I'd like to call the august 19th, 2025 meeting
of the dimity county board of supervisors to order. Do we have the roll call,
please? Dr. Moore? Here. Mr. Chavis? Here. Ms. Ebra bonner.
here. Mr. Dooley. Here. Mr. Lee. Here. Five board members present.
alright. At this time, if you'll join me in the invocation
followed by the pledge of allegiance,
I'll follow father lord heaven, I'll be thy name. Thy
kingdom come. I will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespassed against us. And lead us not to
temptation, but deliver us from evil, for ths, the kingdom,
the power, and the glory for our amen.
pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america,
and to the republic of which it stands. One nation under
god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
all right, thank you. And, and I want to welcome everybody here,
um, this afternoon. Uh, at this time
do we have any amendments to the agenda? Yes, sir. Mr. Chairman,
we need to add under action items, uh, on section seven
and h, which be, which would be a contract award for
a chevy tahoe support vehicle for fire and ems.
and that, that, uh, resol, um, packet information
is sitting on your, on your desk here.
h seven. Yep. H okay.
y'all help me with that when we get, we'll get you, we will .
any, any other additions to the agenda?
somebody would like to make a motion, so move a second.
second. Roll call please. Dr. Moore. Aye. Mr.
chavis? Aye. Ms. Ebra bonner. Aye. Mr. Dooley? Aye. Mr. Lee?
aye. All voting? Aye. Alright, thank you. So, uh,
we have that added to the agenda at this time. You have
the, uh, consent agenda before you, um,
you've had time to look over it. Um, any,
anything you'd like to pull out and discuss or is it, um,
someone would like to make a motion to approve the consent agenda?
so moved. Second. Alright. Do we have the roll call
please? Dr. Moore? Aye. Mr. Chavis? Aye. Ms. Ebra bonner. Aye.
mr. Dooley? Aye. Mr. Lee? Aye. All voting? Aye. Alright,
we're going to move on to reports. Virginia department of transportation.
uh, mr. Aaron french,
mr. Chair members of the board, good afternoon. I missed getting up here my last
month, by the way. Yes, sir. It was, uh, unfortunately dealing with some flooding that day and
have accumulated quite a list of updates, uh, in the past two months.
ferndale and river road. The, uh, proposed roundabout, that project
is advertised for construction right now. Went out last week. Um, it is a month long
advertisement period. We will award the contract in september given
we get a successful bid and, uh, construction will
likely start, uh, november or december for that project. It has a spring
2027 completion date. Um, some traffic changes
and closures associated with that, that, uh, we will be working closely with
public re relations communications with to advise public appropriately
of. I talked to our construction superintendent, uh,
overseeing the bain road bridge replacement this morning. They are
setting the first span of that structure today, probably as we speak,
as, uh, weather for them has been great the past two weeks. They were able to get the footers in
for that structure and, uh, you should see it. They, it, it's five
pieces. This entire bridge is on that and I've got a picture of 'em. It's,
they put 'em on a low boy truck, take 'em out there and pick 'em up and set 'em down like big legos.
almost very neat. But, uh, we are on on schedule for
a completion, uh, for the 1st of october for that project.
the tranquility road royal rustic project. Uh, we've been working on that. The
church road area headquarters has been steady on that for a couple weeks. So we've
got all the pipes replaced, uh, ditching and grading done on that this week
we are gonna start adding our subgrade stone. So start building that road up, doing some grading
with the actual profile of the road and, uh, get it hard surfaced
probably in about two weeks. Uh, looking at wrapping that project up, the
cherry hill royal rustic, uh, is going to be in shortly. I believe it's
week next week. Um, we are going to have a closure
associated with that project, given the availability of a detour
for that route and the narrowness of the route, rather than having to
do flag or control working with lane closures through the limited traffic,
we made the decision to go ahead and close the road, allow the crew to get in there and work safely and much
quicker as well. Uh, the detours vary short and there are no homes
on the road. It's a cut through road, so it'll allow us to get in there and get that project
knocked out quicker and safer. Um, that will, we'll
be working with communications with that on as well. Get the, uh, public advised
of the closure and place. Message boards in a full detour will be posted,
um, after cherry hill. Uh, we'll be moving on to the reese road, royal
rustic as well. Probably take a couple week break, um, after cherry hill
to catch up on some maintenance tasks and then begin reese road later
on. Uh, probably early fall. That is a pretty short project. Should only
take a few weeks to knock that out. We generally lose
our, uh, window to do these rural rustics about late november once it gets too cold
to do the tar and ship application. Route 6 51 whitmore
road. Uh, that road is currently closed as a result of some flooding. Um,
in mid-july is a large culvert failure, uh, there at the pond
once you turn off of route 40. Uh, that project is currently under
construction. We're doing a complete replacement on that pipe. It was a large
steel large pipe. We're going back with a double line of 60 inch diameter plastic pipe,
so no more rusted pipe, uh, there to replace in 50 years.
um, that, uh, project we are working to expedite
not only to get the road open, it is the detour for
the structure on route six 13 gills bridge road. Um, we're
gonna probably see a closure on route six 13
at, uh, that structure in the next couple weeks to do some regular maintenance work
on that structure and they'll be using whitmore road as the detour for that project.
um, additionally we're planning culvert replacement on route 7 0 3, um,
carson road. That's gonna require detour. The
contractor that's doing this pipe on whitmore road is gonna jump, um, over to another locality
knock on a project there, then come back to 7 0 3 and take care of that pipe.
it will probably be, uh, sometime in the mid-october timeframe that we're executing that
edgeline rumble strips, uh, have been installed on four 60. Uh, this was
a safety improvement, I think it was requested several years ago. Mm-hmm . Um,
and they have finally been installed. So we are working through
that and enjoying, uh, the mixed
reaction from the public from installing the rumble strips. But, um, they
are great safety improvement and will help us with our maintenance as well. No more people
continuously running off the shoulder and running out the shoulder and so, uh,
we'll, we'll save some work for us in the long run as well. If
you notice there's a section of those rumble strips on four 60 that was skipped. It's a section,
um, right at the courthouse road intersection on four 60. That section
is gonna be milled and paved later on this paving season. So it was omitted.
they'll come and do the milling and paving and then put the rumbles through that section.
we wrapped up a cycle of mowing in the last couple weeks in the county.
every primary and secondary was cut and we'll issue,
um, our last cycle of mowing in the fall, probably october timeframe.
and that'll be a full, full with right away mow. Um, we will still, however,
continue to do everything up at exit 63, those splitter islands
regularly. I think it's on two week intervals. Um,
any questions from the board? Any questions, comments?
I, I do. Um, did you, I know I mentioned before, the defense is on,
on 85 at a one of our meetings. I know in the last few weeks we've
had cattle on the roadway at least twice on 85 near the 6 56 and
58 mile marker to where deputies and animal control have had to go out and
actually remove them from the interstate. So if you could check on that.
okay. We did the, the contractor that oversees the interstate maintenance mm-hmm
. Was bought out. They're, they're going through kind of a turnover with that contract right now. I
will, I'll check on the status of that, see if they have anything updated. At least especially
that area, sir, the cattle, I think it's been addressed with the owner of the cows, but
at the same time, I'd hate to see somebody hit a cow doing
80 miles an hour. Absolutely. That'd be very tragic.
absolutely. Um, just a question pertaining to, if,
if there's a timeframe, uh, in the future that
the northbound exit off of four 60 onto
to 85 at, at 63 exit 63,
that, that it gets a tremendous amount of traffic and it's pretty
rough. The first 20 to 30 feet as you come off mm-hmm . Of the
pavement of four 60 onto it mm-hmm . So I just didn't, I'm not
whenever that schedule at least let me know. Gimme an sir idea when, when that's
projected to be rem milled, that's likely
something we can do with, with our oncall. I have been noticing it is getting
increasingly rough. Um, yes, I would talk your, your traffic
count at sheets has dramatically changed your
on and off at that energy. It'd be very curious to see at
some point next spring to put down a, you know, something
to tell us what our numbers are at that, uh, that intersection.
um, 'cause I think it'll, it'll be surprising what, what that number is
compared to what it's been in the past. Mm-hmm . Absolutely. I'm sure it is any significant. So the sheer number
of traffic flow. Yes. And that, that is a habitual location that we've had to mill and pave.
there's probably something going on with the subgrade there. I think it was
four years ago. Only we, we did that spot. So yeah. It may be something that
we work with, uh, our materials folks with, take a, take a deeper dive into
it, do some coring and, and see what's going on. Get an engineered repair
and then mill it and pave it so we don't have to every four or five years go out there
and do it. You got it. Thank you. Absolutely. On the, the sheets note,
um, the construction, uh, to finish that wall
is, is slated to begin in the near future as well. The barrier area's been placed. Um,
so we should be seeing a resolution of that in the near future. Yep. Thank
you. And the east side bridge on 85 coming back
to right one has got patches on patches on patches.
oh yeah, absolutely. So that bridge they are currently waiting for some funding on.
it's got funding on the project, not enough to move to construction
yet it's accruing funding. So over the next couple of funding cycles, we should see
a new surface put on the top of that structure. Okay. Okay.
um, uh, and I heard you talk about the grass cutting. So,
um, the overpass, uh, you know, it grows fast with that
water and everything like that. So I, I, I know how it is because, um, people at that
homes have to cut the grass a lot a lit a lot more. Um,
had a question about, um, the rain when it's,
I know the storm, I don't know if carolina, I don't think it's gonna come close to
us as far as, um, the, uh, homeowners
and, uh, different areas if things gonna stay out near the water
instead of coming close the coastal water and everything like that. Just wanted
to, um, remind you about the, uh, the ditches. Yes ma'am. So making sure
that they are, um, not clogged mm-hmm . So that water won't go back
into, um, businesses or homes. Yes ma'am. Yes ma'am. We
are, we are closely watching that storm. Oh yeah. Um, right now we don't expect a major
response, but I, I check it about every 12 hours to see if anything has changed. Yes.
it's the first thing I do when I get in the office every morning, so, uh, okay. Alright. Thank you. Yes,
ma'am. Mr. Chavis, thank you for the update on
the bridge. Uh, talked to billy today. He, uh, said he had talked to you already
today. Yes, sir. Uh, but he wants to know you, you
gave me the date in october. Is it gonna be the end of october? 1st of october is
what I was told. Oh, good. Uh, that's, I know I've been
mouthy. It's better than, but I won't have to do that anymore. Right. So
7 0 3. Yes sir. On ramp is in bad
shape. So, um,
it's got potholes. Mm-hmm . I don't know if you've noticed that lately or have you even
been that way, but, uh, on ramps got right
there is real bad. Okay. So going northbound or southbound on 85, it's,
it's on the, uh, northbound side going on is, uh,
real bad. It is just all, all the way up till you almost get on
95. Is uh, donna might be able to tell you that. Have you been riding
at any 7 0 3? Yeah, I mean seven. Oh on ramp from
off 7 0 3 on to nine, uh, 85 somewhat. Yeah, I try to,
yeah, I usually try to stay on route one, but it's, um, pretty
bad. So just take a look at that, sir. Yes sir. That's all I have. I tend to take the scenic route
on route one as well. , huh? I tend to take the scenic route on route one as well,
so yeah. I will go back that way now and give it again. Yeah, well you, you'll
see it. It's a and it's bad on tires I tell you that, so
thank you. Absolutely. Um, and not sure whether kevin has
mentioned this archangel estates, um, which is
off of, uh, scotch road. It's a private road
that was supposed to come into the state system at some
point, the developer, um, or one of the citizens
reached out to me to try to get the developer,
um, to a punch list of what he needed to do.
um, she got it, I think she gave it to him and he didn't
do anything and now he's died. Um, and
she, what started out is the stop sign got knocked down,
but now she would like to do another punch list
to find out what needs to be done. And I'd like
for the county to kind of be involved in it too, because if it's any way we
can get that road into the state system,
uh, I will tell you it's a fall better road than baltimore road.
um, so, um, you know, whatever we need to do
to try to help those folks out. Um, but I'd
like to see us do it. So yes, sir. Yep. I will, uh,
talk with our land u staff about that. I'm, I'm sure they're probably aware of the
status of it and we'll take a look at that. Okay. Absolutely.
yep. Yeah, no, not you have any more with
you? I've got some, no. Yes, if you could,
I was gonna bring up archangel, but I'm obviously mr. Lee just has, so
it, it would be helpful to get an understanding of what that punch list may look like. And
I don't, we can check from a county perspective, I'm assuming the performance bond on that's probably already
been released. So we, we would really need to look at it and yes.
yeah. My and his mind was immediately jumping to what, what's happening with the bond
and if it's been released and how might we address
that. I will say from what we're told, you
are already pushing it for snow and I think the county's picking up kids
on the road. So that being said, the road is still
not in the system though, so just something to take a look at. Yes, sir. Um,
aaron, in the, in the packet you had under traffic studies and special requests,
a request was made to look at halligan park road in a 25 mile hour additional
signage. It was indicated in the report that the study was conducted,
but no recommendations were made. Um, I'm just kind of curious
as to, I guess what, again, the thought was just adding signage
mm-hmm . Not necessarily reducing the area 'cause that's already in place, but if there are
other traffic calming techniques that maybe could be done or just
when there's no recommendation, maybe we can look at maybe some
other things. Yeah. So I'm not extremely familiar with that one. I will say that
typically, um, unless we have a request
from the sheriff's office or depending on the length of the speed zone mm-hmm
. We will only support posting it to the minimum standard.
um, it may be a case where it's, it's a short of speed zone and it's posted to minimum
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
the county first or the transportation safety and planning committee if it was
brought there too, but just the origin of the concern. 'cause I, I don't know where
the request came from. I don't think we made it, but I'd be just curious 'cause it's
in mr. Cha's district as to where that would be. Um, sterling
road, I know we did a study there on no truck traffic that was approved
to, to eliminate no truck traffic on that. Has the signage been put in place?
yes, sir. For that? That's, that's been done. Yes sir. Yep. Okay. Um,
so the question about the mowing, so we get one more mow and that's probably gonna be in october.
yes sir. Um, if there are funds, question was asked if, if there are
funds left over from what's been allocated to cutting grass,
do those funds just get reallocated to other maintenance items? So the funding that
we use for our mowing comes out of our general maintenance fund. Um, generally
the, the residency gets roughly 10 million a year to
support all general regular maintenance operations. That's
our overhead payroll. And the same funding
that we pay for the mowing with is the same funding we pay for ditching with and
pipe replacements. And so it, it's variable year to year depending on what we
have going on. Um, but typically
once we complete that mowing it's, it we'll just expend the rest
of the funds on, on everything else on the regular
activities. Um, the way that our fiscal years work, however, because we do
run a july to july fiscal year mm-hmm . We have to typically cut
before each fiscal year begins. So we will, we try to set
aside enough, uh, funding for a mowing cycle. So going
into this fall, we'll look at setting aside what we need to have
enough to do a cycle in the spring.
so I guess just from the board's perspective mm-hmm . If there are funds that
are left over from what you're anticipating, is there
ever a situation in which those funds, if not used in denwoody
county for our aspect of the residency, that those funds would go to another
locality for their purposes? Not generally. Okay. We try
to split everything up. Um, the way that our area headquarters
boundaries are done, they are all split
very evenly. It's within 10 miles, 10 lane miles
per each area headquarters. We allocate basically
our, our budget's divided by four nearly evenly. Um, so
generally any, any specific funding we get for the county will stay in
the county. Um, but to do the mowing, and
I will say that denwoody is the largest county in this residency. So denwoody
does get the majority of our, we get our share of our funding. Yes, sir. . Yeah. So the, the
reason for the, the questioning is, and even talking
to ms. Ebra bonner, there's been a significant amount of, um, storm water complaints.
some of those obviously on private property yes sir. But in some areas
they potentially could be in, in vdo s right away. And it's just more of a simple ditch
clean mm-hmm . Um, so the thought was that there are some funds that potentially could be made
or shifted available. Is that something that you all just determined the priority
or is it something that the board of supervisors could, could suggest
that specific areas of state maintain road that those ditches
be done in a, in a different priority? Mm-hmm . We will absolutely take priorities.
okay. Um, if, if the board has an area, a route group of
routes that, that they would like us to review, no problem taking a
look at it. I will say that on a statewide basis, um, everything
that we do, all of our maintenance activities, ditching, tree removal, mowing,
it is all tracked. Um, we have metrics and at a high level
our, uh, maintenance and operations folks look at those
metrics and they can make a determination to give us
specific funding for addressing high need areas.
um, ditching is one of those high need areas. It was, I wanna say three fiscal
years ago we got $7 million. The richmond district did, uh,
petersburg residency got roughly 3 million to allocate two additional,
um, maintenance activities. This year they've done something similar and they have
given us additional funding specifically for ditching itself. So
that is by happenstance already occurring. Um, I think in
petersburg we got roughly 300,000, I want to say
for ditching that will be split between, um, our three localities that
we serve. But we pay less than a dollar a foot for a
contractor to do that ditching. So it is, it's quite a substantial amount of ditching we'll be
doing. Um, we are moving west to east with that contractor,
so we should be, uh, seeing some additional ditching done at denwoody here
in the near future. Um, so very good timing if, if there is an area
of concern. Okay. Please do share. That's, that's helpful. Mm-hmm
. And the last thing I have aaron, is um, earlier today I was in a meeting with chesterfield
county, the apax river water authority. And uh,
we as an authority are starting to work to update, um,
the state water control board looks at future water planning needs.
and so one of the potentials for our region that's still on the table
would be at some point in the future to raise the dam
at the, uh, lake ches, the brasfield dam, either 12, 18
or 24 inches. So, you know, that's, that's still potentially
gonna be a recommendation that we make. But one of the thoughts is that the, the
whip knot marina area where the, where sutherland road in that particular
bridge, uh, if you raise it even to the minimum 12
inch or to the highest definitely to 24 inch, you, you start to have some issues
with the only gas station marina on lake chosen
not being able to have boats back and forth through that cove.
um, so there was just a thought of, I know that the state was gonna continue to
evaluate the functionality of that bridge and to anticipate when
it needs to be replaced. So that if, if you could just, whoever
in the department would know that, we're just trying to figure out what, what year
you all are anticipating that replacement to be.
so this is something that, um, we have put on our structure and bridge divisions
radar. Uh, coincidentally we had a meeting last week, we have general update meetings
with them folks for all the structures. But this one in particular is a structure
that we talk about regularly, um, because they're looking for updates on it as
well. Right now, uh, the conclusion that we've reached is
they will construct, reconstruct a new structure at the
existing height, but the way that they will design and build it is
such that it can be easily raised at a future date. Jack
the bridge up and block it. Um, the reason for that being
is the, to raise it, we've gotta repro profile
the entire roadway. Okay. We will keep the project on
the current funding schedule at matching the existing elevation of
the bridge. If it is determined that the level of of the lake is going
to be raised, then we will go through and do the additional funding to
repro profile the roadway and jack and raise the bridge. I know.
yep. So is that additional funding, is that paid for by the department
or would that be, if it's a an ra led project,
is that considered to be like an ancillary asset that we would have to pay for?
that is a very good question. I would've, I have to research that with the structure of bridge
folks. . Yeah. Because that, I can imagine to your point
of the approach, the, you know, it's obviously you go down to go
up and, you know, you're, it's a pretty significant, um,
math question I guess to make that work.
yes. Okay. But it's something we need to look into. 'cause if it's a cost share
or if it's something that, that the authority has to pay for, we really should anticipate
that as a, an expense absolutely. In our water planning. Absolutely. Um,
what, is there a, a timeline from the water authority perspective of no,
it's, you know, I don't, my, I would suggest that it's the, the dam if
it's raised is gonna be probably, um, after
you all would make some improvements okay. To the bridge. I think the bridge is going to
to, to probably need to be replaced before we raise the dam. Okay.
and, and really the, the tail wagging the dog, so to speak, and this
is chesterfield mm-hmm . So the, the growth of chesterfield county and
the percentage ownership of lake che will dictate that probably sooner rather
than later. Understood. And of course they're looking at other, um,
water resources as well mm-hmm . To, to include further down on the
appomattox. So we'll see. We will, but you
know, when, when richmond had their issue with their water mm-hmm . You know, we back fed
chesterfield all the way to, uh, midlothian turnpike.
oh, was lake chester water? I was unaware of that. Yeah. So it,
the system is there to, to use more. So when you
were starting to look at chesterfield and their, uh, their ability to work where, I guess with the city of
richmond and or trying to find another water supply,
um, but, but your bridge is probably gonna need to be replaced before we raise
the dam. I just want us to be smart about it in that absolutely. That cost. Mm-hmm .
and mr. Chairman, that's all I had. Okay. Any other comments
question? Alright. Thank you aaron. Have a good evening. Thank you. Thank you. Yep.
okay, we're gonna move on to action items. And the first
one, uh, contract award fire truck, uh, chief
kissner.
good afternoon. Chairman lee, members of the board before you to,
before you this evening is the purchase of a replacement engine for ford fire
station. Number two. The contract
in front of you is to go into a contract with atlantic emergency solutions
for $1,203,650.
it's quite an expensive fire truck, isn't it? Yes. And
with that paying all in advance, we get a $206,118
savings to bring it down to nine ninety seven, five hundred and thirty $2.
um, that has gone up since I proposed a capital improvement budget of 950,000.
working with ms. Hamilton so nicely helped me find the funds from other
public safety projects to be able to fund that fully. And
we're looking at a delivery time of 1,470 days.
so we do the math four years, 10 days is what they have.
so you see why we had to go and move everything into capital improvement with the tankers and the engine
forward to anticipate that, to get stuff from the books early. So
I wish I was gonna tell you that we were just purchasing a fire truck and it would roll in here and start
doing business, but it's not, it's gonna be quite a while. We
still have two others on order and this one will be a identical one
to the two we have on order that we're supposed to go in september finally and do
the, um, the pre-engineering where we sit down and go over every little
inkling of it to make sure it's everything that we want. So we're still
waiting to do pre-engineering on the first two that we ordered in 22. Is
that right? 21, 22 give or take. Mm-hmm . So it's, uh,
been a long process, but this will put us on track to replace
the engine at the 1516 year mark. Keep us in
line with our original plants, put that engine into reserve. We'll still have a good engine
to be a reserve. And as we move forward and develop fire and
ems, we'll always have a reserve fleet in place to make sure we have apparatus to respond
to calls. So that's what's in front of you for this one?
is that questions, comments?
no. It's just the reality of the world we live in today. Yes sir. It sure is.
mr. Chair, I make a motion that we accept the resolution as presented. We have a
second. Second. Okay. We have
a roll call please. Dr. Moore. Aye. Mr. Chavis? Aye. Ms. Ebra
bonner. Aye. Mr. Dooley? Aye. Mr. Lee? Aye. All voting?
aye. All right, thank you. And we'll move right
along and let you keep standing right there. Um, contract
award. Stryker stretchers? Yes,
sir. This is for replacement stretchers through current stretchers that we have in our ambulance fleet.
the, this will be a replacement to go in contract with stryker,
which is the manufacturer and dealer of our power stretchers. Power stretchers
work in the back of an ambulance to keep the paramedics from having to use a lot of their backs. Like
we used to have to use with two or three people have to pick it up. This is actually a hydraulic
stretcher that works off a dewalt battery. They push a button, the patient comes up, they go to
the load system, can put it in and you only really need two paramedics to actually,
or paramedic emt to get the truck loaded and get on the way to the hospital. So
these stretchers, um, the ones that we're replacing the three this year that we
will be replacing are 12 years old. So you can imagine that's a lot of up and downs that
these stretchers have done over their course and they've definitely served their time and earned their money.
and then the stair chairs, which are smaller structures that actually fold up
and go on the side door to ambulance, are made to get people downstairs on the back of it.
they have a little set of treads, like tank treads and you actually pull
that out and it actually will go down the steps like a little tank and get 'em to the bottom, put
'em on the stretcher and that way also help with manpower so you don't have to kind of, you know, put
'em in a regular chair. So those pieces of apparatus,
the stair chairs that we currently have are 17 years old. They're not used as much,
but they need to be updated to make sure that we don't, um, have any mishaps with
maintenance and hurt somebody bringing 'em down just because they're starting to time out in age.
also on this, um, contract purchase will be new equipment
for the ambulance remount that will be coming to you next month.
that is, um, another stretcher and another power load for the new ambulance that
will bring every, all that will bring the whole fleet up to date with power stretchers.
well, excuse me, not up to date. We'll bring 'em into where we have it in all the apparatus. That's
what I'm trying to say. So that'll give us that ability to have that in all the apparatus. The
total for that purchase is 210,000 938 93.
that'll be coming out of two different sections of the budget. One for the,
the, the actual striker, um, stretcher replacement
that we had allocated in the budget, in the operating budget. And then the, the
other part of that, the striker stretcher and the power load will come out of the remount
out of the, um, I guess capital operating. Is that where that came out of? Yeah, the new
capital operating budget. So we put all items together just to,
to um, get that on one contract and it also comes with
one year of, um, maintenance, first year of
maintenance as part of that too. Okay.
any questions, comments?
alright. What's the pledge of the board?
I'll make the motion that we approve it as presented. Do we have a second? Second.
do we have a roll call please? Dr. Moore? Aye. Mr. Chavis?
aye. Ms. Ebra bonner. Aye. Mr. Dooley? Aye. Mr. Lee?
aye. All voting? Aye. Alright. Thank you chief. Thank you. Thank you chief.
alright. Contract award block cameras.
major not mr. Chairman, as he's making his way to the, uh, podium,
I have a conflict statement I need to read at today's meeting. I intend to abstain
from boats concerning item seven c, contract award, flock cameras, and seven
d contract award. Seven police intercept utility vehicles. Each of these items pertain
to the dee county sheriff's office. I'm employed by de county sheriff's office.
thank you, sir. Yep. Uh, mr. Cha, mr. Chairman, members board
mr. Mass mcgill, I come before you today, uh, on behalf of sheriff
adams, uh, on this particular matter to talk about, uh,
the flock, uh, license plate recognition cameras that we have throughout the
county. Uh, back in december of 2022,
uh, we found some funding through the virginia state police heat
program to purchase, uh, some of these flock, uh, license plate
recognition cameras, uh, stationary cameras placed throughout the county,
uh, that, uh, read vehicle, uh, vehicle license plates
as they go by. Uh, it has been a a great investigative
tool for the sheriff's office on a number of different levels. Uh,
since we implemented this back in 2022, uh, we
expanded the program from four cameras up to nine cameras again
each year, uh, with funding from the state police heat program.
um, we have the opportunity this year to, to, uh,
expand that again, uh, even more. Uh, the, there
was an original contract, uh, cooperative contract with omnia
partners, uh, used to procure the cameras, uh, that ex uh,
uh, and that has expired. And, and we are hoping to enter
into a new contract with that same, uh, omnia partners,
uh, flock safety to add these, uh, additional cameras.
uh, $9,999, uh, to
purchase three more cameras. Again, once we, uh, we are using that money
from our operating budget to be, uh, reimbursed by the state police
heat program. They've already, uh, agreed to do that. Um, once
we get the cameras in place, we ask
them that you, uh, uh, approve this, uh, uh,
resolution, uh, to add these cameras. Okay.
questions, comments from anyone? Alright.
mr. Chair, I make a motion that we accept the resolution as presented. Do we have a second?
second. Alright, could we have a roll call please? Dr. Moore? Aye.
mr. Chavis? Aye. Ms. Ebra bonner aye. Mr. Dooley abstain.
mr. Lee? Aye. Four eyes. One abstain. Alright, thank you.
um, and we'll move on to,
uh, contract award seven police interceptor utility
vehicles. Uh, mr. Chairman, uh, on this, uh,
uh, particular item, uh, back the board
approved, uh, $578,000 to purchase, uh,
new law enforcement vehicles. Uh, six of those I believe, to replace,
uh, aging, uh, uh, vehicles that need to come out of the fleet
in an additional five, uh, for the traffic unit,
uh, to support those, uh, officers as we, as we hire them.
um, talked to shehe ford and, and as always, vehicles
are a little hard to come by. Um, it has gotten better than what it was some
years ago, but it's still a little bit difficult. Uh, did speak with
them. Uh, I have, I got a quote for seven, uh, of those vehicles.
um, the, uh, total for the seven was $307,256
and 20 cents. Uh, that's, uh, one of those on the lot
right now. Uh, the other six to be coming in, uh,
shortly there, there have either been built or being built and
being delivered to uh, uh, sheehy. And at this point we have,
uh, our name on those so we can take delivery depending
on the day's, uh, approval of this, uh, being able to take delivery as soon
as they arrive on scene. Uh, we are asking that you, uh, support this,
uh, resolution to purchase these seven vehicles for the sheriff's office.
I'm doing some arithmetic bracelets, right? Minutes per vehicle.
43. It's, it is, uh, the, uh, it's
of these vehicles. There's one that's, uh, unmarked, uh,
gray vehicle opposed to the other white. Uh, two of those,
uh, had been ordered with I spotlights, but they are adding the spotlights
to them. So we have to then others, the, the other four,
um, already have the spotlights and everything fully equipped with all the, with
that. Uh, um, and so each, it was three different quotes,
um, but all within several hundred dollars of each and that 43
in some change range. Okay.
any other questions? Comments? Alright. What's your pleasure?
I make a motion we pass it as presented. Second. Have a second.
second. Can we add a roll call please? Dr. Moore?
aye. Mr. Chavis? Aye. Ms. Ebra bonner. Aye. Mr. Dooley abstain.
mr. Lee? Aye. Four I's one abstain. And just for your information, these
were the last of the 2025 models that we could get our hands on.
wow. Uh, the others we'll have to have to look at the pricing on the 2026
models, but this was a good job last of the 20 fives.
thank you, william. Thank you. Thank you major. Alright,
moving right along. Contract award financial advisor,
uh, and hamilton. Good afternoon board. Mr. Massengale,
as you know, we periodically have a need for, um, outside financial
advisory services, um, particularly to do some forecasting and
strategies for our cip and to help us with our bond rating,
um, reviews that we go through, um,
that have gotten increasingly more like a job interview these days.
amen. Um, we have been under contract with davenport
since 2015. That contract has expired. So we put out
an rfp for financial services, um, in june
and we had three vendors submit proposals. We have reviewed
those and we con the committee con concluded that, uh,
davenport was still our best fit, this best overall
fit for what we need. Um, it's not something
we need every day. We just have, we pay them on a as needed basis.
so we are asking for approval of the contract
with davenport. Alright. My only comment,
I think, um, they've done a good company to work with and, and when
they come to do a report, um, they do a good job. Mm-hmm. It,
it helps me understand how they present it and so I
think they've helped us save some money over the years. They, they do have a good way
of putting it in plain language, the whole debt service
and mm-hmm. Strategic plan using
how you replace the, replace the debt mm-hmm . Coming
off and coming on and right. They, they do a good job of, in
layman's terms, explaining all that, I think. Mm-hmm .
alright. Any other comments just to comment? Just, I mean, I think davenport
has done an excellent job since we have been members of the board of supervisors. Um,
everything that we have asked them for, um, has been presented
to us in a very professional manner. Um, they've done a very good job of explaining
our options as from staff as well as for us as board members.
and, uh, they've been very punctual in giving us,
um, their advice, uh, of us making decisions. So I I'm
very appreciative of davenport.
alright. What's, what's the pleasure of the board?
um, I make a motion that we approve, um, as presented.
alright. Do we have a second? Second, uh, roll
call please. Dr. Moore. Aye. Mr. Chavis? Aye. Ms. Ebra
bonner. Aye. Mr. Doley? Aye. Mr. Lee? Aye. All voting?
aye aye. Moving along to approval of manufacturer
opioid settlement. Mr. Sofa,
you got a big book mr. Chairman? I'm gonna stretch my legs and come over here to the stand today.
it is a big book , um, book. Alright, so
as you know on the, the first one here is the manufacturer opioid settlement.
as you know, several years ago we filed a lawsuit against retailers, distributors, and
pharmaceutical benefits managers alleging that those entities caused harm
to denwitty county by furthering or, uh, fueling the, uh, opioid
epidemic. There have been a number of settlements to date that have come through the board. Those include kroger,
janssen, walmart, walgreens, cvs, tiva allergen and distributors.
and so there's presently an opportunity to accept a settlement agreement with eight
manufacturers. I'll get to the purdue in a minute, but this, this
memo is to talk about the eight manufacturers, algen, amne,
apotex hickma in dvor, milan,
sun and du. Um, then when he's direct share of the
settlement, after attorney's fees may up to about $12,000, although
the money is to be received over time, several of the companies wanted to pay up
front. I think there were several of 'em who wanted to pay out over time. The longest amount of time
that a company wanted to pay was 10 years. So it'll be a, a fair amount of money
up front and then the rest of it will trickle in. Um, and then
that could be, could be end up being less or more. The settlement will also make,
um, money available through the virginia opioid abatement authority. And
because the county participates in the virginia opioid abatement authorities gold standard program, the
funds received from the settlements, um, will need to be used for opioid mitigation.
so our outside counsel has advised the board to,
uh, approve the resolution to, to enter into the settlement with the manufacturers.
I'm happy to, to answer any questions that you may have or to try to,
any questions? No. Um, when this money
comes to us, we, we have to
keep it separate and then move it to things that deal
with opioid. So that's correct. And
ms. Howerton does account for it when it comes in that it's, it's kind of earmarked
that that's what it's supposed to be used for. So, so, yes. And, and
you know, so to the extent that you have special ideas to address the opioid epidemic, there
is a pot of money that is, is right here and that's called the direct
distribution to deal with that. We also have a pot of money that, that lives in richmond that
we can ask for with the opioid abatement authority. And there's also a pot of money that
we can apply for regional cooperative projects that's with the opioid abatement authority
and then by subscribing to the gold standard, we get an additional bonus amount of money.
okay. So, um,
yes. Alright. Anybody what's
the pleasure mr. Chair? I make a motion that we, uh, accept the, and
approve this settlement as presented. Second. Alright,
we have a motion and second roll call please. Dr. Moore. Aye. Mr.
chavis? Aye. Ms. Ebra bonner. Aye. Mr. Dooley? Aye. Mr. Lee?
aye. All voting? Aye. Alright, thank you. And now we
keep on to um, g approval of purdue
formal bankruptcy plan and opioid settlement
with the slack lower family. That's
right. So this one deals with purdue pharma and purdue pharma
was probably the, you know, if there was one company that was associated more than any
other with the opioid epidemic, it was probably purdue pharma. Um,
and if, if you watch the news over the past 10 years, um,
so again, several years ago the lawsuit was filed. Um,
there have been the settlements to date. So there's presently an opportunity to vote
on, and this is kind of a two part resolution. One part of it is the purdue c
corporate bankruptcy. Um, our outside counsel has recommended
that we vote to approve that as a creditor, um, as as the
county. The second, um, is, is
with the sackler family itself. The sackler family has
considerable wealth and they were defendants and, and the lawsuits.
and they have agreed to pay 6.5 billion with a b
dollars to resolve their, their, um, their
litigation against, against the, the folks that they're settling with here.
um, they actually had a, they, they did something interesting with a, a bankruptcy
proceeding and tried to wash the family liability and the bankruptcy
proceeding. And there was a us supreme court case that said that that wasn't permitted. And so it kind
of went back to the drawing board. And so now there's, there's a, a second more favorable
settlement, um, with the sackler family as well
as, as well as a, a bankruptcy that needs to be approved. And so
our, our outside counsel has recommended that the board vote
to, uh, approve the, the bankruptcy and
vote to approve the settlement with the sackler family.
um, this actually is estimated to result in a more of a
payment than the, the previous settlement discussed here. I
think then when he's direct share, you're talking about an amount up to something like $77,812.
um, and, and some these settlements are all fairly complicated and some of them depend
on how many jurisdictions participate in each state. So these numbers are not, are
not set in stone, but the, the, the number, the number there that
I calculated it could go up to is about 77,812. Now that amount
would be received over 15 years, so you'd buy that by 15 and
you know, it's, it's some money to do something with, but it's, it's,
um, it's spread out. So I'm happy to try to answer any
questions for this one. Um, and
you have the resolution for you as well. Alright. Questions or
comments? Alright, what's the pleasure
mr. Chairman? I think the motion that we approve the resolution as presented.
second. Second
deal was got second. Oh, second did you say second? I said second.
okay. . I, I came here very good but I never heard a second. So,
um, roll call please. Dr. Moore. Aye. Mr. Chavis?
aye. Ms. Ebra bonner. Aye. Mr. Dooley? Aye. Mr. Lee? Aye. All
voting? Aye I. Alright.
is that it? Title it is mr. Chairman and I will let our
outside counsel know that you have approved these two resolutions and they will set the
mechanics into motion, which are rather complex to effectuate everything,
the settlements and the bankruptcy votes. And that's why we got
you . Thank you tyler. Thank you. And your big book
. Alright, I got h and
we're got h gonna move to h now, um, chief kna
and I think we got a hand note for this one. We do. It's it's on your,
at your place. Alright.
alright. Good afternoon again. In front of you is is one of
the two fire and ems vehicles that we had in the fiscal year 26 operating
budget. This is a chevrolet tahoe, um, being purchased
from rk chevrolet. 58,544 and 48 cent.
it's a tahoe ssv which is made for um, public safety edition.
it doesn't have some of the options that a typical civilian vehicle would have. It doesn't have the third row seats
and they've taken out some things. It's not the police pursuit one
that would've been a nice one to get obviously. But we're not chasing criminals so we don't need that. This
is more of a fire administration, public, um, administration vehicle.
this, um, kinda had to be rushed to the front. They only had one left. And kinda
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,
it won't be there. So, um, we're still looking for one more vehicle, so I'll
be coming back up here for the other one. One. We found that one, but that's a, uh, pickup
truck. So in front of you is just the consideration to
approve the contract to purchase the $58,000 $544
and 48 cents tahoe
question? Nope. No, we need them.
that's all. I absolutely get it. Where you can get it mr. Chair,
I'll make a reso. Make a motion. We accept the resolution as presented. Alright, do
we have a second? Second. Alright, roll call please. Dr. Moore.
aye. Mr. Chavis? Aye. Ms. Ebra bonner. Aye. Mr. Dooley?
aye. Mr. Lee? Aye. All voting? Aye. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
you chief. Thank you chief. Okay,
I think we've moved on along to citizen comment. Do
we have anyone signed up for citizen comment? Yes. Mr. Chairman, we have dorothy graves.
alright,
good evening, denwoody county board of supervisor. Good evening. Good evening.
it is more than a pleasure to be here since denwoody county is my favorite county
in the world. . Thank you. All the places I've ever lived, there's
no place like river road in sutherland, virginia. Amen.
there's no county like woody, where my son graduated, number seven in his class,
went on to become a united states marine, retired from the marines and went on, became
an educated, now retired from teacher. So thank you then whitie for all you did for
my family. Amen. I am here on behalf of the dwi e lives
club. Evelyn, the late evelyn lee over 27
years ago had a big idea that dwi county needs the alliances club
and the lady really served the county well, but she changed all of
us to serve. So my purpose for being here today is
to bring your attention to us. What, what do we do in the county? Just what
I said. We serve, what have we done for 24? 23?
24? During 2324, we have supplied several
families with eyeglasses 'cause they could not afford 'em. We have supplied
five, $500 book scholarship to graduating seniors from
denwoody county high school and the scholarships of the evelyn needs memorial scholarship.
and that was done just this past spring for the kids who just started into
college. We with the denwoody,
the, the lyons international foundation is reaching out now
to denwoody county to assist with flood victims in petersburg,
virginia. There are four families. We're working through the petersburg social service department.
'cause there is no lion's club in petersburg, virginia. That's right. Other
things that we do that you may not be aware of. We serve by working with veterans.
we serve, uh, by working in the communities we serve by working with the food banks.
so my, my plea to use today to help us, we need
you to help us on friday, september 26th, 2025,
6:30 pm we will be celebrating
25 years plus to the of service
to the citizens of denver witty county at the olive branch baptist church fellowship
hall on boarding plant road backward.
I have here courtesy tickets for board members. We would love if you made the
donation, but if not, we still want you to try to be present. And mr. Chairman, we'd
like for you to come and welcome our guests to our affairs.
are there any questions about the dunwoodie county lines club?
okay. Any questions? No, but I'll make some comments in my comments. Okay. Cool.
good. Mm-hmm . Will you please put these in
your district that you represent? Dr. Moore has already served his district.
ms. Pass that way. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. And any comments
that board members we make, we're gonna make comments, um,
at a little bit later. So, um, we'd like to do that then.
so. Okay. Thank you.
don't think you get away, .
we appreciate you have little publicity here.
thank you, mr. Oh, you're welcome. Thank you. Introduce
your partner in crime. Oh yeah, I know her. That's why I didn't introduce her.
that's right. . This, this is my secretary.
geraldine chrysler george. That's right. Good seeing you.
good seeing you. Well, thank y'all so much for, uh, and
presenting to us today and I'll go check my schedule and, and,
uh, hopefully I'm, I'm free then. So,
so you say I can put your name on the program you,
you can speak with me. That's, uh, is
anyone else signed up, mr. Chairman? We have no one else signed up. Alright,
go ahead and, uh, close the public. Um, comment, citizen
comment, period. And now we'll have county administration.
yeah. Mr. Chairman, members of the board. Um, first I
just wanted to thank you to thank you guys for the young ladies
that came from the lions club here. Um, you
know, 20 drive down the yellow brick road , 25 years.
that's, that's an amazing milestone. Thank you. And thank, thank you so much for
what y'all have been doing and I know many years continued service. So thank you
so much. Um, mr. Chairman and members of board week, we spent
a lot of money today and you can see it all in this book. So
it's like ann hamilton actually handed out our, our, um,
full budget book, which is the easiest way to, to understand where the
county finances go. Mm-hmm . Um, which I'm so glad we're able to get this, this
to the board. And of course we have copies of this online as well as
upstairs, but it's a, it's a great, great reading and thank you for, for providing
that. Um, I just had quite a few administrative housekeeping type dates
and I know mr. Lee's gonna talk about the town hall meetings. Um, so I'm,
I will briefly kind of go through those. But just a couple things to hit
this week. Thursday, um, august 21st,
ms. Chairman, you and I have a civilian military council meeting at the, um, defense
supply center in richmond. So that's, uh, that's thursday, later
thursday afternoon at four 30 at st. Paul's
event center in brunswick county. Virginia's gateway region is having
a, um, a service there for our new localities.
so it's a reception for them. So the new new localities for virginia's
gateway region is greensville and emporia and brunswick have been
added to that footprint. So they, they tell me they have ice cream.
that's, I know that's dr. Moore's weakness, but so again,
four 30 to five 30 at st. Paul's event center in brunswick county.
uh, friday we have the fire recruit school
graduation, just as a reminder for that mount pleasant baptist
church. Um, um, again, august 22nd, friday
next week, just wanna give you a heads up that the management team, and y'all are
welcome all three days or at any point during the three days, but we are,
uh, going to the petersburg library and for the 27th, 28th
and 29th, uh, you know, we had this year of perfect vision
in 2020 where we started doing a little strategic planning. You all,
um, decided to add three more core values to our original three
core values. And that's when we figured out, if you arranged them, you could spell the word
strive. We've never really, um, trained on these, these
values. And so that's a, a fundamental of our management team is
to understand these core values. So we're, we're gonna be teaching and training
and working together on that. So again, 27th, 28th, 29th,
the management team will be there. Constitutional officers as well, um,
are also invited. Uh, september is the,
the month of town hall meetings. I think marie's gonna kill us during this month,
but we've got, we got a lot of work. So, uh, first we're gonna start off with the board
workshop. That workshop is at 4:00 pm on our normal date agenda
will come out about what we're gonna talk about, um, thur, uh,
thursday the fourth is the first brenda, even bonner. Uh, that's gonna be at edgehill church
of christ. All these from six to seven 30. Uh, monday
the eighth, mr. Chavis at richard bland at the academic innovation center.
wednesday the 10th, dan lee, and that's at ragsdale.
then, uh, the 17th is mr. Lee again, uh,
at olive branch baptist church. And then monday the 22nd,
we have mr. Dooley. And you're gonna, we're gonna be in darville at the ton club,
um, on the 29th. Mr. Chairman, you and I have mayors and chairs,
and that's gonna also be in the city of petersburg, uh, that meeting.
and then october, uh, sixth, there's mark moore's. And that we're
gonna do that at west end baptist church for that. Um,
just a couple other items real quick. First, you know, the new
seal that we adopted and, um, 'cause you can see that on some of the
letterhead and whatnot. We had indicated when we adopted that seal that this
wasn't going to be, um, I mean, ob obviously it's official, but we
weren't gonna replace certain things and until the point that it came
available to be replaced. So, chief kissner, for your, all
your fire apparatus, you know, we should look at that new seal, uh, to the sheriff's
office that's here. We'll communicate that back to the sheriff. All of our new vehicles should adopt that new seal,
not the older seal. But one of the things that ms. Howerton, um,
holly and I met yesterday with a flag company, was
to talk about the flag. So when we went to more of a, a navy
look, uh, to the flag, even though we didn't change the seal itself,
that navy would clash with green. So
when, and ann knows, I hate picking colors, but we, we set for a long period
of time looking at different shades of blue yesterday. Uh, so the, the
county seal, once we get to the point of replacing this, these
flags, I think we have about 20 left. We're going to transition to what will be
a blue flag with the county seal. That county
seal has been, uh, printed on the same material as what our flags
are. Now, it's upstairs in your, uh, office. Mm-hmm
. So ann even went to the arduous task of cutting out the seal
so that you can take a look at it. We also, if you put it up against the, um, the commonwealth
of virginia flag, it's not gonna be as dark. Right.
ann? No. And I can't remember the official name. It's not heritage blue, is it? It's
legion blue. Legion blue, yes. But it's a little bit
lighter than the, the blue that you would see in the commonwealth of virginia flag. But
I just wanted to give you an idea what it's gonna look like. Um, and that obviously
will be noticed, I would assume, by our general public. And we change from a transition from a green
flag to a, to a blue flag. But we wanted you to have a look at, to see what that looks
like. I think it looks really sharp. Um, we're hopeful that, that you agree.
but if you want to take time between now and or after this
meeting to go upstairs and look at it, uh, we have it on display up there.
um, the board fall advance. So we were, we were looking at,
at two specific timeframes. One was october 23rd
and 24th. The next would be october 30th and 31st.
my preference would be the 30th and 31st, because the county fair
is the 17th, 18th, and 19th. So I think you might want a
little bit of a break in between. But I wanted you all to look at your calendars if you,
you 23rd, 24th, or 30th, or 31st, that thursday's, friday,
if that works for you all. Uh, for that, again,
county fair is the 17th, 18th, 19th. It's the same pay structure
as last year. $10 for adults, $5 for children,
and parking is free. Uh, so that's information's on the county website about that
a little bit later in the year than what we've done in the past, but should be a little bit cooler. Um,
and really, I don't think conflicts with high school football as much. So again,
county fair. Um, next thing I wanted to just mention,
as I, uh, noticed this morning, I'm sure you all did too, do county public
schools, our back in action, and just to call that attention to
our public, that you do have children now standing on the side of the road.
um, and I, I watched this morning as I was going
down ball salt road where a child was outside, it looked like maybe
a, a teenage driver, I'm assuming a cell phone. Um, but
it was almost a near miss with the ch with the child in the driveway. So,
um, you know, and I know our sheriff's office does a phenomenal job with that, but just
reminded me to make a public statement that a, put your cell phone down. B, notice
the fact that you got kids standing on the side of the road and to obey the, the speed
limit there for sure. Um, and I just hope that
the school system has a fantastic year. I mean, with, that's, that's a big part of what we do
here. Um, fire and emsi just, just wanted to bring it to the attention of
the public that we had a meeting with the fire and rescue association last week. And,
um, you know, just a special thank you to chief kissner and and his team.
you know, we, we started this when the board first got on. And mr. Dooley, I,
I know you had a, a very good scheduling conflict for that particular day, taking your child to,
to college. Um, but what a, what a good event. And, and I think
it's just a special time for us to, to talk about, um,
fire and ems not only from our paid, but from our volunteer system and just how
fortunate and how blessed we are that we have a system that kind of works
together in that way. Uh, 'cause that's not necessarily the case and a lot of other jurisdictions.
um, and it's been a year of adding a whole lot of new team players, um,
to, to the list. And so, uh, really good meeting, positive direction there.
uh, ms. Eber, brona mentioned hurricane. Um, that's out.
aaron that's in the, out out now out the sea. It's the first major
hurricane, I guess, of the season. It peaked last night at category
five. I think it's been downgraded to a four. It's anticipated to stay off
coast. But, um, it is a time to remind everybody about hurricane
preparedness. And I know chief kissner has talked to the county staff about that. And,
and so we can kind of heed that warning. Um, and we've dodged the bullet,
I guess the last few years. So just, but just a bit of concern. We'll put out some more information.
but just really wanna encourage our citizens to stay informed about the hurricanes
that they see. Um, and specifically code red that we have on
the county website. Um, if you haven't, um,
gone in and, and created a, a membership for that, you, we encourage you to do that. That's
gonna be your best way to be, get communication updates from us. Um, and
also to just stay, stay vigilant with the news. Um, the second thing,
this comes from virginia department emergency management, um, is to start building
now emergency kits. And so when you, when you think about that, it's making sure
that you have appropriate water. They recommend a gallon per person in household
per day. Uh, non-perishable foods, medications, flashlights
with extra batteries, first aid kits, cash,
get cash before a storm, because a lot of times atms, um,
are not working as well. Uh, as well as debit transactions are sometimes
limited. Um, also, you know, just, just watch
we'll, we'll put out information on how to protect your home, what to do, um,
if the power goes out. I know both south side electric and dominion
put out really good information, but it's just something we need to take a look at. And then obviously,
we'll, your government here, we're gonna, we're gonna work with you in the event something takes place there.
um, also just wanted to mention the vaco county summit that we attended last week.
I, I've been doing this now for 20 some years and
have had the pleasure to go to a lot of vaco meetings. And I thought that it
was a good meeting. Uh, but I, mr. Dooley and I attended
a breakout session on, I guess the energy and land use
committee, and he and I talked about it. You know, I
don't know that in, in my career, I have seen such a divided commonwealth.
so the, the issues that are important to northern virginia
and to virginia beach look a whole lot different
than the rest of the commonwealth. And we seem to be extremely
polarized, um, on a lot of issues that's there.
um, so this election, you know, we started off the vaco, uh,
county officials summit with some of our state legislators
that are running for office, uh, in the positions of attorney general lieutenant
governor and governor lieutenant governors came, um, as well as ag.
um, both abigail span berger and winsome sears weren't in attendance, but
they had been in years past. So I just wanted to remind everybody
that I, I think this is a really important state election this year, um,
which made me think about, you know, again, don't throw away your, your chance to vote and make a
difference and educate yourselves on the issues that are affecting
local government as well as the commonwealth of virginia.
um, you know, ver voter turnout, if you look at it and track it, is,
is not, it's been steady, but it's not been increasing. And so you'll see
lower turnout at a, a, um, election
for governor than you will president. So, uh, just a couple points there.
september 19th, so about a month away, you start early
voting in denwoody county. So from september 19th to october 31st,
citizens can come to the, the voter registrar's office between eight 30 and four 30.
and, and they can cast that vote before you get to election day.
um, there's gonna be two saturdays that you can vote. That's october 25th and
november 1st. And if you're not registered to vote, the last day
that you can register is october 24th. And so, again, just,
just wanna put that information out there. Um, also yesterday,
um, I had the privilege to, um, for
the first ever, richard bland decided to have a convocation. So it
was all of their first year students as well as their returning second year students.
and all of the, the athletes over 200, some athletes are, are in, in
place now at richard bland college. And they've asked, they asked me to come back and be their convocation
keynote speaker. So I had an, an awesome, um, time to
be able to do that yesterday. And just to, just to see where richard bland college
is going. It's really the only, the higher ed in denwoody soil, even
though we do support the region. And it just, you know, president
sidedo, um, with a new board of visitors now, I think it headed in
a really good direction. But to see the, the young, uh,
students that were there and what they're planning on doing and what they're anticipated doing is, is,
is phenomenal work. So had that privilege. And the last thing I think, and
I think mr. Lee you're gonna talk about a little bit too, is, uh, the recognition
by the virginia association of counties to recognize, uh, the
county's mock trial project. And I call it the counties 'cause it's
really started off in the school system. So the secondary gifted program,
um, that my wife had a p pleasure of leading, um, when she was working for the school
system. But just this collaboration between our commonwealth attorney's
office and our sheriff's office. So our investigatory unit
with the sheriff's office spent a tremendous amount of time educating
students on, uh, the mock trial. And of course, it was the commonwealth versus the
grinch, and did he really steal christmas or not? Uh, but this actually made
national news. Cnn picked it up. Um, and we, we submitted this as
a model project along with two others. And, uh, vaco recognized it with
the best small county project. So as you all know, that, you know,
denwoody has won that before. The second time we won it for the faith-based initiative.
the second was the county city planning project, and now this is
the third time. So in the last five years, we've won three times. That's
more than any other jurisdiction. Um, of the, of the counties that exist,
68 of them are under 50,000. And so to, to be in that
category, um, just again, shows the, the innovation I
think of, of the people in denwoody that work in local government to
try to find ways to collaborate and again, be innovative, to teach
children and to find other projects that are meaningful. So just, just very proud
of the staff to, to take on that initiative and to be recognized. And I think
vaco will be coming at a subsequent meeting to november meeting to, to
be able to do that. Okay. Mr. Chairman, that's all I have. Alright. Thank you.
thank you. Well, mr. Dooley, we'll start with you.
okay. Uh, I really don't have much. I'm looking forward to the town hall meeting that we have coming up.
uh, looking forward to getting in front of folks and, and hearing the issues and
challenges that are facing our rural, uh, district. And
also just spreading some, some good news too with the expansion of, of the
internet services that are coming out. Um, I remind folks, weather's
getting nice. Uh, we did have the opening ceremony for five forks
visitor center. Uh, I hear all the time, what do we have to do in the county? This
is an outstanding trail system that folks can get out and exercise and
walk. I was out there, uh, sunday riding horses. So it's
also the opportunity for our equestrian folks to get out in our community and, and
find places to ride. So that's really all I have. Okay.
alright. So I will talk about our friends that are here from the lions club.
first, um, 25 years ago,
there was a group of people and the nucleus being evelyn nice.
her brother was a district governor in
the state of kentucky for lions international. And each state
has, is broken into territorial regions, and they have
district governors and her, between her and her brother,
they brought the dream of creating
a, a lions club in denwitty county to the petersburg lions
club. Well, at that time, I was the president of the petersburg lions club.
and so the petersburg lions club was the sponsor for
the denwitty lions club, which initially met in
the farm, the basement of the farm bureau building, um,
initially, and that's where we were chartered at, where the, the lions club in dity
county was chartered. Unfortunately, covid,
um, took my club away. The petersburg lions
club time caught up with us. And, uh, but
that being said, the denwitty lions club is still here, still
functioning. So I collect glasses in my office and I present them
to the denwitty lions club. If you're not one of the major projects
that the, the lions that they will accept your glasses, your old
glasses, if you can donate them, um, they are taken to third
world countries or other countries outside the united states, and
they are read by lions and they are labeled
and they go on mission projects to, as an example, I know they've
gone to haiti. Um, and for those that don't have glasses,
something that's close is better than nothing when you're blind.
so that's one of the things that they do as well as collecting hearing aids.
okay. We have a hearing aid bank, uh, that's actually in richmond. So we as
a community could collect, um, hearing aids that can be
presented to the lions club. One of the things jt morris does, they do collect
hearing aids as people, uh, transition. Uh, I know that
eal small does that too, but there are some other funeral homes that we may be reaching
out to that, that we can do that. But looking forward to
the, the anniversary in september, being able to speak, um,
for that 25th anniversary. And I just wanna say thank you to what
you are doing for our community. Um, you know, the main
call is, if you can't see, the lions club will
help you with that. Mm-hmm . Okay. And that's what we're in the business
for. So thank you for what you're doing and looking forward to september.
okay. Um, also one of the things is screenings in the school system,
uh, prevent blindness helps with that, which is now called conexus.
um, but they help in with kids. You don't realize what
it's like when a child is coming to school. A lot of times a parent doesn't realize that
your child can't see. Okay. Even though they may go to a pediatrician and have
their checkup, you don't realize that the lions club does screenings
for those kids. I think starting at the third grade level, that's where it really comes
into play. Um, a lot more board work when you get to that third grade
level than it is at the kindergarten, first and second grade levels. So, but
anyway, thank you for what you do ladies. Um,
of course, leading us into a new school year. Yesterday was the first year,
first day of our students coming back. We had what, kindergarten, sixth
grade, ninth graders yesterday. Today, everybody's in the school.
uh, I just want to wish our school board, all of our executives
that are in the system, uh, from superintendent and all the way down to
the classroom because the marines are in the classroom, uh, that take care of our
children. So I hope that we have a very successful year, um, as
far as that's concerned. Just a reminder, first football game is not
at home this year. It's on the road at colonial heights. It's, it's august the
28th. So I hope that everybody that's listening to me will make
their trek to colonial heights on that friday evening. Um,
good to be at the vaco summit last week. Serve on the education committee.
one of the things this past year we were very blessed to get
a significant amount of funding, uh, through the general assembly for public
education. And we will continue to do that as we move forward,
um, even with elections and the general assembly and what can and could
change, uh, at, at the state level. But we are there and
in particular for those positions that are non soq positions that
affect our budget, uh, tremendously, um, from a dollars
and cents point of view. So that is one of our platform issues
there. Um, wanna talk a little bit about tonight. Tonight
we have some significant, um, special recognitions
that we will be here at seven o'clock when we come back into the, the session.
um, really looking forward to it. 'cause we have an individual that has put
her heart and soul into, um, serving
this community. So looking forward to this evening. Um, and
piggybacking on the event that was at five forks, just
a question for us as a board, if we want to improve our signage
that is related to that particular corridor on courthouse
road coming to and from in both directions
to try to promote it a little bit more in that corridor. Okay.
something to think about. Thank you,
. Okay. Um, just a,
a couple of things and, um, the, the two nice
people we have out here for the lions club, thank you. Um,
I did not realize that you all did all that as dr. Moore was saying. And, um,
I'm definitely going to, uh, tell people when I see them, all the work that you
all do. So thank you both again for all you do.
um, the, um, vaco summit, uh,
I did, uh, attend and I, I sit on the health and human
services, uh, board. Um, a couple of things they
said that was kind of interesting, uh, october, the october 1st
was gonna be, um, some different things coming into
play. And they, the gentleman, uh, that was
there, he was, uh, trying to tell the board
exactly what's gonna happen. He didn't know everything that was gonna happen, but
he said that, um, they're working through some things with the snap and
medicaid and he said that, um, at
one time the federal government used to do, uh, a hundred percent.
and, um, and, um, that, um, now it's gonna be
changed a little bit. It's not, uh, the federal government is not gonna do a hundred percent. It's
gonna be looking at the, um, the counties and,
um, and from the, uh, from richmond that it's gonna be a,
a different, um, uh, level that's gonna be a little bit different.
so, but he, he didn't, he didn't, um, he didn't
really, um, have all the numbers together. We were asking a whole lot of questions
and he said, well, they're working through some, some of the formulas and we're gonna
see what, what's going to happen and with that. So,
um, that, that's the, um,
that's the thing with that. I'm sorry, , just trying. Um,
yeah. Um, so we are just going to kind
of look at, um, um, uh, exactly what we're gonna do after october 1st.
so, um, my whole concern was not to pass any of the,
uh, funds down. Uh, now, uh, some of the, uh,
lack of monies down to their localities, that was my primary thing.
I said, you know, um, we don't want that coming down to the counties where we have to
pick up the slack. So we're gonna see after october 1st what the formula is
when they finish doing that. And also, um,
voting, you know, um, we have to get out and vote. This is a year that
we really need to look at what's going on, um,
a across this state. And if you have young people, please,
uh, encourage them to vote to come out because
a lot of things that's happening is gonna affect them, uh, down the line.
so we wanna make sure that they get out and, um, and vote
and know what's going on, read about the policies that
people have and make sure that's something that, uh, you wanna be
a part of. But we would really want to encourage them. When I see a young person, I
ask 'em, are you registered to vote? And one little girl said, oh, I'm only 16.
she was working at the fast food. And I said, that's fine, that's fine. I said, but,
um, if you know someone, make sure that we encourage them to do that
because it is a year that, um, we have to look at and look
at how it's gonna benefit everyone, and especially after october 1st,
that that's when a lot of changes are gonna happen. So we're gonna see what's gonna happen after
that time. And, um, and
I think that is, um, all I, all I have with the health and
um, human services is just making sure that, um, we keep an
eye on eye on the individuals, especially people that are disabled
and cannot do for themselves. We wanna make sure that the funds are
there to take care of them and, um, and, uh, individuals
in some of these, uh, rehab centers and things like that. So we just wanna make sure
that, um, keep our eye out, eye on those things and
that, um, their funds are not cut. So again, I told the
first we have to see what happens and everything. So, um, and that's all I
have about that right now. Alright. Thank you mu okay. What the changes,
well, everyone said about what I was going to say. I'm like, uh,
mr. Dooley, I'm looking forward to town hall. I didn't
think I'd ever say that , uh, but I'm looking forward
to that. And vaco is a very interesting lot of information
we, uh, learned. Uh, marie hung out with me in one session with ms. Bonner
and I'm on the transportation, uh, committee, and we're
trying to get to the point where these, uh, six year plan,
you know, uh, trying to get rid of that. So, you know, pot, the money's
there, what potty you go pull it out of. Uh, so we talked about that.
that's, uh, very interesting. So we have a good group of guys, uh,
on transportation and vaco's really. I mean, they really
work hard for us. So, uh, but again, thank you everyone
for coming out tonight. Uh, the lions club, uh,
I'm a member of the moose club, so we do some neat things
too. So, uh, but I know mark's been with the lions club for quite
a while, long time. And, uh, but anytime you can serve in any
capacity and help people is what it's all about. So
thank you for what you do. Thank you,
mr. Chavis. Well, I'm doing my report. Y'all have said
everything on my report, but I'm do it. I'm gonna do it anyway, so,
uh, okay. Um, okay. Vaco, be
small county, um, be small county three times
in the last five years. Only locality to earn this designation
more than once. Um, chesterfield gets the big county
award almost as much as we get the little county award.
um, so, um, we, we, we tell
'em, they, they look at us and that's right. And then try to keep up, copy us.
um, of course we'll have the presentation here in,
um, in november. And, uh, we're
actually gonna have the director of, um, administrator of, uh,
vaco's come. And he wouldn't let any of his, um, staff
come. He wanted to come himself this time. So, um,
of course we all went to vaco summit last week, and I'm
actually on the board of directors for vaco. So I got to, uh, spend
the night in richmond. And then, um, next morning we had,
um, the meeting in the vaco offices, which they've,
um, just redone and it's very nice. Um,
so, um, so they, what mr. Massengill
said about the, um, difference between,
uh, northern virginia and, and or really the
urban versus rural. Um, and I was talking to,
um, victor angry, who is a supervisor from
prince william county, um, who will be our president
next year of vaco. And, uh, I invited him to
come to denwoody. I hope I can get him in a combine, um,
and understand that what we've got here in denwitty,
we want to preserve. Um, and that they're
not a lot of similarities between prince william county and then woody. Um,
but they're both very important. Uh, what they do in prince william is very important.
um, and, um, but I'm glad they're doing
it and not me. Uh, so, uh, so we hope that,
I hope I can, um, get him down here. Um,
as chairman, you get to do some neat things. Um, and
so the five forks grand reopening was one of those things.
um, they had hot dogs, so that's always good when you can eat.
um, but, but I think, um, and we
had a, um, tourism meeting, um,
last week and we, we talked about five forks
a lot. And I think the, the real future for five, five forks
is, is our future. Um, you know, and, and as
we start to promote it and start to do more and more
stuff, um, right there. And then
second thing was the pickleball and basketball courts. Um,
mr. Basque, you know, made his basket, uh, didn't embarrass himself.
and, and I lived to get off the pickleball court without
embarrassing myself. Um, but that was a good event. And,
um, you know, I think we're gonna get some use out of them every day
and, uh, no doubt. So, yeah. Um,
town hall meetings, um, you know, we, we started, 'em
did 'em, and then we kind of had a break. And now with, with last year we did
'em. Um, and, you know, we hear a lot
of complaints about county government and
what, what does do? Spend all the money and, well,
kevin's got the dollar bill that I, I love.
and you know, when you break it down with the dollar bill, you really see where your money's
going. Um, and if, if you don't want that firetruck
to come to your house or that, uh, police car
or that ambulance, then you know, maybe we can make some
cuts in our budget. Um, but if you want public safety
or you want somewhere to send your kids to school, you look at schools and
public safety, uh, right. Much of that dollar bill.
so we want to relay that in our, in our town hall meeting.
um, you know, so, um,
certainly gonna have staff there. We're gonna invite staff, um,
you know, my two being the son of the county. Um,
you know, if, if mr. Dooley and mr. Chavis want
to come, we kinda shall, um, some
and even you dr. Moore, um, in that,
um, olive branch section. So, um,
it, it, I think the town hall meetings are gonna be really
well received this time. And then, um,
mr. Dr. Moores, um, sold it
a little bit and I'm gonna sell it again tonight. Um, come back for the seven
o'clock session. It's gonna be, um, some,
uh, well received, uh, special presentations, um,
tonight. And, um, so we hope, you know, you'll be able
to come back and join us. Um, and
my last comment, um, and, and
my wife reminded me of this, um, after her first day of school
yesterday, is, um, people just be nice. You
know it and you don't know what other people are going through when, when
you confront 'em, but it doesn't cost you anymore to be mice.
amen. Mm-hmm . Amen. So, so yeah, just be nice.
alright, we have a need to go into closed session.
the board will convene into a closed session under 2.2 dash 3 7 1 1 a one, personnel
appointments creator planning district metropolitan planning organization, ity
county industrial development authority, 2.2 dash 3 7 180 5,
business and industry development discussion concerning prospective business or industry, or the expansion
of existing business or industry where no previous announcements have been made. Economic development
prospects update 2.2 dash 3 7 1 1 a three, discussion or
consideration of the acquisition of real property for a public purpose or of the disposition of publicly held real property
where discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating
strategy of the public body acquisition of property for economic development. Disposition
of public property for economic development. May I have a motion to go into close please? So
moved. Second roll call dr. Moore. Aye. Mr. Chavis?
aye. Ms. Ebra bonner aye. Mr. Dooley? Aye. Mr. Lee
aye. All voting? Aye. Alright, we'll see you back at seven.
I need a motion to come out of closed session. So moved. Second
roll call please. Dr. Moore. Aye. Mr. Chavis? Aye. Ms. Ebra
bonner aye. Mr. Dooley? Aye. Mr. Lee? Aye. All voting
aye. Whereas this board convened in a closed meeting under 2.2 dash 3 7 1 1 a one.
personnel appointments creator planning district metropolitan planning organization, dewin county
industrial development authority, 2.2 dash 3 7 1 1 a five
business and industry development discussion concerning prospective business or industry or the expansion of
existing business or industry where no previous announcements have been made. Economic development prospects update
2.2 dash 3 7 1 1 a three discussion or consideration of the acquisition of
real property for a public purpose or of the disposition of publicly held real property where discussion
in an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the public body
acquisition or property for economic development disposition of public property for
economic development. And whereas no member has made a statement that there was a departure from the lawful
purpose of such closed meeting or of the matters identified in the motion discussed now being certified
that only those matters were identified in the motion were heard, discussed, or considered in the meeting. I need a motion to adopt
please. So move. Second. Can we have a roll call, please?
dr. Moore? Aye. Mr. Chavis? Aye. Ms. Ebra bonner. Aye. Mr. Dooley?
aye. Mr. Lee? Aye. All voting? Aye. Alright, thank you. Uh,
we're gonna, um, go back into recess for, um, till seven
o'clock and then we'll um, have the seven o'clock meeting. Thank
you.
I'd like to welcome everyone to the seven o'clock, uh, portion
of the, uh, de county board of supervisors meeting, uh, at
this time. Uh, first I'd like to welcome everyone here tonight.
um, and we're gonna have, um, a couple of
re resolutions and then we're gonna have a, a lifetime achievement
award. So, uh, at this time we're gonna go ahead and, and
get started with the, um, special recognition. Okay. We'll come down. Yep.
good evening. So the first person we're gonna recognize tonight on their retirement
is ben jones. Ben, where are you?
is he hiding? Okay, come on up, ben.
mr. Haw, can you also come up?
oh, you're still coming up anyway. Right?
so there, there are two type of people in denwoody, pe, people that
have city water and people that don't.
true. So, so ben is, is really the
epitome of denwoody county water authority. So ben, we have about 3,200
connections, give or take, you probably could tell me to the exact amount. Probably 33 50.
33 50. If you wanna know where any type
of infrastructure is to our sewer infrastructure, to our
water infrastructure, ben jones knows exactly where it is.
um, so he decided after a, a long career
with dene county water authority that it was time to call it quits.
and I can tell you just from working with the leadership
at the water authority, somebody like a ben jones is, is irreplaceable.
um, but ben, you honor us to be able to, to recognize you,
uh, on your retirement and, and can't, can't thank you enough for
all the work that you've done over the years. And chairman baha
is, is obviously the head of the dey county water authority, um,
on the board. And I know I probably, you can echo the comments that I I've
made. I'm not gonna put you on spot if you wanna say something, but if you wanna say something.
yeah, I'll feel a little. So, ,
um, when I came on the war authority,
uh, I didn't know ben. I knew his wife
through my contact with my nephew who worked
for her, but I didn't know ben.
and you know, it, I have found in my
life that getting to know someone slowly is much
better than making a, a rash judgment
with ben, you had to go look for him because he was
in the field or doing something else else. But I'll describe
ben this one matter. Ben
is the man, um,
in every organization and, and that I've
been associated with. There are those people
that you see and I'm kind of flashy. And then
there are those people who get the job done.
I slept real well at night because I never got a phone call
with a water problem because ben got,
and ben was the person that we had, we went to,
he knew who to call, he knew what to do, he knew where it
was, and he knew what materials to needed
and I can't say anything else from back then.
he was the man. Thank you. Thank you
mr. .
very, very well said. The, the only other additional piece I'll make and then we'll
ask the clerk to, to read your, your proclamation into record.
um, if you, you stop and think about the tremendous responsibility
of making sure that, that you deliver safe, uh, potable
drinking water to the public, um, and to make sure that that's
done in such a way that's extremely reliable. I'm, I'm always just awed
by the water authority and specifically the way they go about their
business. Again, ben, we wouldn't be the water authority we are today
without you. So thank you so much. Thank you madam
clerk. If you could read the, the proclamation.
whereas benjamin ben james jones ii has
faithfully served the citizens of dmw witty county through the dmw witty county water authority
for 38 years, holding numerous roles of increasing responsibility
and culminating his career as authority operations manager. And whereas
throughout his tenure, mr. Jones worked tirelessly to provide safe,
reliable drinking water to the citizens of dim witty county, consistently promoting
sound operations, preventative maintenance, and responsible stewardship of
public infrastructure. And whereas mr. Jones was a true team
player who was always willing to cooperate with dem witty county initiatives, sharing his
knowledge with summer interns through the dem county youth workforce development
initiative, and participating in the annual government day event where he helped
educate youth about the importance of water service in the community. And
whereas mr. Jones was a, a significant part of the county's economic
development team, often working alongside county staff when
meeting with prospective businesses and was frequently thought of as an extension of county
government due to his professionalism, insight, and commitment to supporting
growth and opportunity in dinwitty. And whereas mr. Jones'
leadership institutional knowledge and commitment to teamwork enhance daily
operations and emergency response alike supporting continuity
of service during routine maintenance system upgrades and unforeseen events.
and whereas his professionalism, integrity, and customer focused
approach earned the respect of colleagues, partner agencies in the community
he served. And whereas mr. Jones' exemplary service reflects
great credit upon himself, the denwity county water authority and denwoody county
as a whole. Now therefore be it resolved that the deity county board of
supervisors hereby recognizes and commends benjamin james jones ii
for 38 years of dedicated and distinguished service to the de witty county water
authority and to the citizens of de witty county and be it further resolved
that a copy of this resolution be spread upon the minutes of this meeting for all eternity.
thank you. Thank you. And ben, if you could stick around
after the tonight's recognitions. We're gonna take some more pictures up here at the end.
okay.
do we have a motion for the resolution? So moved. Second. Can
we have the roll call, please? Dr. Moore? Aye. Mr. Chavis?
aye. Ms. Ebra bonner. Aye. Mr. Dooley? Aye. Mr. Lee aye.
all voting? Aye. All right. The, uh, motion carries.
okay.
the second recognition that we have tonight, uh, is to mr. Jean jones
on his retirement. Jean, there you go. Thank
god you got your hat on . Sorry.
I I had just been named county administrator in 2006,
a little bit nervous coming to board meetings and jean had to give a report
and so can you take your hat off? Oh yeah. So
he, he took his hat off this young county administrator. I'm, I'm looking
and I'm asking ann, I'm like, where's gene? He's like, he's in the audience. I said, gene's
not here. Where is gene? So then I told gene, don't ever take your hat off anymore.
so you, so I, I started ty county, my
service here in november of 2002. And
my, my first couple days on the job, for those that remember dwayne
abernathy, dwayne was the building official. So dwayne said,
kevin, we've got, uh, interviews and being you're my boss, you're gonna be
on the interview panel with me, if that's okay. And so anything, anybody knows anything
about interviews, a there's never any pre-selection. And if you're interviewing six people,
you interview six people. The problem was gene interview,
that gene was about the second person we interviewed that day.
and not only when he finished did he blow our socks off, it
was the point of do we have to interview the other people? Uh, because gene
did such a phenomenal job, gene comes in and build inspections
starts a couple weeks after I got to dim witty. So my whole career
in dim witty county has been working with gene jones.
and since his retirement in july, um, I've been
kind of the, the interim gene jones.
so if I didn't know what gene was doing before, I really know what gene's doing now,
and, um, mr. Baja, you said it well about ben, the man,
uh, that's, that's gene jones. We, we had the privilege of
of really spending some time with gene and his family. The influence
that gene's family has had on gene as far as the person, the
man that he is, just the overall quality and character,
the work ethic, um, that he has is, is really that
of his family. And you couldn't be around gene, but
about 10, 15 minutes. And he would explain the work ethic that he
got from his family, his heart and soul is his family.
and we're just pleased that for the years, since 2002, that
we consider gene part of our family. And even though he's gone on to retirement
and doing some other things in life, he's still part of the family.
uh, so jean, we've got a, a resolution to proclamation that we want to,
to read into the record at this time. Madam clerk, if you can read that,
whereas charles eugene, jean jones jr. A proud native
son of denwoody county, graduated from denwoody county high school in 1979
and has faithfully served his community in both professional and volunteer capacities
throughout his this life. And whereas jean has faithfully served the
citizens of dim witty county for nearly 23 years, beginning his career in the office of
building inspections in november, 2002, and culminating his
distinguished tenure as director of general services. And whereas during
his tenure with deity county, gene provided oversight for numerous major projects,
including the development of the sports complex, the establishment of man
convenience sites, construction of the government center complex, the
creation of the robert and betty ragsdale community center, and the renovation
construction of each of the county's volunteer fire departments, thereby leaving a lasting
impact on the community. And whereas prior to his service
with dwi county, jean was a self-employed home builder for 18 years
demonstrating skill entrepreneurship and a commitment to quality craftsmanship
that laid the foundation for his future in public service. And whereas
jean also served his community as a dedicated member of the ford volunteer
fire department from 1980 to 1995, including five
years as fire chief from 1990 to 1995, exemplifying
leadership, courage, and a heart for service. And whereas throughout
his career, gene demonstrated an extraordinary work ethic and unwavering
commitment to excellence and a genuine dedication to public service.
and whereas jean led by example, earning the respect
and admiration of his colleagues and staff by never asking his team
to do anything that he himself was not willing to do, fostering a
spirit of teamwork, mutual respect and shared purpose.
and whereas his leadership integrity and institutional knowledge have
contributed greatly to the success and efficiency of denwity county's operations
and his presence will be deeply missed by his colleagues, staff, and the community
at large. Now therefore, be it resolved that the denwity county board of
supervisors on this 19th day of august, 2025 desires to express
their appreciation to charles eugene, jean jones jr. For his
many years of loyal, dedicated service to denwoody county and be it
further resolved by the board of supervisors of den witty county, virginia, that this
resolution be presented to charles eugene, jean jones jr. And a copy
spread upon the minutes of this meeting for all eternity.
um, I'd like to thank that man back there for teach you much trade. ,
um, has capital saying a big old family that's dalton.
uh, he basically told me everything I know about construction, so, um, he
deserved a whole lot of credit. That's it. I've got one comment.
um, we had a retirement party for jean at, uh, east
side and kevin did a presentation on jean
and had pictures from early high school years,
maybe yeah. Smaller than when he was smaller than that. And gene had
blonde hair. I probably passed his shoulders. He looked like a rock star.
and, uh, I I didn't remember that. I, I probably
had seen him like that, but, um, he, he definitely was our rock
star for a long time here in denwood and we appreciate amen. Um, what
he did for this county.
all right. Could we have a motion for the resolution? So
moved. Second. Can we have a roll call please? Dr. Moore?
aye. Mr. Chavis? Aye. Ms. Ebra bonner. Aye. Mr. Dooley? Aye. Mr. Lee?
aye. All voting? Aye. Alright.
no, look.
so, um, the lifetime achievement award is, um,
something that we, um, had talked about
and, um, so this is the first one. Um,
and I don't know how you start at the top and work, I guess we'll work our way down
now from, from this nominee, but I hope this
is a surprise. Um, I think it
will be. But, um, could we get betty bowen
to come forward, please?
surprise.
so, betty, surprise, um, I, I
can't begin really to talk about about betty. Um,
I've been fired and hired, I don't know how many times since
I started with betty. Um,
typically when she does fire me, it's outta love
and there's always a way that she says I can earn my spot back in, into
the county team. Uh, but in, in all seriousness, when
the board last year, it was about a year ago, the board was thinking
about the tremendous amount of people that we have in
denwoody county and just the, the value and the power
of expressing appreciation to those individuals that, that really
truly, when we talk about a lifetime achievement is
a, a life well spent. And initially
a whole lot of names, um, came forward. We've got a lot of people to
recognize. But again, um, dr. Moore
was the first to really say, hey, I, I've got one that I really, really, really
think is extremely special. And when he put betty forward,
it was quickly accepted that if you're going to do it, you know, set
the bar pretty high. Um, I've been told you
don't tell someone's age, but as I left church
on sunday, betty showed me her new car,
and she said, it's not new, but it's new to me. I said, I
got it betty as she was driving, and I said, I just want you to be careful.
she said, I'm 92, right? And you, you
said, I got a few good years left . So
betty, um, we can't thank you enough and we're so happy
to, to recognize you. Uh, our okra church family, we talk
about the county family right there, but I'm, I'm a member of okra united method church in
sun on sundays or every day. And I, there's a lot
of people here from oak oakland and then the community to support ms. Betty.
um, dr. Moore, do you wanna say anything before
we read? Lemme give you that,
you know, tonight is a special evening when you have an opportunity to
thank someone that has been a part of your community
for 90 years. What she has done for our community.
matter of fact, for us as a board, because I can promise you, when I first came on the board
14 years ago, betty made a point to say, these are some of the things that we
need to work on in did witty county. And, uh, but I'm appreciative of
that. Um, but she has put her heart and soul into
what she has believed in, and that is the history of this county
over the years. Um, and so just from
the board of supervisors, from dan and all of the others, and kevin, you know, this
is just our way representing the citizens of denwitty county
that we can just say, thank you. God has honored
us. Your church is here to honor you. The
citizens are here to honor you. This is not the end.
we know that. But we continue to work
with you going forward and we value our relationship
with you. And we pray that you value, um, us in your
relationship and in your life. May god continue to bless you. Thank you.
raised on a dairy farm in chesterfield county, elizabeth love betty bowen
has spent her life nurturing not only her own family, raising
five children and becoming a proud grandmother to seven and
great-grandmother to nine, but also the broader community she has
so faithfully served. Mrs. Bowen dedicated 25 years of
professional service to jcpenney department store, and served as a den
mother and adult trainer for the cub scouts. Instilling values of
leadership and service in youth, a charter member of the deity
county historical society since its founding in 1985,
she served as a director for 17 years, volunteered as a docent
at the historic courthouse, and championed the preservation and
maintenance of this treasured landmark. Her passion for history and education
is further demonstrated in her coordination of the march 6th, 1997
student field study of denwoody county architecture. An effort involving
300 students and eight buses traveling 86 miles across
the county. She assisted with historic structure surveys,
chancery cause digitization for the library of virginia, and played
a leading role in the publication of denwoody county, virginia heritage,
1752 to 2006. She also worked closely with
lineage societies such as the daughters of the american revolution,
united daughters of the confederacy and sons of confederate veterans.
to offer historical and genealogical education to the public,
mrs. Bowen's efforts helps secure a grant from the cameron foundation for
the conservation study of the denwoody county historical society and courthouse archives.
she co-ordinated the county civil war su
quincentennial committee and contributed research for the placement of
historic highway markers. Most notably honoring elizabeth keekley,
a devoted member of the okra united methodist church. She has served as
a sunday school teacher, choir member, youth mentor, communion
committee member, and was instrumental in establishing the church library.
she has also served as a member of the dimity county tourism advisory committee
and was named dimity county senior citizen of the year in 2016,
a proud member of the j ton club since 2006.
she was named ton of the year in two in 2015
for her tireless service, unwavering civic engagement, and deep commitment
to preserving the history and heritage of denwitty county. We are proud to
honor mrs. Betty bowen with the denwitty county lifetime achievement award.
ladies and gentlemen, I have one more individual to call up and it's the honorable
kim taylor with the house of delegates who also would like to make
a presentation. Kim ms. Bowen,
it's an honor to be here tonight to to join into this recognition of you.
you are truly an example to us all. To, from your,
from everything that you've done. It's, it's such an inspiration that
and, and a reminder that we need to, each of us needs to serve in our own way.
so I just wanna recognize you with a certificate from the house of delegates
and thank you for all your service to denwoody county for all these years. Thank
you.
I don't have anything written down. Okay?
this is a surprise. I want you to know
that I greeted all my fellow church members
and you know, every one of 'em have told a story this morning.
they have told me they were here for something that's going up in
somebody's field and that's not why they here. But I do thank
you. I thank each and every one of you for you have bestowed
this on me. I love the roses.
so I don't know what else to say other than just thank you,
thank you for the recognition. And I do
want to say something about jean jones.
uh oh, I'm not gonna use profanity. .
jean jones will never, ever
be replaced in this county. He has given
so much and he has done so much for this county.
uh, we had, uh, angel young gi who heads up
the children's service and
she says, I want to know something. How is it
when I call jean jones? He takes a week, 10
days to get to me, but when you
call him, he's here in 10 minutes, .
I said, well, angel is like this. You and I work in a
very old, old building, the
historic courthouse. She worked there 12 years. I worked there
18. And I said, when I call, when you call
jean, and when I call jean, jean knows
it's something pertaining to the historic courthouse. And
him coming in 10 minutes may fix a $5 problem,
but if he waited 10 days or two weeks, that
could be 5,000 bucks. So
gene, I love you. We going to miss you. I'm going
to miss you. And I know they miss you already. What miss y'all
do, I love you. I love you, I love you
and I love all my church families and I forgive you for telling the story.
, thank
I am coming.
um, we're gonna take a, a five minute recess, so if
there's anybody that, uh, came for the presentation that would like to
hit, I, we certainly welcome you to state to the hearings. Um,
but if, if you would like five minutes to, um, to
go we, or yeah, and if any pictures
with the board, um, being a gene, you're
welcome to come up here and I don't know why you would, but no.
um, oh, the family, yeah. At this time, uh, five minute recess.
alright, we're gonna go ahead and, and get started, um, back
with the public hearings. So, um, we'll go ahead and we'll get started,
uh, with case fv dash 25
dash one, mr. Bassett.
good evening, mr. Chair. Mr. Massengill and board members,
uh, the first case we're holding public hearing on this evening is
a request to vacate an alley.
the applicants this evening, uh, requesting the alley vacation
are ash abbey enterprises and kag homes
llc. And their agent is here to represent them this evening. Mr. Hampton
gordon, again, uh, they're requesting to
vacate the alley between, uh, multiple tax map
numbers and the alley is of course located on
the east side of route one approximately 850
feet south of the intersection of route one and first street
or route six 50. The property on
both sides of the alley, uh, contains approximately 1.69
acres and the property is zone a two agricultural
general. As indicated in the denwoody county comprehensive
land use plan. The subject property is located within the rural
conservation area, which allows for low density residential
uses for this general area of the county. The applicants
are proposing to consolidate the subject lots and develop
a single family residence on the property. The
existing alley that runs through the center of the subject lots needs to be vacated
to allow for the affirmation. Lots to be consolidated
into one residential building lot.
uh, the alley itself is, uh, not improved. It's
an unimproved alley and just shows on a,
on a plat. Um, again, it's, it's not improved
as provided for in virginia code section 15.22006,
the local governing body may vacate streets and alleys to
accommodate development in order to discontinue the alley.
the board of supervisors may adopt an ordinance of vacation
as attached to the, to this memorandum.
after the public hearing changes may be made to the ordinances as appropriate.
uh, staff this evening is recommending approval of the request to vacate the alley.
and again, um, the ordinance to, uh, vacate
the alley is included, uh, in your packet.
I'd be glad to answer any questions at this time.
any questions at this time? Okay,
not, thank you mr. Chair.
alright. Would the applicant like to come forward with
hampton gordon? 14, 100 boyden plank road? I'm here, uh, on
behalf of kg homes and, uh,
I just wanna say as always, uh, mark and his team always do a great job.
um, there's not much, much more that I can say, uh, mainly
here to answer questions. Uh, this property, as you know, um, is
at the corner, southeast corner of route six 50. Uh, and, and, uh,
route one and dewitt, um, I don't know if I can,
can I use this here? Probably not. Probably not. Yeah. Can you scroll
down to the tax map? Um,
no. Do you have a tax map in the packet? Do you have a tax map in your pa
packet of the property? We do.
I just, just wanna make it, I saw it knowing that mckinney avenue is,
is, uh, the only improved street there. This
property front's on boyden plank road.
it's on the east side. Uh, all of these streets, this, uh, randolph
avenue, third street, all of the other streets are unimproved. Um,
it basically, it's a subdivision that was never developed. Mm-hmm . The alleyway
is, is not there. That's right. Right there. There's not much, much, not
much that, that can be done with the alley. So, um,
I don't know if there's some history behind everything. It was created in,
uh, 1898. Uh, mr. Mckinney, this is just a portion
of it. Um, all of these lots, 50
by a hundred, a lot of 'em are. Um, and
so all we're trying to do is consolidate those lots and put 'em together to get a one
building lot out of it. So, anyway, any
questions? Questions at this time?
okay. We might get you to come back up after to, um, public hearing.
sure. And the owner is here. He is got building plans if you, if you wanna see what
type of house he, okay. Um, at this time
I'm gonna open the public hearing. Do we have anyone signed up?
yes, mr. Chairman, we have connie bress ine. Okay.
good afternoon or evening to everyone. Um, I've now been to one of these,
the, I've never been to one of these before, but
I would like to respectfully request or move that this
request be, be tabled until the next meeting, because
this land that you guys are saying that this person can have
belongs to my family, and it's not an alley and
it's not anything that can be consolidated because my grandfather,
um, my, my fa mother is 90 years old
and they moved here when she was 12 years old. And we have
ridden horses and motorcycles and everything through there, and
we pay taxes on these paper alleys that don't
exist. So, for all of our lives, we've paid taxes on these paper
alleys and, um, they don't exist. They're
our land. They're our timber. And, um,
I have not had an opportunity to speak with mr. South hall or anything.
I spoke with mark this afternoon because I didn't,
uh, understand what was going on. I can understand that, that,
um, the person that bought that little spot in the
middle of our 165 acres, uh, needs
an easement. But I live on property in north
denwitty and I, we had to buy our easement to be
able to get to our landlocked piece of land. And there's
another house back there, and that person has to
pay easement to two of us to get to his land. And
so I'm now 65, and we've been, my
grandfather has a gas station. Jim carnes owns it now. And, um,
I, I feel like that in 2017 when, um, this,
um, this map was compiled from bits and pieces and things
from the nine, early 19 hundreds when three guys got together
and decided they want to make dewitt into a village, uh, a
township, so that the train that the purpose of it was
so that the train station could be built at dewitt and you would,
um, catch the train at dewitt, but mckinney became
the township and the train station was built at
mckinney. So you can't have two train stations, two train depots, five
miles apart from one another. But, um,
as I said, and I don't wanna repeat myself, my
mother is 90 years old and they moved here when she was 12.
and we've owned that land, it's been in our family, and we've paid
taxes on it since she was 12 years old. And now,
because this person bought this little piece of land in the middle there,
all of those pieces of our acres that
we pay taxes on, and by the way, all of that
land there is farm use, land use that's in the land use,
and that's how we pay taxes on it. Um,
I just don't see how someone can come up and say, oh, well, you know,
that's a paper alley, so we want the county to vacate it because
we want that land so we can build a house because the little teeny tiny piece
of land that's there does not meet building requirements
for di witty county for putting a, a structure on a piece of land. It has to
be bigger than that. So I just would like to, again,
I move that this be tabled until the next meeting, please.
so that I can have a, my family can have an opportunity to speak. Mark
said I need to talk to tyler. So, um, mr. Alfa.
sorry, tyler. So anyway, uh, so that's what I would like to have a opportunity to
do, to give me this month to find out exactly what's
going on. I mean, legally
the map that you use to do something like this has to be less than 25 years
old. And the map that you guys, whoever's using this, the map that
was shown, those are bits and pieces that were put together from like
18, 18 98. I think the gentleman before me said that, um,
you know, there were no alleys there and it was created in the late
18, it was in the early 19 hundreds. So, I mean, if you look at that
plot and you go up there and you look what hundred glass lives and where bot
memorial is, I can promise you that there is no, um, active,
um, park across the street because that was a plan that was
made in like 1920 and it never came to pass.
so I, I feel like that we need more time to understand
why it would be okay for you guys to vacate alleys
that don't, that don't exist, so that someone else can have,
um, a acre or two of our, our land that we pay taxes
on. So I guess, dan, you have to say, I, I
move that it be tabled, please. So I can understand more. My
family can understand why. Okay. Thank
you. Um, and, and we're gonna discuss it, I said
as we move forward. So thank you. So you'll let us,
let us know what's going on. Well stay here. We're going to, yeah. We'll gonna, we'll make sure
we, we're going to get to it as soon as we get through with public comment.
okay. I hope you understand what I'm saying. Yeah. Yes, ma'am. Thank you.
all right. Thank you. Respectfully, everyone, thank you so much for listening.
yes, ma'am. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Do we have anyone, mr. Chairman? I have no one else signed up.
okay. Um, would the applicant
like to come back and, and say anything?
so there's quite a few people that own parcels in that
what was supposed to be a neighborhood. Um,
there are those, the houses that are on mckinney avenue, those were
part of this subdivision. They're, they're owned by other people also. So I just wanna
put that out there. The main thing that we're concerned about is that
if the county will basically state
that they don't have rights to those areas, those alleys, the streets, I mean, they were
never conveyed. So if, if they weren't conveyed to the county,
and if you give up any right. That you have to it, then they can negotiate
whatever, whatever they need to do, whatever dealings they need. If they have a a, an
issue with that, they own it, then they can
come to my client and say that, you know, they own it and then they can determine
whether or not it's theirs or not. So, uh, we just are
looking as far as the county goes to, to get an idea from you all that,
that you don't, you don't own it. You, you don't have any, any
need for the, the alleyway ever. So that that's,
I mean, it's through this one strip of land mm-hmm . So we're not looking for the entire alley
through the whole subdivision to be done. So, um,
I just, they can take care of it on their own. Uh,
and, and I'm, and I apologize, I don't know the, the, the young lady's name that just spoke, but,
but, but her and, and, uh, and, uh, mr. Williams here can, can discuss
that and see what they wanna do. We're just looking for the county's side
of it to, to be vacated, so. Okay. Any
questions? Um, of hampton? Hampton,
go ahead. Just, just a question as far as ownership currently,
who owns this parcel completely? Your client? He owns
everything. So, so when it's deeded it's deed as lots.
okay. It doesn't specify the, the, the
unimproved streets or the alleyways or anything like that. That's the, that's the whole reason
we're here. But it's part of your tax bill.
the alleyway? No, the alley, the alleyway. It
states in the deeds. So who, who actually is anybody paying taxes on the alley?
that's kind of what I'm trying to get at. Not here. I can't
answer that as far. They're paying for the lights just for the lots. Yeah. So if they're, if you
vacate the alley, I mean, they're not paying the taxes on it right now. Right. So if you
vacate on both sides of that. Yeah. Yeah. Their lights, our lights are on both sides,
so, okay. Well, we have lights, we have lots on both sides. Um, if please,
if, if, um, mr. Gordon's got the, the,
um, flooring, and so, uh, and we're gonna discuss it. We're gonna get
to the bottom of everything. Well, and I mean, the whole purpose of doing this is because they own, uh, mr. Williams
owns lots on both sides of the alley. Right. Just for this strip.
okay. Well, I'm not talking about the entire subdivision. I'm just talking about these, uh,
eight lights okay. On both sides of the alley. Alright. Yeah.
that's, that's all, that's the only section we're talking about. We're not talking about the rest of the subdivision.
thank you. Um, the, the
land behind these lots at face, right? One,
do the, I guess, do they have access points of access
other places other than right. One
meaning the, the lights that we're talking about tonight, right. Of ways, right of ways to,
there, there are strips, they're private roads. Oh, I I
say private roads, they're plaid strips, you know, that's all they're unimproved, but they're,
you know, they own property that touches route one.
okay. Mr. Williams owns property that fronts on route one. Right. Okay.
and, and as far as the unimproved streets, they don't own the unimproved streets, so
therefore, you know, as far as ownership of that, they're not claiming ownership
of that. Now, there is a house that's behind his property that's
on two lots, and the driveway runs through one of those, uh,
platted streets, and it goes back, uh, behind it.
so let's see. It's slide.
and that's got a deeded easement to it.
no, I didn't. No, no. It just follows that it follows randolph avenue.
it, can you put that back up please?
so I can't even see that. Um, yeah. Do you have it in your packet here?
we do, mm-hmm . So right under where it says route one,
right. Go elevator.
that right here? Mm-hmm . This is right.
that's randolph avenue that comes up running north
out to route one. There is a driveway there, there are two
parcels there. They would be lot nine and 10. I don't have 'em labeled there, but,
um, just below, just to the south of lot eight there, it's
nine and 10. There is an existing home on that, on those two lights.
and its driveway runs through randolph avenue out
to route one. Okay. Okay. Alright.
any other questions or anything?
pipe. Thank you.
all right. Um, any discussion?
I guess for me it's probably the, the concern that I have is at the 11th hour
we have an individual that comes forward and says, I,
I have a stake in this matter. And that's where, that's where my difficulty
comes into play. Um, that it, I don't know that it hurts
to take a little time and let mr. Southall
work with the two clients here to see
where we can go and then come back in 30 days from now. That's
my opinion. Yeah. Um,
I, I'd just like to say I'm, I'm the same. I don't think 30 days is gonna hurt
us. Um, uh, I would give, uh,
uh, connie and them time to, to meet with, uh,
mr. Sal. Um, if, if, if there's
any validity, um, then we find it out and, um,
let's just make the right decision, uh, with all the information.
um, at I, you know, we can
defer, um, for 30 days and we don't have to
have a public hearing. Isn't that correct in mr. Shaw?
I guess, what are our options moving forward? Well, so the public hearing's been open tonight.
I don't know that you officially closed the public hearing yet, but at, at the point when
you're ready to, um, you could close the public hearing tonight
and you, you could table it until the next meeting and you could decide it
then, um, or you could make a decision tonight.
um, I am, you know, I think the, the issue really that the board's
being asked tonight is to, to vacate, um, any public
right of way that may exist on that, that, you know, alley there.
um, you know, if there's a dispute about ownership, that's generally a, a civil
matter between the two landowners, I'm more than happy to talk to ms.
bine and, and hear all her concerns. And, um, and to do that as
well as to meet with, with mr. Gordon. And, and, um, and, and mr.
hinshaw and, um, and mr. Williams, um,
to, to, to hear any concerns that they may have. But it, you know, it, it wouldn't be my place to adjudicate
any private property dispute, but I, I'm happy to, to, to meet, to
meet with folks. Um, and, and, and it, it's, it's
at, at the pleasure of the board. You, you could continue it for 30 days or you could decide
tonight. I would suggest that if you do continue it for
30 days, you may want to close the public hearing tonight at, at
the point when everybody, you feel like everybody said everything that they need to say. Um,
and then at that point, you would not have to advertise or hold the public hearing next time as it's been
held tonight. Okay.
public hearing's closed,
um, discussion. What, what, what's the pleasure of the board?
I'll make the motion that it's tabled so that we can get clarification on, on the property ownership
and, and err on the side of caution. Okay. For
the, for the issues that's been raised. And I second that. Alright. May
I have a motion on the second? Uh, go. We have just mr.
south, are you okay with the table or continued to
continue? I, I think, I think what they mean when they say table is to
continue it to the next regular meeting. Is that mr. ? Is that yeah.
yes. That's my intent. And second. Okay. Continue it. Alright. Roll
call dr. Moore. Aye. Mr. Chavis? Aye. Ms. Ebra
bonner. Aye. Mr. Dooley? Aye. Mr. Lee? Aye. All voting aye.
and ms. Brite, um, it,
it's incumbent on you to meet with, um, mr. Soha
and anything that you want done before next month? Because
if, if next month nothing has been done, we're going, we're
gonna make a decision, uh, we're gonna probably make a decision next month
we'll meet with, okay. See what's
going on. Alright. Thank you.
alright, we're gonna move, um,
along to b and it's conditional use permit
request case c dash 25 dash five.
and what's the,
okay. Thank you mr. Chair. Uh, the next case we're, um,
holding public hearing for this evening is c dash 25 dash five.
the applicant is, um, selco partnership, uh,
verizon wireless, uh, their agents here this evening to
represent the application as well. Uh, the request,
uh, for the conditional use permit is to construct 195 foot
steel mono pole wireless telecommunications tower, where
the four foot lightning rod again for verizon wireless.
um, just to note, there would be, uh, four additional broadband carriers
that would be allowed, um, through verizon wireless. Uh,
to locate on the subject, uh, monopole tower,
uh, the property as you can see is located on ezine road and church
road and it's approximately 7.4 acres in
size. The lease area would be, uh, 10,000 square feet.
uh, the site plan, uh, general site plan for the property, um,
they're be utilizing the existing entrance.
uh, that's for the, uh, subject property currently
for the subject residence on the property. And again, they would be,
um, going into the property and then heading,
uh, northwest, uh, to the proposed tower site.
uh, all the, uh, the parcel,
uh, of course has agricultural forestal uses and
of course the existing residence. Uh, the adjoining properties
on the west side of nagine road are all zoned a two
agricultural general. And the properties, uh, across
nagine road are all zoned are our residential conservative.
uh, of course the dimity county zoning ordinance does allow for the location
of the proposed use, uh, communications tower with station
within the a two agricultural general zoning district.
and, uh, as long as a conditional use permit is approved for the
tower, uh, there are, um,
requirements within the ordinance, uh,
that, uh, the board is to review, um, when
locating a telecommunications tower. And I'll just briefly
go through those. Um, a to encourage the location of
antenna and towers in areas where the adverse impact
on the community is minimal. B, to accommodate wireless
telecommunication services to county residences, businesses
and travelers, c strongly encourage the coal lake
location of telecommunication equipment on existing towers
d to maximize the use of existing structures. E
make available public property to facilitate the deployment of
wireless telecommunications facilities. F minimize
adverse visual impacts effects of wireless telecommunication
facilities through careful sighting and design and g
minimize adverse impacts on the natural scenic, environmental,
historic, cultural and recreational resources of the county.
uh, as previously noted, the applicant did explore opportunities
for co-locating on the existing towers in the general area,
but co-locating on these towers does not achieve the
coverage goals, uh, for that portion of the county.
the a applicant's plan does comply with all federal, state, and local
regulations regarding providing future co-location of equipment
on the existing telecommunications tower and equipment site.
it's the applicant's intent to develop telecommunication network
within the framework established by the above stated goals.
additionally, there will be no impact on the subject in adjacent properties
concerning by right or agricultural forestal and residential
uses, um, outside of the compound area. Those
uses will be able to continue, um, on,
um, looking at zoning ordinance requirements. Uh, mainly the
setbacks you can see on the subject site plan that
they meet all the required setbacks. Um, all antennas
support structures must be set back 110% of the height of the
structure from all property lines. They meet that they're 219
feet at closest to any property line. And the
proposed location of the tower does meet, uh, uh,
the setback, uh, that's required, uh, for, um,
a dv abutting property.
also looking at residential structures, uh, this,
the towers to be set back 200% of the height of
antenna on the tower to the nearest residential structures
and, uh, cannot be less than 400 feet. Um,
and this tower is cited 401 feet from the, uh,
closest residential structure, which is actually the property
owner's dwelling.
um, land development committee, uh, reviewed the subject
tower and the land development committee did not have any, uh,
comments related to it. And, uh, were in support of
locating the tower on the subject. Property.
uh, planning staff has reviewed the conditional use permit request and
is satisfied that with appropriate conditions, the impacts of the
proposed wireless telecommunications tower are addressed.
and the issuance of the permit would be in compliance with the intent, purpose, and
design of chapter 22. The zoning ordinance,
specifically section 22 dash two staff has reviewed
the conditional use permit and, um, is recommending
approval of the tower, uh, with, uh, certain conditions.
and I'll go over those, uh, conditions. The applicant
shall limit the height of the height and type of the tower, uh, to 199
foot monopole tower. And, um, with
the subject lease area, the wireless telecommunication
tower facility owner shall, um, negotiate
in good faith, uh, with the county, uh, to,
uh, locate broadband or other equipment on like
services, uh, to third parties. The monopole
tower shall be engineered to accommodate five wireless broadband
providers and their equipment. And the monopole tower
will be in compliance with the attached site plan that
we have on the slide this evening. Um, ensuring that they meet all
of the ordinance required setbacks and the conditional
use permit shall be reviewed at least every two years for compliance
with the subject conditions and the zoning ordinance requirements.
and the applicant shall maintain compliance with all federal, state, and county
rules and regulations related to the wireless telecommunication
tower facility use.
uh, the planning commission at their uh, july meeting
did recommend approval of the tower, uh, with the subject conditions,
uh, uh, with the exception
of the planning commission. Did recommend, uh, deleting, uh,
one of the conditions that I, that I went over, um,
that condition being, um, in the
staff report that would be, uh, uh, condition
two where the, um, the county cannot require,
uh, that the applicant, uh, per, um,
virginia code cannot require that the applicant, uh, lease space
to the county on that tower. Um, and therefore
they, uh, by code, uh, we can't require that. So they recommended
removing that condition so that the planning commission recommended conditions,
um, that condition is, is removed. And again, the
planning commission did recommend, uh, approval of the tower with the conditions.
be glad to answer any questions. Mr. Bassett, the condition that
was removed, and maybe I'm confused here, but was that about a bond for the, the tower being
placed there at the pc? You're,
you're referring to a condition number two and I think there was something on there about county yes, possibly co-locating?
yes. I think maybe that's the new condition number two. Yes. Yes. And I, I think the applicant
had said that they don't believe state law allows for that. And I think it was
for the bonding requirement. Yes, I I that's correct. I think there may be is a
case that could be made to the contrary, but in light of the county's other cases, I think the
county decided to acquiesce, um, to, to what the applicant was saying there.
yes, that's correct. I'm sorry. Thanks for clarifying that.
okay. Questions.
alright, thank you. Mark.
would the applicant like to come full with for representative?
good evening chairman lee, members of the board. Uh, for
the record, my name's steve roman. I'm local attorney on behalf of
verizon wireless on matter cupc 25 5.
um, I have with me tonight sean kai, who site development
manager as well, who can answer questions if I cannot.
um, I'm going to be brief and try not to duplicate, uh, mark's
presentation. We do have a short powerpoint. Want to thank mr. Bassett
for his comments. Uh, so hopefully I can work this, uh,
powerpoint. There we go. Good. So on your screen you'll see the location
of the site. Um, it is at 1 4 3 2 5
nam ezine road. Uh, you'll see it's, uh,
the parcel fronts the road. You also note that it's heavily wooded to
the rear portion of the parcel. The parcel's about seven and a half, seven and a half acres.
and the, uh, little yellow dot there is the proposed location
of the compound. Um, you'll see the access road that comes
into the right of, of the screen there and it we'll be using that road,
uh, to access the property.
um, so I mentioned seven and half acres zoned a two. Um,
the cup was required for communication tower with the station.
this slide shows that we meet all setbacks as noted, uh, by
mr. Bassett. I'm gonna go through this pretty quickly 'cause some of this is repetitive.
um, here's the compound plan 60 by forty five, a hundred ninety nine
foot tower monopole construction at 1 99. There's no requirements
for lighting the actual facility be 1 95 with a four foot antenna.
it'll be built strong enough to provide
for four additional colocators, which is required, uh, by the county as well.
um, moving right along. Um, here's the screening. Um, this
modifies your landscaping a little bit. We have screening on the front and the side because in
the rear, as you noted on the earlier pictures, all heavily tree heavy trees. So we
want to take down trees to plant new trees. So that's, that's a little bit of
a modification. Um, here's a profile on the tower
again, monopole, uh, galvanized steel, uh, no lights required fence
count compound. This is a quick, uh, overview of the
red circle. There is where our site will be located. Uh, to the north is
a green circle. That is a county tower. We're already on that. The other two yellow circles
are proposed to other locations. So we're trying to fill a gap for the county
here to provide coverage along ine road.
um, so this is much needed. Real quick overview. Uh, today
71% of adults, 82% of children only have wireless phones. People
are no longer having landlines. 77% of all nine 11 calls
come from a land, uh, uh, wireless phone. And, uh, amazingly,
uh, wireless devices per household. There's like 25
wireless devices, people have multiple devices. Uh, we conducted
a balloon test and you'll see from this quick slide, uh, the site
was only visible from these three locations that are in pink and scrolling
through there. This one here, you can see it, um, from an
zaine road, probably the most visible spot right there. And
the next two, you'll see them see the tower on the horizon,
uh, barely visible. Um,
so very quickly I ran through that fast. But, um, I would ask, um,
that, uh, you approve c 25 5. We have staff
support, we have planning commu, uh, commission recommendation for
approval. The conditions are acceptable with the, uh, change out of
condition two as mentioned earlier, to remove the bonding requirement.
and, um, I'll stand by for questions. Thank you for your time.
any questions right now? Okay, I'd like, I'd like to
get you back up, out to public comment. Sure. Call. Thank you sir. Yep. Okay.
open public comment. Do we have anyone signed up?
um, I have mr. Roma signed up. That was all I had signed up.
okay. Alright. Um, yeah, if I could get you to come back
up. Sure. Any questions from anyone?
alright, I guess, um, couple of questions.
the, um, tower that, the last tower that we approved in
sutherland, is that actually operational now for verizon?
yes. Could I call up, uh, my site development manager? 'cause I'm, I, I do not know.
yep. Sean, you wanna come up?
go ahead and introduce yourself. Uh, I'm sean hai. Hang, hang on one
second. I'm going, um, close the public hearing in part and
now we'll go with questions. Sorry about that. Go ahead. I'm sean
hai with verizon and bci, the southern and tarot is on air. Should be on
air soon, so it's okay. Okay. Alright. And then, um,
your coverage plan, um, and, and this is while I got your attention.
um, we've, you've got a coverage plan for verizon
for, for the whole of denwoody county? Yes we do. Okay.
um, is that, uh, a public document?
uh, I can't share, we can't, by law we're not allowed to share the r propagations
maps because other competitors can, can get it. But we can give you a pretty close
to idea of what, you know, were missing areas, but just from a person that has
to, um, go out on his porch to talk on his cell phone,
the plan ain't working. Um, and um,
you know, I know you're trying to fill a gap on the
amelia then whi line. Um, but
almost the village of denwitty has trouble with cell service.
um, and probably, I'm not gonna show hands 'cause I don't want to do that,
but, um, cell phone service in denwoody county is not
very good. Um, we have plans to take care of all that rest for the rest of this
year. We'll be coming forward to you in the next couple months, every month if you can do it. We'll
dig your best friend. Thank you, sir. Ms. Lee, can
I, before he goes back, can I ask sean, sean, is
there equipment on that tower in southern? There are people in this room that are waiting
for that tower to go active. Hopefully we'll get that on within the next 30 days.
the next 30 days. So you're putting equipment on the tower now? Yes, sir.
okay. Thank you sir. Just wanted to make sure.
thank you for support. And I guess, how quickly is this tower gonna be built
and electrified? What? That, that's a full to
what's a word? Unru when within six
months on air. Six months. Okay. On air. We'll have a
bill before then, but six months on air. Alright. Okay.
any other questions? Alright, thank you. Thank you. Thank
you. Six months.
alright, what
you pledge? Alright, I'll read be
resolved that in order to assure compliance with the virginia code section 15.2 dash 2286
a seven. It's stated that the public purpose for which the resolution is initiated is
to fulfill the requirements of public necessity, convenience, general welfare, and
good zoning practice. I move that the conditional use permit c dash 25
dash five as presented be approved with the conditions by the board of supervisors.
we have a second. Second. Can we have the roll call please?
dr. Moore? Aye. Mr. Chavis? Aye. Ms. Ebra bonner. Aye. Mr.
dooley? Aye. Mr. Lee? Aye. All voting? Aye. Alright, thank you.
all right. We're gonna move along, uh, to rezoning request p dash
25 dash eight flowers solar, llc,
mr. Best. Thank
you mr. Chair. Uh, flower
solar, llc is the applicant. And just for
the public's information, uh, flowers, llc is owned
by green volt power actualize, llc.
uh, the subject property that we're looking at this evening, um, is
currently zoned a two agricultural and there is
a portion of the property, uh, in the center just north of the,
uh, railroad tracks, uh, that is zoned m two industrial
general. So the property is technically, uh, split
zone. The request this evening is to rezone the subject
property to the sed district. That's our utility scale solar
energy district. And the size of the property is 196
acres.
um, the subject slide that we have above everything highlighted
in blue is where the, um, if the, uh,
applic application is approved, um, the, all the
area in blue would be where the solar panels would
be located on the subject property. Um,
in our comprehensive plan, uh, the project is also, uh,
divided into two, um, areas within our comprehensive
plan for, um, planned our planned growth area
to the north in the orange color and then in the purple
color, uh, violet color there. Um, that's within
our comprehensive plan. That's the employment center area.
so again, the property is split zoned and has two different,
um, growth areas, uh, for our comprehensive plan.
uh, the project, uh, again,
is being developed, uh, to operate a 20 megawatt, uh,
solar energy generation project. And, uh,
on the 196 acres and,
uh, the project would include, uh, you can see highlighted in
purple, uh, would include a 75 foot setback from
all perimeter property lines. Um, and the project
was proposing to preserve existing vegetation as
well as trees, uh, to provide, uh, screening of the,
of the project. And, uh, where the natural vegetation doesn't
exist. Um, they would provide, um, for,
uh, the screening with, uh, planted vegetation.
and that's the area primarily that's highlighted in green on
the slide there. Uh, the project
would have one access point off of route four 60 and then,
uh, to from the south. And then from the north, uh, the project,
uh, would be have one access point off of walker's pond drive.
the project is proposed to tie into the existing dominion
distribution grid on the north side of four 60.
and this connection would consist of four poles owned by dominion
and one pole owned by the project. And again, these
poles will support the distribution connection line,
transformers, circuit breakers and relays. And the electric lines
to get to the interconnection point, uh, will all be
underground. They would, uh, bore under the railroad
and again, tie into the existing, uh, dominion distribution
line. Uh, the solar panels,
again highlighted in blue, would cover approximately 75.8
acres of the site. And the fenced area is approximately
121 acres. The panels cover approximately
39% of the leased area and 62.3%
of the total fenced area.
um, just to briefly go over the, uh, zoning again of the property.
all the surrounding property is primarily, um,
to the west and north of the property is also in agricultural.
and then of course, walmart distribution across is zoned industrial,
as well as, um, the industrial property to the east,
um, dull concrete, um, that's owned industrial
as well.
uh, the primary purpose of the solar energy district,
uh, is to outline the process and requirements for the construction installation
operation of solar energy projects in the county in
a manner that promotes economic development, ensures the protection of health,
safety and welfare, while also avoiding adverse
impacts to the agricultural lands, endangered species
habitats, conservation lands, and other sensitive lands.
uh, we went over the comprehensive plan, uh, for the subject property.
and just to note, uh, as far as our planning areas, there's
also items in the comprehensive plan, uh, that the applicant discussed
related to our natural environment, sensitive lands and
habitat, air and light, environmental sustainability and
resilience land use. Our future land use framework
went over that with our comprehensive plan areas and our,
uh, those two areas, our employment center area and our phase
growth area, um, impacts
include, uh, natural resources and they've done
all their work on that as attachments as part of their application.
um, just to note, agricultural acreage, again,
the project lease area is approximately 196 acres
with 121 acres being within the fenced
area of the project. The
air acreage used for the project, um,
um, that 121 acres within
the fenced area and 8.8% of that
area, or 17.3 acres, is actively being used
for agricultural production. Majority of the project
site does not contain prime farmland, soils,
or soils of statewide importance. The amount of prime farmland
that is currently being used for agricultural that is impacted by
the project is 15.1 acres of
the total project area.
uh, the project has been designed to hopefully minimize the active agricultural
acreage used, uh, by locating behind the norfolk southern rail
line and the agricultural land in front of the rail line is not being
impacted. In addition, the site was identified by looking
at for sites with access to part of the distribution center with
electric capacity, as well as minimizing the use of farmland.
um, I went over the visual impacts of the project again,
uh, there's a 75 foot buffer, um, utilizing the
existing vegetation and the one highlighted area
that would be replanted, um, to screen the project,
um, from, uh, route four 60.
um, just to note, um, the traffic impacts
of the project, uh, the project did commission a traffic
study as part of the, uh, their application
and, um, again, the, the
project would be, um, have two access points,
one off of route four 60, and then one off of walker's pond lane.
um, vdot did review their traffic study and,
um, did request that they limit the project to
the one location off of four 60, um, that,
that, uh, shown near the highlighted green area and then off
of walker's pond drive. Um, and they did, uh,
vdot did indicate, um, that during construction that
the, uh, project would be, um, from the north
if the project's to be accessed from the north, uh,
side, um, that, that be from, um, river
road accessed, uh, from route four 60 in
ger road. Um, that it, uh, that the project would not
be accessed from the west.
um, just to note, as part of the conditional use permit, um, there
is a, um, traffic management plan. Um, they
also identify, uh, storm water management and erosion control,
um, conditions. There's also a decommissioning plan, uh, related
to the project. Um, inspections are, uh,
also noted as part of the, uh, project. Uh,
and, uh, just wanted to note at the planning commission meeting, the
planning commission, um, did, uh, make
a recommendation to the board. Uh, their recommendation, uh,
at their june meeting was, uh, a tie vote. Um,
so, uh, they had a vote of three to three. Um, so there was no,
uh, specific recommendation either for approval or
disapproval. Again, um, three members voted for approval,
three members voted for, uh, disapproval for
the rezoning of the property.
that's all I have, uh, for our general presentation this evening. Um,
do you have any questions at this time? Any questions of staff?
right. Move. Alright. Thank you, mark. Thank you.
right for the applicant. . Thank you.
you could, um, put my, thank you.
good evening. My name is will chuang. I'm with the law firm of woods rogers. I'm
representing, uh, the applicant here tonight. Uh, thank you, mr. Chairman, uh, members
of the board for giving me an opportunity to discuss this case, uh, and
to explain, um, why we think this is such a suitable site,
uh, that won't have any impact on our surrounding neighbors, uh, but is
also critically important, uh, to denwitty and the local community.
'cause it's unlike most every other, uh, solar facility that
you're gonna, uh, come across that ties directly into the transmission
lines and the power goes wherever it goes. This one's intended
to serve this local community, and I'll go into some details on
that. Um, uh, but what I'd, um,
in this, um, case, I, uh, denwitty, uh,
has no large power plants. Uh, so you're entirely right
now relying basically on the grid. And virginia is currently
importing 20% of its electricity. It's a matter, I'll, I'll mention a, a
leader, uh, indicated virginia is the net
importer in the entire country. Um, and there are several reasons
for that. Um, so if you have a problem with the grid and the shortages,
denwoody is gonna be one of the first to, um, feeling it. And the problem
is people look back in the past and say, we haven't had a problem. But
the problem is what's happening in the future. Uh, what, uh,
is happening is that demand for electricity in virginia
is absolutely searching. It is the highest, uh, growth since
world war ii for general growth. But also, as you know, the proliferation
of, uh, data centers and especially up in northern virginia.
uh, as a matter of fact, dominion energy, uh, forecast, the
peak demand is going to double in just 15 years. Uh,
and for denwitty county, uh, that could spell a lot of problems,
uh, you could be facing with brownouts and blackouts. Um,
this project was, well, not a panacea, is going to be providing
local power because it does not tie into the transmission lines, the major transmission
lines. It is tying into the local distribution center and
is intended to provide power in this local area.
it can also, and I have neil watling, uh, uh, tend here,
uh, with, uh, actual lives, who can explain in details if you would like,
uh, how this will help, uh, prevent, uh, brownouts
and also reduce them and help with fluctuations of power. Uh,
but it's going to be critically important we think for denwitty, its businesses,
uh, and its residents. Um, and there's been
a clarion call from leaders in, in, in the state and in
the industry of what's about to face us. Uh, as
a matter of fact, uh, john iwa, the ceo of rappahannock
electric cooperative, uh, wrote an article that emphasized
that virginia's department of energy projected annual, uh, growth
in, uh, power needs of 6.5% up from the
historic norm of 1.4%, which accounts for the
doubling by 2040. Um, and that pjm that the
regional, um, entity, uh, for, for power, uh,
recently indicated that power supply could run short as early as next summer
2026 if some action isn't taken. Um,
uh, he is not alone. Um, mark christie, who's the outgoing
chairman of the federal reg energy regulatory commission and is from virginia,
uh, was quoted recently in the richmond times dispatch is saying,
um, uh, that,
um, virginia is ground zero for data centers for the entire
planet. There are more data centers, more data center capacity
in the commonwealth of virginia than any other political entity on the face
of the earth. Uh, juan, uh, segura, who's the
secretary of commerce and trade for the commonwealth of virginia, pointed out that this
summer, maryland's electric grid almost came dangerously close
to failure for virginia and every other pjm state,
uh, this needs to be served as a wake up call, uh, for what's
coming. Uh, these are some charts to show
you exactly how virginia is situated. I think this is from the department of
energy, which if you're, if you're looking at this, um,
uh, right, right there, virginia is the most precarious
area in the entire country. Um, because we're uniquely situated for all
these data centers. Um,
then, uh, just in the next five years, to give you an
idea, we've talked about doubling by 2040, but by 2030, the
projection is that we're gonna need 10,500 megawatts of
new generation capacity, uh, within five years.
so I've, I've mentioned for a moment the fundamental difference in this
project versus the typical one that you've seen is much larger projects
that are tying into the, uh, transmission. As I said, we're regular
telephone poles that are, or poles that tie into the local system,
uh, which means we're smaller lines. Uh, and it goes in as
the, the electricity will say local. Um,
and it will, uh, uh, have a very small footprint. As, as a matter of fact,
this is only a 20 megawatt, I think, uh, project, but that still
can power, uh, several thousand homes, local businesses. That's the kind
of power it can provide to the local, uh, c community,
um, which has profound impacts on this community.
uh, when, when, when there are, you know, you're in the middle of the summer
and the power and these data centers are, and up and running,
denwoody is going to have a power source it can rely on. And as I can
say, neil can talk in some detail about why that will ensure
or help ensure that you won't suffer a blackout or, or a
brownout. Uh,
distributed projects, uh, are intended to benefit
the local, uh, area. Um, it, uh,
it, uh, will have less impact, but provide sub substantial
economic, uh, stimulus and income to the county. Uh, it enhances
the generation resilience in the area. Uh, it will be a backup
for local infrastructure if you have weather events or grid disturbances,
reducing the outage duration if you do have one. Um,
and it helps protect against a single point of failure. Um, it
has a low impact form of development. It generates the county revenue,
uh, and the owner's revenue, like some of them are here tonight, uh, without any
real industrial or, or additional infrastructure, uh, strain,
uh, about this particular project, uh,
compared to most that come before you. It's a small project with a small, uh, footprint.
as you you've heard, we're only impacting, I think about, uh, uh,
17 acres of agricultural land. It's 20 megawatts. Uh,
it is located in the industrial corridor north of route four 60.
so we're not in the middle of prime agricultural land. Um,
we are in the northern part where I think you would want this to be,
uh, surrounded by a lot of industrial users that will be, be beneficiaries
of, of this project, including the walmart distribution center, uh, uh,
vulcan materials, uh, and, and the, uh, tilden,
uh, concrete, um, uh, man, uh, plant. Uh,
I think I sent to you in talking with folks, uh, vulcan sent an email
and asked me to forward it to you, which I, which I did, expressing their strong support,
uh, for this project. I think being so active in the industry, they
know the upcoming problems that are, that, that we're facing. And believe having
local energy, uh, is going to be very important, not only for them, but
for the community. In talking with the, uh, construc, uh, the, uh, concrete,
uh, manufacturers, uh, I mean, in, in their discussions that they understand,
I think the benefits, uh, uh, that this could bring. Um,
as I said, that, um, we only have about 75 acres
of, uh, land that are actually under, um, solar panels. Uh,
we have extensive vegetative buffers. We, I will talk more if
we get, when we get to the, uh, conditional use hearing. Uh, but we can basically
insulate this property from being seen from from other properties.
uh, we've got the elevated, uh, we've got the elevated
railroad. We've got extensive existing vegetation, uh, in the one small
section that isn't, we can heavily vegetate it with fast growing evergreens.
so unlike a lot of projects that you, you can't hide it, uh, this one
can get hidden. Um, and once we're in, you're not gonna know we're there.
I mean, we don't have traffic, uh, we're not gonna have noise. Um, it's
gonna be truly a silent party, uh, partner for the community. Uh,
other things that we've done in working with neighbors is we reduced
the number of entrances. Uh, we also did the entrance road that comes in,
uh, near, um, to be an s shape. So it
would prevent further from being seen looking into the panels.
um, and it's a, uh, nine month, um,
it's a nine month, uh, construction project, but that's
not, I mean, that's the total period you have. You, you'll have trucks come in for a
little bit put down, they're working on it, and then come back. It's not a steady stream. I
would also note that two thirds to three quarters of, um,
two thirds to three quarters of, uh, the project
is being accessed directly from four 60. So there's only a smaller part
that's coming in from the north. And the only reason why we're doing that is there is a
creek that comes through. We're not impacting wetlands, so we, we can't be going
over and disturbing, uh, those wetlands.
uh, in terms of, um, uh, the benefits,
as I said, it, it's a clean power source and can servee up to 3,500
households and local businesses, including the $10 corporation, walmart
distribution center, vulcan material supply, and small business in, in
the area in, in addition to the residence. Um,
and it will continue to, uh, supply electricity locally when there's a power
adage or, um, repairs at the substation. And it'll improve
den wit's, uh, local grid resiliency, uh, helping to keep the
lights on and, uh, helping businesses to continue to operate. 'cause a
brown out can be extremely disruptive, not only to individuals,
but to businesses and manufacturing operations. Um,
in terms of financial benefits, uh, the
economics benefits will be, uh, substantial in
addition to, um, the ability to provide power, which is
probably the single most important thing that it does. But you're looking at a $2 million
economic impact for denwoody county during construction, $140,000
of annual economic impact to denwitty during operations. Uh,
probably $3.2 million in tax revenue to denwitty county during operations
from real estate taxes and the taxes on the capital investment. And then
as part of the signing agreement, even though we've, um, as we'll talk about, even though we've
shrunk the size and in dealing with neighbors, as you may recall, they came before,
uh, they've knocked down probably, uh, uh,
six megawatts, a substantial cut, a substantial amount off, so those two neighbors don't feel
surrounded, uh, but keeping the, um, the, the payment
of the same. And so you have a $300,000 citing agreement, cash
payment at the start of project operations.
uh, this is the site. And just to give you some feel, and we've worked, we have a couple
of neighbors who, um, we've worked with 'em, uh, try to work with 'em very, very closely.
uh, and, uh, I've had conversations with 'em trying to do everything we
can to ensure them that they have no impact, uh, or minimal impact to
them. Uh, and I appreciated their talking with me even recently.
um, but it was very clear, I mean, in having the conversation, they
were kind enough to say, we, we think you've done just about everything you can do .
uh, but I can appreciate that they don't want to have solar there. Uh,
uh, and so, uh, what we sincerely believe is we're not gonna
have an impact on those neighbors. Uh, as part of the conditions, as, as
we can talk about, we've agreed to, to maintain, even though we are only
accessing early into to, into, uh, walker's pond
drive to maintain the entire walker's pond drive, uh, through the
operation of this, uh, that nearest neighbor is, I think, 656
feet away from where the, the, uh, the extensive vegetative
buffer would start. And 950, uh, 929 feet
is, is the, is the other one, as you can see on this chart. Uh, we
totally eliminated the northern parcel, um, to, to, to
further try to, uh, help the, help the neighbors. Um,
we've also put other, um, conditions like groundwater testing
and that sort of thing, and offered a, a property assurance program.
uh, this is just showing the types of uses that are very near in the area, which
include tyndall, concrete vol materials in the walmart distribution
center. If you're looking at a project where you want to have it in the county,
we respectfully submit this is where you'd want it. I mean, I can't really think
of one where I could put it any better, uh, that wouldn't
have an impact on, on residences and is in an area that's very business
and industry oriented while still maintaining such substantial
buffers, uh, uh, and, and having an elevated
railroad, uh, blocking it, uh, from the road. Uh, here
is, uh, some views of, uh, looking into the
site, uh, the retained. This gives you an idea of the kind of retained vegetation
that is on the property. Um,
here it is, uh, uh, at planning that you're looking into
the site. You can see we have the little legend in, in the left showing where we took that
photo from. Uh, and then as you are, um,
as you're looking in with, within a few years, how the, you would plant those,
uh, fast growing vegetative buffers. So you're completely blocking, uh, the
site, uh, from four 60.
this is showing, obviously through the property. We have nearby those very,
uh, high profile, uh, transmission lines in, in the water
tower. And again,
this is showing you a photo, uh, where you're not gonna be able to see,
uh, the, the panels, uh, from four 60,
uh, the, uh, uh,
based on our traffic data, uh, and the access quarters, we have
available capacity to accommodate any site generated traffic during,
uh, construction. And then once we're up and running for 40, 45 years, you,
you're basically gonna have next to nothing in, in terms of traffic, occasional
maintenance. Um, again, in, in talking
with the two, uh, local resident families, um, uh,
that are residing near this industrial corridor, uh, they've expressed
concern. I think we have worked, tried to work extensively with them. I think
the case, as you can see, has changed dramatically. And we go into the details
of the conditions with the conditional use permit, uh, how
extensively we are trying to ensure, uh, that they are not impacted, and
we actually think they will benefit. I mean, one of the major benefits is taking over
that maintenance of, of the, uh, walker's pond road all
the way down, even well past our entrance, uh, to, to upgrade and
maintain that road, which we think will be a great benefit, uh, to them.
um, we've entirely removed the northern parcel from the project,
reducing it in size. Uh, we've reduced the number of entrances from four
to two, um, and we've made it an s shape. Um,
so, uh, further shielding, uh, the site from the neighbors.
uh, we've committed to improving walker's pond road. We've
provided, uh, an offer to provide property value guarantees to the residents,
although we can't imagine how we're gonna have an impact on them. Um, and,
um, we've also agreed to do, uh, groundwater testing.
uh, we believe that, uh, in looking at it, we sent out hundreds of
letters for community meeting, uh, and we got less
than a handful. And most of 'em were owned landowners. And I think you'll hear from 'em, we have a
number of landowners that did, I think will express that this is very important to them and their
families. Um, and I think that's, that's striking because
I think people understand this is a different kind of project from what they normally
see in terms of a major, major solar project.
um, the, um, um,
we think we are benefiting a county of, um, about 28,000
plus, uh, citizens.
um, we, uh, we will talk in, in detail on the conditions,
but we want to have the conditions that are as tight as possible. I've worked with mr. Southall
and, and, and, and the county. Uh, I'm glad to talk about
those. But we're, we're, we're committed to fully screening this project. Uh, we've
actually suggested a couple of conditions I think that the county might make that would improve on
what the suggested, uh, conditions were. Um, but, um,
we, uh, believe that the county is foot
will be fully protected. And the issue is we're
gonna need power. I think denwoody needs local power. I
mean, I, I've laid out about as strongly as I can how important
having that local distributed power is. Uh, and the question
is, where can you provide it? And if you're gonna provide it, this would be
the site. Um,
so I would, um, say we've, as, uh, mr. Bassett indicated,
we've extensively provided extensive documentations. This has been thoroughly
analyzed, uh, and it's come back saying that this is a very
suitable site, uh, for, for solar, uh, in, in this,
in this, uh, case. Um, and, um,
I would be glad to answer any questions that you have. Uh,
and I have, uh, representatives from, um,
the applicant here to answer any questions. Uh, but we really appreciate
your, um, uh, consideration. I think you've heard me say very
strongly, this is critically important, and this is a fundamentally different
project from the other solar facilities that are tying into the transmission.
uh, your residents are gonna be facing issues going forward.
uh, and as I've quoted, that's not just coming from me, that's not
just coming from the applicant. Uh, that's what we're facing as a state.
um, and so we would ask for your consideration, uh, to let us move forward.
uh, I'll be glad to answer any questions. I would at the end of the comment period,
I'd like an opportunity to respond to, to any comments made to, to be able to
address those. But I want to thank you for your time and consideration. I know,
know, it's a difficult job and you all are balancing, uh, the
needs of individuals in the entire community. I know it's not an easy job,
and I just want to express my appreciation for your time and consideration.
thank you, sir. Thank you. Questions.
okay. Thank you. And we'll, we will get, give you the opportunity to come back up
out to the public hearing. Thank you, chairman. Okay.
I'm gonna go ahead and open the public hearing portion. Do we have anyone
signed up? Yes, mr. Chairman.
looks like the first person is the applicant. Did you? I signed up
outta appoint. Okay.
belinda eng.
and while she's coming up that, um, your comments, you have five minutes,
um, for your comments. And if you get to the end of, of the five minutes,
if you can, uh, wrap your, uh, thoughts up as quick as
possible. So thank you. Mr. Chairman, just, just to be clear, there
are three public hearings slated for tonight. What, what you're hearing right now is the first one on the
rezoning, right? Yes. Uh, belinda
n 21 1 13 walkers pond drive. Sutherland,
uh, good evening chairman and members of the board. Uh, the green energy
deal for solar project is all about money, uh, from the
government subsidies. I do believe there's other things coming down the road
to create energy. I know in chesterfield, they're talking about
building new power plant, uh, not by coal or
I don't know all the new sources, but it's in the works. Um, because
solar panels are not a reliable source of energy, from what I have researched,
it's, you takes thousands of them to make a lot of electricity. Um,
there are many ways to produce electricity, but there's only one way to produce food,
and that's with farmland. As of yesterday, department of agriculture
will no longer support solar panels on farmland, and we need
to preserve our farmland and our woodland for future generations
and for the wildlife. I have many concerns with
this, uh, coming down. It is no longer in front of my
high. It's gonna be on the side and the back of my property. Uh, one concern
is a chemicals leaching from the panels into the groundwater and contaminating
my well. And there's two creeks, one in front of us and one behind
that's on my property. Wallace creek runs behind my house and that feeds
into the appomattox river. Um, and that's concerning
that the well be contaminated with the chemicals from the panels. Um,
also my property value. What's gonna happen to that? Is it going down because of
all the solar panels? Another concern is our dirt road,
uh, walker's pond drive. We live at the very end of it, which is
like three quarters of a mile long. Um, and that's our only
way of getting in and out. And if they're bringing heavy, big truck loads of
equipment in, and we are in and out all day. And our neighbors also,
uh, how are we gonna get in if big trucks come in and the road was not built for
trucks. It's a dirt road and we've had to put pipes under
the creek and do all the maintenance to it, but it's
not for big equipment to come in. And we maintained that road all,
all year round. And for the last 36 years, also, the panels
heat up the surrounding area, uh, up to 10 degrees and can become a fire hazard.
and there was a, last year they had a big fire in chesapeake,
and it took 'em like two days to get the fire out, uh, working that I didn't know if the
denwoody is equipped, the fire department's equipped to handle that,
uh, size fire. Uh, I asked you tonight to please vote
down this project. Um, and I thank you for your time.
thank you,
jim. Daniel,
good evening. Good evening, jim. Jim, daniel, 21, 1 13 walker's
pond drive. Uh, I just want to say
the same thing. Prob mostly, um, you know, I have issues
with the, the water runoff. Uh, any noise created
any hum or buzzing that the panels may do. Uh,
then there, the rise in temperature that can, can be a fire hazard.
um, really don't, uh, think
solar's the way to go for, for the county. Uh, there there's gotta be something
better. Uh, instead of using up all our valuable
farmland, uh, and, and forests, you
know, we, we need trees just as, just as bad as we need farmland.
um, 25, 30
years ago, I wanted to give
a piece of my land, uh, land to one of my kids.
um, they wanted to build a house.
so I came to the county and started making plans. The county
told me I, I couldn't do it. They
said that the road was not up to county specs.
so that was it. Just a note, you know, unless I wanted to
bring it up, which would cost thousands of dollars, even back then,
well now the same road
that's basically in the same condition is gonna support
a solar project that, that doesn't
sound like it's right, but, you know, hey,
um, now this dirt road
I've been taking care of for 36 years, um,
I scrape it, put down a lot of rock. I
I cut the grass, I trimmed the trees.
um, I have to, I've had to, uh, replace
the pipe, the, the creek, um,
no help. Um, and did I mention
I have to scrape it and put more rock down?
um, but now we've got
a, a maintenance agreement that's signed by some property owners
that don't even live on the road
and have never contributed a dime
to the upkeep of it. But they got people they let in to
hunt, uh, rent to farm
a piece. Still haven't had any help.
so, in closing, I I'm just asking, you know,
for a no vote from y'all, um, the same as you
did in august of nine, of 2024,
and that the planning commission did the same thing in june of 24
and of june this year.
and that's all I have. I thank y'all. Thank you. Okay. Thank you.
dana tipton.
no, everybody. Good evening. Hello ma'am. Thank you. So I'm gonna come
at it a little bit different way and I do agree with what I've heard
some of the things, but minus more on the cost of solar.
and I know it sounds really good as me as a landowner to get
800 to $1,400 an acre, nice money.
but as me as a taxpayer, and I'm not talking ity tax,
I'm talking about federal and state taxes. Are you aware
that we're subsidizing over 93% of the cost of
that solar farm? A lot of money.
I heard the gentleman say in his presentation that
this piece of property is being fed right to dominion power. It's going right to
den. Really? I worked on the trading floor for, for
virginia power. Hmm. I would question that.
I'd also question the part that he said about it's
gonna keep d witty lights on if the grid goes down.
hmm, if the grid goes down, solar farm doesn't work either.
also, the other thing that bothers me is when the
sun's not out, that solar farm's not doing any of those houses he
mentioned, or those plants. A bit of good a daylight
today that solar system isn't producing
probably 50 to 60% of what it's capable. Now
he mentioned a 40 to 45 year lease.
the moment that panel goes into existence, it starts
degrading. Now
40 years, what's that panel gonna give us?
maybe 50%, maybe 60
cloudy days. Not a hundred percent in production. So when
somebody tells me I'm gonna run 3000 houses off of that small
a hundred and some acres, 17 acres of farmland,
is that just from nine to four?
because most places the sun doesn't come up to hit it till about
nine. And after about four, you're losing the sun. So
now I've lost electricity. Now me as
a citizen standing here, how can I talk about this? I run my farm
on solar, have for 10 years, I have battery backup.
so yes, when the grid goes down, I am running. Y'all aren't,
there's a lot of other ways to make energy. Fusion would be one of them.
we're already looking at that in the southwestern part of virginia. Excellent option.
solar's not gonna get it. We could put a plant panel on every piece of property in
denwitty. We still wouldn't be able to supply our county with all the electricity.
data centers need the electricity of a small city. So
take hopewell that would supply one data center. It
doesn't matter what northern virginia wants to build. And we're not worrying about
blackouts and brownouts right now, like california is, and it's
not gonna happen tomorrow. And yes, we will need energy
if we're going to sustain data centers, but that solar panels
aren't gonna get it. Not today and not tomorrow. And unless you're
willing to cut off your power when the sun goes down or change
your lifestyle, it's not gonna happen.
I'm against it and I run on solar. Thank you.
thank you.
cindy harville.
cindy harville, 2 1 1 0 7 walker's pond drive
sutherland. Mr. Chairman, mr. Vice-chairman,
board members, residents of dimity and guests.
tonight I wanna share with you a fable, a story
of sorts that I believe addresses a need for caution
when it comes to allowing solar farm construction
in dim witty county. It's entitled the rat trap.
the author's unknown and it goes like this. A rat
looked through a crack in a farmhouse wall and he saw a farmer and his wife opening
a package. What food might it contain? He said to himself,
but he was shocked to discover that it was a rat trap.
retreating to the barnyard, the rat proclaimed the warning. There's
a rat trap in the house. There's a rat trap in the house.
well, the chicken clocked and scratched and raised her head and said, excuse
me, mr. Rat, I can tell this is really upsetting
you, but I don't
see what it has to do with me. The rat turned to the pig
and he said, there's a rat trap in the house. There's a rat trap
in the house. I'm sorry, said the pig, but
what can I do? But I really do feel bad for
you. And then a rat turned to the cow
and she said, hmm, a rat trap. You say, am
I in grave danger? I think not. So
the rat returned to the house head down and dejected
to face the farmer's rat trap all alone.
that very night, the sound of the rat trap catching its prey
could be heard throughout the house. The farmer's wife rushed to
investigate. And in the darkness she did not see that it
was a venomous snake whose tail was caught in the rat trap.
she reached down and the snake bit her. The farmer rushed her to the
hospital. She returned home with a fever.
now everyone knows you treat a fever with
fresh chicken soup. So the farmer
took his hatchet to the barnyard for the soup's main ingredient.
his wife's sickness continued. So friends and neighbors came to
sit with her around the clock to feed them.
the farmer butchered the pig.
and in the end, the farmer's wife didn't get well. She died.
and so many people came to her funeral that the
farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide meat for
them all to eat. As you
have heard tonight and on previous occasions, there
are a multitude of reasons why den
witty county should not jump on the
solar farm bandwagon. The one thing
I ask you to mindfully consider is this, what
affects one of us will eventually affect
all of us. We don't really know the
full impact of so that solar farms have on our land,
our water supply or our environment.
we just don't know. Please air on the
side of caution and vote no to
the rezoning associated with case p dash 25 8
and c 25 dash four. Be good stewards
of our county's beautiful rule lands.
thank you. Thank you.
grandville. Grandville maitland.
thank you mr. Chairman board. Um, grandville maitland.
I'm 13 4 10 butter wood lane. But that other end of the county, um,
y'all know my background farming and in
and also alternative energy sources, ethanol, different
things, diesel fuel, um, different things I have done. I have a brother-in-law
that built transmission lines into solar farms
and into windmills in the west. When he
went out there after leaving virginia power, he was gung ho
when he came back. He said the destruction and
what it did to the environment there, he had no use for
any of it right there. Um,
it bothers me. I consider mr. Flowers a friend
and a mentor. But this is not about jimmy.
this is about land that I look for the, um,
when I was on the planning commission, part of this was in the
corridor development corridor back there when
guy was a planter. Alright? We looked at a lot of this.
this land is actually actually too valuable a land to
be putting in solar right there. And I know the
lifespan and how they work. And I cannot support
solar anyway in inwood county commercial solar because it's not a
farm. It's a, it is a industrial operation right there.
but I do feel that the
land is too valuable for the development in denver county.
and actually for mr. Flowers down the road, it's gonna be so
much more valuable because of industry and things. It's gonna come in.
'cause I look at that whole area all the way up, basically to all your store
in the future. It's going to be commercial industrial
down through there. It's when, um, a lot
of people, uh, weren't around or didn't think about it. We lost
some industrial because, um, king's dominion
wanted to be in denwitty county. We did not have the infrastructure
and things to handle it at the time. And that hurt what it could
have been. The racetrack could have been here if some people hadn't gotten
greedy right there. And so
I look at a lot of that area is going to grow, grow fast,
and it's gonna be very profitable for the people, even though some of
the people will probably have, uh, lose their houses to the industrial as they
expand. But they will be well compensated. And I
think solar is not the way to go. If you are looking at data centers
and the amount of power they need, then you better go micro
nucle or something like that. That is the only way that
you're going to, um, do the data centers. Northern virginia loves
to talk about the energy use, but they don't want the solar panels up there.
they want 'em in a rural areas and let us, and it is a net
negative by the end of the cycle of that. What, what they give for
the schools, what they give to the county up front. But
it is a net energy loss when you get down to it.
thank you all for your time. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
stephanie jones.
good evening. My name is stephanie jones and I am a landowner
here in dewitte county. I was fortunate enough
to inherit land here, and I have been pondering on the idea
of what to do with my land. I have just been paying taxing on it, and the
land has been dormant since the passing of my father. I feel
that hosting a solar farm here in county
will be a great opportunity for both, um, the
county and us. It will, the land will
be preserved. It provides the opportunity for dewin county to
move towards a brighter and more substantial future.
um, I just want to say that, you know, I think that
the people, the landowners need to have some kind of right as
to what they want to do with their property. Um, their
property. When their property is not being used for anything.
and someone decided that, hey, this is an idea that I agree
with. Um, I think that the landowner should have the right to
have some kind of opinion into what's going on as,
'cause we do pay property taxes on this land. And I just
feel we should have a opinion. So I just want to say that
I am in full support of the flower. So solar farm
and respectfully ask that the projects do be approved. Thank you.
thank you, thank you.
robert moore.
uh, mr. Chairman, members of the board, my name's robert moore, 2 3 9 0 0
cutbank road. Mckenney. Uh, I'm not in favor of the solar
panels. There's been just too much negative, uh, things to go
on about 'em. Like the one lady, uh, mentioned the the solar fire.
a solar fire. A solar farm fire. Like she said, it ran for two
days. There was one in, uh, I think north carolina that ran for seven days.
our infrastructure can't handle something like that. You know, then
what? He's a, an agricultural county. Well, I'm sorry,
not used to speak in front of people , but, um,
there's too many negative things that they don't know. Um, the impact
on the, on the soil, the water systems. Uh, again,
like the road said, the guy said that they, they're gonna maintain a road. He'd never told anybody
what they're gonna do to maintain that road. And like the other lady said, trucks going
through there, yeah, that's gonna disrupt them. And they're saying a nine month
period. They built solar panels like that down by my brother's house. It took 'em a
year and a half. So it's not, you know, you now construction things go,
they don't work in the rain, they don't work in the snow.
and I just totally don't believe that solar
is the, the answer for an agricultural county. And I'm,
I I I strongly urge you not to, not to approve this. Thank
you. Thank you. Thank you.
billy c
mr. Chap members of the board on billy c at 80
20 courthouse road, church road, virginia.
this meeting tonight is not about, um,
jimmy flowers. It's about the income
for the, uh, the county. What are we going to do with this piece of
land across there? We've granted, um,
these, um, solar farms in other parts of the
county. When you go by 'em, you drive your car by
'em, you see 'em. And I'm sure each member has looked at the
location that this has been asked to,
uh, build there. And the railroad track is
actually a plus for the appearance of this. You'll
never see the panels. You're going down four 60
into my opinion. You won't even notice 'em over there. 'cause the railroad track,
the woods there, it blocks it.
what do we do with that piece of land over there for the future?
are we going to build industrial buildings over there?
the members of this board represent the people that voted for you.
I think it's a tax situation. What is the best, highest
and best use for the county to
have this property? Is it to raise beans and corn
or let these people put this project on there?
the county is gonna realize more profit from that. And I
think that's what you have to look at. The taxpayers up
there on route 40. They have something to do with this.
they should have a say. It'll help each
one of these board members in the tax situation. I think
you just built a tennis court across the road. This project may
pay for that. You have to look at dollars and cents
and these people that are oppose it, um,
you know, I think they got good points.
they really do. And, uh,
they're giving their opinion on it. And
I'm giving you my opinion and I'm looking at highest
and best use for the county. I'm looking for those tax dollars to
run in here, not to go out. Look,
we don't have to have any police cars that don't have to
get two more deputies. The fire department,
the emergency crew. You know, they're not putting the stress over
this project. Um,
I wrote y'all some notes and I don't let one by
because I listened to the objections that the others had here.
and, uh, but, uh,
we're not gonna have to educate the children with this project. Schools
cost us a lot of money. We gotta think of these dollars.
we gotta make it profitable for the county, not jimmy flowers.
look, jimmy flowers, he probably don't need to have the project.
the county should be thinking him to,
you know, let, let 'em use the project for the
county.
we need sheets and walmarts and wawas
that gives us income. And that's what this board is for. It's
all about the income and I don't think it's
unsafe. We've granted it in other parts of the county.
and I hope you gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, make the right decision tonight.
not for an individual your personal thank,
but for the county as a whole. Thank you for your time. Thank
you. Thank you,
susan seaward.
uh, good evening, uh, chairman lee, board members county administrator,
mass and gilland county staff. Uh, thank you for the opportunity to address
you this evening regarding flower solar. Um, while I have the
privilege of knowing some of you, I think more of you probably remember my mother,
uh, troll and seward, the former superintendent of schools here in denwitty.
she had actually, um, tried to come with me this evening. Something came up, but she
said to please give you all her most sincere regards. Um,
she really enjoyed her time in denwitty and, and was hoping to come with me,
but not here to talk about mother here to talk about flowers solar.
um, I can tell you, as a former member of the sussex county
board of supervisors, I have been in your shoes.
I am keenly aware of the public pressure you feel because people
just don't like solar. However, I'm willing to bet
that everyone, every single person that doesn't like solar, including those
opposed to this project, love electricity. I love
electricity. And that's why this project deserves your support.
we've heard the warnings this evening from the presentation, uh, from pjm,
from the former chair of ferc, mark christie, state officials and an
electric co-op ceo. Unfortunately, we are headed for
a real electric generation crisis.
keep in mind, our regional generation supply, surrey county
has a nuclear power station. Greensville and brunswick counties have major
dominion natural gas plants. And for now, halifax has the clover coal-fired
power station that is running, in essence is a peaker.
the chesterfield plant that was mentioned earlier this evening is going to be another
natural gas plant. However, that is running into some serious headwinds
from the environmental community. I think dominion is counting
on that being built, but, you know, will it get approved?
the other issue that's been mentioned, and, and I agree with that, I think fusion is
certainly a power source of the future, but dominion in their
latest integrated resource plan doesn't even factor in the nuclear,
uh, fusion small reactors. Best case scenario is
10 years out. What we're facing now is a power gap.
and forms like this distributed can help fill that
gap. You know, what's gonna happen? We've got
our base load generation, but we've got energy deserts.
the data center industry is coming, it's not going away. What's
going to happen to these low density population areas?
and I think the answer is, is, is simple but dire. The electrons
are gonna go across the grid to serve high qua, high density, high
demand centers, and place pockets like this in, in
situations where they're facing the brown brownouts and blackouts. We are looking
at a project like this right now in sussex county, and I desperately hope it's
approved because I don't want to be sitting in the dark in two years.
one of the biggest gripes I have heard, and I have sat through
like you all, many a hearing on, on solar projects of all shapes and sizes.
but one of the biggest complaints I heard as a supervisor and as a citizen
is all of our land is going to power northern virginia.
that's the thing about these, these distributed projects, the power does
stay local. And yes, the sun doesn't shine 24 7,
but at least with these projects, there is an offset because
the, the crisis that's looming relative to generation cannot
be underestimated. You know,
from from one former elected official. You all have more stay in power than I
did. I could only do two terms. But I think the question you
have to ask, and the question I would ask when I was on the board
is a few disgruntled citizens today were sacrificing
electric generation for many, many others tomorrow. And I think that's what you're
facing here with this project, have been in your position
for, for eight years in sussex. And, and I know that one of the
things we have to do is not only govern for today, but we have to plan for five and 10
and 20 years down the road. And what we're facing in the next five
years is an energy crisis that is, is entirely
really out of our control. But we certainly have the ability with projects
like this to help fill the gap until fusion, uh, and more
natural gas plants can come online. So, um,
I would urge you really to consider this project strongly for your citizens
tomorrow. Uh, knowing what we're facing. Thank you. Thank you.
james flowers.
good evening. I'm james flowers. I live at 68
11th courthouse road church road, virginia.
I am a lifelong resident of denver county.
I have, my family has actually been in this county
and paid taxes in this county for 150 years.
so, um, we are pretty well invested in denver, the county.
and I like the other eight
owners of this land and pay taxes similar to what my
family has done. And we would like to put the solar
panels on this property that we own.
I also have a special reason. I have a daughter who is
handicapped. Libby is a microcephalic. She needs
24 7 cap. She,
she is severely handicapped and that she's hard to get, get around,
has difficulty. That and her mother and I being in our
eighties, going to have to have help in the house and all in this money,
which is very expensive, would be a help to that. But let's
move on to the project at hand. You
have walmart, you have the railroad, norfolk southern,
you have tylo concrete, you have bulk,
all of which are important for den whi county. However, they
all have drawbacks. They put pressure
on our roads with tremendous road traffic. The railroad
itself basically carries products through den whi county.
we then whi gets very little direct money or
help from the rail. Uh, and yet it goes
down our tracks. It blocks public roads.
excuse me, it it blocks public roads. And not only
the coal cars that go down this road, uh,
are not covered. There's coal dust on the joint. Props
as where these trains have gone along. Move on to walmart tender
and all, all the good, good and necessary. But they
had problems in the county, which I've said about traffic on the
roads, dust in the air, and particularly like tyndall,
the product that they use in there. Cement, which is very caustic.
so let's move on to the west end of this project.
the transmission lines of electric
and, and dominion energy. They're not
putting any current, basically in this county. It's a transmission.
they're transmission lines. They go into other areas, which is
needed in other areas, but it does not basically benefit
denwood county as such. So then
you get residential areas that surround this whole project.
we, people need a place to live and work,
but they don't work here. Basically very few. They
get all their goods and services outside the county. They work
outside the county and yet they want water and sewage. They
want police protection. They want their kids to go to our schools,
which one person or child and their
family goes to the school in then with a county.
it erases the money that they have spent in taxes.
but because it's very expensive and finally we get back
to the private at hand, it is outta sight.
nobody can see it. It's quiet, it doesn't put dust
up, it doesn't rumble and, and blast and
make hazard shake it. It is on benefit the
county. It's really a win-win situation for the county.
it is not money going out the treasury of denwoody county.
it's money coming to the denwoody county. And it's not asking
for schools, it's not asking for battle roads or anything like this. It
sits over there as quiet. It is protected with a
boiler all the way around it. And it's a benefit to the county
and it is something that will benefit them with the county,
not cause it to have problems. So I'm very
fa favorable for this project to go in. And I
think it's a place the right of ways are restricted on
this property and therefore
industry and farming really can be going on on this property because
of the restrictions on the railroads. So they were low solar
panels. So I think this is a very good project for denwood
county and I thank you for letting me talk to the group.
thank you. Thank you
tilden manson.
um, good evening board members. My name is tilden manson. I live at 7 0 1 6
and road church road, virginia. Uh, this
land has been in my family since my great-great-grandmother.
I wanted to build a house in 1990. I, I was told
I could not build on that site. These,
it was, uh, agricultural land they told me. So
we built the house in church road, which
was another family plot, but I had to buy that land.
and my grandmother had passed us on to me in 1990 as
a 18-year-old man, I started paying taxes.
I worked for 34 and a half years in a chemical plant,
breathing more chemicals than the average person could ever take in.
but I'm thinking about my family generational wealth.
and this project is for not just me,
but my kids. I couldn't benefit anything from this
for the last 35 plus years.
and now it's my turn to get back to my family
in the next generation after them. And
I know y'all have different sides and different opinions,
but like mr. Flowers just said, it's a benefit
to everyone in our community. Uh, I hunt
that land every day I can. And
the landowners talk about the animals in that,
in that area. And if you sit there in the middle of the night like
I do when I predator hunt, there's a coyotes
problem in that neighborhood. And
you see 15 or 25 killing cats, dogs,
baby calves. But who cares?
I mean, I can't use the land for nothing else but what this project is
getting ready to do. And that's all I have to say. Thank
you. Thank you. Thank you. Taylor
manson.
good evening. My name is taylor manson. I live on anderson mill, wait,
sorry, 7 0 1 6 anderson mill road. And
I wanna talk about the primary things, what this will be doing to our county.
and being active in the four h extension service has helped me
research the sorry of a solar project in
our county. And I will briefly share with you one, the economic boost for
our county is the, uh, the flower solar project is projected to bring significant
fascial con contributions to dim woody through tax revenue and local job
creation. A solar development attracts investments without requiring
major public infrastructure infrastructures, upgrades, making
it a cost effective growth strategy to long-term revenue.
sta stability, solar farms provide predictable long-term
lease payments to and consistent tax income
for the country, for the county. Especially valuable in rural
areas with limited commercial tax base. Three preserves
agriculture character. Unlike industrial and development, solar
farms are low impact and reversible. They allow lands to
rest and regenerate and can be decommissioned without permanent alterations
to the landscape. Four supports energy independence.
local solar generation reduces reliance on international,
I'm sorry, external energy sources. Insulating dim woody
from volatile fuel prices and supply chain disruptions.
five. Environmental stewardship. Solar energy reduces greenhouse gas
emissions and air pollution. Aligning with the broader sustainability
goals in protecting the local eco ecosystem. Six, compatible
with rural land use, ities open land and low population
density make it ideal for utility scale solar projects
that wouldn't be fe feasible in urbanized count counties.
seven, community investment opportunities.
solar developers often contribute to local initiatives such
as education infrastructure or con conservative programs
as part of their community engagement plans. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
you. Thank you
alicia manson.
good evening, uh, chair, vice chair and county
administrator once again. I stand before you and the board. Thank
you for having me to speak. I must tell you I am a supporter
of the solar project and yes, if you heard that last name, manson.
manson manson. Well this is alicia manson and I live at
7 0 1 6 anderson mill road in church road.
and I am also a family member. And my husband just spoke
very passionately and almost had me crying over there. I really, really,
um, uh, feel a lot, uh, for what he
has been through and has been going through. So
my current role, and I think this helps to, um, support what I'm
trying to impart on you all tonight. Mr. Massing already
knows, you've seen me too before. I've, uh, used to be the, uh,
nurse manager for the creative health district for vdh, but I do currently
work for the military. Now I am the patient safety, infection
control preventionist at kenner. One of the main things that I
do is risk assessment, risk management all
day long. And although it is a clinic, there's a whole lot
of stuff going on out there at kenner. There's some of you military that may be in
here if you are beneficiaries. Yeah, I'm one of those people that's
kind of keeping you all safe out there. 'cause you may not know some things
going on that I do risk assessments for. This. One
thing about this project with the risk assessment, um,
I did research, and this is not a google ai type of research.
I actually looked through some things with the greenlight project.
I actually looked at some things with some projects in north carolina, some research that
was done in 2013. They
began to look at the efficacy of solar power panels and how it's
working and then how long it's going to be working and all of that good stuff we've
been hearing tonight. But I must tell you, we heard about fire,
we heard about things leaching into the ground.
one of those many studies I'll tell you about tonight. And I gotta look at it because
I never remember off my head. I'm getting older, you know, I can't remember things off
of my head. This particular research began in 2013.
it ran to may of 2017. However, it still
continues today. It was completed again, like I said in north carolina.
it was, um, a pv study called the impacts of solar
photovoltaic. I am gonna say that again 'cause I messed that up. Photovoltaic.
and that is what is actually in those panels, is what is being looked at.
the study showed that when those
panels were exposed to heat, the kind of heat that is a fire, like a
house fire heat, the actual panels contain this,
uh, stuff called cadmium. Y'all know what? Cadmium mm-hmm
. Nickel jewelry that's in that you, you with fake jewelry.
it's in butter than nickel. That's harmful to humans. Also. It has
lead, which we also know as harmful to humans. However,
in those panels when things happen such as high heat,
yes, they melt, they melt and bond
together. And I heard about that fire that was in chesapeake
actually that fire did not last three days. The fire was put out immediately.
it did put smoke in the air. Things happen. Don't when food
trees get on fire. It put smoke in the air too. Just curious. But back
to the cadmium and the lead, the things that
leach into the ground as per this study that was done. And again,
I restate it still, still being done. Today's day is
not effective to harm a human. It is not.
my husband rode past some property coming from a golf tournament. Thank
god he can still do that. And he stopped at this man's house in
sussex, suffolk, in suffolk, in windsor. And the,
the, he took a picture and I was like, oh my god. It was 20 feet
from the back door. And the gentleman had lived there over 10 years.
and he said, well, how are you doing? This is something happening to you or anything going wrong? This
man said no. Do you hear anything? No.
is it bothering you in any way? He said, the only thing is
that, well, I don't know. I think I can
get under there and plant some things. I had a picture and I wanted to show you.
you can even plant things under your solar panels. So
everyone's telling you efficacy is fine. Income
fine. Look out to some of these things to help support our county.
my kids, my family, your families. Thank you.
thank you, thank you daniel hudson.
my name is daniel hudson. 1 2 5 7 5 zeus road.
I do not have a working relationship with
any of you people. You don't know who I am,
but I'm a constituent. I'm a taxpayer. I am a
lifelong resident of this county. I come from a family
that, that lived here for many years instilled us.
so I'll start off with, I believe the
narrative in marketing for solar and wind in general is mostly
false. Um, when they, when they try to convince you that it's
an environmentally friendly and superior to
other generation methods, um, especially
over the long term, this
company has presented a an elaborate document, which, which goes over
and addresses many, many concerns. Um,
it's impressive and it's lengthy. And, um,
I think it was called board of supervisors report or something like that. And I'll, I'll refer
to that some more in my little statement. I don't
stand to gain financially from this project. As a few, I believe in the report
it was na it was called, uh, confidentially and substantially
what their income would be. I seek to dissuade this project
living here all of my life and, and being a person that enjoys
the outdoors and the nature whether I can be out there hunting and
fishing in it, which I've done little fishing this year, but I'd still like to.
I love to hunt and I like to look at the rural farmland.
you know, we used to have a lot of concern
about preserving the rural heritage. And, and
while, while solar and stuff is marketed as being environmentally friendly
and people talk about use of land and waste of land, land just
sitting there, what is wrong with the land? Growing,
growing plants and animals as god created?
what is wrong with the land being used just as land? What
is wrong with nature being natural? Nothing. Now
they made some good points about the location with proximity to
the, the transmission lines and transmission lines. Most people don't have
a good knowledge of electrical generation, distribution,
consumption and measurement. They don't. I do have some knowledge,
and I I'll speak right now that I'm speaking only on my behalf, not
on behalf of any industry, any employers, et cetera.
I do have some knowledge of that. Uh, the, the distribution lines have
to bring the power to us. Yes, they do. I do not believe
that solar is, is efficient. It's really not capable
to provide, because most people don't understand. A megawatt is a large unit
of power. And they, they gave numbers of some megawatts to
run industry and to run that huge distribution center. They just added
all those robots in. If, if the main grid goes down,
they're not supporting industry very long. I can tell you that right now.
um, their report mentions, uh, decommissioning
it mentions recycling, steel, aluminum, copper, those things we
are all very well familiar with. I didn't see any mention about how they're going
to deal with the fluids and other components that, you know, carcinogens,
as they mentioned, the, uh, cadmium lead, et cetera, that were also
should be familiar with, are very harmful to your body. Um,
when the power grid goes down, they mention the storage and distribution
then of electrical energy. Surely that's gonna consist of a lot of
capacitors and a lot of batteries where they, they mentioned briefly what
they're going to do. We can recycle these main metal components of
these panels. Whatcha going do with the batteries? Whatcha gonna do with all of the capacitors?
who, who's going to deal with that? Where are you going to deal with? Is it really going to escape?
and it doesn't mean that these companies are trying to be malicious in any
way, but stuff happens. Accidents do happen. They mention
they're gonna test groundwater, testing groundwater
and paying fines. Doesn't ever fix the problem. And I want
y'all to consider the future of this county mentioning tax
revenue has never impressed me because where does that tax go?
most of this is going to be federal and state funds. Tax revenue
appeals to you guys maybe, but not to the individual citizens. Not
to most of us. People use that as a way to appeal to you.
so I want y'all to think about the future. I live on the other end
of the county. And my main point of this, this is,
it's not directly against this project. It is against stopping the
momentum of solar in this county and in the state
to, to set this aside until better, more efficient generation
methods are created and the actual in infrastructure,
distribution lines, et cetera, are built up. Think about the
future and don't just do this as a short term project for a
few people to get rich. Thank you. Thank
you. Kevin walker.
good evening. Uh, kevin walker, 2 0 8 0 3, uh,
river road board members, uh, chair. I come to you,
uh, this moment as a citizen of the,
um, with just asking for a chance, asking for
a right. Um, I too, and some of the other landowners
I own this property, the north side of the property that actually would
be accessed from walker's pond. My grandmother drove bus for 40
years on that road, bringing a bus through there. And along
with other farming equipment, they used to come back there. Uh, and
during her tenure, she maintained that road for many years,
uh, providing rock, scraping it, everything. 'cause she lived back there and I still
own that. Her house that's back there. So it doesn't only impact,
you know, the surrounding landowners, it also impacts me as
well. But I'm willing to take that chance, right? Just, I'm asking for a chance
for just as a resident, as the right that I pay
taxes. I live in this county I lived in, uh, away
and I came back home and hoping that, you know, I could bring something
back and get involved and, uh, try to use that land because I
am too landlocked. I can't do any, I tried to build home. I can't
do it, you know, um, I've been approached about selling it, but
I pro I guarantee you if I sold it, you know, it, it may
become a subdivision. I don't know. Right? But I know that area is growing.
uh, walmart been around there for a while. Uh, ty's
been there forever. Uh, the quarry, um, just that area is
still growing and I know at some point, right, I'm for the
solar panels, right? At some point, whether this project goes or
something else, it's going to be something and people will always have some
type of, you know, I'm not for this. I don't like, you know, but just
asking for a chance as a resident and a citizen
of this property that I own, because I still too will have to access
that road to go to my property. My property is actually the first house
you get to on the left before you get to the next residence. So I
still have to take that chance and risk to access that
property. Right? Um, so, um, like I said, once again, I just believe
and ask for a chance, uh, that, um, decisions
will be made respectfully. And, um, that's all I have to say. Thank you.
thank you. Alright. Thank you
mr. Chairman. I have no one else signed up. Okay.
um, at this point I'll close the public hearing
part and I'd ask the, uh, applicant if they would like to come back.
thank you, mr. Chairman. And I appreciate everyone who came to speak here, uh, tonight
and taking the time. I, I'd make a few points. Um, one is,
I, I heard especially the first couple of speakers talking about how they wanted to preserve
the land farmland. Uh, and if this were in the middle of the county
where it was designated for agricultural and farmland,
I mean that, that could really resonate. But that's not what the county's vision for this
property is. If you heard from mr. Bassett, this is designed,
uh, to either be industrial or faster growing. I mean, the county
has designated that proper planning is in certain areas you wanna
see development occur and certain areas you don't. This is one of the areas
that you don't expect it and you don't want it to remain agricultural.
and so eventually it may take a long time, but eventually, uh,
this property needs to be and should be developed, and the comp plan recognizes it.
and that means it's not gonna be farmland and most of it isn't already.
uh, and ironically, what we're doing is this, this
is a placeholder for a period of time. It's not forever. Uh, but
we're guaranteeing during that period of time that the neighbors and, and,
and, and, um, uh, the, the, the residents actually
aren't adjacent neighbors. They're multiple parcels away. Uh,
but they wouldn't have the 75 foot buffer where you wouldn't see what
was there. Um, so we're actually, this is, this
is a project as I went through that will bring, which should bring millions of dollars
ultimately to the county while still bringing local power. And it will
be much less intrusive than what the current comp plan calls for the
property. Um, in terms of, uh, reliability,
I mean, we will simply say the studies indicate that one, the technology is, is,
is accelerating so well that, that, uh, solar is very reliable.
uh, is it gonna have, we're not doing battery storage, we're some, but, uh,
for significant periods of time, it is gonna be putting on the local grid,
the local distribution, 20 megawatts of power, which is
a lot of power. Uh, it could power several thousand homes. And
to let you know, dominions determine that it's relied. They're in the business
of reliability. And looking at this project, dominion
has, has come to an agreement. They've identified that there's a need in
this area and ha have, have come to an agreement,
uh, with, uh, with, uh, greenville for
this property. So this is not a, we are not coming before you on a
speculative venture. Um, what we're saying is there's a crying
need, and people have talked about, there may be other ways down the road, we can come up
with power. Those are decades away. Our crisis is looming. This
project can be up in 20 and giving power to
this community in 2026. That's how far along
we are, and that's when it's gonna be needed. And dominion has
indicated that this is gonna be a very reliable source. Um,
I would note, um, in terms of the environment, we
submitted, uh, extensive studies and we had a previous
speaker, uh, who did a risk assessment. But, but she's right. I mean,
the studies indicate that this is very safe. Um, and that, and,
and especially compared to many other industries, it's very stable. Um,
and if you look at any business, I mean, or any houses, I mean,
this has electronics. So many other places and businesses have
electronics. I did hear about cadmium and the melting, and she's right,
it melts to, so it's very insular. But most of them have gotten away
from cadmium on the panels. But the ones they do, it's not actually cadmium,
it's cadmium telluride, uh, which is, if the example
I give is hydrogen can be volatile, oxygen can be
volatile. You do two, two molecules of hydrogen and oxygen, you get water.
um, I mean this is, so, this is not just cadmium, uh, but the, the
principles the same. All the studies are indicating it is not an environmental hazard.
fires, I don't know the details, but are very, very rare. I mean, there are a lot of fires
around, uh, that would be, uh, not related to solar, but it has
a, a demonstrated record of being a very safe, uh,
process. And this, and if you look at our conditions, 1d eq
has passed extensive regulations. This isn't new to deq
in the state in terms of solar. Uh, the regulations that have been passed
and upgraded are very extensive. Our conditions show that we're gonna fully
comply. We need a what's known as permit by rule.
and, uh, and we'll comply with all ens
requirements in the conditions. It'll be, I think, reviewed once
every year or two years to make sure we're in full compliance. Um,
I would also, um, uh, indicate that, um,
uh, that in terms of the precedent, this isn't,
like I'm saying the general farm area. Uh, this isn't the area
where it should be. Uh, but I also think this is a,
this is a, a distinction if you wanna make it as this
isn't going to the general transmission. Your, your precedent right now is
very limited, is we are gonna consider smaller projects. This is a smaller project
that our distributive in nature where the power stays
local. I mean, I get the understanding that why do we wanna put
power on the grid to serve northern virginia? That's not what this project
is. Uh, I will say, I'm, I have a lot of experience
not only in land use, but in the energy sector in
particular, I'm working on a, a small modular reactor
project. Uh, I work on various different projects. And, uh,
in that, and my personally, I'm, I'm fully in favor of the peaker plant.
chesterfield, I'm, I'm familiar with that. Uh, the challenge is anything
that you're doing for any business or industry, you're gonna get some folks that are gonna come out.
we just ask you to look at the facts. But my, my firm belief is you're
gonna need all hands on deck. It's, there is not a magic bullet out there
that is going to fix everything. Uh, you're gonna need all of this, and
particular these distributive processes because we are facing,
uh, the challenge, um, as I've said, being distributed in nature.
um, the, um, um, it
it's serving the community. It will help prevent brownouts. I'm not gonna say it's gonna prevent
everything. Uh, I have mr. Watlington here, if you want to ask specific
questions about how it reduces brownouts and shortages
and how it, it, it prevents fluctuations and local outages.
uh, and he'll be glad to go into those details. But from a common sense standpoint,
we're tying into the local power. It's not going out of
the community. Um, uh, but he'll be glad to, uh, answer that.
uh, and I do want to thank, um, the heartfelt
of the fable. I mean, I've heard it before, uh,
and I I get it. But that's true with anything that we do in life.
you, you're here to balance risk. And I, you know, I might be able to come up with
a example of the lights went out, some bad stuff
happened. Uh, and what you've gotta do is look at all of it. Are we affecting
our neighbors? Have we done everything that we reasonably could
to insulate them and minimize it? Is it economically beneficial to
the county? Is it providing a necessary resource? I sent
you the, the, the email from, from vulcan. I mean, they, they're a large company.
they understand what's coming. There's a reason why they said, please pass this
on to the board. Um, and, uh, so we, uh, urge you,
um, to, um, approve this case. I mean, there's no evidence that we heat
up anything. I mean, this is, uh, I thought it was very telling, uh, about
the person who had it 20 feet off, um, and
didn't notice anything. It's not gonna make a lot of noise. Uh, you're not gonna hear
it. Um, and, uh, we can make this site unlike a lot of 'em,
we can make it so you're not gonna see it. Uh, and so we
ask, uh, that you give us an opportunity to serve the community. We're gonna bring millions
of dollars to the locality without any really burden on, on,
on the cost to the county. And I think you've heard passionately from the landowners,
uh, I think there are things on, on property rights. Uh, and I think
they, uh, have a very good point of let us have reasonable use of
the land as long as we're not materially impacting our neighbors.
uh, I think that's a pretty good principle. Um, so I would be, uh, glad
to, uh, uh, answer any questions at this point. Solar
compared to a lot of other uses is very cost effective. Um,
and so, um, I'll be glad to answer any questions. Mr. Watlington is
here and other representatives adeem, uh, about specific
benefits to this project. Uh, but, uh, I really appreciate
your time and, and your careful attention. I will notice that you
all may have been in with larger cases where lots of people come
to speak, uh, around, because it's a different, when you're 200 megawatts
and you're that big and you're an area of the county that has a different impact.
I think people recognize that this is a different animal altogether. And that's
why I think you're not seeing it, uh, uh, a lot of people coming out against.
it's, it's common sense. It makes sense. And we really appreciate your
consideration. A lot of time and effort been put into this. We've tried to work
very closely with the county and we appreciate their help. Uh, and, and,
and I appreciate the time the board members, uh, have given this project.
um, so with that, I will end and be glad to answer any questions you may have.
okay. And before we do that, um, we've been sitting
here a long time. Um, I'd like to take a five minute recess and then we'll
come back and answer questions. So we're gonna do that real
quick. Like, um, before we get, before I go, um,
I would like to thank everyone that spoke tonight for the politeness
and the courtesy that they've shown here tonight. And, um,
it didn't go unnoticed. A lot of different opinions in the room tonight on
this case, and everybody was just as polite and courteous as they
could be. So I appreciate that. Um, and we'll be back in, in
five minutes. Thank you. Go do it.
just say, mr all, we're gonna go ahead and, and get back
started. Um, order, order, order. Hit it again. Would the,
um, excuse me, would the applicant, um, are,
I guess, are there any questions of board members of the applicant?
yes. Okay. Would the applicant like to come back? Uh,
sorry for our strain, uh, interruption, but it
was much needed. Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. I was appreciative.
alright, some questions. Um, we've
talked a lot tonight about back filling into
the, the grid in denwitty county. Yes, sir. So I would like our specialist
to tell me and the public when the lights go out,
what happens to the power and how does it come into the denwitty county grid?
yeah, walk us through it. I'll let, I'll let him do mr. Wittington. Yep.
hello. Thank you. Um, thank you chairman and commissioners. And my name's neil watlington.
I'm the chief development officer for actualized solar. Um, I've been in
the industry about 30 years, uh, developing power plants,
coal, gas, hydro, um,
solar energy storage. I haven't done nuclear,
but I've been inside of a nuclear facility and geothermal.
um,
so the question is, what happens when the lights go out? And, and so the really,
the question is why do the lights go out? Um, and so, you know, the grid is complex.
um, dominion energy, and I'm not, I'm not an engineer, I'm a developer. So
I, I'll I'll caveat it with that, uh, with
the experience. Um, and, and then we belong
to pjm, which is the, you know, the regional transmission,
um, organization that manages, and so it's, it's
about supply and demand of electricity, right? And so they're continuously
trying to balance, uh, the supply and, and the demand of electricity.
because the grid was developed, it's pretty much developed how
thomas edison was developing it way back when, you know, centralized,
um, generators, long lines, transmission lines, dropping down
to distribution lines, um, and, and getting to, to, to, to
the different uses what they call the load. Um,
when there is more demand in, in certain places, the
electricity gets redirected, uh, to, to those areas. With
the advent of, you know, technology just kind of catching up,
um, in, in the industry, the, the possibility of distributed
power, right? Um, starts becoming
more of a reality. Now we can think of distributed power as kind of the
residential type, you know, solar, rooftops, et cetera. Um,
but at a certain point, you know, at a larger scale it can happen,
but it's not a super large scale either. It, it can start filling in
the gaps, um, in, in the distribution lines, uh,
kind of at the size that this project is at. And so
what happens is, as long as there is light, there
will be some generation, if there is some generation of electricity going to
that distribution line, there is less electricity that
needs to be imported, um, in, in, into the area. Um,
and, and that's basically what it is. I mean, you know, it, it, it's a, it's a little bit
more support, it's a little bit more resilience. It, it's not a panacea, it doesn't solve
anything. But in that distribution line, I'm pretty sure
that it's highly improbable that you're gonna be able to, to
install and develop a coal fired facility, a very, you know, a,
a combined cycle gas facility or a nuclear facility or
anything like that. Um, it's gonna be more, most likely that
at that level of distribution, kind of that local area,
um, you could do many small, smaller oil fired
engines, um, that have, you know, their, their own set of, of, of,
of, of issues that come with them. Or, or gas, if you had gas and you're gonna be using other issues
or, you know, you could do solar, um, and,
and have, you know, a less impactful, but potentially more resilient,
um, grid locally because of it. And, and that's, that's kind of the,
the, the little bit of a long answer, um, to the question. But the, the
electrons will flow to the path of lease resistance.
so if you have local, uh, generation,
it will go to the local load and the inverters.
and these, these facilities are relatively simple. You know, it's the solar panels
with inverters. The inverters are new technology in a way, right? It didn't
exist when they were using the big, you know, turbines and all that. And these
inverters, you know, they're, they're, they're digital. They respond at that speed,
and so they help stabilize the grid. They can react
with the grid much better than a large power plant would.
um, and so that also helps in increasing the,
you know, the reliance, uh, or the reliability of, of, of
that, of that line. Yeah. I guess what
I was looking at is trying to determine when that power comes off
those 17 acres and goes to a distribution, how is, how
do we maintain that power? Inwood county? Yeah, so, so
from the residents? Yeah. Yeah. So, so all the businesses that are around, yeah. So we'll
have, right, it'll only happen during the day, you know, again, uh, it
won't operate at night. Um, but as long as there's sunlight, there will be some generation
and that generation will produce electrons and feed them
into, into that line. That distribution line that right
now is only getting its electricity from outside. Mm-hmm . It's
only getting its electricity from transmission lines that drop it into a substation and
then gets consumed by the local load. So in, in, in a sense,
we're just push pushing electrons back,
and so they're getting used locally as opposed to getting imported
externally. Gotcha. Okay. Okay.
any other questions, comments? No, I was just gonna kind,
make comment, um, for dr. Moore about, um,
I think a lot of people just wonder how they're going
to keep power. And I know, I know, as you said,
when the sun goes down, um, they,
they're still gonna be able to have some power going on during
that time. Um, and I think that's what's kind of new about it. People
look at that and, um, with the sun, you know, if
it's, if we have some overcast days, um,
are they able, are they gonna be able to have power
or is it's just like a hit and miss type thing? I'm just,
um, kind of concerned about that. Yeah. So I mean, as, as long as,
as long as there's sunlight, there will be power, it just may not be the
full capacity of power. So if it's an overcast day, if it was 20
megawatts, it won't produce 20 megawatts. It'll produce a lesser amount, but there,
but every amount that it produces will be electrons that
flow locally, um, into the grid. And as long as there's sunlight,
you know, there will be some electrons that are generated. I, I'll note
that, and I think, uh, you know, will mention this, um,
just right now, but I, I'll just reiterate it, that this project
was selected as part a request for proposal from dominion energy,
right? So it's, it's part of their plan. Um, and in a way,
dominion as well as other utilities in the united states are adopting kind of an all of the
above energy strategy. Um, and, and
as I think of the previous presentation regarding filling the gaps of
the cell phone areas, it, that's kind of what they're doing. They're
filling in gaps with distributed, um, projects,
um, as well as the other projects that they're doing, um, with, you know,
with other technologies. And, and this is just one of these opportunities
where, because of the location, because of the, of the type of line,
um, that we're feeding into, that it gets to fill that gap there.
and probably no other technology, um, is
bound to be able to do that there. You wanted to add something? Uh, yes. I, I, I think just to,
uh, yes, I'm, I'm, uh, va . I'm the ceo of actualized solar.
I've done over 20,000 megawatts. That's an equivalent of over a
thousand projects of this size. Uh, distributed energy projects
are only possible up to the size of 24 megawatts, and we 20
to be supported of the distribution level. So kind of from the high level educational
perspective, it's pretty simple how our electric sector works. We've got generation fleet,
just like uber has cars, we've got transmission lines, which, which
electrons travel over long distances of lines. We're talking about hundreds of miles.
and then we got distribution, it connects to the substation, and then the, it branches
off to power your house, your house, your business. So, uh,
what solar does is, well, number one, dominion understands
the load profile of this county, not as they do.
and they know. So because you've been a customer for a long time and they've
got millions of customers like you, they, they've, they have
a state mandate to support you.
so they've award us a long term power purchase agreement because they
see, they see you as a need, and they think solar
would be beneficial if they didn't think we
would be beneficial. They would never, ever award us
the power purchase agreement. So, um, I
think with that, uh, the question was, well, uh, so
what I don't want the board to confuse is when there is no
sun ie there are clouds that there'll be no power
in the county. No, there will be power in the cabin
because there are many generation facilities that's still gonna transport things
to the substation, and it will branch off via distribution
lines. What solar facility will do at our local level,
it'll displace every single electron that it can,
when it can generate it. So that's why companies like winnie,
vulcan, tyndall, walmart, they've all recognized this
a long time ago. It's part of their policies. It's, it's, that's what they do.
why? Because they know. But most importantly, what's really
important is, is not what I say, but what dominion wants to do.
it's not our decision to, to have this kind of plant. It is our decision as
a developer, because we've located it, because we know there is a need here.
why you got a walmart distribution center? Uh, about
a hundred acres. They've got a load of about two megawatts. They've got tyle corporation,
another two megawatts, vulcan, I don't know exactly, maybe one, maybe two.
but, but one third, our project can, can support that operations.
tyle has, I think, quote, yeah, I think it's seven shifts a day,
throughout the 24 hour, uh, uh, period. Imagine what
a disaster it is when any particular business like this, who loses
its power, everything stops there. No lights, there's
nothing. So I think during the day between probably eight
30 to six 30, we're gonna be producing power. And
that's, that's, that's, uh, that's something that solar does. Solar is,
is a proven technology. It's been in existence since 1970. For those who don't understand
this, bp has started the technology. So I think most people don't
even know. So, uh, so much research has been done, uh, by ma
by ma many universities. So many people come and they say, we believe this, and this,
I don't believe anything. It's it, it's proven. Uh, I'm in the
infrastructure sector. It is a serious sector. It means you guys,
if you need power, and when I say I'm gonna deliver it, I must deliver it.
if I don't, I will be penalized severely. So
I think, I think that's the message. It's, it's no joke when you guys lose power.
like even, even at the, at, at, at, at our personal level, me, you, dr. Moore,
all of you, uh, what happens? No air conditioning.
if you have an electric stove, it doesn't work. If you got a tv, you can't watch it. If
you want a beer, well drink a warm on. So, because your,
your freezer is gonna unfreeze. So, uh, I mean, things like this, you,
you can't charge a phone. So I, I, I, I think when, when
I think about, about my, uh, I'm humbled to be, to be in this
industry, it's so complex. It's so complex. Like
dr. Moore is, is an eye doctor. I would never, ever even attempt to advise
what he should or should not do with his patient, because he knows best
casey dooley to tell, to tell him that he shouldn't carry whatever glock
17 or black 19. That would be a pretty, pretty interesting proposal to him.
he should not listen to me things like this. But when, when we
say something, we're gonna do, and when, when another entity that has a
state mandate that that's, they have a footprint in multiple states, dominion,
they, they've got an obligation in front of you guys to,
to deliver power. And when they say they want 20 megawatts here, that
means they've made a very careful decision to do that because they understand
the load profile of your customers, and, you know, both commercial and industrial as well as residential
customers. It's, it's, it's that simple and that difficult,
but they understand the difficulties. So, uh, I I, I really, I
really think the, the county will, will benefit just from the infrastructure
standpoint here. So it, it, it's nothing, you know, there is nothing
per se, sexy about, uh, about the industry. It's a pretty serious sector.
uh, it's, it's, it's, it's what people like, just like you guys have hospitals, like,
like we all have, uh, it's infrastructure. That's,
that's what, what can I say? We, we have, we have many awards, you know, the,
for the water authority. Earlier, earlier today, everybody recognized that it's important.
me, me too. I drink water, you know, a gallon a
day. So I, it's important. I, I, I love having this phone charged.
so I, it's, it's, it's, it's a basic need. And I, I I I, I just hope that,
that the board members would, would, would, would use their experience
and, and, and the benefits that they'll get in, in, in making, in making
a decision. And I think it's gonna be a good one. I think we heard many, many arguments,
both technical and non-technical today, uh, for solar. And I,
I, I just, I just really, I'm very much convinced that, that, that this
facility would, would benefit, uh, uh, all of the residents, uh, roughly
3000 of them or, or immediately identifiable customers
that, that are sitting on the same distribution line, uh, walmart, vulcan,
and tindel and, and many businesses that, that, I don't know. I'm,
I'm confident that more businesses here, they're smaller, but, but they're also important,
I think. So I think that's kind of, I would be happy to answer more
questions to the extent you have. Um,
okay. Um, mr, just a quick question. Vadim and your team
did, did y'all reach out to dominion and say, we would love for
you to bring a representative to this meeting or any other
meetings that you've had in other communities mm-hmm . To say,
we want to be a part of your community. Had,
did you reach out to them and say, we'd love for you to come
and just say, we wanna be a part of your community. We wanna be a good neighbor,
and we're gonna be buying this energy, and we're gonna be providing it to the citizens at inwood. Right?
right. So was that ask of dominion energy? Great question. We did
reach out to dominion several times, asking to send
a representative, even from the marketing group, so you could hear essentially
the same message. Uh, the response is due to, to internal
policies. And due to the fact that they own their own facilities, they
prefer not to kind of meddle in, in, in, in, in those
decisions. So, because dominion is also experiencing, I think the same, the
same objections in, in other counties when they come with solar, or there are other assets,
I assume. So I think I can, I can understand why, why a different
entity, uh, would not want to do that. But what I can tell you is they've
made a careful decision. We, we want a pretty serious, serious
rfp. And, and, and, uh, I, I've worked
with many utilities across, across the us multiple states. I've
helped some utilities enter the renewable space, be it, be it windows solar,
and they know what they're doing. That what that I can tell you, they're very intelligent,
very experienced. They understand every single customer they have better than anyone,
better than us. And when they award anything that, that,
that is a statement that means this project will have life, will have life
because we need it. Mr. Chair, the reason
why I ask that is because dominion has made $120 million investment
in this community. Mm-hmm . And I would certainly think that they would be,
want to, to say, we want to be a good partner. Well, they've already done it with $120 million
in investment. Sure. You would think that they would want the board to say, we want
to guarantee that we've got power in di witty county. And that's why I asked the
question. I I, I will tell you the, uh, the condition under which they would appear.
we own the project. Okay? We sell, but we sell
electrons to them. So that's, that's one, one scenario.
if they own the project, I wouldn't be standing in front of
you because it's their project and they would be getting a per permit for their
project. And dominion does, does business in two ways. They have
their own generation facilities, and they have generation facilities owned by others
like us. And not many, many companies like us, we're just one of them. So that's
really kind of the, the, the reason. So it's not an indication that
dominion is not interested in this project. I no, I, I know, I realize it.
I can answer that question for you. Um, thursday night, um,
one of the top ceos of dominion, bill murray,
um, hosted a, a supple for the board of directors. And he,
he told county officials, um, that
if a solar project was cited in your county,
dominion would, would automatically take the
power from that, um, project. He
also said that they had no skin in
the game for what? Local land use decisions.
so basically you approve it, they're gonna take the power, they don't care where
it's at or anything other than they will take the power.
thank you, mr. Lee. And, and, and, and just for the record,
we already have a contract with, with the off the,
and it's a long-term power purchase agreement. So it's not, it's not something that,
that we, we want. It's not, you know, aspirational
in nature. It's what currently exists. We're obligated to
deliver power to them, and they want it, they're ready to pay. And those
electrons will, will, will, will benefit every single, uh, person area because
it's clean, affordable, and reliable. And dominion said, so just
like you, dr. Moore, you say something to the patient, that means it's, it's a
rule. I, I wear my glasses 'cause I can't see very well,
I can't see you guys, but I can't see anything that's one meter in front of me.
so, uh, I, I trust eye doctors. I think, I think
that, you know, I, I, I feel like a lot of people when they, when they speak,
they, they, they tend to go a little bit outside of their profession and,
and knowledge base. And I do respect it, but I think, uh, uh, when I go
to, to a doctor, that means I made an educated decision that I need glasses. And if he
confirms that I do, he just prescribes whatever that is. Two, two and a half minus
two. So that's really kind of, uh, the approach. So again, I just
want down underline, it's a, it's a pretty, pretty critical, solar is not, it's,
it's, it's not amuse, it's not an amusement. I don't sell, uh,
vaping products to use. This is a basic need. Just like, just like
water. Just like solar. We need electricity. Uh,
okay. Alright. Any other questions? Alright,
thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay.
um, it's been a long night. Um, but I would
like to, um, reiterate that,
um, this is a, is the rezoning
portion of, of this. So this is to rezone
containing approximately 196 acres. So,
um, two more parts to this, but this is the first part
of it. So, um, now
discussion of board, board members or what is the pleasure
of the board?
sorry, I'll, I'll start. I'll, I have a few comments. Um, several,
uh, I guess it's a few years ago now, I was kind of sitting in the same seat that
ms. Eng, mr. Daniel and ms. Harville were in
as a solar industrial, solar field was proposed behind my house.
and while not opposed to
solar in general, I was opposed to it being in,
in my backyard. I raised cows and horses and children
and there are a lot of unknowns. There's a lot of fear. I
have a pond. I have mr. Flowers knows well because I'm in a house that he loves
and he spent a lot of time in and built a, a, a good portion of it.
um, and I'm so thankful that the board at that time
saw fit to listen to me and my family and our concerns. Uh,
I don't take it lightly. When I look at mr. Walker, who I've known for years
and worked with his wife, uh, the masons,
uh, I've been a, a part of their life through their daughter and
as a resource officer at the school. So I don't take it lightly that this impacts
families across the board. However, when I chose to run for
this position, I told folks that I would be the voice for
our community. And that's district one. Uh, a few days ago, back in
on thursday, I I put out a feedback post on facebook because I
think it's imperative for our representatives to represent us.
yeah, I wish at the state level that we had folks that would reach out because communication
is so easy. I'd spoke with, uh, this gentleman, william last
friday and said the exact same words, communication is easy now. Now
all you have to do is, is put it, put it out there and people will tell you what they think.
and resoundingly from district one in our community, in this project
specifically that identified as four 60 across from walmart,
my community said no. And so that makes my job
a little bit easier because I know I'm representing what was the
feedback to me, it makes it difficult to look at you and know that it impacts your family
and know that it doesn't check a box or, or, or meet the
need for your, for your land.
but my job is to represent my community. And resoundingly they said no.
any other comments? I'll piggyback on that. Uh, ms. Tipman spoke tonight
and she has solar in her backyard. And I
also have had concerns.
we had one, I think it was 1500 acres
that came, uh, on brick road in my district.
and same thing as mr. Dooley
said, you know, I had my constituents come to me with concerns
about the same thing. Uh, but like
ms. Tipton said, she has it in her backyard and it doesn't perform
the way that she thought it was, but she's invested.
you know what I mean? So, like mr. Dooley said, we represent our
constituents. So that's where, uh, what I have
to do too,
I guess I'll talk. It's of course it's in my district. Um,
it is adjacent to commercial properties. Um,
I thought about this project for over a year now 'cause I voted against it a year ago.
but you know, the tone has changed tonight. And when I say the tone,
the urgency of the grid has changed tonight.
we didn't hear this a year ago about data centers and other things, the urgency
of the grid, but we are hearing it tonight.
okay? And so that's why I asked the question about the feedback in,
into our grid to support the people of denwitty county.
everything that I've read is a solar panel. You get about 25% use
out of it. So as a small business owner,
if I had an employee that worked 25% of the time,
would I be comfortable with that employee?
just food for thought. Okay. If I had a car
that 25% of the time it worked,
what would I do with the car? I probably would think about something
different. Um, there are other sources
of energy that are well more, um,
productive, um, that we had
an opportunity to this state to produce a certain product
and it was killed, which is gonna have a direct impact
on our economy in this state and other places, um, for years
to come. Um, there are, as in my mind,
other sources and yes, they're not here right now, but
you can talk to our energy company and they will tell you
that they are focusing on the next generation of
power. Okay? Now, of course, our friends in, in chesterfield county
have a project before them. It is not solar.
um, but it is a vital component to
all of our needs. I pray that they will vote
for it to allow it to happen in their community. I have
a patient of mine and also a church member of mine that worked at the dutch gap
plant. And most of you in here may know where that is up on.
right? One going to richmond. Yes. He told me one time he said
it would take 13,000 acres of
panels to produce the same amount of energy that that plant
does. 13,000 acres.
now we've got our friends and neighbors around us that we've
heard about a couple of 'em that are 8,000 acres to produce
energy. So then you asked yourself,
is this piece of property, is this the highest and best use for the property?
probably gonna get variations of who thinks what for the property.
I could probably sit here and say, if vulcan were to come,
I probably would consider doing something
on that property. If tyndall concrete were to come,
would we consider doing something going down the, the bed?
I can't answer that 'cause I don't know what that answer would be. Okay,
the agricultural integrity of the county. I know we've talked about
that tonight. That is one of our mainstays that we talk about.
um, the more important piece of that is not just this piece
of property. Each
is supposed to be taken for their own merit. I understand
that. But there is, and will be
another opportunity that's gonna come before this board. It's coming.
it's just a question of when the other
is convenience, attractive and harmonic,
um, harmonious community that's in the denwoody county code section
22 dash two. Is this a project
that creates that type of community?
in my mind, I don't necessarily see that. So
that probably tells you where I stand. Thank you.
well, uh, and of course in my district, uh, when I talk
about solar, they, um, they like the idea.
um, I think some people would, uh, of course like that
on their houses and that kind of thing. But so I am, uh, far away
from the particular project. So when I talk to my citizens, they,
um, they're kind of back and forth, but, uh, they do like
it, but of course they're not down that way as well.
so, but, um, I, you know, I do believe that,
um, a person has a right to do what they would like to do with they own
property. I do believe that. But sometimes it is a bigger picture that
we have to look at as far as the citizens and as, uh,
the citizens came out tonight, you know, pro and for pro and against.
um, they had some, some good information that
they passed on to us to listen to. And, um,
uh, solar is, um, kind of one of those things
that, you know, um,
and again, it's, it, people like it, some people don't. And that's what we have in this room tonight.
and, uh, and I think some of the people who actually left, because I know of course it's
getting late, but, um, I, I
just think at this point, um, sometimes things, something may
come bigger for the people who have property and maybe you may wanna look at something
different, um, and that could
be more productive for you. Uh, so I'm
just kind of, um, leaning in that direction and,
um, we're just hoping for the best for everyone tonight.
um, I thought about taking the easy way out tonight and just let these guys
talk and, and just be chairman, um, tonight,
but I haven't ever done that. Um, and so my first train
of thought is, uh, you know, environmentalist, uh, um,
somewhat, um, different, um, people and, and
my, um, I guess my example of that is,
um, they don't want a natural gas pipeline
in the mountains of virginia from west virginia to greenville.
uh, emporia, two plants down there, but they don't
mind 8,000 acres of solar panels in
brunswick county. That just baffles me
that, um, that we have. And, and the 8,000
in brunswick is just a drop in the bucket to the ones
in suffolk, uh, sussex, um,
all across the state. Um, it's not a lot of farm land here,
but every little bit of farm land is another drop
in the bucket. Um, I believe mr. Flowers
at, at the end of the day, he's gonna sell parts
of this property for either commercial use,
um, industrial use, um, I don't know when,
um, but to, to have
to make this decision. I understand. Um,
my grandchildren of seventh generation on our farm, um,
farmland has a different meaning for me than some
people. Um, it doesn't have any value 'cause I'm not gonna
sell it. Um, I'm paying taxes on it, yes, but also,
um, got a son that's farming it and he, he helps pay the taxes
with that. Um, so it,
it, it's, um, it's a hard decision,
but it's also, when we look at where denwood county's
future is 20, 30 years from now, the decisions we make
today will, uh, determine what then what he looks like
in the future. And I,
I'm from, uh, lake jordan, downright one
old hickory to, uh, mckinney.
um, as, as ms. Bonna will say,
it, it is dark in those areas, not many street lights.
um, so, um, we like
what it looks like. And, um, so the rural character
has, has a really a a lot to do with, with
how I feel about so law. So what's the
pleasure of this board, mr. Chair?
I'll make a motion be it resolved that in order to assure compliance with virginia
code section 15.2 dash 2 2 8 6 a seven.
it is stated that the public purpose for which this resolution is initiated is to fulfill
the requirements of public necessity, convenience, general welfare, and
good zoning practice. I move that rezoning p dash 25
dash eight as presented, be disapproved by the board of supervisors. Do
we have a second? Second? Could we have the roll call
please? Dr. Moore? Aye. Mr. Chavis? Aye.
ms. Ebra bonner. Aye. Mr. Dooley?
aye. Mr. Lee? Aye. All voting? Aye um,
mr. Southall, um, this was the rezoning case.
so could you explain, um, where we go,
um, with the other two cases and what, what we need to do from
mr. Chairman? There were three solar related public hearings scheduled tonight. The
first is a rezoning, the second was a conditional use permit. The third
was to consider a siting agreement, um, really
a prerequisite to the conditional use permit as well as really the siting agreement
is, is that a rezoning be approved. And so in light of the
fact that the rezoning has been disapproved, there's really not a point in
having a public hearing on the other two items as seen as the
rezoning has been disapproved. Okay. Alright. So,
um, we will not hear the other two, um, conditional
use permit cases and we will move to all new
visits. Um, and we have appointments. Mr.
yeah, mr. Chairman, members of the board, we have a, a need to make an appointment to
the crater planning district, uh, metropolitan planning organization
or the mpoi make a motion that
we, uh, appoint casey dooley to the mpo. Uh,
uh, expiration will be september the 30th, 26th. Do they have
a second? One second. Do we have the wrong call, please?
dr. Moore? Aye. Mr. Chavis? Aye. Ms. Ebra bonner aye. Mr.
dooley abstain. Mr. Lee? Aye. Four ayes. One abstain.
mr. Chairman, we also have a need to make an appointment to the dewine county industrial development authority
or ida. I'd like to reappoint michelle
ers for term to expire. 7 31 20 29.
do we have a second? Second, uh, roll call dr. Moore?
aye. Mr. Chavis? Aye. Ms. Ebra bonner. Aye. Mr. Dooley? Aye.
mr. Lee? Aye. All voting? Aye mr. Chairman, no other appointments for tonight?
okay. Alright, we're gonna move on to citizen comment. Uh, do
we have anyone signed up as citizen comment? Mr. Chairman, we have no one signed up.
okay. I'll close citizen comment. Um,
at this time we'll have board member comments. Mr.
do, I'll start. Um, I wanna thank everyone for coming out tonight. Um,
I know it's uncomfortable to speak in front of folks and it's a
really a contentious topic, um,
for our community. Uh, it's very much split between the,
the rural and agricultural community and, and those that live in a more
urban environment. Um, I agree that
landowners rights are, are very important. Uh, in cases like this
though, the way that I look at it is, is that the folks that have moved in that area and that have
purchased land or, or obtained land through, through will or through,
um, you know, that that property was, was zoned agricultural
or it's zoned industrial, whatever the case may be. And
what is being asked of this board is to change the rules in which the people that live in
the area and the community around it change. Sometimes that's mid game,
that the folks that bought their property in that area chose it for a reason.
and it's our duty to, to look at it in the highest and best use
of our community. And that's also those that live right in the backyard of it. But
we can't forget about those. And it's not about a dollar figure,
it's about our community. Uh, tax revenue comes
at the largest portion on the backs of our citizens.
we need to find a re responsible way to lift that burden
for all, not for just a few. So when
I look at these cases, it's not done easily. I'm sweating up here right now. Mm-hmm. Honestly. Mm-hmm.
uh, it's, it's an uncomfortable position to be in,
but it's, I'm okay with it. Uh, I'm okay with the
decision that I made, uh, because it's the decision that was handed
to me by our citizens. Amen. Dr. Murphy.
yeah. And I just wanna say thank you to everybody coming out. Um, this is something that we've
looked at for the last year. Um, and you know,
I appreciate all the comments that casey has made.
um, they're all things that we've d dwelt on. Um,
you know, I don't, I don't take making a decision like this lightly.
um, it's one of, one of the most difficult
decisions that we have to make is land use policy. Okay?
and I can only speak for me
is that I just feel like there are individuals,
individuals have rights to do certain things with their
land, but then there are also people that live around that
land and it directly impacts them. And so you have
to weigh that balance to, to figure out which is,
which is the best for the community in general. And that's
the decision that I made tonight. So thank each of you.
yeah. Um, again, it, it, it is a, a hard
thing to, to agree on and, you know, of
course, um, we do appreciate everyone coming and saying, giving
their, um, their, um,
how they, how they feel about the projects. I do believe that
the right another good project
will come and you will have an opportunity to weigh in to
do what you feel is best. The ones who, um, were not
a part of it as well as the, the ones who were a part of
making this. I think that, um, we look at the long
run, I think, um, some good things are gonna come and
we just have to be open-minded and, and, and really prayerful about that because
I think, um, something will come
that's going to be beneficial to everyone that has come here, whether
it's, um, whether you are for or against. So I'm just, um,
just hoping because it is, it is hard to be up here to do that, do this. And again,
I said I do believe that a landowner has a right to do what
they would like to do, but when it impacts people around you,
then we have to look at, um, how we gonna vote on that. So I just,
just wanted to say that to everyone. Thank you.
I just echo, uh, what everyone said and thank you for those that spoke
tonight. Um, we had some good information and,
uh, and it is, it's hard decision to make when it
comes to your land. So thank you again,
thank everyone on this panel. Uh, we support each other
and, uh, but it's not easy. Uh, alright.
um, couple of things. Um,
the manson family, I don't think this is gonna make you feel any better at the end
of the day, but, um, what, what you talked about
the fact that you couldn't build a house on, on the land that you
owned and, and different things. If, if y'all could leave your contact
information with kaisha, I'd like to at least get
zoning and understand what's
going on on y'all's piece of property. Well, the, you know, um,
just understand the situation. Um, so
I'm not promising that I can, that we can help or
anything's gonna change. I just, um, that resonated with
me. Um, that you've got a piece of property and you can't even build
a, your a house on your own property. That that doesn't sit well
with me. So I wanna understand, I know I'm sure
the county's got a reason, um, and we need to understand
that. Um, so offer that to you. Um, if,
if you sow choose, um, the second thing,
um, nights like tonight are tough. Um,
we are getting ready to have a town hall series coming up
and, you know, we get people to board meetings when, when
it's really up against the wall, something's gonna happen.
but these town hall meetings really are about land
use decisions for the future. Um, do we want,
you know, part of zoning in the eight two district, um,
several years ago when subdivisions stopped being built,
district four, which I said ran from picture lake downright
one to old hickory to mckinney, I was
the fastest growing, um, district in than
woody where I shouldn't have been. And it was a shotgun approach
if you took the map and just shot it with a load of number eights.
that's how the houses were being built in this county. And
I think we need to look at that in the future. Our a two
districts, we need to preserve them. Um, we need to
make sure that we don't drop the value of our a two land.
um, but we also don't wanna put false value on a two land.
so, um, district one is
gonna, theirs is gonna be september the 22nd, which is mr. Dooley
and district one, uh, october the sixth,
district two, which is dr. Moore, which is west
end baptist church. Um, district three
is mr. Chavis, september the eighth at richard bland college.
um, district four, um, september
the 10th at the ragsdale community center in mckinney
district four, wednesday, september the 17th, which, sorry,
which is me at olive branch baptist church. And then,
um, district five, which is ms. Bonna, thursday,
september the fourth, edgehill church of christ. Um,
this flyer will go out certainly closer to time.
um, and we'd like to get citizens to come, uh,
and just talk about what, what they want to see the future of
ben woody, um, be. And so this is a good opportunity
for us to listen, but it's also a good opportunity.
um, mr. Massengill has a dollar bill that
is broke down with what we spend in this county and it,
it's very eye open in what we spend our money on in this county. And
I can tell you the top two are schools and emergency services.
so, um, you know, we, we formulate
a budget every year. We pass it in may and, and we stick to
that budget. Um, so that's part of what we want
to do is show what's where the money goes and then, um,
also listen to, to the folks in our district side.
anything else mr. Matthew? No, just those, the dates that he just mentioned. If, if
you go to the county website that's on the, the very front homepage and so that,
that information's there. Yep. Alright.
can we have a motion to adjourn? So moved.
second. Second. Roll call dr. Moore. Aye. Mr.
chavis? Aye. Ms. Ebra bonner aye. Mr. Duley? Aye.
mr. Lee aye all voting aye meeting is adjourned.