LAKE ANNA

Curtis Moore (left) looks at some of the items Bill Fosdick,
owner of Lake Anna Fabrication and Awards, can create
with his equipment. Fosdick sponsored the March Lake Anna
Business Partnership “Business After Hours.”

By Irene Luck
March 27, 2008

Mary Johnson, part owner of Bell Survey and a consultant for several projects in the county, spoke at the Lake Anna Business Partnership meeting on Tuesday, Mar. 18 at Tavern on the Rail.

O’Gara Group’s Security and Safety Institute, which has been in the news recently, is one of Johnson’s clients. While she was unable to provide a great deal of information on the security company’s proposed military training facility, proposed for Rt. 22 between Chopping Rd and Chalklevel Rd., she did tell the approximately 75 people gathered that the proposal was slated to be delivered to the county soon.

“We’ve held a informal community meeting for nearby residents and, from that meeting, made changes to the proposal,” Johnson said. “We also offered to over 160 of the property owners the opportunity to tour one of O’Gara’s other facilities and several people took us up on the offer.”

Johnson said once the county has the proposal in hand, more information would be available about the project as it moves through the channels of the county government.

Broadband
Johnson has also been asked to serve on Louisa County’s committee for the Virginia Broadband Initiative that will use grant money to study the need for high speed Internet access.

“As a small business owner, I couldn’t do my job without high-speed Internet, which we have at the office,” she said. “But, I don’t have access it to at my home. Many people would like to work from home, but find the lack of service prohibitive.”

The county has received a $35,000 grant for the study, phase one of the project. The committee has selected a consultant who will be putting together a questionnaire that will be mailed to the citizens. Johnson encouraged everyone in the room who lives in Louisa County to be sure to reply to the survey and stress to neighbors, friends and business associates to do the same.

“We’re also having periodic community meetings with the first one on Friday, Mar. 28,” she said. “As business owners and advocates for the county, we know the influence numbers have when we attend meetings, even if most don’t speak. I encourage all of you who can to attend as many of the community meetings as possible because that reflects our interest to the board to pursue the issue.”

The meeting will be held at 3 p.m. in the Louisa County Board Room of the County Administration Building. Once the demand is analyzed, the county will look for funding sources for phase two of the project that will assess the costs of bringing high-speed service to the area. The third phase is implementation.

“This is exciting for us, particularly if we have high-speed at the office and then go home to dial-up service,” Johnson said. “This could also draw other businesses which rely on high speed Internet to the area.”

Johnson said one of the options could be that the county would provide the infrastructure and offer providers’ access, giving county residents high-speed service at a reasonable rate.
“Whether you have a small business, are a home-based business or are associated with a large operation, anyone can benefit from high-speed Internet service,” she said.
Goochland County, on Louisa’s eastern border, is already in the study phase to improve service to its residents. The Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors has also agreed to establish a committee to look at bringing high speed Internet to underserved areas of its jurisdiction and has specifically mentioned the Lake Anna area of its county as a focus point.

LABP news
• Bill Fosdick, owner of Lake Anna Fabrication and Awards, sponsored the partnership’s “Business After Hours” for March. Fosdick told the group he has expanded his abilities and has purchased a large format printer. In addition to creating signs and banners, Fosdick is now also able to etch designs on glass, tile, stone and acrylic. He can also reproduce photographs on several types of materials including weather-resistant board and can create designs on wallpaper, borders and other decorative materials such as silk, canvas and linen. Fosdick also provides name badges, plaques, engraved signs and trophies and awards.

“I can now do just about anything within reasonable size and on almost any material,” Fosdick said.

The Lake Anna resident has been a member of the partnership for several years and currently serves on the board.

• The board of directors has also set the dates for the organization’s three major events. The annual golf tournament will be held on Monday, June 16 at Tanyard Country Club with a 9 a.m. shotgun start. Wayman Bishop, LABP president, encouraged members to start putting together teams and information on registering is available on the website at www.lakeanna.org.

• The membership event, “Margaritaville,” will be held on Saturday, Sept. 27 with a location to be determined in the near future.

• The New Year’s Eve gala will be staged on Wednesday, Dec. 31 with a facility to be selected soon.

Bishop encouraged everyone to renew or join the organization as soon as possible as the committee would like to publish the annual directory in April.