County updates on utilities: Firefly broadband rollout, water system resilience and proposed battery-storage site draw questions

County officials and staff used the town-hall forum to update residents on utilities projects including water and sewer upgrades, a planned utilities master plan, Firefly fiber broadband deployment and early public concerns about a proposed battery-storage installation.

Nut graf: The updates covered both system improvements and community impacts; officials urged residents to follow utility planning processes and attend upcoming Firefly and county meetings.

Water and utilities - The county said it completed waterline upgrades in its eastern service area, replaced grinder pumps beginning fall 2024, and that the utilities master plan (including water-supply alternatives and service expansion to Oilville) is expected to be updated by summer. Officials noted the county buys water from Henrico and described a recent regional event in which a Richmond plant flood prompted a boil-water advisory downstream; Goochland said it matched Henrico’s advisory and distributed drinking water to affected customers. - The presentation acknowledged system resilience challenges where valve shutdowns can cut off many customers and said planners aim to design workarounds to reduce outage scope.

Firefly broadband - Officials described the Firefly fiber‑to‑the‑home rollout, noting early service areas and an engineering/“middle‑mile” splicing phase visible on poles. The county promoted a Firefly virtual town hall on March 27 (fireflyvirginia.com/townhalls) to answer customer questions and said multiple grants (listed as VIDA, RISE, Reconnect in the presentation) funded parts of the project.

Battery-storage facility concerns - A resident raised an application for a proposed battery-storage facility (described in the meeting as approximately 34 container-sized battery units near power lines). Officials said they planned to work with the developer on siting and outreach and suggested the developer consider an industrial park location; county staff said hearings will be forthcoming and urged nearby residents to stay involved.

Why it matters: Utilities and broadband affect daily life and public health; residents asked for clarity on outages, master-plan timing and siting for potentially high‑impact facilities.

Ending Officials encouraged questions after the presentation and pointed residents to county contacts and the Firefly virtual town hall for specific connectivity timelines.