By Heather Michon
Correspondent
Palmyra Supervisor Timothy Hodge updated Village Oaks residents on a variety of county issues on Tuesday night (Sept. 10).
Hodge joined the Board of Supervisors in January. The last nine months have been busy ones.
Fluvanna’s long time legal counsel Fred Payne “believed ordinances were for lawyers, not for ordinary people,” Hodge said. “I believe they should be simple and understandable by everybody.”
Under the new county attorney, Daniel Whitten, the supervisors were working to update language and close loopholes in existing ordinances, along with approving new ones.
Hodge, along with Rivanna Supervisor Tony O’Brien and Planning Commissioners Lorretta Johnson-Morgan and Kathleen Kilpatrick, had spent the last several weeks creating a new set of ordinances regarding solar farm development in the county.
“Nobody’s happy,” he said. “So you know you’ve found the middle of the road when both sides are complaining at the same time.”
Something that should make county residents happy? The ability to pay their county tax bills with something other than cash and checks.
After many years of waiting, that moment is coming soon.
“I’ve actually physically seen the card readers in the county offices,” he said. “So, there will be a time very shortly where you’ll be able to pay your bill with credit cards or debit cards.”
Because this is a real estate assessment year, Hodge urged residents to keep an eye out for a letter from the assessor in the coming weeks – and to act quickly if the final number seemed too high.
“It’s really important that you pay attention to that letter because there’s a two- to four-week period when you can dispute it with the assessor himself,” he explained.
He spoke from experience: in a previous assessment, his property had been valued at $80,000 more than neighbors in comparable homes. Hodge pointed out the discrepancy to the assessor, and the evaluation was eventually adjusted to align it with other properties.
Multiple new businesses are on the horizon. The Wawa at Zion Crossroads will begin construction in the coming months, and a locally-owned gas station near Tractor Supply is working its way through the permitting process.
At Colonial Circle, the first of some 300 homes and townhouses are already under construction, and the first residents will be moving into the Cove at Monticello apartments in the next few weeks. Along with housing, the development will include a convenience store and other commercial space.
VDOT will begin a major project at the intersection of Rt. 618 and Rt. 600 in late 2026, and it is expected to take 9-10 months to complete. Rt. 600 will be blocked to traffic between the Riverside Gate and Rt. 618 as crews install new turn lanes and improve sightlines.
“My suggestion was, why don’t we try three stop signs?” Hodge said. “Three stop signs don’t cost seven million dollars. And they said three stop signs will make it more dangerous.”
No discussion of local issues would be complete without mentioning Aqua.
Hodge said the county had been active in combating Aqua’s rate hike proposal this past year. While they could not convince the State Corporation Commission to deny the rate increase completely, the pressure from Fluvanna and other counties in its service area put enough pressure on the company that Aqua eventually agreed to a smaller increase. “A small win,” he said, “if you can call it a win.”
There’s not much the county can do about the smell from the sewage treatment plant on Rt. 600, but Hodge encouraged residents to let Aqua know how they felt about it.
“The best thing we can do as customers is every time you drive by and smell it, log it, and complain,” he said. “You get enough complaints, they’ll talk about it.
