Board of Supervisors Meeting   2/8/2022

Please stand and pledge allegiance to the flag.

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

Thank you all.

Moving forward, we are going into item two, public comments.

We have some folks who have signed up.

General rule is if you're an individual, you get three minutes.

If you're speaking on behalf of a group of individuals you've identified in here, you get five minutes.

We will have a timer.

I will be keeping time.

Okay, we'll do quick housekeeping.

We need to add something to it.

OK, we have a motion to make sure we have a closed session on the back end.

Sorry, we have a second from Mr. Parr.

Any discussion?

Mr. Harvey.

Yes.

Mr. Barton.

All right, let's go ahead and begin.

Like I said, three minutes for an individual, five minutes for a group.

I'll try to give you a 30-second heads up.

We have some folks who signed up here.

There will be an opportunity for those of you who haven't added your name to this list that you'll be able to speak as well.

So when you do approach the podium, you can state your name and address for the record.

and you'll be given five minutes.

William Mays, 1322 Emmys Gap Road, Roseland, Virginia, President of the Nelson County Farm Bureau.

On behalf of the board and all, we thank you for the opportunity to come today to express our concerns and we appreciate it very much.

I have a little draft statement.

Nelson County Farm Bureau Board of Directors strongly urge the Board of Supervisors

and suitability for a proposed agricultural complex.

While we as a board commend your efforts in undertaking this feasibility study, we are concerned by recent events resulting in the study's temporarily being stopped.

Our concerns are focused or centered and focused on timely completion of the contract study.

The student staff needs to move forward to determine the most important aspect

of the property suitability for an agricultural complex.

They would be water, sewer, et cetera.

The Nelson County Farm Bureau records and agricultural community in both strongly urge continued commitment to the completion of the feasibility study.

It is our goal and mission to advocate for the enhancement of agricultural opportunities for our county,

To this end, we are committed to the support of this project and very positive benefits it will bring to our communities and citizens.

Thank you, sir, Mr. Davis.

Okay.

I'm Chris Bryant, resident of Nelson County, also representing the A committee for Amherst County.

I live in 934 Wills Lane, Lovingston,

First of all, I'd like to thank you for allowing us to have the opportunity to work together on the project involved with both the animals.

We are excited to be able to work together on this project.

I would like to clarify some of the information that has been misunderstood and address concerns around the potential problems of the project.

First and most importantly, the intent of the complex is to provide a facility where youth and adults

of both communities can be trained to acquire skilled traders.

Once established, this could serve as a pipeline to provide skilled workers for area business and contribute to a healthier business growth of both communities.

There is support for the project from both Harris and Nelson CTE Centers for programs as well as the centers for D&D by Community College, but both in support of seeing something like this take place.

and all the events that may benefit both counties.

There has been some misunderstanding about what the county would be asked to be responsible for.

The intention of the work group for the counties was to provide seed money to purchase the real estate assuming the study was sufficient.

Moving forward, the work group would welcome better communication between both the board of supervisors as well as those working in the work group.

Good afternoon, my name is Edward William McCann.

I reside at 94 Marsh Lake Road in the capital city of Madison's Mill, Virginia.

I appreciate what you all have done as a board for the over four years that I've been a citizen of this county and employed by this county for 38 years to teach.

I've had the pleasure of working and teaching of having one of you as a former student.

And this complex is something that we had prepared to the school system back in the late 70s to consider.

We actually drew the plans to have a console and it got shipped.

And that's the only reason we didn't have enough space.

To hear this come true, this was something the board was supporting at the Nelson County Times, putting forth a wonderful article about the idea of an agricultural complex and an opportunity for both youth and adults of all ages to receive additional career training skills.

I'm concerned that there has been no information out to the public regarding what caused this to pause and who paused it.

I've been trying to get a hold of the RFP that was developed and given to architectural partners.

I can't seem for some reason to get my hands on that.

I keep hearing rumors of it.

When all simply was asked was to see if there was a feasibility of having water available, before looking into the committee to identify what's next, all the infrastructure had to do.

I'm really not sure if we had all these extra things to do, I'm not sure if I can get a hold of the market, but I think this is a diamond in the rough.

This board has historically supported education, career and technical education, and opportunities for agriculture.

And I simply implore you to consider this opportunity to consider.

And I thank you for your hard work.

You work tirelessly for the citizens of this county, and I appreciate that.

I hope that your gifts and strong consideration to our city, to conduct a board survey, and to let those results be met.

You guys should be commended for what you're doing to not do that, and I hope you'll reconsider all of this.

Eric Bowen, 283 Timber Creek Drive, Farmville, Virginia.

I am the Virginia Quadrant Extension Animal Science Extension agent for Amherst County and also serves as a unit coordinator for the Nelson County office.

Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Mr. Harvey.

First off, I want to say thank you all for your all's faith and trust in the support of the Nelson County office.

The Nelson County office has been in considerable vacant positions for almost two years at this point.

I am happy to stand before you all to share some good news

First off, with me today, and I'll present in just a moment, is Grace Manger, the new A&R Horticulture Extension agent that will be housed in the Nelson County office.

And I can also share that on February 10th, we have a 4-H agent that will be started.

She had me in the program associated with the office, so she has a history with Extension, Erin Harris.

Hi, I'm Mary Smear and I'm at 1095 Ty River Road in Arrington.

I recently graduated from Virginia Tech with a horticulture degree, a viticulture minor, and a plant health sciences minor.

I was very involved in research that had extension timing while I was at Tech.

There are many areas that I've been in Nelson County, so there are visitors and the homeowners here.

I also was raised on the Carroll Farm in Rockland County, so not too far away.

and not too different from Nelson County.

I'm happy to say that.

We look forward to great success with our extension office here in the county.

Thank you so much.

Is there anyone else at this time who wishes to speak that did not get their name on this list?

Okay, not seeing or hearing anybody.

Let me close the public comments.

Moving into the consent agenda.

Is the chair's recommendation that we approve the consent agenda as presented?

If we can get a motion.

We have a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented.

Do we have support?

Second by Mr. Barton.

Any discussion?

Mr. Harvey?

Yes.

Mr. Barton?

Yes.

Carver?

Mr. Reed.

Yes.

Excellent.

On item number V, moving item C of E in front of item A.

So if we could just at that time bring up the ag facility, we talk over half and go through at that time.

Is that OK with staff?

Does the board have any issues with that?

Okay, we will make that adjustment.

All right, moving forward to presentations.

Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.

My name is Matt MacLaren with Robinson

unable to be here this afternoon, so we'll be presenting his absence.

There are too many reasons for a presentation between an auditor and a government body.

The first is to convey these required communications on the professional standards from an auditor to the government body, and secondly, to present the audit results for the fiscal year 21 audit.

My remarks will be brief, but

As I mentioned, there are a few required communications between auditors and the governing body.

To briefly review those required communications, they are outlined in a three-page letter that is available for distribution as necessary.

The first of those items required to be communicated is responsibilities under the audit.

Certainly, the auditor has a responsibility under the audit to test, diagnose, test, interpret,

The next item described in this slide are implementations of new accounting standards.

It was accounting standard number 84.

It impacted what we call fiduciary funds.

Estimates include the estimate for individual life success.

It's based on industry standards.

It's also based on

The next item described in this letter is the difficulty to counter-reform the audit or require a professional in the standards to disclose to the government about any difficulty we had in doing the audit.

The difficulty, in example, would be inability to access records we would need to find financial statements or incomplete records, whether it was intentional or unintentional.

The next item is correct and uncorrect

And lastly this letter discloses our knowledge of management's consultation with other auditors

That concludes the first part of my remarks since they in the required communication on the social statement of government body.

The second is we talked a little bit about the actual audit result because we are doing one audit.

Our audit process can be broken down into basically three components.

That's first the audit of the financial statements where we test documents to confirm the balances that are listed in the actual financial statements.

The second is the test of the county internal

And lastly, the third part of the audit process is compliance tests.

The state and federal governments both hand out compliance requirements.

And these compliance requirements are necessary to test very specific components of the audit, whether that's overgrant or state compliance.

We issued an unmodified or clean opinion on the financial statements

The second of the three reports that is listed in the annual comprehensive financial report that you'll find on the CPA firm's letterhead is a report on internal controls.

This is the report where an auditor will describe any significant deficiencies or material weaknesses noted during the audit process over the internal control.

To complete this report, there are no significant deficiencies or material weaknesses in the county's internal control reporting structure.

And lastly, the third report is a report

Any entity that receives greater than $750,000 in federal funding, that's accounting, service, and school work combined, is required to have what's called a single audit or a uniform guidance audit.

You're required to express your opinion on that audit.

We have issued an unmodified or clean opinion for the fiscal year in June 30, 2021.

So that concludes the actual audit results.

Sir, thank you so much, sir.

Mr. Parr.

You seem to be able to discuss this clean bill.

Is this what normally happens?

It's typical.

They just keep a pretty good eye out.

VDOT report.

I don't have a lot to report on this month.

Just a few things are going on.

They're very removal from the heavy snow and ice.

We have all trees and around the southern areas.

We are in a process of making those up in the storm

We've got some graphic trucks coming in.

What did you do it?

We've done the 12th.

The 12th.

It's a 25 mile by a speed limit curb.

Mr. Carter, I've been communicating about the poor jobs that the police had.

We will assume that service here pretty quick.

We've got the POs and hopefully they'll be in place within a few weeks.

Thank you, Robert.

You're welcome.

Thank you.

And I'll look at it again as far as our construction program.

Russell D. Wright, Nathan O. Campbell, John O. Kennedy, and the one-off section of the normal record.

That's what we asked you guys to do this year.

We will be looking at providing a situation

As you know, last year we prioritized some of the roads on the priority list that we have southern roads on there that you all are prioritizing.

We'll just pull those off as they are prioritized to get them in a six-year plan.

Hopefully we can

Hopefully we can get the remainder of Jack Steel, the remainder of City Creek, Ball Mountain, and maybe one more in the new plan.

Okay.

All right.

The team's fought in the Flat Sun Beach.

They're talking about the creek that comes in, it's blocked.

Mr. Brown, thank you for the traffic counts that you did on 151.

No, no, I don't have any.

I don't have any.

I haven't really spent a whole lot of time looking at them, to be quite honest with you.

Yeah, we should do that.

And maybe next month we can talk about if the increases are significant.

I don't know.

Mr. Parr?

How long are they going to be putting these fiber lines on 29?

I don't know why, you know, it's, it's, they are, well we've tried to monitor them all the way around, quite like we did before.

Thank you, sir.

Last week's board meeting, on the 31st, the board requested that staff follow up with consultants for an equal return project.

We'll be conducting a hydrological study, a hydrology study, a society study.

Max Miller has completed his reporting on the tax of 77.1 extension on capital improvements.

So we've consulted with the project partners who's the lead consultant for the project and hurt in the project.

I think there's some engineers out there, contractor.

We had a lengthy discussion this morning with both of those firms.

Outcome of that is they're going to come back with a cost proposal to complete

A water sewer assessment, sufficiency of the site and sufficient water and sewer, also geotechnical assessment, and then at least initial input to VDOT on permitting the site for road access.

So if we don't have that information yet, it's going to be requested.

In the discussion this morning, we heard a problem in architectural

Lee, and Prumirai Architecture Feasibility Report today based on the scope of the project.

There are now about 24,400 gallons of water per day.

The preliminary report is the work conducted today includes substantial cost estimates, it includes estimates for water, sewer, infrastructure, etc.

The County's RFP that resulted in retaining architecture services

The magnitude of the project, from our interpretation of the board of city, weighted aside next steps at a future meeting, which that meeting was conducted on the 31st of January, and the result was the director, last week,

All right, so the current action that's needed today is you need a consensus from the board

to continue the study are adding in this next scope.

So you said $25,000.

And where we are now is the feasibility toward it, but it's not a political deal.

Ward can't authorize us to proceed.

I mean, it could be 50,000.

And I'm certain there are some wells at that location at this time as well.

Same with the sewer.

The engineers don't do that work.

That is what the board wishes to do.

General, we just suggested to the board.

Looking at increasing water and sewer capacities to see if there's any availability with that.

And also making sure that the study is continuing as well.

We don't necessarily need a motion to continue what we voted on.

At this time is the study still continuing.

I mean, I could be wrong.

Well, for me, I didn't leave a December 7th meeting with that understanding because I knew that what was being requested wasn't $51 million.

As Mr. Wright said earlier in his public comment, that's not what this project is about.

Stakeholders, where that kind of a brainstorming session took place of what could happen, what are some ideas on how to provide income to pay for the facility long term.

And it was pie-in-the-sky stuff, everything from a motocross biking trail to cabins to a campground for people from rock and overflow.

And it was a, like I said, a think tank of neighborhood members and Nelson stakeholders.

that came up with that wish list.

But at no time in any of this project, other than in this room, or from Nelson's administration, has been indicated that there was an expectation of anybody to spend the money for the infrastructure and the Amherst Act Committee.

The only thing that that committee has requested is the money to purchase the land and get things going.

I would think that that would be an important information.

I would know that I want to support anything to happen with agriculture in Nelson County.

And what we can do to help agriculture is I don't care about it.

But for instance, with this money that's going in for this study about the water, what percentage of that study is in Nelson County County?

Why would we, you know, this gives me kind of a bad feeling that we'll pay half there, but at what point, how much influence will we have in what this facility is about?

I mean,

I strongly support anything done in Nelson County, but I have questions about something of this massive scale being done somewhere else.

I couldn't resonate that.

I mean, I've been on record since this was first proposed.

And I raised the issues with the Chatham facility, which is the model that this is kind of based on.

and many other businesses and offices that seem to provide the financial day to day to keep that facility rolling.

For reasons that I said earlier in the beginning, I'm not in favor of investing in this project, whether it be explored or not.

I don't feel it's in the best interest of the community.

I'm not in favor of

Entering any long-term agreement for a facility located in Amherst County, the county has any responsibility for at all.

And the fact that there would be a non-administrative body responsible for its upkeep still has direct financial ties to our county and investment in it up until that point.

it would be a tragedy for this to be a black hole that we would be forced to pour funds in to keep solvent and at the same time have it distract from the kind of improvements that our county needs and wants and desires and we're talking about in our capital budgets, quip schools.

All of these to me are much more important

that we don't have a level of control over to be able to, you know, reintegrate and invest in the future because investments in Nelson County are investments in Nelson County.

And I'm certainly not in favor.

Okay, moving forward.

Mr. Chairman, I just want to remind the board that the

or that would be established, which has not yet been established before that facility, will have equal representation from Amherst and Nelson.

That's the intent.

Amherst has been adamant that they want full disclosure, they want transparency, they want us to be 50-50 in this project together in order to take advantage of the funding that will be exponentially larger.

We have to cross them

and then the entire time.

Mr. Harvey?

Okay, so it would be healthy if we could make sure we're in some consensus.

Obviously, you know, the study continues, you know, maybe some misunderstandings of what staff may have interpreted our capital improvements meeting.

I, you know, I think it is very

I think we could do it in top two, dollar and over, you know, if that makes sense.

I think if we need to adjust the money, we need to move some other stuff out of the study.

Water and sewer should have been one of the first things we did anyway.

Right.

I mean that should have been, I mean that didn't do it.

Why are we worried about cabinets?

Why in the world are they asking for us to provide money for that study?

They're the ones that stand to be the greater beneficiaries.

They're the ones who will ultimately consider county making a larger investment.

I appreciate your perspective, but the fact is that this is a joint venture between the two counties, and that's how we've been approaching it.

Depending on the posture of the board, we can certainly ask our potential partners

It was just possible, as I said, maybe I misinterpreted it, but when the board met on December 7th, it was pretty clear, at least to me, that we wanted to meet again to discuss all the county's capital projects, and to do this one, and not make any decisions to today.

Okay, and I would just like to add that our information on what we want to move forward on, on capital improvements in the county is still complete.

I've said all along, I don't think we need a motion to move forward before I vote on it.

But if we're at a stalemate, we'll make a motion for it.

We have a motion.

Do we have support?

Second.

We have a second from Mr. Harvey.

Any further discussion?

Hearing no discussion,

Do we get a vote from the board?

A roll call vote?

Mr. Harvey?

Yes.

Mr. Barton?

No.

Mr.

Carver?

Yes.

Mr. Reed?

No.

Yes.

Okay.

Moving forward.

Thank you.

Recess.

Thank you.

This is GSS and the board asked for to include

I'll put the lines in the guest auditor.

Building inspections, planning, zoning.

So this is a revised rendering of what that site might look like over Cali Hill Drive.

This would be DSS.

This is the section that would be added for, potentially added for,

Building Inspections and Planning and Zoning and Board.

What our technical partners did here was to include some consideration of future expansion or future parking spaces on the site.

And they did

Yes.

For a plan, this would be submitted to the client for one of the spaces.

One of the things that was asked is, and this was still submitted to the design process, is

I have to say this part as much, but I'm committed to building a picture of Chuck in with the sharing information.

This information with both he and Doug Bishop, director of planning and zoning,

I think there's suggested traditional square footage in some real line in the space over here.

But again, if the board decides to get a hold of this, that will all be sort of flushed out with the final design.

Let's see.

And there's two different scopes.

One is about the United 100 square feet.

about 9,600 square feet.

Again, if the board decides to move over this, the architects will meet with both departments and again finalize floor plans, layouts, etc.

and final cost estimates.

I'm going to try to rotate that around.

I think the board has this in their package, but there are cost estimates for both options.

The delivery cost estimates, of course, anything is subject to final design, e-bidding, of course.

But for the smaller footprint, it's $3,126,600.

For the larger, it adds about another $100,000 or so.

So a few questions before we answer that.

In a discussion with architecture partners and current projects this morning about this project, one thing that I've reminded or related to architecture partners is it's been probably 20 years ago, but at some point after the Foodline Jumping Center was put in place, we had, through Nancy Saunders, who's the board desk local engineer and surveyor, he worked with Curt Profitt to do a geotechnical analysis of the overall

So, we've asked our technical partners to pull that geotechnical report.

It's because of the pattern of the surface of the ground and throughout the site.

With the FoodLunch site, there's going to be work in the county the first day out to here.

The Intercounting Ministry at that point took me over to this site, and it's still there.

There's a huge rock pile.

that was put over to county or ADA property by the general contractor who constructed the food line project.

What they were doing was blasting A-Rock out of that site to construct it and they removed it over on the county property.

and we put a stop to that pretty quickly but the damage was sort of done so that bedrock or that rubble which is sort of concealed by a vegetarian road now is still there.

The county staff cleared the site last summer or last spring.

We do think that there's an area where this could go without any issues but then still something to stop the termination.

So subject to what the board would want to do, if we could proceed, they're going to hurt profit.

And A.B., you're going to look at that geotechnical report, because Mrs. Ockerson assuredly still had it, and hurt profit she had too, just to ensure that it's not going to be a problem.

But if the board wants to proceed with this,

We work with, well, it's sort of a, we have a catch-22 in the Public Procurement Act.

The state code has limitations on how much work a consultant firm, architect, or peer can perform at a given year.

So there's two options for the board's consideration if you want to move forward with this.

One is to certify, since we've previously done an RFP, and interview the architectural firms for multiple projects in the county.

You can certify that it's in the county's best interest to work with architectural partners.

The other option is we have to issue another RFP and go back out and solicit architectural services again.

So, not necessarily a hurdle, but maybe what you decide could extend out the timeline.

to go forward with this.

When we talked to Davenport, we being county staff, you know, Mr. McGarry and Ms. Spivey and I, with Robin Koosh, Dr. Davenport, Paul Jacobson, St. Janice, and Dr. Miller, who's the county's general counsel, about how to finance this.

And we're not going to be, for example, Virginia Resource Authority, a spring pool program,

That seemed to be the direction that Davenport was suggesting that this project be considered for.

And I'll share other information about another project when the board's in close session.

So sort of the questions the board has and what you want to do next.

If I've been insightful enough, I can explain this.

About three something million dollars.

The government certainly overstayed this but the board may recall the presentation by Mr. Cooch in your fiscal capacity so it's not beyond the realm of your fiscal capacity to do this.

I don't think so.

I think the only potential issue is whether or not once they pull this geotechnical report from 20-some years ago, if there's any consideration that the site's not going to work.

I mean, it can work.

Yeah.

Can you go back to the slide where it shows the cost comparison for beginners and

Depending on the actual design, working with DSS and Spilling and Zoning, it may be a larger footprint.

So just a couple hundred grand wide, I think that's a reasonable move forward.

Give us planning and zoning.

Is that okay with you, Dylan?

Do you like that idea?

My only point is that we be involved in the process of specific needs to DSS.

Thanks for everything.

But this is as far as we've gone.

You know, I think we're going to move forward, no matter what.

In my mind, what is the board's thoughts?

Yes.

Mr. Harvey?

Mr. Parr?

I would like, if I may, that likely authorized staff to, well, we'll be ready if you're comfortable with this, the resolution backs the board sort of testing to no need to issue another RFP, we just want to put potential partners that's invested in Pacific County to do so.

I move that we proceed with the Nelson County DSS Inspection Plan and Concept 4 as presented.

All right, that's the motion.

We need a second.

Second.

Second.

Mr. Barton, any discussion?

Yes.

Great.

We've accomplished a lot.

Let's move on to BIA request for compensation.

Thank you.

Request for compensation increase for Nelson County Service Authority Board of Directors.

I mean, you know, it's going up from $75 a thing to

It's made from their own resources.

Mr. Harvey moves that we approve R. 2022-10, as presented.

Yes, Mr. Parr.

I mean, it seems like we're pulling one act.

I said, wow, you guys are only getting $75 a week for this.

Some of these can be pretty increasingly long and require a lot of individual attention.

I would argue that it needs, I've been arguing that $25 increase a month was a substantial, and if we need to look at services or whatever else, that was just a discussion.

I wasn't aware that we set it for a lot of other boards.

Just so you know, this request came directly from the Board of Directors of the Department of Social Services.

We already said one request.

And we should also encourage the other

We have a motion, we have a second, we are in discussion as far as there anything else we'd like to discuss.

Nothing else further to discuss.

Let's go on to the vote.

Mr. Harvey?

Yes.

Mr. Barton?

Yes.

Yes.

Thank you, guys.

Moving forward.

So we have a reservation for the board to consider a program to continue to vertically include out of the Bridgewater Division to provide services for the update of the county's comprehensive plan.

Thereafter, zoning and some additional ordinances release recommendations to the board.

It's a multi-year process, but will be scurried out, provides for

annual budgetary allocations for the completion of the project.

There's a schedule of work in there.

There's a trial schedule.

We did include, for example, today, a request for proposals that would become part of the contract.

We just try to show you what they'll do, what they'll do, and you know, talk about how they'll draw money from the contract.

So, just to express the importance of everybody, we issued a request for proposals some time ago for these services,

I do not.

Move forward.

I have questions.

So the selection committee interviewed two firms and they chose the Berkeley group primarily I think, and Mr. Reed and Mr. Rutherford can speak to this maybe as well because they were on the committee as well, but the Berkeley group offered the county some level of ownership over the plan, so we'll be working jointly together

We're co-authoring the plan as opposed to having a consultant write it for us.

Do you feel comfortable with this organization?

Absolutely.

They're entirely made up of rural planners.

They have a lot of rural experience.

It's the Chair's recommendation that we approve our

We've agreed on tracking COVID-19 data.

That's December 4th, 12 new cases in the county, 7 on the average, and 15 new cases.

The trend line based on the Department of Health's data shows it was spiked up several days in the last few weeks, but the trend now looks like it's starting to decline, so that's very positive.

We have period cases here today as of February of 2,497, hospitalizations 70, deaths 25.

Unfortunately, the death total is pretty much saved.

We have a couple more since several months ago.

General reassessment, the five individuals that he was proposed to compose the Board of Equalization have completed their training and sent a letter to the Circuit Court to have them appointed.

We're just waiting for that, if it hasn't taken place, to occur so that we can have the first organizational meeting of the Board of Equalization and get their work to commence.

F.Y.

22-23 budget, Thomas Deery has rehearsed that in that department's everybody courses.

We've compiled a very rough first draft.

It's balanced, but we still have a lot more work to do before it's presented to the board.

So we'll try to get here as quickly as possible.

Planning, just very briefly, staff work with VDOT, the Thomas Jackson PBC staff on transportation related initiatives, smart scale, proposed urban development area or areas, work that's in process.

How do you really want to see that question?

Have you studied the assessor's hearings?

They just got over $15 million of value.

How many do you think inquires have we got for motor vehicleization?

Robert D. Nelson, Robert D. Nelson, so if you need to help me advertise their hearings.

Doesn't sound like too many.

Well, yeah, maybe not.

And one of the things that hopefully just got corrected today is one of the two primary pumps wasn't functioning.

And we pulled that pump and we sent it for evaluation.

Really nothing was wrong with the pump.

We have a lot of work going on in the water and sewer company in Linsbury.

Any questions for Mr. Carter at this time?

Hearing none, moving on to the board reports.

Mr. Barton?

No.

No reports.

Mr. Harvey?

No.

Yes.

Atlantic, which had to do with the supplementary in Maryland on the restoration of the pipeline.

They've been unsuccessful so far.

Each agency

There's some technicalities too that they won't go into, but what it does mean for our county is that

Sales of properties have not come through.

and things that they would like to do, like to build on those properties that can't because of that.

But it appears from the property owners that have spoken to me,

that it was not something that was considered in the assessments because their assessments all went up.

So whether you're getting assessments that don't reflect the limitations of those things but on property or if they have, then what happens is it's not a question of course the property owner is still hanging in the boat about this.

And the other thing that I'm doing is I've talked to Susan Rorrer and GIS.

She's been doing a lot of work for me, for us, that would influence, you know, just

All right.

Very active in the Regional Hazard Partnership.

I'm trying to plan a fall forum.

It's interesting if we have any major developments that I can think of, not as of late.

We have some new members going on with that.

I'm being authority met, obviously, last month.

Looking forward to more universal connections.

I heard of some groups, some folks recently getting access to broadband out in

back into some flower area, headed towards Schuyler, so looking forward to Schuyler, getting some fiber here soon.

Planting mission, we had a couple items to discuss last month.

One of those will be here in the discussion of tiny houses.

That will be interesting to see what happens, and also the debate on tiny houses is obviously one that's in our state, one that we gotta be looking at, and I think as governments try to posture the proper way to handle them,

Beyond that, that's all I can think of for now.

Moving on, appointments.

I believe we have two members to be appointed.

One for the Planning Commission, since Mr. Stapleton has recently retired.

How long has he been on there, if you're asking?

Oh, there's one, one term.

Okay.

I was in touch with Mark prior to his announcement to retire, and so I've been actively looking for someone to fill this position, and I think we found someone really passionate, which is a customer who was born and raised in Nelson County, a long time

who grew up in the area.

He's younger than most of the people on the Planning Commission.

Kind of in the same way Jesse is a little bit younger than most of the people on this floor.

He's got great experience, he has a great desire to do this.

He's invested long term in the county.

So we have a motion for Mr. Haschner for the central district replacement of Mr. Stapleton and I guess that would be... Now here's my question.

Do we need a second?

Second.

Second from Mr. Parr.

Any discussion?

Mr. Harvey?

Mr. Barton?

Yes.

Yes.

Moving on to the Java Council on Aging, we have another guest, Carl Stelwach.

Mr. Stelwach is the volunteer worker

Do we have a second?

Second.

Second for Mr. Brown.

Mr. Parr?

Yes.

Mr. Reed?

Yes.

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Reed?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

Mr. Parr?

and John A. Kinsley.

Keep that advertisement going.

First item, we have public comments.

We have some people who signed up on that.

If you came to speak in reference to special use permit 516, I'll just call your name later, but if you came to just speak in the public comments for whatever other item of business other than the campgrounds,

indicate that.

First, I will open all the comments.

We have Janet Brough, 417 Trestlewood Lane.

Are you coming to speak for the campground?

I'll take you to the next room.

All right.

Garrett Moore, Paul Davis, David Collins, somebody who lives at 665 Tamark.

I'm just going to start with that list for the next.

Anyone here wish to speak about anything else other than the campground today?

It's exciting to have a crowd.

We haven't had a crowd in at least a couple months.

So having company is a great thing.

Going once, twice, three times, sold.

There is no public comments anymore.

Moving forward into public hearings.

Dylan, if you could, begin the presentation.

This is a request for a special use permit for a campground use on properties that need more agriculture.

It's located on the corner of Los Los Lane and Bear Hill Road.

It's in both the north and central districts.

The property is just over 29 acres.

The tax cut number is 22-8-8-8.

The applicants are Daniel Ricker for Lovingston and Martha Patterson.

The property is currently owned by the Parsons.

The property is currently vacant aside from an existing barn.

The applicant is requesting a special use permit for a campground for six travel trailers by unit.

that would be placed on the property by the applicants for the purpose of short-term rentals, which are less than 30 days.

Short-term rentals and structures that are classified as dwellings per the statewide building code are classified and regulated as vacation houses, which are by-right use and including ordinance in the A-1 district.

Short-term rentals and non-permanent units such as travel trailers and RVs require the

Those are travel trailers regulated by the DMV, and the applicants provided some inspiration photos that are in the packet.

The area's residential and agricultural nature.

Zoning in the vicinity is A1.

There are no floodplains on the property.

The B1 zoning to the west of the property along Route 151 is the location of Tuckton County Antiques.

Immediately north of the property, across Trestles Lane, is Hilltop Berry Farm and Winery.

on Truss-Lills Lane.

According to VDOT, the applicant will be required to have a commercial entrance designed by an engineer and approved.

Also, the permits are also required to be designed by an engineer and approved by the health department.

According to the applicants, they've been working with an engineer and are proposing three drain fields, each of which will serve two of the travel trailers.

For erosion and sediment control plan, according to this site plan, total land disturbance is expected to be about 0.67 acres.

That requires approval of an erosion and sediment control plan.

Also add that the drain field locations, any other additional land disturbance on the property is factored into that as well.

And when land disturbance exceeds one acre is when they are required to submit

a stormwater management plan to the Department of Environmental Quality.

The property is located in an area designated rural and farming in the comprehensive plan, which would promote agricultural uses and compatible open space uses, but discourage large scale residential development and commercial development that would conflict with agricultural uses.

The rural farming district would permit small scale industrial and service uses that complement agriculture.

Thank you, Mr. Public Hearing.

There were several speakers with concerns regarding fire control, increased traffic, future expansion, proximity to neighbors, noise, events.

Other concerns were water access, feasibility of the wells being dug on the property.

There's a creek on the south of the property.

So those were some of the concerns that were brought up.

You also should have, I believe, four

Five public comments that we received by email that have been distributed to you all.

At the Planning Commission's meeting on January 26, they recommended approval of the application four to two with a conditional number of sites to six in accordance with a final site plan approved by all applicable agencies.

Great.

Thank you so much, Ms. Bishop.

All right.

Good evening.

As I just stated, my name is Daniel Richard.

I'm a police officer with Almonte County, and I reside with my wife and two children right here in Lonesly.

We love the charm of Nelson County and love raising our children here and being part of this community.

My partner and his wife have been coming to Nelson County for 20 years to hide the trail run of the priests in Three Ridges.

Mike's wife still holds records for many ultra-marathon races in the area and throughout the Commonwealth.

Mike and I are not deep-pocketed developers.

We're just two ordinary guys trying to make our dreams work and bring something unique and beautiful to Nelson County.

Our aim is simple.

We wish to put six tiny homes for visitors on a 30-acre plot in Nelson County.

Just six.

We want to create an experience so unique to our county that it brings people from all over, not just the usual visitors from Charlottesville or Richmond.

We want people visiting and experiencing a county that may have never visited otherwise.

And we don't just want something unique to Nelson County or even the Commonwealth for that matter.

We want to create something that is totally unique to the East Coast.

We want to highlight the Nelson County of

We acknowledge that not everyone will be with us, which is why we try to find no ground and keep our project to a very small and discernible slice of the third-acre property.

We can't keep Nelson County a secret if we want to attract families that aspire for the very lifestyle that we have to offer.

And we do have a lot to offer.

Our goal is to provide guests with an experienced Nelson County that is unique and would allow for a few certain things.

First, we want to allow visitors to stay in the county on nights and weekends.

It's not merely just dangerous.

We certainly can't experience what a wonderful county has to offer in four or five hours.

Second, we want to give visitors an experience that makes them come back again and again to support our local economy and not go somewhere else.

Number three, we want to showcase Nelson County as being a thought leader when it comes to modeling sustainable, eco-friendly,

Accommodations that utilize a smaller footprint and lower energy consumption than current industry standards, and to also model the appeal of a simpler, more modest existence in the scenic paradise that is surrounding, and not just for visitors, but also for our residents.

First and foremost, though, I believe it's important that any project of this nature preserve the integrity of the surrounding landscape and conserve as much of the land as undisturbed

I couldn't agree more that we needed more young families like ours but I believe there's a middle ground to be found.

We can only experience that if you stay here, meet the friendly locals, hike the trails, watch the people's sunsets.

The more we can foster that Nelson County awareness, the more we'll convince people to come here and stay for good.

Another topic that has come up is the need for more permanent housing that's affordable for middle class working residents.

Unfortunately, homeowners are probably not going to be involved in the solution to this issue.

They need to make a profit, which we certainly understand, and that mostly means 2,000 to 3,000

Single-family homes are out of the budget that really only leaves one option, and that's building up.

That's apartment units that have to be several floors tall, that keep costs low by sharing walls and roofs, but sacrifice the landscape we're trying so hard to preserve.

What we do think can be a potential solution is small-pocket neighborhoods.

With shared communities, space, amenities, and utilities, they present a much more affordable option than subdivisions of state-built homes.

This is being done with much success on the West Coast, particularly in Oregon, Washington State, Colorado, and California.

While a pocket neighborhood is not the specific intent of this project, we firmly believe that our experience and knowledge will lead us to developing solutions to the high cost of issues facing working class folks in the county.

A beautiful 30 by eight and a half foot tiny home can be built for around $70,000.

that's roughly a mortgage payment of $150 a month all while promoting a more sustainable lifestyle.

We just feel like that's a win-win and should at least be a consideration when discussing the solutions to our housing crisis.

Now I want to be clear that tiny homes are not mobile homes.

Mobile homes are cheaply built depreciating assets that leave their owner with nothing of value after 10 years or so.

Unlike mobile homes, the tiny home's secondary market is alive and well and mostly with listings with an asking price well over their

We'd also like to take a moment to address any concerns that our project may have an adverse impact on the immediate surrounding area.

Many of the immediate surrounding properties have been left somewhat unattended over the years.

That includes the property in discussion this evening.

We firmly believe that our project will enrich the immediate surrounding area and certainly not make it less attractive.

The Lynchburg News in advance recently wrote

residents.

Of the 101 reactions our folks garnered, 97 of those reactions were positive.

67 thumbs up, 30 rubs, and 4 frowning faces.

97 of the 101 reactions were positive.

97.

When people fully understand what we're trying to do and how we're trying to help, we received a very positive reception.

Frankly, the only

that our intent was to put 60 tiny homes on the property.

Unfortunately, that claim was online for a day before we had to choose off the two older buying videos.

Lastly, I'd like to outline several things that we are 100% committed to.

First is pricing for neighbors.

Our guests want neighbors to be undetectable just as much as the neighbors want our guests to be undetectable for them.

We will be utilizing the service

None of our homes will be visible from neighbors' homes on Trustless Lane.

The 75-foot setback, of course, will certainly aid in this desire for privacy as well.

This will be expressed as stated in all communications of the guests and properly featured on the premises.

There will be a zero-tolerance policy for guests that do not abide by this rule.

As a local law enforcement officer, I have the experience and character to make certain these rules are enforced.

As you can see from the attached photos, our timing on this space will be discerning and tasteful.

It would be unwise for us to invest money into this project to merely offer guests a second-rate experience.

All right, so one I have a couple names on here that are duplicates

Please, when you come up, you get your name called.

Stay your name and where you're from, for the record.

Remember this, that as it relates to individuals, all persons willing to speak individually must keep their comments to three minutes or less, okay?

If you are with a group, okay, a group, an actual group,

Not just two people, that doesn't count as a group, but like an organization or something, you get five minutes.

If you represent that group, so just because there's three of you in the group doesn't mean each one of you is going to get five minutes.

Now, this is Nelson County.

We're very nice folks, alright?

So let's try to keep the hemming and hawing aside, the rebuttaling from the crowd.

Hand clapping.

There's a whole plethora of things.

I have appointed Mr. Reed as Sergeant at Arms.

Congratulations.

He is also going to let the chair and myself know when we are getting to that three minute, our five minute mark.

I'll try to give you some kind of 30 second mark.

If I feel like you guys need a few more seconds to finish your thought, it is at my discretion that you get 30 more seconds.

It would be nice if we could all get home before midnight.

That is our goal and ambition.

There are plenty of questions.

This board is going to ask questions of the applicant and of staff following your comments, and we will continue the evening.

So, hopefully, am I missing anything, Mr.

Sergeant Arms?

Excellent.

I'm looking forward to hearing some great comments and hearing from

All right.

Well, thank you, guys.

Moving forward, I open the public here.

We're going to do our first name, which is Janet 417 Trusslows Lane.

Yeah, right there, that microphone.

We can hear you.

Perfect.

Generally, kind of like the definition of a B to B is that it's someone's home.

The owner-manager usually lives there in sometimes a separate accommodation, but often doesn't.

Hotels are hotels, and sometimes you'll have to meet the owner.

Hearing about this and looking at the project, it looked to me like it's no different than a motel, and I really don't really want a motel on my street.

People that rent it, you go home.

There's no idea whether you can manage it or take care of it unless you, or I'm going to say, have someone rent it.

So I'm renting.

The other thing I'm very concerned about is the water situation.

People in my area have a very difficult time getting wells there.

I had three put in, well, no water, and then it was just enough to get hot.

I know you've had more than that.

And it's a real challenge.

So if you have six homes or six places there, each, like how many wells it might need, I don't know.

But it could be a draw on the rest of the water in the area.

And the traffic situation is another thing.

It's bad enough that all the wineries up and down with 151.

So my first comment is why this location?

I also moved here because it's a beautiful county and as

I find our neighborhood to be very friendly.

There's plenty of other places why in our neighborhood.

As you said, it's of the agriculture.

We have a neighborhood that has people walking their dogs all the time.

And it's a lovely place to be.

But this is a commercial property.

A commercial property does not belong in a neighborhood.

Agriculture, yes.

The winery that was mentioned is an agriculture and the owner of the river is a very good situation.

And why right by the road there's 30 acres?

Why can't it be down lower so that it's a lot less visible to us and to them?

My second concern is traffic.

The two roads that come in to our area are windy, they're narrow.

We often have to slow down or even pull off to the side to let somebody by.

How is extra traffic going to be for us?

And my third point is that these are not homes.

On Facebook, the people who were for it were four tiny homes.

They were four affordable housing.

And so am I. I love tiny homes.

I watch HGTV.

I see what they are.

But this is not what we're talking about.

We're not talking about homes.

These are tiny houses that are short-term rentals.

And it's not going to help our affordable housing.

And closing, I would like to say, when is our guarantee that there will be no future expansion?

If they are successful, are they going to want to put more in?

If they already have a commercial property variance, are they going to be able to come back to the board and ask for other things?

What guarantee do we have that we say, yes, build your tiny homes on this property,

I'm not ready to have more commercial capabilities there.

Thank you, Susan.

All right.

Joan at 350 Treslows.

Farrell.

Farrell.

Thank you.

Hi.

I live at 350 Treslows Lane, which is like two houses down from where they wanted to lease home.

Well, I looked it up on Airbnb, and just for Nellysford and Afton area, there were 76 places in this back little area, 76 areas, including there are some tiny homes,

Up on Devil's Back, up that way, there's I think six tiny homes on this property.

It has more acreage though.

And it's not like where you can see it from the road, which is nicer.

They do have area below which maybe they could put tiny homes on and they wouldn't be seen.

Where he wants to put them, where they want to put them is like on top of the hill, right over the trust levels where they can be seen.

and I was also wondering how tall these homes will be because most of the ones I've seen they have barks above where they sleep and so they're small this way but they're taller so I don't know how tall the ones they're going to do but that seems like that's what they are.

Are they going to be tied down or have some kind of foundation?

We get a lot of green sometimes, especially with storms, and they're up on the hill, and I understand that it will keep the weed warm, so that might be a problem too.

If we have a big storm and they're not tied down, I don't know if they plan on tying them down or not.

And they said that the

This will have people come to the area.

What we need more in this area are the permanent homes for younger people that can't afford these $300,000, $500,000 homes.

And are they eventually planning on using these homes for permanent homes?

Are they going to change and do that?

Because that's more like what we need in this area, although I don't know how many people will want to live for how long in a tiny home.

Garrett Moore.

When me and my family moved here 20 plus years ago, I wish that something like this had been here as an option for us.

I think it's a great idea, after listening to Daniel and Mike and what they plan to do with it, I think it's a fantastic idea.

something that could greatly benefit Nelson County.

Thank you, sir.

Paul Davis, 2514, Rockfish Valley, NCSA.

I think you all have already addressed about the water and the well, what the county is going to be looking at,

McQuay, VDOT, and things like that.

So I won't really go on that.

And my biggest concern has already been echoed here also.

I've also been employed in government for 14, 13 years.

So if you get approval of six, my concern is always that you can be competing for

That's going to be the limit.

And then on those six, what would be the size restrictions?

Because if I had six in, I may want to add two or three together, join them together.

So those six, so they could be kind of homes in the beginning.

But later on, those six could be kind of larger homes.

And then the other concern that I've got, I know you speak on your behalf for getting the project here.

And you spoke a lot about the affordable housing.

And I was listening to me, it sounded like you were selling that to the board.

On the idea of affordable housing, people can't afford housing in the area, but you kept referring to your own project as tiny homes and all the people, not as tenants, but as guests.

So that kind of, to me, was conflicting when we were saying, to me, you're trying to solve to the board about affordable housing, but you yourself are referring to everyone as guests, not tenants.

And then as far as Facebook, I don't personally do Facebook.

My wife would tell me though I can paint a dresser and she puts a picture on there and I get a hundred likes.

In my experience, any kind of poll you see online, you get people who aren't really getting to the nuts and bolts of the people who are actually liking or commenting online.

Very, very few even live in the area from all over the country.

And so I don't put a lot of weight in anything like that.

Those are the big areas that I have is the six.

When will a decision be made by the county?

That's another question of mine.

And like I said, the biggest concern is because everyone, myself included, we're all well aware.

That would be a big concern.

Personally, the six alone, if they're tiny homes, and even if they are for guests, I don't probably see a big issue myself.

That's it.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

The traffic is an issue to me.

You look at a unit and how many cars am I putting in my typical residential trips per day per unit typically.

My guess is they'd easily do that because they're going out to eat and they're going somewhere else for the evening.

We already have a lot of traffic on Berryville Road.

I realize we're talking about Trusslow Lane, but you've got to get there from somewhere.

And so you're talking about bringing in maybe 60 new vehicle trips on a road that there are many places that you do have to slow down and pull over to the edge to be able to let two cars pass.

The traffic in general, I mean, Route 151, obviously, has been crowded a lot the last five, ten years.

So does Berry Hill Road.

And that's how people will be getting there.

From Route 29, they'll come Berry Hill Road.

From 151, they'll come, I can't remember the term Berry Hill Road.

It's kind of the Virginia Lane.

Somebody mentioned wells.

Some of my neighbors over on Trusslow Lane had mentioned that they had to drill two or three wells to be able to get a cap with water.

I'm several hills past that, but I had to have two wells drilled for the same reason.

You have water now, but still, you don't know what you're drilling into, basically.

They mention sixty-nine hundred and seven-tenths of an acre.

They don't show the sediment.

They don't show this area that's going to be disturbed.

They don't mention it.

And that doesn't include any kind of storm drainage.

That's at the top of the hill.

The creek at the bottom of the hill comes around.

So I'm not sure about the workings of this plan.

Thank you, Mr. Collins.

So I wanted to speak on the support of it, honestly, because I do think it's a unique overall idea.

It's not unique to the nation.

In general, you look around, there's a lot of other counties that are doing this in Asheville.

It really brings in a good point.

In general, I would think bring in more couples to maybe couples with small kids, but these aren't large homes and overall I would assume that the price point is going to be lower than some of the other homes that are available now for short-term rentals.

When I have friends that are visiting an area, it is hard for them to get any

any places that are available right now.

So they're usually forced to go downtown Charlottesville area.

And like we spoke about it, Nelson County is a beautiful spot.

It'd be great for more and more people to enjoy it, to pay more and more tax dollars to build up schools, the roads.

But at the end of the day, there are six small homes, and I think it's gonna add six vehicles.

What we have now is the public hearing sheet.

Those of you who are on the public comments, never go to the public hearing sheet.

Susan, you've already spoken.

Kathy Persson, N. 221, Trussell S. Lane.

I live directly across from this proposed project.

I keep hearing that it's going to be hidden.

I live higher.

When you put a six-foot fence, I'm going to look right over it.

So it's not going to be hidden unless these are moved a little bit further down the hill.

I build the property, move them a bit further down,

The Hill, you still have orange tubes if this is going to go in.

Short-term rentals are party venues and the inhabitants have no vested interest in Nelson other than having fun.

The target population are those that will frequent alcohol and alcohol participating, hiking, biking, and wintergreen skiing.

Again, I don't oppose tiny houses, rather I oppose the location and the fact that they're rentals.

These rentals are not going to, they're not where the people are going to come and live.

And the folks who are going to come up, there's a lot of people that would like that.

This is a commercial venture in a residential neighborhood.

Rentals are plentiful in Nelson County.

Looked up on the Airbnb website and they have a 40% occupancy at the height of steam season.

There's also been practices that are being hurt by the Airbnb's and lots of other rentals that are not listed on this website.

The special use permit does not have VDOT approval nor Department of Health approval.

I think that should happen.

My property, I have drilled five wells yielding one and a half gallons a minute.

Several water properties adjacent to me get less than three, a third lot gets none, have to go to another lot to try to get water for that particular.

My concern is the aquifers may dry up to the existing properties.

It's my expense to drill nothing well.

Regulation done well can protect everyone, including the economy of the county.

Development done poorly, while can bring in revenue, can negatively impact other aspects of the economy or quality of life for the existing residents.

If Nelson County continues to allow developers to scatter the county with unplanned, poorly thought-out developments, we will lose the rural nature of Nelson.

The reason people come to live or to visit is due to the rural charm.

If Nelson builds all the amenities that the larger counties and cities have, then it will not be a solid destination.

I am asking you to deny the special use permit, and if you are to approve it, the following conditions must be placed and enforced.

Increase setback from the road at least 100 feet, no more than six tiny houses, period.

And that the states cannot be longer than 30 days.

who can occupy each of the tiny houses on wheels.

The number of vehicles present in each unit.

Enforced noise control after 10 p.m. and limitation to outdoor use of the remaining 28 acres to hiking and biking.

If you want a job, that's fine.

No ATV or off-road motorcycle use on the property.

Piney House is really our fad, and I'm wondering what's going to happen 15 years from there.

They appreciate just as vehicles do.

Thanks, ma'am.

Right.

Forward.

Joan Farrell, you win already.

Ms. Mueller at 349 Treslows.

I might be saying your name wrong.

That was my wife.

Did I say that wrong?

Mueller?

Mueller.

Mueller.

We are definitely opposed to this.

I call it a mole war.

The way I look at it,

Quacks, it's probably a duck, it's on wheels, they call it a tiny house or not, it's a mobile park.

It's for rental and all they're going to be doing is renting these things out and whether you're going to be able to enforce it the way people would like it to be enforced, I'm not sure that would work.

Secondly, let me get to another point.

Trusslow's a pretty straight road.

We have a lot of traffic on Trusslow, both heavy trucks, pickup trucks and cars.

A lot of them move at least 60 to 70.

We've had cars going 90 miles an hour down that road.

They also hit that hill.

and you cannot see over that hill leading to Berryville.

You can't see over the hill or if they're coming up, you can't see over the crescent of that hill.

That is going to be a major problem unless there's speed limits enforced on Trussville.

The other points that were made and they're absolutely right, Tuckahoe as well as Virginia Avenue,

are narrow, winding roads.

And people that are coming in that are not familiar with those roads will have a problem.

Those are the two main points I'd like to make.

There's one thing I will say when I call a tiny home a tiny home.

It's usually on one piece of property and someone lives in it full-time, though they live in a tiny home.

I don't think this is set up to be considered tiny homes.

It's set up, I consider it to be a mobile park, places for rental, and I just don't think that

It will serve Nelson County West.

Thank you, sir.

All right.

Was your wife speaking, or does it say?

No.

No?

OK. All right.

My name is Bill Hudson.

I live at 222 Climb Lane, which is the road that intersects with Truss Hills Lane directly across from where

I could echo everything that's been said, every concern.

I might emphasize the traffic safety issues and Jack touched on it.

I often have had to drive off the roads because people that are under me with those narrow, twisty roads entering into the area drive in the center of the road.

And if you happen to be one on Virginia Lane,

You're in big trouble because there's a big embankment that's been assembled here and now.

But the one thing that I want to add, rather than just repeating everything that's been said before, are some objectives.

It's not part of the objectives of the developers.

To me, each and every one of those objectives can be achieved by simply moving the project to an area that's known for business or rent somewhere on the Route 151 corridor.

and not in the residential agricultural area.

I was trying to figure out really what this permit is about.

A young lady brought a campground.

If that's a campground, I call it a rollable park.

It's a commercial entity that does not belong in rural agriculture areas.

If you look at the papers, we have pictures of these tiny homes, which are very cute, very comfortable, and so on.

If you look at those pictures, they do not conform in any way or shape, and many houses, many of our properties down across the lane.

The end result, if this is passed,

Our properties, we love charity, we like to fight, we like to abuse, we'll devalue it.

There's no doubt about it.

It's who wants to be, who's gonna buy near a trailer park?

Something will happen.

If others had stated this other issue, the road going in and out, either way, toward, and toward the winery,

That's too narrow.

It's dangerous.

You cannot pass normally two cars.

There's no guardrails.

On the weekend, the wineries open, and we buy the winery, yes.

You take your life in your hands with people coming in and out that have no idea what the road is like.

And I always say to my wife when you get home, do you have to clone on the side of the car yet?

or my truck, do I have a sprayer?

It's that close and it's that dangerous.

That should be taken into account.

There's different traffic that we have now even, extra traffic.

We really need that.

We have a fine hill that a gentleman spoke about toward almost

All right.

Charles Edwards, 241 Trusslands, LA.

I am a property owner that is adjacent to the Proponents Tiding House Campground.

And much of what you're going to hear from me tonight, you've already heard.

It's a very forested kind of bridge.

from a number of different areas.

This project is a commercial undertaking.

It's being considered for development in a designated agricultural zone that is surrounded by residential properties.

This fact alone should cause a void of costs.

Consider the ramifications to the residents of this area.

surrounds the water tables and aquifers in this area.

You've heard many people speak to that.

Most homeowners have wells that are giving three to less than three gallons per minute.

Some have had to drill additional wells.

The property directly adjoining this project

is 260 Trestlers Lake.

They lost their well over a year ago, and to my knowledge, still have no water.

The property has now been vacant for well over a year.

Renters of these tiny houses will have little concern over their use of water by lock it behind winch rails.

These systems will have to be designed for six households.

And again, renters will have little concern to what they flush into the systems.

And the residents will be able to run the maintenance systems.

Currently, there's no posted speed limit on the transit system, despite 30 mile an hour posted limits on incoming roads.

With this addition to the area, there must be a posted speed limit of 30 or less for the safety of residents who daily walk their dogs along this run.

Dear, rare, other wildlife frequently in this area.

So there is a need for stringent trash controls that need to be considered.

I favorably view progress in Nelson County and appreciate growth, especially as it pertains to tourism, but I must ask the Board to consider at what expense.

30 seconds.

As the Board deliberates on this project, please consider the impact on residents in terms of boards,

Thank you for your time.

Thank you, sir.

Hello, my name is Emma Jackson.

I live at 605 Truslow's Lane.

I'm here to speak on behalf of my family.

We have grown up, or I grew up in Nelson for the majority of my life.

My parents went to public schools, rode on city buses, and they moved to Nelson because everybody wants a small town feel.

You want to live in the country, and you want the peace of peace and quiet, good neighbors, no traffic, and no Walmart close by.

A couple of concerns that my family has in general is the traffic, littering, drinking, loud noise.

There were instances with teenagers that were about my age when we went to school and they used to invite their friends over and go drinking down by the river and they would litter and they didn't care about noise and when you called, no offense to the cops, but there's not much they can do.

You can't prove it unless you have security cameras and stuff like that,

Now it is more likely.

In particular, I know on Facebook there was a peace tree camp project that went around for a mother that was mourning her loss of her son who was in high school at Nelson.

There were plenty of mourning parents and families that wanted to have Yurt's Intense here in Nelson County.

I don't know the mother personally.

I don't know exactly what happened, but I know that that project had deceased

So I understand the reason for these people wanting to bring this feeling to Nelson County, but I don't like the post area or the location.

As you've heard, many of our neighbors, family and friends, speak already.

It's not a good place for the driveway at all.

It is overlooking a hill.

I grew up riding my bike to Lodi Bar back and forth with my nieces and my brother, walking our dog, and back then there were many animals that are on Russell

And it is becoming more unsafe.

There are people driving very quickly and now it's 151 having more alcoholic areas or breweries, wineries, whatever.

They are driving more or they are under the influence and there have been a lot more accidents.

Yeah, if you're considering this, I do feel like many of the other people have already spoken.

So, thank you.

All right.

Yes, ma'am.

Boy, I sure come in prepared for all they said.

This property that they want to put in, the driveway happens to be on the blind hill.

We can't even get up and down it with ice and snow on.

There is no driveway there.

It is a very blind hill.

You're coming out the road, you look up, you

It's going to be a super-fast campground.

We don't need it.

If it's twenty-some acres, it can very easily front Berry Hill on the other side, down where the scruff is.

It's a very beautiful place on the top, but it is still very dangerous.

The roads are narrow.

I lived on the road that was dirt, and it still shouldn't be dirt, and we can get out of this conversation.

But it won't bring anything to anybody.

What is it going to benefit the neighbors, and what are the pros and cons for it?

It just doesn't seem to be there at all.

There's nothing in it that's going to benefit

Kenyu wants to get those to be.

Why not?

There's nothing else.

There's no venues of any kind on that hill.

I'm done.

Thank you, ma'am.

All right.

There, he's still burning.

Tom?

All right, so now that I'm talking, do we have anybody else here who wishes to speak?

We've done really good on time, one hour.

That's great.

Anyone here wish to speak that isn't on my list?

All right, not hearing any at this time.

I'm going to close the public hearing, especially if you heard it at 5 16.

All right, moving on.

I've got a question.

It's pretty clear that we're talking about two things that really aren't part of reality.

One is a campground.

and one is a tiny home.

One that's being asked is not a camcorder, nor are the structures really tiny homes.

We treat tiny homes right now like we do any other dwelling.

Anything that's going to be classified as a dwelling through the statewide building code is classified as that dwelling.

It can be rented out as a short-term rental.

Now, our definition for campground is any place used for transient camping where compensation is expected in order to stay in a tent, travel trailer, or motor home.

Our definition of travel trailer is a vehicular portable structure built off of jazzy designs that separate life for travel, recreational, and vacation uses.

It does not include mobile homes or any cash homes.

So we've obviously been getting a lot of inquiries about tiny homes or this type of use lately.

We have two options, a dwelling for the same-life building or a manufactured home regulated by HUD or a travel trailer from the Olds.

It's regulated by the DMV.

It'll never be classified as a dwelling.

So based on our definition where compensation is expected to stay in a travel trailer for transient lodging, this would fall under that definition.

is what the proposal is.

Why do these homes, or whatever they are, why do they have wheels?

They're DMV regulated.

What?

DMV.

So the reason

They have wheels that have nothing to do with what they are.

So the only reason they have wheels is so they can pass zoning or get approved.

Let me put it this way.

If they were not on wheels and were going to be classified as permanent dwellings,

This would be a by-right site plan that only went to the Planning Commission.

And it would have tables on the foundation.

Yeah.

I can't speak to the cost analysis of these.

I know tiny homes, RVs, mobile homes, that's a big part of the industry right now that people are utilizing as housing.

We do not permit it to be used as housing in the county right now.

It just so happens that ours are not going to move around.

The other reason that they have wheels and the people designing them, they're considered non-permanent structures.

So they don't have to abide by building codes, meaning you can have a loft bed eight feet high.

So what it allows us to do is it allows for, like an RV, it allows

In a home you build, you can't have a loft that's eight feet high.

There's so many things that you build.

These are going to be 30 feet by eight and a half, so 250 square feet.

If you had a stick built, 250 square foot house, stick built, it would be completely non-functional to build two rooms.

What doesn't make sense to me is something, you know, you're saying you want to put these buildings there and you want to run them out and you put them on wheels.

That just seems kind of strange to me.

It was notified by us of the Carson's.

So the Carson's are moving.

They want to sell this land.

Why this piece of land?

Because it's been neglected for 30 years, much like so many of the properties that are bordering it.

So, I hear most of the objections I've heard tonight have been a speculation about what we're not going to do, how we're not going to keep our promises, how it's going to be laid, it's going to be balanced, all things like that, right?

I mean, what these people are saying about being in a residential area is clear.

And you're involved in business and you want to make money, right?

I mean, that's totally legitimate.

I have no problem with that whatsoever.

But the objections to people who live there are real.

I mean, it's a little bit of, you know, Carp Poitier, because if we don't, you know, if we were not to get the permit, you know, it's like kind of like buying the land, right?

Correct.

So we have it under contract, but obviously we don't want to buy it.

You can buy land somewhere else and do the same thing.

We could.

We could.

The three things that we're looking for are proximity, you know, to all, to the hygiene and attractions and pre-care increase.

We're looking for views.

And then we want to, the third thing is we want to offer a unique experience of the tiny homes.

Now, all these things I'm hearing, like objections about the well and septics and traffic.

It's my understanding that this piece of land by right, we could build with much greater density, much greater density.

So that to me is, so what I hear well is a problem, traffic's a problem.

We remain committed to six non-permit structures.

Mr. Reed has been up to the property below the barn.

There's no development opportunity on the lower 20 acres.

We're replacing them right now.

We don't actually have to disturb

Currently, from where we're proposing each one of these, if you go out there and look at each one of these locations, none of the current residents that are here, their homes would be visible from any of those locations.

The only home that would be visible would be a single white trailer, which you all have a picture of there.

That would be the only one currently visible.

Even in wintertime, with all the leaves off the trees and everything, none of the homes currently, with no landscaping,

I think it's important to point out, as my partner pointed out, as far as the wells go, you know, this could be a dishwasher, it's gonna have a washer and dryer.

We've been made aware of that.

you know, three families and one, you know, it's gonna be a couple, my wife and I are gonna go, you know, it's gonna be like one car per one.

And again, you could split this property up and build multiple houses, which are gonna be much, which is gonna add much more, add much more traffic than just what we're trying to do.

And I'd like to also point out, if I may, right here where, it's okay, if I walk right here where the entrance is, you know, they're talking about that blind hill, and they are correct.

But this right here, the site distance

and per VDOT standards, I believe it's a 300, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, I believe it's a 300 foot.

A roadway, VDOT does require that we have that site distance.

They wouldn't approve, they won't approve.

As long as you don't have a site distance, I believe it's 300 feet, they won't approve that.

And our facility is out there, and it's at the top of the hill where you have plenty of site distance coming.

And the only way it will be turned is with a right-hand turn.

One quick comment that I have and it's as it relates to subdivision rights and I was just gonna ask

Dylan, if she could either acknowledge or explain.

The current rule sits 29.13 acres.

It's agriculture zoned.

So he has about seven division rights.

And those would be like, isn't it four two-acre lots, and then five, and then something larger than that?

Gotcha.

And I think one thing that's always is we address water issues and water tables.

Those division rights would be allowed already.

The question is, do we want to be campground?

I just think it's important that we just keep that.

There are division rights, so if they wish to do a permanent dwelling, seven permanent dwellings, that right already exists.

Other questions, comments?

Yeah, that's fine.

My earlier question to Ms. Bishop is kind of more on my comments and that is that

We're currently operating under zoning ordinances that are over 10 years old.

And the fact that our ordinance is old, it doesn't really have, it doesn't give us the confidence

The proposal that comes before us tonight is a good proposal or not because it's something that really wasn't considered 10 years ago.

We're starting a new comprehensive plan process which will lead us up to new zoning.

I'm bringing this up because this is in addition to the way things are now.

A significant piece of the comprehensive plan has to do with the public

as to what's appropriate in the Canalion where and under what conditions.

And unfortunately, my experience on planning commission and doing this for a while has highlighted those areas where our current zoning is broken in some ways.

Certainly not advantageous for leading us towards making decisions today that we're putting ourselves in danger today.

So this is in my district and it's pretty clear to me that by the thoughtful comments from everybody tonight that if the people

You know, that would be my suggestion.

I agree with Mr. Barton.

So, it's up to the Board at this time if they wish to approve, deny, or continue.

We'll just defer this to the next regular Board of Supervisors.

That would give us the advantage of having Mr. Parr present.

Mr. Parr senses her guess and unable to be here.

So we have a motion to defer this to the next lawsuit, which is March the 8th.

Do we have a second?

Oh, did we close public?

Yeah, we did close public.

I have a second from Mr. Reed.

I would just ask if there are any elements or requirements that you would like to see by the next meeting.

I would say status of VDOT health department, you know, where they might be at with contingencies.

It's clear the concerns that the people have, normally those are part of the boxes that they checked off after, especially since it's been approved, but

Given the situation, it's not beyond the pale to have some of that information ahead of time.

So I think that would be

So you're encouraging as it comes available?

Yeah, I don't know if you're in the process of trying to find out about what the water scenario is like, but maybe that would certainly allay some of the problems or highlight a significant problem.

Well, the water course is not what it needed to be.

They can't build a house.

And that would be the same thing.

And even if they couldn't get water, they would have to prove to the

We have a second with those underlying comments.

Any further discussion?

Mr. Martin?

Yes.

Now, for the crowd to know, the public hearing is done.

So, if you wish to speak once again, there will be public comments.

If you feel that issue in the beginning, after two sections, FYI, there will be no public hearing related to this specifically.

If you want to speak, you can come to the afternoon session or evening session and keep your opinions that way.

Feel free to send your emails.

I've got a lot of those.

I prefer emails.

We have Lex Ladders.

So thank you all for coming tonight.

I have to say this is probably the first time we've had since 2021.

It's nice to see people.

All right, moving on.

Other business has presented.

We have to continue this meeting to

Mr. Barton and Mr. Reed mentioned 9 a.m.

It is nothing more than to vote related to items related to redistricting deadlines that we have to vote on.

So continuing this meeting to February 16th at 9 a.m. at the Florida Supervisor Room.

Am I correct?

That is correct.

Alright, can we get a motion to continue this meeting to them?

So moved.

It's because we're in the month of February.

So for next week we have to meet this timeline for our redistricting ordinance that was passed on the 31st.

We just need to meet again to have you all authorize and direct us to publish the final public practice.

Mr. Barton?

Yes.

Mr. Reed?