Chesterfield County board hears environmental stewardship update; $9.3M Falling Creek upgrade on the agenda

Chesterfield County staff presented a broad environmental stewardship update to the Board of Supervisors, highlighting recent Earth Day outreach, land‑preservation work, and infrastructure projects aimed at reducing pollution and conserving resources. Utilities officials also said they have requested a $9.3 million contract to upgrade phosphorus removal at the Falling Creek wastewater treatment plant to meet new state limits.

The update opened with an Earth Day recap: staff said the April 11 event drew more than 650 attendees, 35 volunteers and 34 vendors, and the Chesterfield Youth Advisory Board distributed composting kits and educational brochures. "This was collaborated through General Services Waste and Resource Recovery and Cooperative Extension," Bowles said, noting additional materials will be provided at the board's May meeting.

Steve Hoch of the planning department told supervisors the county has preserved roughly 19,000 acres through conservation easements and public ownership — an area he described as roughly half the size of the city of Richmond — and that PlanMod changes and zoning requirements (including amenity-space rules and buffers) are tools used to protect natural areas. He said resource protection areas (RPAs) now sit outside individual lots in the county's zoning code under the PlanMod changes.

Matt Rimbolt of the Utilities Department said the state Department of Environmental Quality had tightened phosphorus effluent limits for the James River, resulting in a roughly "60% reduction in our total phosphorus discharge limits." To meet the tightened limits, Rimbolt said the county has a construction contract request on the board agenda for chemical‑feed improvements at the Falling Creek plant totaling $9.3 million, with a similar Proctor's Creek project expected later in the year. Rimbolt added that the two facilities are scheduled to remove about 372,000 pounds of phosphorus this year.

When a board member asked whether the removed phosphorus has a market, Rimbolt explained that precipitated phosphorus becomes part of biosolids that the county applies to agricultural fields (for non‑food crops such as sod). "We pay a lot less to have it hauled off for us than it would be if we were sending it to, say, a landfill," he said.

Presenters also discussed athletic‑field conversions to hybrid synthetic surfaces at complexes including Rockwood and plans for additional sites. Officials said synthetic infields greatly increase usable playing capacity — a single synthetic infield can equal the playing time of three to four grass fields — and reduce pesticide use, maintenance labor and irrigation demand. Staff provided resource estimates for grass fields: about 800,000 gallons of irrigation water per field per year and roughly 8 pounds of fertilizer per 1,000 square feet, equating to about 525 pounds per field annually. With 105 irrigated fields countywide, presenters estimated annual irrigation use of about 84 million gallons.

On recycling and composting, staff said the county added composting at convenience centers and has collected about one ton of compostable material since the program began in November. They also listed upcoming shred, electronics‑recycling and household hazardous‑waste events on June 27 (Thomas Dale High School), Aug. 8 (Clover Hill High School) and Nov. 14 (County Fairgrounds).

Energy and fleet initiatives were highlighted: staff said 12 solar arrays are now in service and offset about 40–45% of electrical use at those facilities, the county is evaluating solar on closed landfills, and a partnership with ChargePoint and Blu Whale will install EV chargers at seven county sites where users will pay to recharge. Rich Billingsley described a multi‑year LED street‑light conversion program: about 1,200 of roughly 5,000 county fixtures have been converted so far, the county aims for roughly 1,000 conversions per year, and officials project about $384,000 in annual street‑light energy savings and an approximate 2.5‑year payback.

Board members praised the cross‑department collaboration. Supervisor Nader noted he received a countertop composting bucket from the Youth Advisory Board and said the board is working to identify Wood Lake sites for community gardens. The board encouraged residents to suggest additional ideas and said staff will keep members informed as projects move forward.

Next steps: the Falling Creek construction contract request appeared on the board agenda for possible action; other projects (Proctor's Creek improvements, additional field conversions, landfill‑solar pilots and EV charger installations) were described as upcoming or under evaluation.