The Belle Heights development in 2021. (File photo courtesy Harper Associates)
City Council to consider real estate tax rate change, BPOL exemption increase, apartment project grant agreements
Richmond City Council meets in regular session Monday at 6 p.m. The full agenda can be found here.
On the regular agenda are competing proposals to decrease or maintain the city’s real estate tax rate. Councilmember Reva Trammell is proposing reducing the rate to $1.16 per $100 of assessed value, while President Kristen Nye is proposing maintaining the rate at $1.20, where it has stood since 2009.
Trammell’s proposal aims to address increased real estate property assessments over that time. Both proposals are triggered by a state law requiring a real estate tax rollback and resetting of the tax rate due to assessment increases for the city’s overall real estate tax base.
Business on the consent agenda includes a proposal to increase the city’s exemption threshold for business, professional and occupational license taxes from $250,000 to $500,000 in annual revenue. The BPOL threshold was last increased from $100,000 in 2022.
Continued from the Sept. 9 meeting is a special-use request from Harper Associates for three apartment buildings totaling 266 units at its Belle Heights development. A grant agreement related to the project also is on the agenda.
Similar grant agreements for seven other income-restricted apartment projects are also on the agenda. Projects include Lynx Ventures’ sixth section of New Manchester Flats, Commonwealth Catholic Charities’ plan for 56 apartments at 1031 and 1101 Fourqurean Lane near Highland Park, and Surber Development and Consulting’s 78-unit Bellevue Gardens project, among others.
Grant payments will be limited to incremental real estate tax revenues generated by each project, and payments will be conditioned upon completion of the project and continued maintenance thereafter, according to the agreements. To qualify, projects must include a specified number of income-restricted units according to Virginia Housing standards for at least 30 years.
1,500-acre solar farm plan to be weighed by Hanover supervisors
Strata Clean Energy’s zoning request is tied to a proposed solar facility on 1,500 acres in Hanover. (Google Maps)
The Hanover Board of Supervisors is slated this week to provide a final verdict on a proposal to build a solar energy facility on 1,500 acres outside Beaverdam. The project is being proposed by North Carolina-based Strata Clean Energy.
The facility’s solar panels would occupy about 250 acres of the overall site subject to the zoning request. After the project’s recent review by the Planning Commission, which recommended denial, the applicant shrunk the acreage to be occupied by solar panels down from a previous plan of 340 acres, according to a staff report. The project still has a planned capacity of 72 megawatts.
The project site consists of multiple parcels and is located east of Ben Gayle Road and just north of its intersection with Beaverdam Road.
A Strata representative previously told BizSense the company intended to start construction of the project by early 2027, pending county approval. The project has been estimated to cost between $130 million and $160 million.
The latest version of the project also features increased setbacks of the facility’s solar panels from North Anna River.
The agenda for the Hanover supervisors’ Wednesday meeting can be found here.
Powhatan considering new tax rate for data centers
Powhatan County could implement a new business personal property rate for data center equipment.
County supervisors are slated Monday to approve the creation of the new tax rate for data centers to take effect in 2025. The proposed business personal property rate for data centers specifically would be 40 cents per $100 of assessed value. Powhatan’s business personal property rate is $3.60 per $100 of assessed value.
The rate would depreciate to 50% of the original cost in the first year, and continue to decrease to 10% of original cost in the fifth year, per county documents.
The measure is intended to make Powhatan a more competitive destination for data center projects, per a staff memo. If approved, the tax would bring Powhatan in line with other Richmond-area localities. Henrico has a 40 cent per $100 of assessed value business personal property tax rate for data centers, while Chesterfield’s is 24 cents, Hanover’s 45 cents and Goochland’s rate 24 cents.
There are currently no data centers operating in Powhatan. The tax rate proposal comes as California-based developer Province Group seeks zoning approval for a 1.5 million-square-foot data center project on 120 acres near the county’s border with Chesterfield. The case is on the board’s docket for Monday, but staff has requested a decision on the request be deferred.
The meeting agenda can be found here.
Chesterfield to consider commercial development project near Chester
A site plan for a medical office building on the 5-acre site at East Hundred and Meadowville roads. (Courtesy Chesterfield County)
County supervisors are anticipated to vote Wednesday on zoning approval for a commercial project that would be built near Chester.
Developer George Emerson is seeking zoning approval for a commercial project that would rise on about 5 acres on East Hundred and Meadowville roads.
The developer has proffered three conceptual plans for the property. One details a single two-story, 60,000-square-foot medical office building, while another shows a retail development of three buildings and the third plan a trio of buildings intended for restaurant users, according to agenda materials.
The retail project would consist of 5,800-square-foot, 15,250-square-foot and 21,900-square feet buildings. The restaurant project’s concept plan shows buildings that would range in size from 2,800 square feet to 12,000 square feet.
The applicant is seeking an exception from a requirement to build sidewalks where the project site borders Meadowville Road and East Hundred Road.
The project site consists of multiple parcels, among them 108 E. Hundred Road and 101 Meadowville Road. The development would be built on land next to the Food Lion-anchored River’s Bend on the James shopping center.
The board has deferred a decision on the request three times this year. Emerson more recently introduced the restaurant-focused conceptual plan as a possible development plan for the project.
The project is recommended for approval by the Planning Commission and staff.
The full agenda for the meeting can be found here.
Reynolds Crossing rezoning up for final vote in Henrico
The 31-acre parcel at the corner of Forest Avenue and West Broad is being eyed for redevelopment. (Google Earth)
Henrico supervisors meet in regular session Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Public hearing items include Reynolds Development’s plan to reinvent parts of its Reynolds Crossing complex at the corner of West Broad Street and Forest Avenue. Plans call for about a half-dozen new buildings to reach as high as 10 or 12 stories and over 1,200 dwelling units.
Also on the agenda is a 2026 Comprehensive Plan amendment to incorporate the recently completed 2024 Recreation, Parks, and Open Space Master Plan, which is to be used to guide decision-making for the Division of Recreation and Parks and be consulted during the review of land use applications.
The full agenda can be viewed here.
The Belle Heights development in 2021. (File photo courtesy Harper Associates)
City Council to consider real estate tax rate change, BPOL exemption increase, apartment project grant agreements
Richmond City Council meets in regular session Monday at 6 p.m. The full agenda can be found here.
On the regular agenda are competing proposals to decrease or maintain the city’s real estate tax rate. Councilmember Reva Trammell is proposing reducing the rate to $1.16 per $100 of assessed value, while President Kristen Nye is proposing maintaining the rate at $1.20, where it has stood since 2009.
Trammell’s proposal aims to address increased real estate property assessments over that time. Both proposals are triggered by a state law requiring a real estate tax rollback and resetting of the tax rate due to assessment increases for the city’s overall real estate tax base.
Business on the consent agenda includes a proposal to increase the city’s exemption threshold for business, professional and occupational license taxes from $250,000 to $500,000 in annual revenue. The BPOL threshold was last increased from $100,000 in 2022.
Continued from the Sept. 9 meeting is a special-use request from Harper Associates for three apartment buildings totaling 266 units at its Belle Heights development. A grant agreement related to the project also is on the agenda.
Similar grant agreements for seven other income-restricted apartment projects are also on the agenda. Projects include Lynx Ventures’ sixth section of New Manchester Flats, Commonwealth Catholic Charities’ plan for 56 apartments at 1031 and 1101 Fourqurean Lane near Highland Park, and Surber Development and Consulting’s 78-unit Bellevue Gardens project, among others.
Grant payments will be limited to incremental real estate tax revenues generated by each project, and payments will be conditioned upon completion of the project and continued maintenance thereafter, according to the agreements. To qualify, projects must include a specified number of income-restricted units according to Virginia Housing standards for at least 30 years.
1,500-acre solar farm plan to be weighed by Hanover supervisors
Strata Clean Energy’s zoning request is tied to a proposed solar facility on 1,500 acres in Hanover. (Google Maps)
The Hanover Board of Supervisors is slated this week to provide a final verdict on a proposal to build a solar energy facility on 1,500 acres outside Beaverdam. The project is being proposed by North Carolina-based Strata Clean Energy.
The facility’s solar panels would occupy about 250 acres of the overall site subject to the zoning request. After the project’s recent review by the Planning Commission, which recommended denial, the applicant shrunk the acreage to be occupied by solar panels down from a previous plan of 340 acres, according to a staff report. The project still has a planned capacity of 72 megawatts.
The project site consists of multiple parcels and is located east of Ben Gayle Road and just north of its intersection with Beaverdam Road.
A Strata representative previously told BizSense the company intended to start construction of the project by early 2027, pending county approval. The project has been estimated to cost between $130 million and $160 million.
The latest version of the project also features increased setbacks of the facility’s solar panels from North Anna River.
The agenda for the Hanover supervisors’ Wednesday meeting can be found here.
Powhatan considering new tax rate for data centers
Powhatan County could implement a new business personal property rate for data center equipment.
County supervisors are slated Monday to approve the creation of the new tax rate for data centers to take effect in 2025. The proposed business personal property rate for data centers specifically would be 40 cents per $100 of assessed value. Powhatan’s business personal property rate is $3.60 per $100 of assessed value.
The rate would depreciate to 50% of the original cost in the first year, and continue to decrease to 10% of original cost in the fifth year, per county documents.
The measure is intended to make Powhatan a more competitive destination for data center projects, per a staff memo. If approved, the tax would bring Powhatan in line with other Richmond-area localities. Henrico has a 40 cent per $100 of assessed value business personal property tax rate for data centers, while Chesterfield’s is 24 cents, Hanover’s 45 cents and Goochland’s rate 24 cents.
There are currently no data centers operating in Powhatan. The tax rate proposal comes as California-based developer Province Group seeks zoning approval for a 1.5 million-square-foot data center project on 120 acres near the county’s border with Chesterfield. The case is on the board’s docket for Monday, but staff has requested a decision on the request be deferred.
The meeting agenda can be found here.
Chesterfield to consider commercial development project near Chester
A site plan for a medical office building on the 5-acre site at East Hundred and Meadowville roads. (Courtesy Chesterfield County)
County supervisors are anticipated to vote Wednesday on zoning approval for a commercial project that would be built near Chester.
Developer George Emerson is seeking zoning approval for a commercial project that would rise on about 5 acres on East Hundred and Meadowville roads.
The developer has proffered three conceptual plans for the property. One details a single two-story, 60,000-square-foot medical office building, while another shows a retail development of three buildings and the third plan a trio of buildings intended for restaurant users, according to agenda materials.
The retail project would consist of 5,800-square-foot, 15,250-square-foot and 21,900-square feet buildings. The restaurant project’s concept plan shows buildings that would range in size from 2,800 square feet to 12,000 square feet.
The applicant is seeking an exception from a requirement to build sidewalks where the project site borders Meadowville Road and East Hundred Road.
The project site consists of multiple parcels, among them 108 E. Hundred Road and 101 Meadowville Road. The development would be built on land next to the Food Lion-anchored River’s Bend on the James shopping center.
The board has deferred a decision on the request three times this year. Emerson more recently introduced the restaurant-focused conceptual plan as a possible development plan for the project.
The project is recommended for approval by the Planning Commission and staff.
The full agenda for the meeting can be found here.
Reynolds Crossing rezoning up for final vote in Henrico
The 31-acre parcel at the corner of Forest Avenue and West Broad is being eyed for redevelopment. (Google Earth)
Henrico supervisors meet in regular session Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Public hearing items include Reynolds Development’s plan to reinvent parts of its Reynolds Crossing complex at the corner of West Broad Street and Forest Avenue. Plans call for about a half-dozen new buildings to reach as high as 10 or 12 stories and over 1,200 dwelling units.
Also on the agenda is a 2026 Comprehensive Plan amendment to incorporate the recently completed 2024 Recreation, Parks, and Open Space Master Plan, which is to be used to guide decision-making for the Division of Recreation and Parks and be consulted during the review of land use applications.
The full agenda can be viewed here.