Year: 2011

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Those Were Some Mighty Winds in Crozet Today

Note the lift on the left that’s being used to shore up the other building.

Update from @OldTrail (thank you!):

@realcrozetva Happy to report that everyone is safe from the town home construction and wind damage.

I assumed everyone was fine, but you know what happens when you assume … : )

Photos courtesy of @JonathanK

Update 2/26/11:

@OldTrail posted this awesome update this morning (which I would have posted earlier, but I was meeting with clients and builders all day in Old Trail):

What was even better about this unfortunate event was that the collapse of the single unit without any damage to the adjoining homes proved the soundness of the design.

“It’s ironic, but that is exactly what’s supposed to happen,” said Will Craig, project manager for Craig Builders. He continued, “These units are built to withstand such an event; if there were ever a fire in a middle unit and it had to be removed, homeowners on either side can see proof right here that their units can stand alone.” He further commented that the unit was scheduled to have a roof installed on Monday; had that been in place, the unit would have withstood the high winds on Friday.

I specifically didn’t mention the builder in the initial post as I didn’t want to invite snarky comments; I will attest to the fact that Craig are some of the best, and best to work with, builders in the area.

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If Traffic at Old Trail & WAHS is Bad Now …

What’s it going to look like when there are 2200 homes rather than 250?

Traffic on Old Trail Drive at 8:50 am

This is the traffic nearly every morning during school drop-off time.

I wonder if any kids from Old Trail will ever walk to school.

Update:

From an offline commenter:

Why do you assume the problem is Old Trail KIDS??   Tell ALL of the WAHS parents to use the buses we tax payers pay for and quit using Old Trail Drive as a short cut to drop their kids off. Take a look at the bus stops in Old Trail and count the number of students going to all three schools by bus.
 

The students living in Old Trail will walk to all of the schools after the county gets off of it’s arses and puts in the promised walkways up to 250 and and down 250 for access to all schools as promised.

Update #2: The offline commenter raised a very valid point; I called and asked if I could use the comment in the post and we had a good conversation about the post, traffic, bureaucracy and other such matters. The point I wanted to convey is that this is not an Old Trail (which is a great place to live) issue, it’s a Crozet issue. I’d bet that at least 60% of the traffic in that photo aren’t from Old Trail but are from Crozet.

We’re in this – this traffic and lack of infrastructure and lack of common sense culture – together.

(did you notice the mountains in the background of the photo?)

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Do you know an exceptional student volunteer?

United Way-Thomas Jefferson Area is presently accepting nominations for its Student Service Awards that recognize exceptional high school students for their outstanding commitment to our community through volunteerism or service-learning. Students from each public and private high school in the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa and Nelson Counties are eligible to receive the award. We know that Western Albemarle High School has plenty of community minded students who are very committed to serving their community; the United Way would like to receive several nominations from each school, and so far that has not happened.
 
Nominations are accepted until February 25 from citizens, nonprofit organizations, public agencies, schools, religious organizations and by the students themselves. The nominees and recipients will be recognized at an awards ceremony on April 12, which will be co-sponsored by the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation to honor their Youth Service Award Committee student participants.
 
For nomination criteria, go to www.UnitedWayTJA.org to download the forms, or call Jessica Snyder, United Way Volunteer Center Director, at 434-972-1705.

The above is from a reader. Thank you so much.

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Stabbing on Jarman’s Gap Last Weekend

I’m curious to know if there’s more to this story. From NBC29 on 14 February:

At around 11:00 p.m., Albemarle County Police investigated a reported stabbing at a home in the 1300 block of Blair Park Road, off Jarmans Gap Road.

I met someone this morning who related: that they had “heard that 5 police cars & rescue were lined up waiting to go in together. Speculated that it was a sting rather than response”

Hopefully we’ll find out more.