Both lawsuits – one filed by Louisa County and its supervisors and the other filed by Louisa, its supervisors, the James River Water Authority (JRWA), and the Louisa County Water Authority (LCWA) – are rooted in the Fluvanna County Board of Supervisors’ Dec. 2 denial of two special use permits necessary for the James River water project.
The first lawsuit alleges that by denying the special use permits and halting the James River water project, Fluvanna breached its 2013 interjurisdictional agreement establishing the project. It seeks damages of $40 million, $5 million of which are “direct damages in the form of costs and time expended,” the suit states. The other $35 million is consequential damages, which Mike Lockaby, Louisa County attorney for the James River water project, said include “all sorts of damages in terms of lost revenues, and how much it would cost to seek other comparable sources of water.” The $35 million figure is “the very low end that we think it would cost to compensate us for that. It might be substantially more,” he said.
The second lawsuit claims that Fluvanna should never have required special use permits, and demands Fluvanna compensate the parties for any increase in project costs resulting from the delay, as well as attorneys’ fees and court costs.
“We believe the suits are premature in that final resolution of the project proposals has not been determined,” stated the press release from Nichols’ office. Fluvanna supervisors are set to take another vote on the special use permits on Jan. 20.
Fluvanna has not been served with either suit. Lockaby said he hopes that the issues can be solved through the Jan. 20 vote rather than litigation.
The James River water project will take water from the James River and pump it northeast through Fluvanna to Louisa, then on to Zion Crossroads.
