Digital Dead Zones in Albemarle Closer to Getting Service

Albemarle County:

“People living in digital dead zones in rural Albemarle County are closer to getting service. The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors will get a presentation Wednesday from the Broadband Task Force. The task force is expected to identify when and how dead zones in the Scottsville, Samuel Miller, and Whitehall districts will be fixed.

‘I understand that we were just recognized, the city of Charlottesville, as being one of the top ten wired communities in the entire country,’ Albemarle County Supervisor Jane Dittmar said. ‘So to drive 15 minutes outside and have people who can't have internet, can't use their cells, or can't get emergency vehicles in there because they don't have that, [it] doesn't make any sense.’

Dittmar says she hopes private broadband service providers and the county can work together. She would like to see effective service everywhere in the county by the end of this year.”

~ Reports nbc29

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Ground broken for new Bland County sewer project

Bland County:

“Bland County celebrated the first day of spring last week by breaking ground on its wastewater project, which leaders hope will help spur economic development in the county… The county has received grants and low-interest loans to pay for the nearly $8 million project. Phase I is about three-fourths of the entire project. It includes three pump stations and the extension of several thousands of feet of line from Bland to the treatment plant in Bastian.

A gravity line pump station will be built on the lower end of the fairgrounds, near the site of Thursday’s groundbreaking. Two other pump stations will be built on Brushy Mountain. The project will serve roughly 200 customers, including Bland elementary and high schools, ABB and Pascor, and the Exit 52 area of Interstate 77.”

~Writes Millie Rothrock of SWVA Today

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Project seeks to smooth way for offshore Va. winds

Coastal Virginia:

“The state is teaming up with Dominion Virginia Power in a research project that is intended to smooth the way for the development of an offshore wind industry. The Virginia Offshore Wind Technology Advance Project proposes putting two 6-megawatt wind turbines on platforms designed to withstand hurricane-force winds. The turbines would be located 24 nautical miles (27 statute miles) off Virginia Beach.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced Thursday it is seeking written public comment on the project as it prepares an environmental assessment. It scheduled a meeting for April 3 in Virginia Beach for the public to speak out on the proposal. Last September, Dominion submitted a successful bid of $1.6 million bid to lease nearly 113,000 offshore acres for the development of wind power. Full development of the area could produce 2,000 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 700,000 homes. Besides the turbines, the project would also include cable linking the turbines to the electric grid in Virginia Beach. The project is expected to be operational by 2017. The so-called demonstration project received a $4 million grant from the U.S. Energy Department.”

~Writes The Associated Press

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Board OKs tower amendment, nixes scenic protection language

Nelson County:

“After months of deliberation and a lengthy discussion March 11, the Nelson County Board of Supervisors narrowly approved an amendment to the county’s communication tower ordinance. The board approved a repeal of almost all sections of the previous ordinance, Article 20 in the zoning code, and replaced them with new language that will reduce the requirements for a tower’s minimum setback from Virginia Scenic Byways and the Blue Ridge Parkway and serve as a comprehensive overhaul of previous tower classifications.

But the ordinance does not include proposed requirements that Nelson County Planning & Zoning Director Tim Padalino argued would help protect undeveloped mountain scenery in the county.”

~Writes Katherine Lacaze of Nelson County Times

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First Proposal in for Water Pipeline

Fluvanna County:

“The James River Water Authority (JRWA) announced its receipt of an unsolicited PPEA proposal to construct a utility system and part of a water pipeline in Fluvanna County on Mar. 7. The Public-Private Educational Facilities and Infrastructure Act of 2002, from which the PPEA proposal draws its name, allows agencies, institutions, and localities to form partnerships with the private sector and work together to complete major projects, according to the website of Virginia Information Technologies Agency.

The proposal was submitted by Faulconer Construction Co., Inc., Timmons Group, and teaming partner MEB General Contractors, to the JRWA, which is comprised of three members from Fluvanna, three from Louisa, and the Louisa County Water Authority. As stated in the inter-jurisdictional agreement passed by the Fluvanna County Board of Supervisors last Sept. 18, the JRWA will construct both an intake facility at the James River and a pipeline, ending in a junction, roughly to Rt. 6. This PPEA proposal seeks permission to do just that…

The proposal suggests the system will be allowed by its withdrawal permit to take about 2.85 million gallons per day (GPD) from the James River. Nevertheless, the intake facility will be sized to handle the maximum withdrawal allowed by law, which is 5.7 million GPD. Not included in the public portion of the proposal is the anticipated time frame for the undertaking or its expected cost. Fluvanna and Louisa Counties will equally split the cost of construction, which at one time was estimated to be around $3.5 million, and may since have increased.”

~ Writes Christina Dimeo Guseman of the Fluvanna Review

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Click here for the James River Water Authority Website

Debate Over Lorton Landfill Continues at Public Hearing

Fairfax County:

“The debate over the future of the Lorton landfill continued as community members commented before the Fairfax County Planning Commission at a public hearing on Feb. 27. Over 50 people signed up to speak on the EnviroSolutions application to extend landfill operations until 2040, with the meeting going into the early hours of the morning.

EnviroSolutions, who owns the Lorton landfill, is applying for permission to widen the landfill and continue operations until 2040. EnviroSolutions’ proposed green energy triangle at the site of the landfill, which includes the development of geothermal energy, three wind turbines, and solar panels, was a major topic at the hearing.

Supporters cited the green energy as being beneficial for the county, as well as EnviroSolutions’ commitment to providing the community with $18 million, given out in increments over the course of two decades between 2019 and 2040. Jim Corcoran, president and CEO of the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce, which endorses the EnviroSolutions application to extend the landfill, said that a green energy triangle will enhance the county’s reputation.”

~Writes Janelle Germanos of The Connection

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Service Authority moves forward with water program

Nelson County:

“The Nelson County Service Authority is approaching a new stage in the process of implementing a program that will help protect the public water supply from potential backflow hazards and drinking water contamination. Called a cross-connection and backflow prevention program, its implementation is a requirement of the Virginia Department of Health.

‘It’s all in the name of public safety and protecting our water supply,’ said George Miller, executive director of authority. According to the department of health, a cross connection is an actual or potential link between a drinking water system and any source of contamination. Backflow is the reversed flow of contaminated or other liquids into a drinking water system.

Miller said the implementation process was started about two years ago when he was directed to go to Albemarle County to check out its successful program. Now the authority is getting ready to survey certain customers in the distribution system to gather information on what is in place and what might need to be installed for the program.”

~Writes Katherine Lacaze of Nelson County Times

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