Category: Crozet

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Maybe Progress on Barnes Lumber project?

via the excellent Charlottesville Community Engagement.

Albemarle Supervisors talk $2.5 million in funding for Crozet project, $4.4M in affordable housing projects 

The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors meets at 1 p.m. in Lane Auditorium but there is also a hybrid option. (agenda)

The first item deals with a key component for the future of Crozet. Albemarle County entered into a public-private partnership with an entity known as Crozet New Town Associates to inject new life into a plan to redevelop the former Barnes Lumber site. Part of the plan is to create a road network and public space on which to build new town space. The cost of doing so has increased and now $2.5 million more in public money is suggested.

“The proposed addendum enables the County to complete the road network, whereas the developer will provide additional contributions to include paying for water and sewer utility installation, building a public restroom in a development adjacent to the public plaza, providing seed money to fund an Executive Director for the Downtown Crozet Initiative (a community development organization supporting the project), donating Right of Way (land) in the amount of approximately $300,000, and covering expenses exceeding the new project budget,” reads the staff report. 

One million of the funding would come from the American Rescue Plan Act and $1.5 million would come from the county’s Economic Development Investment Pool.

As fun history, these are a few photos from June 2012 when the lumberyard was sold at auction.

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Albemarle Budget Town Hall 28 March 2022

Sugar Hollow

From the Daily Progress:

According to county officials, the following meetings are scheduled:

Monday, March 28 at 7 p.m.. Hosted by Supervisor Ann Mallek, White Hall District and held at Brownsville Elementary School Cafeteria.

Thursday, March 31 at 7 p.m.. Hosted by Supervisor Ann Mallek, White Hall District and held at Broadus Wood Elementary School Cafeteria.

Wednesday, April 13 at 7 p.m.. Hosted by Supervisor Donna Price, Scottsville District, it will be held at location yet to be announced.

Saturday, April 16 at 10 a.m.. Hosted by Supervisor Ann Mallek, White Hall District, and held at the White Hall Community Building.

Meeting information is here.

And I just got this email — the () indicate where I removed personal/HOA information

We will be asking for the BOS to vote NO to new re-zoning requests in Crozet that threaten the environment, covering up important streams, overcrowd our small roads, and adversely impact our community.

WE NEED (NUMBERS) at the meeting TONIGHT!!!!

_____

Hello Neighbors!

I am sending the following notice on behalf of (), the president of our () Homeowners Association. She is urging all to attend a Town Hall meeting THIS EVENING at Brownsville Elementary School. Here’s what she says:

“We received a letter yesterday from Ann Mallek, our representative on the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, inviting our neighbors to attend Mallek’s Town Hall meeting tonight in the Cafeteria at Brownsville Elementary School, beginning at 7:00pm.

It is absolutely critical that we show up, in person, to ask the Board of Supervisors to VOTE “NO” for the rezoning of the GREEN SPACE around Crozet.  The proposed high-density Montclair development will adversely impact the Western Ridge neighborhood and surrounding communities. Please see details below.

I am asking our neighbors to meet at 6:30pm tonight at the (), where we can answer your questions about the Montclair neighborhood proposed ()We will go from there to Brownsville to attend the TOWN HALL meeting.

Related reading …

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Misty Mountain Seeking to Expand

From Sean Tubbs’ excellent Charlottesville Community Engagement

Misty Mountain Resort seeking permission for expansion 

A community meeting will be held at 5 p.m. for a special use permit for the expansion of the Misty Mountain Camp Resort on U.S. 250 west of Crozet. The camp currently has 16 cabins and 104 camp sites and is allowed to hold an annual music festival. (meeting info)

“Outdoor recreation is now more important than ever, and therefore it is the intent of this special use permit to expand the capacities of the Misty Mountain Camp Report,” reads the narrative for the request to formally allow the 16 cabins and to allow 68 more campsites. The current special use permit only allows ten cabins. 

Interesting comment from the accompanying Charlottesville Reddit post:

I think this was discovered by a relatively new owner. The original permit was from 1994 or so. This property last sold in April 2021 for $4.5 million and I suspect the new owner realized they needed to become compliant. There are a total of four special use permits on the property, two of which relate to a music festival that’s allowed once a year.

For those who aren’t aware, Misty Mountain Camp Resort is a bit west of the 64 interchange just off of 250.

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March 2022 Transportation CCAC Meeting Roundup

That was an interesting meeting, and like most such meetings, one that people will look back on in three years and say, “I remember that’s when learned about X.”

X could be that they don’t seem to have the rights of way for the Eastern Avenue extension to 250, or that they still don’t have plans for sidewalks on Tabor and High, but are underway on the sidewalks from Cory Farm to Harris Teeter on 250, or that Oak Street from the Square is going to be completely revamped.

A few highlights that I’m pulling from the google doc at the bottom

  • Joe Fore (CCAC) asks about the Rt 240 (Three Notch’) Shared-use Path – Park Ridge Dr to Music Today; that was broken into 2 segments
  • “Much smaller” pot of funding is federal, not state, for “transportation alternatives” – under $1M, requires 20% local match. You know, walking and riding bikes. 
  • Project updates – skip to the bottom to read the discussion and questions about these
    • Eastern Ave South Extension – project was submitted last year; we find out in April if the state will fund it. ~$25M to do it (wonder what it would have been 15 – 20 years ago)
    • 240/250 Roundabout – going to advertise this year, construction to begin by the end of 2022
    • Old Trail/WAHS/250 Roundabout – worst performing intersection in Crozet – will be submitted as a Smart Scale project in this round. My thought: if they aren’t planning to put bikes and pedestrians first, they’re wrong.
    • US 250 Sidewalks
  • Crozet Connect update
  • Pandemic caused ridership to slump

Last night’s CCAC meeting represented two firsts for me: One – this was my first meeting as a CCAC member rather than observer, and two – the first that I’ve tried taking live notes in a google doc instead of live-tweeting. I’m inclined to go back to tweeting as the google doc does not perform as well as Twitter for inserting screenshots of slide decks (would be super-helpful if we’d get the slide decks before the meeting)

Part of the slide decks

Continue reading “March 2022 Transportation CCAC Meeting Roundup”
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Old Dominion Village Rezoning – 15 February 2022

One day, the County, VDOT, developers might see the value in adding better pedestrian and bike connectivity when proposing new housing. One day.

It’s a ~20 minute walk to Crozet Mudhouse. A 6 minute bike ride. 7 minute walk to Starr Hill.

This is the August 2020 CCAC meeting in which this development was discussed.

via the excellent Charlottesville Community Engagement

Subscribe here (I recommend paying for a subscription)

(bolding is mine)

Albemarle PC to review 110-unit Old Dominion Village in Crozet

Crozet is one of Albemarle’s designated growth areas. Last year, the Crozet Master Plan was updated with a new land use designation of Middle Density Residential which allows between six to 12 units per acre with high provisions if below-market housing is to be part of the development.

The Albemarle Planning Commission will have a public hearing tonight for a rezoning on 23.68 acres on the north side of Route 240 across from the Acme Visible Records site. Part of the land for the Old Dominion Village development contains this new category, and some parts at the less intense Neighborhood Density Residential. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. (meeting info)

The developer seeks a rezoning to the Neighborhood Model District for a project that would be built around an existing veterinary clinic. 

“After practicing for 40 years, the parcel owner, Dr Martin Schulman leases the hospital building to the Old Dominion Animal Hospital – Crozet, a sister hospital to Old Dominion Animal Hospital on Preston Avenue in Charlottesville also in operation since 1982,” reads the narrative for the application. “Dr. Schulman has decided that combining the two parcels and developing them into a mixed – use neighborhood while keeping the veterinary care center as a commercial component would be beneficial to the Crozet Community.”  

The developer has stated 20 of the units will be built under the county’s affordability guidelines. They’ll also contribute $283,000 in cash proffers “to help mitigate impacts of the development on schools and transportation.” 

Also from Sean’s Week Ahead – smaller lots in Old Trail?


The developer of Old Trail in Crozet seeks a reduction in the minimum lot size from 8,000 square feet to 4,000 square feet in order to build smaller units that might have lower prices. (staff report)

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Goodbye, St. George Mural

removed street art

What a damn shame.

More to come, but I saw during my morning bike ride that the street art on St. George Avenue has been removed/destroyed.

From the December Crozet Gazette

(bolding mine)

“VDOT does not have a policy in place to address murals and other art within the travel way on state-maintained roads,” read the statement. “We do not endorse the placement of art like what is in place in Crozet, but we will not use state resources to remove it at this time. However, in a situation where roadway art presents a safety hazard, such as creating a distraction for drivers or if it interferes with traffic control markings, it will be removed. When the road is repaved, VDOT will not replace the artwork.”

St. George neighbors were briefly jubilant until VDOT subsequently reversed course. In a second set of comments to the Gazette, Hatter said the street mural had been reclassified as a safety hazard after VDOT fielded complaints from local residents. “We have received some additional feedback from community members regarding the St. George Avenue street mural, and have heard that it’s a distraction for drivers going through the intersection,” he said. “We’ve also heard that children are attracted to the area and have been playing around it, which means it’s hazardous at this point. So, because of this new information, we have to treat the mural as a safety hazard and will be removing it next week.”

I prefer to remember the street art this way
I prefer to remember the street art this way
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Looking at Crozet’s 2022 Real Estate Market

2021 may go in the books as one of the most expensive and fastest-moving markets in history. I wrote a bit about my thoughts on 2022:

Much the same as 2021. The pandemic will continue, inventory will be tight, and there will be a lot of competition for a lot of houses, and less for others. Similar story, different year.

  • Pandemic 
    • Inflation, supply chain, labor, economy, etc. etc. etc. 
  • Interest Rates (see below)
  • Inventory
  • More buyers in the Charlottesville – Albemarle market are going to give up and either continue renting, or move away.
  • Inventory
  • Climate change is going to affect *everything* including what we pay for homeowners insurance.
  • New construction costs
  • Inventory

Have a question? Looking for representation? I’m here. (disclosure that I’m sure you figured out: I’m a Realtor)

What do the numbers below mean?

Defining “Crozet” as “Brownsville + Crozet Elementary School districts”

  • 434 homes sold in Crozet in 2021
    • 172 were new construction; all but one of these were an acre or less
    • 262 resale homes sold; average days on market was 30, and the median days on market was 6.
  • Average price for all homes sold was $527K and the median price was $468K
    • Average price for new construction was $558K and the median was $520K.
  • 287 single family homes sold and 146 attached homes sold
  • Of the 434 homes sold, 381 were on a acre or less. 354 were on half an acre or less

Did you know?

“… Crozet had a population increase of 65.75% in the last 10 years, from about 5,565 in 2010 to approximately 9,224 in 2020, according to census data.“

And some not-specifically-related to real estate, but really about real estate thoughts and Crozet:

We need to bring business to Crozet, and do whatever we can to lure/cajole/entice businesses to move to Crozet and provide jobs so that Crozetians don’t have to commute to Charlottesville or elsewhere; this will be better for the Crozet and Albemarle economies, good for community by keeping people here, and if we can manage to build houses, we should be able to build supporting non-auto-centric infrastructure so that people are able to move from one place to another without having to get into a car.

Bike and pedestrian infrastructure is good for community, climate, health and wellness, and the economy. We need a vision that looks beyond the next few months and years, and envisions what we can be in 25 to 50 years.

Yes, we are getting some roundabouts, a bigger Crozet Elementary, and piecemeal sidewalks interspersed here and there. But we need to do better, and I’m pretty sure that we can.

Questions?

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Storage Facility Coming to 240/250

Future Crozet Storage Facility location

This will certainly change the dynamic of the intersection that used to be Gateway Gas, Rocket Coffee, Sabor Latino.

From Charlottesville Community Engagement (you should consider paying for a subscription; it’s invaluable)

ARB to review three-story Crozet Self Storage facility 

The Albemarle Architectural Review Board meets for the final time of 2021 with two items. They begin the virtual meeting at 1 p.m. (meeting info)

In the first, they’ll review an updated proposal from Yousef LC / Merchants Retail Partners LLC to construct a three-story, 90,000 square foot self-storage building at the intersection of U.S. 250 and Route 240. The property is zoned for Highway Commercial but is within the Entrance Corridor overlay. The ARB last saw the plans in September. Staff wants further changes.

“Revise the architectural design with a combination of reduced footprint, reduced height, substantial breaks in the building form, and substantial changes in depth for recesses and projections along the walls to reduce the mass and scale of the building,” reads a portion of the staff report. “Revise the architectural design to eliminate blankness on all sides of the building.” 

In the second item, the ARB will review renovations to a former Goodwill building on U.S. 29 that is being repurposed as an auto-body shop. (staff report)


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So Many Car Break Ins – December 2021

This seems to happen every few years in Albemarle County. People leave their cars unlocked, a group of people go on late night sprees (or whatever they call it), and go into cars, rummage through, steal stuff, and sometimes steal cars.

It’s not just Crozet; sounds like this has happened all over the County

Check out the crime map here.

Short story, and Nextdoor is full of stories from late Saturday night/early Sunday morning.
  • A group of people are stealing cars, driving them around, going into unlocked cars, and stealing stuff.
  • There are apparently a bunch of videos from doorbell surveillance
  • Lock your car. Lock your houses.
  • File a report.
  • Talk to your neighbors.