Board hears Virginia CPACE presentation; staff advised to pursue ordinance steps

The board received a presentation on the Virginia Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (CPACE) program from Ellen Dixon of the Virginia PACE Authority.

Dixon said CPACE is a state‑enabled financing tool that property owners can use for energy efficiency, resilience and related commercial projects. She described the program as administered by the Virginia PACE Authority and sponsored by Virginia Energy; local jurisdictions must pass an enabling ordinance and sign a locality agreement before property owners can use the financing. Dixon emphasized that CPACE is financed by private capital providers (lenders) and that localities are typically not involved in loan servicing; Virginia is set up as a direct‑bill state so lenders bill property owners directly rather than adding the assessment to the county tax bill.

Board members asked whether lenders could be approached directly by developers, how the assessment appears administratively on bills, the workload for county staff, and whether nearby localities have enabled CPACE (Rockingham has, board members were told). Dixon said the lender market provides long terms (25–30 years) and that most jurisdictions choose to delegate lien enforcement to the lender to avoid additional treasurer/staff workload.

Consensus and next steps: Staff said they will work with county attorney and the PACE Authority to draft ordinance language and locality agreements, return to the board with documents and a recommended schedule for a public hearing (the public hearing would be required to adopt an enabling ordinance). No formal vote was required at this discussion; board members indicated they were comfortable moving forward with the drafting and review process.

Quote: "In order for a program to be enabled in a jurisdiction and to be used by property owners, it has to be enabled with an ordinance," Dixon told supervisors.

What it means locally: Enabling CPACE would create an additional financing option for commercial property owners and developers that can be used for energy and resilience projects; staff emphasized it would not commit the county to finance projects, nor would it create a direct credit exposure for the locality under the standard program documents.