New Fire-Rescue Chief named

Early on the sultry summer Monday of July 29, Goochland County Administrator John Budesky announced that D. E. “Eddie” Ferguson, Jr. will be the next Chief of Fire-Rescue and Emergency Services for Goochland County, effective August 1. He spoke to a gathering comprised mostly of fire-rescue providers and members, both career and volunteer, at Courthouse Company 5.

D. E. "Eddie" Ferguson, Jr. Chief of Goochland Fire-Rescue and Emergency  Services.

Budesky said that the county went through an extensive nationwide search process and received 35 applications for the position. “We could have promoted internally, but felt we owed it to the citizens to make sure we found the best person for the job.” He thanked Billy McGuire, President of the Goochland Volunteer Fire-Rescue Association Board for his input in the process. “I have never received so many letters of support for a job candidate in my career. This killed a lot of trees in Goochland,” Budesky remarked. Others involved in the search and interview process included fire-rescue professionals from other jurisdictions.

Few county positions are as important as fire-rescue chief, Budesky contended. “In the seven months since former Chief Bill MacKay retired, we listened to the concerns at ground level from both volunteers and career staff to determine what they wanted in their next chief. It was an interesting period,” he said. “I got to know and listen to Eddie to appreciate his broad knowledge of fire-rescue and emergency services and Goochland. He was the clear choice to serve as we move into the future.”

In the midst of the announcement, Company 5 crews were “toned out” to respond to a call, their sirens providing background music for the event.

Ferguson thanked those who gave him opportunities, leadership, and mentorship during his career. He knew from an early age that fire-rescue was his calling. “This is very humbling. Today (being named chief) has been a career long goal of mine.” He acknowledged that fire-rescue is a dangerous job and pledged to ensure that all providers will have the training and equipment to perform their tasks safely and effectively. “What makes Goochland Fire-Rescue special is our people, both volunteer and career, and support base in the community.”

A Goochland County native, Ferguson joined Centerville Company 3 as a volunteer at the age of 16, 37 years ago, and has been saving lives and protecting property ever since. He held many volunteer EMS leadership positions and was named career Goochland Deputy Chief-EMS in 2004. He served as interim fire-rescue chief since the departure of William McKay last January. Budesky commended Ferguson for stepping up to fill both top fire-rescue jobs (Car 1 and Car 3 for the cognoscenti) during the search period.

Ferguson knew what he wanted to do with his life from an early age.  “He got a fire truck as a present when he was a little boy and that was the only thing he played with,” recalled his mother Diane. “I always thought he’d grow out of it.”

Chief Ferguson center with parents Ed and Diane to the left and daughters Rachel, Campbell, and Shannon.

In addition to volunteering in Goochland, Ferguson was a career firefighter-paramedic in Chesterfield County and a flight paramedic with Virginia State Police Med-Flight 1. He holds most certifications in his field and has served on state and regional boards including as the Governor’s representative to the Virginia Emergency Medical Services Advisory Board. He also has extensive experience as an instructor. Ferguson was instrumental in ensuring that Goochland EMS has the highest possible standards and worked to implement state-of-the-art protocols to ensure the best possible standards of patient care.

Thanks in large part to Ferguson’s participation and leadership, Goochland EMS has an outstanding reputation throughout the Commonwealth. Individual companies and the county organization have received many awards and recognitions for response to emergency situations. One notable example is the February 22, 2001 Interstate 64 multicar pile-up during a sudden ice storm.  

Ferguson’s experience and skills “put him in an optimal position to advise county administration and the supervisors on a multitude of issues now and into the future,” said Budesky.

Longtime friends and associates of Ferguson congratulated him on the promotion. “This was long overdue,” said Past Volunteer Chief of the Department, Wayne Allen. Tommy Carter, also a past volunteer department chief agreed.

Generations of excellence in Goochland Fire-Rescue. LtR Ferguson, Past Chiefs Tommy Carter and Wayne Allen.

Budesky said that the process to fill the soon-to-be-vacant position of deputy chief EMS will get underway soon.

Congratulations Chief Ferguson!

Get back where you belong

At the beginning of the July 23 zoning ordinance rewrite workshop of the Goochland Board of Supervisors, Board Chair Manuel Alvarez, Jr., District 2 announced that the called meeting schedule dot follow the workshop was cancelled.  County Administrator John Budesky then addressed voter disenfranchisement, which was to have been the topic of the closed session.

Goochland County, said Budesky, is working closely with Louisa County and general registrars of both jurisdictions to get all voters where they belong using the mutually agreed upon boundary. Boards of both counties will take mirror actions a to adopt identical resolutions—Louisa supervisors at their next meeting on August 5 and the Goochland Board on August 6—to petition the Circuit Court to allow electoral boards of both counties to return voters to where they belong.

These actions, said Budesky, should help the electoral boards to sort out the issue. He cautioned, that “... a lot of things that still need to align.  This is not a silver bullet.” Circuit Court approval of the petition would solve the electoral problem for this November’s local elections, but citizens may still have to vote for state and federal offices in precincts assigned along census lines.

Moving voters is governed by the Electoral Board, said Budesky, but has been of the utmost importance to the Board of Supervisors and county staff for the past 60 days. In addition to working with Louisa to craft entreaties to the Circuit Court, the Goochland supervisors offered to provide funds for the Electoral Board to retain its own counsel.

Both counties have petitioned the Census Bureau to allow proposed changes, but there are no promises that everything will be solved, said Budesky. He hoped that the issue will be resolved by the middle to end of September.

If  the action does not apply to state and federal elections, the number of voters assigned to new precincts for those elections, should be small. Those most affected would be those in the 65^th House of Delegate district in Goochland and perhaps some outside of the 22^nd Virginia Senate District in Louisa. As all voters currently   disenfranchised for local elections are in the 7^th United States Congressional District, they will vote in that district during 2020 elections, but perhaps at a precinct in another county.

For instance, voters who live in Goochland but are on the Louisa side of the census boundary could find themselves voting in the 2020 federal elections at a Louisa precinct, but casting ballots for the same candidates as they would have if they voted in Goochland. Everyone involved has pledged that the mess should be cleaned up during the 2021 redistricting following the 2020 census.

Go to http://www.goochlandva.us/ click on the calendar for August, then click on the meeting notice for the 3 p.m. Supervisors’ meeting and click on the links to see the map and related documents.

Light at the end of the tunnel

The following memorandum discusses the electoral boundary line issue and steps to return disenfranchised voters to the county in which they live and pay taxes. 

A public hearing on the boundary line agreement has been scheduled for Tuesday, August 6 at 7 p.m. in the Board meeting room at 1800 Sandy Hook Road.

7/15/19

 MEMORANDUM TO: John A. Budesky, County Administrator

 FROM: Tara A. McGee, County Attorney

DATE: July 15, 2019 RE: Goochland/Louisa Boundary Line Agreement

Virginia Code § 24.2-309.2 prevents localities from creating, dividing, abolishing, or consolidating, any precincts, or otherwise changing the boundaries of any precinct between February 1, 2019 and May 15, 2021; however, there is a very valuable exception to this prohibition, allowing a change as a “result of a court order.” This exception would allow a change in the election district and precinct boundaries based on a court order obtained by the two localities going through the process, under Virginia Code § 15.2-3106 through -3108, to change the localities’ boundary line by agreement with court approval.

Louisa and Goochland Counties have already agreed to a new boundary line and submitted it to the Census Bureau. The boundary is shown, as required pursuant to Virginia Code § 15.2-3108, through a GIS map with the boundary established by Virginia State Plane Coordinates System, North/South Zone meeting National Geodetic Survey standards. Goochland’s map has 300 separate coordinate points identified along the boundary line between the two counties.

Today, Goochland County uses the census line as the boundary between Goochland and Louisa for election district purposes, but using that line causes problems with voter registration. Pursuant to Virginia Code § 24.2-417, the Goochland County Registrar is required to register “every resident of his county” who is qualified to vote. However, in order to be a “qualified voter” as defined in Virginia Code § 24.2-101, a person must be a resident of the precinct in which he seeks to vote. The problem with using the census line as the boundary between Goochland and Louisa is that it places some Goochland County residents outside of the precinct lines for some Goochland precincts and some Louisa County residents outside of the precinct lines for some Louisa precincts.

Election districts and precincts are required to have “clearly defined and clearly observable boundaries” pursuant to Virginia Code § 24.2-305. “Clearly observable boundaries” is defined in the state law; it generally refers to roads, streets, highways, rivers, and streams, as well as other natural or constructed or erected permanent physical features shown on an official map from VDOT, a US Geological Survey topographic map, or a polygon boundary on the TIGER/line files of the US Census Bureau.

The Goochland County election districts are described in Goochland County Code § 2-43 and its precincts are described in Goochland County Code § 2-64. In both of these ordinances, clearly observable boundaries are used to describe the demarcations between election districts or precincts, except that the descriptions also refer to the borders/lines with adjoining counties (e.g. “thence in an easterly direction along the Louisa County line to the Henrico County line”). Meg 7/15/19 2 Lamb, the Privileges and Elections Attorney with the Division of Legislative Services, clarified in a telephone conversation with me last Friday afternoon that the boundaries between localities do not have to meet the requirements for a “clearly observable boundary”; that requirement is for the boundaries that the Board actually establishes between election districts and precincts, but not for the locality’s actual boundary with another locality. Accordingly, the new boundary established by court order will be able to be used for election district and precincts despite the fact that the localities’ boundary line doesn’t use “clearly observable” boundaries.

Given the agreement between the two counties as to the boundary line, a court order approving the new agreed boundary line could be obtained in time by following the steps below. In the proposed timeline, the Court has up to three weeks to approve the petitions recognizing the new boundary in order to have the new boundary approved more than 60 days before the next general election (as required by Virginia Code § 24.2-306). September 5 is the last date to have the new boundary approved.

Once the boundary line is changed by court order, Virginia Code § 24.2-309.2 requires that the localities send copies of the change to the State Board of Elections and the Division of Legislative Services. Because its ordinance includes an electoral map, Goochland County would also need to adopt the new map as part of its ordinance.

 The adoption of the current parcel boundary map which has been submitted to the Census Bureau does not address the approximately 10 parcels which are located on the “wrong” side of the boundary (i.e. parcels paying Goochland taxes, but which are located on the Louisa side of this boundary line and vice versa), but those parcels can be addressed in the future. Once the counties have had the opportunity to reach out to those property owners and advise them of the proposed change, a new map can be prepared, new petitions filed, and a new boundary approved by the Court. That new map will be submitted to the Census Bureau and it is my understanding that they will update maps based on locality boundary line adjustments even between the times of the decennial census.

Procedure for Boundary Line Agreement (BLA) Change under Va. Code §§ 15.2-3106 et seq.

 1. Reach agreement with Louisa to cooperate in BLA; circulate BLA between the two localities for preliminary approval a. Complete by July 19

 2. Advertise intention to approve BLA by publishing descriptive summary in local papers for 2 successive weeks. Unlike for zoning public hearings, the second ad does not have to run at least 5 days before the public hearing. a. Goochland -- July 15 deadline to place advertisement in Goochland Gazette for July 18 and July 25 [July 23 deadline to advertise for July 25 and Aug. 1] b. Louisa – same advertising deadlines and publication dates

3. Hold Public Hearing on BLA; adopt BLA

               a. Aug. 6 Goochland

               b. August 5 Louisa

4. Serve notice of BLA by first class mail to affected property owners. If the owners of at least one third of the affected parcels object to the change, they can intervene in the subsequent court proceeding. a. Send notices by Aug. 9

5. Each locality petitions the circuit court for one of the affected localities to approve the BLA; include facts pertaining to the desire to change or relocate the boundary line and attach GIS map depicting the change in the boundaries of the localities with coordinates

a. Goochland County Attorney will prepare petition

 b. Louisa County can “duplicate” Goochland’s petition

 c. File petitions in Goochland Circuit Court by Aug. 12

6. Judge enter court order

a. 2 weeks from filing date is Aug. 26

b. 3 weeks from filing date is Sep. 3

c. Per 24.2-306(A), no changes can be made to boundary after Sep. 6 (60 days prior to election on Nov. 5) 7. Registrars reassign voters based on BLA

8. Localities send notices to affected voters

a. Notice must be mailed by Oct. 15 (at least 15 days prior to election per 24.2- 306(B))

Celebrating good government

On July 2, the Goochland Board of Supervisors recognized former county treasurer Pamela Johnson—she officially retired as of June 30—for her outstanding service to the county.

Johnson was appointed interim treasurer in early 2011 following the arrest of then county treasurer Brenda Grubbs, who was ultimately convicted of embezzling public funds. Johnson rolled up her sleeves and set about cleaning up the office, to which she was duly elected in 2011 and 2015. Her most important and challenging task, however, was rebuilding trust in the office with the citizens.

In addition to getting the books straight, Johnson saw to it that her entire staff received training and certification as Master Governmental Deputy Treasurers from the University of Virginia.

Past County Treasurer Pam Johnson accepts plaque from Board Chair Manuel Alvarez, Jr.

The latest collection rate for local real estate taxes was 99.37 percent and 98.96 percent for personal property tax. Johnson gave all the credit for the high compliance rate to the taxpayers. When Johnson took office, the compliance rate was in the 93 percent range.

Johnson worked to get delinquent taxes paid, setting up payment plans for land owners in arrears, and working through legal requirements to sell abandoned properties to restore them to the tax rolls. For the past five years, thanks to Johnson’s dedication to providing the highest quality citizen service, the Goochland County Treasurer’s Office has been accredited by the Treasurers’ Association of Virginia. (Visit http://www.vatreas.com/Certifications.aspx to see what this entails.)

During her tenure in office, Johnson implemented the twice-yearly collection of personal property taxes, and established internal controls and other procedures to safeguard public funds. She also presented an annual class on local government and taxes to students at Goochland High School.

“This is the most personally rewarding job I’ve ever had, it was the greatest achievement of my life, and an honor,” Johnson said following a standing ovation in the Board Room. “That’s because I worked with the best and for the best people in the Commonwealth of Virginia. I had a great staff who will continue to service with honesty, integrity, and fairness to everyone.”

Johnson announced earlier in the year that she would retire effective June 30 to spare the county the expense of an extra audit at the end of the calendar year, when her term of office ended, as required by state law.  Pamela Duncan, her chief deputy, now serves as interim treasurer until results of the November election are certified.

We may never know the full extent of the mess that Johnson cleaned up, but all citizens owe her a debt of gratitude for making the treasurer’s office transparent and accountable.

Once again, Goochland County received a certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting from the Government Finance Officers’ Association. This is the highest form of recognition for governmental accounting and financial reporting.

County Administrator John Budesky said that the award is truly a team effort, citing participation and collaboration of the entire county staff; office of the Treasurer and Commissioner of the Revenue; schools finance department; Department of Social Services; and the Department of Financial services. Take a look at the county’s certified annual financial reports available on the county website http://www.goochlandva.us/ under annual audit on the finance tab. These are well worth a read. 

Compare the CAFR of FY2010 with the latest one to see just how far Goochland has come under the present leadership.

Deputy County Administrator Derek Stamey received the Marcia Mashaw Outstanding Assistant Award by the Virginia Local Government Management Association (VLGMA). Stamey was nominated by County Administrator John Budesky for several accomplishments, including his leadership role in renovating and restoring the Central High School Cultural and Educational Complex.

The Virginia Local Government Management Association (VLGMA) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization composed primarily of city, town, and county managers and key members of their management teams. Membership in the organization is offered on an individual basis. The primary goal of the association is to strengthen the quality of local government through professional management. The association seeks to promote professional management in a variety of ways including training, networking, and resource sharing.

Derek Stamey Deputy County Administrator for Operations

Stamey said he was humbled by the award and attributed the accomplishments of his department to teamwork. “It takes a team and Goochland County has an incredible Board of Supervisors and administrative team. When everyone works so hard together with engaged citizens great things happen.”

It is no accident that “little ole Goochland” earns all these accolades. We are blessed to have a corps of hard-working dedicated county employees and engaged citizens supported by our elected officials to make wonderful things happen here.

Still waiting

Still waiting

The July 9 meeting of the Goochland Electoral Board, held in Hadensville at 3 p.m. to facilitate a joint meeting with the Louisa Electoral Board, which declined the invitation, offered little new information about the disenfranchisement of approximately 300 voters. The meeting room was nearly filled on a workday afternoon showing how upset local voters are.

Voters examine historic maps at the July 9 mid-afternoon electoral board meeting.

Robin Lind, secretary of the Goochland Electoral Board, brought more props—this time a 1932 map from VDOT and a piece of genuine red tape from the courthouse—but no news of a resolution to the crisis. Lind observed that the 1932 map was the first to show the undefined border between Goochland and Louisa counties as a straight, rather than meandering line using parcel boundaries. Lind speculated that the straight lines were the result of reluctance by the highway department to foot the cost of a detailed survey. Be that as it may, the voters know where they live and pay taxes and they want to vote in this November’s local elections for the people who will spend those tax dollars for their benefit.  

This 1932 VDOT map shows the county line as straight, ignoring parcel boundaries.

To further complicate matters, the Louisa registrar, who was adamant about moving voters to the “correct” side of the United States Census line between the two counties earlier in the year, has moved Louisa voters that were sent to Goochland back to Louisa.

Several speakers expressed their ongoing and well-justified outrage with the situation. Their overall message was “someone do something so we can vote where we pay taxes as we always have.” They wanted to know why, if misplaced Louisa voters “went home,” why Goochland could not follow suit.

The real issue seems to be that the “someone” is the county registrar Ryan Mulligan. He said: “I took an oath to uphold the Constitution. This (moving voters) is not something I want to do, but I will uphold the law.” He expressed frustration with the ambiguity of the law— “it is not as clear as we would like it”— and the way the state board of elections distanced itself from the situation. “No one will tell us what to do,” Mulligan said.

Lind said that a letter asking for clarification of the law was sent to Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring asking for an opinion. If Herring does issue an opinion, said Lind, it has the force of law until changed by the General Assembly. The United States Department of Justice, said Lind, does not have the authority to intervene in Goochland voting matters.

Lind indicated that if Herring opines that the provision the election law that prohibits moving voters to different precincts after February 1, 2019 takes precedence, the April reassignments of voters are void and everyone goes back where they belong.

Lind, speaking for the electoral board, said “we want you back”, to the displaced voters and added that the State Board of Elections said it cannot provide legal advice to local electoral boards. He was unclear about the state board of election’s function.

A Louisa voter commended Goochland on its transparency. Louisa county, she said, provided no communication with displaced voters. Everything she learned about the situation came from Goochland.

“When we make a mess, we do it in public,” Mulligan quipped.

The topic of litigation was also raised, as was obtaining some sort of court order to remedy the situation.  District 1 Supervisor Susan Lascolette, who currently serves as Board Vice Chair, explained that the county earmarked $250,000 to fund surveys and other documentation to formally delineate the fuzzy county line once and for all and even got approval from the Virginia General Assembly to use geographic information services in addition to surveys to accomplish the task because Louisa was unwilling to spend money.

She added her voice to the frustration. “If there was anything we could do to bring these voters back to Goochland, we would.”

Lind said that the supervisors and the electoral board have also been working with our representatives in the Virginia General Assembly: Delegates Lee Ware, 65^th District; John McGuire 56^th District; and 22^nd District Senator Mark Peake to resolve the situation. They were unable to put the matter on the agenda of the recent special session.

Goochland Board of Supervisors’ chair Manuel Alvarez, Jr., District 2 reported that the supervisors met twice in closed session at their July 2 meeting with County Attorney Tara McGee to discuss the matter. McGee contends that she cannot represent the Electoral Board because she considers it a conflict. The supervisors, however, have offered to pay the cost of the Electoral Board retaining its own counsel. No decision about that seems to have been made.

Electoral Board Chair Keith Flannagan said that there are still approximately 100 days–the start of absentee voting — to find a solution before any action must be taken.

Lind reiterated the hope he expressed at the June 27 electoral board meeting that the quick acknowledgement from Herring’s office signals a timely response.

Louisa and Goochland have submitted maps with identical boundary lines to their respective United States Census Office. The next redistricting, which will take place using the results of the 2020 census should put this matter to rest once and for all. At next year’s elections are federal, there will be no impact on voting. All “misplaced” voters are in the 7^th Congressional District. Senate and presidential votes are statewide.

The 1932 VDOT map was bound in genuine red tape.

In the meantime, frustrated disenfranchised voters wait for word from the attorney general.

July 2019 Board highlights

The Goochland County Board of Supervisors had a full agenda for its July 2 meeting.

Speakers during afternoon and evening public comment demanded that the supervisors do something to bring disenfranchised voters assigned to precincts in Louisa County back to Goochland in time for this November’s local elections. The Board went into closed session following its afternoon session and again after the end of public hearings—well after 10 p.m.—to discuss possible legal remedies with county attorney Tara McGee. On July 3, the county issued a statement reiterating the Board’s commitment to finding a resolution to the problem. McGee will continue to examine all legal options. In addition, Board Chair Manuel Alvarez, Jr. District 2, sent a letter to Senators Warne and Kaine and Rep. Spanberger asking for their assistance

The text of that letter is at http://www.goochlandva.us/DocumentCenter/View/5579/Congressional-Delegation-Adoption-of-Census-Border_20190703?bidId= A meeting of the Goochland Electoral Board will be held at 3 p.m. at the Hadensville Company 6 Fire-Rescue Station on July 9 to further discuss the situation.

County Administrator John Budesky announced that Hourigan Construction has been retained for 30 days as interim contractor to get the stalled construction of the new animal shelter back on track. The county and Selective Insurance Company of American, the bonding agent of the previous contractor, will identify a permanent contractor to finish the job. Hourigan began work on July 9. It is the same company that built the new GoochlandCares facility and is working on the Sheltering Arms hospital in West Creek, and, according to Budesky, approached the county about working on the animal shelter.

Built in partnership with local non-profit Goochland Pet Lovers, the animal protection and adoption center will be a state-of-the-art facility to serve the community well into the future. We hope that more details will be released as information becomes available.

For everyone who enjoyed the recent paving adventures brought to Goochland by VDOT—the state agency whose motto is “Oops!”—in the past few months, another one is on the way. Marshall Winn, Ashland Residency Administrator, announced that the Maidens Bridge will be closed for about three months for renovation. The poor design of the bridge, which replaced a one lane bridge early in the century, allowed road salt to rust out steel decking supports. The repairs will use rebar reinforced concrete under paving material. Traffic that normally uses Maidens Road to reach the Rt. 522 bridge over the James River will use Fairground to Sandy Hook to River Road West. More exciting games of “chicken” are coming to the intersection of Fairground and Sandy Hook Roads!

VDOT will close Maidens Road for several months to repair this bridge near Rt. 6.

McGee reported on the “listening session” held to determine if Goochland needs a county noise ordinance. She suggested that a citizen committee comprised of people on all sides of the issue be formed to further explore the issue. As the Sheriff’s Office will play an important part in enforcement of any such ordinance, McGee recommended that final action be deferred until at least January 2020 when a new Sheriff and Board are in place.  NO DECISION FOR OR AGAINST A GOOCHLAND NOISE ORDINANCE HAS BEEN MADE.      

  

During public hearings, the board approved creation of a service district to fund completion of roads in the 31 lot Bridgewater subdivision north of Broad Street Road in Maidens. Because the landowners in Bridgewater will receive services not “offered uniformly throughout the county” the service district will be used to fund completion of the roads.

The developer of the subdivision went out of business before its roads were brought up to state standards, necessary to be eligible for inclusion in the state road system, and a letter of credit lapsed before the roads could be finished. The estimated cost to complete the work, determined by a competitive bid process, is $269,622, which includes a contingency of $23,420, and project management costs of $12,000. The county has agreed to fund $164,200 of the costs. 

A tax of 28 cents per $100 of valuation will be levied on all lots in Bridgewater, but no more than $105,422 will be collected from landowners. If the actual cost of the project is less than estimated, the funds collected through the tax will be decreased. If the costs are higher, the county will pick up the tab for the overage.

The tax will begin to accrue on January 1, 2020 and run for ten years or until the costs are repaid.( For complete details see the July 2 board packet, starting on page 158, available on the county website http://www.goochlandva.us/) 

This was a difficult situation. The county does not build roads, but the homeowners in Bridgewater were left in a bind. Creation of the service district creates a mechanism for land owners to chip in to ensure that the road work is completed.  Let’s hope that going forward safeguards are in place to prevent a recurrence of this situation.

The long and winding road to yes

After eight months of meetings between the owners and potential developers of approximately 98 acres between Manakin and Rockville Roads and nearby residents, the Goochland Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to approve rezoning the property to Residential Planned Unit Development (RPUD) with proffers at its July 2 meeting. District 4 supervisor Bob Minnick was in dissent.

 The vote came around 10 p.m. following a long silence after each board member made remarks. Board chair Manuel Alvarez, Jr., District 2, finally broke the silence and moved for approval. John Lumpkins, District 3 seconded the motion.

The result probably pleased few involved, so it may have been the best decision.

As approved, the rezoning will permit 98 single family homes—the number permitted by the density recommended by the 2035 Comprehensive Land use Plan. A connector road was removed from the proposal. “Tuckahoe Bridge” will have two distinct sections with separate entrances on both Rockville and Manakin Roads for 49 homes each. The “bridge” will most likely be a foot bridge of some sort, that will not be able to accommodate vehicular traffic.  The Rockville Road side includes a stub road leading to undeveloped land to the north. This road will be clearly marked that it could b extended in the future.

Developer Vernon McClure of Main Street Homes explained that the topography of each site will dictate lot size, which will be less than the one acre but vary in size. As the property will be served by water and sewer from the Tuckahoe Creek Service District, there will be no public health issues caused by small lot sizes.

He said that there will be left and right turn lanes at both entrances and Manakin and Rockville Roads will be improved along the subdivision frontage. Due to permitting and engineering, McClure estimated that it will take one and one half to two years before any dirt is moved. He expects there will be a seven year build out for the project. Construction will start on the Manakin Road side with extensions of water and sewer lines.

Although the zoning case was on the Board agenda as “decision only”, 30 minutes were allotted for additional comment. Speakers included those formerly opposed, who accepted the reduction in number of lots from the originally proposed 147 to 98; those opposed to RPUD zoning; and owners of the land who whined about how long it took to sell and paying the TCSD ad valroem tax.

Perhaps the strangest comments were made by realtor who sold the land. She contended that Goochland needs these homes, with a starting price point north of $550K, to bring young families to the county because we are running out of children. She based her remarks on the dearth of children she sees in the Centerville Food Lion. Even if young families can afford homes in Tuckahoe Bridge, it is doubtful that they would have the time or inclination to do things like become fire-rescue volunteers. She must also have missed the recent discussions about increasing the capacity of the new Goochland Elementary School to 650 students due to expected surge in school age population.

The density of homes and small lot sizes destroys any semblance of rural character in the area, opponents contended. Ken Peterson, District 5, observed that the case was somewhat akin to putting a square peg in a round hole and suggested that the county may need a new zoning district to deal with cases like this.  Peterson said that the final iteration of Tuckahoe Bridge—or bridgeless—has the 98 homes permitted by other residential zoning categories with deeper buffers so that passersby will see only the entrance and turn lanes and not homes on small lots.

Other zoning options for this land, which permit the same number of homes, require no buffers and make homes easily visible from the road, like Reader’s Branch under construction on the east side of Hockett Road. There was a good bit of comment about market forces and that today’s home buyers have little interest in large, high maintenance yards.

Minnick struggled with the notion that RPUD cannot support acre lots, because there are some of those in Kinloch, also an RPUD subdivision.  Even though sitting boards cannot take any action to encumber future boards, Minnick expressed concern that approval of RPUD zoning for Tuckahoe Bridge could encourage other landowners to follow suit.

Indeed, there is an approximately 136-acre undeveloped parcel just north of the land in question that is also in the Centerville Village and the TCSD. Property on the north side of Rockville Road is designated for economic development on the Comp Plan, both of which could drastically alter the character of the area. He also said that the Sycamore Creek golf course is another pressure point for development—there are no guarantees it will be a golf course forever.

Removal of what was touted as a connector road, just a subdivision street with many driveways, removed the possibility of “back flush” cut through traffic from Manakin Towne traveling north on Manakin Road to avoid Broad Street Road congestion. The pending downzoning of a rural preservation further north on Seay Road will reduce future traffic pressures.

Overall, the “process” of neighbors and developers interacting to find more or less mutually acceptable terms, worked. Going forward, developers need to recognize that they must listen to and work with residents in rezoning cases. Citizens need to engage and not whine that the filing of a rezoning application is a “done deal” and realize that land in the Centerville Village will develop in a way that may not please them.

The county is still in the process of updating its zoning ordinances. A community meeting on the topic will be held on July 16 at 6 p.m. in the county administration building.

Balancing the property rights of a landowner and those of neighbors who oppose significant change in land use is a delicate task and perhaps the most important, behind good stewardship of public funds, facing supervisors.