June board meeting highlights

 

Goochland Delegation to 2026 Special Olympics USA Games (Goochland County image)

At their June 2 meeting, Goochland supervisors approved a resolution honoring the Goochland Delegation to the 2026 Special Olympics USA games to be held in Minneapolis from June 20-26. (Go to https://2026specialolympicsusagames.org/about/about-2026-usa-games for details.)

The Goochland delegation to this event includes four athletes; four Goochland high school student partners; and two coaches.

The athletes, all GHS students, are Destiny Brent; Conner Emmert; Dymontrie Hopkins; and Owen Powers. Each will compete in several different events.

The student partners, Ailey Black, Sam Farkas, Ava Freeman, and Jack Stern serve as leaders, role models, and ambassadors of inclusion and teamwork.

Coaches Wes Farkas and Melissa Black use commitment, encouragement, and leadership to guide the athletes to excellence.

The supervisors also recognized the achievements of 11 young men for earning the highest rank of Eagle Scout through years of dedicated community service and adherence to the principles of scouting. They are Rafael Smith, August Kowalski, Samuel Farkas, Adam Seltzer, Luca Gardner, Kyhl Pace, Noah Wensel, Calvin Gibbons, Isaac Schelin, Aedan Curry, and Tucker Smithson.  

Board Chair Jonathan Christy, District 1 thanked everyone who attended meetings about the proposed Valley Link electric transmission line (https://www.goochlandva.us/1454/Valley-Link-Transmission-Project).  “You voice does matter,” he said and encouraged citizens to continue to provide feedback on the project and stay engaged.

County Administrator Dr. Jeremy Raley Ed.D. echoed Christy’s appreciation for citizen engagement in the Valley Link issue.

He also said that recently Community roundtables, conversations about topics of interest in Goochland, have been successful. “These truly are kitchen table conversations where we share ideas, thoughts, and perspectives.” The next roundtable will be on June 25. All are welcome to sign up, but attendance is limited. Go to https://www.goochlandva.us/1474/Community-Engagement-Initiatives for details.

Fourth of July

Goochland will be celebrating the 250^th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, written by son of Goochland Thomas Jefferson, on July 4th.

Independence on the Green will begin at 1 p.m. on the lawn of our venerable courthouse and include a reading of the Declaration, mention of some Goochlanders who fought in the Revolution, participation in the National Bell Festival by ringing the courthouse bell 13 times, one for each colony, at 2:50 p.m. eastern time. Bring a chair. In case of rain, this event will be held in the sports complex gym at 1800 Sandy Hook Road.

Fireworks will be shot off behind the sports complex in Courthouse Village beginning at 9:15 p.m. Come early to get a good parking spot. Rain date July 5.

Good work

Raley lauded the animal protection department for processing a record 94 adoptions in May, up from its previous record of 91. If you are looking for a furry friend, please visit https://www.goochlandva.us/299/Animal-Protection for more information.

Goochland is once again honoring our veterans—their service and sacrifice made the Fourth possible—by displaying banners on light posts lining River Road West in Courthouse Village. Raley commended Scott Foster, Wendy Grady, and the whole general services team for making this possible. The program, which began a few years ago with six banners, has blossomed to 136 this year.

Heart of Service awards recognize county employees who exemplify honor, empathy, accountability, transparency, and respect in their jobs. Those recognized were Fire-Rescue provider Will Shifflet; Larry Hicks, assistant director of general services who is retiring after 30 years with the county; Ashlea Koch, public utilities business manager. Honorees are nominated by their peers.

The following employees were welcomed to team Goochland.

Tommy Parmenter recently joined the building inspection team as a special projects plan reviewer. Among his many professional credentials, Parmenter holds the coveted master code professional certification, of which there are fewer than 1,000 worldwide.

Christy Gilliam is the county’s newest custodian.

Matt Parker was promoted to Assistant Director of Geneal Service and Elizabeth McDonald, to Deputy County Administrator for operations.

Dashboards

To enhance transparency Goochland has created dashboards “intended to serve as a centralized resource for residents seeking information about county data, performance measures, and operational trends.” They will be updated three times annually with potential for added data points. Values in the dashboards are accurate for the date range shown.  Go to https://goochlandva.us/1477/Dashboards  also accessible from the county website transparency tab. Fire-Rescue, social services, and Office of Children’s Services have their own dashboards.

Jessican Kronberg, Director of Strategic Communications, collaborated with county departments, especially Dan Stowers and Elliott Waugh of the Information Technology department and Tegan Ulis of the CSB, to translate a wide range of data into this digestible and accessible format.

Kronberg wants feedback about the dashboards to ensure that they have information that citizens want and are easy to use.

Consent agenda

The consent agenda is a list of housekeeping items that require supervisor approval. The following actions were takin on June 2.

·         Setting a public hearing for July 7 to consider aFY27 budget amendment that would transfer and appropriate up to $2.7 million for architecture and engineering services for the high and middle school campus addition for the career and technical education center and declare the county’s official intent to reimburse itself for these expenditures from the proceeds of future bond issues.

·         Setting a public hearing for the disposition of real property to grant an access easement across the fire-rescue training center.

·         Approving a resolution to adopt the VDOT secondary six-year plan priorities from 2027-2032

·         Authorize the county administrator to execute a contract with McDouough Bolyard and Peck for county courthouse owner representation. This includes an amendment to the county FY26 budget transferring and appropriating $799,952 from the future capital projects assigned fund to the capital improvement fund to pay for these services and declaring the county’s official intent to reimburse itself from future bond proceeds. (The contact is included in the June 2 board packet.)

·         A resolution amending the FY 26 budget by accepting and appropriating funds from state funding and sales tax revenue; school improvement grant; and a categorial transfer of $55k from transportation to maintenance facilities in the school operations fund. This does not include any additional local funding.

 

Public hearings

The board approved a conditional use permit for a detached accessory family housing unit at 1884 Broad Street Road.

Donation of land and related easements to VDOT for the right-of-way extension of Fairground Road to Rt6. And authorization for the county administrator to execute deeds of this donation was also approved.

 

 

 

Take a deep breath

 

Goochland announced last week that a pre application has been filed for Tuckahoe Technology Park, a multi building data center campus on 871.89 acres between Hockett Road, West Creek, and Rt. 288. The land in question, referred to as TOD West, not part of West Creek, consists of 13 separate parcels whose owners include Forth Estate, LLC., Stern Arenstein Properties, Inc., Tuckahoe Group LLC., and Dr. Sheppard, LLC. These entities have owned the land for decades if not generations.

Owners of TOD west have had a contentious relationship with the various—there have been at least three—owners of West Creek since its creation almost 40 years ago about access to internal roads in the business park. The latest skirmish occurred about a year ago when the county granted Mosaic permission to add three lots near the intersection of Mosaic Creek Boulevard and Broad Branch Road preventing access to West Creek roads from the landlocked parcels.

The county has created a website specifically for the project at https://www.goochlandva.us/1480/Tuckahoe-Technology-Park to help citizens understand the proposal. There are many details to unpack here. Please take the time to review each part of the application, especially the parts about water usage, which will come from the TCSD, not ground water.

TOD west was added to the TOD/TZ footprint in the late stages of last year’s debate on the topic. It adjoins Mosaic, the 55+ community in the West Creek business park. Unlike other parcels included in the TOD, zoned M-1, land in TOD west is zoned either A-2 or R-3, which under TOD rules requires obtaining a conditional use permit (CUP) to build a data center.

The CUP process, which is very similar to rezoning, mandates at least one public community meeting where the applicant explains the proposed project, answers questions, and obtains feedback, which ideally is used to improve the proposal. The application then goes to the planning commission for a public hearing and recommendation and to the board of supervisors for final determination.  This means that every facet of the application will have a thorough and public review. It is likely that the final version of the Tuckahoe Technology Park, if approved, will be different from that in the pre-app.

Since the TOD concept was announced last summer, virulent anti-data center rhetoric has flooded social media and other forums. The frenzied opposition is reminiscent of the fear mongering that had the world sheltering in place, wearing useless masks, and disinfecting everything during Covid. A lawsuit seeking to void the TOD is working its way through the courts.

Goochland seems to have its own chapter of the national anti-data center movement whose members spend every waking moment mining the internet—made possible by data centers—for the latest "study” documenting their harmful effects. They ignore anything that contradicts this narrative and use an “I’m right and you’re evil” mindset to shut down conversations vaguely resembling civil dialog on the topic.

Who benefits if America stops building data centers? Opponents answer in loud lockstep that the world will be a better place without them. Their comments are consistent and carefully curated to support the thesis that data centers destroy land, water, poison the air, ruin wildlife habitat, and cause all sorts of mayhem.

Data centers are an integral part of our daily lives enabling everything from sensitive financial transactions to cat videos, they’re not going away. Are foreign bad actors planting these seeds of negativity with a flood of “facts” to convince naive Americans to oppose data centers them so they can control our lives and corner the AI market to stifle innovation? Ceding data center construction to foreign powers puts our national security at risk.

Goochland needs more revenue to provide high quality government services without raising tax rates. Homes do not pay their way tax wise. We must be able to pay our deputies, fire-rescue providers and teachers well, so they are not tempted to go elsewhere for more money. Our county has enormous capital needs, including a new courthouse, schools, and parks that cannot be funded with fairy dust.

Anti data center conspiracy theorists ignore Goochland’s long-held land use strategy to confine economic development in the designated growth area, east of Hockett Road, and leave the rest of the county rural.

Their rumor mill now contends that because M-1 zoning allows data centers by right (the Tuckahoe Tech Park is zoned A-2 and R-3) every morsel of land zoned M-1 anywhere in the county will soon sprout a data center. The new county utility master plan, for instance, found that bringing public water to the Oilville I64 exit, which is ripe for economic development, was cost prohibitive. No water, no data center.

What else could be built on the heavily wooded almost 900 acres, which will be developed at some point. Maybe thousands of apartments or hundreds of houses, which would clear cut all the trees and displace wildlife. That many dwelling units would dramatically increase the need for capital projects like schools, fire-rescue, law enforcement, parks, roads, and public utilities without any way to pay for them except raising tax rates.  A solar collection facility, they’re not farms, would deforest the land and increase the temperature nearby. The Tech Park as proposed clears a relatively small part of the acreage, leaving the rest undisturbed.

Data centers are not potato chips. Perhaps Goochland can eat just one to nourish our bottom line.

 

 

 

Another new fire-rescue station

 

Station 7 floorplan

Station 7 exterior to be determined

Seventy-five years ago, a group of intrepid Goochlanders formed the first volunteer fire company in the east end of the county after a local church burned to the ground. Over the years, this fire company became the Goochland Volunteer Fire Association, Inc., later becoming the Goochland Volunteer Fire-Rescue Association when rescue squads were added in 1966, eventually expanding to six companies. These: Manakin, Crozier, Centerville, Fife, Courthouse, and Hadensville were built by volunteers with the financial support and physical help—residents often spent their free time helping the construction however they could—of the community. They knew that without these volunteers, stations, and equipment, no one would come to their aid in emergencies.

In 2017, Goochland dedicated Hadensville Fire-Rescue Company 6, the first county-owned fire-rescue station, to replace an aging and inadequate—its brush truck “lived” in its kitchen—station that saved lives and protected property for decades.

The second county owned fire-rescue station—the others are still owned by the Association—Sandy Hook Station 8, long needed, is rising from the ground.

Scott Foster, Goochland Director of General Services, gave the supervisors a brief progress report on Station 8 construction at their June 2 meeting. Following ceremonial groundbreaking on April, 7 dirt has been flying. Foster said that the expected substantial completion for Station 8 in May 2027 is on target.

He said that “a lot of thought went into making sure that this station will last for decades, is low maintenance, energy efficient, visually appealing, and match the community.”

The interior is all cinder block, and the exterior is brick and cement board, which is more durable than other types of siding. Floors will be polished concrete, again for ease of maintenance and durability. Station 8 will have three drive-through apparatus bays with horizontal folding doors, which, said Foster, are faster less prone to malfunction than overhead doors.

In response to a question from Jonathn Lyle, District 5, Foster said that two wells have been drilled on the Station 8 site, one will be “capped” for backup use as needed.

Charlie Vaughters, District 4 said that Station 8 benefits the entire county, not just District 2, by enhancing service to our citizens with better response time for emergencies in all parts of the county. (See GOMM Station 8 groundbreaking.)

Go to https://goochlandva.new.swagit.com/videos/389821 to watch Foster’s presentation.

In the past few months, the supervisors authorized approval of a contract with HBA Architecture & Interior Design (https://www.hbaonline.com/)  for architectural and engineering work on West Creek Station 7 to be built on the east side of Hockett Road north of its intersection with Tuckahoe Creek Parkway.

At their June 2 meeting, the supervisors discussed funding mechanisms for the estimated $13.2 million project (see GOMM Money Matters) whose completion could be as early as mid-2028.

On June 8, a community open house to gather feedback on design and appearance of Station 7 was held at Manakin Company 1. Supervisors Tom Winfree, District 3; Charlie Vaughters, District 4; Jonathan Lyle, District 5; Martin Dean Manakin Volunteer Fire Captain and District 5 Planning Commissioner attended.

County Administrator Dr. Jeremy Raley welcomed the group and said that the meeting was a part of an ongoing process and welcomed all public engagement. “This is an important community asset.” He said that when he first took office, he met with some residents of Kinloch Villas, located near the site, which was designated in 2019, and pledged that the county will be very good neighbors.

Goochland Chief of Fire-Rescue & Emergency Services, D. E. “Eddie” Ferguson, Jr., echoed Raley’s welcome. “It is fitting that we hold this meeting here, where it all started,” said Ferguson giving a brief recap of his department’s history.

Ferguson said that expansion of fire-rescue to meet the emerging demands of the county is important.  Growth of county population—nearly 30k— is only partly responsible for the increase in call volume. At least 6,000 people from outside Goochland work here daily. Fire-Rescue also responds to emergencies and wrecks on I64 and Rt. 288, whose number and complexity are increasing. The department has water rescue units that respond to emergencies on the county’s 40 or so miles of its James River frontage.

When West Creek business park was created in the late 1980’s, said Ferguson, it was understood that there would be a station in West Creek.

Ferguson thanked all involved in the design of the station that will serve the county well for decades. A great deal of the thought and analysis used to design Station 8 will be used on the Station 7, which will have a similar floor plan. Unlike Station 8, it will have space dedicated to the Sheriff’s Office where deputies can perform administrative functions without going to the Sheriff’s Office in Courthouse Village. THIS SPACE WILL NOT BE USED TO DETAIN PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN ARRESTED.

Each of the county fire-rescue stations has its own character. Go to https://goochlandfire-rescue.org/ and click on stations to see.

Attendees were asked to indicate their preferences from displays of fire house elevations and building materials to help HBA design a unique exterior for Station 7 that harmonizes with its surroundings.

David Smith of HBA explained that the firehouse illustrations ranged from traditional to contemporary and included photos of existing buildings in the area.  “This is a process and your feedback will be used in the design phase,” he said. Sticky dots were used to indicate preferences for building forms and materials.

Construction of Station 7 is long overdue.

Money matters

 

The Goochland County audit and finance committee held its quarterly meeting on June 2. These sessions provide the committee with current fiscal positions and the opportunity to discuss related matters.

First on the agenda was the kickoff for the county’s Annual Certified Financial Report (ACFR) for FY26, which ends on June 30. State law requires that the ACFR be completed and approved by the supervisors in December. In previous years, this process began in the summer. This is one of many procedural changes made by Dr. Jeremy Raley, Ed.D., since becoming county administrator about a year ago.

The FY2025 ACFR is available at https://www.goochlandva.us/Archive.aspx?AMID=43 This document has a wealth of general information about the county and its fiscal condition. Last year, there were some issues with procedures in the finance department resulting from “compression,” catching up at the last minute rather than performing necessary tasks throughout the year. Raley hired an interim director of finance to reconcile the errors before Denise Sandlin was named Director of Finance earlier this year.

Sandlin assured the supervisors that new and more robust financial procedures and controls have been put in place and will be continually improved. She and her team will be ready to greet the PBMares team when it arrives to begin work on the FY26 ACFR on June 8. Her report included a preliminary check list of tasks, many of which have been completed, to start the audit process.

Mike Garber, https://www.pbmares.com/people/michael-garber/  a principal of PBMares, https://www.pbmares.com/ which has been retained by the county for many years to conduct its annual audit, talked about his firm, the audit team assigned to Goochland, and items that are “tested” during the process. (Go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkh34L-vWnc for the video of the meeting.)

Representatives of PFM (https://pfm.com/), which advises the county on capital funding matters including bond issuance, discussed the county’s financial position regarding assumption of additional debt.

Capital projects that have been on the county radar screen for a while include a new courthouse—our current circuit courthouse will celebrate two centuries of continuous operation in September—fire-rescue station 7 on the east side of Hockett Road; upgrades to the secondary complex, including an addition to house the career and technical education department; and renovation of the old Goochland elementary school. Estimated cost for these projects, most planned for completion in the near term, is $114.5 million.

A chart included in the PFM presentation estimated the cost of  Station 7 at $13.2 million, with an expected start date of April, 2027, completion in June 2028; $56 million for the courthouse with an expected start date of April, 2027, completion  in July,2030; $30 million for the secondary complex upgrades with an expected start date of June, 2027 to be completed by August, 2028. A $15 million amount for old GES renovations, essentially a place holder with no projected timing as options for this site are under discussion. Not included in the chart is approximately $30 million for parks and rec projects “in the planning horizon over the next ten years ($18 million over the next 3 years. $12 million thereafter through year 10.)”

Issuing the $46 remainder of the approved general obligation bonds is the lowest cost option, said PFM. Discussion with bond counsel will be necessary to determine if any of these funds may be used for Station 7. These could be issued in FY27.

PFM presented an analysis of conservative “tried and true” funding mechanisms and how they relate to county. They discussed the budgetary impacts of debt funding these projects.

 If the county chooses to finance the entire $114.5 million for projects planned in FY27, the peak debt service ratio would hit the policy limit as a percentage of general fund expenditures in FY28 but would be well below its target percentage of debt to assessed valuation. This would be allowable under policies but could limit future borrowing.

PFM also illustrated the impact of revenue generated by new projects nearing completion. When the Ashland Road Amazon facility, Axial, and West Creek commerce center, hit the tax rolls, the ratio of debt service to general fund expenditures could drop from 11.4 percent to 11.2 percent.

PFM suggested funding the other $68.5 million with an appropriation bond issuance, which would be AA+ rated, a notch below Goochland’s triple triple rating, in mid FY2028. The rate is slightly higher than the triple triple but still very attractive and does not require a referendum. When all the debt is layered on, the total annual debt service was estimated at $13.3 million. New bonds will have the option to refinance at lower interest rates.

Committee chair Charlie Vaughters, District 4 said one rating notch lower, which equates to an approximately 15-20 basis points higher interest rate, is not significant. (A basis point is one hundredth of one percentage point.)

Raley pointed out that the PFM analysis is based on assumptions and that the county has many levers to pull. It can decide not to do all projects, use cash capital funds, or proffer dollars to reduce the debt amount. Next steps are to decide which projects will go forward and how they will be financed.

Proffers

In response to citizen queries about cash proffers—amounts paid by developers to mitigate the impact of residential rezoning on county infrastructure—a proffer data base has been added to the county website. Go to https://www.goochlandva.us/1463/Proffers

Raley said moving all the proffer data to one place from various sources was a heavy lift but now it has been reconciled in the name of transparency. He said it was a very worthwhile undertaking and will help with funding decisions going forward providing flexibility and nimbleness.

 

 

 

 

Raley said that a dashboard for cash proffer collected by the county resulting from residential rezoning had been updated as is on the county website as to amount and how the funds were uses. Cash proffers help to mitigate the impact on county facilities including schools, law enforcement, and fire-rescue. The website improves transparency and disclosure. The next meeting will be on September 1.

 

Goochland Supervisors grill Valley Link

 

The blue line at the top is the May 27 version (Valley Link image.)

On May 28, the Goochland Board of Supervisors held a special called meeting in the high school auditorium to share information and gather citizen feedback on the proposed Valley Link 750kw electric transmission line for an as yet unfinalized 115-mile route between Campbell and Culpeper counties. Go to https://vltransmission.com/joshua-falls-to-yeat/ for more information.

County Administrator Dr. Jeremy Raley recapped the supervisors’ actions opposing Valley Link, including appropriating funds and working with the other nine counties impacted by the project, and urged continued citizen engagement. He encouraged all to continue to make their concerns known on the Valley Link website and with representatives in Richmond.

The Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC)  https://www.scc.virginia.gov/ has the final say on if and where the proposed line may be built. The formal application on the Joshua Falls to Yeat portion of the Valley Link project will be filed with the SCC this fall, with a ruling expected sometime in late 2027. Other parts of the Valley Link project will have separate SCC filings.

Citizens, some from the other nine counties in the transmission line’s path, raised many thoughtful, well researched questions and voiced their concerns to both Goochland Supervisors and Valley Link representatives. Among them was skepticism that the recently proposed merger between Dominion Energy (D) and Next Era Energy, a Florida company, would be beneficial to Virginia.

May 27 route proposal (Valley Link image)

In a press release dated May 18, Next Era said of the merger that “customers will benefit over time from its enhanced scale in operations, procurement, construction and financing, enabling it to more cost-effectively meet increased electric demand for approximately 10 million customer accounts.”

Rob Richardson of Valley Link made a brief presentation about the project. (Go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wdVzFrJwnw )  Valley Link, he explained, is a joint venture comprised of Transource (https://www.transourceenergyprojects.com/), Dominion Energy (https://www.dominionenergy.com/), and First Energy Transmission (https://www.firstenergycorp.com/fehome.html).

The goal of Valley Link is to support long term grid reliability. It has been supported by PJM (https://www.pjm.com/) as the solution that best meets long term reliability needs. The 765 kv transmission lines will be supported by lattice towers between 135 and 160 feet high along cleared rights of way typically 200 feet wide. (For a rough comparison, the lattice towers supporting the transmission lines south of Rt. 6 in Crozier are 110 feet high, and the high school football stadium is about 600 feet long.)

Landowners in the Valley Link study area contended that early “spaghetti” maps with several possible routes made it impossible to determine how the project would impact specific properties. They expressed skepticism about the latest map, published on May 27, whose route nicks the northwest corner of Goochland for about 1.25 miles down from 28 miles on earlier versions.  

One of these routes, very close to Byrd Elementary School, prompted the Goochland School Board to adopt an opposition resolution, which was read by District 1 School Board member Meredith Moses.

Lane Carr, who oversees transmission line siting, explained that routes are determined after detailed investigation of parcels that might be impacted to exclude land with conservation easements, cemeteries, wetlands, and historically significant sites to plot the least disruptive path. More than 15,000 miles of route alternatives were explored in the routing process.

This should encourage legacy landholders like century farms—those in continuous operation by the same family for more than 100 years—to investigate placing their property in an easement to prevent development in perpetuity.

According to the presentation, “fewer than 75 homes along the proposed 115-mile route are within 500 feet of refined route alternatives”.

“We cast a wide net to evaluate any alternative.” Carr said that early interactions with landowners resulted in most people asking that the line “stay as far as possible away from my home.” The confusing March routes, which caused a lot of concern, have expired, she said.

Richardson said that Valley Link is a part of an electric transmission “backbone” designed to take pressure off existing lines, including those near Hadensville and Crozier and solve the problem of unprecedented demand for energy. All electricity used in Virginia, even that supplied by co-ops, is generated by Dominion and all users will benefit from an updated and more robust and reliable electric transmission system, he said.

At the conclusion of the presentation, supervisors asked questions.

Board Chair Jonthan Christy, District 1, asked if substations will be built along the Valley Link and other transmission lines. Valley Link right now is proposed as an end-to-end project. A proposed gas transmission plant in Cumberland is about three miles from the line. The Joshua to Yeat SCC application will show “all the homework” used to determine the preferred route for the SCC to evaluate, said Carr.

Jonathan Lyle, District 5, asked if the demand is in Northern Virginia why is the generating capacity not being built there. Richardson said that infrastructure to support power generation cannot always be placed near users. He cited a transmission line built in the1960’s to bring power from the Mount Storm generation plant in West Virginia was more cost effective than building train tracks to transport coal to a power station. The utility is upgrading existing generation options in NOVA, including a large solar facility near Dulles airport, but it is part of Dominion’s “all of the above” strategy to deal with burgeoning power demand.

 

Neil Spoonhower, District 2, contended that as Goochland has no plans for any kind of economic or residential development west of Goochland Courthouse our citizens will get no benefit from the proposed transmission line. Alluding to the seeming “Lucy and the football” strategy of morphing maps, he asked if the latest preferred route was changed in response to the amount of “heat” generated by citizens, and will be that presented to the State Corporation Commission (SCC) for approval or will it be moved again.

Carr explained that the routes begin with anchor points in industrial areas, like the data center in Louisa just over the county line near Shannon Hill. The route will be “refined” until the SCC application is filed to narrow what Valley Link believes is the best route. There will be more meetings and more open houses in June when Valley Link reveals which route it will take to the SCC for approval. She does not anticipate changes that would more significantly impact Goochland.

Spoonhower asked if options secured by Dominion to purchase more than 1k acres of land off Whitehall Road are part of Valley Link. Richardson said that the utility is always looking for opportunities to site, perhaps solar facilities, but that land is not part of the current project.

Lyle, wearing his Farm Bureau hat, asked how negative impacts on agricultural uses will be minimized. Agriculture is very compatible with transmission lines, said Richardson. “There’s nothing we like better than pasture. We’re not coming to spray. We’re most concerned about woody trees growing up into the transmission lines.”

He did not know if land under transmission lines could qualify as certified organic. Bonding and grounding protocols for metal fences under transmission lines are common, and safety mitigation should be a onetime fix that could be remedied by line engineers. Fixes for “stray voltage” would be addressed during easement purchase negotiations, but further down the road, these issues are landowner responsibility.

If a vehicle is safe to drive on the road it is safe to drive under a transmission line, unless it is unusually tall, said Richardson.

Spoonhower asked about negative health impact living near high transmission lines. Richardson said that the SCC application includes modeling fields and takes it into consideration. He also noted that there are many studies on both sides of the topic.

Christy asked about impact of construction activity, including location of lay down contractor yards.  Following SCC approval, not expected before late 2027, other permits must be secured and easements purchased, before these locations are established, so Richardson was unable to provide specific information.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Richardson thanked the supervisors for the opportunity to discuss Valley Link. He said that he and his team all live in Central Virginia, including Goochland. “We all care about what happens here because we are your neighbors. Comments from neighbors who care deeply did not surprise me. We hope that many of you will come see us on June 26 and bring your questions. Following those meetings, we will reconvene and take those comments to see what additional refinements can be made and have plans for a virtual meeting to address the community with the preferred route before submitting it to the SCC. Going forward there will be opportunity for citizens to share their comments with the SCC. After a 12-month process, the SCC will make the determination of the route that Vally Link can take.”

A second set of meetings, including a virtual town hall on June 10 and one in Goochland on June 16 from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Goochland Sports Complex, will be held in June Go to www.vltransmission.com for details.

Go to https://www.goochlandva.us/1454/Valley-Link-Transmission-Project for the Goochland County page.

Christy thanked schools, the Sheriff’s Office, Fire-Rescue and Valley Link for participation on short notice to make the meeting possible. He asked for detailed follow up on unanswered technical questions.

Spoonhower commended citizen participation. He said that “seeing the community engaged and come out not to yell at us but to partner alongside us and work hard to research these topics made all the difference. Thank you.”

TOD pretrial motions

 

Goochland County, represented by Michael J. Finney, Esq. of the Gentry Locke Law firm, faced off against Phillip Strother, Esq. of Strother Law Offices, PLC representing the plaintiff, county residents opposing the Technology Overlay District (TOD) created by Goochland Supervisors last November, before the Hon. Timothy K. Sanner in Circuit Court on May 26 for pretrial  motions. The lawsuit was filed on December 4, 2025.

The plaintiff contends that the Goochland Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission failed to comply with Virginia statutory law and constitutional principles in the approval of the TOD, which, it contends, also conflicted with county zoning ordinances.

Since the suit was filed last December, the plaintiff has nonsuited—removed from the complaint—Count VIII, which said that approval of the TOD constituted unreasonable, arbitrary, and capricious rezoning in violation of Virginia law.

The complaint asks the Court to declare the TOD and related amendments to county zoning ordinances, regulations, and comprehensive land use plan, null and void.

During the pretrial motions, Finney asked the Court to admit 8,500 pages of documents and other exhibits relating to the process of TOD approval to support Goochland’s case. Strother argued that the volume of material that Goochland presented for inclusion in the case was excessive. He cited a Virgina Mercury article dated weeks after the November 6 TOD approval included on the 8,500 pages, as an item irrelevant to the case.

Finney contended that without a clearer picture of the plaintiff’s case, the County cannot determine which of the documents and exhibits are essential to its defense. The Judge denied the County’s request to have all the initial documentation material admitted but allowed the county to return with a revised set of documents sometime in the summer after it has had the opportunity to review the plaintiff’s case. A demurrer, the next step in the legal process, on the suit, is scheduled to be heard in Circuit Court on October 20.

Those pesky electrons

 

Current structure vs. proposed (Dominion energy image)

You are reading this thanks to the movement of electrons between atoms that we know as electricity. Like it or not, modern life is dependent on this and we use it more every day.

On May 14, Dominion Energy (D)held an informational community meeting at the Residence Inn at the Notch to explain its proposal to rebuild existing lines between Midlothian and North Anna substations that run through Goochland County using current rights of way. This line crosses Broad Street Road in Oilville and Rt. 6 in Crozier before crossing the James River. (See https://www.dominionenergy.com/carson-northanna for details.)

These lines, which have been keeping local lights on for nearly 50 years, are reaching the end of their useful life and need to be upgraded. The new lines will carry 500 kilovolts on double circuit steel monopoles that will replace aging lattice structures. The new poles will be 190 feet, taller than structures currently in place and able to carry an additional 230 kv line for future expansion without adding more support structures.

For comparison, an existing monopole tower just south of Rt. 6 in Crozier is109 feet tall, the lattice structure rises 110 feet. The new configuration will use one pole with an average height of 190 feet to carry upgraded lines and accommodate another line using the same infrastructure.

Current power lines near Crozier (Google Earth Image)

Using existing rights of way wherever possible will minimize disruption to surrounding areas. D representatives said that land under the lines is often used for farming, riding horses and ATVs.

Placing power transmission lines underground is expensive and involves more land disturbance than above ground infrastructure. During construction, D takes great care to mitigate impact on environmentally sensitive areas like wetlands where clearing is done by hand and within 100 feet of streams. Matting is used to lessen the degree to which heavy equipment sinks into the ground during construction. Tree clearing outside of existing rights-of-way removes “danger trees those tall enough to fall on the lines. Inside the ROW—approximately 450 feet wide at the Carson substation, about 235 other places—trees, vegetation and other encroachments will be cleared to ensure safe operation.

The May 14 meeting was one of several planned along the route as part of the community engagement and will continue through July. An approval application will be filed with the state corporation commission in August with its final order expected in April 2027. Construction could begin in mid-2028 with completion by late 2030.

This project will benefit Goochland by improving the reliability and capacity of our power grid as we use more and more of those pesky electrons every day.

Please direct questions about the project to powerline@dominioneergy.com.