Bylaws and bicycles, solar farms and a school board. This week's AGENDA.

Akhil Ganesh and Jeff Schwaner, Staunton News Leader
·3 min read

Come early or you may miss something.

And bring your popcorn. Before the 7:00 p.m. start of the Augusta County Planning Commission, there will be a 4:00 p.m. staff briefing. A note in the agenda states, "In addition to the items on the enclosed agenda, the Planning Commission have the suspended Section 3-1 under Article 3 Officers of the By Laws to discuss the direction in which the Commission would like to go." As boring as that sounds, it's really about tackling the fundamental question of whether the Commission can suspend its own bylaws, one of which states that a supervisor on the county board cannot be a chair of the Planning Commission.

Once the actual meeting starts, there'll be a public hearing for a Special Use Permit request for Fishersville Road Solar Farm. SPOILER ALERT! The Staff's recommendation has more CONs than PROs in terms of the solar farm plan's adherence to the county's Comprehensive Plan. Accordingly, "Staff find that the proposal is not in substantial accord with the Comprehensive Plan because the project lies entirely within the Urban Service Area and is located adjacent to an approved solar facility and within 1 mile of another approved facility. In addition, despite the increased setbacks and buffering, this project is expected to have significant adverse visual impacts on surrounding properties, and an overall adverse impact on community character." Read the whole agenda here.

There's a lot more happening this week, including the Staunton Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee on Wednesday and The Augusta County Board of Supervisors on Thursday.

Tuesday, August 8

  • Staunton Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, 4:30 p.m. - The committee will discuss plans for West Beverley Street and recommend more intersections for grant funding. They'll also discuss possible improvements of the Churchville and Thornrose intersection. The agenda's here.

  • Augusta County Planning Commission, 7 p.m. - While the planning commission will discuss a solar panel proposal and receive a status update on the upcoming refresh of the comprehensive plan, most eyes will be on the commission's decision on chair Carolyn Bragg. Bragg is an interim supervisor, and therefore can not be chair of the planning commission according to their bylaws.

  • Waynesboro School Board, 7 p.m. Central Office

Wednesday, August 9

  • Augusta County Electoral Board, 9 a.m.

  • Staunton Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Commission, 6 p.m.

  • Augusta County Board of Supervisors, 7 p.m - The most interesting part of this meeting isn't on the agenda. Supervisor Scott Seaton will return to a board meeting for the first time since the rest of the board adopted a resolution asking him to turn over all of his recordings, notes, and communications from closed sessions. The agenda's here.

Thursday, August 10

  • Staunton Economic Development Authority - Special called meeting, 8:30 a.m. This meeting includes updates on Staunton Crossing and the always intriguing "Closed Meeting" portion. Agenda's here.

  • Staunton Tourism Advisory Board, 9:30 a.m.

Friday, August 11

  • Waynesboro Economic Development Authority Board, 8 a.m. - The EDA in Waynesboro is set to discuss an update to the economic impact study surrounding the Waynesboro campus of the Virginia Museum of Natural History. Agenda's here.

Monday, August 14

Staunton School Board, Work Session, 5 p.m.; Regular Business Meeting, 6 p.m., City Hall

Tuesday, August 15

  • Augusta County Headwaters Soil and Water Conservation District, 10 a.m.

  • CAPSAW, 5:30 p.m.

This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: THE AGENDA: Who needs bylaws? Maybe not the Planning Commission.