Tag: Albemarle Board of Supervisors

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In brief: Richardson steps down, Johnny Reb goes down, and more

A crew removes Johnny Reb from his pedestal. PC: Eze Amos

One down

Johnny Reb, the bronze Confederate soldier who has stood, musket in hand, outside the Albemarle County Courthouse since 1909, has been replaced by a patch of hay.

After the Unite the Right rally accelerated the national debate over Confederate monuments, Charlottesville finally took down one of our own. The Albemarle Board of Supervisors voted to remove Johnny Reb, officially known as “At Ready,” earlier this summer, and on Saturday morning a truck arrived to haul off the Lost Cause relic. A small crowd gathered to watch as the crew’s yellow ropes slowly lowered Johnny Reb off his pedestal.

The removal revealed a time capsule encased in concrete below the statue’s concrete plinth. Charlottesville Tomorrow found an old Daily Progress clipping in which the monument’s erectors declared that the capsule shall remain untouched “until the angel Gabriel shall put one foot on the land and one in the sea, and proclaim that ‘time shall be no more.’” Those plans went awry sometime in the course of the last 111 years—the capsule was breached by groundwater long ago, and when the Confederate relics contained within finally saw the light of day, they were so waterlogged as to be almost unrecognizable.

The time capsule buried below the “At Ready” statue is in bad shape after more than 100 years underground. PC: Eze Amos

UVA religious studies professor Jalane Schmidt, who has spent years researching Johnny Reb and lobbying for his removal, says “it was a relief” to see the statue come down. “It’s gratifying to see public opinion shift, especially among elected leaders,” she says.

Still, Schmidt has serious concerns about the monument’s future. As per the new law, these Confederate statues must be offered to a museum rather than just melted down. A dubious list of organizations volunteered to take Johnny Reb, including the Sons of Confederate Veterans. In the end, the Albemarle Board of Supervisors voted to send him to the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation, a New Market-based public history organization with a checkered record: In February, C-VILLE wrote a story about the foundation’s (unsuccessful) attempt to secure state funding for a Black history museum, despite the all-white board neglecting to consult any Black people about it. Last year, the foundation actually installed a new Confederate monument on a Winchester battlefield.

Schmidt says we’ve “disposed of our toxic waste” elsewhere, but that plan “doesn’t bode well for the disrupting of the transmission of Lost Cause narratives.”

__________________

Quote of the week

“Our work is not done…The forces of destruction who didn’t want him to go are alive and well and in our midst.”

—UVA professor and activist Larycia Hawkins, at a ceremony held to cleanse and reclaim the former site of the Johnny Reb statue

__________________

In brief

Richardson rolls out

City Manager Tarron Richardson, the most powerful individual in Charlottesville’s municipal government, resigned Friday afternoon. The move won’t come as a surprise to those who have followed his tenure here. Richardson, City Council, and other city officials have repeatedly clashed during budget discussions and in the course of regular business. After helming the city government for 16 months, Richardson’s severance package includes a year’s salary: $205,000. City Attorney John Blair will step in as interim while a search is conducted.

Clark conquered

UVA’s Board of Visitors voted this week to remove the statue of George Rogers Clark from the Corner. The monument, which shows Clark and his men attacking Native Americans, has been the site of several protests this summer—one activist even tried to saw Clark’s head off, but couldn’t make it through the metal neck. The BOV also agreed to strip the names of slaveholders Curry and Withers from university buildings and “contextualize” the Jefferson statue outside the Rotunda.

Voting begins

Early voting in Virginia begins this Friday, September 18. Get registered online or at the registrar’s office, grab your ID, and make your way to the polls as soon as possible. This is the big one, folks.

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Mallek seeks fourth term

Supervisor Ann Mallek wants more economic development and less stream degradation. She's running for a fourth term representing the White Hall District. staff photo

Albemarle native Ann Mallek likes serving on the Board of Supervisors so much that she’s running for a fourth term.

“I enjoy all the work,” she says. “And meeting people. Especially meeting people.”

The 68-year-old farmer and educator, who represents the White Hall District, says, “My skill over the past 11 years is to listen carefully to these diverse opinions and to learn my constituents’ needs and concerns.”

At a January 16 announcement in the Albemarle County Office Building, she listed her accomplishments, including an agreement with the city to improve court infrastructure and parking that will keep county courts downtown, and an ordinance in the works that will have the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau focus on more programming and destination activities. Mallek had previously expressed concern that the county was not getting its money’s worth from the bureau and its wishes were ignored.

She cited a need for economic development after learning that 465 families in her district had both parents working and were still earning below the poverty line. She noted that for a long time, the board saw economic development as anti-environmental.

If businesses grow and provide better jobs, that also shifts the tax burden from residential property owners, who now pay over 80 percent of the tax revenue pie, she said.

When Mallek was first elected, growth was seen as the biggest threat in the county. That slowed with the recession, but as population has risen—along with the demand for services—she’s hearing some of the same concerns from 2007: “Where are all these people coming from?”

Growth means the county has to provide the capital expenditures that were postponed during the recession, such as school additions, parks, and improved fire stations, as well the services citizens demand, like sidewalks and recycling. “We can and must find these solutions together,” she said.

Mallek also revealed her own growth while on the board, and acknowledged the history she didn’t learn while a student at Albemarle High in the 1960s. She didn’t know that families were forced off their land to build the Shenandoah National Park, and she has worked on a chimney memorial to recognize those families.

“I also never learned about the lynching of John Henry James in Ivy in 1898,” she said. “We must find ways to share the history that has divided us.”

Mallek ran unopposed in 2015. And so far, no one else has indicated plans to challenge her.

 

 

 

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In brief: Robo designated driver, Thanksgiving casualties, Bigfoot erotica and more

Tony will soon be cruising the streets of Crozet. Courtesy Albemarle County

Tony the self-driving shuttle

Perrone Robotics cranked up the driverless vehicle heat last week with the awkwardly acronymed Tony—TO Navigate You—which will soon be autonomously tooling around Crozet.

In a partnership with Albemarle County and JAUNT—Jefferson Area UNited Transportation, another awkward acronym—Perrone will test drive the shuttle near its facility in Crozet before it begins an official route in March, and JAUNT will lend its transit expertise.

Albemarle is ponying up $238,000 for the vehicle, Perrone $271,000 and JAUNT $108,000 for insurance and a trained operator, who will be onboard as an “ambassador,” but be prepared to step in if the six-seater needs a real driver.

The fixed route in Crozet has not yet been determined. May we suggest a pub crawl route from Starr Hill Brewery to Crozet Pizza to Pro Re Nata?

Quote of the week

“Quite honestly, if people don’t want a successful governor and a good representative of his constituents to come to speak at the University of Virginia, I don’t give a damn.”—Robert Andrews, chair of UVA’s College Republicans, on hosting George Allen, whose past racial insensitivity—including the infamous 2006 “macaca” moment—drew concern from minority student leadership, the Cav Daily reports

In brief

Councilors want raise

Mayor Nikuyah Walker wants to ask the General Assembly to allow City Council to change its charter and determine its own salaries. Currently councilors make $18,000, and the mayor gets $20,000, which limits who can afford to serve. Council will hold a public hearing at its December 3 meeting.

Toscano not Pelosi-ing

Delegate David Toscano, the Virginia House minority leader, says he’ll resign the leadership position after the 2019 session because it takes too much time. Toscano, 68, has led the Dems since 2011, and says he’ll still seek reelection to the 57th District.

Uninviting Johnny Reb

After a petition to remove another local Confederate monument from Court Square—one that this time falls on county property and is dubbed Johnny Reb—the Albemarle Board of Supervisors has asked for legislation that would allow it to move the statue.

Uninviting Mike Signer

Members of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission want City Councilor Mike Signer off its board after they say he missed their past four meetings. In an email to the Daily Progress, Signer said his 4-year-old twins and other family members have kept him busy, and that councilors frequently miss their engagements. Wrote Signer, “Mayor Walker, for instance, has missed several council meetings this year.”

More Bigfoot jokes

“Saturday Night Live” actor Mikey Day threw on a taupe jacket and colored his hair gray November 17 as he took on the persona of 5th District Representative Denver Riggleman, who’s gotten plenty of national attention for being an alleged “devotee to Bigfoot erotica.” Said Day as Riggleman, “As I’ve said 500 times before, that picture was a joke between buds, and I’m not into that stuff.”

Caregiver con

Former caretaker Tia Daniels will serve three years in jail for stealing over $12,000 worth of heirloom jewelry and money from 98-year-old Albemarle woman Evelyn Goodman. Daniels also duped the elderly woman’s daughter into giving her money for a Habitat for Humanity house by creating fake correspondence with the charity, according to Albemarle Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Tracci.

Deadly Thanksgiving

The Charlottesville Fire Department is hoping to keep holiday cooks across the city from burning their houses down while preparing their turkey and pumpkin pies.

“Thanksgiving is the peak day for home cooking fires,” when nearly four times as many occur than on any other day, according to a press release sent by Battalion Chief Joe Phillips.

Fire crews across the nation respond to an estimated 172,100 cooking-related fires per year, for an average of 471 per day. These easily avoided incinerations have caused an average number of 530 deaths, 5,270 injuries, and $1 billion in property damage each year, according to Phillips.

City firefighters encouraging holiday cooks to keep flammable items like oven mitts and towels away from the stovetop, wear short sleeves or roll up their sleeves while in the kitchen, always have a properly fitting lid nearby to smother flames coming from a pot or pan, and, in the case of an oven fire, turn the heat off and keep the oven door closed so flames don’t spread.

And deep-fried turkeys can be deadly as well. The National Fire Protection Safety Association discourages the use of the hot-oil devices, which it says kills five people, injures 60, and destroys 900 homes a year.

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Insurance denied: City footing Lee statue, parking garage legal bills

Water Street Parking Garage

Since 2016, Charlottesville has faced a larger-than-usual number of high-profile lawsuits, and in at least two cases, its insurance carrier won’t be picking up the tab. And while the carrier hasn’t seen the most recent suit, filed by Albemarle County over the Ragged Mountain Natural Area April 20, that litigation could join the Lee statue coverage denial as a “willful violation” of state law.

The city’s insurer, the Virginia Municipal League, covered Joe Draego’s federal lawsuit after he was dragged out of City Council for calling Muslims “monstrous maniacs,” and a judge ruled the city’s public comment policy banning group defamation was unconstitutional.

But VML is not covering the lawsuit filed against the city for its 3-2 vote to remove the statue of General Robert E. Lee, nor is it covering Mark Brown’s Charlottesville Parking Center litigation against the city, which heads to mediation May 31.

In that case, the city is paying Richmond LeClairRyan attorney Tom Wolf $425 an hour. At press time, City Attorney Craig Brown was unable to come up with costs of that suit, but a year ago, as of April 30, 2016, before the city had gone to court on Brown’s emergency receivership petition, it had spent $11,593.

Craig Brown says the suits on the statue, parking garage and the dispute with Albemarle have “all generated a large amount of public interest, whereas someone tripping on a sidewalk doesn’t.”

“It’s unusual to be involved in as much high-profile litigation as it is now,” agrees former mayor and CPC general manager Dave Norris.

“There’s only a certain amount of appetite taxpayers have to paying high-priced lawyers,” he says.

The litigation with Albemarle stems from the city’s December 19 vote to allow biking at Ragged Mountain, which is located in the county, despite county regulations that prohibit biking at the reservoir. Before the vote, Liz Palmer, then chair of the Albemarle Board of Supervisors, sent a December 15 letter to City Council asking it to defer action and citing state code that prohibits a landowner locality from adopting regulations in conflict with the jurisdiction where the property is located.

And while the city held a year’s worth of public meetings about uses at Ragged Mountain, conspicuously absent from that process was the county. “We were not involved in that,” says Board of Supervisors chair Diantha McKeel. “It’s unfortunate it got as far as it did without recognizing that.”

McKeel stresses that the city and county are not at odds on most issues, but says, “Both of our localities have agreed this is a legal question that has to be settled in the courts.”

After the City Council voted April 3 to adopt a new trails plan that would allow biking, the city offered binding arbitration, “precisely because we wanted to resolve the underlying legal issues without having to go to court,” says Mayor Mike Signer.

That was an offer the county declined. “The question goes back to state code,” says McKeel. “We can’t mediate our way out of that.”

Attorney Buddy Weber, a plaintiff in the Lee statue suit, sees a pattern with the city’s decision to proceed at Ragged Mountain over the county’s objections—and state statutes. “What you really have to ask is where they’re getting their legal advice,” he says. “Are they doing this to invite litigation?”

An injunction hearing is scheduled for May 2 to halt the city from moving the statue—or selling it, as council voted to do April 17. “We thought it was reckless for them to do what they did to remove the statue,” says Weber.  “Selling it falls in line with that. That’s why we need an injunction.”

But when Councilor Bob Fenwick changed his vote to remove the statue February 6, he said it was an issue that would have to be decided by the courts.

For activist Walt Heinecke, that fight embodies the city’s values on the Civil War statue, and he also applauds council’s funding of $10,000 to Legal Aid Justice Center to support immigrants. “I do think it’s important,” he says.

Other legal battles, like the city’s defense of its 2011 panhandling ordinance or the Draego lawsuit, “seem like a complete waste of money,” he says. Heinecke hasn’t followed the Ragged Mountain debate, but says, “It certainly seems there would be better ways to work this through rather than bull-dogging it.”

Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy, who had his own day in court recently to fend off a petition to remove him from office, says when he was campaigning, he frequently heard comments that prior councils were “paralyzed” and that citizens wanted City Council to make decisions.

“This council is committed to making a difference and to making bold choices,” he says. “We’re not going to be paralyzed.”

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Is Hedgerow a no-go? County pushes for biking park that bikers don’t want

Rachel Thielmann is an advocate for allowing mountain biking at Ragged Mountain, and she says her whole family would benefit. Photo by Eze Amos

The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors has made it clear that, though Charlottesville’s City Council has voted to allow mountain biking at Ragged Mountain Natural Area—a city-owned park located in the county—they don’t like it one bit because county regulations prohibit activities like biking that could pollute the reservoir. As an alternative, the supes are now pushing for an accelerated opening of a new county park that could have about 15 miles of biking trails.

On the west side of U.S. 29, near I-64 and immediately south of the 980-acre natural area that surrounds Ragged Mountain Reservoir, sits the 340-acre Hedgerow property, which was a gift from the late Jane Heyward.

Hedgerow-RMNA_map_AlbemarleCounty
While Hedgerow borders Ragged Mountain Natural Area, its proposed access on U.S. 29 is not biker friendly. Courtesy Albemarle County

“Our board is really interested and excited about the prospect of Hedgerow being a great park for the entire community,” says BOS Chair Diantha McKeel. And that includes the bikers.

They’ve set April 12 as the date to discuss how to open the park and where the funding might come from, because money to develop Hedgerow is not currently in the county’s capital improvement program that finances such projects, according to McKeel.

“As currently envisioned, the Hedgerow property will be designed and developed as a multi-use trail park and will provide a variety of recreation opportunities while preserving the scenic and open-space resources adjacent to the Ragged Mountain Reservoir property,” says assistant county executive Lee Catlin, who adds that it had been Heyward’s wish to do so.

The addition of trails at Hedgerow will compensate for land and trails flooded during the elevation change of the Ragged Mountain Reservoir dam, where some of the city and county’s water supply is stored, according to Catlin.

The entrance to Hedgerow will be 2.5 miles south of the I-64 interchange and directly off U.S. 29—an aspect that worries some of the bikers who would rather ride at Ragged Mountain, whose entrance is off Fontaine Avenue with easily accessible upper and lower parking lots.

“This will not be doable for beginners, families with children and anyone who is not an advanced rider,” says David Stackhouse, a member of the Charlottesville Area Mountain Bike Club board of directors and a past president.

And while the trails and elevation at Ragged Mountain are not very steep and suitable for young and inexperienced riders, Hedgerow has a rugged terrain and an entrance that requires people to scale “a small mountain” with an elevation of approximately 1,000 feet, he says.

Rachel Thielmann, an avid biker and member of the CAMBC, is the mother of three young girls who are also on a local mountain biking team. Squeezing in riding time can be difficult, she says, but Ragged Mountain is walkable and bikable from the city. This is generally not true for Hedgerow, she says.

“How can the county even consider this as a suitable trade for biking at RMNA?” asks Stackhouse. “The concept is flawed and has little merit. The county would better serve the public if it were to suggest that the purist hikers who prefer ‘contemplative’ nature hikes should look to Hedgerow for that experience.”

He adds that hikers are the folks who resisted allowing biking at Ragged Mountain on the grounds that bikes disturb the natural area’s peace and tranquility.

“Hedgerow is perfect for the purist hiker,” says Stackhouse. “It is undisturbed, has no water tanks, no RWSA pipes, no old or new dams, no 170-acre artificial lake, and no highway running through it, and it is isolated from neighborhoods and developments.”

This land is your land

Ragged Mountain Natural Area is owned by the city and located in the county. Though City Council voted 3-2 to allow mountain biking and trail running on the property, the county’s Board of Supervisors has argued that it has jurisdiction over the land. With a current difference of opinion between city and county attorneys, the legality of such activities at Ragged Mountain is up in the air.

Diantha McKeel
Diantha McKeel. File photo

Albemarle’s Board of Supervisors Chair Diantha McKeel puts it like this in an open letter to city and county residents:

“Imagine if the county purchased land within a residential city neighborhood in order to establish a county-owned urban park. Then, based on its ownership of the park, the county decided to allow a use that was prohibited by the city. As an extreme example, assume that the county decided to allow riding motorcycles in the park at any time. The city would justifiably feel that its authority over the lands within the city was being violated by the county. The Board of Supervisors’ expectation is that City Council will respect the county’s sovereignty and its regulations, regardless of whether the City Council and city staff disagree with those regulations.”

open letter diantha mckeel

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John Lowry is doing things differently in second supes run

John Lowry says MicroAire Surgical Instruments coming into the former U.S. Post Office processing center on Airport Road is a good example of economic development in Albemarle County. MicroAire received $150,000 from the county’s Economic Opportunity Fund with the promise it would hire new workers and invest money in the location. Eze Amos

This is not John Lowry’s first Albemarle Board of Supervisors rodeo. He ran for the Samuel Miller District seat in 2009, and lost to one-term Republican Duane Snow.

Lowry, 69, is doing a few things differently this time around. For one, he’s seeking the GOP nomination at the party’s mass meeting in May rather than go it alone as an independent. And he’s decided to eschew the bow tie that was his signature look in 2009.

“I decided to run again because increasingly in the past couple of years, I’ve been unhappy with the direction of the Board of Supervisors,” he says.

Specifically, he’s talking about the comprehensive plan amendment rebuff that deterred Deschutes Brewery from locating here in 2015 and sent it packing to Roanoke.

“I couldn’t believe how the door was closed on the prospect of having a craft brewery close to two highways on the edge of the growth area,” he says.

With a new county executive and economic director being hired, says Lowry, “We need a new economic development strategy and we don’t have one.” The retired businessman from Wheat, First/Wachovia/Wells Fargo, who chaired the county’s Economic Development Authority for 12 years, and the Board of Equalization, which hears tax assessment appeals, for five years, says he’s the person who can provide that strategy.

To do so, Lowry is calling out a few of the county’s sacred cows. He says the growth area needs to be expanded and he challenges the long-held tenet that growth doesn’t pay for itself.

To maintain the county’s rural character, the comprehensive plan put 25,000 acres into the growth area. That area has shrunk to fewer than 24,000 acres after Biscuit Run was repurposed from a mega-development south of town to a future state park. “I would certainly be open to the suggestion of expanding it,” he says.

No-growth advocates maintain growth doesn’t pay for itself because new residents require expensive services, such as schools.

“It’s just flatly not so,” declares Lowry. Instead, the county should look at the cost of infrastructure as an investment that will eventually pay off.

Incumbent Liz Palmer says she’s not ready to announce whether she’ll seek another term. Lowry, she says, “has been active in the Republican party so I’m sure he’ll run a good campaign.”

In 2009, Lowry ran against two other candidates who had never run before for the open seat that had been held by Sally Thomas for four terms.

“A lot feels different,” he says. “The incumbent has a track record and I have a track record.”

Key word: ‘balance’

  •   Expand growth area
  •   More light-industry zoning
  •   Encourage new businesses
  •   Hold real estate tax rate
  •   Create rainy day fund

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Legal question: Can supes order Albemarle court move?

Albemarle County officials want to move their courts out of Court Square. Staff photo

When the Albemarle Board of Supervisors passed a 4-2 resolution on November 2 directing county staff to explore options to relocate one or both of its houses of justice from downtown’s Court Square, Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Tracci fired back with a letter questioning whether the supes even have the authority to make such a move.

The board “lacks any legal, institutional, substantive or practical basis” to make decisions about the administration of justice, wrote Tracci. “The board is a legislative body with limited executive power—it has no judicial or law enforcement authority whatsoever.”

The idea of moving Albemarle’s circuit and general district courts from Court Square has met wide opposition from those in the legal community, including both city and county prosecutors, sheriffs, clerks of court, Judge Cheryl Higgins, public defenders, Legal Aid Justice Center and the barristers who practice in city and county courts.

“The Board of Supervisors is totally ill-equipped to ascertain whether dismembering Court Square will undermine the quality of justice in our community,” says Tracci. “They are a quasi-legislative executive body with no judicial authority whatsoever and their overreach here is breathtaking.”

Bruce Williamson, chair of the Bench-Bar Relations Committee at the Charlottesville Albemarle Bar Association, says the members of the BOS are “not well-suited by their training and experience with the legal system to make decisions on the administration of justice and the people who are are the ones who signed that letter”—a missive dated November 2 that urges the board to keep county courts in Court Square.

“This has been couched as a matter of convenience for lawyers,” says Williamson. “Nothing could be further from the truth. Adding in travel time to the urban ring would increase costs, reduce the number of cases public defenders could take and keep more people incarcerated while they wait for a hearing,” he says.

Although the plan had long been to renovate the Levy Opera House across the street from the county courts, with the city pitching in $7 million, supervisors “were surprised” last summer to find the city had done nothing about parking, says Williamson, and they “were taken aback” when the city asked them to pony up $2.5 million for parking.

Earlier this year, the supes directed county staff to examine options for courts, including moving the general district court to the County Office Building on McIntire Road, as well as moving both general district and circuit court to a new county location in the urban ring, ideally with a private partnership.

“County staff is clearly in favor of tying economic development to moving the courts,” says Williamson. “For decades, [the county] has not attracted jobs. The courts should not be the engine of economic development.”

The county seat is where the circuit court is located, and to move the circuit court would require a referendum of Albemarle voters, according to code. As for moving the general district court, the answer varies, depending upon whom you ask.

A call to Supervisor Diantha McKeel resulted in a written response from County Attorney Greg Kamptner, who says Virginia code makes the Board of Supervisors responsible for providing courthouses—and for footing the bill of such facilities.

“The board will not decide whether the court facilities are to be relocated from their current location in Court Square in downtown Charlottesville,” writes Kamptner. That decision rests with the voters of Albemarle, he says. “The board’s role is to consider adopting a resolution asking the court to order that election.”

According to Williamson, to move the general district court, the BOS has to have the approval of the General Assembly.

Delegate Rob Bell refers that question to Dave Cotter in the General Assembly’s division of legal services, and Cotter gets into the weeds of murkily written legislation.

Cotter says, according to Virginia code, county supervisors don’t have the authority to move the general district court, which the law requires be located at the county seat. However, the chief judge or the presiding judge—the code lists both—can authorize an additional general district court, much as Richmond has done with additional general district courts.

Albemarle’s general district court webpage lists Judge Bob Downer as both the chief and presiding judge, and Judge William Barkley as the presiding judge. So does that mean one or both of them determine the fate of a lower court move?

“It’s not the Board of Supervisors’ decision to move the general district court,” says Cotter. “Only the chief judge can make the decision to meet somewhere in addition to the county seat.”

Confusing?

The last time this statute was interpreted by the attorney general was in 1973. Says Cotter, “A lot of this language has been sitting here and no one has been paying attention.”

Augusta County had a referendum to move its county seat from Staunton to Verona on the ballot November 8. Voters rejected that relocation.

 Correction 11/17/16: Bruce Williamson said the city wanted the county to contribute $2.5 million for parking, not $12.5 million.

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Deschutes Brewery announces Roanoke location

Governor Terry McAuliffe in Charlottesville. File photo.

After expressing interest in an Albemarle County location last fall, Oregon-based Deschutes Brewery has announced that its first expansion into the East Coast will take place in the Star City, instead.

Governor Terry McAuliffe announced March 22 that the brewery will invest $85 million in its Roanoke location, creating 108 new jobs.

“This is another high-profile win that shines a spotlight on the commonwealth and reinforces that we are a leading state in the craft beer industry,” McAuliffe said.

Deschutes was founded as a brew pub on the banks of the Deschutes River in Bend, Oregon, in 1988. Although it’s still family and employee owned, the brewery now ships beers to more than 28 states and is known for brews including the Fresh Squeezed IPA, Black Butte Porter and Mirror Pond Pale Ale.

Michael LaLonde, president of Deschutes, said the company is excited to be heading to Roanoke. “We love the region and everyone we’ve had the opportunity to meet and work with during this process has been incredible,” he said. “We have absolutely been blown away with how the community rallied around bringing us here and has given us such a warm welcome.”

“The fact that the CEO of Deschutes specifically used the term ‘welcoming’ implies that Roanoke was welcoming and other spots were less welcoming,” Timothy Hulbert, president of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce, says. “We would be one of those other spots.”

In September, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors voted to approve zoning 35 acres plus 16 acres of green space for the brewery, instead of the 85 acres with 138 for a park and green area that were originally proposed.

If the brewery had come to Albemarle, Hulbert says an extra $800,000 per year would have been initially generated by property tax, and with incentives, eventually $1 million per year. He calls it “a million dollars a year that Albemarle County doesn’t have for schools or other projects.”

“Lesson learned?” Hulbert signed an e-mail after Deschutes announced its Roanoke location. “Hope so.”

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Budget bummer: Albemarle boosts tax rate while treading water

County Executive Tom Foley, who recently announced his resignation, will not be around to see the project through. File photo

“We can’t tax our way out of this,” said Albemarle County Executive Tom Foley—while proposing a 2.5-cent property tax hike in the fiscal year 2017 budget he submitted to the Board of Supervisors February 19. Even worse, he says, that increase barely maintains existing services, and he predicts another will be needed next year.

The culprits for the county’s grim economic outlook: a sluggish housing market and a growing service-demanding population, according to Foley. However, a former supe suggests the problem may lie with the board itself.

Foley’s proposed $375.2 million budget, barely .1 percent more than last year’s, suffers from a lag in the county’s largest source of revenue, property taxes, which make up about 60 percent of Albemarle’s income.

While there has been recovery from the housing bubble crash, county property assessments fell short of projected 2.25 percent increases, rising only 1.84 percent, he says.

The proposed tax hike would put the rate at 84.4 cents per $100 of assessed value. The tax  rate has increased 7.7 cents over the past four years to support essential services, according to Foley. “We are struggling to keep up with existing levels of services,” he says.

The budget includes no new positions, expands no existing services and offers no new programs, he says, comparing it to the recession gloom of 2009.

At the same time revenue is stagnant, the county is looking at a significant increase in mandates, he says. The Children’s Services Act eats up $1.7 million, and the county faces increases in its obligations to the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library, the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail, Jaunt and the Emergency Communications Center.

And while there will be no new hires, existing employees will get a 2 percent raise to keep them at market pay.

Holding the line on expenditures is a consistent theme throughout the budget, which, as Foley notes, makes it difficult to address Board of Supervisors’ and community aspirations.

He proposes a two-year fiscal plan starting in 2018, because the county already is facing a $3 million deficit next year. “The reality is a tax increase is going to be needed in 2018,” he says.

Other options include a $150,000 efficiency study and consolidation of services within the county and with the city.

But those alone will not free up enough resources without eliminating programs and services, he warns.

Former supervisor Ken Boyd sees the problem less in terms of reduced revenues and more a free-spending board, which added services two years ago that are now “skyrocketing,” he says. “That’s what’s driving it,” he says of the revenue dilemma.

He’s not surprised by the proposed real estate tax increase. “The county executive serves at the pleasure of the board, and we’ve got a board determined to spend a lot of taxpayer money,” he says. “They made a lot of decisions outside of the budget process,” such as adding people and capital projects.

Boyd also points out the cost of “lost opportunity,” citing last year’s decision to not expand the growth area enough to entice Deschutes Brewery, which would have brought tax revenues and jobs.

“That certainly would be better than increasing the tax rate for those on fixed incomes,” he says. “I would like to have someone stand up and say, ‘Cut expenditures rather than increase taxes.’”

The county’s first public hearing is tonight at 6pm in the County Office Building.

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Bad parking, not entitlement, says supe

Photo courtesy Scottsville Weekly

The photo of Supervisor Rick Randolph’s BMW convertible hogging two spaces popped up on two local media sites today.

“Is this Car-gate?” asks Randolph about the photograph submitted to Scottsville Weekly and the Schilling Show.

Randolph, who represents the Scottsville District on the Albemarle Board of Supervisors, says he was late to a meeting at the Mudhouse at Mill Creek February 17 when he backed in his 15-year-old Beamer. He admits he saw he was taking up two spaces and thought he should move the car, but reasoned he was on the north side where “nobody parks.” And he was late.

“That’s a good excuse,” says Scottsville Weekly editor Bebe Williams.

“It’s the politics of distraction,” says Randolph. Next up on his agenda: the county’s budget.