Hearing ordered on water referendum

A judge has ordered a hearing to determine whether a proposed Fluvanna County-Louisa County joint water authority should be put before Fluvanna voters. County residents also have a filed a lawsuit to prevent any county action on forming an authority.

Judge John G. Berry, of the Fluvanna County Circuit Court, set a May 15 hearing on the proposed referendum. He approved the hearing after the Fluvanna Board of Supervisors voted 4-2 last week to authorize the water authority. Berry’s decision was based on more than 2,000 signatures collected by county residents asking for the vote.

A group of Fluvanna residents on Monday filed a request for a temporary injunction to prevent the counties from moving forward with the authority prior to the election, and to have the board’s approval overturned. No hearing date has been scheduled.

“There are so many questions that have not been answered that the only way we can get them answered is to have a chance to vote on it,” said Douglas R. Johnson, of Palmyra, who filed the petitions with the court. “The people want a voice in whether to create an authority.”

Berry will consider a proposed order that would set a Nov. 3 date for the referendum. That order was included with the petition.

There are no plans to postpone creating the authority pending the hearing, said Frederick W. Payne, who serves as Fluvanna County’s attorney.

“Neither county has any plans to suspend the process of going forward in forming an authority,” he said. He declined further comment until the matter comes to court.

The petition accepted by Berry was the second effort by area residents to get a judge to order the referendum. The first attempt was quashed because that petition had not been previously filed in the circuit court and the signatures were not in compliance with state law.

The complaint filed in support of the temporary injunction questions the validity of the board’s approval. It claims that the advertisement published by Fluvanna County in support of the public hearing lacked required information and, therefore, is null and void.

The authority, as approved by the Fluvanna supervisors, will have the power to “acquire, purchase, finance, construct, reconstruct, operate, and maintain facilities for developing a bulk or wholesale supply of potable water.” It also has the power to construct “water intakes, reservoirs, filtration and purification plants, pumping stations, transmission lines, and storage facilities … deemed necessary and convenient” to provide water from the James River to Fluvanna and into Louisa.

The project is projected to cost between $45 million and $50 million. The costs will be split evenly between the counties, and the counties’ supervisors will be responsible for approving the financing for their respective halves of the project.

Approximately 3 million to 6 million gallons of drinking water per day could be provided through the project, officials estimate.

Louisa County’s Board of Supervisors approved the authority April 6 in a unanimous vote. The two counties agreed in 2003 to study ways of pumping water from the James River into both counties to support residential and commercial growth, especially in the Zion Crossroads area, a burgeoning commercial center that lies in both counties.

Many Fluvanna residents are concerned that the authority would have too much power, including raising taxes, forcing residents to connect to the line, requiring the abandonment of wells, and condemnation powers. Others worry that the cost of the projects would be too much for local residents to bear, especially in a down economy.

“One thing that we don’t understand is, if Louisa County is only getting water out of the deal, why do they have half of the authority over Fluvanna County?” Johnson said. “There are just too many questions that need to be addressed.”