June board highlights

New polling place in West Creek

 

At their June meeting the Goochland Board of Supervisors addressed a relatively brief agenda. County Administrator Vic Carpenter said that county offices will be closed on Wednesday, June 19 in observation of Juneteenth, which Wendy Hobbs said is “Independence Day for slaves”, and Thursday, July 4, American Independence Day.

Goochland will hold its annual fireworks event on July 4, rain date, July 5, in Courthouse Village. Pyrotechnics will be shot off in the field roughly behind the high school beginning at 9 p.m.

Deferral

A public hearing for a rezoning application filed by Sydney & Sydney Development for land on Greenbriar Branch Drive was deferred until July 2 at the request of the applicant.

 

Agriculture Report

Keith Burgess, District Manager of the Monacan Soil and Water Conservation District, https://www.monacanswcd.org/read the monthly agriculture report during citizen comment. As agriculture is vital to the rural nature that everyone says they want to preserve in the county, this should be addressed and perhaps discussed by the supervisors instead of being glossed over in the rush to their dinner break.

Burgess reported that the position of Virginia Cooperative Extension Agriculture and Natural Resources Agent for Goochland is vacant as Erin Small has moved. The position, for which Goochland pays about 30 percent of the cost, will be filled by Virginia Cooperative Extension in cooperation with Goochland.

MSWCD also has a vacancy for a full-time agricultural technician and education coordinator serving Goochland and Powhatan Counties. Visit the website for details.

An important function of the MSWCD is helping local farmers access cost share funds to cover the cost of implementing best practices in agriculture including keeping livestock out of streams by installing fencing and wells to provide water for herds.

For the third consecutive year, MSWCD has provided more than $1 million in cos share funds to farmers in Goochland and Powhatan. It will return to the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) $835,427 in unallocated 2023-2024 cost-share funds.

Burgess noted that the Department of Forestry has announced a no-cost buffer program to allow landowners to install forest buffers for watersheds. Individuals, homeowner associations and civic leagues in rural, urban or suburban areas are eligible to apply.  Details are available by contacting DOF at: watershed@dof.virginia.gov or by calling 434-220-9024.

New polling place in District 4

The supervisors voted unanimously to add a voting precinct to District 4. The precinct, known as Election Precinct 403 (West Creek), will be located in the Avery Point Senior Living Community on Wilkes Ridge Parkway. (Despite marketing its location as Short Pump, Avery Point is really in the Centerville Village in GOOCHLAND.)

General Registrar Ryan Mulligan explained that Precinct 402, St. Matthew’s Church, has grown from 2,019 voters in 2019 to a current total—this could increase before the November election—of 4,025. The new precinct will NOT be in operation for the June 18 primary.

The new precinct will alleviate overcrowding and long lines. The dwelling units in the new precinct are all apartments, The Retreat, Avery Point, and 2000 West Creek, currently have 1,269 voters, which could change before the November election. The new poling place, said Mulligan, is closer to most of those voters than St. Matthew’s Church.

Mulligan said that Avery Point will allow distribution of campaign materials, which could include setting up tables in the lobby of the building where the polling place is located. “The bottom line is that Avery Point is very receptive to making sure that parties have the ability to communicate with voters.”

Board Chair Charlie Vaughters, District 4, said that he had visited Avery Point and was assured that they are willing to accommodate what is expected on election day.

Chair of the Goochland Electoral Board, Pamela Cooke Johnson explained that there are few places in District 4 large enough to serve as polling precincts. Anticipating growth, the electoral board had been looking for another District 4 polling place for three years. Avery Point stepped up and said they would love to be a polling place and have adequate parking and handicapped accessibility required of a polling place.

Johnson said that another precinct will be needed in the next few years as the east end of the county grows.

Kelly Davis, a member of the Avery Point administrative team, said that Erickson Senior Living, the company that operates Avery Point, explained that many Erickson communities host voting precincts. “We are familiar with how to do this, and I commit that we will follow all the rules and regulations that we are expected to follow for an election. This will be a great win for our residents who do not have to travel to the polls and for the community.”

Budget adjustments

Several budget adjustments were on the agenda.

The FY24 budget was amended to budget and appropriate $1,177,773 in the Capital Improvement Fund for improvements to the Oilville/I-64 interchange.

The FY25 budget was amended to transfer and appropriate $116,656 with the Capital Improvement Plan for a generator at the sports complex behind the administration building to enable it to serve as an emergency shelter.  This will be in addition to the emergency shelter at the Central High School Educational and Cultural Center.

The FY24 budget was amended y budgeting and appropriating $289,023 in the school textbook and cafeteria funds and authorizing fund transfers of more than $10K. Debbie White, Chief Financial Officer for GCPS explained that the requested amendments were end of year “truing” up by moving funds from areas whose budgeted amounts were more than actual expenditures to those whose outgo exceeded the budget. No additional dollars were involved.