By John Wayne - April 2024
There are many active development activities around the lake in both Spotsylvania and Louisa County, some you have heard about and some perhaps not. You can take a look at the Land Use section of LACA’s website https://lakeannavirginia.org for more details on these and other development activities around the Lake. In this article I will provide status on some activities and highlight a few upcoming opportunities for you to weigh in on some near-term decisions by our governing authorities regarding development.
Hayden Property
The Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors will hold a required Public Hearing on April 23, 2024, at 6:00 in the Holbert Building for the rezoning required for the proposed development of 40 homes on the Hayden property. This property located close to the Pamunkey bridge (where 522 crosses the upper Pamunkey), is probably best known for the proposed RV Park proposal which ended in 2021 with the withdrawal of that rezoning request due to strong community opposition. The current proposal is for 40 homes and community amenities on the two parcels that make up 132 acres, with about 40% of the property being set aside for open space. You can find more details on this development in the Land Use Section of our website. We encourage all members to attend the Public Hearing and make your opinions heard.
Another Dollar General?
After much speculation it appears that Dollar General has submitted a Site Plan to Spotsylvania planning placing a store on a 26-acre parcel of land at the Southeast corner of the intersection of 522 and Monrovia Rd. The property, parcel 53-1-2, is zoned RC (Resort Commercial) and RA (Resort Agricultural), which essentially means that all that is required for the developer to move forward is to gain approval for the Site Plan. If you have any thoughts on this matter, you may email Spotsylvania Planning at planning@spotsylvania.va.us. We will continue to watch this as it goes through the county review process.
Green Boot Solar - Conditional Use Permit
In Louisa County, an application was submitted for a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) to develop a utility scale solar project of up to five megawatts (MW) on sixty acres of a 132-acre parcel along Peach Grove Road in the proximity of Gold Mine Creek due west of Lake Anna. The property is located, as seen below, between Goldmine Road (Route 613) and Peach Grove Road (Route 621), identified as tax map parcel 14-71, in the Mineral Election District. 
Goldmine Creek bisects most of the property from NW to SE and runs into the lake approximately a mile downstream from the property. The Project area is located on the north side of Goldmine Creek, within its watershed.
Two neighborhood meetings were attended by over 50 people in October and November of 2023. Questions, comments, and concerns from these citizens about the project touched on issues including added traffic, erosion, wildlife, property values, effect on Lake Anna, and others. In the first go at the Planning Commission in March, a decision on the CUP was deferred until its April meeting, mostly due to the volume of information required to be reviewed on short notice.
County staff and elected officials have worked over the past years to tighten regulation of Solar development in the County. These regulations, along with the diligent work of Community Development staff are intended to ensure solar implementations are designed and managed to mitigate as much as possible negative impacts to the land, storm water drainage areas, creeks, rivers, and streams. Staff has recommended thirty-one (31) conditions that must be met for this project, mostly aimed at these issues.
LACA is concerned that, even with the new regulations and all conditions from staff, the adjacency of Goldmine Creek watershed, the creek and Lake Anna to this site demands more to ensure implementation of environmental priorities. We are concerned that development disturbance, and even operation of twenty acres of cleared solar panel rows will likely bring a higher level of erosion and runoff, negatively affecting the Lake. It is not clear in the application that the developer has taken these adjacencies into consideration in their plan utilizing most recent and best practices to limit erosion and stream impact.
We urge the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors to weigh carefully the CUP requested while continuing to care for the land, water, and ecological needs. LACA is hard at work with County and State officials to improve water quality in Lake Anna. As a community we must ensure that we do not take any steps backward.
You may want to let your Commissioner and Supervisor know your thoughts on this important project.
208 – 522 Roundabout
Looking at it on April 1st, I will say that I am surprised by the progress I see on the Roundabout. These types of projects always seem to go so slow in the beginning while all the underground storm water plumbing and other infrastructure is installed. Much of this seems to be completed and on the western side of 522, curb stones are outlining a fair amount of that half of the circle, and it appears that a large section of the inner circle concrete will be poured soon. VDOT has stated that their plan is to have some semblance of a flowing intersection open by Memorial Day, and further to curb any weekend work during the summer months to keep the intersection flowing. Completion date is still forecast to be in December of THIS YEAR! Keep your fingers Crossed!
John.wayne@lakeannavirginia.org
