Read the whole thing at the Crozet Gazette.
The decision of the departing Kaine administration to bailout the investors in Biscuit Run, the largest subdivision ever approved in Albemarle County, and turn it into a state park will add to growth pressure in Crozet once the housing market begins to revive, which, we nonetheless hope, comes soon.
The addition of Biscuit Run’s 3,100 houses to the Albemarle market with better proximity to Charlottesville meant homebuyers had an attractive alternative at a time when county policies were aiming growth on Crozet and claiming that it could handle a population of 24,000. In those days Biscuit Run promised to vent some of the steam away from western Albemarle.
It’s hard to imagine that if the Commonwealth actually thought it needed a state park in Albemarle that it would have hankered for the 1,200 acres Biscuit Run sits on.
My favorite part?
And about that $9.8 million: hasn’t Crozet been told for the last 12 years that there is no VDOT money to pay for Jarmans Gap Road improvements, and more recently that there is no funding possible for Crozet library ($6.3 million), the number one priority library on the state library’s list of construction projects?
Thus the poor Virginia tax payer now has to pay to master plan and then operate in perpetuity a state park he had no idea he wanted, in a place he probably would not have picked, and to make up millions in tax revenue that was forfeited in the form of credits.
Well Said.
Update 8 January 2010 – Quite a bit of news coverage today centered on Biscuit Run’s dedication as a state park.
Biscuit Run State Park Opponent Says Deal Unfair to Albemarle County Residents – WCAV
Crozet Refocuses After Biscuit Run – NBC29
Biscuit Run Protected as Parkland – NBC29
From an email commenter:
Sorry Jim but there was not enough water in the aquifers to accomodate the 3,100 houses in Biscuit Run. I vote for the green space and am happy to pay my share in taxes for a park, even if I don’t use it people without the means have a nice place to go, rather than a sprawling subdivision – we have enough of those.
It won’t add pressure to Crozet – check out the housing developments starting on 29 north at Fashion Sq. and Rio Road and start counting as you head up and into Greene County. We’ll be just fine here in Crozet – no worries.
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The money issue, however, makes one pause – money is available when and where they need it. Look at Boulder, CO they have the entire city encircled by a “green ring” and no building can go beyond that – too much nature or park space? No way as I’d rather have nature than the sprawl. There is never any easy answer but what is the lesser of the two evils perhaps.
Better a park than tract housing. There is nothing natural or nice about the way Albemarle County is being developed. What I find interesting is that how the people who started the damage are know crying for it to stop.
24,000, hah. If the County ever does Streetscapes watch out. Hopefully
there will be at least 10,000 low income units. Will you be gone by then or will you hang around to take credit for the mess or profit from it?