This is Nancy Gill with the James Exchange. I am here with Donna Price and we're going to discuss the Southern Albemarle convenience center. On October the 19th, the Albemarle Planning Commission had the task of determining whether or not this convenience center was in compliance with the comprehensive plan. And, they found that it was. So, welcome, Donna. How are you doing today?
Great Nancy, and thank you so much for having me on your podcast.
So, I know that you and Liz Palmer worked really hard on this initiative together. It was something that came up a few years ago and for whatever reasons, the Board of Supervisors did not move forward on it, but now it looks like they are. Could you just tell me what you and Liz did together to bring this back to the table?
Thank you, Nancy and happy to do so. And, it is very important to acknowledge that this was Supervisor Liz Palmer of the Samuel Miller district, as well as myself of the Scottsville district, working together, working hard to get this back on track. And, as many of your listeners know a few years ago, this has been proposed in two different locations at Mill Creek as well as at Keene. Back then, unfortunately, the conversation sort of got hijacked into people, not understanding the difference between a convenience center and a transfer station, and it fell by the wayside. But, in early 2020, pre pandemic, Supervisor Palmer, and I were working very hard to try and get this back on track and we actually had a great start on it. We were working on the budget in February of 2020. The board had agreed to put money aside to look at this again, and then bam, the pandemic hit. And, when the pandemic hit because of the concerns over the economy, we just put almost everything on hold, cut back all our expenses, because we just didn't know where the economy was going to go. And so this initiative had to be put by the wayside, but now that the economy has recovered sufficiently and the county's finances are looking good, this has moved forward. It has received Board of Supervisors approval. The last real legislative step was the Planning Commission meeting, which you just talked about in your opening, where they did determine it was consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. It's in the design stage for bidding and that will go out. Bidders will come in and it will move forward. Hopefully, before too terribly long, we will actually see progress on this convenience center. So, we are excited about both it and its location, Nancy.
So, the way this is going to work is anybody can actually take their household trash and recycling to this area, whether they're from Buckingham, Fluvanna, or Southern Albemarle, because there is a $2 a bag fee. And, there is to be a sticker that will be put on each individual bag. Correct? So this was one of the issues that came before the commissioners. And basically it was determined that Buckingham already has so many areas for household trash and recycling that chances are people from Buckingham were not going to rush to Keene, to rid their homes of unwanted items.
And, you really bring up a good point, Nancy. And that is some of our surrounding counties have their own convenience centers and a big point to make sure people understand it's a convenience center, not a train. That means there will be no commercial waste brought there. Similarly, it is not for large items. It's what you can fit in a 32 gallon bag. That's the largest size that is to be accepted. And it's $2 tag, a bag. You buy these little orange tags, you stick them on your bag and you throw the bag in the big receptacle as well as recycling. But our typical recycling plastic paper, cardboard, newspaper, glass cans, that sort of thing. So it's a convenient center for household use no commercial, no industrial, no big trucks. And if you're, if you live in Scottsville and you're driving to work in Charlottesville, you just pull off the road, go through the convenience center, throw your trash away. So you don't have stinky garbage in your car all day and head on into work. And that's one of the other things we're working on is to have early hours. So it is convenient for people heading up into town.
For instance, and I believe you do as well as several households do in Southern Albemarle. We actually work with people who come around and pick up trash and this isn't going to go away. I don't believe because not everybody will want to do that drive. And so they will still keep their trash pick up people that they like. So it's not doing away with that.
No, and it really won't impact. We don't believe it will impact significantly on that. There are large commercial haulers. They're still going to be doing this. And then there are the smaller independents that will also collect trash, but you're admin. Not everyone wants to do this. And for some people, it may not be as convenient as others. And they would just assume continue with the practice that they have. But later today, after this recording is made, I will be one of those people who will put some of my household waste in my truck and I will drive the 45 minutes to Ivy, put my $2 tag bags in the trash, off my recycling and drive 45 minutes back home. When we get this Keene convenience center open, I, and most of the people who live within a seven and a half to 10 mile distance will be able to cut that down to about 20 minutes each way, maybe less. And it like say, if you live in Scottsville and you're driving to Charlottesville, it may be five minutes out of your way to swing through there, drop off your stuff. So it's an equity issue. It's a quality of life issue and it's definitely a convenience issue.
And on the recycling still that's you come that's free. It's just your tag, a bag, $2, buy your stickers at a retail location. That's my understanding,.
Rihanna Solid Waste will actually handle that part of it. But yes, there are, there are going to be mechanisms that will be convenient for people to buy their $2, um, tags to drop off their waste at the convenience center. Convenience is the big word here.
I think it's, um, been a long time coming because I believe this discussion started back in the seventies. That's the 1970s.
In terms of that purchase, you know, Scottsville is doing so much right now. I mean, it is a happening place. We've got the DMV Select down there. You can buy your fishing licenses there. It's the perfect place at, you know, city, Town Council spaces, to be able to have the tags for people to conveniently pick them up while they're there and perhaps other retail establishments in town as well. You know, one other thing Nancy, I do want to mention, and that is safety is an important consideration with regard to this. And, we all know that Highway 20 of late has not been the safest, not just at the Keene location, but throughout Highway 20 and particularly down near Scottsville. And, we've been working closely with the town, with the Albemarle County Police Department with VDOT, with County staff. And, I have pushed really hard to County staff and VDOT to look at things that need to be done at this intersection where Highway 20, Esmont Road, and Coles Rolling come together to improve safety and visibility there. And, that may be any number of things, you know, the larger stop signs on the side roads, the lit stop signs, caution signs and lights. Much like you have at Red Hill Road by the Middle School coming south on 20, which really reduced the incident of traffic accidents there. I also want to be sure to understand that we do care about the neighbors in closest proximity to this location, so appropriate screening and buffering. There will be no lights at night. It will all be manned whenever it's ope so we, we do take seriously our responsibility and obligation to all of the property owners and all of our community members, um, including those who are in closest proximity to this location.
Well, I want to close out because the next time I talk to you, I want to revisit internet and cell issues. So you, I believe changed your internet service to:
I did. I changed mine to Beam.
How's it working for you?
It is working great for me. I am five and a half miles as the crow flies from the tower. Shentel Beam ideally does not want to have a customer more than about five miles from the tower with the line of sight, you know. I’m five and a half miles and it has been working wonderfully. I don't, I cannot recall a single time I've lost the internet in the now three to four months that I've had this particular provider. And, I will tell you, in fact, just yesterday, I had another meeting with Trevor Henry, our assistant county executive, and Michael Kulp, who is both on the Albemarle Broadband Authority and the director of the Albemarle Broadband office, specifically about additional actions that we are looking to take with regard to disruptions of internet service through CenturyLink in Southern Albemarle. And, I'm hoping perhaps when we meet again, I'll be able to announce what our next step on that is.
Well, good, because I do have, the audio from the meeting that you didn't Scottsville a couple months ago. So once I get that under my belt, I'll be giving you a call just like I did today.
Great. I look forward to that conversation. We are continuing to do what we can, and I know it's been very frustrating and in some situations it goes down frustration it goes to public safety, um, for people to be able to communicate if they need an emergency response. CenturyLink or any of the broadband providers are not regulated by the County. So, we do not have the legislative authority over them, but we have worked very hard to put the pressure that we are able to on them to be responsive. And again, I have to say, while I have a lot of issues with corporate CenturyLink, I am very appreciative of their local managers who have worked very closely with me, the County, and the Town, as well as our customers when we are able to connect the two to get a better resolution. Some of the things we're just dealing with them as we do all corporations, the call centers have largely been shifted overseas. We don't have that local connection, but we, the County have established very good relationships with Trish Stipanovich and Derek Kelly, who are our local managers that we work with. I have found them to be very responsive. So, I continue to be frustrated with the corporation. I continue to be appreciative of the efforts of their local employees.
And on that note, I'll say, have a great day, Donna,.
You too. Thanks Nancy. Take care.
You're welcome.
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