Author: Jim

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Pulled from the Comments – Why I chose to move to Crozet

My family moved out of Charlottesville to a farm near Crozet 9 years ago. We moved out this way because we could see the way things were changing in the north of Albemarle County, way more traffic, more subdivisions, more shopping centers. I grew up in SC which has been taken over by shopping centers and developments. When one gets run down, the developers move a mile down the road, abandon the first shopping center and build another. There are many abandoned shopping centers around Greenville, SC. It is an ugly, concrete filled, traffic inundated place, that used to be green and lovely until the developers took over. I would hate to see that happen to Crozet. It seems to be already happening in the north of the county.

I love old Crozet. Yes, it is rundown in some ways, but my kids love watching the train at the old library, I love being able to look for books in the library and still being able to keep an eye on my kids. If the library doesn’t have a book that I want, they will get it for me from another library in the county or in the state. I love that the librarians know my name, and that I know the people in the hardware store, and the pizza and grocery store.

I really would rather not see the Harris Teeter go in on 250. Our traffic will increase substantially, and where one store goes, others will follow. I make a trip to Charlottesville or Waynesboro once a week for a major shopping trip, what I run out of during the week, I shop for locally.

I love that I can have chickens, roosters, donkeys, horses and cows and no one complains about the noise, smell, flies, … We live in what is now a rural area. How long that it will remain that way is questionable, but I chose to move here because it was a largely rural area. I think that it is the charm of the area, and keeps it unique. If we add all the things that people want like a movie theatre, Chinese restaurants, more pizza places, more stores, then it will begin to be more like NoVA and less like Crozet. What will make our town unique? We will look like every other place in suburban USA.

Editor’s Note – anyone is welcome to submit a story to be published on RealCrozetVA.com. If you’re interested, please let me know. Also, a new library is coming.

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What do do this week in Crozet – 4-10 February

February 5 and 6:

Join us at Tabor Presbyterian Church for a Pancake Supper at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, February 5th, followed by a concert by the talented Faithful Men. The following evening we begin Lent with the Ash Wednesday Service of Worship at 6 p.m. (with communion and imposition of ashes). All are welcome!

There is surely more going on this week – please let me know if you have an event you would like to publicize.

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What to do this week in Crozet

Monday 28 January & Thursday, 31 January –

Peachtree Baseball

6-8 p.m. at the Crozet Firehouse

$65.00 Due at the time of registering.

Please bring a birth certificate for each child registering.

For more information visit our website.

Tuesday, January 28 –

There is a FREE tax seminar this Tuesday, January 29 at Crozet Library at 7:00 PM in the meeting room.  If you have questions about the Alternative Minimum Tax delays or just want to make sure you are getting every deduction you deserve please come meet our tax professional.

Tuesday, January 28 –

The Planning Commission will hold a work session on Tuesday, January 29, at their regular 6:00 p.m. meeting, to review and discuss the Crozet Downtown Zoning project.

Discussion will include review and recommendation on proposed regulations for a new Downtown Crozet Zoning district and boundaries for a potential County-initiated rezoning to the proposed zoning district.

The Commission will be asked to review and provide specific comment on the following issues:
• Proposed By-right & Special Use Permit Uses permitted by the proposed Downtown Crozet Zoning district regulations
• Boundaries of County-Initiated Rezoning
• Buffer/Screening Adjacent to Residential Districts requirements of the proposed Downtown Crozet Zoning district
• Information regarding potential impacts of a County-initiated rezoning, including implications to the Entrance Corridor & Architectural Review Board (ARB) guidelines

Thursday, January 31 –

Benyaro at Uncle Charlies at 9pm!

From a truly underground (NYC subway) background, the uniqueness of Benyaro, a folk-pop trio led by Ben Musser and sister, Meg Chamberlin, is the creation of songs with themes of idealism, mountains and stars, and a latent spirituality while keeping to a simple folk-pop format. Older listeners will recall memories of late 60’s-early ’70’s country pop that one might see on TV.  “Humble Child” is a fine introduction, with a sound comparable somewhere between a righteous Gram & Emmylou, and Three Dog Night.

Ben Musser and Tucker Yaro met in the spring of 2005. A “craigslist” match-made-in-heaven, both were happy to discover they lived right down the street from one another in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. So, they got together and started playing.

Tucker was into the sound coming from Ben’s four-track, and Ben was into Tucker’s playing and singing. Benyaro was born and the two took their sound to the subway platforms, not having a venue to perform at. They drew large crowds and were soon offered slots in various NYC venues despite having no demo or recorded material.

Once in the NYC club scene, Benyaro augmented their sound by adding the voice of Meg Chamberlin. Meg, Ben’s sister and a singer in her own right, adds an incredible female voice and occasional percussion to the band.

Since then, Benyaro has not only performed all over Brooklyn and Manhattan, receiving praise for their unique acoustic roots/soul sound, but has also opened for the legendary Malcolm Holcombe in Boston, NYC, and Johnson City (TN) as well as performed on their own in Austin, Nashville, Atlanta, Chicago, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Charlottesville, Richmond, Blacksburg, Raleigh, Charlotte, Gastonia, Boone, Pittsboro (NC), Spartanburg, Columbia, Hartsville (SC), Savannah, Gainesville, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, De Land (FL), Beaumont (TX), Harrisburg, Wilmington (DE) and Mackinac Island (MI). Benyaro has achieved all of this without a studio recording. They did appear on a radio show in Blacksburg, VA (WUVT) and were able to use that humble recording for booking and to sell at shows to start spreading the good word that is their sound.

Note: If you have a story idea or would like to publicize your event, please let me know.

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Crozet’s first denial under the new management

From Charlottesville Tomorrow:

After her report, Tom Loach was the first to pose a question to Ragsdale. Before being appointed to the White Hall seat on the Commission by newly-elected Supervisor Ann Mallek, Loach was an outspoken critic of the implementation of the Crozet Master Plan.

Loach said he could not support the rezoning because in his view it is not consistent with the Crozet Master Plan.

“I look at the Master Plan, I was part of the [committee] that wrote this, I know what the intent of the Master Plan was, and I don’t think this meets the Master Plan as I know it,” Loach said.

Good or bad? What do you think?

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King Family Vineyards #1 winery in Virginia

One of the great things about living in Crozet is the number of excellent vineyards (and breweries!) within a fifteen or twenty minute drive. Now comes word that King Family Vineyards  has been named the #1 winery in Virginia.

Sure, it’s a press release – but a good one for our area.

This is a very friendly winery with better than average Virginia wine. Michael Schapp’s contribution is exceptional, and the late harvest wines are wonderful.

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Yoga in Crozet

I received an email the other day from Shaaron Honeycutt, who is a yoga instructor teaching classes in Old Trail. The PDF flyer is here.

The details on the classes:

– The public is welcomed and Old Trail members receive a slight discount on the classes
– Six week Series:$85/Old Trail Associate:  $75
– Single Drop In Class:$18 / Old Trail Associate: $15 – (these are the correct prices, there’s a slight error in the flyer about this) and we accept all credit cards, checks, etc. for payment.

Q – What brought you to the area? How long have you been here?

A – I’ve been in the area since 1986, and came here following my parents. They read an article in “Money” magazine about Charlottesville and semi-retired to Earlysville. My first job out of college didn’t work out, so I ran home to my parents, but home was now here instead of Connecticut. I met my husband, who’s from Afton and went to Greenwood Elementary and Western Albemarle High School;  in Charlottesville, and when we were first together we lived in Crozet. We then bought some land from his parents in Nelson County, just outside Nellysford, and proceeded to build a house there. I really love where we live and feel blessed to be able to live in paradise!

I wanted to teach yoga in Crozet because it is near and dear to my heart – and has seen such growth since we lived there 14 years ago. That, and it is so much closer to home than Charlottesville! 🙂

Q – Why teach yoga? What’s good about it?

A – Yoga has so many benefits, I could write at length about them, but for brevity’s sake, I’ll try to keep it short. Yoga is definitely for health, but it’s impact upon oneself is more far reaching than that. It aids not just physical well being, but mental and emotional balance as well. Yoga has been shown to diminish the effects of stress, increase one’ s energy and stamina, minimize anxiety and depression, and create a stronger, more flexible, balanced body, too.

Q – Are there any other yoga offerings in Crozet?

A – Though I could be mistaken, I don’t think there is much, if any, yoga classes currently available in Crozet which is another reason I was interested in teaching classes there.

Q – How many people have signed up so far?

A – The number of participants in class at Old Trail varies – from 2 to 15 at this point. Though the room is spacious and could easily fit more than that. We will be at that location until mid-April then moving to another location as golf season and the use of the club house precludes us from having classes there. So, we are also currently in search of a place to hold classes over the late spring, summer, and early fall, before we can move back to Old Trail once the golf has slowed down a bit.

We offer classes on either a drop in/single class, or 6 class series basis, and there is a financial advantage to signing up and paying for 6 classes.

Q – Are you the only teacher?

A – I am the only yoga teacher at Old Trail – and we really need to get the word out that there is yoga in Crozet because I keep hearing that no one knows about it, and are pleasantly surprised when they do hear. There is interest, but the information needs dissemination, which is why I contacted you.

Please come by and experience a class – anyone over the age of 12 is welcome!

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