Month: October 2017

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Planning for School Growth

Read the whole thing at Charlottesville Tomorrow.

 

An architectural consulting firm told the Albemarle County School Board on Thursday that the county would soon need new high school facilities to accommodate growing enrollment and implement innovative educational programs.

“We have to look at what the competition is doing around the world and around the country, and do what makes sense for the benefit of our kids and their education,” said Board member Jonno Alcaro.

…

The division forecasts much more rapid growth at Western Albemarle High School  in Crozet. Enrollment at WAHS is expected to increase by more than 21 percent, reaching a high of 1,335 in 2024.

A planned 10,000 square-foot addition of science classroom space at WAHS, scheduled for completion in 2019, was not factored into the study’s capacity calculations.

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A Faster RealCrozetVA

1 – I’ve switched hosts at RealCrozetVA for the first time in well over a decade. The site should be *much* faster now.

2 – I suspect the blog will be here after Facebook goes away at some point.

3 – I seem to have forgotten about the RealCrozetVA email … it’s broken for the moment. Until that’s sorted, if you need to contact me, please email me at [email protected] or text – 434-242-7140. Fixed the email (small technological victory, of which I’m quite proud).

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Crozet Halloween 2017

Crozet Halloween

Halloween in Crozet. Community, candy, fun.

As far as I know, Halloween is on Tuesday the 31st, and that’s when Trick or Treating is.

Where do you like to Trick or Treat?

(have an event to add to the Crozet Calendar like the Crozet Spirit Walk? Add it here.)

 

Continue reading “Crozet Halloween 2017”

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Boy Scouts, Western Park, Downtown Crozet Redevelopment

Lots of stuff was discussed last night in the CCAC meeting.

Alison Wrabel with the Daily Progress was there and has a great recap.

Click through to read all the tweets; there’s a lot there, and thankfully, I wasn’t the only one tweeting!

Continue reading “Boy Scouts, Western Park, Downtown Crozet Redevelopment”

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Discolored Water in Crozet is Fine

We talked about this on Twitter over the weekend. I spoke with Gary O’Connell with Albemarle County Service Authority today and he was kind enough to send the following: (please read to the end)

Late last week and into Friday, new water treatment equipment at the Crozet Water Treatment Plant needed to be serviced unexpectedly.  In order to properly service the equipment, the water treatment plant production schedule had to be changed. This included greater reliance on one of the water tanks, which may have led to the water discoloration (natural minerals in the water that are not a health risk).   While the discolored water was not aesthetically pleasing, it is safe and meets all federal and state drinking water standards.

We received some calls late Friday and over the weekend from Highlands, Old Trail, Parkside Village, Cory Farm, Foothill Crossing, Brookwood/Crozet Park Area and Westlake Hills.

Even during a Drought Warning and mandatory restrictions, water quality comes first.  Flushing from a fire hydrant is one of the best ways to quickly clear out discolored water and replace it with fresh water. We have conducted minimal flushing near the Water Treatment Plant on 240 and several other locations in Crozet to remove the discolored water.

This discoloration, contrary to some social media posts, has nothing to do with algae in the reservoir, nor with the drought. The discoloration seems to be related to the equipment failure, and subsequent flushing appears to have slowly cleared up the Crozet water system.

The ACSA has active Twitter/Facebook/Instagram postings where we list all water related issues and water emergencies that our customers can utilize. Also for an immediate response to a water quality concern or other water related issue, please call our 24/7 on call number at 434-977-4511, we will immediately respond to check out any water related issue. Our goal is safe, clean and reliable water for your use.

We apologize for any concerns this might have raised.

Gary

Gary O’Connell

Executive Director

Albemarle County Service Authority

(434)977-4511

EVERY DROP COUNTS! CONSERVE OUR PRECIOUS WATER

A few thoughts –

  1. The water is fine.
  2. I’m profoundly impressed that ASCA has an active Twitter account; they responded at 9:19pm on Friday night.
  3. Walled-gardens kill the internets. I like NextDoor; I was an early adopter of it in 2014, the Albemarle County Police are there now, and the site is a great thing. But it’s not the internet. It’s not open. It’s not searchable by outsiders. And that sucks.
    1. Recently in Crozet, there have been issues with water (ASCA), cable (Comcast and here), and Verizon and here.  Lots of discussions on NextDoor as well, but … Comcast, Verizon, and ASCA aren’t there … so … lots of information and complaints to an echo chamber. 
    2. If you have an issue, mention them on Twitter, @ me at RealCrozetVA   and I’ll retweet as necessary … or … call them so they have a record. If one person calls, one person tweets, and 19 people tell each other on a piece of the internet that the service provider can’t see … there are only two reports of an issue. End ranty advice.
  4.  We are in a drought. Be a good neighbor and community member and conserve, please.

We had this discussion in 2014 as well.

 

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CCAC Meeting – 18 October 2017 | Western Park, Downtown Redevelopment

CROZET COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Crozet Elementary School Cafeteria
Wednesday, Oct 18, 2017 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Agenda

  1. Agenda Review (DaveStoner – CCAC chair)
  2. Approval of Minutes
  3. Western Park Master Plan Update (Bob Crickenberger, Albemarle County – 60min)
  4. Barnes Lumber Rezoning Update (Frank Stoner, Milestone Partners – 45min) [tentative]
  5. Neighborhood Improvement Funding Initiative (NIFI) Update on Crozet Square  Streetscape (Dave Stoner – 15 min)
  6. Items Not Listed on the Agenda
  7. Announcements & Future Agenda Items
    1. NovemberCCAC
    2. Re-Store’n Station SP Amendment Update

For those attending & tweeting (anybody?) and for those following along on Twitter, the hashtag will be #CCAC1017

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Prepping for 2017 Crozet Christmas Parade

Crozet Christmas Parade (from 2014)

via email:

The Crozet VFD Christmas Parade will be held on Sunday, December 3, 2017 at 3PM. Lineup is at 2PM on Wayland Drive in Crozet. No registration is required, just show up.
Lineup instructions: Turn east on St. George Avenue, then right onto Wayland Drive. The first parade entry will be located at the intersection of Wayland and Crozet Ave.
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Western Park Survey

There is a meeting on 18 October at 7pm at Crozet Elementary to discuss the new Albemarle County Park that is supposed to be developed within the Old Trail neighborhood.

From the linked google form: (line breaks & bolding  added by me)

Western Park is envisioned to be a community park for the greater-Crozet area. The land for the future County park is 36-acres located within the Old Trail development in Crozet. In 2008, a Master Plan was developed for the park, which outlined a vision for future programming.

However, a fuller understanding of the environmental constraints on the site make implementing that vision a challenge – 18.50 acres are in the floodplain/floodway, 3.80 acres are in wetlands, 4.46 acres in critical slopes and 1.83 acres in storm water facilities, leaving 7.54 acres as buildable. Albemarle County Parks and Recreation is beginning the process of creating a new Master Plan for Western Park to better reflect today’s community priorities, as well as any new environmental constraints on the site.

On October 18, project consultant Anhold Associates and County Staff will hold a community input session at Crozet Elementary School at 7 pm. Using that input, a few design concepts will be brought back to the community for consideration in early 2018. Please consider joining us on Oct. 18, or weigh-in now by answering the questions below. This input form will be open through October 14.

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Where is the Crozet Express?

The demand is seemingly there for the Crozet Express (bus service between Crozet & Charlottesville), but there’s no where to park?

Thank you to all those who completed the survey. In a nutshell, the delay in implementing JAUNT’s Crozet commuter route is due to planning a safe and convenient park and ride location in your community. We’re looking forward to giving Crozetians a smooth, carefree journey to work as soon as those details can be worked out with Albemarle County, VDOT, and other parties.

Parking is a problem for Crozet, and one that will have to get addressed at some point.

I wonder what percentage of users would be able to/open to riding bikes to park and ride.