lovely way.

I suspect that is the case around Bajol County.

because I've heard that and I've even seen it years ago when I had to run countywide, that was what I witnessed as well.

So just very appreciative to all those involved and who put the time out there.

It was a lovely day.

And the results, I'm sure some people are happy with the results.

Some people aren't.

But at the end of the day, that's how it worked.

But the process to get there was well done in Albemarle, and I'm very grateful for that.

Thank you.

Supervisor LaPisto-Kirtley.

Well, and piggybacking on that, we also have newly elected two new supervisors, although we are going to be very sad to see Diantha and Jim leave.

We want to congratulate Sally Duncan and Fred Missel on their win.

So they'll be, yes.

So thank you.

This morning I was at the topping out ceremony at Center 2 at Albemarle High School.

That's going to enable us to have about 400 students there all day.

So that's really, it's going to be a beautiful building.

So I was out there, like I said, this morning and it was a really nice event for the topping out.

And lastly, I know I'm going to step on Mike's toes, but we have Veterans Day coming up November the 11th and at 11 o'clock we will have a ceremony here in the county office building and you all are invited.

This is something very special where all veterans get honored and this is something near and dear to all of our hearts.

And so we encourage you to come.

That's all.

Thank you.

Thank you.

You know, everyone has to have a little bit of a ball, a hand on the ball with election day congratulations.

So I would additionally like to extend a congratulations to Molly Angbine, who won a seat on Scottsville town council in a surprise election, right?

And in doing so, unseated Eddie Payne.

And so I'd really like to extend my

My thanks to Councillor Payne for his years of selfless service to the town of Scottsville and I look forward to working with the new Councillor.

I'd also like to recognise Councillor Gritzko in the audience.

Thank you for joining us today.

Additionally, as we've already heard, Commissioner Fred Missell has won a seat and is now Supervisor-Elect Fred Missell.

That means we need a new Scottsville Planning Commissioner.

And I am already thinking about it and if anyone knows anyone who would be interested in this, I would love to chat with people because this is probably the most consequential appointment that any supervisor gets to make and I get the privilege of making one twice because of the incredible success of Fred Missell.

Now, I should also bear mention, we haven't really talked about the top of the ticket.

I do think it matters because it's something we talk about on this board very frequently, right?

Governor Youngkin has been an ally of this county at times on economic development issues.

He has helped us significantly and we've worked well with him, but there are other ways in which Governor Youngkin has

has provided roadblocks for really important county priorities.

He has vetoed funding initiatives that were specifically earmarked for our county and he has blocked things that we've identified as some of our highest priority pieces of legislation.

I am really optimistic for what the new administration might spell for some of our specific high priority issues and I hope that we have a continued and even stronger working relationship with the new administration because I think there's a lot of new movement that we can make.

Getting off the election, I should mention the Scottsville School and Hickory Hope in Southwood, both in the Scottsville District.

They are complicated to get seats in, to be a resident of, because you have to apply for a government lottery that is administered locally, and those wait lists aren't normally open.

They are about to open.

So on the 7th of November until the 14th of November, the wait list for the Scottsville School and for Hickory Hope in the Scottsville District will be open.

If you are a low-income qualifying resident, I would encourage people to apply.

This is really one of the best deals you can get.

It is really reliable, low-income housing, and two of the best communities that we have in all of Albemarle County.

feel free to reach out

The most immediate that I know people are concerned about is SNAP.

There are 3,000 people in the county, roughly, who rely on SNAP.

The state is stepping in to provide stopgap funding, but it is going to be on a different basis than normal.

This is a state-administered program, not local, and they are going to be doing it in one-week-at-a-time increments, so please be aware, members of the community, that is how your SNAP benefits are going to be being rolled out presently.

but there should be a relative non-interruption of services.

You just might have to buy your groceries on a weekly basis rather than a monthly basis.

Additionally, people who are on vouchers.

If you receive a housing choice voucher either in a project-based context such as the Scottsville School or if you're in some other private market-based place where you're using a Section 8 housing choice voucher, the government is not going to be paying their portion of it anymore.

You still have to continue to pay your portion

but the government will not pay their portion.

This is also very important because your landlord is not allowed to evict you for the government not paying their portion.

And so I would encourage anyone who is

facing issues with their landlord during the government funding freeze to make sure you both notify your voucher administrator here in the county and also reach out to Legal Aid.

Legal Aid Justice Center and Central Virginia Legal Aid will both be able to help people who are facing illegal evictions for the government's non-payment of their portion.

And finally, I should just mention there was an incident at UVA over the last few days.

I'm blanking on it.

I want to say it was on Sunday.

No, I'm thinking the active shooter incident, right?

There was not an actual active shooter, but there was a warning of it.

And it was something that I realized I felt so much closer than I have in the past, right?

You know, a UVA student during one of the last really significant incidents, but it didn't touch me in a personal way.

But this time, there was a threat at Shannon Library.

I have a person who works for me, who is a current UVA student.

And I reached out to her immediately, and I learned that she was at Shannon Library.

She had to be evacuated.

She had to sprint across the lawn under guard of police officers to get to a new shelter in place location.

She was cool as a cucumber about it, took it in stride.

I don't know.

I'm not a father.

But it hit me in a very different way than these incidents have in the past.

And it reminded me just what a chilling situation this is.

Yet another false report of the type I had hoped to figure out how we can legislate solutions to combat here in the Commonwealth, and just such a

It brings home the kind of personal impacts that parents in this community feel every single day, I know, when we have these kinds of incidents in our schools.

And it, to me, really highlighted the importance of figuring out what the hell we're doing well.

Thank you.

And all I will add is that I also appreciate how well the elections were run yesterday and observed locally.

Went off without minor hitches, but nothing that couldn't be readily overcome.

with professionalism and grace by everybody.

I'm very appreciative of the candidates.

And I congratulate Fred Missell, who will be taking my place on the board.

And I will promise to try to make that transition as smooth as possible for the benefit of all.

Mike made a really good point that I want to stress to folks that are here and anyone that might be listening.

The magisterial districts that have new supervisors coming on

will be advertising new positions and needing some folks to step up to the plate to apply for those positions.

Planning commission is one, but there are other commissions as well, boards and commissions, the service authority.

So if you're interested in serving, especially in the

Samuel Miller and Jack Jouett, I think Rio, you're in good shape as far as you're going to handle your own.

But those that are turning over, many of those boards and commissions will be advertised.

So if people are interested, they should take a look at the county website and see what's open and available and consider applying to serve your community.

Thank you, Mike, for mentioning it.

at the election yesterday I was surprised to hear both at Earliesville Precincts and for Union that quite a few in the dozens of

longtime frequent voter individuals, longtime residents had been purged.

And that they were able to work this out.

It was sort of that initial shock was surprising.

But the staff in both places was able to smooth this over with a provisional ballot and go through all that stuff again.

But it does remind me that all of us need to, before the election, go and check.

and make sure that we have not been erased in some way.

So I was very surprised to hear that.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

Throughout our nation's history, the United States of America has called on its citizens in uniform to serve and protect our national security.

And whereas, at home and abroad, generations of American patriots have defended the freedom and American values of equality

democracy and justice for all and whereas November 11, 2025 marks the 87th anniversary of Veterans Day being recognized as a national holiday.

On this day and every day we remember the millions of patriots who have served and sacrificed for the betterment of our nation.

and whereas many veterans continue to serve their country in public schools and government as public officials, teachers, police officer, fire and rescue, and other professions providing service to all community members and whereas with a profound debt of gratitude, we especially recognize the local veterans in Albemarle County for their continued service.

Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that we, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, do hereby recognize November 11th as Veterans Day

Ms.

McKeel?

Yes.

Mr. Pruitt?

Aye.

Mr. Andrews?

Yes.

Mr. Galloway?

Yes.

Ms.

LaPisto-Kirtley?

Aye.

Ms.

Yes.

Chair Andrews, members of the board, thank you for the proclamation and this honor.

Supervisor Pruitt, thank you for your service.

Thank you for all of the support you provide to county staff and especially veterans that work in the staff but also veterans in our community.

With me is Captain, retired Captain, Constantine Kai Mowry.

I'd like to introduce Kai as a fellow veteran.

He was commissioned through Officer Candidate School in February of 1995.

completed nuclear power school in March of 1996.

He reported to the USS John C. Stennis, CVN 74, as a reactors control division officer.

The Stennis is a Nimitz-class carrier, or as us submariners call it, a very big target.

He earned his propulsion watch officer and surface warfare designations while at the Stennis.

He left active duty in 2000.

Captain Maury transitioned to the Naval Reserve where he served in a variety of operational and leadership roles.

His assignment included mobilization to the Joint Task Force Guantanamo,

and Area Support Group Kuwait, as well as key billets with U.S.

Fleet Forces Command, 2nd Fleet, 6th Fleet, Carrier Strike Group 4 concluded his career serving as a commanding officer of the Reserve Board of Inspection and Survey Unit.

Captain Mallory retired in 2022 after 28 years of distinguished service and he joined us shortly thereafter.

It's been an honor to work with CHI and see his leadership

and just great experience have a positive impact in public works and for our community.

And so with that, I'll introduce Kai.

Thank you.

Welcome, Captain Mallek.

I promise, it's sure.

Good afternoon, Chair Andrews, Vice Chair McKeel, members of the board, and fellow citizens.

It is an honor to accept this proclamation on behalf

Excuse me, of the proud veterans of Albemarle County.

As you know, my name is Kai Mowry, and I currently serve as the Deputy Chief of Operations for Facilities and Environmental Services.

I retired after 28 years of service as a captain in the United States Navy.

I know firsthand the deep sense of duty, sacrifice, and pride that comes with serving our nation.

This proclamation is more than just words on paper.

It is a meaningful recognition of the generations of men and women who have defended our freedoms,

both at home and abroad.

It reminds us that Veterans Day is not just a date on the calendar, but a moment to reflect on the values of equality, democracy, and justice that so many have fought to protect.

I accept this on behalf of all local veterans, those who continue to serve our community as teachers, first responders, public servants, and neighbors.

We are proud to call Albemarle County home and we are grateful for your continued support and recognition.

Thank you very much.

If you will remain for a moment of service, Supervisors will want to express their appreciation for veterans and form of different comments.

Sure.

Thank you for being here today, for working for the county, and for your service.

I'm always amazed in my life in Albemarle County how many veterans we have in Albemarle County.

There are a huge number, whether it's at the University of Virginia, or Albemarle County, or the city, and certainly

veterans that have just retired to our area and they really are so beneficial and just make a really important contribution to our community.

I will remind folks, and I think Bea mentioned it, that on Tuesday

We have a veterans ceremony in recognition in this building in the auditorium.

It starts at 11 o'clock and I also am aware that there are other veterans celebrations around the county.

I think there's one at the center, and there are some others located in different places, but it's really important for people to show up and say their thanks to our veterans.

Thank you and echoing what was already said, but also thank you to FES for the green lights at night on the front of the building because it does help to remind our residents and to watch out and may help their neighbors who are veterans or friends who are veterans to make new connections with the VA and sign up for the benefits that they earn.

Yes, thank you for being here.

What was the nuclear science piece again?

What was that?

It's the Stable Nuclear Power School.

So there was a comedian sometime that was like, equated that nuclear science or brain surgery.

Now you make the quip.

It's like, well, it's not brain surgery.

So I always find it thrilling to find somebody where you're like, well, it's not nuclear science.

Well, this guy, it can be.

He can do it.

So I'm sorry that that just popped into my head.

I appreciate your remarks.

I have the utmost respect for everyone who has served, especially with family members who are veterans and what that means.

Once again, I also, we all do appreciate your service not only for the county but also with the military.

I did hear you described

by a four-letter word.

And I'm going to say it, and I would like you to explain it to everybody.

It's actually pretty simple.

It's pretty much the Navy's, I won't say it's a comical way, but of referring to those who have completed the nuclear power program and actually made it to the fleet.

When you're on board ship and you're operating your reactor, you spend a lot of time, we call it the reactor space.

That's why I was asking, because I was hoping you weren't sitting next to the reactor, but you're not glowing, so that's good.

But I really want to say thank you from

for all your service and being from a military family, as I think a lot of us are, that really means a lot.

Your service group means a lot.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So two quick, slightly comical notes.

I want to first note for the audience, because I'm not sure that they are aware, because you're facing us and not them.

Captain Mowry has come and he's really stunting on us right now.

He has his humongous rack on.

It is a miniature.

It is a huge miniature rack.

several more rows than I could ever hope for.

And second, we talked about the nuke as a noun.

As I'm sure you can attest, transitioning out of the service, one of the biggest things you have to learn is getting rid of all the idiosyncratic language that you use in the Navy, the slang and stuff, and one that I still can't get out and I use all the time.

is nuke as a verb because the reputation of the nuclear force is that they're giant nerds and not just any kind of giant nerd.

They're very persnickety nerds, right?

They're very detail-oriented nerds.

So nuke as a verb means to be far, far, far, far, far too concerned with inconsequential details, as in you're really nuking it out, Supervisor Pruitt.

No one actually cares about that setback.

So I would just share that with my peers and with the audience.

That is an additional part of the reputation for their corner of the veterans community.

And finally, I would always be remiss if I didn't say a slightly bummer note on Veterans Day.

I've done it before and I'll do it again.

Sorry to bum everyone out, right?

Over the last year, I'm sure my peers are pretty familiar.

I've had the opportunity to think more deeply about federal policy.

And something that comes up a lot and that I've had to grapple with is that there's a lot of voices lobbying for the military.

And there's not nearly as many voices lobbying for the war fighter, the individual, the person.

and that also goes through is there's not many voices that matter at least, that have power, who are lobbying for the individual, the veteran.

We see this in realized policy across this country.

We see this in a significant, I think, drawdown over the last year in critical federal services for veterans.

We've seen this in the real gutting of the VA over the last year and the loss of thousands of staff, the inability to fill new veterans hospitals that we bought here.

We see it in our active service.

We see it in the kind of op tempos, in the kind of stretching of the manpower that we have for our military amidst the simultaneous gold plating of the contracts for the actual goods they use every day.

I think that is a crying shame and something that we should do something about.

And I am proud to represent a community that I do think

is concerned with the actual individual, with the actual veteran, with the actual warfighter, and where we also are a community that can attract such incredible talent.

I'm so proud that we have someone who is working for us who has such a thick rack.

That speaks to the quality of an organization that we have here.

Thank you.

Now, in my household, to nuke is to put it in the microwave.

But I was a physics professor for many years, and I know the difference.

And I will say that one of my best students was from the Nuclear Power School.

And I appreciated his intelligence and fortitude and all veterans.

But I think this proclamation highlights the fact that so many veterans come back and serve.

And I think that service to community is a highlight of coming back from service to the country and the character of people who go into military service.

So thank you.

And with that, Supervisor Pruitt, I believe, has the proclamation.

Thank you.

Thank you again.

Board, this brings us to public comment on matters previously considered or currently pending before the board, rather than scheduled public hearings.

And I believe Vice-Chair McKeel will read the rules and introduce the speakers.

We have a list coming up.

We have five speakers today and no one online, so I will call the names in just a minute.

First, I need to read the rules.

And since we have no one online, let me read these instead.

During the time set up for public comment on matters previously considered or currently pending before the board, individuals may address the Board of Supervisors.

Individuals are allowed one opportunity of up to three minutes to speak at each board meeting.

A sign up sheet is managed by the clerk's office.

Timekeeping is conducted through a timer and light system at the podium.

The green light will go on when you begin speaking, which begins your allotted time.

The yellow light indicates you have one minute to finish speaking.

The red light indicates your time has expired and you will be asked to end your comments.

In order to give all speakers equal treatment and courtesy, the board requests that speakers adhere to the following guidelines.

When addressing the board, state your name and if you live in Albemarle County, your magisterial district.

Address comments directly to the board as a whole.

Any written statements or other supporting material may be given to the clerk.

If representing a group or organization, you may ask others present to raise their hands in recognition.

Speakers may not share any unused time with another speaker.

Back and forth debate is not permitted.

And do not speak from your seat or out of turn.

All comments are live streamed, recorded, and published on the Albemarle County website.

And with that, our first speaker today is Dan Gritsko.

Please feel free to adjust the mic.

Is that OK there?

Supervisors, when the tornado hit the cheese factory and the reporters went there, can you guess what the report was?

The reporter said debris was everywhere.

You can be thankful that as a bad dad joke teller that'll be my only joke.

What I have to share with you though is much more important.

There's a really amazing moment in history that we can remember.

Very soon, in fact imminently, there'll be a new statue in the United States Capitol honoring Barbara Johns.

This young woman who did this courageous act, she gave an incredible speech on April 23, 1951.

In fact, our governor-elect last night, this is what she said about it as she was recounting Virginia history, she said, where Washington and Jefferson

established a government by and for the people.

It was also where Barbara Johns, a 16-year-old girl from Farmville, led a walkout of students that would be part of Brown versus Board of Education.

Barbara Johns never gave up, and she showed us that no matter what age, you can be part of the change and the progress here in Virginia and across the nation.

Supervisors in my job, I work in the tour industry, and I've had the honor of doing a lot of presentations about Virginia history, and I start out with what I call Virginia Smack Talk, which basically is four of the first five presidents were from Virginia.

Sorry, California, you only had two, or Oregon, you only had none.

Later on I talk about the bad things about Virginia history, that we were where slavery started, where we were the colony that had the most enslaved people, and also that we were where the capital of the Confederacy was.

That said,

One of the beautiful things that's happening now with this new statue is we have a new story to tell.

And our honor as a county is to step into this time to embrace this moment so that we can encourage students to learn about it.

The last year, if you've heard me talk, I did not know this story until 2025, and I've had a number of opportunities to go to Farmville

Take students there, take my own family there, and I'd encourage all of you, you may be like me, maybe you've never heard of Barbara Johns, maybe you didn't know the story, or maybe you weren't aware of the statue, but I would suggest, as we as a county think of ways, I'm also going to talk to the school board, talk about it also, and I'm honored just to have a moment to, it's not my story, it's her story, what a cool story.

OK.

That's good.

Just introduce yourselves as you get ready to speak.

That's great.

OK.

If you could reach them to the microphone.

My name is Thea Bleach Calder.

I'm from the Rayard District.

My name is Sarah Bleach, White Hall.

and I'm speaking for Thea.

I moved to Branchlands from Earliesville in 2021 specifically to improve my access to public transportation so I could maintain my independence.

When MicroCat launched in 2023, it was a meaningful improvement.

I used it to get to and from work, to buy groceries, attend appointments and stay engaged in community life.

MicroCat played a crucial role in supporting my independence.

However, since changes to the MicroCat fleet, I have encountered major accessibility barriers.

I have a mobility impairment and use a cane.

I do not use a wheelchair, but I also cannot step up into a high-profile vehicle.

The earlier MicroCat wheelchair vans had a ramp and included a third seat that allowed me to walk in safely.

The newer vans do not have that seating configuration,

and because of their height, I cannot enter the vehicle from the side either.

These vans are described as wheelchair accessible, but accessibility is not a one size fits all.

In this case, the newer vans are not accessible for riders with mobility impairments who walk with a cane, the exact category recognized in MicroCat's own accessibility request form.

This is not just a vehicle design issue, it's a system reliability issue.

If the system is described as accessible, but riders with documented mobility impairments cannot board, then the system is not meeting the accessibility standards it claims to provide.

In April, an advocate from the Independent Resource Center, who also has a mobility impairment, evaluated a van with MicroCat staff and confirmed the issue.

During that meeting, staff acknowledged that lower

Low profile vans do exist in the fleet and they are significantly easier for people like me to use.

Later, IRC was told that an option to request low profile vans could be addressed to add it to the app, but months have passed with no progress.

IRC followed up in September and received no response.

As of today, there is no option in the app to request a low-profile vehicle.

There is no reliable process through dispatch, nor is dispatch aware of this option.

And there is no guarantee that a rider with a documented mobility need will be assigned a vehicle they can actually board.

This means I cannot rely on MicroCat, and when transportation is unreliable, independence is lost.

Therefore, I'm asking for two commitments a clear and reliable way either in the app or through dispatch for riders with mobility impairments to request a low-profile van and Thank you.

Please Comments can be provided to the clerk.

Okay.

Okay finish.

Thank you Thank you Sarah.

The clerk is right behind right over there.

Thank you

Good afternoon.

I'm Susan McCully and I'm a resident at the Samuel Miller District.

Since April, you have been reminded that stripping constitutional rights from our immigrant and refugee neighbors threatens all of our rights.

Since April, you've been reminded that far from targeting violent criminals, the administration will sweep up anyone it wants to, including American citizens.

Since April, the community has raised alarms about data collection and surveillance.

The federal government has access to personal information for all Medicaid recipients.

ICE has a data sharing agreement with the IRS.

Links between Palantir and the federal government are well documented.

The administration is actively seeking voter rolls from every state.

Most recently, it sanctioned the use of Pegasus, software developed by an Israeli-owned company that secretly infiltrates cell phones.

With the acquisition of signal licenses, ICE intends to further expand its social media surveillance capabilities and has plans to develop a round-the-clock social media monitoring team to identify leads for immigration enforcers.

The partnership between FLOC and Ring cameras is yet another insidious example of surveillance and data collection.

Recently, DHS issued a procurement for bounty hunters with the intent of arming them with this arsenal of surveillance data.

In July, we asked you to pass or at least consider a resolution that requires ICE agents to be unmasked, identify themselves, present warrants, and drive marked vehicles.

Given all that is happening, our request seems quaint by comparison.

Yesterday, voters around the Commonwealth and across the country resoundingly made their voices heard.

Yesterday, Virginia elected a platform of Democratic leaders who are committed to affordability, health and well-being, rule of law, and the Constitution.

Yesterday, people spoke and the message could not be clearer.

We vote for principled leaders who will stand up for us, for all of us.

Today, we are asking you to take courage from your constituents.

Today, we are asking you to take a principled stand.

Today, we are asking you again to pass a resolution to unmask ICE.

Thank you.

Hi everyone, I'm Stewart Overby with Don't Spread On Me and I live in the Samuel Miller district.

I'm here to talk about the need for a biosolids ordinance in the county.

Spreading of sewage sludge as fertilizer on farms and forests in Albemarle.

So apparently around October 1st some sewage sludge was spread on Fleetwood Farm in the Rivanna district right next to the North Point housing development.

And I received a message about it on October 23rd through our website and I just want to share it with you.

This person says, hello, I recently had the farmer next to me spread the biosolids on his land near my house.

I called DEQ because it was spread uphill and my well is about 150 feet down below.

They assured me it would be fine.

The smell alone is horrible.

I had to turn off our HVAC unit for a week because I could smell it in the house.

It's been over three weeks now since it was dumped and I can smell it still when it's damp outside.

I can't even warm my vehicle up in the mornings because it will suck the smell up into the truck.

I have noticed birds are attracted to it and I don't think it's good for the wildlife to be near it.

This time of year when you can open the windows and let fresh air in, I can't due to the smell.

I did speak to a gentleman with DEQ that was extremely nice and he told me the farmer can't dump for three years now.

So that was the only thing that made me feel better is that I have a break from it for three years.

So this is a typical experience for someone living near an area that's been spread.

And the thing to keep in mind is that smell's not just a nuisance, it's quite toxic.

People often report that they get sick, their children get sick, even their pets get sick.

Pefas, and God knows what other toxins happen to be in that load, will easily migrate into the air just as they migrate through soil, into the groundwater, and into nearby streams when it rains.

And this person, along with many others, is right there forced to live in this toxic cloud.

We're having an event to talk about this.

And we've got this wonderful researcher, Brian Berger from UVA, who's going to do a presentation and a Q&A at November 20th from 6 to 7 at Grace Church Red Hill.

And I brought you all personalized invitations, except for the county attorney's office, too.

His research, he has his own lab there and they focus on man-made problems looking for solutions with nature-based approaches.

It's really fascinating stuff.

You all should come.

He's going to update us on his current research which is funded by the EPA and he's looking at remediation up in Maine at known PFAS contaminated soils up there.

Look forward to you all being there.

It's open to the public.

Everyone else should come.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Lord, this brings us to item eight, the consent agenda.

I have not heard any items to be pulled, minutes or otherwise.

Therefore, I'm looking for a motion to approve the consent agenda.

So moved.

Second.

Motion from Supervisor Albemarle, Bea LaPisto-Kirtley, second from Supervisor McKeel.

Ms.

McKeel?

Yes.

Mr. Pruitt?

Aye.

Mr. Andrews?

Yes.

Mr. Gallaway?

Yes.

Ms.

LaPisto-Kirtley?

Aye.

Ms.

Yes.

Our first action item is Miller School Extension Private Central Sewer System and Central Water Supply presented by Mr. Frank Pohl, our County Engineer.

Thank you.

OK, thank you.

Good afternoon, Chair Andrews, Vice Chair McKeel, and members of the board.

My name is Frank Pohl.

I'm the county engineer, and I'm here to present to you a request from the Miller School of Albemarle for extending or expanding their central sewage and central water supply systems.

This picture is from their website, by the way.

The location of the Miller School is over in the Samuel Miller district.

And it's a rural area zone property parcel.

There is no water or sewer service.

It's outside the jurisdictional area.

And it is within the Upper Meacham's River, which is a water supply protection area.

To the north is Crozet.

There's Dick Woods Road, which comes in from the right on your screen.

The road named after the school, Miller School Road, comes in from the north and continues to the south.

Just some general information about the school.

It opened in 1878 and has 225 students.

I counted 21 addressable structures with addresses on them.

The sewer permit was first issued in the 77

and a water permit was first issued in 1970.

Our ordinance had some sections of it that were first adopted from what I can tell in 1976.

Prior approvals for this school include a special use permit.

These are more recent approvals, by the way.

I didn't go back and dig through and try to find all approvals.

But the most recent, I think,

Approval that affects this particular request is an SPE that was approved in 23 to allow the school to continue and to expand.

It included four buildings and up to 500 students.

A special exception that was related to that special use permit was approved to disturb critical slopes.

An initial site plan, which is administrative approval, was recently approved.

A brief description of the systems.

The existing sewer system is a conventional system.

It experiences some inflow to rainwater, so it's overwhelming the system that's there and the capacity of the drain fields considering its age.

has diminished.

They are proposing with this request to investigate the system to find leaks and repair.

Leaks is to minimize, not to eliminate.

I think they're allowing up to 10,000 gallons per day to enter the system and to account for that.

But they're also proposing new primary drain fields

They're shelling some reserve drain fields.

They're not installing those right now, though.

And a new secondary multi-step biological treatment system.

There are 10 existing connections.

And the request is to add four connections for a total of 14 for the sewage system.

For the water supply, there are three wells.

There were four.

I think one of them is no longer producing.

but the total capacity is 22,480 gallons per day.

Currently they're using about 10,000 average, 10 to 11,000 gallons per day average and a peak demand of around 16,000.

So they do have capacity to absorb or connect the additional four structures without increasing the capacity of the water system.

There are two storage tanks, a disinfection system and a distribution system.

The distribution system, they are extending and installing new water lines for even some of the existing buildings to get it up to, or just to make it more modern and hopefully last longer.

And they are adding some fire protection hydrants as well.

and there are 18 existing water connections.

And they proposed to add four for 22.

So that tells you that not all structures are connected to the sewer, but they do have water supply, some additional ones.

Here's the definition of a central system.

Just to recap or visit this, three or more connections is our definition for a central system.

and we count that as being structures or buildings served.

This one really fits under 102 and I underline the extend, the central system because there's already an existing system there and they are extending it.

So the request is really to extend and expand that system.

And as required under the ordinance, a hearing on a proposal is required.

Here's a plan, campus plan.

North is to the left.

It's turned sideways to fit on the page.

And you see the stream buffer on the top.

There's in green.

The floodplain is kind of in the middle of that green blob.

It's more of a darker green, I guess.

Existing sewers in pink.

and proposed sewer is hard to see, but there's only a couple of, how do I point to this?

Where the text points to propose, where text says proposed sewer, there's a line coming out there, and there are two lines coming out between the yellow buildings there.

That's the additional sewer lines that they're adding.

Existing water line is the cyan that's kind of in the top right.

You see that in top right there.

And it goes through the existing buildings.

And then the proposed water line, you can see they're putting in a lot of proposed water line.

That's the blue.

Down to the bottom right of the picture, I didn't include this, but it's in your packet, is where the water tank is located.

I forgot to mention that Critical Slopes is in the hatch, the gray hatched area.

Existing buildings are all of those gray box looking hatches.

And the proposed structures are the yellow hatched areas, which shows the four structures.

They do not plan to construct all four structures immediately.

They're going to phase it.

Phase one will include a dormitory

Phase two will include two dormitories and the gymnasium, which is to the left.

The three structures in the middle are the dormitories.

This is showing where the new drain field will be located.

On the left there is the pumping station.

It's a primary screening and sedimentation and flow equalization system.

This will pump up and over

to this system.

There is a stream buffer here.

It didn't show, but I will go back here to show you where that's located.

That is located in the top.

That pink square is the same as this green square down here in the bottom left.

And that will pump over through to the field that's along Dick Woods Road currently.

The grade flows down from the right down to the left.

Frank, do you have a pointer?

I'm sorry to interrupt you.

I don't know.

And I don't want you to go back over all of this.

Yes, I do.

I was just wondering.

I just figured that out.

Sure.

So Dick Woods wrote over here, these are the new drain field areas.

And this will be a new two inch high density polyethylene pipe that will be used to pump up to this location.

And there will be a dosing system that doses the drain fields.

So the factors favorable and unfavorable, they have existing capacity for the water.

to serve the additional buildings is a favorable factor.

It's already approved at 22,000 and I think was 840 or 480 gallons per day.

Installation of new water lines for fire suppression and fire hydrants that are not necessarily required for the new buildings.

They're doing those for also some existing buildings.

The existing sewer system would be prepared and upgraded

with new drain fields and a secondary treatment system.

There currently isn't the secondary treatment system out there right now.

VDH would continue to regulate the operation of the systems.

The one unfavorable is that it would be privately owned and maintained, but it will be one owner, which is a good thing, I think, in my opinion, so we know who's responsible for it.

And then I did include some conditions for approval.

You've seen some of these before, all of them I think.

We've modified number five to require them to document compliance, not at the request of the county, but on a yearly basis.

And we will set up in our new system a way to keep track of that.

But if you'd like, I'd go through these real quickly.

It must have to be constructed in accordance with the design plans.

In the future, I may change this to a general accord so that it's not needed to talk to our county attorney about.

potential revisions or changes, but for right now it says in accord.

There is, as you'll see in the appendix, a pretty well laid out set of plans from their engineer.

So they're pretty far along in the design.

So I don't see any issues with that for this project.

Number two, they would have to submit those plans with their final site plan and prior to final site plan approval.

And then number three, prioritization CO.

They must demonstrate that the system upgrades and expansion were construction in accord with the plans and specs.

And then that the Miller School must assume full responsibility of the operation and maintenance.

And number five, I went over previously.

Thank you.

Thank you Frank.

Would you go back to the previous slide?

I appreciate the good presentation.

And I really appreciate your addition of the proposed conditions of approval.

Help me with number five.

So I'm interested in that because that sounds like to me that is a better place for us to be in than we've been in the past where we can follow with our new system.

Am I misreading this a little bit?

Number five has been a carryover since I began approving these or reviewing and presenting these system requests.

So those have been in since, again, as I said from previous county engineer presentations and conditions for other systems.

And we've carried that over.

Yeah, the one way to do it is put it in your Outlook a year out, right?

And then you do that every year.

That's wonderful news, and that was what I was getting to because when staff changes and not everybody is aware to put a reminder in their household calendar, things fall between the cracks.

But that's great.

Yeah, so that's an improvement.

I really appreciate that.

I just wanted to make sure I was thinking about this through the right lens.

Thank you very much.

Supervisor LaPisto-Kirtley?

No questions, appreciate your presentation.

I don't believe I have any questions.

I will just double check on a couple of things.

You mentioned on slide nine that the word accord, that you were going to suggest that it

I don't want to nuke this to death.

that I might propose to the county attorney in the future.

But for now, I think that the accord is fine because of the level of detail that we have.

These kind of tie folks into the applicant into what they've submitted.

Okay, thank you.

My only other just clarification is that back in slide three, it talked about the number of

You know, the capacity of the system, but what's being added and I guess I do look at this, or actually I guess it's the next slide there, we're at 24,480 other two slide threes, that's a problem that the actual additions are now three dormitories and a gymnasium

Thank you.

You're welcome.

I don't have any other questions.

If there aren't further questions, as this is in the Samuel Miller district, I would move to adopt the resolution attachment B, approving the upgrades and extension of the central sewer system and central water supply, subject to conditions therein.

If I may add one thing before we vote.

To me, a court is really important here because it does give them notice that this is what we expect.

And don't come in and say, oh, we're off by 10 feet.

out later.

So we've had significant trouble over the last 18 years with significant accord, which is too much wiggle-wiggle for a lot of things.

Thank you.

So I've made a motion.

Supervisor Mallek, second it.

Ms.

McKeel?

Yes.

Mr. Pruitt?

Aye.

Mr. Andrews?

Yes.

Mr. Galloway?

Yes.

Ms.

LaPisto-Kirtley?

Aye.

Ms.

Yes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

This brings us to SE 2025-00033, which is Rivanna Futures Building Height and a special exception 2025-34, Rivanna Futures Step Back.

This will be presented by Mr. Bill Fritz, Development Process Manager.

Thank you.

Bill Fertz with the Community Development Department.

This is two special exceptions for Rivanna Futures.

One special exception is for building height and that is to allow structures of up to 140 feet and the other is for a step back

Special exception to reduce it from 15 feet to zero feet.

And I'm going to go through and give you some more details about what that is in just a second.

So the ordinance allows for a special exception to height and step back.

The ordinance does not include any specific criteria for either of these exceptions.

The first exception is this phrase here, which was just recently added to the ordinance.

Previously you couldn't get any, the only way to get an increase in the height was either by a variance or through a rezoning process.

Both are difficult.

So this was a recent amendment to the ordinance.

The minimum step back requirements have always been eligible for a special exception.

The ordinance does not include specific criteria for the review of either of these exceptions.

The ordinance simply states the board is not required to make specific findings in support of its decision, but the board may impose reasonable conditions to address any possible impacts of the special exception.

I would like to point out that

We typically don't do presentations on special exceptions.

You see them as consent agenda items.

Part of the reason we're bringing it forward to you is because this is a first impression of the height special exception.

So we thought we would bring it to you because it's the first time you're seeing that.

So let's talk about the step back.

The ordinance requires a 15-foot step back when a building exceeds 40 feet or three stories.

The step back is only on the front of the building.

The ordinance does include a figure showing how the step back is implemented, which is very helpful, I think.

The requirement of step back can make building construction difficult because you need to either have a bearing wall located to support everything above the third story

which may compromise the usability of the lower floors or you can use alternative construction techniques but these can be extremely costly.

This slide shows the potential location of a proposed building and road extension.

This information was taken from a site plan recently submitted for grading and utility work in the area.

That plan is actually included as attachment A3 and I believe it's sheet 9 that shows the detail.

The building location and size are approximate only at this time.

The site plan showing the details of the building is required in order for a building permit to be issued.

This outline shows the boundary between the rural area zoning and urban zoning.

The urban zoning is a mix of zoning types.

This just shows the boundary between the urban and rural areas zoning.

As you can see, the proposed building is located at the edge of the urban zoning in this case, which in this case is light industry.

However, these properties have split zoning.

I've highlighted the portions of the property owned by Albemarle County that are zoned RA rural areas.

As you can see, the building is set back considerably

The increased building height is mitigated by the fact that the proposed building is approximately a third of a mile from Route 29 and approximately 600 feet from buildings on the adjacent rural property.

Some existing trees are located on county property.

and there is approximately 100 feet available on county property for the planting of screening trees.

Plantings will be reviewed as part of the site plan for any buildings proposed.

Given the distance from adjacent development and the designation of this area for intensive development, staff is able to recommend approval of the two special exceptions.

I've included this slide just to put some of the other information in perspective.

This slide shows the various zonings in the area.

I mentioned before that it's a mix.

The light blue is light industry zoning.

White is the rural areas.

This particular map was taken from the application for the special exceptions.

You may notice that the original request includes parcel 33-14.

That's this parcel here.

I'll just highlight it for you.

That parcel has been removed from the request and is not covered by either of the proposed resolutions.

Thank you.

Move those for order.

Supervisor McKeel.

Bill, thank you.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

I did not anticipate when the height changes for the SE were proposed that we would go doubling.

So that was my original shock when I read the staff report for this.

The distances, is there any kind of formula that will be able to be used so that when the next person comes along and wants this, which is highly likely, it seems to me, that we will be able to say, yes, but this one was granted because it had 600 feet of sit back or something like that.

The ordinance has, as I said, the ordinance has no specific regulations, no guidance as to how to review these kinds of special exceptions.

I guess picking and I'm not picking on the one on hydraulic road but that is a very effective use of a six-story building but if that were 12 stories right there that would be overpowering.

So I just I hope that others will think about how we can do a better job on flushing out this process in order for this to be

done fairly, and we're not making it up for one person and not doing something for another, which I know our county attorney will be very unhappy if we start doing things like that.

So that is my concern.

The step back would also trouble me if it were on the back of the building, but since it's not, it protects those neighbors on the other side.

Thank you.

Yeah, because the special exceptions, I mean, each thing is considered for the special exception.

The special exception for step-backs, for example, does not have any review criteria.

However, the board has reviewed multiple special exceptions for step-backs, and we have a formula now for reviewing that.

We have a concept for what we're reviewing.

We've been providing that to you.

So if this had only been a step-back special exception, we would have put that on the consent agenda, because we have guidance from prior

OK, I think I understand that.

I'm just saying that if we grant one special exception in one place, does it mean we have to grant it in another place?

And the step backs and the height sometimes, like I know we've granted the step back waivers in other places because it's more for residential because it allows for more units to be built.

And it calls for it in the Rio 29 small area plan, where I believe we've got rid of the step back notion, if I'm remembering right, or maybe that's coming.

But in any case, our consideration of a Rio 29 step back would be different than a hydraulic road step back, or a 29 north step back.

Yes, absolutely.

And I would trust that, OK, I understood the criteria, so staff has something to work with regarding the height, but it would still be the same thing.

I certainly consider height at Rio 29 differently than I do at Hillsdale or Greenbrier at 29 because you take into account where it's sitting and what the project is.

Thank you.

The only question I have in reading the report is the first page on attachment A says under character of the property and area

The first paragraph, the last sentence, or the second and last sentence, a stream with floodplain runs parallel to Route 29.

Is there any way you can show me where that is?

Sure.

If you look at this particular slide.

I do not.

I can get one.

Or not.

Go by color.

Let's see if I can get it.

It really doesn't want to cooperate today.

Here we go.

So in this map here, you can see this highlighted area here.

This purplish area is both

And that was just something I was wondering about.

Otherwise, I don't have any questions.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yes, so I realize that the kind of novel issue here is the height special exception, but you also forgive me because I have not had as much of an opportunity to nuke

The step back requirements, because as we've talked, right, they previously have been appearing in consent agenda since I've been here.

So I hope you'll forgive me if most of my questions are on the step back.

Help me out here.

It's different zoning districts have this requirement and the idea is that you're stepping back the upper floors to prevent a canyon effect.

And in this particular case, generally what is looked at in the special exception request is what sort of activity do we expect at the street level and how would people, pedestrians, be impacted by that.

In this particular case, we're expecting very limited, if any, pedestrian activity because there's really nothing to attract pedestrians.

This is a manufacturing district.

This is an employment generator.

Beyond aesthetic, is there a key consideration that we implement step-backs for?

Is there a wind shear consideration?

Is there some kind of... It's purely aesthetic?

Yes.

I'm intrigued, right?

My peer, Supervisor Lipsitoe-Kirtley, frequently talks about, well, we just need to be building higher.

And I will sometimes reply to her, we're not stopping them from building higher.

It's just a factor of economics that prevents people from building higher.

Except here, where we're influencing the factor of economics on preventing people from building higher.

Okay.

Noted.

So in the spirit that we're looking at this as a first time for the height and need to understand what criteria would be involved, I want to just explore a few questions.

I'm very supportive of this, but I just don't want to understand.

So there's industrial, there's light industrial.

It did and we included some of that consideration in our analysis without having any guidance.

We thought that one of the mitigating factors we thought to allow height is the county's stated intent that this before

pretty intense developments and developments of a certain type.

And if a user then comes along and says, OK, I'm an industry that you're trying to attract, but the nature of my industry requires me to have this height in order to do my business, we would take that in consideration versus if it were

An industrial district that were adjacent to residential, I'm going to pick on an area, say Broadway for example, where you had residential nearby, may not be appropriate, not designated for the same type of things.

We may not be able to support that particular, this same application were there.

And I would point out that the board has also allowed height exceptions during rezonings to plan developments.

For example, the hotel at Stonefield is 120 or 130 feet tall.

And that was done through the rezoning process.

So the county has a history of increasing height.

We've just not done it through the special exception process.

And I don't recall what evidence of what the height would look like being presented in that case.

There was some discussion there about that particular building.

There was some discussion whether or not fire suppression could be provided.

And it was determined that, yes, it could.

But that property also has some topographic

variations there where it's 120 feet tall from one side, but it's only 30 or 40 feet tall from the other side, which is adjacent to the residential development.

So it doesn't really look like it got an increase in height from the adjacent residential development.

And the last minor point was in the material summary.

I saw a reference to utility infrastructure heights.

But I didn't see the actual numbers.

There's power lines nearby.

You can just see on here, on this particular map, there's a high voltage power line that runs along the northern part of the property owned by the county through it.

OK.

I don't recall what they are to tell you the truth.

And boy, I don't want to guess.

Sorry.

That's fine.

Just as examples of things that I'd be interested in in future reviews on things like

Thank you, Chair.

You actually caused me to think of an additional thought I had, because you were asking about, where is staff finding the criterion that they're looking for in making their own determination on recommendations?

And there was the comparison of Rivanna Futures with Broadway.

And because it's fresh on the mind, I'm thinking, well, I think Rivanna Futures and Broadway are actually identically designated

in the comprehensive plan.

They're both employment centers.

I suppose you have the Broadway small area plan to look to.

But I guess my concern here is always that we're relying on heavily qualitative standards for staff, which does shift that recommendation out of the sphere of public accountability.

It shifts that recommendation further away from people who are democratically accountable.

And there is some concern for that,

And it also makes me wonder if we made a mistake in how we're defining our types of nodes in our activity centers.

And we should have been more thoughtfully designing those over the specific and quantitative things that we were going to be deciding based on them.

I'd be interested to know if you have any thoughts about Mike's comment.

No, I thought it was a good comment and I was thinking through all the different things that are in the comprehensive plan.

I'm trying to remember the exact language for the Broadway area and in this area.

I know they are both designated as employment areas.

They are both designated as industrial.

I do believe that the Rivanna Futures area has some additional language about promoting it for defense industry, pharmaceutical, and other specific types of activity that the Broadway and other industrial areas don't have the same designation.

We need to get a few of these under our belt, develop the criteria and then we're able to

And so from Woolen Mills to this site, it's so specific to Supervisor Galloway's point is that we're really going to look at it heavily on where it's located, what's next to it.

So although the designation in the comp plan is part of that,

It may not be the deciding factor.

So if we use woolen mills, we might approve something, or we might recommend something at maybe a 20 foot plus, but maybe not double the height.

So it's really going to be specific.

These work kind of more like special permits.

How special is it to fit into that area?

Thank you.

Thank you.

If there aren't further questions, there are two motions that need to be made.

I move to adopt the resolution of approval included as attachment A, which this would be part of the SC 2025.

What?

A4.

I'm sorry.

Thank you for that correction.

00033, Rivanna Futures, Building High.

We have a motion from Supervisor LaPisto-Kirtley, second from Supervisor McKeel.

Ms.

McKeel?

Yes.

Mr. Pruitt?

Aye.

Mr. Andrews?

Yes.

Mr. Galloway?

Yes.

Ms.

LaPisto-Kirtley?

Aye.

Ms.

Thank you.

The next one, I recommend a motion for SC 2025-00034, Rivanna Futures Setback.

Motion from Supervisor LaPisto-Kirtley, second from Supervisor McKeel.

Ms.

McKeel?

Yes.

Mr. Pruitt?

Aye.

Mr. Andrews?

Yes.

Mr. Galloway?

Yes.

Ms.

Episto-Kirtley?

Aye.

Ms.

Yes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Board, this brings us to the first presentation.

Let's see, pretty close to time here.

Transportation Planning Quarterly Report.

Albemarle, Karina Plume, Planner 1, Transportation.

I'm here with Albert Carinaplon to review a few highlights from the transportation quarterly report.

The complete details of all the work transportation planning team is doing is provided in your packet.

I'd like to start with VDOT funding opportunities.

There's a revenue sharing funding which we apply for in odd years and smart scale we apply for in even years.

We're entering that period where we're considering the projects that we will apply for.

Pre-application materials are due April 1, 2026, and final materials are due August 1.

The Commonwealth Transportation Board will consider all applications and release a recommended funding scenario in January and will adopt the final six-year improvement plan in June of 2027.

So you can see this is a process that takes several years to get through.

Staff has been discussing with VDOT those projects that are eligible and would like to go over those projects.

We'll continue to work with VDOT and the MPO to develop a recommendation for the board's approval at a future meeting.

This is a list of projects that are eligible.

Both the MPO and the county are eligible to submit

Each are eligible to submit up to four applications.

The slide lists the project for consideration and I'll identify those the MPO may apply for and then the counties with more detail in the following slides.

And I'll just note that the numbers and letters are animated on this slide so you can very quickly pick out where these projects are.

I won't read through these, but you can see as we go through the animations where the projects are located.

So the numbered projects are those the MPO is eligible to apply for, and the lettered projects are those that the county is eligible for to apply for.

So we'll go through the individual projects the county is eligible for.

The first one

One of the projects that the county is eligible to submit comes from the pipeline study of Barracks Road.

This project would add a dedicated right turn lane circled in red on the slide.

In addition to the right turn lane, Barracks Road would also have a median built so that there are no more left turn movements from vehicles.

Lastly, a sidewalk or shared use path is included in the project to go from the bypass bridge up to Surrey Road.

Another potential submittal is a roundabout at Old Trail and 250 in front of Western Albemarle High School.

This project has been submitted two previous times in 2022 and 2024, scoring well but not quite well enough to be funded.

Staff believes that this is a good project and another good candidate for smart scale application submittal.

Roughly a year ago, we presented to you the results of the old Ivy Pipeline Study.

There are two roundabout projects from the Ivy Road Corridor Pipeline Study that the county is considering.

The first one is the proposed roundabout at Ivy Road, Old Garth Road, and Canterbury Road, as shown on the slide.

This roundabout would improve the operations at this critical intersection, helping to alleviate backups for drivers coming off of the 29 bypass to get to Ivy Road.

The study also recommended a roundabout west of the previous one at the entrance to Boar's Head.

This could be in addition to dual right turns from Old Garth Road onto Ivy Road with left turn movements for drivers happening at this roundabout.

Drivers would have to go slightly out of their way to turn left, similar to what is happening now on Hydraulic Road with the roundabout in front of Whole Foods.

We are still evaluating in collaboration with VDOT whether we would apply for one of these roundabouts or over the other, or if we apply for both as a single project.

Good afternoon board, I'm Eric Green, planner, community development.

I want to talk about some other VDOT studies.

So right now, we have two star studies being conducted by VDOT.

One is from the US 29 corridor up to hydraulic road, and one is a study of the Emmett hydraulic 250 barracks interchange bow tie system.

That's what's pictured here on the slide.

The purpose of the 29 corridor study is to address safety concerns for both drivers and bicyclists slash pedestrians, identify good crossing locations for US 29, and to improve the operations of the corridor for side streets.

The Emmett Street study is looking at improving the operations of the interchange, providing more and better pedestrian access in this area.

Staff has provided initial comments to consultants.

Further meetings are planned for November.

and then project recommendations from this study are not intended to be ready for smart scale application for next year.

Other efforts we have been doing, the notice to proceed for Three Notch Trail was issued in February.

There have been multiple meetings with the technical committee, the stakeholder groups and the public.

Staff and consultants have conducted site visits to the potential alignment sites.

The three potential alignments will be released to the public in December.

The Board decided to move forward with a permanent closure and discontinuance of Freebridge Lane on August 15th of this year.

A petition was signed by Jeff Richardson and was sent to the Charlottesville Residency.

Staff is working with VDOT and Albemarle County Parks and Rec on determining the exact limits of the discontinuance.

Staff will return later this winter with a formal resolution to discontinue Freebridge Lane.

The secondary six-year plan was adopted last spring, with the board making some changes to the Rural Rustic process.

Now, when residents request a road be paved, staff will provide the list of people that need to give feedback, but the responsibility of collecting signatures is on the resident.

After signatures are provided, VDOT will then review the road for Rural Rustic after.

Sutherland Road, Burton Road, Burton Lane, Starlight Road, and Blair Park Road were approved for paving.

Bleak House Road and Pea Ridge Road didn't receive more than one-third votes opposing paving and Sharon Road and Foster's Branch Road did not receive enough votes either way.

There are multiple roads right now that are going through the signature process.

Staff will return to the board in April to present the draft secondary six-year plan.

And lastly, county staff continues to receive calls and emails from the public about transportation issues from around the county.

Most notably, staff has been working on finding funding for a speed study for Park Ridge Road in Crozet.

VDOT studies show that there has been excessive speeding on this road segment.

And per the VDOT traffic calming guidelines, the locality is responsible for managing a traffic calming study that will provide engineering solutions.

and staff continues to receive concerns from residents about the speed of Penn Park Road and the lack of pedestrian and bike facilities on the road from Royal Road to Penn Park.

Staff will continue to monitor concerns and evaluate potential for bike and facilities along the road.

Thank you.

We'll go through order.

Supervisor McKeel.

Sure.

Thanks to both of you.

Would you go back to the very first slide that you all talked about, talking about barracks?

out there.

There you go.

So just one more time, go through this for me, please.

This area is critical.

We have crashes in this section, and you know that, weekly.

And I'm not talking fender benders.

I'm talking real crashes where cars are upside down.

I saw just two the week before last.

I can, sure.

This is a pointer day.

Yeah, we're all learning.

Barracks Road and then of course US 29 and the interchange there.

So what this project is proposing is to add a dedicated right turn lane onto the entrance ramp as well as eliminate the median down the road.

I'm sorry, install a median down the road.

Correct.

Continuously.

So it would prevent those left turns onto roads like Bennington.

And we did previously study the possibility of a roundabout at Commonwealth, right?

And determined that it was an expensive solution and so we thought we would start here.

Not at Commonwealth.

I was going to say Commonwealth is not the right place.

It was an expensive project.

For now?

It's not been off, it's not taken completely off the table?

Okay.

Correct.

Kevin's nodding his head.

That's my memory as well.

Okay, so this is really great.

Right.

And I will say that this continuous median is critical because

One of the dangers on Barracks Road right now are all the U-turns that are happening.

And people that live along Barracks Road on the side of Canterbury Hills can't even safely pull out of their driveways because people are U-turning and coming down and causing conflict.

That's a great word.

So that continuous barrier along Barracks is really critical.

And I will add, just for people in the know, is that the neighborhoods here have agreed to this.

This is what they want.

especially the people that live right in this section on Barracks Road.

So I'm thrilled to see that this is being proposed.

So tell me the status of this.

Sure, so we're working with VDOT to refine this project.

and get a concept plan from them as well as an initial cost estimate so we can apply for funding through SmartScale.

And I knew that once it was denied, that whole project, that taking it in different bites, it was going to take a while.

So we're talking realistically before we have any action on this, what, four years, six years?

Roughly four to five.

I'll be pushing up daisies.

I hope not, but four to five years.

Okay.

All right.

Thank you for going back to that.

I really appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We are looking at a sidewalk or preferably a shared use path.

We believe there is some room to have an entire shared use path so it would be bike and ped.

Part of the original study was they were going to shift by taking away the median and stuff.

They'd be able to shift it north and make some room that way.

Okay, there's still only going to be one car turning it, one lane turning south onto the bypass at Barracks, right.

When I first must have misunderstood that there was going to be a double lane there and I thought pedestrians would never be able to get safely across that, even though there's a crosswalk there, there's almost never a chance when somebody can get across, so that at least is a little bit more possible.

Thank you.

That is

The Boar's Head roundabout is at the Birdwood entrance, not the Boar's Head Inn.

Because it shows right opposite White Gables.

So I just wanted to clarify that I'm looking at the right map.

Kevin McDermott, Deputy Director of Planning.

I just wanted to clarify, it is confusing because the road Boers Head is actually not at Boers Head, the hotel.

Which is curious because when that was improved by special department, when they were applied to

Renovate the Mansion, it was described very carefully that this was only for the golf team to be using and now it has become the major road entrance into everything else down there so this seems to make this permanent that all of a sudden all the traffic is now shifted onto the residences down near the sports club who were told originally that that was never going to happen so I just wanted to remind you of that and

But when we received our last smart scale update from VDOT at MPO a few weeks ago, they said the next round of smart scale would be even more competitive than the last round.

And we didn't have anything but a curse word to say there.

So I appreciate your optimism when you tell Supervisor McKeel four to six years, but it's not going to be four to six years.

You've got four or five projects that we'll submit, four or five projects that the MPO will submit, and we're being told by VDOT that it's going to be a more competitive process compared to the last round where we only received a small package on pan tops.

So we didn't get any of our big projects done.

This is.

and then I brought it up at the MPO meeting to go well you're basically having us do this as a way to then say well now we don't want to do that we want the bigger project again which is it's almost a purposeful delayed process to put a big project in to see if it'll get done it won't get done you've also submitted the small project so now you can't get other applications in

You go your next round, you try to do the small projects.

Well, they're not really great projects because they're smaller and piecemeal to what the real fix is going to be.

Then you have to go another round to maybe finally get a project that could potentially actually fix.

So I mean, been a fan of smart scale, so in concept.

But the way it's been working the last few rounds, it's not necessarily even the projects.

It's back to the funding issue.

It dawned on me.

You know, I've complained that in the state 30 billion in projects got submitted and then 8 billion got approved with an additional billion in localities having to do matches.

But then what occurred to me over the last few weeks since the MPO meeting, think about this for a second.

How many projects are on our transportation priorities list?

Okay, so now take all the localities, because we're limited in what we could submit to the state.

This got me hot in the last few weeks even more, because I kept saying that the 30 billion dollar request, as if that was everybody's transportation projects.

That was just what they were allowed to submit for.

So it's even a bigger multiplier of what's needed in the state beyond maintenance for improving transportation projects.

So, I mean, really, I don't have questions about the projects or a lot of feedback, even the order.

I'll be happy to get one freaking funded, whether it's ours or an MPO submitted one.

Ann and I have been asked to give opinions at the MPO and we'll be on the 17th of December, so we have to start making decisions what the MPO will submit.

It's a virtual meeting, so if some of you want to listen in or be part of that so you can hear it, that day we've requested a complete explanation from VDOT on how transportation is funded in this state for everything.

I don't know what it's going to look like yet or not.

but we've asked for that and VDOT said they're going to bring it to us and have a presentation on it so everybody at the MPO and for those we can understand how the dollars flow down from the General Assembly into VDOT and then ultimately to the to the localities so that's just an FYI.

I am on the Barracks Road project because there was an iteration we saw and it must have been an outdated design or maybe it was I think it was a VDOT

Across barracks, not across the entrance.

There is a second project that the MPO is looking at which would be the northbound ramp exit ramp here and I'm just trying to clarify that there were dual lefts there and a crosswalk of course and right now these are all still

preliminary concepts.

I'm glad there's not a crosswalk linear cross barracks.

We will continue to discuss that.

We know that we can only fit pedestrian facilities under this bridge on one side of the barracks road.

So one way or the other, we have to make sure that all pedestrians can get to the side that has it.

We're still trying to determine.

where any crosswalks would go, but that's probably what you saw.

So some of the MPO projects will be the Fifth Street again, some different variation of the DDI at Fifth Street and 64.

And then another new treatment, and this is my point from earlier on exit 118, we did these smaller approaches, well if they would have done the project the right way, what, 30 years ago, we wouldn't have the issues now.

Then we had another chance to do it right in a different project.

We didn't do that because it couldn't get funded so we did a smaller piece and now we've got to fix the smaller piece again.

So we're in this continual cycle of doing these band-aid fixes and it's costing us millions of dollars to do fixes that effectively don't fix anything that have to be fixed yet again.

And will you let us know when that virtual meeting is going to be?

December 17th at 4 p.m.

I believe.

December 17th.

Wednesday, that's when the MPO, because it's December, of course, everything pushes forward.

Yeah, yeah.

And it'll be on the PDC's website, but we'll make sure that we send the... We can send an invite to that.

Thank you.

There's a couple of other things that would be helpful.

I wasn't expecting this today.

I'm not expecting it by the end of the year.

But we as a board, and I had asked Kevin this related to the MPO, and I appreciate the response you gave back.

about our own transportation priorities list.

Sometimes these projects come up at MPO, and Ann and I don't really have the feedback or the input of all the folks.

We've got staff, of course, of what they're working on.

We all trust that they're focused on the right things.

But we really haven't contended with that transportation priorities list for a couple of years.

and we have to because when you're at the MPO trying to decide with how the state dictates what can be submitted and who can submit it, it's hard without that input to, we're working on old priorities or old opinions of our fellow board members.

So I think we have to get at that.

Now I know you're looking maybe at a different process, there's so many, I mean I don't know how to wrestle with it, it's up to 150 now for God's sake.

But between the public's interest, between the needs of that, between maybe advocacy or things that we want to talk to the General Assembly about, we have to get our own head wrapped around, you know, I've got opinions, I don't know if other people would agree, but there's certain projects that, you know, of course I'd advocate that I'd want higher on the list or lower on the list, but at the end of the day, knowing everybody else's priorities helps us when certain projects pop up that

at MPO.

Because that Fifth Street intersection EDI, frankly, I think is the number one project we'd like to see done in terms of significance.

But I mean, all of the ones that the MPO are going to submit are important.

All of the ones we're going to submit are probably not as important as others, but we're playing the game.

We might be able to get these through.

So then we're kind of putting off some other higher significant or some more significant

Projects.

The only other comments I want to throw out there, because I don't think it's for smart scale or for anything immediate, but now that we've acquired the right-of-way or the easement behind Home Depot for the possible Hillsdale realignment, I'd love for us to start thinking about getting ready for that.

There's still a small chunk that we have to acquire to have the full realignment done.

But eventually, that realignment would likely be a smart scale project.

But it would be nice to get a couple of the other pieces in to start thinking about that.

Thanks.

I'll just mention that the study on 29 North that Albaric mentioned that VDOT's doing

We have actually asked them to consider how that Hillsdale extension could fit into those alternatives.

Yeah, because obviously then that gets rid of how bad of a problem the Old Brook, Northfield, and Hillsdale intersections are in the two lights.

Because that project could maybe even solve some of that particular issue.

Yeah.

In the meantime, if there are smaller light or programming things, like there's not really a lot of Rio Road stuff in here, but if there's ways to get at it with light configuration or analysis, obviously I'd be supportive of trying to work that in because I know with the funding constraints that these other projects are taking priority over that Old Brook-Northfield intersection, but we're still having

I mean, we have so many intersections that have got bad accidents there, and they're continuing there.

If there's anything we could do to kind of help with it, I want to advocate for that.

In the Penn Park Road, there was something on here about a speed study.

This was a question I asked Carrie the last time she was in front of us.

I mean, she's not sent the update yet, but I've been asking her and VDOT for this.

I don't need a speed study.

If you follow the rules of the signs right now, there's only about 30 yards that allow you to do the 35.

So they just need to change the speed limit.

Now, I've made that opinion known to VDOD, but is this on us that we have to do something with this?

I've been waiting for them to come back and tell me what they have discovered.

I mean, it's their signs with the curve and with the school entrance and everything like that.

You really can't legally do 35, but for a very small section of that street.

You won't get any disagreement from us on that, Supervisor.

And we are pushing VDOT.

They are difficult to get to agree to lowering speed limits.

Like I said, this was one that I asked Carrie just a month ago to give me an update on.

So we haven't got that update yet, so I can follow up with her on it.

But I just wanted to make sure that this somehow didn't fall back on you all to have to deal with.

Nobody here disagreed with that and I made the point that the sidewalk now on Penn Park Road with Rio Point coming on in 300 plus units, there are going to be a hell of a lot more people walking down where we have already put some infrastructure in place to get to Penn Park.

I appreciate you saying this because it is what we're looking at.

When would be reasonable?

I don't know.

I don't know if it would be next year, and I don't expect that you all know or have the answer, but that transportation priorities-less conversation, when might that be something that we would be, that might make its way in front of the board?

I think that we are working with our county executive's office and Jodie Filardo in trying to work out a process for moving forward with that.

Essentially we felt we needed to get through AC44 before we could jump into doing that because it would give us feedback to include into the prioritization.

So I think we've got something on the schedule actually next week for

Because I know you said 44 is wrapped up.

You'd also mentioned this multimodal study, and I don't know the timing on that.

That is something that we're looking at.

And those two items may be tied together, the multimodal study and the prioritization process.

Well, maybe after you all discuss it,

looking to Ann as well.

I'd love to be able to have some discussion before the smart scale applications, but it's sounding like that's probably not going to be the case.

So when you all kind of figure that out, if you could maybe just drop a note to the board so we knew when to expect it.

Because I think it's something that everybody needs to weigh in on, especially to inform how MPO has got to submit some applications.

Thank you.

Maybe.

I would say we've gotten one project every smart scale round at least, except for the very first round of smart scale.

OK.

Absolutely.

It's about how much money goes into the state budget for smart scale, how much money all the projects that are out there in the state cost, and how much money

So knowing that that could be very problematic, I can hopefully safely say that these are probably based on the price tag.

I guess what I'm asking is, as a board, and I'm asking, I think, Supervisor Galloway and Supervisor McKeel, is it better that we focus on

One or two?

I mean, none of these are in my district, but that's okay because, you know, these are all good projects.

But would it be more helpful if we culled it down to a couple?

I'll try and answer.

It may if you have

Two projects that are competing against each other and they both end up with a very similar score.

One of our projects may knock another one out, but we are also competing against all the other projects in Culpeper and all the other projects in the state.

Without us knowing for sure how well each one of these is going to score because we don't have access to the full scoring method or how other projects might score, we tend to think that it is good to keep

a fairly good number in there to increase our chances.

But we're working with VDOT, and they do help us try and determine if something is worthwhile in any sense to move forward with.

So we do look at that, but there's a lot of factors that have to be considered.

Hoping to get one, so it sounds like a real crapshoot.

OK.

Whoa, that's not very, that's depressing.

Well, piggybacking on what Supervisor Galloway said, if we can do nothing else, either at the county level, I know I've been advocating for 250 and 20 red light cameras.

I've been squawking in the squawk box for that.

I mean maybe there are little things that we can do at different intersections that may help.

That would be one that I would like to see.

Right, it's coming up next year and it was moved up, so I'm happy about that.

I support red light cameras, yes.

It's always a good idea, I don't know.

That I would appreciate.

Thank you, thank you.

Okay, so on page one of the transportation planning quarterly report, at the bottom, item four, I just, I don't know how this looks.

Implement a through cut at US 250 Peter Jefferson Parkway intersection.

A through-cut prevents vehicles from going all the way across the intersection.

So you will no longer be able to go from Peter Jefferson Parkway across to Glenorchy, yes.

or opposite.

And the reason that they're doing that is that they did traffic counts, they determined that very few vehicles do that movement and you can make that movement by other means and by removing it we can add additional signal time back to the more prevalent movement.

I know Glen Orkey, I support that.

I think that's fine.

Okay, that answers that question.

to help?

Yep.

We have it on our list.

Got it.

Those are all my questions.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm not sure I have any questions per se, just to reflect that.

Before, you know, Supervisor Gallaway's very thorough comments that I would like to probably support, I was thinking something similar, right?

Because I was looking, oh, we've kicked off a pipeline study at one of my most complained about parts of my district, right?

Fifth Street intersection over there by the new Wawa, which has only exacerbated what was already a problematic intersection, a fairly new intersection.

It's going to be studying solutions for a future smart scale project, for that smart scale project to then fail.

for then us to, I suppose, probably implement some kind of minor stopgap in a place where we're already actually doing a VDOT level construction project that's just not going to address these issues.

And it is exhausting thinking the amount of resources that are being thrown at a project without any of them going to fix the project.

And I don't have a

I don't have a normative solution that I'm throwing out, but only to express that it's frustrating.

And this is something that I think rests primarily with the state level and how they implement these.

But we've talked previously on this board about, during our comprehensive planning process, how, hey, it would be nice if we could reduce significantly on certain projects that planning level.

If we could start to have more just

off-the-shelf implementable schemes to really cut that out and actually deploy solutions without a two-year engagement and planning process.

And it would certainly be exciting to see that level of agility in state-level transportation planning.

And I guess we're not going to get there anytime soon.

But we live in hope.

comments.

I do look forward to discussing this with the delegates and the senator at our meeting on legislative priorities.

I'll make a quick comment on the materials.

I know that they say November 2025, but there are a couple of references to a public hearing is scheduled for summer of 2025.

And I don't know whether that happened or didn't happen because it wasn't updated on pages 7 and 8.

We'll look into that.

Is that just on, it's in your report, it has those dates?

Yeah.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Question about, you mentioned about Park Ridge Road and I may have misheard you and that's fine on me.

I heard you say a speed study

but we've done numerous speed studies here.

I was thinking about this street when Jody's retirement announcement came out because I think the very first week she was on the job here, which is now six and a half years ago, there was a meeting in during COVID at the end of this road and there were hundreds of residents all standing as far apart as possible to try to come to this to find a solution for this.

What I took away from reading this thing was we're looking for money to do this study.

And we are way beyond that.

I mean, we've almost had a child killed.

We've had a cat killed.

We've had people totally disregarding everything about this road.

And so if there's a contingency pot that can pay the consultant to do the design for the traffic calming, that's right.

But I would be very upset if we're looking for funding to do another speed study.

I'll address those two things.

So we have identified funding to look at the actual solution for traffic calming on this road.

We'll be working with a consultant just this week to get that scope finalized and move forward with the project.

And I didn't have it written down, but what about the adoption of Eastern Avenue into the state system?

That has been also lurking for four and a half years.

And I keep asking about that and never get an answer.

So I assume that means there's nothing to be reported.

I think there is something to report there.

Michael Barnes, Director of Planning.

We needed a fourth person to stand up here, I guess, for you all.

Yeah, I know that Frank Pohl is working with them.

Apparently they're paving the... Frank Pohl, the county engineer, had been working with the developer who still owns Eastern Avenue.

So this was the repair that they did the wrong elevation three or four years ago and they did some half-assed, pardon me, repair and didn't make and fix it right then.

Okay, well thank you for that.

I appreciate that.

I won't go jump off a bridge on that one.

And just in reflection on what Ned was saying earlier brought me back to the situation for the hydraulic road grade separated interchange.

The state was ready to pay 100% of the hydraulic road grade separated interchange

Our jurisdictional neighbor threw a roadblock in there and instead of fighting to the death over it, we walked away.

So, I mean, the company was ready to mobilize down the road.

Phil Chiquette said over and over and over again, we are ready to move down there.

Can you please do this?

A meeting with people in their kitchens trying to get them to agree to do this, and they wouldn't.

So I guess my encouragement is we need to fight harder for things because it's never going to get any easier than it is right then.

Mr. President, can I look?

I'm not sure who to address this to, but it popped up at the MPO meeting

They're concerned about folks traveling into, you know, after you pass the river traveling south down 29, that there's the issue once you pass Woodbrooke of cars in the right two lanes, oh crap, I got to get over to the left two lanes to be able to go under the interchange.

And then the other direction coming off of Rio Road where you enter onto 29 North, there's people that then try to cross over to get to the Kroger.

I don't have any comments about the North one.

I know that that's a battle, but people could just

Drive west over the interchange and take Berkmar to Kroger.

That's what I do.

It works.

The interchange works great for the railroad crossing.

But driving in, I drove it the other day coming back from a meeting.

And there's no signage until you pass Hilton Heights Road that suggests that you have to be in the left two lanes as you're traveling south.

And the sign that is there is in the median.

So if you're in the two lanes that it would actually be helpful to see that sign, you can't see the sign.

Then the sign that's on the right side of the road isn't there until you pass Woodbrooke Drive and it's too damn late at that point.

Before VDOT starts thinking about wild corrections of how to fix this problem, perhaps we could try some signage, probably before you even get to the river as you're traveling north, that starts to tell people, start getting in your lane.

And if you have from the river two Woodbrooke Drive to start doing that, it could probably be easily fixed without a lot of money and effort.

I mean, we probably don't like over 29 signs, but we have them in places, but that's going to be a heck of a lot cheaper solution to do than if they started trying to do lanes.

I don't know what they were thinking, but I mean, it's just sniffs of a project that may not be necessary if they really just do better signage that tells people coming into town

Like the people that need to get to BW3 or like to do a U-turn into Carsbrook, they know coming down past Hollymade that they got to be over in those left lanes before they cross the river.

They just know that.

Well, all the people traveling into town that want to go to UVA and JPJ and all that, well, they don't know that they have to do that.

And they don't find out until they pass Woodbrook and it's way too late.

So I would love for us to maybe brainstorm that, because I think we can fix it with proper signage.

Well, this is just to have something to do.

That was on my list also because going north the signage needs to be at

Seminole interchange.

Because then you've got three or four stoplights to get over.

I know people use it as a drag strip and they fly up the right lane and then cut people off on purpose.

But the notice, we had, think of 29 Solutions, when that construction project was going on, we had wonderfully informative signs.

Where the businesses were, get in this lane for this exit, blah blah blah.

Why can't we do that?

And this whole issue would go away.

Well, we had a leader that was willing to say, we're taking this project away from the city and we're going to do it so we get it done.

We had a leader that was willing to do things and there were other examples, not that similar, but I'm just saying to get things done and that's

been lacking at the VDOT level to some degree.

I just have a couple things to say and I'm going to say them because I have probably, what, six weeks left to say?

But the state has underfunded transportation and education now for decades.

and that's what we're seeing right now.

We have a new administration now and I think many of us are hoping that some changes will come about.

But people cannot expect to have low taxes,

and have all of the transportation projects and all the schools and education that they want.

It doesn't work that way.

At some point, people, somebody has to pay for it.

I'm just saying.

And I will move on too.

One of the issues that we have in this community is we have the city and the county.

And we've got to start working better together in the urban area, at least around transportation.

The gridlock that we're seeing in the urban areas now is outrageous.

And if we could work together better, for example, the city has promised us 10 years ago that they would synchronize their stoplights to match ours.

Has that happened yet?

One of the reasons why we have the gridlock is because of the lack of signals and stoplights not talking to each other.

That is ridiculous.

It's lackadoodle.

So if the city and the county can agree to work together, and that's not staff's problem, that's the leadership in the two communities working together.

It was predicted 20 years ago.

that if the city and the county didn't do something about their intersections where we meet, we would be gridlocked in 2024.

Well, let's look around at where we are right now.

My voice is going up because I'm very frustrated.

We are causing some of this ourselves, not just Albemarle, but we need to figure this out as a community and work together on it.

And that means sometimes somebody's going to have to pay for something.

Having said that, we also need to get people out of cars and onto transit.

Now, I don't believe that that's fair.

It would be fair to us to expect that transit's going to take care of all of our problems.

But in the urban area, it would take care of some of our gridlock.

and we don't have a robust transit system.

We have a transit authority and I'm already hearing concerns about, oh well we can't raise taxes to pay for that, we can't do this, I wouldn't want the money to come from this or that.

At some point, we're going to have to figure out how to pay for a robust transit system if we want to get people out of cars.

Because not everybody can ride a bicycle.

I'm appreciative of bicycles, but most people are able to ride a transit system in the urban areas.

So we need to be providing that for folks.

I am really on my high horse here.

And I guess I will stop to just say that

We really need to be advocating at the state level, but our constituents need to understand that their taxes actually are pretty low if in fact we're going to do what they want us to do, which is to create better, stronger infrastructure.

We can't do it with the money we have.

and we can reprioritize for decades and do one project a year?

SmartScale is what, Kevin, every two years?

So we're talking about one project being approved every two years.

Now you talk about whack-a-doodle.

That ain't gonna work, folks.

Sorry, I started too soon.

It's okay.

All right.

Thank you, Kevin McDermott.

I'm deputy director of planning.

And I'm here today to give the board an update on the MicroCat program.

The purpose of this is really, if you'll recall, in October of 2023, we started this two-year demonstration grant.

So the two-year demonstration grant would have just come to an end.

And so what I'm doing here is trying to give you all a recap

of how those two years went so we can start to think about what the future may hold.

So with that, I will jump in to start with a background.

So this all began back in

2022 with the Albemarle County Transit Expansion Study.

It was not focused on microtransit.

It was really just looking at how we could bring improved transit services to a number of areas around the county, including the 29 North area, Pantops, and some areas south of town.

The result of that study, though, was a recommendation to look at microtransit for the Pantops area

and 29 North is two separate zones.

You can see what those zones they were looking at are up on those maps.

At that time, they estimated a total between the two that micro-transit could probably generate about 100 total rides a day.

That's what was in the study.

In 2023, we made a successful

Grant application for a demonstration grant from DRBT.

The total amount of that was for $1.94 million, and that was a two-year grant period.

So in 2023, we did do a competitive procurement process and that resulted in hiring the company VIA as a turnkey operator for the microtransit.

The service launched on October 30th, 2023.

So like I said, we're exactly two years from that.

The service hours are from 6.30 a.m.

till 9 p.m.

Monday through Saturday.

This is free transit and it includes eight hybrid minivans that are in operation.

I will also point out this is the current service area that you see in the map there.

It has expanded quite a bit from what was initially proposed

in the in the transit expansion study and includes all that area where it says Berkeley there that was not previously in it so we extended it south

and also on Rio Road East.

You can see that area was added to it.

And the other improvement was that with the service starting, we allowed people to travel from one zone to the other, which was not in the original one.

So they were going to be relegated to one zone or the other.

Then we were able to combine those into one zone all as one.

A little bit about the service performance.

So we've been working with VIA.

We think that it does provide a really high quality service with high engagement and retention.

You can see we've got a 92% five-star ride ratings.

I know that we did hear from a resident earlier today that had some issues.

I think we're going to be able to address that.

We've already reached out to

to our representatives at VIA and are looking into it.

They're very responsive, so I think we'll be able to deal with that.

And you can see that we have a high rider engagement.

This is people that keep coming back.

The average rider is 10 rides per rider per month.

79% of those return for another ride later on, and less than 0.3% complaints per ride.

some of the things and I do want to give credit to our VIA representatives.

A lot of these slides are from that.

I know some of these may be things that some people have seen but I don't think everyone on the board has seen before.

Every week when we meet with them they give us some of the quotes that they've gotten either from their regular writer surveys or from their

from the app comments.

And so you can see some of those there and some of the supportive notes that people leave about this, about how they're using this for their work, the valuable service it provides.

Volunteering for their community gives them an opportunity to do that, despite the fact that they may be a senior citizen and don't drive anymore.

So those are some of the benefits that this is offering.

The service performance, this came out of one of their rider surveys.

71% of the people that use the service don't have a car.

It's a limited number of respondents to this, but these are the numbers they have.

I think it was like 100 people responded to their survey, and this is what they got.

73% earn less than $50K per month, and 40% reported having a disability.

and you see some additional great comments there from some of the users.

So the service data, as of the two-year period, we have 120,060 rides that have been completed.

As I mentioned, when we first started this, we thought we could get 100 a day.

This works out to be closer to about 190 rides a day on average over that period.

So it's really impressive.

And when you're looking at these two graphs here, what this shows is how the increase in this ridership has gone.

We crossed the 100,000 mile mark back in July and it took us 15 months to get to 50,000 rides but then in only another 7 months to get up to 100,000 so the interest really generated and you see that in the chart below that the green lines show the number of completed rides so what you're seeing there is you can see the number of completed rides go up and up

and then they kind of get to this point in late 2024 where they sort of plane off and are kind of running steady.

The gray lines you see there, if you can't read the legend, the gray are seats unavailable.

So those are people that are reaching out to request rides but are not able to get them because the

some of the top origins and destinations you can see them on this map

Walmart, as our contractor has told us, is really the most popular destination in every market they work in.

That seems to be by far the highest.

You see a lot of people coming from mall-side, forest courts, apartments.

You can see going down the list.

So people are going from their homes into these to get to grocery shopping or jobs, anything like that.

That's how this is being used.

I just wanted to highlight this because I think this really tells a story as we think about the future of transit.

This is with those points removed from the map.

What you're seeing here are the direct lines of the completed rides.

So someone calls from a place and gets a ride to another place.

and that's what you see and I think it's important for us to recognize that where these rides are all going it's going up and down 29 and I think that really speaks to what we should be looking at when it comes to fixed route service so these people are really trying to get right up and down that 29 corridor it seems to be very obvious and the

The highest density right here is around the Stonefield area right in the southern, just north of the city.

When we first started this, I think we talked a little bit about how this could show us places where maybe fixed route would be feasible.

Well, this map kind of starts to get to that.

There are some limitations on the service and I just want to make sure that you all understand that.

So the budget that we have allows for 380 driver hours per week.

This top chart shows the blue line at 380 and the blue lines going up and down, the darker blue lines.

That's how many hours those drivers are working every week.

It fluctuates, but the average for our contract allows them to work an average of 380 hours per week.

And this kind of gets back to what I pointed out earlier with the unfulfilled rides, or when we cannot meet demand.

We really topped out at the amount of demand back in early 2025, late 2024.

And that's why you started to see that plane off

and you started to see these higher levels of unmet demand.

That's because we just don't have enough drivers on the road that we're allowed to fund by a budget and that's how you end up with unmet demand.

We sort of started, we stopped advertising for this service because realistically we couldn't fit any more people on this.

We were doing what we could with what we had so the road wasn't any necessity to continue

advertising the service.

It's doing great on its own, but that's just one of the limitations we have.

We do work with them to address that.

What you're seeing here is just some samples of time of day.

So similar to the last chart, the green is the completed rides and the gray shows you the unmet demand.

that happens at all times during the service day.

So the peaks are here in the early afternoon and then working with VIA, what they try and do is they try and match their driver hours to the