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| Benedictine auditorium |
At an October 4 meeting held on the beautiful campus of Benedictine
Schools on River Road, District 5 Supervisor Jonathan Lyle, School Board Member
Ellen Robinson, and Planning Commissioner Martin Dean shared information on a
wide range of topics about Goochland other than data centers. Supervisors Neil
Spoonhower, District 2, and Tom Winfree, District 3, were also there.
The attendance was not as robust as community meetings held
at the high school, perhaps because the meeting was livestreamed, enabling
people to watch the meeting and football games simultaneously. One unsilenced
cell phone in the audience blared football theme music.
Kudos to Director of Information Technology Dan Stowers and his
team for making the presentation accessible in real time and archived on the
county website at https://goochlandcova.portal.civicclerk.com/event/4502/media
. The meeting lasted for a bit more than three hours. Following are some
highlights. Please take time to watch the meeting, the video includes closed captioning.
Lyle explained that the session was designed to share brief
sketches of “nuts and bolts” of county operations.
Robinson said that Goochland Schools “are preparing out
children for the future while giving them the strongest foundation possible.” She
championed the reintroduction of cursive writing to elementary classrooms, which
helps students hone fine motor skills, and the sensory input of placing pen to
paper also helps increase information retention and critical thinking.
Goochland Schools, said Robinson, are well aware of the challenges of
technology and are exploring ways for tech to enhance rather than distract from
the educational experience.
“I personally feel we should teach at the appropriate level
how to use AI. We also teach how to think independently without those tools.
How to read a physical book, be a critical thinker. Sit with a difficult problem,
communicate ideas clearly, write, research question, analyze and defend their
conclusions, the importance of the human brain and its capacity to learn
through doing.” The ultimate goal is to make Goochland graduates tech savvy
responsible digital citizens.
Dr. Jennifer Waggener, GCPS assistant superintendent for
administration, shared additional information about our schools, which, she
contended, measure up well against the private school option. Of last June’s
graduating class of 250, 97 earned an associate’s degree from Reynolds
Community College before they received their high school diploma. Goochland’s
Marine Corps Junior ROTC program is the largest in the region and regularly places
well in competitions.
Our career and technical education department offers a wide
array of options for students to explore future careers. Ground is expected to
be broken next year for a CTE addition to the high school to expand the
program. (Go to https://www.goochlandschools.org/
to https:
Waggener explained the Golden Bulldog pass program where
Goochland citizens 60 or older can get free admission to home games and ticket
discounts for theatrical performances. Go to https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScKCSqXPxWO75nH8tvsvw3-DdXF8K6BZPmKVx2gHTm4xsTlIg/viewform for details.
She invited everyone to attend the upcoming production by
the Drama Department, “The Play that goes wrong” on October 16, 17, and 18.
These plays are outstanding and deserve to have every seat filled at every
performance. Go to https://sites.google.com/glnd.k12.va.us/goochland-drama-dept/2025-2026-season/oklahoma?authuser=0
for details and to buy tickets.
To follow and support our Bulldog athletes in action, Go to https://www.ghsbulldogsathletics.com/schedule?year=2026-2027
.
Lyle then plunged into fiscal matters, contending that land
use and the county budget are the two most important tasks of supervisors. The “big four” he concentrates on are public
safety, education, roads, and free and fair elections. Once those budgetary
needs have been addressed properly, he will consider other things.
He rebutted the refrain of “build houses not data centers”
by explaining that a home consumes $1.25 in services for every dollar of tax
revenue it generates. “Houses do not pay the bills,” said Lyle. The current tax
rate of 53 cents per $100 on assessed valuation has been in place for 20 years,
but tax bills have increased due to rising assessments. Real estate taxes contribute
about 73 percent of the budget.
The county is in the process of retaining experts to address
water issues that plague some homes in the Tuckahoe Creek Service District,
especially Parkside Village and Mosaic. A vendor for this has been selected and
the supervisors are expected to approve the contract for this at their November
meeting.
Lyle said that the supervisors determine the level of service
citizens want, things like fire-rescue stations, excellence in schools and so
forth. Financing the difference can be done by bond issues, which increases the
county’s indebtedness. He delved into the near-term capital needs, fire-rescue
stations, the new courthouse, the CTE addition for the high school, and whether
it would be prudent for the county to borrow more. Lyle believes that any added
bond issuance should be approved by a referendum, like one that was overwhelmingly
approved in 2021.
Lyle repeated his commitment to commercial growth in
Goochland, especially West Creek. He explained that securing significant investments
like the Eli Lilly facility is a long and complicated process. Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) are an
integral part of attracting business to a locality, said Lyle. When he served
on the Henrico Industrial Development Authority in the 1980s, he learned how
these work.
“They (NDAs) are used by companies who are exploring a
decision. They haven't made a decision. And so, there's a very real reason they
don't necessarily want to go out on the front page of The Wall Street Journal
and say, hey, we're thinking of coming to Goochland County. And so other
companies can say, well, maybe we should buy that land. Other people will say,
oh, well, they're interested in it. Maybe the land price just went up $50,000
an acre. There are a lot of reasons why you want to have a conversation without
saying this is a done deal. The other is that the market. Somebody says, oh,
well, they're going to build a $5 billion plant in Goochland County. What's
that going to do to their debt on their balance sheet? Is that going to affect
their stock price? I don't do the market, but I understand you can short stock
or long stock. And so, they start making plays out there based on public
information on decisions that haven't yet been made.”
Lyle acknowledged that NDAs create a trust issue and explained
that going forward new protocols require that supervisors will have the final
say on if and when NDAs are used.
Economic development is working t grow Goochland’s
commercial tax base toward a 30 percent commercial/70 percent residential ratio.
It is occurring in places where the county has long desired this to occur.
Lyle touted the power of networking and asked anyone who has
connections with companies who are considering expansion to recommend Goochland
as a destination and contact Raley to get the ball rolling.
Dean, who is also a volunteer fire captain at Manakin Company
1, attempted to “turn down the heat” around land use matters by helping people
better understand the system that operated to make sure that optimal decisions are
made.
He began by explaining our system of government and comparing
it to ancient Athens, the cradle of democracy. Pure democracy, where every citizen
weighs in on every decision every day, a full-time job. Our founding fathers believed
that a pure democracy was not a practical way to govern and build a
representative democracy instead. Now we vote for representatives to “make
tough calls on our behalf.”
Virginia is a Dillon Rule state, which means that localities
have only those powers specifically given to them by the General Assembly. “There
are a lot of things in this county that we would love to regulate, but we can’t
because the state is not giving us that authority.” These include air, land
water, and where power lines go.
At sone point all land went through some kind of public process.
Land use decisions do not set precedent. Each parcel is unique, which is why public
input in the process is so important. The county has little control over the
timing of a process. All landowners have rights, including the right to a
timely hearing.
When an application is on the planning commission docket,
that board has 70 days to make a recommendation to the supervisors. The
supervisors can slow the process down, and the applicant can slow it further.
Most of the details on a land use change are worked out
after the approval during the plan of development process. This is done
according to many codes.
This is a process during which many things change by design to
improve an application. The process is proven and works even though the outcome
may not please everyone.
Spoonhower thanked everyone for attending and their engagement.
He said that going forward, following citizen comment, supervisors will have the
opportunity to address those comments. “It is frustrating to hear people spouting
all kinds of things that just aren’t true without giving us the opportunity to
react. “
Spoonhower said that
he did not vote for a data center but rather for a technology overlay district to
give more protection to Readers Branch. “I voted to add requirements for data
centers that are already by right. I will support the right data center. I have
no concerns about 55 + community but do have specific concerns about this (Tract)
proposal.”
He cares that data centers cannot be seen heard, smelled, or
have an impact on people’s lives. Spoonhower said he has not seen a final plan
that indicates the number, size, or location of specific data centers.
“I’m not going to vote for anything that will disturb your
lives. This has to be the best damn project in the country. That’s what I’m
voting for,” said Spoonhower. His remarks were greeted with applause. Go to the
about 2:25 minute mark on the recording to listen.
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