Author: Jim

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All Aboard For the Crozet Express!

Update 5 October 2016:

So far, only 19 non-UVA folks have filled out JAUNT’s survey. The survey is here.

“But about 450 for UVa’s study (a phenomenal response, considering only about a week and a maximum survey population of around 800).

Obviously, the more interest we could show the Board of Supervisors, the greater the possibility of receiving funding and establishing the Crozet Express.”

received by email:

UVa employees living in the Crozet area will receive a short survey in their email on Tuesday, September 26, regarding the proposed Crozet Express to and from downtown Charlottesville and the University. Their responses will be crucial in making the route as convenient and efficient as possible. Crozetians not employed by UVa could also provide input by emailing [email protected].

The survey will be open for 3 weeks.

My quick thoughts:

  • I’m still amazed by their numbers that ~1K UVA employees live in Crozet. (not yet sure how “Crozet” is defined here)
    • From Brian  Cohen – “That’s the estimate from the University. UVa employees in 22932 plus about 40 streets in Wickham Pond, Cory Farm, (Jim’s note: I’d bet they’re including Highlands, too as they have a 22901 zip code, as well as Church Hill?). It’s very difficult for Parking and Transportation Office to figure out 22901 homes that were surrounding town. “
  • This isn’t a service *only* for UVA folks.
  • Expanding on one of my tweets a few days ago:
    • Where will the bus stops be?
    • What will be the schedule?
    • How about putting big bike racks at the bus stop so Crozetians can ride their bikes to the bus stop, ride the bus, and then ride the bike back home when they return.
    • AND put a bike rack on bus to make getting around Charlottesville easier for the non-UVA folks.
      • Ride bike to Crozet stop -> ride bus w/ bike -> get to Cville -> ride bike to work. Do in reverse at the end of the day.
    • Will the buses have wifi?

 

A related story from December 2015 – Buses from Charlottesville to Crozet? — Great comments and conversation here.

 

Continue reading “All Aboard For the Crozet Express!”

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Crozet Trails Crew’s Annual 5K – 8 October 2016

via email.

On Saturday, October 8, The Crozet Trails Crew will hold their annual 5K Trail Race.  Come and join the fun: run, jog, walk, or cheer on the participants. Starting and finishing at the soccer field at Claudius Crozet Park, the course winds 3.1 miles through the trails east of the park.
The course is relatively flat, but all trail.  Registration is $20 on-line (check out the crozettrailscrew.org website for the RaceIT link) or $25 in person on Friday, Oct. 7, 6-8 pm at Crozet Running or Saturday at the park 7-8 am .  All runners receive a race T-shirt as well as entrance into The Crozet Arts and Crafts Festival which is held right after the race.  There will be great prizes for overall (first place male and female get a bridge named in their honor!) and age-group winners.  There is also a prize raffle for some great prizes donated by local businesses following the race and all participants who are present will be eligible. 

Kids Race!  

 

(for kids up to 7 years old)  The kids race will take place on the soccer field at 8:00am.  There is no registration fee, but please indicate on your registration form if your child plans to run.  The course is one lap around the soccer field, approximately 400 meters.  All finishers get a prize.

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This is the major fundraiser for the Crozet Trails Crew, a grassroots community organization whose mission is to connect Crozet and Western Albemarle with trails and greenways.  

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CCAC Meeting Recap – 21 September 2016

I’ll update this post later, but wanted to put it out there tonight for those of you who missed the meeting but want to be second with the knowledge of what was discussed tonight.

Updated. Dig in, folks, there was a lot discussed last night. The new Master Planning process, seemingly without County authorization/approval (no judgment, sometimes it’s better to just do something rather than wait), Crozet Express, and a lot more.

Other topics – County development, Crozet population, growth, County process and staffing, Crozet Express (coming bus service between Crozet & Charlottesville).

I tried to pull out important/interesting tweets, but there were so many. Please take the time to read them all. And ask questions. Learn the players –  Who’s involved, how they’re involved, and who’s making decisions for you.

Update 26 September 2016: I asked Elaine Echols with Albemarle County to share her slide deck and she was kind enough to do so. Here it is. (pdf)

 

Continue reading “CCAC Meeting Recap – 21 September 2016”

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Recap of Crozet Board of Trade Meeting – 19 September 2016

Thank for the tweets, and the live-streaming, Crozet Gazette! If you’re interested (and why wouldn’t you be?), watch the video of the meeting after the break. Piedmont Place will be bringing Mas meets Lampo. Yum.

#CBOT0916

Arthur Wollam attended and commented here (thank you!); the only edits by me are linebreaks and a couple bolds.

I attended the BOT meeting, my first

Mike Marshall presided. He introduced a number of business owners/leaders who gave short presentations. Very few questions.

Piedmont Place: Smoked BBQ, Yoga, OTM Books, Crozet Creamery, BR Bottle Shop, a flatbread/tapas skybar. 2 spaces remaining.

North Side Commercial: sidewalks, better drainage, maybe rooftop terraces; new restaurant for 3-Notched; Crozet Pizza expanding…maybe to end of building.

Possibly future residential over commercial.

OTV: BMC partner doing 1 large mixed-use bldg rather than 3 on original plan. Bldg complete in 1 to 1.5 years. 190 Apt project in early phases, no commercial. Big rebound in residential sales. Attached home sales very strong.

Barnes Lumber: now going before BOS in Nov vice Sep.

MM: reviewed previously reported developments at the Square. Wants strong BOT input to MP revision. July 4th celebration netted $10K for reinvestment in Crozet.

Continue reading “Recap of Crozet Board of Trade Meeting – 19 September 2016”

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CCAC Meeting – 21 September 2016 | Bus Service, Project Updates, Population

Lots of stuff on the agenda – commuter bus to Charlottesville? Project updates, discussion about Crozet’s population and a whole lot more.

Don’t be a NIMBY; come to meetings *before* something directly impacts your backyard.

CCAC Meeting Wednesday night, 21 September. Crozet Library. 7pm – 9pm.

  1. Agenda Review (David Stoner -CCAC chair)
  2. Approval of Minutes
  3. Discussion of Possible Expansion of Commuter Bus Service (Becca White, UVA & Brad Sheffied, Jaunt – 30min)
  4. Discussion with Planning Staff (Elaine Echols & David Benish –40min)
    1. Population/build-out methodology and update
    2. Master Plan update efforts
    3. Staff – CAC relationships and working together
  5. Barnes Lumber Rezoning Follow-up Discussion (Elaine Echols and All–30min)
  6. Brief Update on Recent BOS and PC Actions (Ann & Jennie & John –10min)
    1. Adelaide
    2. Restore-n-Station
    3. West Glenn
    4. TheVue
    5. FoothillsCrossingNextPhase
  7. Finalize Focus Areas and Committee Liaison Roles (All–time permitting)
  8. ItemsNotListedontheAgenda
  9. Announcements

10.Future Agenda Items

Reminder – if you’re not up to speed on all of these topics, spend a few minutes searching here on the blog, or browse previous CCAC recaps.

 

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Crozet Board of Trade Meeting – 19 September 2016

via email:
The Crozet Board of Trade will meet Monday Sept. 19 at 7:30 at Pro Re Nata Brewery.
The agenda includes an overview of the commercial development in Crozet with Drew Holzwarth, builder of Piedmont Place in downtown, Dave Brockman of Old Trail (Reid Murphy, who is building the new building in Old Trail will be on hand) and Kurt Wassenaar, who, along with Mark Green, owns the major portion of north downtown. We also expect Frank Stoner of Milestone Partners to attend.
Other items include the upcoming revision of the Crozet Master Plan and the community survey that will proceed it—what questions do we want to ask about economic/commercial zoning issues?– an update on the Christmas raffle idea and a budget report on the Fourth of July celebration. Hope to see you there.
The Crozet Board of Trade is an open membership, non-profit civic charitable organization that seeks to promote the prosperity and welfare of Crozet.
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Delivery Agent (used to be Music Today) Files for Bankruptcy

No word that I can find regarding Crozet operations.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Delivery Agent, a company that helps entertainment and sports operations sell products online, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Thursday, after hopes of an initial public offering of stock fell through.

…

Delivery Agent was joined in chapter 11 by affiliates Musictoday, LLC, Clean Fun Promotional Marketing, Inc. and Shop the Shows, LLC.

Continue reading “Delivery Agent (used to be Music Today) Files for Bankruptcy”

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Albemarle County Board of Supervisors Meeting – 14 Sept 2016

Big discussions at the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors meeting – West Glen neighborhood and stream crossing special use permit (approved), Restore N Station (vote was deferred), and a fair amount about schools in Albemarle.

I recapped the tweets from Neil Williamson (and a few others) below. Click through to the end, and make your way back up, and get informed.

But then I started watching the video of the hearing … and became interested, and started tweeting myself.

The agenda from the BoS is here.

Click through to read all the tweets (start at the bottom; it’s pretty interesting)

Continue reading “Albemarle County Board of Supervisors Meeting – 14 Sept 2016”

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Foothill Crossing Rezoning Approved by Planning Commission

Note that it still needs to go to the Board of Supervisors.

Sean Tubbs at Charlottesville Tomorrow reports: (read the whole thing) ((bolding mine))

The Albemarle County Planning Commission has recommended adoption of a proposal to rezone land within the boundaries of the Crozet Master Plan. The development also would add to the area’s transportation network.

…

Only one person spoke during the public hearing and he said he was uncertain about the future roadways.

“Most of the roads that were described as being built were described as ‘hopefully, they will be completed one day,’” said Parkside Village resident Phil Kirby. “They really don’t mean much to the residents if they’re not done.”

…

“I think it’s going to be important for us to reach agreement on what extent of completion there needs to be done in the concept plan before we review it,” Keller said. “It puts us in a difficult position if they are not complete.”

Firehock compared the development to nearby Adelaide, which was recommended by the commission only after details about unit types were locked down.

“I do not feel comfortable moving forward with the level of information we have,” Firehock said.

However, Commissioner Jennie More said she felt she could support this rezoning because Riverbend is developing several of the adjacent properties.

Update: a few additional thoughts/quote pulls:

From the Adelaide conversation the other day (bolding mine)

“Our land-use plans are not matching up to our zoning expectations,” he said “I think that creates a lot of dysfunction in how we go about doing our planning. It sets poor expectations for what is to come.”

Sheffield said he would be in support of Crozet rewriting its Master Plan for lower density and proactively changing the zoning accordingly.

Another supervisor whose district contains large portions of U.S. 250 dealt the final blow to the evening’s review of the proposal.

“I think this project is a beautiful project,” said Liz Palmer. “I’m not worried about the schools. What I’m worried about is safety on that road. I can’t support a development with this kind of density in that spot.”

But in Foothills

At least half of the homes would be single-family homes and at least 10 percent would be townhouses. However, the exact mix of units is not yet known.

Maybe I’m missing something, but this seems inconsistent.

Good comments on the Facebook post.