If you go into the Square today, you’ll notice an addition – a new fence. For some background.
The quitclaim deed transferring the land for the fence is here.
Crozet Library Seeking Funding for More Library Hours
Received via email. This is the Albemarle County Budget.
Dear friends of Crozet Library,
The Albemarle County Executive’s proposed budget for FY2015, released recently, includes increased funding for the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library. Those increases cover:
1. Mandates required by the County’s requested changes to the revised regional agreement,
2. Additional costs due to the development of the new Northside Library,
3. Salary increases to bring JMRL staff pay closer to comparable County positions, part of a multi-year effort,
based upon the County’s recommendation of a professional salary comparison.
The budget presentation cover (screenshot attached) features our beautiful library and the community-volunteer-staffed Book Brigade.
What the proposed budget does not include: the $34,000 in funds needed to increase the hours the Crozet Library is open.
The County built it; we furnished it; and the community is using the library in unanticipated numbers. The librarians donated their time (and creative planning) to staff Exam Cram during the WAHS and Henley exam week and the library was filled with teens.
We are grateful for the support of the County and we know they have heard often from this community about the need for increased hours. We hope that hearing from the community now will help the Supervisors realize they could make a large number of Western Albemarle citizens happy with a relatively small amount of money.
If you care about increasing the hours the library is open, now would be the time to contact the Board of Supervisors with your concerns. Here’s how:
Continue reading “Crozet Library Seeking Funding for More Library Hours”
Tabor Closing (Temporarily) 10 March
So … those of you/us who live off of Park Road, Jamestown, etc and Westhall, Parkside Village … traffic’s going to be interesting when Tabor closes.
Let’s make sure to keep patronizing those in the Square!
via email (for those who don’t know where Tabor is, here’s a map):
Weather permitting, the daytime closure of Tabor Street with detour is tentatively going to take place daily (Monday through Friday) for two weeks beginning March 10. Confirmation on the timing of the closure will be announced next week. The road will be closed to through traffic but access to private property will be maintained from High Street during the closure. Complete closure of the road will speed up the proposed Tabor Street improvements and will result in a safer construction work zone. ?
The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has granted permission for this detour with specific restrictions and requirements:
Crozet Community Association Vacancies – 2014
From the CCA newsletter:
Crozet Community Advisory Council: Three vacancies. The Crozet Community Advisory Council will provide assistance, feedback and input to County staff and the Board of Supervisors on community and county efforts related to implementation of the Master Plan, in accordance with established county procedures.
CCA Note: The more Crozet residents are involved and participating in these boards and commissions the more our voice will be heard and our needs taken into account.
Interested residents should apply online, by going to: http://albemarle.org/boards/
Also, mark your calendars for the next CCA meeting on 13 March.
A Police Substation in Crozet?
Update 2/27/14 – Turns out this was requested by the Albemarle County Police Department but it was not funded by the County. More to come …
Maybe I’m mis-reading the County budget (I don’t often look at them, so I reserve the right to be wrong). Does this mean that they’d like to put a police station in the old Crozet Library/train station but acknowledge they cannot due to the budget, or something else?
Noticed this in Charlottesville Tomorrow’s story today about the proposed Albemarle County budget:
Crozet Neighborhood Assessments – 2014
Note: If you find errors, please please please let me know.
Albemarle County real estate assessments are out … did yours go up? Go down? Questions about your assessment? Ask me … quickly (434-242-7140. I’m a real estate agent by the way). The deadline for challenging your assessment is this Friday, 28 February. The 2014 Real Estate Assessment Form can be downloaded at Albemarle County’s site.
I chose nine Crozet neighborhoods as a sample. I wanted to choose Laurel Hills but because some of those have been renovated over the years, I didn’t think they would provide the relative homogeneity that I was looking for. If it wasn’t so darn labor- and time-intensive I would have done more neighborhoods.
What do real estate assessments mean?
5 Reasons why real estate assessments matter: (more thoughts on the value of assessments)
1) The County bases their budget on property tax revenue.
?2) The assessed value is the value upon which property owners pay taxes. These values are a backward-looking assessment.
?3) Buyers look at assessed values as a measure of market value … but really, it’s a point in the equation, but are neither a definitive point nor a necessarily accurate one.
?4) Also – “Virginia, unlike some other states, by Statute requires localities to assess property at 100% of fair market value, based on an objective analysis of the property’s fair market value…”
?5) Sellers look at assessed values and wonder if buyers will think that the assessment means their home is worth X (it doesn’t).
From my professional capacity, I place little to no value in real estate assessments when seeking market value. When I see a property marketed as “below assessed value” or “new assessed value is $10k higher!” I think only that that means a property’s real estate tax bill will be higher or lower.
Thoughts on some of the Crozet neighborhoods’ assessed values:
– Old Trail was all over the board – from 44% decrease to nearly 400% increase. I removed these outliers from the equations. Assessed values ranged from $175k to over a million dollars.
– Parkside Village was up about 15%. Despite its being one of the best located neighborhoods in Crozet, some of the houses increased in assessed value by 20%. Reasonable?
– Highlands is the only neighborhood that declined in assessed value. An aging housing stock is likely to blame.
– Western Ridge (the second largest neighborhood behind Old Trail) – ranged from -4.17% to +13.44% – is essentially flat.
Note on my math – – I pulled the crazy outliers – -50% and +400% for example – and then averaged the delta column. I thought about doing a weighted average but went with this method. See the link above, please check my math and let me know what’s better and where I screwed up. 🙂 Continue reading “Crozet Neighborhood Assessments – 2014”
Update on the Funny Looking Crozet Water
Remember the funny Crozet water? Albemarle County Service Authority has released an update. Short story: the water is fine.
Click through to read the statement.
Recapping the CCAC Meeting of 20 February 2014
The Albemarle County school budget, Barnes Lumberyard and the developers’ intentions, the Crozet library is busy and needs funding and more. Huge thanks to @CVilleKim and @TfjTolson for tweeting the meeting!
As a reminder, this is the Crozet Master Plan (it’s referred to a lot).
Click through, scroll to the bottom and read the tweets from tonight’s meeting. Continue reading “Recapping the CCAC Meeting of 20 February 2014”
Streetscape Update 20 February 2014
via email –
The Tabor Street detour will not begin on February 24 as originally discussed due to impacts of the recent winter storm. County staff and the project contractor are reassessing the schedule and will announce the new closure date the week prior to the detour going into effect.
Would you be Willing to Pay More Property Taxes?
The Albemarle County school budget is facing a $7 million shortfall. Property taxes are one of the most used means by which to fund our schools. The call by many is to fully fund the schools. Would you be willing to pay more in property taxes to accomplish this ?