Madison BOS hears from county officials and VDOT

Tuesday’s regular meeting of the Madison County Board of Supervisors started with public comment protesting the supervisors’ recent approval of a SUP for an animal rescue to build a kennel on an agriculturally-zoned parcel on Old Sparks Road. Supervisors gave the much-scaled back project a green light on March 6 when it was presented for a public hearing for the second time and neighbors came out to protest. Despite the three-minute limit for public comments, the board allowed Mike Elias over eight minutes to continue his protest of the project before silencing him. Elias claims the project is not in line with the comprehensive plan and that the board didn’t act ethically when considering it. After the long complaint, the supervisors heard reports from county departments including the sheriff, EMS, the animal shelter and the department of economic development and tourism. Sheriff Erik J. Weaver reported ongoing efforts to reduce speeding on U.S. Routes 29 and 15. Weaver noted that ticketed drivers were going significantly over the legal speed limit, often 90-100 mph on Rt. 29 and between 75-80 mph on Rt.15. Annette Dodson reported the shelter was able to adopt five dogs and five cats in February. Another five dogs and one cat were transferred to other shelters and eight were reclaimed. EMS’s Noah Hillstrom reported a busy month with EMS responding 146 times to everything from traffic accidents to trauma and cardiac problems. Average in-county response time was 11 minutes. Tracey Gardner announced that Madison County’s Department of Economic Development and Tourism would be working with the Virginia Employment Commission and Piedmont Career Works to help the Plow and Hearth employees facing layoff as Evergreen closes up its Madison call center and warehousing facility. A job fair is planned for May with priority for Madison businesses. Virginia Department of Transportation Resident Engineer Carrie Shepheard gave updates on VDOT’s activity in the county. Several projects are underway including a planned replacement of the Pine Hill Road bridge this summer, and more surveying for a proposed roundabout in Pratts at the intersection of Virginia Routes 230 and 231. Supervisors continued discussion about the high-cost estimate for a two-third mile stretch of Turner Road. Shepheard explained utility relocation, tree removal and drainage issues put repair estimates over $900,000 for less than a mile of road. Other roads potentially eligible under the rural rustic program in the next six years include Walker’s Mill Lane, Tom Johnson Road and Zion’s Church Road. Karen Coppage spoke to the board about the upcoming annual public service event, Madison Day. This will be the fifth year for the event and organizer Coppage announced that currently there are 18 job sites and over 120 volunteers already signed up to help. She also reported that Culpeper Habitat for Humanity also expressed interest in participating this year. Coppage asked that county tipping fees for the landfill and building permit fees be waived for the volunteer projects as they have been in past years. Most of the Madison Day projects are for local non-profit organizations or elderly and disabled residents. Supervisors also agreed to authorize County Administrator Jonathon Weakley to fund a new car for the sheriff’s office for fiscal year 2024 and discussed updates to the comprehensive plan before allowing public comment which again focused on the SUP for HART to operate a kennel.