[0:07] I'd like to call the august 19th, 2025 meeting

[0:11] of the dimity county board of supervisors to order. Do we have the roll call,

[0:15] please? Dr. Moore? Here. Mr. Chavis? Here. Ms. Ebra bonner.

[0:19] here. Mr. Dooley. Here. Mr. Lee. Here. Five board members present.

[0:23] alright. At this time, if you'll join me in the invocation

[0:27] followed by the pledge of allegiance,

[0:32] I'll follow father lord heaven, I'll be thy name. Thy

[0:36] kingdom come. I will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

[0:40] give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses

[0:44] as we forgive those who trespassed against us. And lead us not to

[0:48] temptation, but deliver us from evil, for ths, the kingdom,

[0:52] the power, and the glory for our amen.

[0:58] pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america,

[1:03] and to the republic of which it stands. One nation under

[1:07] god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[1:16] all right, thank you. And, and I want to welcome everybody here,

[1:20] um, this afternoon. Uh, at this time

[1:25] do we have any amendments to the agenda? Yes, sir. Mr. Chairman,

[1:29] we need to add under action items, uh, on section seven

[1:33] and h, which be, which would be a contract award for

[1:38] a chevy tahoe support vehicle for fire and ems.

[1:42] and that, that, uh, resol, um, packet information

[1:46] is sitting on your, on your desk here.

[1:51] h seven. Yep. H okay.

[1:57] y'all help me with that when we get, we'll get you, we will .

[2:01] any, any other additions to the agenda?

[2:05] somebody would like to make a motion, so move a second.

[2:10] second. Roll call please. Dr. Moore. Aye. Mr.

[2:14] chavis? Aye. Ms. Ebra bonner. Aye. Mr. Dooley? Aye. Mr. Lee?

[2:18] aye. All voting? Aye. Alright, thank you. So, uh,

[2:23] we have that added to the agenda at this time. You have

[2:27] the, uh, consent agenda before you, um,

[2:31] you've had time to look over it. Um, any,

[2:36] anything you'd like to pull out and discuss or is it, um,

[2:40] someone would like to make a motion to approve the consent agenda?

[2:44] so moved. Second. Alright. Do we have the roll call

[2:48] please? Dr. Moore? Aye. Mr. Chavis? Aye. Ms. Ebra bonner. Aye.

[2:52] mr. Dooley? Aye. Mr. Lee? Aye. All voting? Aye. Alright,

[2:57] we're going to move on to reports. Virginia department of transportation.

[3:01] uh, mr. Aaron french,

[3:06] mr. Chair members of the board, good afternoon. I missed getting up here my last

[3:10] month, by the way. Yes, sir. It was, uh, unfortunately dealing with some flooding that day and

[3:14] have accumulated quite a list of updates, uh, in the past two months.

[3:19] ferndale and river road. The, uh, proposed roundabout, that project

[3:23] is advertised for construction right now. Went out last week. Um, it is a month long

[3:27] advertisement period. We will award the contract in september given

[3:31] we get a successful bid and, uh, construction will

[3:35] likely start, uh, november or december for that project. It has a spring

[3:40] 2027 completion date. Um, some traffic changes

[3:44] and closures associated with that, that, uh, we will be working closely with

[3:49] public re relations communications with to advise public appropriately

[3:53] of. I talked to our construction superintendent, uh,

[3:57] overseeing the bain road bridge replacement this morning. They are

[4:02] setting the first span of that structure today, probably as we speak,

[4:06] as, uh, weather for them has been great the past two weeks. They were able to get the footers in

[4:10] for that structure and, uh, you should see it. They, it, it's five

[4:14] pieces. This entire bridge is on that and I've got a picture of 'em. It's,

[4:18] they put 'em on a low boy truck, take 'em out there and pick 'em up and set 'em down like big legos.

[4:22] almost very neat. But, uh, we are on on schedule for

[4:26] a completion, uh, for the 1st of october for that project.

[4:30] the tranquility road royal rustic project. Uh, we've been working on that. The

[4:35] church road area headquarters has been steady on that for a couple weeks. So we've

[4:39] got all the pipes replaced, uh, ditching and grading done on that this week

[4:43] we are gonna start adding our subgrade stone. So start building that road up, doing some grading

[4:47] with the actual profile of the road and, uh, get it hard surfaced

[4:51] probably in about two weeks. Uh, looking at wrapping that project up, the

[4:55] cherry hill royal rustic, uh, is going to be in shortly. I believe it's

[5:00] week next week. Um, we are going to have a closure

[5:04] associated with that project, given the availability of a detour

[5:08] for that route and the narrowness of the route, rather than having to

[5:12] do flag or control working with lane closures through the limited traffic,

[5:16] we made the decision to go ahead and close the road, allow the crew to get in there and work safely and much

[5:20] quicker as well. Uh, the detours vary short and there are no homes

[5:25] on the road. It's a cut through road, so it'll allow us to get in there and get that project

[5:29] knocked out quicker and safer. Um, that will, we'll

[5:33] be working with communications with that on as well. Get the, uh, public advised

[5:37] of the closure and place. Message boards in a full detour will be posted,

[5:42] um, after cherry hill. Uh, we'll be moving on to the reese road, royal

[5:46] rustic as well. Probably take a couple week break, um, after cherry hill

[5:50] to catch up on some maintenance tasks and then begin reese road later

[5:54] on. Uh, probably early fall. That is a pretty short project. Should only

[5:58] take a few weeks to knock that out. We generally lose

[6:02] our, uh, window to do these rural rustics about late november once it gets too cold

[6:06] to do the tar and ship application. Route 6 51 whitmore

[6:11] road. Uh, that road is currently closed as a result of some flooding. Um,

[6:15] in mid-july is a large culvert failure, uh, there at the pond

[6:19] once you turn off of route 40. Uh, that project is currently under

[6:23] construction. We're doing a complete replacement on that pipe. It was a large

[6:28] steel large pipe. We're going back with a double line of 60 inch diameter plastic pipe,

[6:32] so no more rusted pipe, uh, there to replace in 50 years.

[6:37] um, that, uh, project we are working to expedite

[6:41] not only to get the road open, it is the detour for

[6:45] the structure on route six 13 gills bridge road. Um, we're

[6:49] gonna probably see a closure on route six 13

[6:54] at, uh, that structure in the next couple weeks to do some regular maintenance work

[6:58] on that structure and they'll be using whitmore road as the detour for that project.

[7:03] um, additionally we're planning culvert replacement on route 7 0 3, um,

[7:08] carson road. That's gonna require detour. The

[7:12] contractor that's doing this pipe on whitmore road is gonna jump, um, over to another locality

[7:16] knock on a project there, then come back to 7 0 3 and take care of that pipe.

[7:21] it will probably be, uh, sometime in the mid-october timeframe that we're executing that

[7:27] edgeline rumble strips, uh, have been installed on four 60. Uh, this was

[7:31] a safety improvement, I think it was requested several years ago. Mm-hmm . Um,

[7:35] and they have finally been installed. So we are working through

[7:39] that and enjoying, uh, the mixed

[7:43] reaction from the public from installing the rumble strips. But, um, they

[7:47] are great safety improvement and will help us with our maintenance as well. No more people

[7:52] continuously running off the shoulder and running out the shoulder and so, uh,

[7:56] we'll, we'll save some work for us in the long run as well. If

[8:00] you notice there's a section of those rumble strips on four 60 that was skipped. It's a section,

[8:05] um, right at the courthouse road intersection on four 60. That section

[8:09] is gonna be milled and paved later on this paving season. So it was omitted.

[8:13] they'll come and do the milling and paving and then put the rumbles through that section.

[8:20] we wrapped up a cycle of mowing in the last couple weeks in the county.

[8:24] every primary and secondary was cut and we'll issue,

[8:28] um, our last cycle of mowing in the fall, probably october timeframe.

[8:32] and that'll be a full, full with right away mow. Um, we will still, however,

[8:37] continue to do everything up at exit 63, those splitter islands

[8:41] regularly. I think it's on two week intervals. Um,

[8:45] any questions from the board? Any questions, comments?

[8:51] I, I do. Um, did you, I know I mentioned before, the defense is on,

[8:55] on 85 at a one of our meetings. I know in the last few weeks we've

[8:59] had cattle on the roadway at least twice on 85 near the 6 56 and

[9:03] 58 mile marker to where deputies and animal control have had to go out and

[9:07] actually remove them from the interstate. So if you could check on that.

[9:14] okay. We did the, the contractor that oversees the interstate maintenance mm-hmm

[9:18] . Was bought out. They're, they're going through kind of a turnover with that contract right now. I

[9:22] will, I'll check on the status of that, see if they have anything updated. At least especially

[9:26] that area, sir, the cattle, I think it's been addressed with the owner of the cows, but

[9:31] at the same time, I'd hate to see somebody hit a cow doing

[9:35] 80 miles an hour. Absolutely. That'd be very tragic.

[9:39] absolutely. Um, just a question pertaining to, if,

[9:43] if there's a timeframe, uh, in the future that

[9:47] the northbound exit off of four 60 onto

[9:52] to 85 at, at 63 exit 63,

[9:56] that, that it gets a tremendous amount of traffic and it's pretty

[10:00] rough. The first 20 to 30 feet as you come off mm-hmm . Of the

[10:04] pavement of four 60 onto it mm-hmm . So I just didn't, I'm not

[10:08] whenever that schedule at least let me know. Gimme an sir idea when, when that's

[10:12] projected to be rem milled, that's likely

[10:16] something we can do with, with our oncall. I have been noticing it is getting

[10:20] increasingly rough. Um, yes, I would talk your, your traffic

[10:25] count at sheets has dramatically changed your

[10:29] on and off at that energy. It'd be very curious to see at

[10:33] some point next spring to put down a, you know, something

[10:37] to tell us what our numbers are at that, uh, that intersection.

[10:42] um, 'cause I think it'll, it'll be surprising what, what that number is

[10:46] compared to what it's been in the past. Mm-hmm . Absolutely. I'm sure it is any significant. So the sheer number

[10:50] of traffic flow. Yes. And that, that is a habitual location that we've had to mill and pave.

[10:54] there's probably something going on with the subgrade there. I think it was

[10:58] four years ago. Only we, we did that spot. So yeah. It may be something that

[11:02] we work with, uh, our materials folks with, take a, take a deeper dive into

[11:07] it, do some coring and, and see what's going on. Get an engineered repair

[11:11] and then mill it and pave it so we don't have to every four or five years go out there

[11:15] and do it. You got it. Thank you. Absolutely. On the, the sheets note,

[11:19] um, the construction, uh, to finish that wall

[11:23] is, is slated to begin in the near future as well. The barrier area's been placed. Um,

[11:28] so we should be seeing a resolution of that in the near future. Yep. Thank

[11:32] you. And the east side bridge on 85 coming back

[11:36] to right one has got patches on patches on patches.

[11:40] oh yeah, absolutely. So that bridge they are currently waiting for some funding on.

[11:45] it's got funding on the project, not enough to move to construction

[11:49] yet it's accruing funding. So over the next couple of funding cycles, we should see

[11:54] a new surface put on the top of that structure. Okay. Okay.

[11:58] um, uh, and I heard you talk about the grass cutting. So,

[12:02] um, the overpass, uh, you know, it grows fast with that

[12:06] water and everything like that. So I, I, I know how it is because, um, people at that

[12:10] homes have to cut the grass a lot a lit a lot more. Um,

[12:15] had a question about, um, the rain when it's,

[12:20] I know the storm, I don't know if carolina, I don't think it's gonna come close to

[12:25] us as far as, um, the, uh, homeowners

[12:29] and, uh, different areas if things gonna stay out near the water

[12:33] instead of coming close the coastal water and everything like that. Just wanted

[12:37] to, um, remind you about the, uh, the ditches. Yes ma'am. So making sure

[12:41] that they are, um, not clogged mm-hmm . So that water won't go back

[12:45] into, um, businesses or homes. Yes ma'am. Yes ma'am. We

[12:50] are, we are closely watching that storm. Oh yeah. Um, right now we don't expect a major

[12:54] response, but I, I check it about every 12 hours to see if anything has changed. Yes.

[12:58] it's the first thing I do when I get in the office every morning, so, uh, okay. Alright. Thank you. Yes,

[13:02] ma'am. Mr. Chavis, thank you for the update on

[13:06] the bridge. Uh, talked to billy today. He, uh, said he had talked to you already

[13:11] today. Yes, sir. Uh, but he wants to know you, you

[13:15] gave me the date in october. Is it gonna be the end of october? 1st of october is

[13:19] what I was told. Oh, good. Uh, that's, I know I've been

[13:23] mouthy. It's better than, but I won't have to do that anymore. Right. So

[13:28] 7 0 3. Yes sir. On ramp is in bad

[13:33] shape. So, um,

[13:37] it's got potholes. Mm-hmm . I don't know if you've noticed that lately or have you even

[13:41] been that way, but, uh, on ramps got right

[13:45] there is real bad. Okay. So going northbound or southbound on 85, it's,

[13:49] it's on the, uh, northbound side going on is, uh,

[13:54] real bad. It is just all, all the way up till you almost get on

[13:58] 95. Is uh, donna might be able to tell you that. Have you been riding

[14:03] at any 7 0 3? Yeah, I mean seven. Oh on ramp from

[14:07] off 7 0 3 on to nine, uh, 85 somewhat. Yeah, I try to,

[14:11] yeah, I usually try to stay on route one, but it's, um, pretty

[14:15] bad. So just take a look at that, sir. Yes sir. That's all I have. I tend to take the scenic route

[14:19] on route one as well. , huh? I tend to take the scenic route on route one as well,

[14:23] so yeah. I will go back that way now and give it again. Yeah, well you, you'll

[14:27] see it. It's a and it's bad on tires I tell you that, so

[14:32] thank you. Absolutely. Um, and not sure whether kevin has

[14:36] mentioned this archangel estates, um, which is

[14:40] off of, uh, scotch road. It's a private road

[14:45] that was supposed to come into the state system at some

[14:49] point, the developer, um, or one of the citizens

[14:53] reached out to me to try to get the developer,

[14:57] um, to a punch list of what he needed to do.

[15:02] um, she got it, I think she gave it to him and he didn't

[15:06] do anything and now he's died. Um, and

[15:10] she, what started out is the stop sign got knocked down,

[15:14] but now she would like to do another punch list

[15:18] to find out what needs to be done. And I'd like

[15:22] for the county to kind of be involved in it too, because if it's any way we

[15:27] can get that road into the state system,

[15:31] uh, I will tell you it's a fall better road than baltimore road.

[15:35] um, so, um, you know, whatever we need to do

[15:40] to try to help those folks out. Um, but I'd

[15:44] like to see us do it. So yes, sir. Yep. I will, uh,

[15:49] talk with our land u staff about that. I'm, I'm sure they're probably aware of the

[15:53] status of it and we'll take a look at that. Okay. Absolutely.

[15:57] yep. Yeah, no, not you have any more with

[16:01] you? I've got some, no. Yes, if you could,

[16:05] I was gonna bring up archangel, but I'm obviously mr. Lee just has, so

[16:10] it, it would be helpful to get an understanding of what that punch list may look like. And

[16:15] I don't, we can check from a county perspective, I'm assuming the performance bond on that's probably already

[16:19] been released. So we, we would really need to look at it and yes.

[16:23] yeah. My and his mind was immediately jumping to what, what's happening with the bond

[16:27] and if it's been released and how might we address

[16:32] that. I will say from what we're told, you

[16:36] are already pushing it for snow and I think the county's picking up kids

[16:40] on the road. So that being said, the road is still

[16:44] not in the system though, so just something to take a look at. Yes, sir. Um,

[16:48] aaron, in the, in the packet you had under traffic studies and special requests,

[16:53] a request was made to look at halligan park road in a 25 mile hour additional

[16:58] signage. It was indicated in the report that the study was conducted,

[17:02] but no recommendations were made. Um, I'm just kind of curious

[17:06] as to, I guess what, again, the thought was just adding signage

[17:10] mm-hmm . Not necessarily reducing the area 'cause that's already in place, but if there are

[17:14] other traffic calming techniques that maybe could be done or just

[17:19] when there's no recommendation, maybe we can look at maybe some

[17:23] other things. Yeah. So I'm not extremely familiar with that one. I will say that

[17:27] typically, um, unless we have a request

[17:31] from the sheriff's office or depending on the length of the speed zone mm-hmm

[17:35] . We will only support posting it to the minimum standard.

[17:40] um, it may be a case where it's, it's a short of speed zone and it's posted to minimum

[17:44] standard. I will, I'll go back and take a look at that and I'm, I'm not too sure if this came through

[17:49] the county first or the transportation safety and planning committee if it was

[17:53] brought there too, but just the origin of the concern. 'cause I, I don't know where

[17:57] the request came from. I don't think we made it, but I'd be just curious 'cause it's

[18:01] in mr. Cha's district as to where that would be. Um, sterling

[18:05] road, I know we did a study there on no truck traffic that was approved

[18:09] to, to eliminate no truck traffic on that. Has the signage been put in place?

[18:13] yes, sir. For that? That's, that's been done. Yes sir. Yep. Okay. Um,

[18:19] so the question about the mowing, so we get one more mow and that's probably gonna be in october.

[18:23] yes sir. Um, if there are funds, question was asked if, if there are

[18:27] funds left over from what's been allocated to cutting grass,

[18:31] do those funds just get reallocated to other maintenance items? So the funding that

[18:36] we use for our mowing comes out of our general maintenance fund. Um, generally

[18:40] the, the residency gets roughly 10 million a year to

[18:44] support all general regular maintenance operations. That's

[18:48] our overhead payroll. And the same funding

[18:53] that we pay for the mowing with is the same funding we pay for ditching with and

[18:57] pipe replacements. And so it, it's variable year to year depending on what we

[19:01] have going on. Um, but typically

[19:06] once we complete that mowing it's, it we'll just expend the rest

[19:10] of the funds on, on everything else on the regular

[19:14] activities. Um, the way that our fiscal years work, however, because we do

[19:18] run a july to july fiscal year mm-hmm . We have to typically cut

[19:22] before each fiscal year begins. So we will, we try to set

[19:27] aside enough, uh, funding for a mowing cycle. So going

[19:31] into this fall, we'll look at setting aside what we need to have

[19:35] enough to do a cycle in the spring.

[19:39] so I guess just from the board's perspective mm-hmm . If there are funds that

[19:43] are left over from what you're anticipating, is there

[19:47] ever a situation in which those funds, if not used in denwoody

[19:52] county for our aspect of the residency, that those funds would go to another

[19:56] locality for their purposes? Not generally. Okay. We try

[20:00] to split everything up. Um, the way that our area headquarters

[20:04] boundaries are done, they are all split

[20:09] very evenly. It's within 10 miles, 10 lane miles

[20:14] per each area headquarters. We allocate basically

[20:18] our, our budget's divided by four nearly evenly. Um, so

[20:22] generally any, any specific funding we get for the county will stay in

[20:26] the county. Um, but to do the mowing, and

[20:30] I will say that denwoody is the largest county in this residency. So denwoody

[20:35] does get the majority of our, we get our share of our funding. Yes, sir. . Yeah. So the, the

[20:39] reason for the, the questioning is, and even talking

[20:43] to ms. Ebra bonner, there's been a significant amount of, um, storm water complaints.

[20:47] some of those obviously on private property yes sir. But in some areas

[20:52] they potentially could be in, in vdo s right away. And it's just more of a simple ditch

[20:56] clean mm-hmm . Um, so the thought was that there are some funds that potentially could be made

[21:00] or shifted available. Is that something that you all just determined the priority

[21:04] or is it something that the board of supervisors could, could suggest

[21:09] that specific areas of state maintain road that those ditches

[21:13] be done in a, in a different priority? Mm-hmm . We will absolutely take priorities.

[21:18] okay. Um, if, if the board has an area, a route group of

[21:22] routes that, that they would like us to review, no problem taking a

[21:26] look at it. I will say that on a statewide basis, um, everything

[21:30] that we do, all of our maintenance activities, ditching, tree removal, mowing,

[21:35] it is all tracked. Um, we have metrics and at a high level

[21:39] our, uh, maintenance and operations folks look at those

[21:43] metrics and they can make a determination to give us

[21:47] specific funding for addressing high need areas.

[21:52] um, ditching is one of those high need areas. It was, I wanna say three fiscal

[21:56] years ago we got $7 million. The richmond district did, uh,

[22:00] petersburg residency got roughly 3 million to allocate two additional,

[22:04] um, maintenance activities. This year they've done something similar and they have

[22:09] given us additional funding specifically for ditching itself. So

[22:13] that is by happenstance already occurring. Um, I think in

[22:17] petersburg we got roughly 300,000, I want to say

[22:21] for ditching that will be split between, um, our three localities that

[22:25] we serve. But we pay less than a dollar a foot for a

[22:29] contractor to do that ditching. So it is, it's quite a substantial amount of ditching we'll be

[22:33] doing. Um, we are moving west to east with that contractor,

[22:38] so we should be, uh, seeing some additional ditching done at denwoody here

[22:42] in the near future. Um, so very good timing if, if there is an area

[22:46] of concern. Okay. Please do share. That's, that's helpful. Mm-hmm

[22:50] . And the last thing I have aaron, is um, earlier today I was in a meeting with chesterfield

[22:54] county, the apax river water authority. And uh,

[22:58] we as an authority are starting to work to update, um,

[23:03] the state water control board looks at future water planning needs.

[23:07] and so one of the potentials for our region that's still on the table

[23:11] would be at some point in the future to raise the dam

[23:16] at the, uh, lake ches, the brasfield dam, either 12, 18

[23:20] or 24 inches. So, you know, that's, that's still potentially

[23:24] gonna be a recommendation that we make. But one of the thoughts is that the, the

[23:28] whip knot marina area where the, where sutherland road in that particular

[23:33] bridge, uh, if you raise it even to the minimum 12

[23:37] inch or to the highest definitely to 24 inch, you, you start to have some issues

[23:41] with the only gas station marina on lake chosen

[23:45] not being able to have boats back and forth through that cove.

[23:49] um, so there was just a thought of, I know that the state was gonna continue to

[23:53] evaluate the functionality of that bridge and to anticipate when

[23:58] it needs to be replaced. So that if, if you could just, whoever

[24:02] in the department would know that, we're just trying to figure out what, what year

[24:07] you all are anticipating that replacement to be.

[24:15] so this is something that, um, we have put on our structure and bridge divisions

[24:19] radar. Uh, coincidentally we had a meeting last week, we have general update meetings

[24:23] with them folks for all the structures. But this one in particular is a structure

[24:27] that we talk about regularly, um, because they're looking for updates on it as

[24:31] well. Right now, uh, the conclusion that we've reached is

[24:36] they will construct, reconstruct a new structure at the

[24:40] existing height, but the way that they will design and build it is

[24:44] such that it can be easily raised at a future date. Jack

[24:48] the bridge up and block it. Um, the reason for that being

[24:52] is the, to raise it, we've gotta repro profile

[24:57] the entire roadway. Okay. We will keep the project on

[25:01] the current funding schedule at matching the existing elevation of

[25:05] the bridge. If it is determined that the level of of the lake is going

[25:09] to be raised, then we will go through and do the additional funding to

[25:13] repro profile the roadway and jack and raise the bridge. I know.

[25:18] yep. So is that additional funding, is that paid for by the department

[25:22] or would that be, if it's a an ra led project,

[25:26] is that considered to be like an ancillary asset that we would have to pay for?

[25:30] that is a very good question. I would've, I have to research that with the structure of bridge

[25:34] folks. . Yeah. Because that, I can imagine to your point

[25:38] of the approach, the, you know, it's obviously you go down to go

[25:42] up and, you know, you're, it's a pretty significant, um,

[25:48] math question I guess to make that work.

[25:55] yes. Okay. But it's something we need to look into. 'cause if it's a cost share

[25:59] or if it's something that, that the authority has to pay for, we really should anticipate

[26:03] that as a, an expense absolutely. In our water planning. Absolutely. Um,

[26:08] what, is there a, a timeline from the water authority perspective of no,

[26:12] it's, you know, I don't, my, I would suggest that it's the, the dam if

[26:16] it's raised is gonna be probably, um, after

[26:20] you all would make some improvements okay. To the bridge. I think the bridge is going to

[26:25] to, to probably need to be replaced before we raise the dam. Okay.

[26:29] and, and really the, the tail wagging the dog, so to speak, and this

[26:33] is chesterfield mm-hmm . So the, the growth of chesterfield county and

[26:37] the percentage ownership of lake che will dictate that probably sooner rather

[26:42] than later. Understood. And of course they're looking at other, um,

[26:47] water resources as well mm-hmm . To, to include further down on the

[26:51] appomattox. So we'll see. We will, but you

[26:55] know, when, when richmond had their issue with their water mm-hmm . You know, we back fed

[27:00] chesterfield all the way to, uh, midlothian turnpike.

[27:04] oh, was lake chester water? I was unaware of that. Yeah. So it,

[27:08] the system is there to, to use more. So when you

[27:12] were starting to look at chesterfield and their, uh, their ability to work where, I guess with the city of

[27:16] richmond and or trying to find another water supply,

[27:20] um, but, but your bridge is probably gonna need to be replaced before we raise

[27:24] the dam. I just want us to be smart about it in that absolutely. That cost. Mm-hmm .

[27:29] and mr. Chairman, that's all I had. Okay. Any other comments

[27:33] question? Alright. Thank you aaron. Have a good evening. Thank you. Thank you. Yep.

[27:40] okay, we're gonna move on to action items. And the first

[27:44] one, uh, contract award fire truck, uh, chief

[27:48] kissner.

[27:56] good afternoon. Chairman lee, members of the board before you to,

[28:01] before you this evening is the purchase of a replacement engine for ford fire

[28:05] station. Number two. The contract

[28:09] in front of you is to go into a contract with atlantic emergency solutions

[28:14] for $1,203,650.

[28:20] it's quite an expensive fire truck, isn't it? Yes. And

[28:24] with that paying all in advance, we get a $206,118

[28:28] savings to bring it down to nine ninety seven, five hundred and thirty $2.

[28:33] um, that has gone up since I proposed a capital improvement budget of 950,000.

[28:39] working with ms. Hamilton so nicely helped me find the funds from other

[28:43] public safety projects to be able to fund that fully. And

[28:47] we're looking at a delivery time of 1,470 days.

[28:51] so we do the math four years, 10 days is what they have.

[28:56] so you see why we had to go and move everything into capital improvement with the tankers and the engine

[29:00] forward to anticipate that, to get stuff from the books early. So

[29:04] I wish I was gonna tell you that we were just purchasing a fire truck and it would roll in here and start

[29:08] doing business, but it's not, it's gonna be quite a while. We

[29:12] still have two others on order and this one will be a identical one

[29:16] to the two we have on order that we're supposed to go in september finally and do

[29:21] the, um, the pre-engineering where we sit down and go over every little

[29:25] inkling of it to make sure it's everything that we want. So we're still

[29:29] waiting to do pre-engineering on the first two that we ordered in 22. Is

[29:33] that right? 21, 22 give or take. Mm-hmm . So it's, uh,

[29:38] been a long process, but this will put us on track to replace

[29:42] the engine at the 1516 year mark. Keep us in

[29:46] line with our original plants, put that engine into reserve. We'll still have a good engine

[29:50] to be a reserve. And as we move forward and develop fire and

[29:54] ems, we'll always have a reserve fleet in place to make sure we have apparatus to respond

[29:58] to calls. So that's what's in front of you for this one?

[30:04] is that questions, comments?

[30:09] no. It's just the reality of the world we live in today. Yes sir. It sure is.

[30:13] mr. Chair, I make a motion that we accept the resolution as presented. We have a

[30:17] second. Second. Okay. We have

[30:22] a roll call please. Dr. Moore. Aye. Mr. Chavis? Aye. Ms. Ebra

[30:26] bonner. Aye. Mr. Dooley? Aye. Mr. Lee? Aye. All voting?

[30:30] aye. All right, thank you. And we'll move right

[30:34] along and let you keep standing right there. Um, contract

[30:38] award. Stryker stretchers? Yes,

[30:43] sir. This is for replacement stretchers through current stretchers that we have in our ambulance fleet.

[30:48] the, this will be a replacement to go in contract with stryker,

[30:52] which is the manufacturer and dealer of our power stretchers. Power stretchers

[30:57] work in the back of an ambulance to keep the paramedics from having to use a lot of their backs. Like

[31:01] we used to have to use with two or three people have to pick it up. This is actually a hydraulic

[31:05] stretcher that works off a dewalt battery. They push a button, the patient comes up, they go to

[31:09] the load system, can put it in and you only really need two paramedics to actually,

[31:13] or paramedic emt to get the truck loaded and get on the way to the hospital. So

[31:17] these stretchers, um, the ones that we're replacing the three this year that we

[31:22] will be replacing are 12 years old. So you can imagine that's a lot of up and downs that

[31:26] these stretchers have done over their course and they've definitely served their time and earned their money.

[31:30] and then the stair chairs, which are smaller structures that actually fold up

[31:34] and go on the side door to ambulance, are made to get people downstairs on the back of it.

[31:38] they have a little set of treads, like tank treads and you actually pull

[31:42] that out and it actually will go down the steps like a little tank and get 'em to the bottom, put

[31:46] 'em on the stretcher and that way also help with manpower so you don't have to kind of, you know, put

[31:51] 'em in a regular chair. So those pieces of apparatus,

[31:55] the stair chairs that we currently have are 17 years old. They're not used as much,

[31:59] but they need to be updated to make sure that we don't, um, have any mishaps with

[32:03] maintenance and hurt somebody bringing 'em down just because they're starting to time out in age.

[32:08] also on this, um, contract purchase will be new equipment

[32:12] for the ambulance remount that will be coming to you next month.

[32:16] that is, um, another stretcher and another power load for the new ambulance that

[32:21] will bring every, all that will bring the whole fleet up to date with power stretchers.

[32:25] well, excuse me, not up to date. We'll bring 'em into where we have it in all the apparatus. That's

[32:29] what I'm trying to say. So that'll give us that ability to have that in all the apparatus. The

[32:33] total for that purchase is 210,000 938 93.

[32:39] that'll be coming out of two different sections of the budget. One for the,

[32:43] the, the actual striker, um, stretcher replacement

[32:47] that we had allocated in the budget, in the operating budget. And then the, the

[32:51] other part of that, the striker stretcher and the power load will come out of the remount

[32:56] out of the, um, I guess capital operating. Is that where that came out of? Yeah, the new

[33:00] capital operating budget. So we put all items together just to,

[33:04] to um, get that on one contract and it also comes with

[33:09] one year of, um, maintenance, first year of

[33:13] maintenance as part of that too. Okay.

[33:17] any questions, comments?

[33:23] alright. What's the pledge of the board?

[33:28] I'll make the motion that we approve it as presented. Do we have a second? Second.

[33:33] do we have a roll call please? Dr. Moore? Aye. Mr. Chavis?

[33:37] aye. Ms. Ebra bonner. Aye. Mr. Dooley? Aye. Mr. Lee?

[33:41] aye. All voting? Aye. Alright. Thank you chief. Thank you. Thank you chief.

[33:46] alright. Contract award block cameras.

[33:51] major not mr. Chairman, as he's making his way to the, uh, podium,

[33:55] I have a conflict statement I need to read at today's meeting. I intend to abstain

[33:59] from boats concerning item seven c, contract award, flock cameras, and seven

[34:03] d contract award. Seven police intercept utility vehicles. Each of these items pertain

[34:08] to the dee county sheriff's office. I'm employed by de county sheriff's office.

[34:13] thank you, sir. Yep. Uh, mr. Cha, mr. Chairman, members board

[34:17] mr. Mass mcgill, I come before you today, uh, on behalf of sheriff

[34:21] adams, uh, on this particular matter to talk about, uh,

[34:25] the flock, uh, license plate recognition cameras that we have throughout the

[34:30] county. Uh, back in december of 2022,

[34:34] uh, we found some funding through the virginia state police heat

[34:38] program to purchase, uh, some of these flock, uh, license plate

[34:42] recognition cameras, uh, stationary cameras placed throughout the county,

[34:47] uh, that, uh, read vehicle, uh, vehicle license plates

[34:51] as they go by. Uh, it has been a a great investigative

[34:55] tool for the sheriff's office on a number of different levels. Uh,

[34:59] since we implemented this back in 2022, uh, we

[35:04] expanded the program from four cameras up to nine cameras again

[35:08] each year, uh, with funding from the state police heat program.

[35:12] um, we have the opportunity this year to, to, uh,

[35:16] expand that again, uh, even more. Uh, the, there

[35:21] was an original contract, uh, cooperative contract with omnia

[35:25] partners, uh, used to procure the cameras, uh, that ex uh,

[35:29] uh, and that has expired. And, and we are hoping to enter

[35:33] into a new contract with that same, uh, omnia partners,

[35:38] uh, flock safety to add these, uh, additional cameras.

[35:42] uh, $9,999, uh, to

[35:47] purchase three more cameras. Again, once we, uh, we are using that money

[35:51] from our operating budget to be, uh, reimbursed by the state police

[35:55] heat program. They've already, uh, agreed to do that. Um, once

[35:59] we get the cameras in place, we ask

[36:03] them that you, uh, uh, approve this, uh, uh,

[36:08] resolution, uh, to add these cameras. Okay.

[36:13] questions, comments from anyone? Alright.

[36:20] mr. Chair, I make a motion that we accept the resolution as presented. Do we have a second?

[36:24] second. Alright, could we have a roll call please? Dr. Moore? Aye.

[36:28] mr. Chavis? Aye. Ms. Ebra bonner aye. Mr. Dooley abstain.

[36:33] mr. Lee? Aye. Four eyes. One abstain. Alright, thank you.

[36:37] um, and we'll move on to,

[36:42] uh, contract award seven police interceptor utility

[36:46] vehicles. Uh, mr. Chairman, uh, on this, uh,

[36:50] uh, particular item, uh, back the board

[36:54] approved, uh, $578,000 to purchase, uh,

[36:58] new law enforcement vehicles. Uh, six of those I believe, to replace,

[37:02] uh, aging, uh, uh, vehicles that need to come out of the fleet

[37:07] in an additional five, uh, for the traffic unit,

[37:11] uh, to support those, uh, officers as we, as we hire them.

[37:16] um, talked to shehe ford and, and as always, vehicles

[37:20] are a little hard to come by. Um, it has gotten better than what it was some

[37:25] years ago, but it's still a little bit difficult. Uh, did speak with

[37:29] them. Uh, I have, I got a quote for seven, uh, of those vehicles.

[37:34] um, the, uh, total for the seven was $307,256

[37:40] and 20 cents. Uh, that's, uh, one of those on the lot

[37:44] right now. Uh, the other six to be coming in, uh,

[37:48] shortly there, there have either been built or being built and

[37:52] being delivered to uh, uh, sheehy. And at this point we have,

[37:57] uh, our name on those so we can take delivery depending

[38:01] on the day's, uh, approval of this, uh, being able to take delivery as soon

[38:05] as they arrive on scene. Uh, we are asking that you, uh, support this,

[38:09] uh, resolution to purchase these seven vehicles for the sheriff's office.

[38:15] I'm doing some arithmetic bracelets, right? Minutes per vehicle.

[38:19] 43. It's, it is, uh, the, uh, it's

[38:24] of these vehicles. There's one that's, uh, unmarked, uh,

[38:29] gray vehicle opposed to the other white. Uh, two of those,

[38:33] uh, had been ordered with I spotlights, but they are adding the spotlights

[38:38] to them. So we have to then others, the, the other four,

[38:42] um, already have the spotlights and everything fully equipped with all the, with

[38:46] that. Uh, um, and so each, it was three different quotes,

[38:51] um, but all within several hundred dollars of each and that 43

[38:56] in some change range. Okay.

[39:01] any other questions? Comments? Alright. What's your pleasure?

[39:06] I make a motion we pass it as presented. Second. Have a second.

[39:10] second. Can we add a roll call please? Dr. Moore?

[39:14] aye. Mr. Chavis? Aye. Ms. Ebra bonner. Aye. Mr. Dooley abstain.

[39:18] mr. Lee? Aye. Four I's one abstain. And just for your information, these

[39:22] were the last of the 2025 models that we could get our hands on.

[39:26] wow. Uh, the others we'll have to have to look at the pricing on the 2026

[39:31] models, but this was a good job last of the 20 fives.

[39:36] thank you, william. Thank you. Thank you major. Alright,

[39:41] moving right along. Contract award financial advisor,

[39:45] uh, and hamilton. Good afternoon board. Mr. Massengale,

[39:49] as you know, we periodically have a need for, um, outside financial

[39:54] advisory services, um, particularly to do some forecasting and

[39:58] strategies for our cip and to help us with our bond rating,

[40:02] um, reviews that we go through, um,

[40:07] that have gotten increasingly more like a job interview these days.

[40:11] amen. Um, we have been under contract with davenport

[40:16] since 2015. That contract has expired. So we put out

[40:20] an rfp for financial services, um, in june

[40:24] and we had three vendors submit proposals. We have reviewed

[40:28] those and we con the committee con concluded that, uh,

[40:32] davenport was still our best fit, this best overall

[40:37] fit for what we need. Um, it's not something

[40:41] we need every day. We just have, we pay them on a as needed basis.

[40:47] so we are asking for approval of the contract

[40:51] with davenport. Alright. My only comment,

[40:56] I think, um, they've done a good company to work with and, and when

[41:00] they come to do a report, um, they do a good job. Mm-hmm. It,

[41:04] it helps me understand how they present it and so I

[41:08] think they've helped us save some money over the years. They, they do have a good way

[41:12] of putting it in plain language, the whole debt service

[41:16] and mm-hmm. Strategic plan using

[41:21] how you replace the, replace the debt mm-hmm . Coming

[41:25] off and coming on and right. They, they do a good job of, in

[41:29] layman's terms, explaining all that, I think. Mm-hmm .

[41:33] alright. Any other comments just to comment? Just, I mean, I think davenport

[41:38] has done an excellent job since we have been members of the board of supervisors. Um,

[41:42] everything that we have asked them for, um, has been presented

[41:46] to us in a very professional manner. Um, they've done a very good job of explaining

[41:51] our options as from staff as well as for us as board members.

[41:55] and, uh, they've been very punctual in giving us,

[41:59] um, their advice, uh, of us making decisions. So I I'm

[42:03] very appreciative of davenport.

[42:07] alright. What's, what's the pleasure of the board?

[42:12] um, I make a motion that we approve, um, as presented.

[42:17] alright. Do we have a second? Second, uh, roll

[42:21] call please. Dr. Moore. Aye. Mr. Chavis? Aye. Ms. Ebra

[42:25] bonner. Aye. Mr. Doley? Aye. Mr. Lee? Aye. All voting?

[42:29] aye aye. Moving along to approval of manufacturer

[42:34] opioid settlement. Mr. Sofa,

[42:41] you got a big book mr. Chairman? I'm gonna stretch my legs and come over here to the stand today.

[42:46] it is a big book , um, book. Alright, so

[42:50] as you know on the, the first one here is the manufacturer opioid settlement.

[42:55] as you know, several years ago we filed a lawsuit against retailers, distributors, and

[42:59] pharmaceutical benefits managers alleging that those entities caused harm

[43:03] to denwitty county by furthering or, uh, fueling the, uh, opioid

[43:08] epidemic. There have been a number of settlements to date that have come through the board. Those include kroger,

[43:13] janssen, walmart, walgreens, cvs, tiva allergen and distributors.

[43:17] and so there's presently an opportunity to accept a settlement agreement with eight

[43:22] manufacturers. I'll get to the purdue in a minute, but this, this

[43:26] memo is to talk about the eight manufacturers, algen, amne,

[43:30] apotex hickma in dvor, milan,

[43:34] sun and du. Um, then when he's direct share of the

[43:38] settlement, after attorney's fees may up to about $12,000, although

[43:43] the money is to be received over time, several of the companies wanted to pay up

[43:47] front. I think there were several of 'em who wanted to pay out over time. The longest amount of time

[43:51] that a company wanted to pay was 10 years. So it'll be a, a fair amount of money

[43:55] up front and then the rest of it will trickle in. Um, and then

[43:59] that could be, could be end up being less or more. The settlement will also make,

[44:04] um, money available through the virginia opioid abatement authority. And

[44:08] because the county participates in the virginia opioid abatement authorities gold standard program, the

[44:12] funds received from the settlements, um, will need to be used for opioid mitigation.

[44:17] so our outside counsel has advised the board to,

[44:21] uh, approve the resolution to, to enter into the settlement with the manufacturers.

[44:26] I'm happy to, to answer any questions that you may have or to try to,

[44:33] any questions? No. Um, when this money

[44:38] comes to us, we, we have to

[44:42] keep it separate and then move it to things that deal

[44:46] with opioid. So that's correct. And

[44:50] ms. Howerton does account for it when it comes in that it's, it's kind of earmarked

[44:55] that that's what it's supposed to be used for. So, so, yes. And, and

[44:59] you know, so to the extent that you have special ideas to address the opioid epidemic, there

[45:03] is a pot of money that is, is right here and that's called the direct

[45:08] distribution to deal with that. We also have a pot of money that, that lives in richmond that

[45:12] we can ask for with the opioid abatement authority. And there's also a pot of money that

[45:16] we can apply for regional cooperative projects that's with the opioid abatement authority

[45:20] and then by subscribing to the gold standard, we get an additional bonus amount of money.

[45:25] okay. So, um,

[45:30] yes. Alright. Anybody what's

[45:34] the pleasure mr. Chair? I make a motion that we, uh, accept the, and

[45:38] approve this settlement as presented. Second. Alright,

[45:43] we have a motion and second roll call please. Dr. Moore. Aye. Mr.

[45:47] chavis? Aye. Ms. Ebra bonner. Aye. Mr. Dooley? Aye. Mr. Lee?

[45:51] aye. All voting? Aye. Alright, thank you. And now we

[45:56] keep on to um, g approval of purdue

[46:00] formal bankruptcy plan and opioid settlement

[46:04] with the slack lower family. That's

[46:08] right. So this one deals with purdue pharma and purdue pharma

[46:13] was probably the, you know, if there was one company that was associated more than any

[46:17] other with the opioid epidemic, it was probably purdue pharma. Um,

[46:21] and if, if you watch the news over the past 10 years, um,

[46:25] so again, several years ago the lawsuit was filed. Um,

[46:29] there have been the settlements to date. So there's presently an opportunity to vote

[46:34] on, and this is kind of a two part resolution. One part of it is the purdue c

[46:38] corporate bankruptcy. Um, our outside counsel has recommended

[46:42] that we vote to approve that as a creditor, um, as as the

[46:46] county. The second, um, is, is

[46:51] with the sackler family itself. The sackler family has

[46:55] considerable wealth and they were defendants and, and the lawsuits.

[46:59] and they have agreed to pay 6.5 billion with a b

[47:03] dollars to resolve their, their, um, their

[47:08] litigation against, against the, the folks that they're settling with here.

[47:13] um, they actually had a, they, they did something interesting with a, a bankruptcy

[47:17] proceeding and tried to wash the family liability and the bankruptcy

[47:21] proceeding. And there was a us supreme court case that said that that wasn't permitted. And so it kind

[47:25] of went back to the drawing board. And so now there's, there's a, a second more favorable

[47:30] settlement, um, with the sackler family as well

[47:34] as, as well as a, a bankruptcy that needs to be approved. And so

[47:38] our, our outside counsel has recommended that the board vote

[47:42] to, uh, approve the, the bankruptcy and

[47:46] vote to approve the settlement with the sackler family.

[47:51] um, this actually is estimated to result in a more of a

[47:55] payment than the, the previous settlement discussed here. I

[47:59] think then when he's direct share, you're talking about an amount up to something like $77,812.

[48:06] um, and, and some these settlements are all fairly complicated and some of them depend

[48:11] on how many jurisdictions participate in each state. So these numbers are not, are

[48:15] not set in stone, but the, the, the number, the number there that

[48:19] I calculated it could go up to is about 77,812. Now that amount

[48:23] would be received over 15 years, so you'd buy that by 15 and

[48:27] you know, it's, it's some money to do something with, but it's, it's,

[48:32] um, it's spread out. So I'm happy to try to answer any

[48:36] questions for this one. Um, and

[48:41] you have the resolution for you as well. Alright. Questions or

[48:45] comments? Alright, what's the pleasure

[48:50] mr. Chairman? I think the motion that we approve the resolution as presented.

[48:55] second. Second

[49:00] deal was got second. Oh, second did you say second? I said second.

[49:05] okay. . I, I came here very good but I never heard a second. So,

[49:10] um, roll call please. Dr. Moore. Aye. Mr. Chavis?

[49:15] aye. Ms. Ebra bonner. Aye. Mr. Dooley? Aye. Mr. Lee? Aye. All

[49:19] voting? Aye I. Alright.

[49:24] is that it? Title it is mr. Chairman and I will let our

[49:28] outside counsel know that you have approved these two resolutions and they will set the

[49:32] mechanics into motion, which are rather complex to effectuate everything,

[49:37] the settlements and the bankruptcy votes. And that's why we got

[49:41] you . Thank you tyler. Thank you. And your big book

[49:46] . Alright, I got h and

[49:50] we're got h gonna move to h now, um, chief kna

[50:01] and I think we got a hand note for this one. We do. It's it's on your,

[50:05] at your place. Alright.

[50:10] alright. Good afternoon again. In front of you is is one of

[50:14] the two fire and ems vehicles that we had in the fiscal year 26 operating

[50:18] budget. This is a chevrolet tahoe, um, being purchased

[50:23] from rk chevrolet. 58,544 and 48 cent.

[50:28] it's a tahoe ssv which is made for um, public safety edition.

[50:33] it doesn't have some of the options that a typical civilian vehicle would have. It doesn't have the third row seats

[50:37] and they've taken out some things. It's not the police pursuit one

[50:41] that would've been a nice one to get obviously. But we're not chasing criminals so we don't need that. This

[50:45] is more of a fire administration, public, um, administration vehicle.

[50:50] this, um, kinda had to be rushed to the front. They only had one left. And kinda

[50:54] like the fire trucks, if you don't grab it and get it, it'll be gone. So by the time I come back up here,

[50:58] it won't be there. So, um, we're still looking for one more vehicle, so I'll

[51:02] be coming back up here for the other one. One. We found that one, but that's a, uh, pickup

[51:06] truck. So in front of you is just the consideration to

[51:10] approve the contract to purchase the $58,000 $544

[51:15] and 48 cents tahoe

[51:21] question? Nope. No, we need them.

[51:25] that's all. I absolutely get it. Where you can get it mr. Chair,

[51:29] I'll make a reso. Make a motion. We accept the resolution as presented. Alright, do

[51:33] we have a second? Second. Alright, roll call please. Dr. Moore.

[51:38] aye. Mr. Chavis? Aye. Ms. Ebra bonner. Aye. Mr. Dooley?

[51:42] aye. Mr. Lee? Aye. All voting? Aye. Thank you. Thank you. Thank

[51:46] you chief. Thank you chief. Okay,

[51:50] I think we've moved on along to citizen comment. Do

[51:54] we have anyone signed up for citizen comment? Yes. Mr. Chairman, we have dorothy graves.

[52:00] alright,

[52:04] good evening, denwoody county board of supervisor. Good evening. Good evening.

[52:08] it is more than a pleasure to be here since denwoody county is my favorite county

[52:13] in the world. . Thank you. All the places I've ever lived, there's

[52:17] no place like river road in sutherland, virginia. Amen.

[52:21] there's no county like woody, where my son graduated, number seven in his class,

[52:26] went on to become a united states marine, retired from the marines and went on, became

[52:31] an educated, now retired from teacher. So thank you then whitie for all you did for

[52:35] my family. Amen. I am here on behalf of the dwi e lives

[52:39] club. Evelyn, the late evelyn lee over 27

[52:43] years ago had a big idea that dwi county needs the alliances club

[52:47] and the lady really served the county well, but she changed all of

[52:51] us to serve. So my purpose for being here today is

[52:56] to bring your attention to us. What, what do we do in the county? Just what

[53:00] I said. We serve, what have we done for 24? 23?

[53:04] 24? During 2324, we have supplied several

[53:09] families with eyeglasses 'cause they could not afford 'em. We have supplied

[53:14] five, $500 book scholarship to graduating seniors from

[53:18] denwoody county high school and the scholarships of the evelyn needs memorial scholarship.

[53:24] and that was done just this past spring for the kids who just started into

[53:28] college. We with the denwoody,

[53:32] the, the lyons international foundation is reaching out now

[53:36] to denwoody county to assist with flood victims in petersburg,

[53:41] virginia. There are four families. We're working through the petersburg social service department.

[53:45] 'cause there is no lion's club in petersburg, virginia. That's right. Other

[53:49] things that we do that you may not be aware of. We serve by working with veterans.

[53:53] we serve, uh, by working in the communities we serve by working with the food banks.

[53:58] so my, my plea to use today to help us, we need

[54:03] you to help us on friday, september 26th, 2025,

[54:07] 6:30 pm we will be celebrating

[54:11] 25 years plus to the of service

[54:15] to the citizens of denver witty county at the olive branch baptist church fellowship

[54:19] hall on boarding plant road backward.

[54:24] I have here courtesy tickets for board members. We would love if you made the

[54:28] donation, but if not, we still want you to try to be present. And mr. Chairman, we'd

[54:32] like for you to come and welcome our guests to our affairs.

[54:36] are there any questions about the dunwoodie county lines club?

[54:41] okay. Any questions? No, but I'll make some comments in my comments. Okay. Cool.

[54:46] good. Mm-hmm . Will you please put these in

[54:50] your district that you represent? Dr. Moore has already served his district.

[54:55] ms. Pass that way. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. And any comments

[54:59] that board members we make, we're gonna make comments, um,

[55:04] at a little bit later. So, um, we'd like to do that then.

[55:08] so. Okay. Thank you.

[55:13] don't think you get away, .

[55:51] we appreciate you have little publicity here.

[55:57] thank you, mr. Oh, you're welcome. Thank you. Introduce

[56:01] your partner in crime. Oh yeah, I know her. That's why I didn't introduce her.

[56:05] that's right. . This, this is my secretary.

[56:10] geraldine chrysler george. That's right. Good seeing you.

[56:14] good seeing you. Well, thank y'all so much for, uh, and

[56:18] presenting to us today and I'll go check my schedule and, and,

[56:22] uh, hopefully I'm, I'm free then. So,

[56:26] so you say I can put your name on the program you,

[56:30] you can speak with me. That's, uh, is

[56:34] anyone else signed up, mr. Chairman? We have no one else signed up. Alright,

[56:39] go ahead and, uh, close the public. Um, comment, citizen

[56:44] comment, period. And now we'll have county administration.

[56:49] yeah. Mr. Chairman, members of the board. Um, first I

[56:53] just wanted to thank you to thank you guys for the young ladies

[56:57] that came from the lions club here. Um, you

[57:01] know, 20 drive down the yellow brick road , 25 years.

[57:06] that's, that's an amazing milestone. Thank you. And thank, thank you so much for

[57:10] what y'all have been doing and I know many years continued service. So thank you

[57:14] so much. Um, mr. Chairman and members of board week, we spent

[57:18] a lot of money today and you can see it all in this book. So

[57:23] it's like ann hamilton actually handed out our, our, um,

[57:28] full budget book, which is the easiest way to, to understand where the

[57:32] county finances go. Mm-hmm . Um, which I'm so glad we're able to get this, this

[57:36] to the board. And of course we have copies of this online as well as

[57:40] upstairs, but it's a, it's a great, great reading and thank you for, for providing

[57:45] that. Um, I just had quite a few administrative housekeeping type dates

[57:49] and I know mr. Lee's gonna talk about the town hall meetings. Um, so I'm,

[57:53] I will briefly kind of go through those. But just a couple things to hit

[57:58] this week. Thursday, um, august 21st,

[58:02] ms. Chairman, you and I have a civilian military council meeting at the, um, defense

[58:06] supply center in richmond. So that's, uh, that's thursday, later

[58:11] thursday afternoon at four 30 at st. Paul's

[58:16] event center in brunswick county. Virginia's gateway region is having

[58:20] a, um, a service there for our new localities.

[58:24] so it's a reception for them. So the new new localities for virginia's

[58:28] gateway region is greensville and emporia and brunswick have been

[58:32] added to that footprint. So they, they tell me they have ice cream.

[58:37] that's, I know that's dr. Moore's weakness, but so again,

[58:41] four 30 to five 30 at st. Paul's event center in brunswick county.

[58:46] uh, friday we have the fire recruit school

[58:50] graduation, just as a reminder for that mount pleasant baptist

[58:54] church. Um, um, again, august 22nd, friday

[58:59] next week, just wanna give you a heads up that the management team, and y'all are

[59:04] welcome all three days or at any point during the three days, but we are,

[59:09] uh, going to the petersburg library and for the 27th, 28th

[59:13] and 29th, uh, you know, we had this year of perfect vision

[59:18] in 2020 where we started doing a little strategic planning. You all,

[59:22] um, decided to add three more core values to our original three

[59:26] core values. And that's when we figured out, if you arranged them, you could spell the word

[59:30] strive. We've never really, um, trained on these, these

[59:34] values. And so that's a, a fundamental of our management team is

[59:38] to understand these core values. So we're, we're gonna be teaching and training

[59:42] and working together on that. So again, 27th, 28th, 29th,

[59:47] the management team will be there. Constitutional officers as well, um,

[59:51] are also invited. Uh, september is the,

[59:57] the month of town hall meetings. I think marie's gonna kill us during this month,

[1:00:01] but we've got, we got a lot of work. So, uh, first we're gonna start off with the board

[1:00:05] workshop. That workshop is at 4:00 pm on our normal date agenda

[1:00:10] will come out about what we're gonna talk about, um, thur, uh,

[1:00:14] thursday the fourth is the first brenda, even bonner. Uh, that's gonna be at edgehill church

[1:00:18] of christ. All these from six to seven 30. Uh, monday

[1:00:22] the eighth, mr. Chavis at richard bland at the academic innovation center.

[1:00:27] wednesday the 10th, dan lee, and that's at ragsdale.

[1:00:31] then, uh, the 17th is mr. Lee again, uh,

[1:00:35] at olive branch baptist church. And then monday the 22nd,

[1:00:40] we have mr. Dooley. And you're gonna, we're gonna be in darville at the ton club,

[1:00:45] um, on the 29th. Mr. Chairman, you and I have mayors and chairs,

[1:00:50] and that's gonna also be in the city of petersburg, uh, that meeting.

[1:00:54] and then october, uh, sixth, there's mark moore's. And that we're

[1:00:58] gonna do that at west end baptist church for that. Um,

[1:01:02] just a couple other items real quick. First, you know, the new

[1:01:06] seal that we adopted and, um, 'cause you can see that on some of the

[1:01:10] letterhead and whatnot. We had indicated when we adopted that seal that this

[1:01:14] wasn't going to be, um, I mean, ob obviously it's official, but we

[1:01:19] weren't gonna replace certain things and until the point that it came

[1:01:23] available to be replaced. So, chief kissner, for your, all

[1:01:27] your fire apparatus, you know, we should look at that new seal, uh, to the sheriff's

[1:01:31] office that's here. We'll communicate that back to the sheriff. All of our new vehicles should adopt that new seal,

[1:01:35] not the older seal. But one of the things that ms. Howerton, um,

[1:01:39] holly and I met yesterday with a flag company, was

[1:01:43] to talk about the flag. So when we went to more of a, a navy

[1:01:48] look, uh, to the flag, even though we didn't change the seal itself,

[1:01:53] that navy would clash with green. So

[1:01:57] when, and ann knows, I hate picking colors, but we, we set for a long period

[1:02:01] of time looking at different shades of blue yesterday. Uh, so the, the

[1:02:05] county seal, once we get to the point of replacing this, these

[1:02:10] flags, I think we have about 20 left. We're going to transition to what will be

[1:02:14] a blue flag with the county seal. That county

[1:02:18] seal has been, uh, printed on the same material as what our flags

[1:02:22] are. Now, it's upstairs in your, uh, office. Mm-hmm

[1:02:26] . So ann even went to the arduous task of cutting out the seal

[1:02:31] so that you can take a look at it. We also, if you put it up against the, um, the commonwealth

[1:02:36] of virginia flag, it's not gonna be as dark. Right.

[1:02:40] ann? No. And I can't remember the official name. It's not heritage blue, is it? It's

[1:02:44] legion blue. Legion blue, yes. But it's a little bit

[1:02:48] lighter than the, the blue that you would see in the commonwealth of virginia flag. But

[1:02:52] I just wanted to give you an idea what it's gonna look like. Um, and that obviously

[1:02:56] will be noticed, I would assume, by our general public. And we change from a transition from a green

[1:03:01] flag to a, to a blue flag. But we wanted you to have a look at, to see what that looks

[1:03:05] like. I think it looks really sharp. Um, we're hopeful that, that you agree.

[1:03:09] but if you want to take time between now and or after this

[1:03:13] meeting to go upstairs and look at it, uh, we have it on display up there.

[1:03:18] um, the board fall advance. So we were, we were looking at,

[1:03:22] at two specific timeframes. One was october 23rd

[1:03:26] and 24th. The next would be october 30th and 31st.

[1:03:31] my preference would be the 30th and 31st, because the county fair

[1:03:36] is the 17th, 18th, and 19th. So I think you might want a

[1:03:40] little bit of a break in between. But I wanted you all to look at your calendars if you,

[1:03:45] you 23rd, 24th, or 30th, or 31st, that thursday's, friday,

[1:03:49] if that works for you all. Uh, for that, again,

[1:03:53] county fair is the 17th, 18th, 19th. It's the same pay structure

[1:03:57] as last year. $10 for adults, $5 for children,

[1:04:02] and parking is free. Uh, so that's information's on the county website about that

[1:04:06] a little bit later in the year than what we've done in the past, but should be a little bit cooler. Um,

[1:04:10] and really, I don't think conflicts with high school football as much. So again,

[1:04:15] county fair. Um, next thing I wanted to just mention,

[1:04:19] as I, uh, noticed this morning, I'm sure you all did too, do county public

[1:04:23] schools, our back in action, and just to call that attention to

[1:04:27] our public, that you do have children now standing on the side of the road.

[1:04:32] um, and I, I watched this morning as I was going

[1:04:36] down ball salt road where a child was outside, it looked like maybe

[1:04:40] a, a teenage driver, I'm assuming a cell phone. Um, but

[1:04:44] it was almost a near miss with the ch with the child in the driveway. So,

[1:04:49] um, you know, and I know our sheriff's office does a phenomenal job with that, but just

[1:04:53] reminded me to make a public statement that a, put your cell phone down. B, notice

[1:04:57] the fact that you got kids standing on the side of the road and to obey the, the speed

[1:05:01] limit there for sure. Um, and I just hope that

[1:05:06] the school system has a fantastic year. I mean, with, that's, that's a big part of what we do

[1:05:10] here. Um, fire and emsi just, just wanted to bring it to the attention of

[1:05:14] the public that we had a meeting with the fire and rescue association last week. And,

[1:05:19] um, you know, just a special thank you to chief kissner and and his team.

[1:05:23] you know, we, we started this when the board first got on. And mr. Dooley, I,

[1:05:27] I know you had a, a very good scheduling conflict for that particular day, taking your child to,

[1:05:32] to college. Um, but what a, what a good event. And, and I think

[1:05:36] it's just a special time for us to, to talk about, um,

[1:05:40] fire and ems not only from our paid, but from our volunteer system and just how

[1:05:44] fortunate and how blessed we are that we have a system that kind of works

[1:05:48] together in that way. Uh, 'cause that's not necessarily the case and a lot of other jurisdictions.

[1:05:53] um, and it's been a year of adding a whole lot of new team players, um,

[1:05:58] to, to the list. And so, uh, really good meeting, positive direction there.

[1:06:03] uh, ms. Eber, brona mentioned hurricane. Um, that's out.

[1:06:07] aaron that's in the, out out now out the sea. It's the first major

[1:06:11] hurricane, I guess, of the season. It peaked last night at category

[1:06:15] five. I think it's been downgraded to a four. It's anticipated to stay off

[1:06:19] coast. But, um, it is a time to remind everybody about hurricane

[1:06:24] preparedness. And I know chief kissner has talked to the county staff about that. And,

[1:06:29] and so we can kind of heed that warning. Um, and we've dodged the bullet,

[1:06:33] I guess the last few years. So just, but just a bit of concern. We'll put out some more information.

[1:06:37] but just really wanna encourage our citizens to stay informed about the hurricanes

[1:06:42] that they see. Um, and specifically code red that we have on

[1:06:46] the county website. Um, if you haven't, um,

[1:06:50] gone in and, and created a, a membership for that, you, we encourage you to do that. That's

[1:06:54] gonna be your best way to be, get communication updates from us. Um, and

[1:06:58] also to just stay, stay vigilant with the news. Um, the second thing,

[1:07:03] this comes from virginia department emergency management, um, is to start building

[1:07:08] now emergency kits. And so when you, when you think about that, it's making sure

[1:07:12] that you have appropriate water. They recommend a gallon per person in household

[1:07:16] per day. Uh, non-perishable foods, medications, flashlights

[1:07:21] with extra batteries, first aid kits, cash,

[1:07:25] get cash before a storm, because a lot of times atms, um,

[1:07:29] are not working as well. Uh, as well as debit transactions are sometimes

[1:07:33] limited. Um, also, you know, just, just watch

[1:07:37] we'll, we'll put out information on how to protect your home, what to do, um,

[1:07:42] if the power goes out. I know both south side electric and dominion

[1:07:46] put out really good information, but it's just something we need to take a look at. And then obviously,

[1:07:50] we'll, your government here, we're gonna, we're gonna work with you in the event something takes place there.

[1:07:56] um, also just wanted to mention the vaco county summit that we attended last week.

[1:08:00] I, I've been doing this now for 20 some years and

[1:08:05] have had the pleasure to go to a lot of vaco meetings. And I thought that it

[1:08:09] was a good meeting. Uh, but I, mr. Dooley and I attended

[1:08:13] a breakout session on, I guess the energy and land use

[1:08:17] committee, and he and I talked about it. You know, I

[1:08:21] don't know that in, in my career, I have seen such a divided commonwealth.

[1:08:27] so the, the issues that are important to northern virginia

[1:08:31] and to virginia beach look a whole lot different

[1:08:36] than the rest of the commonwealth. And we seem to be extremely

[1:08:40] polarized, um, on a lot of issues that's there.

[1:08:45] um, so this election, you know, we started off the vaco, uh,

[1:08:49] county officials summit with some of our state legislators

[1:08:54] that are running for office, uh, in the positions of attorney general lieutenant

[1:08:58] governor and governor lieutenant governors came, um, as well as ag.

[1:09:03] um, both abigail span berger and winsome sears weren't in attendance, but

[1:09:07] they had been in years past. So I just wanted to remind everybody

[1:09:11] that I, I think this is a really important state election this year, um,

[1:09:16] which made me think about, you know, again, don't throw away your, your chance to vote and make a

[1:09:20] difference and educate yourselves on the issues that are affecting

[1:09:25] local government as well as the commonwealth of virginia.

[1:09:29] um, you know, ver voter turnout, if you look at it and track it, is,

[1:09:33] is not, it's been steady, but it's not been increasing. And so you'll see

[1:09:37] lower turnout at a, a, um, election

[1:09:41] for governor than you will president. So, uh, just a couple points there.

[1:09:45] september 19th, so about a month away, you start early

[1:09:49] voting in denwoody county. So from september 19th to october 31st,

[1:09:55] citizens can come to the, the voter registrar's office between eight 30 and four 30.

[1:10:00] and, and they can cast that vote before you get to election day.

[1:10:04] um, there's gonna be two saturdays that you can vote. That's october 25th and

[1:10:08] november 1st. And if you're not registered to vote, the last day

[1:10:12] that you can register is october 24th. And so, again, just,

[1:10:16] just wanna put that information out there. Um, also yesterday,

[1:10:21] um, I had the privilege to, um, for

[1:10:25] the first ever, richard bland decided to have a convocation. So it

[1:10:29] was all of their first year students as well as their returning second year students.

[1:10:33] and all of the, the athletes over 200, some athletes are, are in, in

[1:10:37] place now at richard bland college. And they've asked, they asked me to come back and be their convocation

[1:10:42] keynote speaker. So I had an, an awesome, um, time to

[1:10:46] be able to do that yesterday. And just to, just to see where richard bland college

[1:10:50] is going. It's really the only, the higher ed in denwoody soil, even

[1:10:54] though we do support the region. And it just, you know, president

[1:10:58] sidedo, um, with a new board of visitors now, I think it headed in

[1:11:03] a really good direction. But to see the, the young, uh,

[1:11:07] students that were there and what they're planning on doing and what they're anticipated doing is, is,

[1:11:11] is phenomenal work. So had that privilege. And the last thing I think, and

[1:11:15] I think mr. Lee you're gonna talk about a little bit too, is, uh, the recognition

[1:11:20] by the virginia association of counties to recognize, uh, the

[1:11:24] county's mock trial project. And I call it the counties 'cause it's

[1:11:28] really started off in the school system. So the secondary gifted program,

[1:11:33] um, that my wife had a p pleasure of leading, um, when she was working for the school

[1:11:37] system. But just this collaboration between our commonwealth attorney's

[1:11:42] office and our sheriff's office. So our investigatory unit

[1:11:46] with the sheriff's office spent a tremendous amount of time educating

[1:11:50] students on, uh, the mock trial. And of course, it was the commonwealth versus the

[1:11:54] grinch, and did he really steal christmas or not? Uh, but this actually made

[1:11:59] national news. Cnn picked it up. Um, and we, we submitted this as

[1:12:03] a model project along with two others. And, uh, vaco recognized it with

[1:12:08] the best small county project. So as you all know, that, you know,

[1:12:12] denwoody has won that before. The second time we won it for the faith-based initiative.

[1:12:17] the second was the county city planning project, and now this is

[1:12:21] the third time. So in the last five years, we've won three times. That's

[1:12:25] more than any other jurisdiction. Um, of the, of the counties that exist,

[1:12:29] 68 of them are under 50,000. And so to, to be in that

[1:12:34] category, um, just again, shows the, the innovation I

[1:12:38] think of, of the people in denwoody that work in local government to

[1:12:42] try to find ways to collaborate and again, be innovative, to teach

[1:12:46] children and to find other projects that are meaningful. So just, just very proud

[1:12:50] of the staff to, to take on that initiative and to be recognized. And I think

[1:12:54] vaco will be coming at a subsequent meeting to november meeting to, to

[1:12:58] be able to do that. Okay. Mr. Chairman, that's all I have. Alright. Thank you.

[1:13:03] thank you. Well, mr. Dooley, we'll start with you.

[1:13:08] okay. Uh, I really don't have much. I'm looking forward to the town hall meeting that we have coming up.

[1:13:12] uh, looking forward to getting in front of folks and, and hearing the issues and

[1:13:16] challenges that are facing our rural, uh, district. And

[1:13:20] also just spreading some, some good news too with the expansion of, of the

[1:13:25] internet services that are coming out. Um, I remind folks, weather's

[1:13:29] getting nice. Uh, we did have the opening ceremony for five forks

[1:13:33] visitor center. Uh, I hear all the time, what do we have to do in the county? This

[1:13:37] is an outstanding trail system that folks can get out and exercise and

[1:13:41] walk. I was out there, uh, sunday riding horses. So it's

[1:13:45] also the opportunity for our equestrian folks to get out in our community and, and

[1:13:49] find places to ride. So that's really all I have. Okay.

[1:13:55] alright. So I will talk about our friends that are here from the lions club.

[1:13:59] first, um, 25 years ago,

[1:14:04] there was a group of people and the nucleus being evelyn nice.

[1:14:08] her brother was a district governor in

[1:14:12] the state of kentucky for lions international. And each state

[1:14:17] has, is broken into territorial regions, and they have

[1:14:21] district governors and her, between her and her brother,

[1:14:25] they brought the dream of creating

[1:14:29] a, a lions club in denwitty county to the petersburg lions

[1:14:34] club. Well, at that time, I was the president of the petersburg lions club.

[1:14:38] and so the petersburg lions club was the sponsor for

[1:14:42] the denwitty lions club, which initially met in

[1:14:46] the farm, the basement of the farm bureau building, um,

[1:14:50] initially, and that's where we were chartered at, where the, the lions club in dity

[1:14:55] county was chartered. Unfortunately, covid,

[1:14:59] um, took my club away. The petersburg lions

[1:15:03] club time caught up with us. And, uh, but

[1:15:07] that being said, the denwitty lions club is still here, still

[1:15:12] functioning. So I collect glasses in my office and I present them

[1:15:16] to the denwitty lions club. If you're not one of the major projects

[1:15:20] that the, the lions that they will accept your glasses, your old

[1:15:24] glasses, if you can donate them, um, they are taken to third

[1:15:28] world countries or other countries outside the united states, and

[1:15:32] they are read by lions and they are labeled

[1:15:37] and they go on mission projects to, as an example, I know they've

[1:15:41] gone to haiti. Um, and for those that don't have glasses,

[1:15:46] something that's close is better than nothing when you're blind.

[1:15:51] so that's one of the things that they do as well as collecting hearing aids.

[1:15:55] okay. We have a hearing aid bank, uh, that's actually in richmond. So we as

[1:15:59] a community could collect, um, hearing aids that can be

[1:16:03] presented to the lions club. One of the things jt morris does, they do collect

[1:16:07] hearing aids as people, uh, transition. Uh, I know that

[1:16:11] eal small does that too, but there are some other funeral homes that we may be reaching

[1:16:16] out to that, that we can do that. But looking forward to

[1:16:20] the, the anniversary in september, being able to speak, um,

[1:16:24] for that 25th anniversary. And I just wanna say thank you to what

[1:16:29] you are doing for our community. Um, you know, the main

[1:16:33] call is, if you can't see, the lions club will

[1:16:37] help you with that. Mm-hmm . Okay. And that's what we're in the business

[1:16:41] for. So thank you for what you're doing and looking forward to september.

[1:16:45] okay. Um, also one of the things is screenings in the school system,

[1:16:50] uh, prevent blindness helps with that, which is now called conexus.

[1:16:54] um, but they help in with kids. You don't realize what

[1:16:58] it's like when a child is coming to school. A lot of times a parent doesn't realize that

[1:17:02] your child can't see. Okay. Even though they may go to a pediatrician and have

[1:17:06] their checkup, you don't realize that the lions club does screenings

[1:17:10] for those kids. I think starting at the third grade level, that's where it really comes

[1:17:14] into play. Um, a lot more board work when you get to that third grade

[1:17:19] level than it is at the kindergarten, first and second grade levels. So, but

[1:17:23] anyway, thank you for what you do ladies. Um,

[1:17:28] of course, leading us into a new school year. Yesterday was the first year,

[1:17:32] first day of our students coming back. We had what, kindergarten, sixth

[1:17:36] grade, ninth graders yesterday. Today, everybody's in the school.

[1:17:40] uh, I just want to wish our school board, all of our executives

[1:17:45] that are in the system, uh, from superintendent and all the way down to

[1:17:49] the classroom because the marines are in the classroom, uh, that take care of our

[1:17:53] children. So I hope that we have a very successful year, um, as

[1:17:57] far as that's concerned. Just a reminder, first football game is not

[1:18:02] at home this year. It's on the road at colonial heights. It's, it's august the

[1:18:06] 28th. So I hope that everybody that's listening to me will make

[1:18:10] their trek to colonial heights on that friday evening. Um,

[1:18:14] good to be at the vaco summit last week. Serve on the education committee.

[1:18:18] one of the things this past year we were very blessed to get

[1:18:22] a significant amount of funding, uh, through the general assembly for public

[1:18:26] education. And we will continue to do that as we move forward,

[1:18:30] um, even with elections and the general assembly and what can and could

[1:18:35] change, uh, at, at the state level. But we are there and

[1:18:39] in particular for those positions that are non soq positions that

[1:18:43] affect our budget, uh, tremendously, um, from a dollars

[1:18:47] and cents point of view. So that is one of our platform issues

[1:18:52] there. Um, wanna talk a little bit about tonight. Tonight

[1:18:56] we have some significant, um, special recognitions

[1:19:00] that we will be here at seven o'clock when we come back into the, the session.

[1:19:05] um, really looking forward to it. 'cause we have an individual that has put

[1:19:09] her heart and soul into, um, serving

[1:19:13] this community. So looking forward to this evening. Um, and

[1:19:18] piggybacking on the event that was at five forks, just

[1:19:22] a question for us as a board, if we want to improve our signage

[1:19:26] that is related to that particular corridor on courthouse

[1:19:31] road coming to and from in both directions

[1:19:35] to try to promote it a little bit more in that corridor. Okay.

[1:19:39] something to think about. Thank you,

[1:19:44] . Okay. Um, just a,

[1:19:48] a couple of things and, um, the, the two nice

[1:19:52] people we have out here for the lions club, thank you. Um,

[1:19:56] I did not realize that you all did all that as dr. Moore was saying. And, um,

[1:20:01] I'm definitely going to, uh, tell people when I see them, all the work that you

[1:20:05] all do. So thank you both again for all you do.

[1:20:09] um, the, um, vaco summit, uh,

[1:20:13] I did, uh, attend and I, I sit on the health and human

[1:20:17] services, uh, board. Um, a couple of things they

[1:20:22] said that was kind of interesting, uh, october, the october 1st

[1:20:26] was gonna be, um, some different things coming into

[1:20:31] play. And they, the gentleman, uh, that was

[1:20:35] there, he was, uh, trying to tell the board

[1:20:39] exactly what's gonna happen. He didn't know everything that was gonna happen, but

[1:20:43] he said that, um, they're working through some things with the snap and

[1:20:48] medicaid and he said that, um, at

[1:20:52] one time the federal government used to do, uh, a hundred percent.

[1:20:57] and, um, and, um, that, um, now it's gonna be

[1:21:01] changed a little bit. It's not, uh, the federal government is not gonna do a hundred percent. It's

[1:21:05] gonna be looking at the, um, the counties and,

[1:21:10] um, and from the, uh, from richmond that it's gonna be a,

[1:21:14] a different, um, uh, level that's gonna be a little bit different.

[1:21:18] so, but he, he didn't, he didn't, um, he didn't

[1:21:22] really, um, have all the numbers together. We were asking a whole lot of questions

[1:21:27] and he said, well, they're working through some, some of the formulas and we're gonna

[1:21:31] see what, what's going to happen and with that. So,

[1:21:35] um, that, that's the, um,

[1:21:39] that's the thing with that. I'm sorry, , just trying. Um,

[1:21:44] yeah. Um, so we are just going to kind

[1:21:48] of look at, um, um, uh, exactly what we're gonna do after october 1st.

[1:21:53] so, um, my whole concern was not to pass any of the,

[1:21:57] uh, funds down. Uh, now, uh, some of the, uh,

[1:22:02] lack of monies down to their localities, that was my primary thing.

[1:22:06] I said, you know, um, we don't want that coming down to the counties where we have to

[1:22:10] pick up the slack. So we're gonna see after october 1st what the formula is

[1:22:14] when they finish doing that. And also, um,

[1:22:18] voting, you know, um, we have to get out and vote. This is a year that

[1:22:23] we really need to look at what's going on, um,

[1:22:27] a across this state. And if you have young people, please,

[1:22:32] uh, encourage them to vote to come out because

[1:22:36] a lot of things that's happening is gonna affect them, uh, down the line.

[1:22:40] so we wanna make sure that they get out and, um, and vote

[1:22:44] and know what's going on, read about the policies that

[1:22:48] people have and make sure that's something that, uh, you wanna be

[1:22:53] a part of. But we would really want to encourage them. When I see a young person, I

[1:22:57] ask 'em, are you registered to vote? And one little girl said, oh, I'm only 16.

[1:23:01] she was working at the fast food. And I said, that's fine, that's fine. I said, but,

[1:23:05] um, if you know someone, make sure that we encourage them to do that

[1:23:09] because it is a year that, um, we have to look at and look

[1:23:13] at how it's gonna benefit everyone, and especially after october 1st,

[1:23:17] that that's when a lot of changes are gonna happen. So we're gonna see what's gonna happen after

[1:23:21] that time. And, um, and

[1:23:26] I think that is, um, all I, all I have with the health and

[1:23:30] um, human services is just making sure that, um, we keep an

[1:23:34] eye on eye on the individuals, especially people that are disabled

[1:23:38] and cannot do for themselves. We wanna make sure that the funds are

[1:23:42] there to take care of them and, um, and, uh, individuals

[1:23:46] in some of these, uh, rehab centers and things like that. So we just wanna make sure

[1:23:50] that, um, keep our eye out, eye on those things and

[1:23:54] that, um, their funds are not cut. So again, I told the

[1:23:58] first we have to see what happens and everything. So, um, and that's all I

[1:24:02] have about that right now. Alright. Thank you mu okay. What the changes,

[1:24:07] well, everyone said about what I was going to say. I'm like, uh,

[1:24:11] mr. Dooley, I'm looking forward to town hall. I didn't

[1:24:15] think I'd ever say that , uh, but I'm looking forward

[1:24:20] to that. And vaco is a very interesting lot of information

[1:24:24] we, uh, learned. Uh, marie hung out with me in one session with ms. Bonner

[1:24:29] and I'm on the transportation, uh, committee, and we're

[1:24:33] trying to get to the point where these, uh, six year plan,

[1:24:37] you know, uh, trying to get rid of that. So, you know, pot, the money's

[1:24:42] there, what potty you go pull it out of. Uh, so we talked about that.

[1:24:46] that's, uh, very interesting. So we have a good group of guys, uh,

[1:24:50] on transportation and vaco's really. I mean, they really

[1:24:54] work hard for us. So, uh, but again, thank you everyone

[1:24:58] for coming out tonight. Uh, the lions club, uh,

[1:25:03] I'm a member of the moose club, so we do some neat things

[1:25:07] too. So, uh, but I know mark's been with the lions club for quite

[1:25:12] a while, long time. And, uh, but anytime you can serve in any

[1:25:16] capacity and help people is what it's all about. So

[1:25:20] thank you for what you do. Thank you,

[1:25:24] mr. Chavis. Well, I'm doing my report. Y'all have said

[1:25:28] everything on my report, but I'm do it. I'm gonna do it anyway, so,

[1:25:32] uh, okay. Um, okay. Vaco, be

[1:25:37] small county, um, be small county three times

[1:25:41] in the last five years. Only locality to earn this designation

[1:25:45] more than once. Um, chesterfield gets the big county

[1:25:50] award almost as much as we get the little county award.

[1:25:54] um, so, um, we, we, we tell

[1:25:58] 'em, they, they look at us and that's right. And then try to keep up, copy us.

[1:26:03] um, of course we'll have the presentation here in,

[1:26:07] um, in november. And, uh, we're

[1:26:12] actually gonna have the director of, um, administrator of, uh,

[1:26:16] vaco's come. And he wouldn't let any of his, um, staff

[1:26:20] come. He wanted to come himself this time. So, um,

[1:26:24] of course we all went to vaco summit last week, and I'm

[1:26:29] actually on the board of directors for vaco. So I got to, uh, spend

[1:26:33] the night in richmond. And then, um, next morning we had,

[1:26:37] um, the meeting in the vaco offices, which they've,

[1:26:41] um, just redone and it's very nice. Um,

[1:26:46] so, um, so they, what mr. Massengill

[1:26:50] said about the, um, difference between,

[1:26:55] uh, northern virginia and, and or really the

[1:26:59] urban versus rural. Um, and I was talking to,

[1:27:03] um, victor angry, who is a supervisor from

[1:27:07] prince william county, um, who will be our president

[1:27:11] next year of vaco. And, uh, I invited him to

[1:27:16] come to denwoody. I hope I can get him in a combine, um,

[1:27:20] and understand that what we've got here in denwitty,

[1:27:25] we want to preserve. Um, and that they're

[1:27:29] not a lot of similarities between prince william county and then woody. Um,

[1:27:34] but they're both very important. Uh, what they do in prince william is very important.

[1:27:39] um, and, um, but I'm glad they're doing

[1:27:43] it and not me. Uh, so, uh, so we hope that,

[1:27:48] I hope I can, um, get him down here. Um,

[1:27:52] as chairman, you get to do some neat things. Um, and

[1:27:56] so the five forks grand reopening was one of those things.

[1:28:01] um, they had hot dogs, so that's always good when you can eat.

[1:28:05] um, but, but I think, um, and we

[1:28:09] had a, um, tourism meeting, um,

[1:28:13] last week and we, we talked about five forks

[1:28:18] a lot. And I think the, the real future for five, five forks

[1:28:22] is, is our future. Um, you know, and, and as

[1:28:26] we start to promote it and start to do more and more

[1:28:30] stuff, um, right there. And then

[1:28:35] second thing was the pickleball and basketball courts. Um,

[1:28:40] mr. Basque, you know, made his basket, uh, didn't embarrass himself.

[1:28:44] and, and I lived to get off the pickleball court without

[1:28:49] embarrassing myself. Um, but that was a good event. And,

[1:28:53] um, you know, I think we're gonna get some use out of them every day

[1:28:58] and, uh, no doubt. So, yeah. Um,

[1:29:05] town hall meetings, um, you know, we, we started, 'em

[1:29:09] did 'em, and then we kind of had a break. And now with, with last year we did

[1:29:13] 'em. Um, and, you know, we hear a lot

[1:29:17] of complaints about county government and

[1:29:22] what, what does do? Spend all the money and, well,

[1:29:26] kevin's got the dollar bill that I, I love.

[1:29:30] and you know, when you break it down with the dollar bill, you really see where your money's

[1:29:35] going. Um, and if, if you don't want that firetruck

[1:29:40] to come to your house or that, uh, police car

[1:29:44] or that ambulance, then you know, maybe we can make some

[1:29:49] cuts in our budget. Um, but if you want public safety

[1:29:53] or you want somewhere to send your kids to school, you look at schools and

[1:29:57] public safety, uh, right. Much of that dollar bill.

[1:30:01] so we want to relay that in our, in our town hall meeting.

[1:30:06] um, you know, so, um,

[1:30:11] certainly gonna have staff there. We're gonna invite staff, um,

[1:30:15] you know, my two being the son of the county. Um,

[1:30:20] you know, if, if mr. Dooley and mr. Chavis want

[1:30:24] to come, we kinda shall, um, some

[1:30:28] and even you dr. Moore, um, in that,

[1:30:32] um, olive branch section. So, um,

[1:30:37] it, it, I think the town hall meetings are gonna be really

[1:30:41] well received this time. And then, um,

[1:30:47] mr. Dr. Moores, um, sold it

[1:30:51] a little bit and I'm gonna sell it again tonight. Um, come back for the seven

[1:30:55] o'clock session. It's gonna be, um, some,

[1:30:59] uh, well received, uh, special presentations, um,

[1:31:04] tonight. And, um, so we hope, you know, you'll be able

[1:31:08] to come back and join us. Um, and

[1:31:12] my last comment, um, and, and

[1:31:17] my wife reminded me of this, um, after her first day of school

[1:31:21] yesterday, is, um, people just be nice. You

[1:31:25] know it and you don't know what other people are going through when, when

[1:31:29] you confront 'em, but it doesn't cost you anymore to be mice.

[1:31:34] amen. Mm-hmm . Amen. So, so yeah, just be nice.

[1:31:39] alright, we have a need to go into closed session.

[1:31:44] the board will convene into a closed session under 2.2 dash 3 7 1 1 a one, personnel

[1:31:48] appointments creator planning district metropolitan planning organization, ity

[1:31:52] county industrial development authority, 2.2 dash 3 7 180 5,

[1:31:57] business and industry development discussion concerning prospective business or industry, or the expansion

[1:32:01] of existing business or industry where no previous announcements have been made. Economic development

[1:32:05] prospects update 2.2 dash 3 7 1 1 a three, discussion or

[1:32:09] consideration of the acquisition of real property for a public purpose or of the disposition of publicly held real property

[1:32:13] where discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating

[1:32:17] strategy of the public body acquisition of property for economic development. Disposition

[1:32:21] of public property for economic development. May I have a motion to go into close please? So

[1:32:26] moved. Second roll call dr. Moore. Aye. Mr. Chavis?

[1:32:30] aye. Ms. Ebra bonner aye. Mr. Dooley? Aye. Mr. Lee

[1:32:34] aye. All voting? Aye. Alright, we'll see you back at seven.

[1:32:44] I need a motion to come out of closed session. So moved. Second

[1:32:49] roll call please. Dr. Moore. Aye. Mr. Chavis? Aye. Ms. Ebra

[1:32:53] bonner aye. Mr. Dooley? Aye. Mr. Lee? Aye. All voting

[1:32:57] aye. Whereas this board convened in a closed meeting under 2.2 dash 3 7 1 1 a one.

[1:33:01] personnel appointments creator planning district metropolitan planning organization, dewin county

[1:33:05] industrial development authority, 2.2 dash 3 7 1 1 a five

[1:33:09] business and industry development discussion concerning prospective business or industry or the expansion of

[1:33:14] existing business or industry where no previous announcements have been made. Economic development prospects update

[1:33:18] 2.2 dash 3 7 1 1 a three discussion or consideration of the acquisition of

[1:33:22] real property for a public purpose or of the disposition of publicly held real property where discussion

[1:33:26] in an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the public body

[1:33:30] acquisition or property for economic development disposition of public property for

[1:33:35] economic development. And whereas no member has made a statement that there was a departure from the lawful

[1:33:39] purpose of such closed meeting or of the matters identified in the motion discussed now being certified

[1:33:43] that only those matters were identified in the motion were heard, discussed, or considered in the meeting. I need a motion to adopt

[1:33:47] please. So move. Second. Can we have a roll call, please?

[1:33:51] dr. Moore? Aye. Mr. Chavis? Aye. Ms. Ebra bonner. Aye. Mr. Dooley?

[1:33:56] aye. Mr. Lee? Aye. All voting? Aye. Alright, thank you. Uh,

[1:34:00] we're gonna, um, go back into recess for, um, till seven

[1:34:04] o'clock and then we'll um, have the seven o'clock meeting. Thank

[1:34:08] you.

[1:34:15] I'd like to welcome everyone to the seven o'clock, uh, portion

[1:34:19] of the, uh, de county board of supervisors meeting, uh, at

[1:34:23] this time. Uh, first I'd like to welcome everyone here tonight.

[1:34:27] um, and we're gonna have, um, a couple of

[1:34:31] re resolutions and then we're gonna have a, a lifetime achievement

[1:34:36] award. So, uh, at this time we're gonna go ahead and, and

[1:34:40] get started with the, um, special recognition. Okay. We'll come down. Yep.

[1:35:10] good evening. So the first person we're gonna recognize tonight on their retirement

[1:35:15] is ben jones. Ben, where are you?

[1:35:20] is he hiding? Okay, come on up, ben.

[1:35:29] mr. Haw, can you also come up?

[1:35:45] oh, you're still coming up anyway. Right?

[1:35:51] so there, there are two type of people in denwoody, pe, people that

[1:35:56] have city water and people that don't.

[1:36:01] true. So, so ben is, is really the

[1:36:05] epitome of denwoody county water authority. So ben, we have about 3,200

[1:36:09] connections, give or take, you probably could tell me to the exact amount. Probably 33 50.

[1:36:14] 33 50. If you wanna know where any type

[1:36:18] of infrastructure is to our sewer infrastructure, to our

[1:36:22] water infrastructure, ben jones knows exactly where it is.

[1:36:27] um, so he decided after a, a long career

[1:36:31] with dene county water authority that it was time to call it quits.

[1:36:35] and I can tell you just from working with the leadership

[1:36:39] at the water authority, somebody like a ben jones is, is irreplaceable.

[1:36:43] um, but ben, you honor us to be able to, to recognize you,

[1:36:48] uh, on your retirement and, and can't, can't thank you enough for

[1:36:52] all the work that you've done over the years. And chairman baha

[1:36:56] is, is obviously the head of the dey county water authority, um,

[1:37:00] on the board. And I know I probably, you can echo the comments that I I've

[1:37:04] made. I'm not gonna put you on spot if you wanna say something, but if you wanna say something.

[1:37:11] yeah, I'll feel a little. So, ,

[1:37:16] um, when I came on the war authority,

[1:37:20] uh, I didn't know ben. I knew his wife

[1:37:25] through my contact with my nephew who worked

[1:37:29] for her, but I didn't know ben.

[1:37:34] and you know, it, I have found in my

[1:37:38] life that getting to know someone slowly is much

[1:37:42] better than making a, a rash judgment

[1:37:47] with ben, you had to go look for him because he was

[1:37:52] in the field or doing something else else. But I'll describe

[1:37:56] ben this one matter. Ben

[1:38:00] is the man, um,

[1:38:05] in every organization and, and that I've

[1:38:09] been associated with. There are those people

[1:38:14] that you see and I'm kind of flashy. And then

[1:38:18] there are those people who get the job done.

[1:38:23] I slept real well at night because I never got a phone call

[1:38:27] with a water problem because ben got,

[1:38:32] and ben was the person that we had, we went to,

[1:38:37] he knew who to call, he knew what to do, he knew where it

[1:38:41] was, and he knew what materials to needed

[1:38:45] and I can't say anything else from back then.

[1:38:49] he was the man. Thank you. Thank you

[1:38:53] mr. .

[1:39:00] very, very well said. The, the only other additional piece I'll make and then we'll

[1:39:04] ask the clerk to, to read your, your proclamation into record.

[1:39:08] um, if you, you stop and think about the tremendous responsibility

[1:39:13] of making sure that, that you deliver safe, uh, potable

[1:39:18] drinking water to the public, um, and to make sure that that's

[1:39:22] done in such a way that's extremely reliable. I'm, I'm always just awed

[1:39:26] by the water authority and specifically the way they go about their

[1:39:31] business. Again, ben, we wouldn't be the water authority we are today

[1:39:35] without you. So thank you so much. Thank you madam

[1:39:39] clerk. If you could read the, the proclamation.

[1:39:44] whereas benjamin ben james jones ii has

[1:39:49] faithfully served the citizens of dmw witty county through the dmw witty county water authority

[1:39:53] for 38 years, holding numerous roles of increasing responsibility

[1:39:57] and culminating his career as authority operations manager. And whereas

[1:40:02] throughout his tenure, mr. Jones worked tirelessly to provide safe,

[1:40:06] reliable drinking water to the citizens of dim witty county, consistently promoting

[1:40:10] sound operations, preventative maintenance, and responsible stewardship of

[1:40:14] public infrastructure. And whereas mr. Jones was a true team

[1:40:18] player who was always willing to cooperate with dem witty county initiatives, sharing his

[1:40:23] knowledge with summer interns through the dem county youth workforce development

[1:40:27] initiative, and participating in the annual government day event where he helped

[1:40:31] educate youth about the importance of water service in the community. And

[1:40:35] whereas mr. Jones was a, a significant part of the county's economic

[1:40:39] development team, often working alongside county staff when

[1:40:44] meeting with prospective businesses and was frequently thought of as an extension of county

[1:40:48] government due to his professionalism, insight, and commitment to supporting

[1:40:52] growth and opportunity in dinwitty. And whereas mr. Jones'

[1:40:56] leadership institutional knowledge and commitment to teamwork enhance daily

[1:41:00] operations and emergency response alike supporting continuity

[1:41:05] of service during routine maintenance system upgrades and unforeseen events.

[1:41:09] and whereas his professionalism, integrity, and customer focused

[1:41:14] approach earned the respect of colleagues, partner agencies in the community

[1:41:18] he served. And whereas mr. Jones' exemplary service reflects

[1:41:22] great credit upon himself, the denwity county water authority and denwoody county

[1:41:26] as a whole. Now therefore be it resolved that the deity county board of

[1:41:30] supervisors hereby recognizes and commends benjamin james jones ii

[1:41:35] for 38 years of dedicated and distinguished service to the de witty county water

[1:41:39] authority and to the citizens of de witty county and be it further resolved

[1:41:43] that a copy of this resolution be spread upon the minutes of this meeting for all eternity.

[1:42:13] thank you. Thank you. And ben, if you could stick around

[1:42:17] after the tonight's recognitions. We're gonna take some more pictures up here at the end.

[1:42:30] okay.

[1:42:42] do we have a motion for the resolution? So moved. Second. Can

[1:42:46] we have the roll call, please? Dr. Moore? Aye. Mr. Chavis?

[1:42:50] aye. Ms. Ebra bonner. Aye. Mr. Dooley? Aye. Mr. Lee aye.

[1:42:54] all voting? Aye. All right. The, uh, motion carries.

[1:43:02] okay.

[1:43:16] the second recognition that we have tonight, uh, is to mr. Jean jones

[1:43:21] on his retirement. Jean, there you go. Thank

[1:43:25] god you got your hat on . Sorry.

[1:43:30] I I had just been named county administrator in 2006,

[1:43:34] a little bit nervous coming to board meetings and jean had to give a report

[1:43:39] and so can you take your hat off? Oh yeah. So

[1:43:44] he, he took his hat off this young county administrator. I'm, I'm looking

[1:43:48] and I'm asking ann, I'm like, where's gene? He's like, he's in the audience. I said, gene's

[1:43:52] not here. Where is gene? So then I told gene, don't ever take your hat off anymore.

[1:43:56] so you, so I, I started ty county, my

[1:44:00] service here in november of 2002. And

[1:44:04] my, my first couple days on the job, for those that remember dwayne

[1:44:09] abernathy, dwayne was the building official. So dwayne said,

[1:44:13] kevin, we've got, uh, interviews and being you're my boss, you're gonna be

[1:44:17] on the interview panel with me, if that's okay. And so anything, anybody knows anything

[1:44:21] about interviews, a there's never any pre-selection. And if you're interviewing six people,

[1:44:25] you interview six people. The problem was gene interview,

[1:44:30] that gene was about the second person we interviewed that day.

[1:44:34] and not only when he finished did he blow our socks off, it

[1:44:38] was the point of do we have to interview the other people? Uh, because gene

[1:44:43] did such a phenomenal job, gene comes in and build inspections

[1:44:47] starts a couple weeks after I got to dim witty. So my whole career

[1:44:51] in dim witty county has been working with gene jones.

[1:44:55] and since his retirement in july, um, I've been

[1:44:59] kind of the, the interim gene jones.

[1:45:04] so if I didn't know what gene was doing before, I really know what gene's doing now,

[1:45:08] and, um, mr. Baja, you said it well about ben, the man,

[1:45:13] uh, that's, that's gene jones. We, we had the privilege of

[1:45:18] of really spending some time with gene and his family. The influence

[1:45:22] that gene's family has had on gene as far as the person, the

[1:45:26] man that he is, just the overall quality and character,

[1:45:30] the work ethic, um, that he has is, is really that

[1:45:34] of his family. And you couldn't be around gene, but

[1:45:38] about 10, 15 minutes. And he would explain the work ethic that he

[1:45:43] got from his family, his heart and soul is his family.

[1:45:47] and we're just pleased that for the years, since 2002, that

[1:45:51] we consider gene part of our family. And even though he's gone on to retirement

[1:45:56] and doing some other things in life, he's still part of the family.

[1:46:01] uh, so jean, we've got a, a resolution to proclamation that we want to,

[1:46:05] to read into the record at this time. Madam clerk, if you can read that,

[1:46:12] whereas charles eugene, jean jones jr. A proud native

[1:46:16] son of denwoody county, graduated from denwoody county high school in 1979

[1:46:21] and has faithfully served his community in both professional and volunteer capacities

[1:46:25] throughout his this life. And whereas jean has faithfully served the

[1:46:30] citizens of dim witty county for nearly 23 years, beginning his career in the office of

[1:46:34] building inspections in november, 2002, and culminating his

[1:46:38] distinguished tenure as director of general services. And whereas during

[1:46:43] his tenure with deity county, gene provided oversight for numerous major projects,

[1:46:47] including the development of the sports complex, the establishment of man

[1:46:52] convenience sites, construction of the government center complex, the

[1:46:56] creation of the robert and betty ragsdale community center, and the renovation

[1:47:00] construction of each of the county's volunteer fire departments, thereby leaving a lasting

[1:47:05] impact on the community. And whereas prior to his service

[1:47:09] with dwi county, jean was a self-employed home builder for 18 years

[1:47:14] demonstrating skill entrepreneurship and a commitment to quality craftsmanship

[1:47:18] that laid the foundation for his future in public service. And whereas

[1:47:22] jean also served his community as a dedicated member of the ford volunteer

[1:47:26] fire department from 1980 to 1995, including five

[1:47:31] years as fire chief from 1990 to 1995, exemplifying

[1:47:35] leadership, courage, and a heart for service. And whereas throughout

[1:47:40] his career, gene demonstrated an extraordinary work ethic and unwavering

[1:47:44] commitment to excellence and a genuine dedication to public service.

[1:47:48] and whereas jean led by example, earning the respect

[1:47:52] and admiration of his colleagues and staff by never asking his team

[1:47:56] to do anything that he himself was not willing to do, fostering a

[1:48:00] spirit of teamwork, mutual respect and shared purpose.

[1:48:05] and whereas his leadership integrity and institutional knowledge have

[1:48:09] contributed greatly to the success and efficiency of denwity county's operations

[1:48:13] and his presence will be deeply missed by his colleagues, staff, and the community

[1:48:18] at large. Now therefore, be it resolved that the denwity county board of

[1:48:22] supervisors on this 19th day of august, 2025 desires to express

[1:48:26] their appreciation to charles eugene, jean jones jr. For his

[1:48:30] many years of loyal, dedicated service to denwoody county and be it

[1:48:34] further resolved by the board of supervisors of den witty county, virginia, that this

[1:48:38] resolution be presented to charles eugene, jean jones jr. And a copy

[1:48:43] spread upon the minutes of this meeting for all eternity.

[1:49:09] um, I'd like to thank that man back there for teach you much trade. ,

[1:49:13] um, has capital saying a big old family that's dalton.

[1:49:17] uh, he basically told me everything I know about construction, so, um, he

[1:49:21] deserved a whole lot of credit. That's it. I've got one comment.

[1:49:26] um, we had a retirement party for jean at, uh, east

[1:49:30] side and kevin did a presentation on jean

[1:49:34] and had pictures from early high school years,

[1:49:38] maybe yeah. Smaller than when he was smaller than that. And gene had

[1:49:42] blonde hair. I probably passed his shoulders. He looked like a rock star.

[1:49:47] and, uh, I I didn't remember that. I, I probably

[1:49:51] had seen him like that, but, um, he, he definitely was our rock

[1:49:55] star for a long time here in denwood and we appreciate amen. Um, what

[1:49:59] he did for this county.

[1:50:25] all right. Could we have a motion for the resolution? So

[1:50:29] moved. Second. Can we have a roll call please? Dr. Moore?

[1:50:33] aye. Mr. Chavis? Aye. Ms. Ebra bonner. Aye. Mr. Dooley? Aye. Mr. Lee?

[1:50:38] aye. All voting? Aye. Alright.

[1:50:56] no, look.

[1:51:11] so, um, the lifetime achievement award is, um,

[1:51:15] something that we, um, had talked about

[1:51:20] and, um, so this is the first one. Um,

[1:51:25] and I don't know how you start at the top and work, I guess we'll work our way down

[1:51:29] now from, from this nominee, but I hope this

[1:51:33] is a surprise. Um, I think it

[1:51:37] will be. But, um, could we get betty bowen

[1:51:42] to come forward, please?

[1:52:03] surprise.

[1:52:10] so, betty, surprise, um, I, I

[1:52:14] can't begin really to talk about about betty. Um,

[1:52:19] I've been fired and hired, I don't know how many times since

[1:52:23] I started with betty. Um,

[1:52:28] typically when she does fire me, it's outta love

[1:52:32] and there's always a way that she says I can earn my spot back in, into

[1:52:37] the county team. Uh, but in, in all seriousness, when

[1:52:41] the board last year, it was about a year ago, the board was thinking

[1:52:45] about the tremendous amount of people that we have in

[1:52:49] denwoody county and just the, the value and the power

[1:52:54] of expressing appreciation to those individuals that, that really

[1:52:59] truly, when we talk about a lifetime achievement is

[1:53:03] a, a life well spent. And initially

[1:53:08] a whole lot of names, um, came forward. We've got a lot of people to

[1:53:12] recognize. But again, um, dr. Moore

[1:53:16] was the first to really say, hey, I, I've got one that I really, really, really

[1:53:20] think is extremely special. And when he put betty forward,

[1:53:25] it was quickly accepted that if you're going to do it, you know, set

[1:53:29] the bar pretty high. Um, I've been told you

[1:53:33] don't tell someone's age, but as I left church

[1:53:37] on sunday, betty showed me her new car,

[1:53:43] and she said, it's not new, but it's new to me. I said, I

[1:53:47] got it betty as she was driving, and I said, I just want you to be careful.

[1:53:52] she said, I'm 92, right? And you, you

[1:53:56] said, I got a few good years left . So

[1:54:01] betty, um, we can't thank you enough and we're so happy

[1:54:05] to, to recognize you. Uh, our okra church family, we talk

[1:54:09] about the county family right there, but I'm, I'm a member of okra united method church in

[1:54:13] sun on sundays or every day. And I, there's a lot

[1:54:17] of people here from oak oakland and then the community to support ms. Betty.

[1:54:22] um, dr. Moore, do you wanna say anything before

[1:54:26] we read? Lemme give you that,

[1:54:39] you know, tonight is a special evening when you have an opportunity to

[1:54:44] thank someone that has been a part of your community

[1:54:48] for 90 years. What she has done for our community.

[1:54:54] matter of fact, for us as a board, because I can promise you, when I first came on the board

[1:54:58] 14 years ago, betty made a point to say, these are some of the things that we

[1:55:02] need to work on in did witty county. And, uh, but I'm appreciative of

[1:55:06] that. Um, but she has put her heart and soul into

[1:55:10] what she has believed in, and that is the history of this county

[1:55:14] over the years. Um, and so just from

[1:55:18] the board of supervisors, from dan and all of the others, and kevin, you know, this

[1:55:23] is just our way representing the citizens of denwitty county

[1:55:27] that we can just say, thank you. God has honored

[1:55:31] us. Your church is here to honor you. The

[1:55:36] citizens are here to honor you. This is not the end.

[1:55:40] we know that. But we continue to work

[1:55:44] with you going forward and we value our relationship

[1:55:48] with you. And we pray that you value, um, us in your

[1:55:52] relationship and in your life. May god continue to bless you. Thank you.

[1:56:11] raised on a dairy farm in chesterfield county, elizabeth love betty bowen

[1:56:16] has spent her life nurturing not only her own family, raising

[1:56:20] five children and becoming a proud grandmother to seven and

[1:56:25] great-grandmother to nine, but also the broader community she has

[1:56:29] so faithfully served. Mrs. Bowen dedicated 25 years of

[1:56:33] professional service to jcpenney department store, and served as a den

[1:56:37] mother and adult trainer for the cub scouts. Instilling values of

[1:56:41] leadership and service in youth, a charter member of the deity

[1:56:45] county historical society since its founding in 1985,

[1:56:49] she served as a director for 17 years, volunteered as a docent

[1:56:53] at the historic courthouse, and championed the preservation and

[1:56:58] maintenance of this treasured landmark. Her passion for history and education

[1:57:03] is further demonstrated in her coordination of the march 6th, 1997

[1:57:07] student field study of denwoody county architecture. An effort involving

[1:57:11] 300 students and eight buses traveling 86 miles across

[1:57:15] the county. She assisted with historic structure surveys,

[1:57:20] chancery cause digitization for the library of virginia, and played

[1:57:24] a leading role in the publication of denwoody county, virginia heritage,

[1:57:29] 1752 to 2006. She also worked closely with

[1:57:33] lineage societies such as the daughters of the american revolution,

[1:57:38] united daughters of the confederacy and sons of confederate veterans.

[1:57:42] to offer historical and genealogical education to the public,

[1:57:47] mrs. Bowen's efforts helps secure a grant from the cameron foundation for

[1:57:51] the conservation study of the denwoody county historical society and courthouse archives.

[1:57:57] she co-ordinated the county civil war su

[1:58:01] quincentennial committee and contributed research for the placement of

[1:58:05] historic highway markers. Most notably honoring elizabeth keekley,

[1:58:10] a devoted member of the okra united methodist church. She has served as

[1:58:14] a sunday school teacher, choir member, youth mentor, communion

[1:58:18] committee member, and was instrumental in establishing the church library.

[1:58:23] she has also served as a member of the dimity county tourism advisory committee

[1:58:27] and was named dimity county senior citizen of the year in 2016,

[1:58:32] a proud member of the j ton club since 2006.

[1:58:36] she was named ton of the year in two in 2015

[1:58:40] for her tireless service, unwavering civic engagement, and deep commitment

[1:58:45] to preserving the history and heritage of denwitty county. We are proud to

[1:58:49] honor mrs. Betty bowen with the denwitty county lifetime achievement award.

[1:59:14] ladies and gentlemen, I have one more individual to call up and it's the honorable

[1:59:18] kim taylor with the house of delegates who also would like to make

[1:59:22] a presentation. Kim ms. Bowen,

[1:59:27] it's an honor to be here tonight to to join into this recognition of you.

[1:59:31] you are truly an example to us all. To, from your,

[1:59:35] from everything that you've done. It's, it's such an inspiration that

[1:59:39] and, and a reminder that we need to, each of us needs to serve in our own way.

[1:59:44] so I just wanna recognize you with a certificate from the house of delegates

[1:59:48] and thank you for all your service to denwoody county for all these years. Thank

[1:59:53] you.

[2:00:09] I don't have anything written down. Okay?

[2:00:15] this is a surprise. I want you to know

[2:00:19] that I greeted all my fellow church members

[2:00:24] and you know, every one of 'em have told a story this morning.

[2:00:31] they have told me they were here for something that's going up in

[2:00:35] somebody's field and that's not why they here. But I do thank

[2:00:39] you. I thank each and every one of you for you have bestowed

[2:00:43] this on me. I love the roses.

[2:00:48] so I don't know what else to say other than just thank you,

[2:00:52] thank you for the recognition. And I do

[2:00:56] want to say something about jean jones.

[2:01:02] uh oh, I'm not gonna use profanity. .

[2:01:07] jean jones will never, ever

[2:01:11] be replaced in this county. He has given

[2:01:15] so much and he has done so much for this county.

[2:01:20] uh, we had, uh, angel young gi who heads up

[2:01:25] the children's service and

[2:01:29] she says, I want to know something. How is it

[2:01:34] when I call jean jones? He takes a week, 10

[2:01:38] days to get to me, but when you

[2:01:42] call him, he's here in 10 minutes, .

[2:01:49] I said, well, angel is like this. You and I work in a

[2:01:54] very old, old building, the

[2:01:58] historic courthouse. She worked there 12 years. I worked there

[2:02:02] 18. And I said, when I call, when you call

[2:02:07] jean, and when I call jean, jean knows

[2:02:11] it's something pertaining to the historic courthouse. And

[2:02:15] him coming in 10 minutes may fix a $5 problem,

[2:02:21] but if he waited 10 days or two weeks, that

[2:02:25] could be 5,000 bucks. So

[2:02:29] gene, I love you. We going to miss you. I'm going

[2:02:33] to miss you. And I know they miss you already. What miss y'all

[2:02:37] do, I love you. I love you, I love you

[2:02:42] and I love all my church families and I forgive you for telling the story.

[2:02:46] , thank

[2:02:57] I am coming.

[2:05:11] um, we're gonna take a, a five minute recess, so if

[2:05:16] there's anybody that, uh, came for the presentation that would like to

[2:05:20] hit, I, we certainly welcome you to state to the hearings. Um,

[2:05:24] but if, if you would like five minutes to, um, to

[2:05:28] go we, or yeah, and if any pictures

[2:05:33] with the board, um, being a gene, you're

[2:05:37] welcome to come up here and I don't know why you would, but no.

[2:05:41] um, oh, the family, yeah. At this time, uh, five minute recess.

[2:05:51] alright, we're gonna go ahead and, and get started, um, back

[2:05:55] with the public hearings. So, um, we'll go ahead and we'll get started,

[2:05:59] uh, with case fv dash 25

[2:06:04] dash one, mr. Bassett.

[2:06:14] good evening, mr. Chair. Mr. Massengill and board members,

[2:06:22] uh, the first case we're holding public hearing on this evening is

[2:06:26] a request to vacate an alley.

[2:06:30] the applicants this evening, uh, requesting the alley vacation

[2:06:34] are ash abbey enterprises and kag homes

[2:06:39] llc. And their agent is here to represent them this evening. Mr. Hampton

[2:06:43] gordon, again, uh, they're requesting to

[2:06:48] vacate the alley between, uh, multiple tax map

[2:06:52] numbers and the alley is of course located on

[2:06:56] the east side of route one approximately 850

[2:07:00] feet south of the intersection of route one and first street

[2:07:05] or route six 50. The property on

[2:07:09] both sides of the alley, uh, contains approximately 1.69

[2:07:14] acres and the property is zone a two agricultural

[2:07:18] general. As indicated in the denwoody county comprehensive

[2:07:22] land use plan. The subject property is located within the rural

[2:07:27] conservation area, which allows for low density residential

[2:07:31] uses for this general area of the county. The applicants

[2:07:36] are proposing to consolidate the subject lots and develop

[2:07:40] a single family residence on the property. The

[2:07:45] existing alley that runs through the center of the subject lots needs to be vacated

[2:07:49] to allow for the affirmation. Lots to be consolidated

[2:07:53] into one residential building lot.

[2:07:58] uh, the alley itself is, uh, not improved. It's

[2:08:02] an unimproved alley and just shows on a,

[2:08:06] on a plat. Um, again, it's, it's not improved

[2:08:12] as provided for in virginia code section 15.22006,

[2:08:17] the local governing body may vacate streets and alleys to

[2:08:22] accommodate development in order to discontinue the alley.

[2:08:26] the board of supervisors may adopt an ordinance of vacation

[2:08:30] as attached to the, to this memorandum.

[2:08:35] after the public hearing changes may be made to the ordinances as appropriate.

[2:08:42] uh, staff this evening is recommending approval of the request to vacate the alley.

[2:08:47] and again, um, the ordinance to, uh, vacate

[2:08:51] the alley is included, uh, in your packet.

[2:08:55] I'd be glad to answer any questions at this time.

[2:09:00] any questions at this time? Okay,

[2:09:04] not, thank you mr. Chair.

[2:09:09] alright. Would the applicant like to come forward with

[2:09:16] hampton gordon? 14, 100 boyden plank road? I'm here, uh, on

[2:09:20] behalf of kg homes and, uh,

[2:09:25] I just wanna say as always, uh, mark and his team always do a great job.

[2:09:29] um, there's not much, much more that I can say, uh, mainly

[2:09:33] here to answer questions. Uh, this property, as you know, um, is

[2:09:37] at the corner, southeast corner of route six 50. Uh, and, and, uh,

[2:09:41] route one and dewitt, um, I don't know if I can,

[2:09:47] can I use this here? Probably not. Probably not. Yeah. Can you scroll

[2:09:51] down to the tax map? Um,

[2:09:55] no. Do you have a tax map in the packet? Do you have a tax map in your pa

[2:09:59] packet of the property? We do.

[2:10:04] I just, just wanna make it, I saw it knowing that mckinney avenue is,

[2:10:09] is, uh, the only improved street there. This

[2:10:13] property front's on boyden plank road.

[2:10:17] it's on the east side. Uh, all of these streets, this, uh, randolph

[2:10:21] avenue, third street, all of the other streets are unimproved. Um,

[2:10:25] it basically, it's a subdivision that was never developed. Mm-hmm . The alleyway

[2:10:29] is, is not there. That's right. Right there. There's not much, much, not

[2:10:33] much that, that can be done with the alley. So, um,

[2:10:38] I don't know if there's some history behind everything. It was created in,

[2:10:42] uh, 1898. Uh, mr. Mckinney, this is just a portion

[2:10:46] of it. Um, all of these lots, 50

[2:10:51] by a hundred, a lot of 'em are. Um, and

[2:10:55] so all we're trying to do is consolidate those lots and put 'em together to get a one

[2:10:59] building lot out of it. So, anyway, any

[2:11:03] questions? Questions at this time?

[2:11:07] okay. We might get you to come back up after to, um, public hearing.

[2:11:11] sure. And the owner is here. He is got building plans if you, if you wanna see what

[2:11:15] type of house he, okay. Um, at this time

[2:11:20] I'm gonna open the public hearing. Do we have anyone signed up?

[2:11:24] yes, mr. Chairman, we have connie bress ine. Okay.

[2:11:44] good afternoon or evening to everyone. Um, I've now been to one of these,

[2:11:48] the, I've never been to one of these before, but

[2:11:53] I would like to respectfully request or move that this

[2:11:57] request be, be tabled until the next meeting, because

[2:12:01] this land that you guys are saying that this person can have

[2:12:05] belongs to my family, and it's not an alley and

[2:12:09] it's not anything that can be consolidated because my grandfather,

[2:12:14] um, my, my fa mother is 90 years old

[2:12:18] and they moved here when she was 12 years old. And we have

[2:12:22] ridden horses and motorcycles and everything through there, and

[2:12:26] we pay taxes on these paper alleys that don't

[2:12:30] exist. So, for all of our lives, we've paid taxes on these paper

[2:12:34] alleys and, um, they don't exist. They're

[2:12:38] our land. They're our timber. And, um,

[2:12:43] I have not had an opportunity to speak with mr. South hall or anything.

[2:12:48] I spoke with mark this afternoon because I didn't,

[2:12:52] uh, understand what was going on. I can understand that, that,

[2:12:56] um, the person that bought that little spot in the

[2:13:00] middle of our 165 acres, uh, needs

[2:13:05] an easement. But I live on property in north

[2:13:09] denwitty and I, we had to buy our easement to be

[2:13:13] able to get to our landlocked piece of land. And there's

[2:13:17] another house back there, and that person has to

[2:13:21] pay easement to two of us to get to his land. And

[2:13:25] so I'm now 65, and we've been, my

[2:13:29] grandfather has a gas station. Jim carnes owns it now. And, um,

[2:13:36] I, I feel like that in 2017 when, um, this,

[2:13:40] um, this map was compiled from bits and pieces and things

[2:13:44] from the nine, early 19 hundreds when three guys got together

[2:13:48] and decided they want to make dewitt into a village, uh, a

[2:13:52] township, so that the train that the purpose of it was

[2:13:56] so that the train station could be built at dewitt and you would,

[2:14:01] um, catch the train at dewitt, but mckinney became

[2:14:05] the township and the train station was built at

[2:14:09] mckinney. So you can't have two train stations, two train depots, five

[2:14:13] miles apart from one another. But, um,

[2:14:18] as I said, and I don't wanna repeat myself, my

[2:14:22] mother is 90 years old and they moved here when she was 12.

[2:14:26] and we've owned that land, it's been in our family, and we've paid

[2:14:30] taxes on it since she was 12 years old. And now,

[2:14:35] because this person bought this little piece of land in the middle there,

[2:14:40] all of those pieces of our acres that

[2:14:44] we pay taxes on, and by the way, all of that

[2:14:48] land there is farm use, land use that's in the land use,

[2:14:52] and that's how we pay taxes on it. Um,

[2:14:57] I just don't see how someone can come up and say, oh, well, you know,

[2:15:01] that's a paper alley, so we want the county to vacate it because

[2:15:05] we want that land so we can build a house because the little teeny tiny piece

[2:15:10] of land that's there does not meet building requirements

[2:15:14] for di witty county for putting a, a structure on a piece of land. It has to

[2:15:18] be bigger than that. So I just would like to, again,

[2:15:23] I move that this be tabled until the next meeting, please.

[2:15:27] so that I can have a, my family can have an opportunity to speak. Mark

[2:15:31] said I need to talk to tyler. So, um, mr. Alfa.

[2:15:35] sorry, tyler. So anyway, uh, so that's what I would like to have a opportunity to

[2:15:39] do, to give me this month to find out exactly what's

[2:15:44] going on. I mean, legally

[2:15:49] the map that you use to do something like this has to be less than 25 years

[2:15:53] old. And the map that you guys, whoever's using this, the map that

[2:15:57] was shown, those are bits and pieces that were put together from like

[2:16:02] 18, 18 98. I think the gentleman before me said that, um,

[2:16:06] you know, there were no alleys there and it was created in the late

[2:16:10] 18, it was in the early 19 hundreds. So, I mean, if you look at that

[2:16:14] plot and you go up there and you look what hundred glass lives and where bot

[2:16:19] memorial is, I can promise you that there is no, um, active,

[2:16:23] um, park across the street because that was a plan that was

[2:16:27] made in like 1920 and it never came to pass.

[2:16:31] so I, I feel like that we need more time to understand

[2:16:36] why it would be okay for you guys to vacate alleys

[2:16:40] that don't, that don't exist, so that someone else can have,

[2:16:44] um, a acre or two of our, our land that we pay taxes

[2:16:49] on. So I guess, dan, you have to say, I, I

[2:16:53] move that it be tabled, please. So I can understand more. My

[2:16:57] family can understand why. Okay. Thank

[2:17:01] you. Um, and, and we're gonna discuss it, I said

[2:17:07] as we move forward. So thank you. So you'll let us,

[2:17:11] let us know what's going on. Well stay here. We're going to, yeah. We'll gonna, we'll make sure

[2:17:15] we, we're going to get to it as soon as we get through with public comment.

[2:17:20] okay. I hope you understand what I'm saying. Yeah. Yes, ma'am. Thank you.

[2:17:24] all right. Thank you. Respectfully, everyone, thank you so much for listening.

[2:17:29] yes, ma'am. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Do we have anyone, mr. Chairman? I have no one else signed up.

[2:17:33] okay. Um, would the applicant

[2:17:38] like to come back and, and say anything?

[2:17:44] so there's quite a few people that own parcels in that

[2:17:49] what was supposed to be a neighborhood. Um,

[2:17:53] there are those, the houses that are on mckinney avenue, those were

[2:17:57] part of this subdivision. They're, they're owned by other people also. So I just wanna

[2:18:01] put that out there. The main thing that we're concerned about is that

[2:18:05] if the county will basically state

[2:18:10] that they don't have rights to those areas, those alleys, the streets, I mean, they were

[2:18:14] never conveyed. So if, if they weren't conveyed to the county,

[2:18:18] and if you give up any right. That you have to it, then they can negotiate

[2:18:23] whatever, whatever they need to do, whatever dealings they need. If they have a a, an

[2:18:28] issue with that, they own it, then they can

[2:18:32] come to my client and say that, you know, they own it and then they can determine

[2:18:36] whether or not it's theirs or not. So, uh, we just are

[2:18:41] looking as far as the county goes to, to get an idea from you all that,

[2:18:45] that you don't, you don't own it. You, you don't have any, any

[2:18:49] need for the, the alleyway ever. So that that's,

[2:18:53] I mean, it's through this one strip of land mm-hmm . So we're not looking for the entire alley

[2:18:57] through the whole subdivision to be done. So, um,

[2:19:02] I just, they can take care of it on their own. Uh,

[2:19:06] and, and I'm, and I apologize, I don't know the, the, the young lady's name that just spoke, but,

[2:19:11] but, but her and, and, uh, and, uh, mr. Williams here can, can discuss

[2:19:15] that and see what they wanna do. We're just looking for the county's side

[2:19:19] of it to, to be vacated, so. Okay. Any

[2:19:24] questions? Um, of hampton? Hampton,

[2:19:29] go ahead. Just, just a question as far as ownership currently,

[2:19:33] who owns this parcel completely? Your client? He owns

[2:19:38] everything. So, so when it's deeded it's deed as lots.

[2:19:42] okay. It doesn't specify the, the, the

[2:19:46] unimproved streets or the alleyways or anything like that. That's the, that's the whole reason

[2:19:50] we're here. But it's part of your tax bill.

[2:19:54] the alleyway? No, the alley, the alleyway. It

[2:19:58] states in the deeds. So who, who actually is anybody paying taxes on the alley?

[2:20:02] that's kind of what I'm trying to get at. Not here. I can't

[2:20:06] answer that as far. They're paying for the lights just for the lots. Yeah. So if they're, if you

[2:20:11] vacate the alley, I mean, they're not paying the taxes on it right now. Right. So if you

[2:20:15] vacate on both sides of that. Yeah. Yeah. Their lights, our lights are on both sides,

[2:20:20] so, okay. Well, we have lights, we have lots on both sides. Um, if please,

[2:20:24] if, if, um, mr. Gordon's got the, the,

[2:20:29] um, flooring, and so, uh, and we're gonna discuss it. We're gonna get

[2:20:33] to the bottom of everything. Well, and I mean, the whole purpose of doing this is because they own, uh, mr. Williams

[2:20:37] owns lots on both sides of the alley. Right. Just for this strip.

[2:20:41] okay. Well, I'm not talking about the entire subdivision. I'm just talking about these, uh,

[2:20:46] eight lights okay. On both sides of the alley. Alright. Yeah.

[2:20:50] that's, that's all, that's the only section we're talking about. We're not talking about the rest of the subdivision.

[2:20:55] thank you. Um, the, the

[2:20:59] land behind these lots at face, right? One,

[2:21:04] do the, I guess, do they have access points of access

[2:21:08] other places other than right. One

[2:21:13] meaning the, the lights that we're talking about tonight, right. Of ways, right of ways to,

[2:21:17] there, there are strips, they're private roads. Oh, I I

[2:21:21] say private roads, they're plaid strips, you know, that's all they're unimproved, but they're,

[2:21:26] you know, they own property that touches route one.

[2:21:30] okay. Mr. Williams owns property that fronts on route one. Right. Okay.

[2:21:34] and, and as far as the unimproved streets, they don't own the unimproved streets, so

[2:21:38] therefore, you know, as far as ownership of that, they're not claiming ownership

[2:21:43] of that. Now, there is a house that's behind his property that's

[2:21:47] on two lots, and the driveway runs through one of those, uh,

[2:21:51] platted streets, and it goes back, uh, behind it.

[2:21:56] so let's see. It's slide.

[2:22:01] and that's got a deeded easement to it.

[2:22:06] no, I didn't. No, no. It just follows that it follows randolph avenue.

[2:22:11] it, can you put that back up please?

[2:22:19] so I can't even see that. Um, yeah. Do you have it in your packet here?

[2:22:23] we do, mm-hmm . So right under where it says route one,

[2:22:28] right. Go elevator.

[2:22:32] that right here? Mm-hmm . This is right.

[2:22:41] that's randolph avenue that comes up running north

[2:22:46] out to route one. There is a driveway there, there are two

[2:22:50] parcels there. They would be lot nine and 10. I don't have 'em labeled there, but,

[2:22:54] um, just below, just to the south of lot eight there, it's

[2:22:58] nine and 10. There is an existing home on that, on those two lights.

[2:23:03] and its driveway runs through randolph avenue out

[2:23:07] to route one. Okay. Okay. Alright.

[2:23:12] any other questions or anything?

[2:23:17] pipe. Thank you.

[2:23:23] all right. Um, any discussion?

[2:23:34] I guess for me it's probably the, the concern that I have is at the 11th hour

[2:23:39] we have an individual that comes forward and says, I,

[2:23:43] I have a stake in this matter. And that's where, that's where my difficulty

[2:23:48] comes into play. Um, that it, I don't know that it hurts

[2:23:53] to take a little time and let mr. Southall

[2:23:57] work with the two clients here to see

[2:24:01] where we can go and then come back in 30 days from now. That's

[2:24:06] my opinion. Yeah. Um,

[2:24:11] I, I'd just like to say I'm, I'm the same. I don't think 30 days is gonna hurt

[2:24:16] us. Um, uh, I would give, uh,

[2:24:21] uh, connie and them time to, to meet with, uh,

[2:24:25] mr. Sal. Um, if, if, if there's

[2:24:29] any validity, um, then we find it out and, um,

[2:24:34] let's just make the right decision, uh, with all the information.

[2:24:39] um, at I, you know, we can

[2:24:43] defer, um, for 30 days and we don't have to

[2:24:47] have a public hearing. Isn't that correct in mr. Shaw?

[2:24:51] I guess, what are our options moving forward? Well, so the public hearing's been open tonight.

[2:24:56] I don't know that you officially closed the public hearing yet, but at, at the point when

[2:25:00] you're ready to, um, you could close the public hearing tonight

[2:25:04] and you, you could table it until the next meeting and you could decide it

[2:25:08] then, um, or you could make a decision tonight.

[2:25:12] um, I am, you know, I think the, the issue really that the board's

[2:25:16] being asked tonight is to, to vacate, um, any public

[2:25:20] right of way that may exist on that, that, you know, alley there.

[2:25:25] um, you know, if there's a dispute about ownership, that's generally a, a civil

[2:25:29] matter between the two landowners, I'm more than happy to talk to ms.

[2:25:33] bine and, and hear all her concerns. And, um, and to do that as

[2:25:37] well as to meet with, with mr. Gordon. And, and, um, and, and mr.

[2:25:42] hinshaw and, um, and mr. Williams, um,

[2:25:46] to, to, to hear any concerns that they may have. But it, you know, it, it wouldn't be my place to adjudicate

[2:25:50] any private property dispute, but I, I'm happy to, to, to meet, to

[2:25:54] meet with folks. Um, and, and, and it, it's, it's

[2:25:58] at, at the pleasure of the board. You, you could continue it for 30 days or you could decide

[2:26:02] tonight. I would suggest that if you do continue it for

[2:26:06] 30 days, you may want to close the public hearing tonight at, at

[2:26:10] the point when everybody, you feel like everybody said everything that they need to say. Um,

[2:26:15] and then at that point, you would not have to advertise or hold the public hearing next time as it's been

[2:26:19] held tonight. Okay.

[2:26:26] public hearing's closed,

[2:26:31] um, discussion. What, what, what's the pleasure of the board?

[2:26:37] I'll make the motion that it's tabled so that we can get clarification on, on the property ownership

[2:26:41] and, and err on the side of caution. Okay. For

[2:26:45] the, for the issues that's been raised. And I second that. Alright. May

[2:26:49] I have a motion on the second? Uh, go. We have just mr.

[2:26:53] south, are you okay with the table or continued to

[2:26:58] continue? I, I think, I think what they mean when they say table is to

[2:27:02] continue it to the next regular meeting. Is that mr. ? Is that yeah.

[2:27:06] yes. That's my intent. And second. Okay. Continue it. Alright. Roll

[2:27:10] call dr. Moore. Aye. Mr. Chavis? Aye. Ms. Ebra

[2:27:15] bonner. Aye. Mr. Dooley? Aye. Mr. Lee? Aye. All voting aye.

[2:27:19] and ms. Brite, um, it,

[2:27:23] it's incumbent on you to meet with, um, mr. Soha

[2:27:28] and anything that you want done before next month? Because

[2:27:32] if, if next month nothing has been done, we're going, we're

[2:27:36] gonna make a decision, uh, we're gonna probably make a decision next month

[2:27:41] we'll meet with, okay. See what's

[2:27:45] going on. Alright. Thank you.

[2:27:49] alright, we're gonna move, um,

[2:27:53] along to b and it's conditional use permit

[2:27:58] request case c dash 25 dash five.

[2:28:05] and what's the,

[2:28:28] okay. Thank you mr. Chair. Uh, the next case we're, um,

[2:28:33] holding public hearing for this evening is c dash 25 dash five.

[2:28:37] the applicant is, um, selco partnership, uh,

[2:28:41] verizon wireless, uh, their agents here this evening to

[2:28:46] represent the application as well. Uh, the request,

[2:28:50] uh, for the conditional use permit is to construct 195 foot

[2:28:55] steel mono pole wireless telecommunications tower, where

[2:28:59] the four foot lightning rod again for verizon wireless.

[2:29:04] um, just to note, there would be, uh, four additional broadband carriers

[2:29:09] that would be allowed, um, through verizon wireless. Uh,

[2:29:13] to locate on the subject, uh, monopole tower,

[2:29:18] uh, the property as you can see is located on ezine road and church

[2:29:23] road and it's approximately 7.4 acres in

[2:29:27] size. The lease area would be, uh, 10,000 square feet.

[2:29:34] uh, the site plan, uh, general site plan for the property, um,

[2:29:38] they're be utilizing the existing entrance.

[2:29:42] uh, that's for the, uh, subject property currently

[2:29:47] for the subject residence on the property. And again, they would be,

[2:29:51] um, going into the property and then heading,

[2:29:55] uh, northwest, uh, to the proposed tower site.

[2:30:01] uh, all the, uh, the parcel,

[2:30:06] uh, of course has agricultural forestal uses and

[2:30:10] of course the existing residence. Uh, the adjoining properties

[2:30:14] on the west side of nagine road are all zoned a two

[2:30:18] agricultural general. And the properties, uh, across

[2:30:23] nagine road are all zoned are our residential conservative.

[2:30:29] uh, of course the dimity county zoning ordinance does allow for the location

[2:30:34] of the proposed use, uh, communications tower with station

[2:30:38] within the a two agricultural general zoning district.

[2:30:42] and, uh, as long as a conditional use permit is approved for the

[2:30:46] tower, uh, there are, um,

[2:30:51] requirements within the ordinance, uh,

[2:30:55] that, uh, the board is to review, um, when

[2:30:59] locating a telecommunications tower. And I'll just briefly

[2:31:04] go through those. Um, a to encourage the location of

[2:31:08] antenna and towers in areas where the adverse impact

[2:31:12] on the community is minimal. B, to accommodate wireless

[2:31:16] telecommunication services to county residences, businesses

[2:31:20] and travelers, c strongly encourage the coal lake

[2:31:25] location of telecommunication equipment on existing towers

[2:31:29] d to maximize the use of existing structures. E

[2:31:33] make available public property to facilitate the deployment of

[2:31:38] wireless telecommunications facilities. F minimize

[2:31:42] adverse visual impacts effects of wireless telecommunication

[2:31:46] facilities through careful sighting and design and g

[2:31:51] minimize adverse impacts on the natural scenic, environmental,

[2:31:55] historic, cultural and recreational resources of the county.

[2:32:00] uh, as previously noted, the applicant did explore opportunities

[2:32:04] for co-locating on the existing towers in the general area,

[2:32:09] but co-locating on these towers does not achieve the

[2:32:13] coverage goals, uh, for that portion of the county.

[2:32:17] the a applicant's plan does comply with all federal, state, and local

[2:32:21] regulations regarding providing future co-location of equipment

[2:32:26] on the existing telecommunications tower and equipment site.

[2:32:31] it's the applicant's intent to develop telecommunication network

[2:32:35] within the framework established by the above stated goals.

[2:32:40] additionally, there will be no impact on the subject in adjacent properties

[2:32:44] concerning by right or agricultural forestal and residential

[2:32:48] uses, um, outside of the compound area. Those

[2:32:52] uses will be able to continue, um, on,

[2:32:58] um, looking at zoning ordinance requirements. Uh, mainly the

[2:33:02] setbacks you can see on the subject site plan that

[2:33:06] they meet all the required setbacks. Um, all antennas

[2:33:11] support structures must be set back 110% of the height of the

[2:33:15] structure from all property lines. They meet that they're 219

[2:33:19] feet at closest to any property line. And the

[2:33:23] proposed location of the tower does meet, uh, uh,

[2:33:27] the setback, uh, that's required, uh, for, um,

[2:33:33] a dv abutting property.

[2:33:38] also looking at residential structures, uh, this,

[2:33:42] the towers to be set back 200% of the height of

[2:33:47] antenna on the tower to the nearest residential structures

[2:33:51] and, uh, cannot be less than 400 feet. Um,

[2:33:56] and this tower is cited 401 feet from the, uh,

[2:34:00] closest residential structure, which is actually the property

[2:34:04] owner's dwelling.

[2:34:09] um, land development committee, uh, reviewed the subject

[2:34:13] tower and the land development committee did not have any, uh,

[2:34:18] comments related to it. And, uh, were in support of

[2:34:22] locating the tower on the subject. Property.

[2:34:27] uh, planning staff has reviewed the conditional use permit request and

[2:34:31] is satisfied that with appropriate conditions, the impacts of the

[2:34:35] proposed wireless telecommunications tower are addressed.

[2:34:39] and the issuance of the permit would be in compliance with the intent, purpose, and

[2:34:44] design of chapter 22. The zoning ordinance,

[2:34:48] specifically section 22 dash two staff has reviewed

[2:34:52] the conditional use permit and, um, is recommending

[2:34:57] approval of the tower, uh, with, uh, certain conditions.

[2:35:02] and I'll go over those, uh, conditions. The applicant

[2:35:06] shall limit the height of the height and type of the tower, uh, to 199

[2:35:11] foot monopole tower. And, um, with

[2:35:15] the subject lease area, the wireless telecommunication

[2:35:19] tower facility owner shall, um, negotiate

[2:35:24] in good faith, uh, with the county, uh, to,

[2:35:28] uh, locate broadband or other equipment on like

[2:35:33] services, uh, to third parties. The monopole

[2:35:37] tower shall be engineered to accommodate five wireless broadband

[2:35:41] providers and their equipment. And the monopole tower

[2:35:45] will be in compliance with the attached site plan that

[2:35:50] we have on the slide this evening. Um, ensuring that they meet all

[2:35:54] of the ordinance required setbacks and the conditional

[2:35:58] use permit shall be reviewed at least every two years for compliance

[2:36:02] with the subject conditions and the zoning ordinance requirements.

[2:36:07] and the applicant shall maintain compliance with all federal, state, and county

[2:36:11] rules and regulations related to the wireless telecommunication

[2:36:16] tower facility use.

[2:36:21] uh, the planning commission at their uh, july meeting

[2:36:25] did recommend approval of the tower, uh, with the subject conditions,

[2:36:31] uh, uh, with the exception

[2:36:36] of the planning commission. Did recommend, uh, deleting, uh,

[2:36:40] one of the conditions that I, that I went over, um,

[2:36:44] that condition being, um, in the

[2:36:48] staff report that would be, uh, uh, condition

[2:36:53] two where the, um, the county cannot require,

[2:36:58] uh, that the applicant, uh, per, um,

[2:37:03] virginia code cannot require that the applicant, uh, lease space

[2:37:07] to the county on that tower. Um, and therefore

[2:37:11] they, uh, by code, uh, we can't require that. So they recommended

[2:37:17] removing that condition so that the planning commission recommended conditions,

[2:37:21] um, that condition is, is removed. And again, the

[2:37:26] planning commission did recommend, uh, approval of the tower with the conditions.

[2:37:32] be glad to answer any questions. Mr. Bassett, the condition that

[2:37:36] was removed, and maybe I'm confused here, but was that about a bond for the, the tower being

[2:37:40] placed there at the pc? You're,

[2:37:44] you're referring to a condition number two and I think there was something on there about county yes, possibly co-locating?

[2:37:49] yes. I think maybe that's the new condition number two. Yes. Yes. And I, I think the applicant

[2:37:53] had said that they don't believe state law allows for that. And I think it was

[2:37:58] for the bonding requirement. Yes, I I that's correct. I think there may be is a

[2:38:02] case that could be made to the contrary, but in light of the county's other cases, I think the

[2:38:06] county decided to acquiesce, um, to, to what the applicant was saying there.

[2:38:11] yes, that's correct. I'm sorry. Thanks for clarifying that.

[2:38:15] okay. Questions.

[2:38:20] alright, thank you. Mark.

[2:38:24] would the applicant like to come full with for representative?

[2:38:45] good evening chairman lee, members of the board. Uh, for

[2:38:49] the record, my name's steve roman. I'm local attorney on behalf of

[2:38:53] verizon wireless on matter cupc 25 5.

[2:38:58] um, I have with me tonight sean kai, who site development

[2:39:03] manager as well, who can answer questions if I cannot.

[2:39:07] um, I'm going to be brief and try not to duplicate, uh, mark's

[2:39:11] presentation. We do have a short powerpoint. Want to thank mr. Bassett

[2:39:16] for his comments. Uh, so hopefully I can work this, uh,

[2:39:21] powerpoint. There we go. Good. So on your screen you'll see the location

[2:39:26] of the site. Um, it is at 1 4 3 2 5

[2:39:30] nam ezine road. Uh, you'll see it's, uh,

[2:39:34] the parcel fronts the road. You also note that it's heavily wooded to

[2:39:39] the rear portion of the parcel. The parcel's about seven and a half, seven and a half acres.

[2:39:44] and the, uh, little yellow dot there is the proposed location

[2:39:48] of the compound. Um, you'll see the access road that comes

[2:39:52] into the right of, of the screen there and it we'll be using that road,

[2:39:56] uh, to access the property.

[2:40:01] um, so I mentioned seven and half acres zoned a two. Um,

[2:40:06] the cup was required for communication tower with the station.

[2:40:10] this slide shows that we meet all setbacks as noted, uh, by

[2:40:14] mr. Bassett. I'm gonna go through this pretty quickly 'cause some of this is repetitive.

[2:40:19] um, here's the compound plan 60 by forty five, a hundred ninety nine

[2:40:24] foot tower monopole construction at 1 99. There's no requirements

[2:40:28] for lighting the actual facility be 1 95 with a four foot antenna.

[2:40:33] it'll be built strong enough to provide

[2:40:37] for four additional colocators, which is required, uh, by the county as well.

[2:40:42] um, moving right along. Um, here's the screening. Um, this

[2:40:47] modifies your landscaping a little bit. We have screening on the front and the side because in

[2:40:51] the rear, as you noted on the earlier pictures, all heavily tree heavy trees. So we

[2:40:55] want to take down trees to plant new trees. So that's, that's a little bit of

[2:40:59] a modification. Um, here's a profile on the tower

[2:41:04] again, monopole, uh, galvanized steel, uh, no lights required fence

[2:41:08] count compound. This is a quick, uh, overview of the

[2:41:12] red circle. There is where our site will be located. Uh, to the north is

[2:41:16] a green circle. That is a county tower. We're already on that. The other two yellow circles

[2:41:21] are proposed to other locations. So we're trying to fill a gap for the county

[2:41:25] here to provide coverage along ine road.

[2:41:29] um, so this is much needed. Real quick overview. Uh, today

[2:41:33] 71% of adults, 82% of children only have wireless phones. People

[2:41:38] are no longer having landlines. 77% of all nine 11 calls

[2:41:42] come from a land, uh, uh, wireless phone. And, uh, amazingly,

[2:41:46] uh, wireless devices per household. There's like 25

[2:41:51] wireless devices, people have multiple devices. Uh, we conducted

[2:41:55] a balloon test and you'll see from this quick slide, uh, the site

[2:41:59] was only visible from these three locations that are in pink and scrolling

[2:42:03] through there. This one here, you can see it, um, from an

[2:42:07] zaine road, probably the most visible spot right there. And

[2:42:11] the next two, you'll see them see the tower on the horizon,

[2:42:15] uh, barely visible. Um,

[2:42:20] so very quickly I ran through that fast. But, um, I would ask, um,

[2:42:24] that, uh, you approve c 25 5. We have staff

[2:42:28] support, we have planning commu, uh, commission recommendation for

[2:42:33] approval. The conditions are acceptable with the, uh, change out of

[2:42:37] condition two as mentioned earlier, to remove the bonding requirement.

[2:42:41] and, um, I'll stand by for questions. Thank you for your time.

[2:42:45] any questions right now? Okay, I'd like, I'd like to

[2:42:49] get you back up, out to public comment. Sure. Call. Thank you sir. Yep. Okay.

[2:42:56] open public comment. Do we have anyone signed up?

[2:43:00] um, I have mr. Roma signed up. That was all I had signed up.

[2:43:05] okay. Alright. Um, yeah, if I could get you to come back

[2:43:09] up. Sure. Any questions from anyone?

[2:43:14] alright, I guess, um, couple of questions.

[2:43:18] the, um, tower that, the last tower that we approved in

[2:43:22] sutherland, is that actually operational now for verizon?

[2:43:27] yes. Could I call up, uh, my site development manager? 'cause I'm, I, I do not know.

[2:43:31] yep. Sean, you wanna come up?

[2:43:36] go ahead and introduce yourself. Uh, I'm sean hai. Hang, hang on one

[2:43:40] second. I'm going, um, close the public hearing in part and

[2:43:44] now we'll go with questions. Sorry about that. Go ahead. I'm sean

[2:43:49] hai with verizon and bci, the southern and tarot is on air. Should be on

[2:43:53] air soon, so it's okay. Okay. Alright. And then, um,

[2:43:57] your coverage plan, um, and, and this is while I got your attention.

[2:44:02] um, we've, you've got a coverage plan for verizon

[2:44:06] for, for the whole of denwoody county? Yes we do. Okay.

[2:44:10] um, is that, uh, a public document?

[2:44:15] uh, I can't share, we can't, by law we're not allowed to share the r propagations

[2:44:19] maps because other competitors can, can get it. But we can give you a pretty close

[2:44:23] to idea of what, you know, were missing areas, but just from a person that has

[2:44:28] to, um, go out on his porch to talk on his cell phone,

[2:44:32] the plan ain't working. Um, and um,

[2:44:36] you know, I know you're trying to fill a gap on the

[2:44:40] amelia then whi line. Um, but

[2:44:44] almost the village of denwitty has trouble with cell service.

[2:44:49] um, and probably, I'm not gonna show hands 'cause I don't want to do that,

[2:44:53] but, um, cell phone service in denwoody county is not

[2:44:57] very good. Um, we have plans to take care of all that rest for the rest of this

[2:45:01] year. We'll be coming forward to you in the next couple months, every month if you can do it. We'll

[2:45:06] dig your best friend. Thank you, sir. Ms. Lee, can

[2:45:10] I, before he goes back, can I ask sean, sean, is

[2:45:14] there equipment on that tower in southern? There are people in this room that are waiting

[2:45:18] for that tower to go active. Hopefully we'll get that on within the next 30 days.

[2:45:22] the next 30 days. So you're putting equipment on the tower now? Yes, sir.

[2:45:26] okay. Thank you sir. Just wanted to make sure.

[2:45:31] thank you for support. And I guess, how quickly is this tower gonna be built

[2:45:35] and electrified? What? That, that's a full to

[2:45:39] what's a word? Unru when within six

[2:45:43] months on air. Six months. Okay. On air. We'll have a

[2:45:47] bill before then, but six months on air. Alright. Okay.

[2:45:52] any other questions? Alright, thank you. Thank you. Thank

[2:45:56] you. Six months.

[2:46:01] alright, what

[2:46:05] you pledge? Alright, I'll read be

[2:46:09] resolved that in order to assure compliance with the virginia code section 15.2 dash 2286

[2:46:14] a seven. It's stated that the public purpose for which the resolution is initiated is

[2:46:18] to fulfill the requirements of public necessity, convenience, general welfare, and

[2:46:23] good zoning practice. I move that the conditional use permit c dash 25

[2:46:27] dash five as presented be approved with the conditions by the board of supervisors.

[2:46:32] we have a second. Second. Can we have the roll call please?

[2:46:36] dr. Moore? Aye. Mr. Chavis? Aye. Ms. Ebra bonner. Aye. Mr.

[2:46:40] dooley? Aye. Mr. Lee? Aye. All voting? Aye. Alright, thank you.

[2:46:53] all right. We're gonna move along, uh, to rezoning request p dash

[2:46:57] 25 dash eight flowers solar, llc,

[2:47:02] mr. Best. Thank

[2:47:06] you mr. Chair. Uh, flower

[2:47:10] solar, llc is the applicant. And just for

[2:47:15] the public's information, uh, flowers, llc is owned

[2:47:19] by green volt power actualize, llc.

[2:47:24] uh, the subject property that we're looking at this evening, um, is

[2:47:28] currently zoned a two agricultural and there is

[2:47:32] a portion of the property, uh, in the center just north of the,

[2:47:37] uh, railroad tracks, uh, that is zoned m two industrial

[2:47:41] general. So the property is technically, uh, split

[2:47:46] zone. The request this evening is to rezone the subject

[2:47:50] property to the sed district. That's our utility scale solar

[2:47:54] energy district. And the size of the property is 196

[2:47:59] acres.

[2:48:04] um, the subject slide that we have above everything highlighted

[2:48:09] in blue is where the, um, if the, uh,

[2:48:13] applic application is approved, um, the, all the

[2:48:18] area in blue would be where the solar panels would

[2:48:22] be located on the subject property. Um,

[2:48:26] in our comprehensive plan, uh, the project is also, uh,

[2:48:30] divided into two, um, areas within our comprehensive

[2:48:35] plan for, um, planned our planned growth area

[2:48:39] to the north in the orange color and then in the purple

[2:48:44] color, uh, violet color there. Um, that's within

[2:48:48] our comprehensive plan. That's the employment center area.

[2:48:52] so again, the property is split zoned and has two different,

[2:48:57] um, growth areas, uh, for our comprehensive plan.

[2:49:04] uh, the project, uh, again,

[2:49:09] is being developed, uh, to operate a 20 megawatt, uh,

[2:49:13] solar energy generation project. And, uh,

[2:49:17] on the 196 acres and,

[2:49:22] uh, the project would include, uh, you can see highlighted in

[2:49:26] purple, uh, would include a 75 foot setback from

[2:49:30] all perimeter property lines. Um, and the project

[2:49:34] was proposing to preserve existing vegetation as

[2:49:39] well as trees, uh, to provide, uh, screening of the,

[2:49:43] of the project. And, uh, where the natural vegetation doesn't

[2:49:47] exist. Um, they would provide, um, for,

[2:49:52] uh, the screening with, uh, planted vegetation.

[2:49:56] and that's the area primarily that's highlighted in green on

[2:50:00] the slide there. Uh, the project

[2:50:04] would have one access point off of route four 60 and then,

[2:50:09] uh, to from the south. And then from the north, uh, the project,

[2:50:14] uh, would be have one access point off of walker's pond drive.

[2:50:19] the project is proposed to tie into the existing dominion

[2:50:23] distribution grid on the north side of four 60.

[2:50:28] and this connection would consist of four poles owned by dominion

[2:50:32] and one pole owned by the project. And again, these

[2:50:37] poles will support the distribution connection line,

[2:50:41] transformers, circuit breakers and relays. And the electric lines

[2:50:45] to get to the interconnection point, uh, will all be

[2:50:49] underground. They would, uh, bore under the railroad

[2:50:53] and again, tie into the existing, uh, dominion distribution

[2:50:58] line. Uh, the solar panels,

[2:51:02] again highlighted in blue, would cover approximately 75.8

[2:51:06] acres of the site. And the fenced area is approximately

[2:51:11] 121 acres. The panels cover approximately

[2:51:15] 39% of the leased area and 62.3%

[2:51:22] of the total fenced area.

[2:51:31] um, just to briefly go over the, uh, zoning again of the property.

[2:51:35] all the surrounding property is primarily, um,

[2:51:40] to the west and north of the property is also in agricultural.

[2:51:44] and then of course, walmart distribution across is zoned industrial,

[2:51:48] as well as, um, the industrial property to the east,

[2:51:53] um, dull concrete, um, that's owned industrial

[2:51:57] as well.

[2:52:01] uh, the primary purpose of the solar energy district,

[2:52:06] uh, is to outline the process and requirements for the construction installation

[2:52:10] operation of solar energy projects in the county in

[2:52:15] a manner that promotes economic development, ensures the protection of health,

[2:52:19] safety and welfare, while also avoiding adverse

[2:52:23] impacts to the agricultural lands, endangered species

[2:52:27] habitats, conservation lands, and other sensitive lands.

[2:52:32] uh, we went over the comprehensive plan, uh, for the subject property.

[2:52:38] and just to note, uh, as far as our planning areas, there's

[2:52:42] also items in the comprehensive plan, uh, that the applicant discussed

[2:52:46] related to our natural environment, sensitive lands and

[2:52:51] habitat, air and light, environmental sustainability and

[2:52:55] resilience land use. Our future land use framework

[2:53:00] went over that with our comprehensive plan areas and our,

[2:53:04] uh, those two areas, our employment center area and our phase

[2:53:08] growth area, um, impacts

[2:53:12] include, uh, natural resources and they've done

[2:53:16] all their work on that as attachments as part of their application.

[2:53:21] um, just to note, agricultural acreage, again,

[2:53:25] the project lease area is approximately 196 acres

[2:53:29] with 121 acres being within the fenced

[2:53:33] area of the project. The

[2:53:37] air acreage used for the project, um,

[2:53:42] um, that 121 acres within

[2:53:46] the fenced area and 8.8% of that

[2:53:50] area, or 17.3 acres, is actively being used

[2:53:55] for agricultural production. Majority of the project

[2:53:59] site does not contain prime farmland, soils,

[2:54:03] or soils of statewide importance. The amount of prime farmland

[2:54:07] that is currently being used for agricultural that is impacted by

[2:54:11] the project is 15.1 acres of

[2:54:15] the total project area.

[2:54:19] uh, the project has been designed to hopefully minimize the active agricultural

[2:54:24] acreage used, uh, by locating behind the norfolk southern rail

[2:54:28] line and the agricultural land in front of the rail line is not being

[2:54:33] impacted. In addition, the site was identified by looking

[2:54:37] at for sites with access to part of the distribution center with

[2:54:42] electric capacity, as well as minimizing the use of farmland.

[2:54:54] um, I went over the visual impacts of the project again,

[2:54:58] uh, there's a 75 foot buffer, um, utilizing the

[2:55:03] existing vegetation and the one highlighted area

[2:55:07] that would be replanted, um, to screen the project,

[2:55:12] um, from, uh, route four 60.

[2:55:23] um, just to note, um, the traffic impacts

[2:55:27] of the project, uh, the project did commission a traffic

[2:55:31] study as part of the, uh, their application

[2:55:36] and, um, again, the, the

[2:55:40] project would be, um, have two access points,

[2:55:45] one off of route four 60, and then one off of walker's pond lane.

[2:55:57] um, vdot did review their traffic study and,

[2:56:01] um, did request that they limit the project to

[2:56:05] the one location off of four 60, um, that,

[2:56:10] that, uh, shown near the highlighted green area and then off

[2:56:14] of walker's pond drive. Um, and they did, uh,

[2:56:18] vdot did indicate, um, that during construction that

[2:56:23] the, uh, project would be, um, from the north

[2:56:27] if the project's to be accessed from the north, uh,

[2:56:31] side, um, that, that be from, um, river

[2:56:35] road accessed, uh, from route four 60 in

[2:56:39] ger road. Um, that it, uh, that the project would not

[2:56:44] be accessed from the west.

[2:56:59] um, just to note, as part of the conditional use permit, um, there

[2:57:03] is a, um, traffic management plan. Um, they

[2:57:08] also identify, uh, storm water management and erosion control,

[2:57:12] um, conditions. There's also a decommissioning plan, uh, related

[2:57:17] to the project. Um, inspections are, uh,

[2:57:21] also noted as part of the, uh, project. Uh,

[2:57:28] and, uh, just wanted to note at the planning commission meeting, the

[2:57:32] planning commission, um, did, uh, make

[2:57:37] a recommendation to the board. Uh, their recommendation, uh,

[2:57:41] at their june meeting was, uh, a tie vote. Um,

[2:57:45] so, uh, they had a vote of three to three. Um, so there was no,

[2:57:50] uh, specific recommendation either for approval or

[2:57:54] disapproval. Again, um, three members voted for approval,

[2:57:58] three members voted for, uh, disapproval for

[2:58:02] the rezoning of the property.

[2:58:06] that's all I have, uh, for our general presentation this evening. Um,

[2:58:11] do you have any questions at this time? Any questions of staff?

[2:58:15] right. Move. Alright. Thank you, mark. Thank you.

[2:58:22] right for the applicant. . Thank you.

[2:58:27] you could, um, put my, thank you.

[2:58:32] good evening. My name is will chuang. I'm with the law firm of woods rogers. I'm

[2:58:36] representing, uh, the applicant here tonight. Uh, thank you, mr. Chairman, uh, members

[2:58:40] of the board for giving me an opportunity to discuss this case, uh, and

[2:58:44] to explain, um, why we think this is such a suitable site,

[2:58:49] uh, that won't have any impact on our surrounding neighbors, uh, but is

[2:58:53] also critically important, uh, to denwitty and the local community.

[2:58:58] 'cause it's unlike most every other, uh, solar facility that

[2:59:02] you're gonna, uh, come across that ties directly into the transmission

[2:59:06] lines and the power goes wherever it goes. This one's intended

[2:59:10] to serve this local community, and I'll go into some details on

[2:59:14] that. Um, uh, but what I'd, um,

[2:59:18] in this, um, case, I, uh, denwitty, uh,

[2:59:23] has no large power plants. Uh, so you're entirely right

[2:59:27] now relying basically on the grid. And virginia is currently

[2:59:31] importing 20% of its electricity. It's a matter, I'll, I'll mention a, a

[2:59:35] leader, uh, indicated virginia is the net

[2:59:39] importer in the entire country. Um, and there are several reasons

[2:59:43] for that. Um, so if you have a problem with the grid and the shortages,

[2:59:47] denwoody is gonna be one of the first to, um, feeling it. And the problem

[2:59:52] is people look back in the past and say, we haven't had a problem. But

[2:59:56] the problem is what's happening in the future. Uh, what, uh,

[3:00:00] is happening is that demand for electricity in virginia

[3:00:04] is absolutely searching. It is the highest, uh, growth since

[3:00:08] world war ii for general growth. But also, as you know, the proliferation

[3:00:13] of, uh, data centers and especially up in northern virginia.

[3:00:17] uh, as a matter of fact, dominion energy, uh, forecast, the

[3:00:21] peak demand is going to double in just 15 years. Uh,

[3:00:25] and for denwitty county, uh, that could spell a lot of problems,

[3:00:30] uh, you could be facing with brownouts and blackouts. Um,

[3:00:35] this project was, well, not a panacea, is going to be providing

[3:00:39] local power because it does not tie into the transmission lines, the major transmission

[3:00:44] lines. It is tying into the local distribution center and

[3:00:48] is intended to provide power in this local area.

[3:00:53] it can also, and I have neil watling, uh, uh, tend here,

[3:00:57] uh, with, uh, actual lives, who can explain in details if you would like,

[3:01:02] uh, how this will help, uh, prevent, uh, brownouts

[3:01:06] and also reduce them and help with fluctuations of power. Uh,

[3:01:10] but it's going to be critically important we think for denwitty, its businesses,

[3:01:15] uh, and its residents. Um, and there's been

[3:01:19] a clarion call from leaders in, in, in the state and in

[3:01:23] the industry of what's about to face us. Uh, as

[3:01:27] a matter of fact, uh, john iwa, the ceo of rappahannock

[3:01:31] electric cooperative, uh, wrote an article that emphasized

[3:01:36] that virginia's department of energy projected annual, uh, growth

[3:01:40] in, uh, power needs of 6.5% up from the

[3:01:44] historic norm of 1.4%, which accounts for the

[3:01:49] doubling by 2040. Um, and that pjm that the

[3:01:53] regional, um, entity, uh, for, for power, uh,

[3:01:57] recently indicated that power supply could run short as early as next summer

[3:02:02] 2026 if some action isn't taken. Um,

[3:02:06] uh, he is not alone. Um, mark christie, who's the outgoing

[3:02:11] chairman of the federal reg energy regulatory commission and is from virginia,

[3:02:15] uh, was quoted recently in the richmond times dispatch is saying,

[3:02:19] um, uh, that,

[3:02:24] um, virginia is ground zero for data centers for the entire

[3:02:28] planet. There are more data centers, more data center capacity

[3:02:32] in the commonwealth of virginia than any other political entity on the face

[3:02:36] of the earth. Uh, juan, uh, segura, who's the

[3:02:40] secretary of commerce and trade for the commonwealth of virginia, pointed out that this

[3:02:44] summer, maryland's electric grid almost came dangerously close

[3:02:49] to failure for virginia and every other pjm state,

[3:02:53] uh, this needs to be served as a wake up call, uh, for what's

[3:02:57] coming. Uh, these are some charts to show

[3:03:01] you exactly how virginia is situated. I think this is from the department of

[3:03:05] energy, which if you're, if you're looking at this, um,

[3:03:10] uh, right, right there, virginia is the most precarious

[3:03:14] area in the entire country. Um, because we're uniquely situated for all

[3:03:18] these data centers. Um,

[3:03:24] then, uh, just in the next five years, to give you an

[3:03:28] idea, we've talked about doubling by 2040, but by 2030, the

[3:03:32] projection is that we're gonna need 10,500 megawatts of

[3:03:36] new generation capacity, uh, within five years.

[3:03:41] so I've, I've mentioned for a moment the fundamental difference in this

[3:03:45] project versus the typical one that you've seen is much larger projects

[3:03:50] that are tying into the, uh, transmission. As I said, we're regular

[3:03:54] telephone poles that are, or poles that tie into the local system,

[3:03:59] uh, which means we're smaller lines. Uh, and it goes in as

[3:04:03] the, the electricity will say local. Um,

[3:04:07] and it will, uh, uh, have a very small footprint. As, as a matter of fact,

[3:04:11] this is only a 20 megawatt, I think, uh, project, but that still

[3:04:15] can power, uh, several thousand homes, local businesses. That's the kind

[3:04:20] of power it can provide to the local, uh, c community,

[3:04:24] um, which has profound impacts on this community.

[3:04:28] uh, when, when, when there are, you know, you're in the middle of the summer

[3:04:33] and the power and these data centers are, and up and running,

[3:04:38] denwoody is going to have a power source it can rely on. And as I can

[3:04:42] say, neil can talk in some detail about why that will ensure

[3:04:46] or help ensure that you won't suffer a blackout or, or a

[3:04:50] brownout. Uh,

[3:04:55] distributed projects, uh, are intended to benefit

[3:04:59] the local, uh, area. Um, it, uh,

[3:05:03] it, uh, will have less impact, but provide sub substantial

[3:05:08] economic, uh, stimulus and income to the county. Uh, it enhances

[3:05:12] the generation resilience in the area. Uh, it will be a backup

[3:05:17] for local infrastructure if you have weather events or grid disturbances,

[3:05:21] reducing the outage duration if you do have one. Um,

[3:05:25] and it helps protect against a single point of failure. Um, it

[3:05:30] has a low impact form of development. It generates the county revenue,

[3:05:34] uh, and the owner's revenue, like some of them are here tonight, uh, without any

[3:05:38] real industrial or, or additional infrastructure, uh, strain,

[3:05:44] uh, about this particular project, uh,

[3:05:48] compared to most that come before you. It's a small project with a small, uh, footprint.

[3:05:53] as you you've heard, we're only impacting, I think about, uh, uh,

[3:05:58] 17 acres of agricultural land. It's 20 megawatts. Uh,

[3:06:02] it is located in the industrial corridor north of route four 60.

[3:06:06] so we're not in the middle of prime agricultural land. Um,

[3:06:10] we are in the northern part where I think you would want this to be,

[3:06:15] uh, surrounded by a lot of industrial users that will be, be beneficiaries

[3:06:19] of, of this project, including the walmart distribution center, uh, uh,

[3:06:24] vulcan materials, uh, and, and the, uh, tilden,

[3:06:28] uh, concrete, um, uh, man, uh, plant. Uh,

[3:06:32] I think I sent to you in talking with folks, uh, vulcan sent an email

[3:06:36] and asked me to forward it to you, which I, which I did, expressing their strong support,

[3:06:41] uh, for this project. I think being so active in the industry, they

[3:06:45] know the upcoming problems that are, that, that we're facing. And believe having

[3:06:50] local energy, uh, is going to be very important, not only for them, but

[3:06:54] for the community. In talking with the, uh, construc, uh, the, uh, concrete,

[3:06:58] uh, manufacturers, uh, I mean, in, in their discussions that they understand,

[3:07:02] I think the benefits, uh, uh, that this could bring. Um,

[3:07:07] as I said, that, um, we only have about 75 acres

[3:07:12] of, uh, land that are actually under, um, solar panels. Uh,

[3:07:16] we have extensive vegetative buffers. We, I will talk more if

[3:07:20] we get, when we get to the, uh, conditional use hearing. Uh, but we can basically

[3:07:25] insulate this property from being seen from from other properties.

[3:07:30] uh, we've got the elevated, uh, we've got the elevated

[3:07:34] railroad. We've got extensive existing vegetation, uh, in the one small

[3:07:38] section that isn't, we can heavily vegetate it with fast growing evergreens.

[3:07:42] so unlike a lot of projects that you, you can't hide it, uh, this one

[3:07:46] can get hidden. Um, and once we're in, you're not gonna know we're there.

[3:07:50] I mean, we don't have traffic, uh, we're not gonna have noise. Um, it's

[3:07:54] gonna be truly a silent party, uh, partner for the community. Uh,

[3:07:59] other things that we've done in working with neighbors is we reduced

[3:08:03] the number of entrances. Uh, we also did the entrance road that comes in,

[3:08:08] uh, near, um, to be an s shape. So it

[3:08:12] would prevent further from being seen looking into the panels.

[3:08:17] um, and it's a, uh, nine month, um,

[3:08:22] it's a nine month, uh, construction project, but that's

[3:08:26] not, I mean, that's the total period you have. You, you'll have trucks come in for a

[3:08:30] little bit put down, they're working on it, and then come back. It's not a steady stream. I

[3:08:34] would also note that two thirds to three quarters of, um,

[3:08:39] two thirds to three quarters of, uh, the project

[3:08:44] is being accessed directly from four 60. So there's only a smaller part

[3:08:48] that's coming in from the north. And the only reason why we're doing that is there is a

[3:08:52] creek that comes through. We're not impacting wetlands, so we, we can't be going

[3:08:56] over and disturbing, uh, those wetlands.

[3:09:00] uh, in terms of, um, uh, the benefits,

[3:09:05] as I said, it, it's a clean power source and can servee up to 3,500

[3:09:09] households and local businesses, including the $10 corporation, walmart

[3:09:13] distribution center, vulcan material supply, and small business in, in

[3:09:18] the area in, in addition to the residence. Um,

[3:09:22] and it will continue to, uh, supply electricity locally when there's a power

[3:09:26] adage or, um, repairs at the substation. And it'll improve

[3:09:30] den wit's, uh, local grid resiliency, uh, helping to keep the

[3:09:34] lights on and, uh, helping businesses to continue to operate. 'cause a

[3:09:39] brown out can be extremely disruptive, not only to individuals,

[3:09:43] but to businesses and manufacturing operations. Um,

[3:09:49] in terms of financial benefits, uh, the

[3:09:53] economics benefits will be, uh, substantial in

[3:09:57] addition to, um, the ability to provide power, which is

[3:10:01] probably the single most important thing that it does. But you're looking at a $2 million

[3:10:06] economic impact for denwoody county during construction, $140,000

[3:10:11] of annual economic impact to denwitty during operations. Uh,

[3:10:15] probably $3.2 million in tax revenue to denwitty county during operations

[3:10:19] from real estate taxes and the taxes on the capital investment. And then

[3:10:24] as part of the signing agreement, even though we've, um, as we'll talk about, even though we've

[3:10:28] shrunk the size and in dealing with neighbors, as you may recall, they came before,

[3:10:32] uh, they've knocked down probably, uh, uh,

[3:10:36] six megawatts, a substantial cut, a substantial amount off, so those two neighbors don't feel

[3:10:41] surrounded, uh, but keeping the, um, the, the payment

[3:10:45] of the same. And so you have a $300,000 citing agreement, cash

[3:10:49] payment at the start of project operations.

[3:10:54] uh, this is the site. And just to give you some feel, and we've worked, we have a couple

[3:10:58] of neighbors who, um, we've worked with 'em, uh, try to work with 'em very, very closely.

[3:11:03] uh, and, uh, I've had conversations with 'em trying to do everything we

[3:11:07] can to ensure them that they have no impact, uh, or minimal impact to

[3:11:12] them. Uh, and I appreciated their talking with me even recently.

[3:11:16] um, but it was very clear, I mean, in having the conversation, they

[3:11:20] were kind enough to say, we, we think you've done just about everything you can do .

[3:11:24] uh, but I can appreciate that they don't want to have solar there. Uh,

[3:11:29] uh, and so, uh, what we sincerely believe is we're not gonna

[3:11:33] have an impact on those neighbors. Uh, as part of the conditions, as, as

[3:11:37] we can talk about, we've agreed to, to maintain, even though we are only

[3:11:42] accessing early into to, into, uh, walker's pond

[3:11:46] drive to maintain the entire walker's pond drive, uh, through the

[3:11:50] operation of this, uh, that nearest neighbor is, I think, 656

[3:11:55] feet away from where the, the, uh, the extensive vegetative

[3:11:59] buffer would start. And 950, uh, 929 feet

[3:12:03] is, is the, is the other one, as you can see on this chart. Uh, we

[3:12:07] totally eliminated the northern parcel, um, to, to, to

[3:12:11] further try to, uh, help the, help the neighbors. Um,

[3:12:15] we've also put other, um, conditions like groundwater testing

[3:12:20] and that sort of thing, and offered a, a property assurance program.

[3:12:25] uh, this is just showing the types of uses that are very near in the area, which

[3:12:29] include tyndall, concrete vol materials in the walmart distribution

[3:12:33] center. If you're looking at a project where you want to have it in the county,

[3:12:38] we respectfully submit this is where you'd want it. I mean, I can't really think

[3:12:42] of one where I could put it any better, uh, that wouldn't

[3:12:46] have an impact on, on residences and is in an area that's very business

[3:12:50] and industry oriented while still maintaining such substantial

[3:12:54] buffers, uh, uh, and, and having an elevated

[3:12:58] railroad, uh, blocking it, uh, from the road. Uh, here

[3:13:03] is, uh, some views of, uh, looking into the

[3:13:07] site, uh, the retained. This gives you an idea of the kind of retained vegetation

[3:13:11] that is on the property. Um,

[3:13:16] here it is, uh, uh, at planning that you're looking into

[3:13:20] the site. You can see we have the little legend in, in the left showing where we took that

[3:13:24] photo from. Uh, and then as you are, um,

[3:13:29] as you're looking in with, within a few years, how the, you would plant those,

[3:13:33] uh, fast growing vegetative buffers. So you're completely blocking, uh, the

[3:13:37] site, uh, from four 60.

[3:13:45] this is showing, obviously through the property. We have nearby those very,

[3:13:49] uh, high profile, uh, transmission lines in, in the water

[3:13:53] tower. And again,

[3:13:57] this is showing you a photo, uh, where you're not gonna be able to see,

[3:14:01] uh, the, the panels, uh, from four 60,

[3:14:07] uh, the, uh, uh,

[3:14:11] based on our traffic data, uh, and the access quarters, we have

[3:14:15] available capacity to accommodate any site generated traffic during,

[3:14:20] uh, construction. And then once we're up and running for 40, 45 years, you,

[3:14:24] you're basically gonna have next to nothing in, in terms of traffic, occasional

[3:14:28] maintenance. Um, again, in, in talking

[3:14:32] with the two, uh, local resident families, um, uh,

[3:14:36] that are residing near this industrial corridor, uh, they've expressed

[3:14:41] concern. I think we have worked, tried to work extensively with them. I think

[3:14:45] the case, as you can see, has changed dramatically. And we go into the details

[3:14:49] of the conditions with the conditional use permit, uh, how

[3:14:53] extensively we are trying to ensure, uh, that they are not impacted, and

[3:14:57] we actually think they will benefit. I mean, one of the major benefits is taking over

[3:15:01] that maintenance of, of the, uh, walker's pond road all

[3:15:06] the way down, even well past our entrance, uh, to, to upgrade and

[3:15:10] maintain that road, which we think will be a great benefit, uh, to them.

[3:15:14] um, we've entirely removed the northern parcel from the project,

[3:15:19] reducing it in size. Uh, we've reduced the number of entrances from four

[3:15:23] to two, um, and we've made it an s shape. Um,

[3:15:28] so, uh, further shielding, uh, the site from the neighbors.

[3:15:32] uh, we've committed to improving walker's pond road. We've

[3:15:36] provided, uh, an offer to provide property value guarantees to the residents,

[3:15:40] although we can't imagine how we're gonna have an impact on them. Um, and,

[3:15:45] um, we've also agreed to do, uh, groundwater testing.

[3:15:50] uh, we believe that, uh, in looking at it, we sent out hundreds of

[3:15:54] letters for community meeting, uh, and we got less

[3:15:58] than a handful. And most of 'em were owned landowners. And I think you'll hear from 'em, we have a

[3:16:02] number of landowners that did, I think will express that this is very important to them and their

[3:16:07] families. Um, and I think that's, that's striking because

[3:16:11] I think people understand this is a different kind of project from what they normally

[3:16:15] see in terms of a major, major solar project.

[3:16:19] um, the, um, um,

[3:16:24] we think we are benefiting a county of, um, about 28,000

[3:16:28] plus, uh, citizens.

[3:16:33] um, we, uh, we will talk in, in detail on the conditions,

[3:16:37] but we want to have the conditions that are as tight as possible. I've worked with mr. Southall

[3:16:42] and, and, and, and the county. Uh, I'm glad to talk about

[3:16:46] those. But we're, we're, we're committed to fully screening this project. Uh, we've

[3:16:50] actually suggested a couple of conditions I think that the county might make that would improve on

[3:16:55] what the suggested, uh, conditions were. Um, but, um,

[3:17:00] we, uh, believe that the county is foot

[3:17:04] will be fully protected. And the issue is we're

[3:17:08] gonna need power. I think denwoody needs local power. I

[3:17:12] mean, I, I've laid out about as strongly as I can how important

[3:17:16] having that local distributed power is. Uh, and the question

[3:17:20] is, where can you provide it? And if you're gonna provide it, this would be

[3:17:24] the site. Um,

[3:17:30] so I would, um, say we've, as, uh, mr. Bassett indicated,

[3:17:34] we've extensively provided extensive documentations. This has been thoroughly

[3:17:39] analyzed, uh, and it's come back saying that this is a very

[3:17:43] suitable site, uh, for, for solar, uh, in, in this,

[3:17:47] in this, uh, case. Um, and, um,

[3:17:51] I would be glad to answer any questions that you have. Uh,

[3:17:55] and I have, uh, representatives from, um,

[3:17:59] the applicant here to answer any questions. Uh, but we really appreciate

[3:18:04] your, um, uh, consideration. I think you've heard me say very

[3:18:08] strongly, this is critically important, and this is a fundamentally different

[3:18:12] project from the other solar facilities that are tying into the transmission.

[3:18:17] uh, your residents are gonna be facing issues going forward.

[3:18:21] uh, and as I've quoted, that's not just coming from me, that's not

[3:18:25] just coming from the applicant. Uh, that's what we're facing as a state.

[3:18:29] um, and so we would ask for your consideration, uh, to let us move forward.

[3:18:34] uh, I'll be glad to answer any questions. I would at the end of the comment period,

[3:18:38] I'd like an opportunity to respond to, to any comments made to, to be able to

[3:18:42] address those. But I want to thank you for your time and consideration. I know,

[3:18:46] know, it's a difficult job and you all are balancing, uh, the

[3:18:51] needs of individuals in the entire community. I know it's not an easy job,

[3:18:55] and I just want to express my appreciation for your time and consideration.

[3:19:00] thank you, sir. Thank you. Questions.

[3:19:04] okay. Thank you. And we'll, we will get, give you the opportunity to come back up

[3:19:08] out to the public hearing. Thank you, chairman. Okay.

[3:19:13] I'm gonna go ahead and open the public hearing portion. Do we have anyone

[3:19:17] signed up? Yes, mr. Chairman.

[3:19:22] looks like the first person is the applicant. Did you? I signed up

[3:19:26] outta appoint. Okay.

[3:19:30] belinda eng.

[3:19:35] and while she's coming up that, um, your comments, you have five minutes,

[3:19:40] um, for your comments. And if you get to the end of, of the five minutes,

[3:19:44] if you can, uh, wrap your, uh, thoughts up as quick as

[3:19:48] possible. So thank you. Mr. Chairman, just, just to be clear, there

[3:19:53] are three public hearings slated for tonight. What, what you're hearing right now is the first one on the

[3:19:57] rezoning, right? Yes. Uh, belinda

[3:20:01] n 21 1 13 walkers pond drive. Sutherland,

[3:20:05] uh, good evening chairman and members of the board. Uh, the green energy

[3:20:09] deal for solar project is all about money, uh, from the

[3:20:14] government subsidies. I do believe there's other things coming down the road

[3:20:18] to create energy. I know in chesterfield, they're talking about

[3:20:22] building new power plant, uh, not by coal or

[3:20:26] I don't know all the new sources, but it's in the works. Um, because

[3:20:30] solar panels are not a reliable source of energy, from what I have researched,

[3:20:34] it's, you takes thousands of them to make a lot of electricity. Um,

[3:20:38] there are many ways to produce electricity, but there's only one way to produce food,

[3:20:43] and that's with farmland. As of yesterday, department of agriculture

[3:20:47] will no longer support solar panels on farmland, and we need

[3:20:51] to preserve our farmland and our woodland for future generations

[3:20:55] and for the wildlife. I have many concerns with

[3:20:59] this, uh, coming down. It is no longer in front of my

[3:21:03] high. It's gonna be on the side and the back of my property. Uh, one concern

[3:21:08] is a chemicals leaching from the panels into the groundwater and contaminating

[3:21:12] my well. And there's two creeks, one in front of us and one behind

[3:21:16] that's on my property. Wallace creek runs behind my house and that feeds

[3:21:21] into the appomattox river. Um, and that's concerning

[3:21:25] that the well be contaminated with the chemicals from the panels. Um,

[3:21:29] also my property value. What's gonna happen to that? Is it going down because of

[3:21:34] all the solar panels? Another concern is our dirt road,

[3:21:38] uh, walker's pond drive. We live at the very end of it, which is

[3:21:42] like three quarters of a mile long. Um, and that's our only

[3:21:47] way of getting in and out. And if they're bringing heavy, big truck loads of

[3:21:51] equipment in, and we are in and out all day. And our neighbors also,

[3:21:55] uh, how are we gonna get in if big trucks come in and the road was not built for

[3:21:59] trucks. It's a dirt road and we've had to put pipes under

[3:22:03] the creek and do all the maintenance to it, but it's

[3:22:07] not for big equipment to come in. And we maintained that road all,

[3:22:11] all year round. And for the last 36 years, also, the panels

[3:22:15] heat up the surrounding area, uh, up to 10 degrees and can become a fire hazard.

[3:22:20] and there was a, last year they had a big fire in chesapeake,

[3:22:25] and it took 'em like two days to get the fire out, uh, working that I didn't know if the

[3:22:29] denwoody is equipped, the fire department's equipped to handle that,

[3:22:34] uh, size fire. Uh, I asked you tonight to please vote

[3:22:38] down this project. Um, and I thank you for your time.

[3:22:42] thank you,

[3:22:49] jim. Daniel,

[3:23:03] good evening. Good evening, jim. Jim, daniel, 21, 1 13 walker's

[3:23:08] pond drive. Uh, I just want to say

[3:23:12] the same thing. Prob mostly, um, you know, I have issues

[3:23:16] with the, the water runoff. Uh, any noise created

[3:23:21] any hum or buzzing that the panels may do. Uh,

[3:23:25] then there, the rise in temperature that can, can be a fire hazard.

[3:23:30] um, really don't, uh, think

[3:23:34] solar's the way to go for, for the county. Uh, there there's gotta be something

[3:23:38] better. Uh, instead of using up all our valuable

[3:23:43] farmland, uh, and, and forests, you

[3:23:47] know, we, we need trees just as, just as bad as we need farmland.

[3:23:51] um, 25, 30

[3:23:55] years ago, I wanted to give

[3:23:59] a piece of my land, uh, land to one of my kids.

[3:24:04] um, they wanted to build a house.

[3:24:08] so I came to the county and started making plans. The county

[3:24:12] told me I, I couldn't do it. They

[3:24:16] said that the road was not up to county specs.

[3:24:22] so that was it. Just a note, you know, unless I wanted to

[3:24:26] bring it up, which would cost thousands of dollars, even back then,

[3:24:31] well now the same road

[3:24:36] that's basically in the same condition is gonna support

[3:24:40] a solar project that, that doesn't

[3:24:44] sound like it's right, but, you know, hey,

[3:24:49] um, now this dirt road

[3:24:53] I've been taking care of for 36 years, um,

[3:24:59] I scrape it, put down a lot of rock. I

[3:25:03] I cut the grass, I trimmed the trees.

[3:25:07] um, I have to, I've had to, uh, replace

[3:25:12] the pipe, the, the creek, um,

[3:25:16] no help. Um, and did I mention

[3:25:20] I have to scrape it and put more rock down?

[3:25:25] um, but now we've got

[3:25:30] a, a maintenance agreement that's signed by some property owners

[3:25:35] that don't even live on the road

[3:25:39] and have never contributed a dime

[3:25:43] to the upkeep of it. But they got people they let in to

[3:25:47] hunt, uh, rent to farm

[3:25:52] a piece. Still haven't had any help.

[3:25:58] so, in closing, I I'm just asking, you know,

[3:26:03] for a no vote from y'all, um, the same as you

[3:26:07] did in august of nine, of 2024,

[3:26:12] and that the planning commission did the same thing in june of 24

[3:26:17] and of june this year.

[3:26:22] and that's all I have. I thank y'all. Thank you. Okay. Thank you.

[3:26:28] dana tipton.

[3:26:33] no, everybody. Good evening. Hello ma'am. Thank you. So I'm gonna come

[3:26:37] at it a little bit different way and I do agree with what I've heard

[3:26:42] some of the things, but minus more on the cost of solar.

[3:26:46] and I know it sounds really good as me as a landowner to get

[3:26:51] 800 to $1,400 an acre, nice money.

[3:26:56] but as me as a taxpayer, and I'm not talking ity tax,

[3:27:00] I'm talking about federal and state taxes. Are you aware

[3:27:04] that we're subsidizing over 93% of the cost of

[3:27:08] that solar farm? A lot of money.

[3:27:12] I heard the gentleman say in his presentation that

[3:27:17] this piece of property is being fed right to dominion power. It's going right to

[3:27:21] den. Really? I worked on the trading floor for, for

[3:27:25] virginia power. Hmm. I would question that.

[3:27:30] I'd also question the part that he said about it's

[3:27:35] gonna keep d witty lights on if the grid goes down.

[3:27:40] hmm, if the grid goes down, solar farm doesn't work either.

[3:27:45] also, the other thing that bothers me is when the

[3:27:49] sun's not out, that solar farm's not doing any of those houses he

[3:27:53] mentioned, or those plants. A bit of good a daylight

[3:27:57] today that solar system isn't producing

[3:28:02] probably 50 to 60% of what it's capable. Now

[3:28:06] he mentioned a 40 to 45 year lease.

[3:28:11] the moment that panel goes into existence, it starts

[3:28:16] degrading. Now

[3:28:21] 40 years, what's that panel gonna give us?

[3:28:25] maybe 50%, maybe 60

[3:28:30] cloudy days. Not a hundred percent in production. So when

[3:28:34] somebody tells me I'm gonna run 3000 houses off of that small

[3:28:38] a hundred and some acres, 17 acres of farmland,

[3:28:43] is that just from nine to four?

[3:28:48] because most places the sun doesn't come up to hit it till about

[3:28:52] nine. And after about four, you're losing the sun. So

[3:28:56] now I've lost electricity. Now me as

[3:29:00] a citizen standing here, how can I talk about this? I run my farm

[3:29:04] on solar, have for 10 years, I have battery backup.

[3:29:09] so yes, when the grid goes down, I am running. Y'all aren't,

[3:29:15] there's a lot of other ways to make energy. Fusion would be one of them.

[3:29:19] we're already looking at that in the southwestern part of virginia. Excellent option.

[3:29:24] solar's not gonna get it. We could put a plant panel on every piece of property in

[3:29:28] denwitty. We still wouldn't be able to supply our county with all the electricity.

[3:29:32] data centers need the electricity of a small city. So

[3:29:36] take hopewell that would supply one data center. It

[3:29:40] doesn't matter what northern virginia wants to build. And we're not worrying about

[3:29:45] blackouts and brownouts right now, like california is, and it's

[3:29:49] not gonna happen tomorrow. And yes, we will need energy

[3:29:53] if we're going to sustain data centers, but that solar panels

[3:29:57] aren't gonna get it. Not today and not tomorrow. And unless you're

[3:30:01] willing to cut off your power when the sun goes down or change

[3:30:06] your lifestyle, it's not gonna happen.

[3:30:10] I'm against it and I run on solar. Thank you.

[3:30:15] thank you.

[3:30:19] cindy harville.

[3:30:49] cindy harville, 2 1 1 0 7 walker's pond drive

[3:30:53] sutherland. Mr. Chairman, mr. Vice-chairman,

[3:30:57] board members, residents of dimity and guests.

[3:31:01] tonight I wanna share with you a fable, a story

[3:31:05] of sorts that I believe addresses a need for caution

[3:31:10] when it comes to allowing solar farm construction

[3:31:15] in dim witty county. It's entitled the rat trap.

[3:31:19] the author's unknown and it goes like this. A rat

[3:31:23] looked through a crack in a farmhouse wall and he saw a farmer and his wife opening

[3:31:27] a package. What food might it contain? He said to himself,

[3:31:33] but he was shocked to discover that it was a rat trap.

[3:31:37] retreating to the barnyard, the rat proclaimed the warning. There's

[3:31:42] a rat trap in the house. There's a rat trap in the house.

[3:31:46] well, the chicken clocked and scratched and raised her head and said, excuse

[3:31:50] me, mr. Rat, I can tell this is really upsetting

[3:31:55] you, but I don't

[3:31:59] see what it has to do with me. The rat turned to the pig

[3:32:03] and he said, there's a rat trap in the house. There's a rat trap

[3:32:07] in the house. I'm sorry, said the pig, but

[3:32:12] what can I do? But I really do feel bad for

[3:32:16] you. And then a rat turned to the cow

[3:32:20] and she said, hmm, a rat trap. You say, am

[3:32:25] I in grave danger? I think not. So

[3:32:29] the rat returned to the house head down and dejected

[3:32:33] to face the farmer's rat trap all alone.

[3:32:37] that very night, the sound of the rat trap catching its prey

[3:32:42] could be heard throughout the house. The farmer's wife rushed to

[3:32:46] investigate. And in the darkness she did not see that it

[3:32:50] was a venomous snake whose tail was caught in the rat trap.

[3:32:55] she reached down and the snake bit her. The farmer rushed her to the

[3:32:59] hospital. She returned home with a fever.

[3:33:03] now everyone knows you treat a fever with

[3:33:07] fresh chicken soup. So the farmer

[3:33:11] took his hatchet to the barnyard for the soup's main ingredient.

[3:33:17] his wife's sickness continued. So friends and neighbors came to

[3:33:21] sit with her around the clock to feed them.

[3:33:25] the farmer butchered the pig.

[3:33:30] and in the end, the farmer's wife didn't get well. She died.

[3:33:34] and so many people came to her funeral that the

[3:33:38] farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide meat for

[3:33:42] them all to eat. As you

[3:33:47] have heard tonight and on previous occasions, there

[3:33:51] are a multitude of reasons why den

[3:33:55] witty county should not jump on the

[3:33:59] solar farm bandwagon. The one thing

[3:34:03] I ask you to mindfully consider is this, what

[3:34:08] affects one of us will eventually affect

[3:34:12] all of us. We don't really know the

[3:34:16] full impact of so that solar farms have on our land,

[3:34:21] our water supply or our environment.

[3:34:26] we just don't know. Please air on the

[3:34:30] side of caution and vote no to

[3:34:34] the rezoning associated with case p dash 25 8

[3:34:39] and c 25 dash four. Be good stewards

[3:34:43] of our county's beautiful rule lands.

[3:34:48] thank you. Thank you.

[3:34:55] grandville. Grandville maitland.

[3:35:16] thank you mr. Chairman board. Um, grandville maitland.

[3:35:20] I'm 13 4 10 butter wood lane. But that other end of the county, um,

[3:35:26] y'all know my background farming and in

[3:35:31] and also alternative energy sources, ethanol, different

[3:35:35] things, diesel fuel, um, different things I have done. I have a brother-in-law

[3:35:40] that built transmission lines into solar farms

[3:35:44] and into windmills in the west. When he

[3:35:48] went out there after leaving virginia power, he was gung ho

[3:35:53] when he came back. He said the destruction and

[3:35:59] what it did to the environment there, he had no use for

[3:36:03] any of it right there. Um,

[3:36:07] it bothers me. I consider mr. Flowers a friend

[3:36:11] and a mentor. But this is not about jimmy.

[3:36:16] this is about land that I look for the, um,

[3:36:20] when I was on the planning commission, part of this was in the

[3:36:24] corridor development corridor back there when

[3:36:28] guy was a planter. Alright? We looked at a lot of this.

[3:36:33] this land is actually actually too valuable a land to

[3:36:37] be putting in solar right there. And I know the

[3:36:41] lifespan and how they work. And I cannot support

[3:36:45] solar anyway in inwood county commercial solar because it's not a

[3:36:49] farm. It's a, it is a industrial operation right there.

[3:36:54] but I do feel that the

[3:36:59] land is too valuable for the development in denver county.

[3:37:03] and actually for mr. Flowers down the road, it's gonna be so

[3:37:07] much more valuable because of industry and things. It's gonna come in.

[3:37:11] 'cause I look at that whole area all the way up, basically to all your store

[3:37:17] in the future. It's going to be commercial industrial

[3:37:22] down through there. It's when, um, a lot

[3:37:26] of people, uh, weren't around or didn't think about it. We lost

[3:37:30] some industrial because, um, king's dominion

[3:37:35] wanted to be in denwitty county. We did not have the infrastructure

[3:37:39] and things to handle it at the time. And that hurt what it could

[3:37:43] have been. The racetrack could have been here if some people hadn't gotten

[3:37:48] greedy right there. And so

[3:37:52] I look at a lot of that area is going to grow, grow fast,

[3:37:56] and it's gonna be very profitable for the people, even though some of

[3:38:00] the people will probably have, uh, lose their houses to the industrial as they

[3:38:04] expand. But they will be well compensated. And I

[3:38:08] think solar is not the way to go. If you are looking at data centers

[3:38:13] and the amount of power they need, then you better go micro

[3:38:17] nucle or something like that. That is the only way that

[3:38:21] you're going to, um, do the data centers. Northern virginia loves

[3:38:25] to talk about the energy use, but they don't want the solar panels up there.

[3:38:30] they want 'em in a rural areas and let us, and it is a net

[3:38:35] negative by the end of the cycle of that. What, what they give for

[3:38:39] the schools, what they give to the county up front. But

[3:38:43] it is a net energy loss when you get down to it.

[3:38:48] thank you all for your time. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[3:38:53] stephanie jones.

[3:39:09] good evening. My name is stephanie jones and I am a landowner

[3:39:13] here in dewitte county. I was fortunate enough

[3:39:17] to inherit land here, and I have been pondering on the idea

[3:39:21] of what to do with my land. I have just been paying taxing on it, and the

[3:39:26] land has been dormant since the passing of my father. I feel

[3:39:30] that hosting a solar farm here in county

[3:39:34] will be a great opportunity for both, um, the

[3:39:38] county and us. It will, the land will

[3:39:42] be preserved. It provides the opportunity for dewin county to

[3:39:46] move towards a brighter and more substantial future.

[3:39:52] um, I just want to say that, you know, I think that

[3:39:57] the people, the landowners need to have some kind of right as

[3:40:01] to what they want to do with their property. Um, their

[3:40:05] property. When their property is not being used for anything.

[3:40:10] and someone decided that, hey, this is an idea that I agree

[3:40:14] with. Um, I think that the landowner should have the right to

[3:40:18] have some kind of opinion into what's going on as,

[3:40:22] 'cause we do pay property taxes on this land. And I just

[3:40:26] feel we should have a opinion. So I just want to say that

[3:40:30] I am in full support of the flower. So solar farm

[3:40:35] and respectfully ask that the projects do be approved. Thank you.

[3:40:40] thank you, thank you.

[3:40:44] robert moore.

[3:40:49] uh, mr. Chairman, members of the board, my name's robert moore, 2 3 9 0 0

[3:40:53] cutbank road. Mckenney. Uh, I'm not in favor of the solar

[3:40:58] panels. There's been just too much negative, uh, things to go

[3:41:02] on about 'em. Like the one lady, uh, mentioned the the solar fire.

[3:41:07] a solar fire. A solar farm fire. Like she said, it ran for two

[3:41:11] days. There was one in, uh, I think north carolina that ran for seven days.

[3:41:16] our infrastructure can't handle something like that. You know, then

[3:41:20] what? He's a, an agricultural county. Well, I'm sorry,

[3:41:25] not used to speak in front of people , but, um,

[3:41:29] there's too many negative things that they don't know. Um, the impact

[3:41:33] on the, on the soil, the water systems. Uh, again,

[3:41:37] like the road said, the guy said that they, they're gonna maintain a road. He'd never told anybody

[3:41:42] what they're gonna do to maintain that road. And like the other lady said, trucks going

[3:41:46] through there, yeah, that's gonna disrupt them. And they're saying a nine month

[3:41:50] period. They built solar panels like that down by my brother's house. It took 'em a

[3:41:54] year and a half. So it's not, you know, you now construction things go,

[3:41:58] they don't work in the rain, they don't work in the snow.

[3:42:02] and I just totally don't believe that solar

[3:42:06] is the, the answer for an agricultural county. And I'm,

[3:42:11] I I I strongly urge you not to, not to approve this. Thank

[3:42:15] you. Thank you. Thank you.

[3:42:19] billy c

[3:42:43] mr. Chap members of the board on billy c at 80

[3:42:47] 20 courthouse road, church road, virginia.

[3:42:54] this meeting tonight is not about, um,

[3:42:58] jimmy flowers. It's about the income

[3:43:03] for the, uh, the county. What are we going to do with this piece of

[3:43:07] land across there? We've granted, um,

[3:43:11] these, um, solar farms in other parts of the

[3:43:15] county. When you go by 'em, you drive your car by

[3:43:19] 'em, you see 'em. And I'm sure each member has looked at the

[3:43:24] location that this has been asked to,

[3:43:28] uh, build there. And the railroad track is

[3:43:32] actually a plus for the appearance of this. You'll

[3:43:36] never see the panels. You're going down four 60

[3:43:41] into my opinion. You won't even notice 'em over there. 'cause the railroad track,

[3:43:45] the woods there, it blocks it.

[3:43:50] what do we do with that piece of land over there for the future?

[3:43:56] are we going to build industrial buildings over there?

[3:44:00] the members of this board represent the people that voted for you.

[3:44:05] I think it's a tax situation. What is the best, highest

[3:44:09] and best use for the county to

[3:44:14] have this property? Is it to raise beans and corn

[3:44:19] or let these people put this project on there?

[3:44:24] the county is gonna realize more profit from that. And I

[3:44:28] think that's what you have to look at. The taxpayers up

[3:44:32] there on route 40. They have something to do with this.

[3:44:38] they should have a say. It'll help each

[3:44:42] one of these board members in the tax situation. I think

[3:44:47] you just built a tennis court across the road. This project may

[3:44:51] pay for that. You have to look at dollars and cents

[3:44:56] and these people that are oppose it, um,

[3:45:01] you know, I think they got good points.

[3:45:06] they really do. And, uh,

[3:45:10] they're giving their opinion on it. And

[3:45:14] I'm giving you my opinion and I'm looking at highest

[3:45:18] and best use for the county. I'm looking for those tax dollars to

[3:45:22] run in here, not to go out. Look,

[3:45:26] we don't have to have any police cars that don't have to

[3:45:30] get two more deputies. The fire department,

[3:45:35] the emergency crew. You know, they're not putting the stress over

[3:45:39] this project. Um,

[3:45:47] I wrote y'all some notes and I don't let one by

[3:45:52] because I listened to the objections that the others had here.

[3:45:57] and, uh, but, uh,

[3:46:01] we're not gonna have to educate the children with this project. Schools

[3:46:05] cost us a lot of money. We gotta think of these dollars.

[3:46:09] we gotta make it profitable for the county, not jimmy flowers.

[3:46:14] look, jimmy flowers, he probably don't need to have the project.

[3:46:19] the county should be thinking him to,

[3:46:23] you know, let, let 'em use the project for the

[3:46:27] county.

[3:46:31] we need sheets and walmarts and wawas

[3:46:36] that gives us income. And that's what this board is for. It's

[3:46:40] all about the income and I don't think it's

[3:46:44] unsafe. We've granted it in other parts of the county.

[3:46:49] and I hope you gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, make the right decision tonight.

[3:46:55] not for an individual your personal thank,

[3:46:59] but for the county as a whole. Thank you for your time. Thank

[3:47:03] you. Thank you,

[3:47:08] susan seaward.

[3:47:19] uh, good evening, uh, chairman lee, board members county administrator,

[3:47:24] mass and gilland county staff. Uh, thank you for the opportunity to address

[3:47:28] you this evening regarding flower solar. Um, while I have the

[3:47:32] privilege of knowing some of you, I think more of you probably remember my mother,

[3:47:36] uh, troll and seward, the former superintendent of schools here in denwitty.

[3:47:40] she had actually, um, tried to come with me this evening. Something came up, but she

[3:47:44] said to please give you all her most sincere regards. Um,

[3:47:48] she really enjoyed her time in denwitty and, and was hoping to come with me,

[3:47:53] but not here to talk about mother here to talk about flowers solar.

[3:47:57] um, I can tell you, as a former member of the sussex county

[3:48:01] board of supervisors, I have been in your shoes.

[3:48:06] I am keenly aware of the public pressure you feel because people

[3:48:10] just don't like solar. However, I'm willing to bet

[3:48:14] that everyone, every single person that doesn't like solar, including those

[3:48:18] opposed to this project, love electricity. I love

[3:48:22] electricity. And that's why this project deserves your support.

[3:48:27] we've heard the warnings this evening from the presentation, uh, from pjm,

[3:48:32] from the former chair of ferc, mark christie, state officials and an

[3:48:36] electric co-op ceo. Unfortunately, we are headed for

[3:48:40] a real electric generation crisis.

[3:48:44] keep in mind, our regional generation supply, surrey county

[3:48:49] has a nuclear power station. Greensville and brunswick counties have major

[3:48:53] dominion natural gas plants. And for now, halifax has the clover coal-fired

[3:48:57] power station that is running, in essence is a peaker.

[3:49:02] the chesterfield plant that was mentioned earlier this evening is going to be another

[3:49:06] natural gas plant. However, that is running into some serious headwinds

[3:49:10] from the environmental community. I think dominion is counting

[3:49:14] on that being built, but, you know, will it get approved?

[3:49:19] the other issue that's been mentioned, and, and I agree with that, I think fusion is

[3:49:23] certainly a power source of the future, but dominion in their

[3:49:27] latest integrated resource plan doesn't even factor in the nuclear,

[3:49:32] uh, fusion small reactors. Best case scenario is

[3:49:36] 10 years out. What we're facing now is a power gap.

[3:49:41] and forms like this distributed can help fill that

[3:49:45] gap. You know, what's gonna happen? We've got

[3:49:49] our base load generation, but we've got energy deserts.

[3:49:53] the data center industry is coming, it's not going away. What's

[3:49:58] going to happen to these low density population areas?

[3:50:03] and I think the answer is, is, is simple but dire. The electrons

[3:50:07] are gonna go across the grid to serve high qua, high density, high

[3:50:11] demand centers, and place pockets like this in, in

[3:50:15] situations where they're facing the brown brownouts and blackouts. We are looking

[3:50:19] at a project like this right now in sussex county, and I desperately hope it's

[3:50:23] approved because I don't want to be sitting in the dark in two years.

[3:50:28] one of the biggest gripes I have heard, and I have sat through

[3:50:32] like you all, many a hearing on, on solar projects of all shapes and sizes.

[3:50:37] but one of the biggest complaints I heard as a supervisor and as a citizen

[3:50:41] is all of our land is going to power northern virginia.

[3:50:46] that's the thing about these, these distributed projects, the power does

[3:50:50] stay local. And yes, the sun doesn't shine 24 7,

[3:50:54] but at least with these projects, there is an offset because

[3:50:59] the, the crisis that's looming relative to generation cannot

[3:51:03] be underestimated. You know,

[3:51:08] from from one former elected official. You all have more stay in power than I

[3:51:12] did. I could only do two terms. But I think the question you

[3:51:16] have to ask, and the question I would ask when I was on the board

[3:51:20] is a few disgruntled citizens today were sacrificing

[3:51:25] electric generation for many, many others tomorrow. And I think that's what you're

[3:51:29] facing here with this project, have been in your position

[3:51:33] for, for eight years in sussex. And, and I know that one of the

[3:51:37] things we have to do is not only govern for today, but we have to plan for five and 10

[3:51:41] and 20 years down the road. And what we're facing in the next five

[3:51:45] years is an energy crisis that is, is entirely

[3:51:49] really out of our control. But we certainly have the ability with projects

[3:51:54] like this to help fill the gap until fusion, uh, and more

[3:51:58] natural gas plants can come online. So, um,

[3:52:02] I would urge you really to consider this project strongly for your citizens

[3:52:07] tomorrow. Uh, knowing what we're facing. Thank you. Thank you.

[3:52:14] james flowers.

[3:52:23] good evening. I'm james flowers. I live at 68

[3:52:27] 11th courthouse road church road, virginia.

[3:52:32] I am a lifelong resident of denver county.

[3:52:36] I have, my family has actually been in this county

[3:52:41] and paid taxes in this county for 150 years.

[3:52:46] so, um, we are pretty well invested in denver, the county.

[3:52:51] and I like the other eight

[3:52:56] owners of this land and pay taxes similar to what my

[3:53:00] family has done. And we would like to put the solar

[3:53:04] panels on this property that we own.

[3:53:08] I also have a special reason. I have a daughter who is

[3:53:13] handicapped. Libby is a microcephalic. She needs

[3:53:17] 24 7 cap. She,

[3:53:22] she is severely handicapped and that she's hard to get, get around,

[3:53:26] has difficulty. That and her mother and I being in our

[3:53:30] eighties, going to have to have help in the house and all in this money,

[3:53:35] which is very expensive, would be a help to that. But let's

[3:53:39] move on to the project at hand. You

[3:53:43] have walmart, you have the railroad, norfolk southern,

[3:53:48] you have tylo concrete, you have bulk,

[3:53:52] all of which are important for den whi county. However, they

[3:53:56] all have drawbacks. They put pressure

[3:54:00] on our roads with tremendous road traffic. The railroad

[3:54:05] itself basically carries products through den whi county.

[3:54:09] we then whi gets very little direct money or

[3:54:14] help from the rail. Uh, and yet it goes

[3:54:18] down our tracks. It blocks public roads.

[3:54:23] excuse me, it it blocks public roads. And not only

[3:54:27] the coal cars that go down this road, uh,

[3:54:31] are not covered. There's coal dust on the joint. Props

[3:54:36] as where these trains have gone along. Move on to walmart tender

[3:54:40] and all, all the good, good and necessary. But they

[3:54:44] had problems in the county, which I've said about traffic on the

[3:54:48] roads, dust in the air, and particularly like tyndall,

[3:54:53] the product that they use in there. Cement, which is very caustic.

[3:54:59] so let's move on to the west end of this project.

[3:55:04] the transmission lines of electric

[3:55:08] and, and dominion energy. They're not

[3:55:12] putting any current, basically in this county. It's a transmission.

[3:55:17] they're transmission lines. They go into other areas, which is

[3:55:21] needed in other areas, but it does not basically benefit

[3:55:26] denwood county as such. So then

[3:55:30] you get residential areas that surround this whole project.

[3:55:35] we, people need a place to live and work,

[3:55:39] but they don't work here. Basically very few. They

[3:55:44] get all their goods and services outside the county. They work

[3:55:48] outside the county and yet they want water and sewage. They

[3:55:52] want police protection. They want their kids to go to our schools,

[3:55:56] which one person or child and their

[3:56:01] family goes to the school in then with a county.

[3:56:05] it erases the money that they have spent in taxes.

[3:56:10] but because it's very expensive and finally we get back

[3:56:14] to the private at hand, it is outta sight.

[3:56:19] nobody can see it. It's quiet, it doesn't put dust

[3:56:23] up, it doesn't rumble and, and blast and

[3:56:27] make hazard shake it. It is on benefit the

[3:56:31] county. It's really a win-win situation for the county.

[3:56:36] it is not money going out the treasury of denwoody county.

[3:56:40] it's money coming to the denwoody county. And it's not asking

[3:56:44] for schools, it's not asking for battle roads or anything like this. It

[3:56:48] sits over there as quiet. It is protected with a

[3:56:53] boiler all the way around it. And it's a benefit to the county

[3:56:58] and it is something that will benefit them with the county,

[3:57:02] not cause it to have problems. So I'm very

[3:57:07] fa favorable for this project to go in. And I

[3:57:11] think it's a place the right of ways are restricted on

[3:57:15] this property and therefore

[3:57:19] industry and farming really can be going on on this property because

[3:57:24] of the restrictions on the railroads. So they were low solar

[3:57:28] panels. So I think this is a very good project for denwood

[3:57:32] county and I thank you for letting me talk to the group.

[3:57:37] thank you. Thank you

[3:57:42] tilden manson.

[3:57:52] um, good evening board members. My name is tilden manson. I live at 7 0 1 6

[3:57:57] and road church road, virginia. Uh, this

[3:58:02] land has been in my family since my great-great-grandmother.

[3:58:06] I wanted to build a house in 1990. I, I was told

[3:58:10] I could not build on that site. These,

[3:58:14] it was, uh, agricultural land they told me. So

[3:58:19] we built the house in church road, which

[3:58:23] was another family plot, but I had to buy that land.

[3:58:28] and my grandmother had passed us on to me in 1990 as

[3:58:32] a 18-year-old man, I started paying taxes.

[3:58:37] I worked for 34 and a half years in a chemical plant,

[3:58:41] breathing more chemicals than the average person could ever take in.

[3:58:46] but I'm thinking about my family generational wealth.

[3:58:51] and this project is for not just me,

[3:58:55] but my kids. I couldn't benefit anything from this

[3:58:59] for the last 35 plus years.

[3:59:04] and now it's my turn to get back to my family

[3:59:08] in the next generation after them. And

[3:59:14] I know y'all have different sides and different opinions,

[3:59:18] but like mr. Flowers just said, it's a benefit

[3:59:23] to everyone in our community. Uh, I hunt

[3:59:27] that land every day I can. And

[3:59:31] the landowners talk about the animals in that,

[3:59:36] in that area. And if you sit there in the middle of the night like

[3:59:40] I do when I predator hunt, there's a coyotes

[3:59:45] problem in that neighborhood. And

[3:59:49] you see 15 or 25 killing cats, dogs,

[3:59:53] baby calves. But who cares?

[3:59:57] I mean, I can't use the land for nothing else but what this project is

[4:00:02] getting ready to do. And that's all I have to say. Thank

[4:00:06] you. Thank you. Thank you. Taylor

[4:00:10] manson.

[4:00:20] good evening. My name is taylor manson. I live on anderson mill, wait,

[4:00:24] sorry, 7 0 1 6 anderson mill road. And

[4:00:29] I wanna talk about the primary things, what this will be doing to our county.

[4:00:33] and being active in the four h extension service has helped me

[4:00:37] research the sorry of a solar project in

[4:00:41] our county. And I will briefly share with you one, the economic boost for

[4:00:45] our county is the, uh, the flower solar project is projected to bring significant

[4:00:50] fascial con contributions to dim woody through tax revenue and local job

[4:00:55] creation. A solar development attracts investments without requiring

[4:00:59] major public infrastructure infrastructures, upgrades, making

[4:01:04] it a cost effective growth strategy to long-term revenue.

[4:01:08] sta stability, solar farms provide predictable long-term

[4:01:12] lease payments to and consistent tax income

[4:01:17] for the country, for the county. Especially valuable in rural

[4:01:21] areas with limited commercial tax base. Three preserves

[4:01:25] agriculture character. Unlike industrial and development, solar

[4:01:30] farms are low impact and reversible. They allow lands to

[4:01:34] rest and regenerate and can be decommissioned without permanent alterations

[4:01:38] to the landscape. Four supports energy independence.

[4:01:43] local solar generation reduces reliance on international,

[4:01:47] I'm sorry, external energy sources. Insulating dim woody

[4:01:51] from volatile fuel prices and supply chain disruptions.

[4:01:56] five. Environmental stewardship. Solar energy reduces greenhouse gas

[4:02:00] emissions and air pollution. Aligning with the broader sustainability

[4:02:04] goals in protecting the local eco ecosystem. Six, compatible

[4:02:08] with rural land use, ities open land and low population

[4:02:12] density make it ideal for utility scale solar projects

[4:02:17] that wouldn't be fe feasible in urbanized count counties.

[4:02:21] seven, community investment opportunities.

[4:02:26] solar developers often contribute to local initiatives such

[4:02:30] as education infrastructure or con conservative programs

[4:02:34] as part of their community engagement plans. Thank you. Thank you. Thank

[4:02:39] you. Thank you

[4:02:44] alicia manson.

[4:02:57] good evening, uh, chair, vice chair and county

[4:03:01] administrator once again. I stand before you and the board. Thank

[4:03:05] you for having me to speak. I must tell you I am a supporter

[4:03:10] of the solar project and yes, if you heard that last name, manson.

[4:03:14] manson manson. Well this is alicia manson and I live at

[4:03:18] 7 0 1 6 anderson mill road in church road.

[4:03:23] and I am also a family member. And my husband just spoke

[4:03:27] very passionately and almost had me crying over there. I really, really,

[4:03:31] um, uh, feel a lot, uh, for what he

[4:03:35] has been through and has been going through. So

[4:03:40] my current role, and I think this helps to, um, support what I'm

[4:03:44] trying to impart on you all tonight. Mr. Massing already

[4:03:49] knows, you've seen me too before. I've, uh, used to be the, uh,

[4:03:53] nurse manager for the creative health district for vdh, but I do currently

[4:03:57] work for the military. Now I am the patient safety, infection

[4:04:01] control preventionist at kenner. One of the main things that I

[4:04:05] do is risk assessment, risk management all

[4:04:09] day long. And although it is a clinic, there's a whole lot

[4:04:13] of stuff going on out there at kenner. There's some of you military that may be in

[4:04:17] here if you are beneficiaries. Yeah, I'm one of those people that's

[4:04:22] kind of keeping you all safe out there. 'cause you may not know some things

[4:04:26] going on that I do risk assessments for. This. One

[4:04:30] thing about this project with the risk assessment, um,

[4:04:35] I did research, and this is not a google ai type of research.

[4:04:39] I actually looked through some things with the greenlight project.

[4:04:44] I actually looked at some things with some projects in north carolina, some research that

[4:04:48] was done in 2013. They

[4:04:52] began to look at the efficacy of solar power panels and how it's

[4:04:56] working and then how long it's going to be working and all of that good stuff we've

[4:05:00] been hearing tonight. But I must tell you, we heard about fire,

[4:05:05] we heard about things leaching into the ground.

[4:05:09] one of those many studies I'll tell you about tonight. And I gotta look at it because

[4:05:13] I never remember off my head. I'm getting older, you know, I can't remember things off

[4:05:17] of my head. This particular research began in 2013.

[4:05:23] it ran to may of 2017. However, it still

[4:05:27] continues today. It was completed again, like I said in north carolina.

[4:05:31] it was, um, a pv study called the impacts of solar

[4:05:36] photovoltaic. I am gonna say that again 'cause I messed that up. Photovoltaic.

[4:05:42] and that is what is actually in those panels, is what is being looked at.

[4:05:47] the study showed that when those

[4:05:52] panels were exposed to heat, the kind of heat that is a fire, like a

[4:05:56] house fire heat, the actual panels contain this,

[4:06:00] uh, stuff called cadmium. Y'all know what? Cadmium mm-hmm

[4:06:04] . Nickel jewelry that's in that you, you with fake jewelry.

[4:06:08] it's in butter than nickel. That's harmful to humans. Also. It has

[4:06:12] lead, which we also know as harmful to humans. However,

[4:06:16] in those panels when things happen such as high heat,

[4:06:21] yes, they melt, they melt and bond

[4:06:25] together. And I heard about that fire that was in chesapeake

[4:06:29] actually that fire did not last three days. The fire was put out immediately.

[4:06:34] it did put smoke in the air. Things happen. Don't when food

[4:06:38] trees get on fire. It put smoke in the air too. Just curious. But back

[4:06:42] to the cadmium and the lead, the things that

[4:06:46] leach into the ground as per this study that was done. And again,

[4:06:51] I restate it still, still being done. Today's day is

[4:06:55] not effective to harm a human. It is not.

[4:07:00] my husband rode past some property coming from a golf tournament. Thank

[4:07:04] god he can still do that. And he stopped at this man's house in

[4:07:08] sussex, suffolk, in suffolk, in windsor. And the,

[4:07:13] the, he took a picture and I was like, oh my god. It was 20 feet

[4:07:17] from the back door. And the gentleman had lived there over 10 years.

[4:07:21] and he said, well, how are you doing? This is something happening to you or anything going wrong? This

[4:07:25] man said no. Do you hear anything? No.

[4:07:30] is it bothering you in any way? He said, the only thing is

[4:07:34] that, well, I don't know. I think I can

[4:07:38] get under there and plant some things. I had a picture and I wanted to show you.

[4:07:42] you can even plant things under your solar panels. So

[4:07:47] everyone's telling you efficacy is fine. Income

[4:07:51] fine. Look out to some of these things to help support our county.

[4:07:56] my kids, my family, your families. Thank you.

[4:08:02] thank you, thank you daniel hudson.

[4:08:19] my name is daniel hudson. 1 2 5 7 5 zeus road.

[4:08:25] I do not have a working relationship with

[4:08:29] any of you people. You don't know who I am,

[4:08:33] but I'm a constituent. I'm a taxpayer. I am a

[4:08:37] lifelong resident of this county. I come from a family

[4:08:42] that, that lived here for many years instilled us.

[4:08:47] so I'll start off with, I believe the

[4:08:51] narrative in marketing for solar and wind in general is mostly

[4:08:55] false. Um, when they, when they try to convince you that it's

[4:09:00] an environmentally friendly and superior to

[4:09:04] other generation methods, um, especially

[4:09:08] over the long term, this

[4:09:13] company has presented a an elaborate document, which, which goes over

[4:09:17] and addresses many, many concerns. Um,

[4:09:21] it's impressive and it's lengthy. And, um,

[4:09:25] I think it was called board of supervisors report or something like that. And I'll, I'll refer

[4:09:29] to that some more in my little statement. I don't

[4:09:33] stand to gain financially from this project. As a few, I believe in the report

[4:09:38] it was na it was called, uh, confidentially and substantially

[4:09:43] what their income would be. I seek to dissuade this project

[4:09:48] living here all of my life and, and being a person that enjoys

[4:09:52] the outdoors and the nature whether I can be out there hunting and

[4:09:56] fishing in it, which I've done little fishing this year, but I'd still like to.

[4:10:01] I love to hunt and I like to look at the rural farmland.

[4:10:06] you know, we used to have a lot of concern

[4:10:10] about preserving the rural heritage. And, and

[4:10:14] while, while solar and stuff is marketed as being environmentally friendly

[4:10:19] and people talk about use of land and waste of land, land just

[4:10:23] sitting there, what is wrong with the land? Growing,

[4:10:29] growing plants and animals as god created?

[4:10:33] what is wrong with the land being used just as land? What

[4:10:37] is wrong with nature being natural? Nothing. Now

[4:10:42] they made some good points about the location with proximity to

[4:10:46] the, the transmission lines and transmission lines. Most people don't have

[4:10:51] a good knowledge of electrical generation, distribution,

[4:10:55] consumption and measurement. They don't. I do have some knowledge,

[4:10:59] and I I'll speak right now that I'm speaking only on my behalf, not

[4:11:03] on behalf of any industry, any employers, et cetera.

[4:11:09] I do have some knowledge of that. Uh, the, the distribution lines have

[4:11:13] to bring the power to us. Yes, they do. I do not believe

[4:11:17] that solar is, is efficient. It's really not capable

[4:11:22] to provide, because most people don't understand. A megawatt is a large unit

[4:11:26] of power. And they, they gave numbers of some megawatts to

[4:11:30] run industry and to run that huge distribution center. They just added

[4:11:34] all those robots in. If, if the main grid goes down,

[4:11:38] they're not supporting industry very long. I can tell you that right now.

[4:11:43] um, their report mentions, uh, decommissioning

[4:11:48] it mentions recycling, steel, aluminum, copper, those things we

[4:11:52] are all very well familiar with. I didn't see any mention about how they're going

[4:11:56] to deal with the fluids and other components that, you know, carcinogens,

[4:12:01] as they mentioned, the, uh, cadmium lead, et cetera, that were also

[4:12:05] should be familiar with, are very harmful to your body. Um,

[4:12:12] when the power grid goes down, they mention the storage and distribution

[4:12:16] then of electrical energy. Surely that's gonna consist of a lot of

[4:12:20] capacitors and a lot of batteries where they, they mentioned briefly what

[4:12:24] they're going to do. We can recycle these main metal components of

[4:12:29] these panels. Whatcha going do with the batteries? Whatcha gonna do with all of the capacitors?

[4:12:33] who, who's going to deal with that? Where are you going to deal with? Is it really going to escape?

[4:12:37] and it doesn't mean that these companies are trying to be malicious in any

[4:12:41] way, but stuff happens. Accidents do happen. They mention

[4:12:46] they're gonna test groundwater, testing groundwater

[4:12:50] and paying fines. Doesn't ever fix the problem. And I want

[4:12:54] y'all to consider the future of this county mentioning tax

[4:12:58] revenue has never impressed me because where does that tax go?

[4:13:03] most of this is going to be federal and state funds. Tax revenue

[4:13:07] appeals to you guys maybe, but not to the individual citizens. Not

[4:13:12] to most of us. People use that as a way to appeal to you.

[4:13:16] so I want y'all to think about the future. I live on the other end

[4:13:20] of the county. And my main point of this, this is,

[4:13:24] it's not directly against this project. It is against stopping the

[4:13:28] momentum of solar in this county and in the state

[4:13:33] to, to set this aside until better, more efficient generation

[4:13:37] methods are created and the actual in infrastructure,

[4:13:41] distribution lines, et cetera, are built up. Think about the

[4:13:46] future and don't just do this as a short term project for a

[4:13:50] few people to get rich. Thank you. Thank

[4:13:54] you. Kevin walker.

[4:14:07] good evening. Uh, kevin walker, 2 0 8 0 3, uh,

[4:14:11] river road board members, uh, chair. I come to you,

[4:14:16] uh, this moment as a citizen of the,

[4:14:21] um, with just asking for a chance, asking for

[4:14:25] a right. Um, I too, and some of the other landowners

[4:14:29] I own this property, the north side of the property that actually would

[4:14:34] be accessed from walker's pond. My grandmother drove bus for 40

[4:14:38] years on that road, bringing a bus through there. And along

[4:14:42] with other farming equipment, they used to come back there. Uh, and

[4:14:46] during her tenure, she maintained that road for many years,

[4:14:50] uh, providing rock, scraping it, everything. 'cause she lived back there and I still

[4:14:55] own that. Her house that's back there. So it doesn't only impact,

[4:14:59] you know, the surrounding landowners, it also impacts me as

[4:15:03] well. But I'm willing to take that chance, right? Just, I'm asking for a chance

[4:15:08] for just as a resident, as the right that I pay

[4:15:12] taxes. I live in this county I lived in, uh, away

[4:15:16] and I came back home and hoping that, you know, I could bring something

[4:15:20] back and get involved and, uh, try to use that land because I

[4:15:24] am too landlocked. I can't do any, I tried to build home. I can't

[4:15:28] do it, you know, um, I've been approached about selling it, but

[4:15:32] I pro I guarantee you if I sold it, you know, it, it may

[4:15:36] become a subdivision. I don't know. Right? But I know that area is growing.

[4:15:41] uh, walmart been around there for a while. Uh, ty's

[4:15:46] been there forever. Uh, the quarry, um, just that area is

[4:15:50] still growing and I know at some point, right, I'm for the

[4:15:54] solar panels, right? At some point, whether this project goes or

[4:15:58] something else, it's going to be something and people will always have some

[4:16:02] type of, you know, I'm not for this. I don't like, you know, but just

[4:16:06] asking for a chance as a resident and a citizen

[4:16:11] of this property that I own, because I still too will have to access

[4:16:15] that road to go to my property. My property is actually the first house

[4:16:19] you get to on the left before you get to the next residence. So I

[4:16:23] still have to take that chance and risk to access that

[4:16:27] property. Right? Um, so, um, like I said, once again, I just believe

[4:16:32] and ask for a chance, uh, that, um, decisions

[4:16:36] will be made respectfully. And, um, that's all I have to say. Thank you.

[4:16:40] thank you. Alright. Thank you

[4:16:45] mr. Chairman. I have no one else signed up. Okay.

[4:16:49] um, at this point I'll close the public hearing

[4:16:54] part and I'd ask the, uh, applicant if they would like to come back.

[4:17:04] thank you, mr. Chairman. And I appreciate everyone who came to speak here, uh, tonight

[4:17:09] and taking the time. I, I'd make a few points. Um, one is,

[4:17:14] I, I heard especially the first couple of speakers talking about how they wanted to preserve

[4:17:18] the land farmland. Uh, and if this were in the middle of the county

[4:17:22] where it was designated for agricultural and farmland,

[4:17:26] I mean that, that could really resonate. But that's not what the county's vision for this

[4:17:30] property is. If you heard from mr. Bassett, this is designed,

[4:17:35] uh, to either be industrial or faster growing. I mean, the county

[4:17:39] has designated that proper planning is in certain areas you wanna

[4:17:43] see development occur and certain areas you don't. This is one of the areas

[4:17:47] that you don't expect it and you don't want it to remain agricultural.

[4:17:52] and so eventually it may take a long time, but eventually, uh,

[4:17:56] this property needs to be and should be developed, and the comp plan recognizes it.

[4:18:01] and that means it's not gonna be farmland and most of it isn't already.

[4:18:06] uh, and ironically, what we're doing is this, this

[4:18:10] is a placeholder for a period of time. It's not forever. Uh, but

[4:18:14] we're guaranteeing during that period of time that the neighbors and, and,

[4:18:18] and, and, um, uh, the, the, the residents actually

[4:18:22] aren't adjacent neighbors. They're multiple parcels away. Uh,

[4:18:27] but they wouldn't have the 75 foot buffer where you wouldn't see what

[4:18:31] was there. Um, so we're actually, this is, this

[4:18:35] is a project as I went through that will bring, which should bring millions of dollars

[4:18:39] ultimately to the county while still bringing local power. And it will

[4:18:43] be much less intrusive than what the current comp plan calls for the

[4:18:48] property. Um, in terms of, uh, reliability,

[4:18:52] I mean, we will simply say the studies indicate that one, the technology is, is,

[4:18:56] is accelerating so well that, that, uh, solar is very reliable.

[4:19:00] uh, is it gonna have, we're not doing battery storage, we're some, but, uh,

[4:19:05] for significant periods of time, it is gonna be putting on the local grid,

[4:19:09] the local distribution, 20 megawatts of power, which is

[4:19:13] a lot of power. Uh, it could power several thousand homes. And

[4:19:17] to let you know, dominions determine that it's relied. They're in the business

[4:19:21] of reliability. And looking at this project, dominion

[4:19:26] has, has come to an agreement. They've identified that there's a need in

[4:19:30] this area and ha have, have come to an agreement,

[4:19:35] uh, with, uh, with, uh, greenville for

[4:19:39] this property. So this is not a, we are not coming before you on a

[4:19:43] speculative venture. Um, what we're saying is there's a crying

[4:19:47] need, and people have talked about, there may be other ways down the road, we can come up

[4:19:51] with power. Those are decades away. Our crisis is looming. This

[4:19:55] project can be up in 20 and giving power to

[4:20:00] this community in 2026. That's how far along

[4:20:04] we are, and that's when it's gonna be needed. And dominion has

[4:20:08] indicated that this is gonna be a very reliable source. Um,

[4:20:13] I would note, um, in terms of the environment, we

[4:20:17] submitted, uh, extensive studies and we had a previous

[4:20:21] speaker, uh, who did a risk assessment. But, but she's right. I mean,

[4:20:25] the studies indicate that this is very safe. Um, and that, and,

[4:20:30] and especially compared to many other industries, it's very stable. Um,

[4:20:34] and if you look at any business, I mean, or any houses, I mean,

[4:20:39] this has electronics. So many other places and businesses have

[4:20:43] electronics. I did hear about cadmium and the melting, and she's right,

[4:20:47] it melts to, so it's very insular. But most of them have gotten away

[4:20:52] from cadmium on the panels. But the ones they do, it's not actually cadmium,

[4:20:56] it's cadmium telluride, uh, which is, if the example

[4:21:00] I give is hydrogen can be volatile, oxygen can be

[4:21:04] volatile. You do two, two molecules of hydrogen and oxygen, you get water.

[4:21:09] um, I mean this is, so, this is not just cadmium, uh, but the, the

[4:21:13] principles the same. All the studies are indicating it is not an environmental hazard.

[4:21:18] fires, I don't know the details, but are very, very rare. I mean, there are a lot of fires

[4:21:22] around, uh, that would be, uh, not related to solar, but it has

[4:21:26] a, a demonstrated record of being a very safe, uh,

[4:21:30] process. And this, and if you look at our conditions, 1d eq

[4:21:34] has passed extensive regulations. This isn't new to deq

[4:21:39] in the state in terms of solar. Uh, the regulations that have been passed

[4:21:43] and upgraded are very extensive. Our conditions show that we're gonna fully

[4:21:48] comply. We need a what's known as permit by rule.

[4:21:52] and, uh, and we'll comply with all ens

[4:21:56] requirements in the conditions. It'll be, I think, reviewed once

[4:22:00] every year or two years to make sure we're in full compliance. Um,

[4:22:05] I would also, um, uh, indicate that, um,

[4:22:10] uh, that in terms of the precedent, this isn't,

[4:22:15] like I'm saying the general farm area. Uh, this isn't the area

[4:22:19] where it should be. Uh, but I also think this is a,

[4:22:23] this is a, a distinction if you wanna make it as this

[4:22:27] isn't going to the general transmission. Your, your precedent right now is

[4:22:31] very limited, is we are gonna consider smaller projects. This is a smaller project

[4:22:36] that our distributive in nature where the power stays

[4:22:40] local. I mean, I get the understanding that why do we wanna put

[4:22:44] power on the grid to serve northern virginia? That's not what this project

[4:22:49] is. Uh, I will say, I'm, I have a lot of experience

[4:22:53] not only in land use, but in the energy sector in

[4:22:57] particular, I'm working on a, a small modular reactor

[4:23:01] project. Uh, I work on various different projects. And, uh,

[4:23:06] in that, and my personally, I'm, I'm fully in favor of the peaker plant.

[4:23:10] chesterfield, I'm, I'm familiar with that. Uh, the challenge is anything

[4:23:14] that you're doing for any business or industry, you're gonna get some folks that are gonna come out.

[4:23:18] we just ask you to look at the facts. But my, my firm belief is you're

[4:23:22] gonna need all hands on deck. It's, there is not a magic bullet out there

[4:23:26] that is going to fix everything. Uh, you're gonna need all of this, and

[4:23:30] particular these distributive processes because we are facing,

[4:23:35] uh, the challenge, um, as I've said, being distributed in nature.

[4:23:39] um, the, um, um, it

[4:23:44] it's serving the community. It will help prevent brownouts. I'm not gonna say it's gonna prevent

[4:23:48] everything. Uh, I have mr. Watlington here, if you want to ask specific

[4:23:52] questions about how it reduces brownouts and shortages

[4:23:56] and how it, it, it prevents fluctuations and local outages.

[4:24:01] uh, and he'll be glad to go into those details. But from a common sense standpoint,

[4:24:05] we're tying into the local power. It's not going out of

[4:24:09] the community. Um, uh, but he'll be glad to, uh, answer that.

[4:24:14] uh, and I do want to thank, um, the heartfelt

[4:24:18] of the fable. I mean, I've heard it before, uh,

[4:24:23] and I I get it. But that's true with anything that we do in life.

[4:24:27] you, you're here to balance risk. And I, you know, I might be able to come up with

[4:24:31] a example of the lights went out, some bad stuff

[4:24:35] happened. Uh, and what you've gotta do is look at all of it. Are we affecting

[4:24:39] our neighbors? Have we done everything that we reasonably could

[4:24:44] to insulate them and minimize it? Is it economically beneficial to

[4:24:48] the county? Is it providing a necessary resource? I sent

[4:24:52] you the, the, the email from, from vulcan. I mean, they, they're a large company.

[4:24:56] they understand what's coming. There's a reason why they said, please pass this

[4:25:00] on to the board. Um, and, uh, so we, uh, urge you,

[4:25:05] um, to, um, approve this case. I mean, there's no evidence that we heat

[4:25:09] up anything. I mean, this is, uh, I thought it was very telling, uh, about

[4:25:13] the person who had it 20 feet off, um, and

[4:25:18] didn't notice anything. It's not gonna make a lot of noise. Uh, you're not gonna hear

[4:25:22] it. Um, and, uh, we can make this site unlike a lot of 'em,

[4:25:26] we can make it so you're not gonna see it. Uh, and so we

[4:25:30] ask, uh, that you give us an opportunity to serve the community. We're gonna bring millions

[4:25:34] of dollars to the locality without any really burden on, on,

[4:25:39] on the cost to the county. And I think you've heard passionately from the landowners,

[4:25:43] uh, I think there are things on, on property rights. Uh, and I think

[4:25:47] they, uh, have a very good point of let us have reasonable use of

[4:25:52] the land as long as we're not materially impacting our neighbors.

[4:25:56] uh, I think that's a pretty good principle. Um, so I would be, uh, glad

[4:26:00] to, uh, uh, answer any questions at this point. Solar

[4:26:05] compared to a lot of other uses is very cost effective. Um,

[4:26:09] and so, um, I'll be glad to answer any questions. Mr. Watlington is

[4:26:13] here and other representatives adeem, uh, about specific

[4:26:18] benefits to this project. Uh, but, uh, I really appreciate

[4:26:22] your time and, and your careful attention. I will notice that you

[4:26:26] all may have been in with larger cases where lots of people come

[4:26:31] to speak, uh, around, because it's a different, when you're 200 megawatts

[4:26:35] and you're that big and you're an area of the county that has a different impact.

[4:26:40] I think people recognize that this is a different animal altogether. And that's

[4:26:44] why I think you're not seeing it, uh, uh, a lot of people coming out against.

[4:26:48] it's, it's common sense. It makes sense. And we really appreciate your

[4:26:53] consideration. A lot of time and effort been put into this. We've tried to work

[4:26:57] very closely with the county and we appreciate their help. Uh, and, and,

[4:27:01] and I appreciate the time the board members, uh, have given this project.

[4:27:05] um, so with that, I will end and be glad to answer any questions you may have.

[4:27:10] okay. And before we do that, um, we've been sitting

[4:27:14] here a long time. Um, I'd like to take a five minute recess and then we'll

[4:27:18] come back and answer questions. So we're gonna do that real

[4:27:22] quick. Like, um, before we get, before I go, um,

[4:27:26] I would like to thank everyone that spoke tonight for the politeness

[4:27:30] and the courtesy that they've shown here tonight. And, um,

[4:27:35] it didn't go unnoticed. A lot of different opinions in the room tonight on

[4:27:39] this case, and everybody was just as polite and courteous as they

[4:27:43] could be. So I appreciate that. Um, and we'll be back in, in

[4:27:47] five minutes. Thank you. Go do it.

[4:27:51] just say, mr all, we're gonna go ahead and, and get back

[4:27:56] started. Um, order, order, order. Hit it again. Would the,

[4:28:00] um, excuse me, would the applicant, um, are,

[4:28:04] I guess, are there any questions of board members of the applicant?

[4:28:10] yes. Okay. Would the applicant like to come back? Uh,

[4:28:16] sorry for our strain, uh, interruption, but it

[4:28:20] was much needed. Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. I was appreciative.

[4:28:25] alright, some questions. Um, we've

[4:28:30] talked a lot tonight about back filling into

[4:28:34] the, the grid in denwitty county. Yes, sir. So I would like our specialist

[4:28:38] to tell me and the public when the lights go out,

[4:28:43] what happens to the power and how does it come into the denwitty county grid?

[4:28:48] yeah, walk us through it. I'll let, I'll let him do mr. Wittington. Yep.

[4:28:59] hello. Thank you. Um, thank you chairman and commissioners. And my name's neil watlington.

[4:29:04] I'm the chief development officer for actualized solar. Um, I've been in

[4:29:08] the industry about 30 years, uh, developing power plants,

[4:29:13] coal, gas, hydro, um,

[4:29:18] solar energy storage. I haven't done nuclear,

[4:29:22] but I've been inside of a nuclear facility and geothermal.

[4:29:26] um,

[4:29:30] so the question is, what happens when the lights go out? And, and so the really,

[4:29:34] the question is why do the lights go out? Um, and so, you know, the grid is complex.

[4:29:39] um, dominion energy, and I'm not, I'm not an engineer, I'm a developer. So

[4:29:44] I, I'll I'll caveat it with that, uh, with

[4:29:48] the experience. Um, and, and then we belong

[4:29:52] to pjm, which is the, you know, the regional transmission,

[4:29:57] um, organization that manages, and so it's, it's

[4:30:01] about supply and demand of electricity, right? And so they're continuously

[4:30:05] trying to balance, uh, the supply and, and the demand of electricity.

[4:30:10] because the grid was developed, it's pretty much developed how

[4:30:15] thomas edison was developing it way back when, you know, centralized,

[4:30:20] um, generators, long lines, transmission lines, dropping down

[4:30:24] to distribution lines, um, and, and getting to, to, to, to

[4:30:28] the different uses what they call the load. Um,

[4:30:33] when there is more demand in, in certain places, the

[4:30:38] electricity gets redirected, uh, to, to those areas. With

[4:30:42] the advent of, you know, technology just kind of catching up,

[4:30:46] um, in, in the industry, the, the possibility of distributed

[4:30:51] power, right? Um, starts becoming

[4:30:56] more of a reality. Now we can think of distributed power as kind of the

[4:31:00] residential type, you know, solar, rooftops, et cetera. Um,

[4:31:04] but at a certain point, you know, at a larger scale it can happen,

[4:31:09] but it's not a super large scale either. It, it can start filling in

[4:31:13] the gaps, um, in, in the distribution lines, uh,

[4:31:17] kind of at the size that this project is at. And so

[4:31:21] what happens is, as long as there is light, there

[4:31:25] will be some generation, if there is some generation of electricity going to

[4:31:29] that distribution line, there is less electricity that

[4:31:33] needs to be imported, um, in, in, into the area. Um,

[4:31:38] and, and that's basically what it is. I mean, you know, it, it, it's a, it's a little bit

[4:31:42] more support, it's a little bit more resilience. It, it's not a panacea, it doesn't solve

[4:31:46] anything. But in that distribution line, I'm pretty sure

[4:31:51] that it's highly improbable that you're gonna be able to, to

[4:31:55] install and develop a coal fired facility, a very, you know, a,

[4:31:59] a combined cycle gas facility or a nuclear facility or

[4:32:03] anything like that. Um, it's gonna be more, most likely that

[4:32:08] at that level of distribution, kind of that local area,

[4:32:12] um, you could do many small, smaller oil fired

[4:32:16] engines, um, that have, you know, their, their own set of, of, of,

[4:32:20] of, of issues that come with them. Or, or gas, if you had gas and you're gonna be using other issues

[4:32:25] or, you know, you could do solar, um, and,

[4:32:30] and have, you know, a less impactful, but potentially more resilient,

[4:32:34] um, grid locally because of it. And, and that's, that's kind of the,

[4:32:38] the, the little bit of a long answer, um, to the question. But the, the

[4:32:42] electrons will flow to the path of lease resistance.

[4:32:47] so if you have local, uh, generation,

[4:32:52] it will go to the local load and the inverters.

[4:32:56] and these, these facilities are relatively simple. You know, it's the solar panels

[4:33:01] with inverters. The inverters are new technology in a way, right? It didn't

[4:33:05] exist when they were using the big, you know, turbines and all that. And these

[4:33:09] inverters, you know, they're, they're, they're digital. They respond at that speed,

[4:33:13] and so they help stabilize the grid. They can react

[4:33:18] with the grid much better than a large power plant would.

[4:33:22] um, and so that also helps in increasing the,

[4:33:27] you know, the reliance, uh, or the reliability of, of, of

[4:33:31] that, of that line. Yeah. I guess what

[4:33:35] I was looking at is trying to determine when that power comes off

[4:33:40] those 17 acres and goes to a distribution, how is, how

[4:33:44] do we maintain that power? Inwood county? Yeah, so, so

[4:33:48] from the residents? Yeah. Yeah. So, so all the businesses that are around, yeah. So we'll

[4:33:52] have, right, it'll only happen during the day, you know, again, uh, it

[4:33:56] won't operate at night. Um, but as long as there's sunlight, there will be some generation

[4:34:01] and that generation will produce electrons and feed them

[4:34:05] into, into that line. That distribution line that right

[4:34:09] now is only getting its electricity from outside. Mm-hmm . It's

[4:34:13] only getting its electricity from transmission lines that drop it into a substation and

[4:34:17] then gets consumed by the local load. So in, in, in a sense,

[4:34:21] we're just push pushing electrons back,

[4:34:26] and so they're getting used locally as opposed to getting imported

[4:34:32] externally. Gotcha. Okay. Okay.

[4:34:37] any other questions, comments? No, I was just gonna kind,

[4:34:41] make comment, um, for dr. Moore about, um,

[4:34:45] I think a lot of people just wonder how they're going

[4:34:50] to keep power. And I know, I know, as you said,

[4:34:54] when the sun goes down, um, they,

[4:34:58] they're still gonna be able to have some power going on during

[4:35:02] that time. Um, and I think that's what's kind of new about it. People

[4:35:06] look at that and, um, with the sun, you know, if

[4:35:10] it's, if we have some overcast days, um,

[4:35:14] are they able, are they gonna be able to have power

[4:35:18] or is it's just like a hit and miss type thing? I'm just,

[4:35:22] um, kind of concerned about that. Yeah. So I mean, as, as long as,

[4:35:27] as long as there's sunlight, there will be power, it just may not be the

[4:35:31] full capacity of power. So if it's an overcast day, if it was 20

[4:35:35] megawatts, it won't produce 20 megawatts. It'll produce a lesser amount, but there,

[4:35:39] but every amount that it produces will be electrons that

[4:35:44] flow locally, um, into the grid. And as long as there's sunlight,

[4:35:48] you know, there will be some electrons that are generated. I, I'll note

[4:35:53] that, and I think, uh, you know, will mention this, um,

[4:35:57] just right now, but I, I'll just reiterate it, that this project

[4:36:01] was selected as part a request for proposal from dominion energy,

[4:36:06] right? So it's, it's part of their plan. Um, and in a way,

[4:36:11] dominion as well as other utilities in the united states are adopting kind of an all of the

[4:36:15] above energy strategy. Um, and, and

[4:36:20] as I think of the previous presentation regarding filling the gaps of

[4:36:24] the cell phone areas, it, that's kind of what they're doing. They're

[4:36:28] filling in gaps with distributed, um, projects,

[4:36:32] um, as well as the other projects that they're doing, um, with, you know,

[4:36:36] with other technologies. And, and this is just one of these opportunities

[4:36:41] where, because of the location, because of the, of the type of line,

[4:36:45] um, that we're feeding into, that it gets to fill that gap there.

[4:36:49] and probably no other technology, um, is

[4:36:53] bound to be able to do that there. You wanted to add something? Uh, yes. I, I, I think just to,

[4:36:58] uh, yes, I'm, I'm, uh, va . I'm the ceo of actualized solar.

[4:37:03] I've done over 20,000 megawatts. That's an equivalent of over a

[4:37:07] thousand projects of this size. Uh, distributed energy projects

[4:37:11] are only possible up to the size of 24 megawatts, and we 20

[4:37:15] to be supported of the distribution level. So kind of from the high level educational

[4:37:19] perspective, it's pretty simple how our electric sector works. We've got generation fleet,

[4:37:24] just like uber has cars, we've got transmission lines, which, which

[4:37:29] electrons travel over long distances of lines. We're talking about hundreds of miles.

[4:37:33] and then we got distribution, it connects to the substation, and then the, it branches

[4:37:37] off to power your house, your house, your business. So, uh,

[4:37:42] what solar does is, well, number one, dominion understands

[4:37:47] the load profile of this county, not as they do.

[4:37:51] and they know. So because you've been a customer for a long time and they've

[4:37:55] got millions of customers like you, they, they've, they have

[4:37:59] a state mandate to support you.

[4:38:03] so they've award us a long term power purchase agreement because they

[4:38:08] see, they see you as a need, and they think solar

[4:38:12] would be beneficial if they didn't think we

[4:38:16] would be beneficial. They would never, ever award us

[4:38:20] the power purchase agreement. So, um, I

[4:38:24] think with that, uh, the question was, well, uh, so

[4:38:29] what I don't want the board to confuse is when there is no

[4:38:35] sun ie there are clouds that there'll be no power

[4:38:39] in the county. No, there will be power in the cabin

[4:38:43] because there are many generation facilities that's still gonna transport things

[4:38:47] to the substation, and it will branch off via distribution

[4:38:52] lines. What solar facility will do at our local level,

[4:38:56] it'll displace every single electron that it can,

[4:39:00] when it can generate it. So that's why companies like winnie,

[4:39:04] vulcan, tyndall, walmart, they've all recognized this

[4:39:08] a long time ago. It's part of their policies. It's, it's, that's what they do.

[4:39:13] why? Because they know. But most importantly, what's really

[4:39:17] important is, is not what I say, but what dominion wants to do.

[4:39:21] it's not our decision to, to have this kind of plant. It is our decision as

[4:39:25] a developer, because we've located it, because we know there is a need here.

[4:39:29] why you got a walmart distribution center? Uh, about

[4:39:34] a hundred acres. They've got a load of about two megawatts. They've got tyle corporation,

[4:39:38] another two megawatts, vulcan, I don't know exactly, maybe one, maybe two.

[4:39:42] but, but one third, our project can, can support that operations.

[4:39:47] tyle has, I think, quote, yeah, I think it's seven shifts a day,

[4:39:52] throughout the 24 hour, uh, uh, period. Imagine what

[4:39:56] a disaster it is when any particular business like this, who loses

[4:40:00] its power, everything stops there. No lights, there's

[4:40:04] nothing. So I think during the day between probably eight

[4:40:08] 30 to six 30, we're gonna be producing power. And

[4:40:12] that's, that's, that's, uh, that's something that solar does. Solar is,

[4:40:16] is a proven technology. It's been in existence since 1970. For those who don't understand

[4:40:21] this, bp has started the technology. So I think most people don't

[4:40:25] even know. So, uh, so much research has been done, uh, by ma

[4:40:29] by ma many universities. So many people come and they say, we believe this, and this,

[4:40:33] I don't believe anything. It's it, it's proven. Uh, I'm in the

[4:40:37] infrastructure sector. It is a serious sector. It means you guys,

[4:40:42] if you need power, and when I say I'm gonna deliver it, I must deliver it.

[4:40:46] if I don't, I will be penalized severely. So

[4:40:50] I think, I think that's the message. It's, it's no joke when you guys lose power.

[4:40:54] like even, even at the, at, at, at, at our personal level, me, you, dr. Moore,

[4:40:59] all of you, uh, what happens? No air conditioning.

[4:41:04] if you have an electric stove, it doesn't work. If you got a tv, you can't watch it. If

[4:41:08] you want a beer, well drink a warm on. So, because your,

[4:41:12] your freezer is gonna unfreeze. So, uh, I mean, things like this, you,

[4:41:16] you can't charge a phone. So I, I, I, I think when, when

[4:41:20] I think about, about my, uh, I'm humbled to be, to be in this

[4:41:25] industry, it's so complex. It's so complex. Like

[4:41:29] dr. Moore is, is an eye doctor. I would never, ever even attempt to advise

[4:41:33] what he should or should not do with his patient, because he knows best

[4:41:39] casey dooley to tell, to tell him that he shouldn't carry whatever glock

[4:41:43] 17 or black 19. That would be a pretty, pretty interesting proposal to him.

[4:41:47] he should not listen to me things like this. But when, when we

[4:41:51] say something, we're gonna do, and when, when another entity that has a

[4:41:55] state mandate that that's, they have a footprint in multiple states, dominion,

[4:41:59] they, they've got an obligation in front of you guys to,

[4:42:03] to deliver power. And when they say they want 20 megawatts here, that

[4:42:07] means they've made a very careful decision to do that because they understand

[4:42:12] the load profile of your customers, and, you know, both commercial and industrial as well as residential

[4:42:16] customers. It's, it's, it's that simple and that difficult,

[4:42:21] but they understand the difficulties. So, uh, I I, I really, I

[4:42:25] really think the, the county will, will benefit just from the infrastructure

[4:42:29] standpoint here. So it, it, it's nothing, you know, there is nothing

[4:42:33] per se, sexy about, uh, about the industry. It's a pretty serious sector.

[4:42:38] uh, it's, it's, it's, it's what people like, just like you guys have hospitals, like,

[4:42:42] like we all have, uh, it's infrastructure. That's,

[4:42:46] that's what, what can I say? We, we have, we have many awards, you know, the,

[4:42:51] for the water authority. Earlier, earlier today, everybody recognized that it's important.

[4:42:55] me, me too. I drink water, you know, a gallon a

[4:42:59] day. So I, it's important. I, I, I love having this phone charged.

[4:43:04] so I, it's, it's, it's, it's a basic need. And I, I I I, I just hope that,

[4:43:08] that the board members would, would, would, would use their experience

[4:43:13] and, and, and the benefits that they'll get in, in, in making, in making

[4:43:17] a decision. And I think it's gonna be a good one. I think we heard many, many arguments,

[4:43:21] both technical and non-technical today, uh, for solar. And I,

[4:43:26] I, I just, I just really, I'm very much convinced that, that, that this

[4:43:30] facility would, would benefit, uh, uh, all of the residents, uh, roughly

[4:43:34] 3000 of them or, or immediately identifiable customers

[4:43:38] that, that are sitting on the same distribution line, uh, walmart, vulcan,

[4:43:43] and tindel and, and many businesses that, that, I don't know. I'm,

[4:43:47] I'm confident that more businesses here, they're smaller, but, but they're also important,

[4:43:51] I think. So I think that's kind of, I would be happy to answer more

[4:43:56] questions to the extent you have. Um,

[4:44:00] okay. Um, mr, just a quick question. Vadim and your team

[4:44:05] did, did y'all reach out to dominion and say, we would love for

[4:44:09] you to bring a representative to this meeting or any other

[4:44:13] meetings that you've had in other communities mm-hmm . To say,

[4:44:18] we want to be a part of your community. Had,

[4:44:22] did you reach out to them and say, we'd love for you to come

[4:44:27] and just say, we wanna be a part of your community. We wanna be a good neighbor,

[4:44:31] and we're gonna be buying this energy, and we're gonna be providing it to the citizens at inwood. Right?

[4:44:36] right. So was that ask of dominion energy? Great question. We did

[4:44:40] reach out to dominion several times, asking to send

[4:44:44] a representative, even from the marketing group, so you could hear essentially

[4:44:48] the same message. Uh, the response is due to, to internal

[4:44:53] policies. And due to the fact that they own their own facilities, they

[4:44:57] prefer not to kind of meddle in, in, in, in, in those

[4:45:01] decisions. So, because dominion is also experiencing, I think the same, the

[4:45:05] same objections in, in other counties when they come with solar, or there are other assets,

[4:45:09] I assume. So I think I can, I can understand why, why a different

[4:45:14] entity, uh, would not want to do that. But what I can tell you is they've

[4:45:18] made a careful decision. We, we want a pretty serious, serious

[4:45:22] rfp. And, and, and, uh, I, I've worked

[4:45:26] with many utilities across, across the us multiple states. I've

[4:45:30] helped some utilities enter the renewable space, be it, be it windows solar,

[4:45:35] and they know what they're doing. That what that I can tell you, they're very intelligent,

[4:45:39] very experienced. They understand every single customer they have better than anyone,

[4:45:43] better than us. And when they award anything that, that,

[4:45:48] that is a statement that means this project will have life, will have life

[4:45:52] because we need it. Mr. Chair, the reason

[4:45:56] why I ask that is because dominion has made $120 million investment

[4:46:00] in this community. Mm-hmm . And I would certainly think that they would be,

[4:46:05] want to, to say, we want to be a good partner. Well, they've already done it with $120 million

[4:46:10] in investment. Sure. You would think that they would want the board to say, we want

[4:46:14] to guarantee that we've got power in di witty county. And that's why I asked the

[4:46:18] question. I I, I will tell you the, uh, the condition under which they would appear.

[4:46:22] we own the project. Okay? We sell, but we sell

[4:46:27] electrons to them. So that's, that's one, one scenario.

[4:46:31] if they own the project, I wouldn't be standing in front of

[4:46:35] you because it's their project and they would be getting a per permit for their

[4:46:39] project. And dominion does, does business in two ways. They have

[4:46:44] their own generation facilities, and they have generation facilities owned by others

[4:46:48] like us. And not many, many companies like us, we're just one of them. So that's

[4:46:52] really kind of the, the, the reason. So it's not an indication that

[4:46:56] dominion is not interested in this project. I no, I, I know, I realize it.

[4:47:01] I can answer that question for you. Um, thursday night, um,

[4:47:05] one of the top ceos of dominion, bill murray,

[4:47:10] um, hosted a, a supple for the board of directors. And he,

[4:47:14] he told county officials, um, that

[4:47:18] if a solar project was cited in your county,

[4:47:23] dominion would, would automatically take the

[4:47:27] power from that, um, project. He

[4:47:31] also said that they had no skin in

[4:47:35] the game for what? Local land use decisions.

[4:47:40] so basically you approve it, they're gonna take the power, they don't care where

[4:47:44] it's at or anything other than they will take the power.

[4:47:49] thank you, mr. Lee. And, and, and, and just for the record,

[4:47:53] we already have a contract with, with the off the,

[4:47:57] and it's a long-term power purchase agreement. So it's not, it's not something that,

[4:48:01] that we, we want. It's not, you know, aspirational

[4:48:05] in nature. It's what currently exists. We're obligated to

[4:48:10] deliver power to them, and they want it, they're ready to pay. And those

[4:48:14] electrons will, will, will, will benefit every single, uh, person area because

[4:48:18] it's clean, affordable, and reliable. And dominion said, so just

[4:48:22] like you, dr. Moore, you say something to the patient, that means it's, it's a

[4:48:26] rule. I, I wear my glasses 'cause I can't see very well,

[4:48:30] I can't see you guys, but I can't see anything that's one meter in front of me.

[4:48:35] so, uh, I, I trust eye doctors. I think, I think

[4:48:39] that, you know, I, I, I feel like a lot of people when they, when they speak,

[4:48:43] they, they, they tend to go a little bit outside of their profession and,

[4:48:47] and knowledge base. And I do respect it, but I think, uh, uh, when I go

[4:48:51] to, to a doctor, that means I made an educated decision that I need glasses. And if he

[4:48:56] confirms that I do, he just prescribes whatever that is. Two, two and a half minus

[4:49:00] two. So that's really kind of, uh, the approach. So again, I just

[4:49:04] want down underline, it's a, it's a pretty, pretty critical, solar is not, it's,

[4:49:08] it's, it's not amuse, it's not an amusement. I don't sell, uh,

[4:49:12] vaping products to use. This is a basic need. Just like, just like

[4:49:16] water. Just like solar. We need electricity. Uh,

[4:49:24] okay. Alright. Any other questions? Alright,

[4:49:28] thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay.

[4:49:32] um, it's been a long night. Um, but I would

[4:49:36] like to, um, reiterate that,

[4:49:41] um, this is a, is the rezoning

[4:49:45] portion of, of this. So this is to rezone

[4:49:50] containing approximately 196 acres. So,

[4:49:54] um, two more parts to this, but this is the first part

[4:49:58] of it. So, um, now

[4:50:02] discussion of board, board members or what is the pleasure

[4:50:07] of the board?

[4:50:20] sorry, I'll, I'll start. I'll, I have a few comments. Um, several,

[4:50:24] uh, I guess it's a few years ago now, I was kind of sitting in the same seat that

[4:50:29] ms. Eng, mr. Daniel and ms. Harville were in

[4:50:34] as a solar industrial, solar field was proposed behind my house.

[4:50:39] and while not opposed to

[4:50:43] solar in general, I was opposed to it being in,

[4:50:47] in my backyard. I raised cows and horses and children

[4:50:52] and there are a lot of unknowns. There's a lot of fear. I

[4:50:56] have a pond. I have mr. Flowers knows well because I'm in a house that he loves

[4:51:01] and he spent a lot of time in and built a, a, a good portion of it.

[4:51:06] um, and I'm so thankful that the board at that time

[4:51:10] saw fit to listen to me and my family and our concerns. Uh,

[4:51:14] I don't take it lightly. When I look at mr. Walker, who I've known for years

[4:51:19] and worked with his wife, uh, the masons,

[4:51:23] uh, I've been a, a part of their life through their daughter and

[4:51:28] as a resource officer at the school. So I don't take it lightly that this impacts

[4:51:33] families across the board. However, when I chose to run for

[4:51:37] this position, I told folks that I would be the voice for

[4:51:41] our community. And that's district one. Uh, a few days ago, back in

[4:51:45] on thursday, I I put out a feedback post on facebook because I

[4:51:49] think it's imperative for our representatives to represent us.

[4:51:53] yeah, I wish at the state level that we had folks that would reach out because communication

[4:51:57] is so easy. I'd spoke with, uh, this gentleman, william last

[4:52:01] friday and said the exact same words, communication is easy now. Now

[4:52:06] all you have to do is, is put it, put it out there and people will tell you what they think.

[4:52:10] and resoundingly from district one in our community, in this project

[4:52:15] specifically that identified as four 60 across from walmart,

[4:52:20] my community said no. And so that makes my job

[4:52:24] a little bit easier because I know I'm representing what was the

[4:52:29] feedback to me, it makes it difficult to look at you and know that it impacts your family

[4:52:33] and know that it doesn't check a box or, or, or meet the

[4:52:37] need for your, for your land.

[4:52:42] but my job is to represent my community. And resoundingly they said no.

[4:52:50] any other comments? I'll piggyback on that. Uh, ms. Tipman spoke tonight

[4:52:55] and she has solar in her backyard. And I

[4:52:59] also have had concerns.

[4:53:03] we had one, I think it was 1500 acres

[4:53:07] that came, uh, on brick road in my district.

[4:53:12] and same thing as mr. Dooley

[4:53:16] said, you know, I had my constituents come to me with concerns

[4:53:21] about the same thing. Uh, but like

[4:53:25] ms. Tipton said, she has it in her backyard and it doesn't perform

[4:53:29] the way that she thought it was, but she's invested.

[4:53:34] you know what I mean? So, like mr. Dooley said, we represent our

[4:53:38] constituents. So that's where, uh, what I have

[4:53:42] to do too,

[4:53:46] I guess I'll talk. It's of course it's in my district. Um,

[4:53:52] it is adjacent to commercial properties. Um,

[4:53:58] I thought about this project for over a year now 'cause I voted against it a year ago.

[4:54:02] but you know, the tone has changed tonight. And when I say the tone,

[4:54:07] the urgency of the grid has changed tonight.

[4:54:12] we didn't hear this a year ago about data centers and other things, the urgency

[4:54:16] of the grid, but we are hearing it tonight.

[4:54:21] okay? And so that's why I asked the question about the feedback in,

[4:54:25] into our grid to support the people of denwitty county.

[4:54:30] everything that I've read is a solar panel. You get about 25% use

[4:54:34] out of it. So as a small business owner,

[4:54:39] if I had an employee that worked 25% of the time,

[4:54:44] would I be comfortable with that employee?

[4:54:49] just food for thought. Okay. If I had a car

[4:54:53] that 25% of the time it worked,

[4:54:58] what would I do with the car? I probably would think about something

[4:55:03] different. Um, there are other sources

[4:55:07] of energy that are well more, um,

[4:55:11] productive, um, that we had

[4:55:15] an opportunity to this state to produce a certain product

[4:55:20] and it was killed, which is gonna have a direct impact

[4:55:24] on our economy in this state and other places, um, for years

[4:55:28] to come. Um, there are, as in my mind,

[4:55:32] other sources and yes, they're not here right now, but

[4:55:36] you can talk to our energy company and they will tell you

[4:55:41] that they are focusing on the next generation of

[4:55:45] power. Okay? Now, of course, our friends in, in chesterfield county

[4:55:49] have a project before them. It is not solar.

[4:55:53] um, but it is a vital component to

[4:55:58] all of our needs. I pray that they will vote

[4:56:02] for it to allow it to happen in their community. I have

[4:56:06] a patient of mine and also a church member of mine that worked at the dutch gap

[4:56:10] plant. And most of you in here may know where that is up on.

[4:56:14] right? One going to richmond. Yes. He told me one time he said

[4:56:19] it would take 13,000 acres of

[4:56:23] panels to produce the same amount of energy that that plant

[4:56:27] does. 13,000 acres.

[4:56:34] now we've got our friends and neighbors around us that we've

[4:56:38] heard about a couple of 'em that are 8,000 acres to produce

[4:56:42] energy. So then you asked yourself,

[4:56:47] is this piece of property, is this the highest and best use for the property?

[4:56:52] probably gonna get variations of who thinks what for the property.

[4:56:58] I could probably sit here and say, if vulcan were to come,

[4:57:02] I probably would consider doing something

[4:57:06] on that property. If tyndall concrete were to come,

[4:57:11] would we consider doing something going down the, the bed?

[4:57:15] I can't answer that 'cause I don't know what that answer would be. Okay,

[4:57:22] the agricultural integrity of the county. I know we've talked about

[4:57:26] that tonight. That is one of our mainstays that we talk about.

[4:57:31] um, the more important piece of that is not just this piece

[4:57:35] of property. Each

[4:57:39] is supposed to be taken for their own merit. I understand

[4:57:43] that. But there is, and will be

[4:57:48] another opportunity that's gonna come before this board. It's coming.

[4:57:53] it's just a question of when the other

[4:57:57] is convenience, attractive and harmonic,

[4:58:01] um, harmonious community that's in the denwoody county code section

[4:58:05] 22 dash two. Is this a project

[4:58:10] that creates that type of community?

[4:58:15] in my mind, I don't necessarily see that. So

[4:58:22] that probably tells you where I stand. Thank you.

[4:58:27] well, uh, and of course in my district, uh, when I talk

[4:58:31] about solar, they, um, they like the idea.

[4:58:36] um, I think some people would, uh, of course like that

[4:58:41] on their houses and that kind of thing. But so I am, uh, far away

[4:58:45] from the particular project. So when I talk to my citizens, they,

[4:58:51] um, they're kind of back and forth, but, uh, they do like

[4:58:55] it, but of course they're not down that way as well.

[4:58:59] so, but, um, I, you know, I do believe that,

[4:59:03] um, a person has a right to do what they would like to do with they own

[4:59:08] property. I do believe that. But sometimes it is a bigger picture that

[4:59:12] we have to look at as far as the citizens and as, uh,

[4:59:16] the citizens came out tonight, you know, pro and for pro and against.

[4:59:21] um, they had some, some good information that

[4:59:25] they passed on to us to listen to. And, um,

[4:59:30] uh, solar is, um, kind of one of those things

[4:59:34] that, you know, um,

[4:59:41] and again, it's, it, people like it, some people don't. And that's what we have in this room tonight.

[4:59:46] and, uh, and I think some of the people who actually left, because I know of course it's

[4:59:50] getting late, but, um, I, I

[4:59:54] just think at this point, um, sometimes things, something may

[4:59:58] come bigger for the people who have property and maybe you may wanna look at something

[5:00:02] different, um, and that could

[5:00:06] be more productive for you. Uh, so I'm

[5:00:11] just kind of, um, leaning in that direction and,

[5:00:15] um, we're just hoping for the best for everyone tonight.

[5:00:20] um, I thought about taking the easy way out tonight and just let these guys

[5:00:24] talk and, and just be chairman, um, tonight,

[5:00:28] but I haven't ever done that. Um, and so my first train

[5:00:32] of thought is, uh, you know, environmentalist, uh, um,

[5:00:37] somewhat, um, different, um, people and, and

[5:00:41] my, um, I guess my example of that is,

[5:00:46] um, they don't want a natural gas pipeline

[5:00:50] in the mountains of virginia from west virginia to greenville.

[5:00:55] uh, emporia, two plants down there, but they don't

[5:00:59] mind 8,000 acres of solar panels in

[5:01:03] brunswick county. That just baffles me

[5:01:07] that, um, that we have. And, and the 8,000

[5:01:12] in brunswick is just a drop in the bucket to the ones

[5:01:16] in suffolk, uh, sussex, um,

[5:01:20] all across the state. Um, it's not a lot of farm land here,

[5:01:25] but every little bit of farm land is another drop

[5:01:30] in the bucket. Um, I believe mr. Flowers

[5:01:35] at, at the end of the day, he's gonna sell parts

[5:01:39] of this property for either commercial use,

[5:01:43] um, industrial use, um, I don't know when,

[5:01:48] um, but to, to have

[5:01:52] to make this decision. I understand. Um,

[5:01:57] my grandchildren of seventh generation on our farm, um,

[5:02:02] farmland has a different meaning for me than some

[5:02:06] people. Um, it doesn't have any value 'cause I'm not gonna

[5:02:10] sell it. Um, I'm paying taxes on it, yes, but also,

[5:02:15] um, got a son that's farming it and he, he helps pay the taxes

[5:02:19] with that. Um, so it,

[5:02:23] it, it's, um, it's a hard decision,

[5:02:27] but it's also, when we look at where denwood county's

[5:02:32] future is 20, 30 years from now, the decisions we make

[5:02:36] today will, uh, determine what then what he looks like

[5:02:40] in the future. And I,

[5:02:44] I'm from, uh, lake jordan, downright one

[5:02:49] old hickory to, uh, mckinney.

[5:02:53] um, as, as ms. Bonna will say,

[5:02:58] it, it is dark in those areas, not many street lights.

[5:03:02] um, so, um, we like

[5:03:07] what it looks like. And, um, so the rural character

[5:03:11] has, has a really a a lot to do with, with

[5:03:16] how I feel about so law. So what's the

[5:03:20] pleasure of this board, mr. Chair?

[5:03:24] I'll make a motion be it resolved that in order to assure compliance with virginia

[5:03:28] code section 15.2 dash 2 2 8 6 a seven.

[5:03:32] it is stated that the public purpose for which this resolution is initiated is to fulfill

[5:03:37] the requirements of public necessity, convenience, general welfare, and

[5:03:41] good zoning practice. I move that rezoning p dash 25

[5:03:45] dash eight as presented, be disapproved by the board of supervisors. Do

[5:03:49] we have a second? Second? Could we have the roll call

[5:03:53] please? Dr. Moore? Aye. Mr. Chavis? Aye.

[5:03:57] ms. Ebra bonner. Aye. Mr. Dooley?

[5:04:02] aye. Mr. Lee? Aye. All voting? Aye um,

[5:04:07] mr. Southall, um, this was the rezoning case.

[5:04:11] so could you explain, um, where we go,

[5:04:15] um, with the other two cases and what, what we need to do from

[5:04:20] mr. Chairman? There were three solar related public hearings scheduled tonight. The

[5:04:24] first is a rezoning, the second was a conditional use permit. The third

[5:04:28] was to consider a siting agreement, um, really

[5:04:32] a prerequisite to the conditional use permit as well as really the siting agreement

[5:04:37] is, is that a rezoning be approved. And so in light of the

[5:04:41] fact that the rezoning has been disapproved, there's really not a point in

[5:04:45] having a public hearing on the other two items as seen as the

[5:04:49] rezoning has been disapproved. Okay. Alright. So,

[5:04:53] um, we will not hear the other two, um, conditional

[5:04:58] use permit cases and we will move to all new

[5:05:02] visits. Um, and we have appointments. Mr.

[5:05:07] yeah, mr. Chairman, members of the board, we have a, a need to make an appointment to

[5:05:11] the crater planning district, uh, metropolitan planning organization

[5:05:15] or the mpoi make a motion that

[5:05:19] we, uh, appoint casey dooley to the mpo. Uh,

[5:05:25] uh, expiration will be september the 30th, 26th. Do they have

[5:05:29] a second? One second. Do we have the wrong call, please?

[5:05:34] dr. Moore? Aye. Mr. Chavis? Aye. Ms. Ebra bonner aye. Mr.

[5:05:38] dooley abstain. Mr. Lee? Aye. Four ayes. One abstain.

[5:05:44] mr. Chairman, we also have a need to make an appointment to the dewine county industrial development authority

[5:05:48] or ida. I'd like to reappoint michelle

[5:05:52] ers for term to expire. 7 31 20 29.

[5:05:58] do we have a second? Second, uh, roll call dr. Moore?

[5:06:03] aye. Mr. Chavis? Aye. Ms. Ebra bonner. Aye. Mr. Dooley? Aye.

[5:06:07] mr. Lee? Aye. All voting? Aye mr. Chairman, no other appointments for tonight?

[5:06:11] okay. Alright, we're gonna move on to citizen comment. Uh, do

[5:06:15] we have anyone signed up as citizen comment? Mr. Chairman, we have no one signed up.

[5:06:20] okay. I'll close citizen comment. Um,

[5:06:24] at this time we'll have board member comments. Mr.

[5:06:28] do, I'll start. Um, I wanna thank everyone for coming out tonight. Um,

[5:06:32] I know it's uncomfortable to speak in front of folks and it's a

[5:06:37] really a contentious topic, um,

[5:06:41] for our community. Uh, it's very much split between the,

[5:06:45] the rural and agricultural community and, and those that live in a more

[5:06:50] urban environment. Um, I agree that

[5:06:54] landowners rights are, are very important. Uh, in cases like this

[5:06:58] though, the way that I look at it is, is that the folks that have moved in that area and that have

[5:07:02] purchased land or, or obtained land through, through will or through,

[5:07:07] um, you know, that that property was, was zoned agricultural

[5:07:12] or it's zoned industrial, whatever the case may be. And

[5:07:16] what is being asked of this board is to change the rules in which the people that live in

[5:07:20] the area and the community around it change. Sometimes that's mid game,

[5:07:24] that the folks that bought their property in that area chose it for a reason.

[5:07:29] and it's our duty to, to look at it in the highest and best use

[5:07:34] of our community. And that's also those that live right in the backyard of it. But

[5:07:38] we can't forget about those. And it's not about a dollar figure,

[5:07:42] it's about our community. Uh, tax revenue comes

[5:07:46] at the largest portion on the backs of our citizens.

[5:07:50] we need to find a re responsible way to lift that burden

[5:07:55] for all, not for just a few. So when

[5:07:59] I look at these cases, it's not done easily. I'm sweating up here right now. Mm-hmm. Honestly. Mm-hmm.

[5:08:04] uh, it's, it's an uncomfortable position to be in,

[5:08:08] but it's, I'm okay with it. Uh, I'm okay with the

[5:08:12] decision that I made, uh, because it's the decision that was handed

[5:08:16] to me by our citizens. Amen. Dr. Murphy.

[5:08:20] yeah. And I just wanna say thank you to everybody coming out. Um, this is something that we've

[5:08:24] looked at for the last year. Um, and you know,

[5:08:28] I appreciate all the comments that casey has made.

[5:08:33] um, they're all things that we've d dwelt on. Um,

[5:08:37] you know, I don't, I don't take making a decision like this lightly.

[5:08:42] um, it's one of, one of the most difficult

[5:08:46] decisions that we have to make is land use policy. Okay?

[5:08:51] and I can only speak for me

[5:08:56] is that I just feel like there are individuals,

[5:09:01] individuals have rights to do certain things with their

[5:09:05] land, but then there are also people that live around that

[5:09:09] land and it directly impacts them. And so you have

[5:09:13] to weigh that balance to, to figure out which is,

[5:09:18] which is the best for the community in general. And that's

[5:09:22] the decision that I made tonight. So thank each of you.

[5:09:29] yeah. Um, again, it, it, it is a, a hard

[5:09:33] thing to, to agree on and, you know, of

[5:09:37] course, um, we do appreciate everyone coming and saying, giving

[5:09:41] their, um, their, um,

[5:09:46] how they, how they feel about the projects. I do believe that

[5:09:50] the right another good project

[5:09:54] will come and you will have an opportunity to weigh in to

[5:09:58] do what you feel is best. The ones who, um, were not

[5:10:02] a part of it as well as the, the ones who were a part of

[5:10:07] making this. I think that, um, we look at the long

[5:10:11] run, I think, um, some good things are gonna come and

[5:10:15] we just have to be open-minded and, and, and really prayerful about that because

[5:10:19] I think, um, something will come

[5:10:23] that's going to be beneficial to everyone that has come here, whether

[5:10:28] it's, um, whether you are for or against. So I'm just, um,

[5:10:32] just hoping because it is, it is hard to be up here to do that, do this. And again,

[5:10:36] I said I do believe that a landowner has a right to do what

[5:10:40] they would like to do, but when it impacts people around you,

[5:10:44] then we have to look at, um, how we gonna vote on that. So I just,

[5:10:49] just wanted to say that to everyone. Thank you.

[5:10:53] I just echo, uh, what everyone said and thank you for those that spoke

[5:10:58] tonight. Um, we had some good information and,

[5:11:02] uh, and it is, it's hard decision to make when it

[5:11:06] comes to your land. So thank you again,

[5:11:10] thank everyone on this panel. Uh, we support each other

[5:11:14] and, uh, but it's not easy. Uh, alright.

[5:11:19] um, couple of things. Um,

[5:11:23] the manson family, I don't think this is gonna make you feel any better at the end

[5:11:27] of the day, but, um, what, what you talked about

[5:11:32] the fact that you couldn't build a house on, on the land that you

[5:11:36] owned and, and different things. If, if y'all could leave your contact

[5:11:40] information with kaisha, I'd like to at least get

[5:11:44] zoning and understand what's

[5:11:48] going on on y'all's piece of property. Well, the, you know, um,

[5:11:53] just understand the situation. Um, so

[5:11:57] I'm not promising that I can, that we can help or

[5:12:01] anything's gonna change. I just, um, that resonated with

[5:12:05] me. Um, that you've got a piece of property and you can't even build

[5:12:10] a, your a house on your own property. That that doesn't sit well

[5:12:14] with me. So I wanna understand, I know I'm sure

[5:12:18] the county's got a reason, um, and we need to understand

[5:12:22] that. Um, so offer that to you. Um, if,

[5:12:26] if you sow choose, um, the second thing,

[5:12:30] um, nights like tonight are tough. Um,

[5:12:35] we are getting ready to have a town hall series coming up

[5:12:40] and, you know, we get people to board meetings when, when

[5:12:44] it's really up against the wall, something's gonna happen.

[5:12:48] but these town hall meetings really are about land

[5:12:53] use decisions for the future. Um, do we want,

[5:12:57] you know, part of zoning in the eight two district, um,

[5:13:01] several years ago when subdivisions stopped being built,

[5:13:06] district four, which I said ran from picture lake downright

[5:13:11] one to old hickory to mckinney, I was

[5:13:15] the fastest growing, um, district in than

[5:13:19] woody where I shouldn't have been. And it was a shotgun approach

[5:13:24] if you took the map and just shot it with a load of number eights.

[5:13:28] that's how the houses were being built in this county. And

[5:13:32] I think we need to look at that in the future. Our a two

[5:13:36] districts, we need to preserve them. Um, we need to

[5:13:40] make sure that we don't drop the value of our a two land.

[5:13:45] um, but we also don't wanna put false value on a two land.

[5:13:49] so, um, district one is

[5:13:53] gonna, theirs is gonna be september the 22nd, which is mr. Dooley

[5:13:57] and district one, uh, october the sixth,

[5:14:02] district two, which is dr. Moore, which is west

[5:14:06] end baptist church. Um, district three

[5:14:11] is mr. Chavis, september the eighth at richard bland college.

[5:14:15] um, district four, um, september

[5:14:20] the 10th at the ragsdale community center in mckinney

[5:14:25] district four, wednesday, september the 17th, which, sorry,

[5:14:29] which is me at olive branch baptist church. And then,

[5:14:34] um, district five, which is ms. Bonna, thursday,

[5:14:38] september the fourth, edgehill church of christ. Um,

[5:14:43] this flyer will go out certainly closer to time.

[5:14:47] um, and we'd like to get citizens to come, uh,

[5:14:52] and just talk about what, what they want to see the future of

[5:14:56] ben woody, um, be. And so this is a good opportunity

[5:15:01] for us to listen, but it's also a good opportunity.

[5:15:05] um, mr. Massengill has a dollar bill that

[5:15:10] is broke down with what we spend in this county and it,

[5:15:14] it's very eye open in what we spend our money on in this county. And

[5:15:18] I can tell you the top two are schools and emergency services.

[5:15:22] so, um, you know, we, we formulate

[5:15:26] a budget every year. We pass it in may and, and we stick to

[5:15:30] that budget. Um, so that's part of what we want

[5:15:35] to do is show what's where the money goes and then, um,

[5:15:39] also listen to, to the folks in our district side.

[5:15:45] anything else mr. Matthew? No, just those, the dates that he just mentioned. If, if

[5:15:49] you go to the county website that's on the, the very front homepage and so that,

[5:15:53] that information's there. Yep. Alright.

[5:15:57] can we have a motion to adjourn? So moved.

[5:16:02] second. Second. Roll call dr. Moore. Aye. Mr.

[5:16:06] chavis? Aye. Ms. Ebra bonner aye. Mr. Duley? Aye.

[5:16:10] mr. Lee aye all voting aye meeting is adjourned.

Aug 19, 2025 Board of Supervisors

Agenda

Transcript