Category: Crozet

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Yancey Business Park folded into the Master Plan

Find out more at Charlottesville Tomorrow –

The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors has overturned a decision by the Planning Commission to end consideration of a proposal to create a new industrial park in Crozet on largely rural land just outside the designated growth area. The 184-acre Yancey Mills Business Park will now be considered as part of the mandated review of the Crozet Master Plan scheduled to take place next year.

And December 9 at the Crozet Firehouse, talk to the Yanceys about their plans. Please attend; this has the potential to greatly impact our community – whether you’re for or against it, participate in the conversation.

Yancey Mills Business Park in Crozet

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Anytime Fitness gets a plug in Today’s Daily Progress

Check it out.

At Anytime Fitness, near Crozet, owner Melody Swartz said her clients are looking for a gym that’s closer than the facilities in Charlottesville or Waynesboro.

“We’ve had a lot of people who are members at Gold’s [Gym] and ACAC and have joined here because it’s more convenient,” Swartz said.

The hallmark of these 24-hour gym franchises is their security.

Both gyms give their members access cards to get into the gym, have security cameras rolling and put emergency buttons in the facility in case something goes wrong. Swartz’s location also has a security device that gym-goers can wear while they exercise in case they need to summon help while they’re on the treadmill.

I’ll be going later today.

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From the Inbox – Historical Crozet Accident

Referencing this post from last week about the Good Samaritan –

I’ve lived in suburb’s of Atlanta since moving from Crozet during 1967. I lived in the ole’ Crozet, following graduation from UVa in 1959, until 1967. The Crozet you loved and describe in your recently published, rather nostalgic article, of ‘Longing for Old Crozet.’ I remember well the Crozet Drug store and setting at the marble countered soda fountain and I too miss those days and some very close friends that are still living there. Many now have passed including Conway Stanley the local druggist who owned the store and beloved soda fountain.

Your e-mail, regarding your automobile accident, jogged my memory of another long ago accident that occurred at night on Highway 250, near intersection with the road leading into downtown Crozet. It occurred in front of a then rather popular restaurant that today I believe a small strip mall sits. That eventful night on 250 several young people were drag racing and one killed upon their car turning over, driver being thrown out, hit, and dragged beneath the small MG that supposedly hit him…or so those involved testified. Actually, the MG turned out to be stolen as police awoke and eventually cleared student who owned the MG. The really strange part of their story was the body of the dead boy, attached by his belt beneath the MG, was in rather good shape. The MG, with body beneath, was found on the UVa campus parked in it’s usual parking space across from the owners dormitory that sits adjacent to the old campus cemetery.

As I recall the police questioned how the body could have been dragged, under the small MG, that many miles and be in such good condition? To my knowledge it was a puzzle that to this day is still unanswered. I recalled they questioned the restaurant owner, who police suspected may have had involvement in the car racing, and he retained a Greenwood attorney by the name of Hank Tiffany. Hank was a regular at the Old Crozet Drug store. Hank, I believe was killed in a mid-air plane collision with a military F-15 that was scrambled to intersect him upon his aircraft entering an ADZ zone off outer banks of North Carolina. There was always something of excitement going on in the ole’ Crozet.

I’m glad to learn that you survived your automobile accident due to a good Samaritan and hope you find him to thank. Should you ever come across the mystery details of the young man found beneath the MG, on that fateful night of drag racing on Highway 250, I would like to learn if the police ever solved the puzzle?

Regards,

Dick Pharr

Editor’s note – thank you for the recent flurry of emails and stories! I sincerely appreciate the readers and the correspondence!

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Is the Harris Teeter in Crozet going to be Open 24 Hours?

That’s all I want to know … My questions for the Harris Teeter media folks:

– Will it be open 24 hours?- How is the progress going with regards to the LEED certification? – Will there be a coffee shop in the Harris Teeter? – When will it be opening?

And their response:

The store is scheduled to in late spring 2009. Please check back with us closer to the opening date (perhaps in March) and we would be happy to share with you more details about the store.

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From the Inbox – Lost Dog in Crozet

I’m posting this for at least two reasons –

1) Help the dog find its owner

2) Highlight how Crozet really is and can be a small, helping community.

I found a black and white (cocker?) spaniel on Three Notched Road today across from Highland Drive. (forget the subdivision name) I drove around and knocked on doors for 2 hours looking for the owners….no luck. Is there anyway you could help find the owners? I would appreciate it. My cell number is 804.868.0464; email is redkurlzz at gmail DOT com.

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Tax Town Hall

Albemarle and Charlottesville are not alone in struggling with tax cuts/service cuts – all levels of government – and the citizens – are struggling. From the New York Times regarding states’ budgets –

The astonishing decline in revenues is without modern precedent here, but California is hardly alone. A majority of states — many with budgets already full of deep cuts and dependent on raiding rainy-day funds or tax increases — are scrambling to find ways to get through the rest of the year without hacking apart vital services or raising taxes.

…

Others are demanding hiring freezes and across-the-board cuts. A few states are finding their unemployment insurance funds running dry, just as the ranks of out-of-work residents spike.

The plunging revenues — the result of an unusual assemblage of personal, sales, capital gains and corporate taxes falling significantly — have poked holes in budgets that are just weeks and months old and that came about only after difficult legislative sessions.

Here’s what I do – I ignore the advocacy and focus on the information. Raising taxes should not be the default response. We’re all facing “unprecedented declines” and we need to work together to find the solution. Blaming government without getting involved is counterproductive.

From the Albemarle Truth in Taxation Alliance –

Crozet Town Hall Meeting “2008 Firehouse Tour” Continues

ATTA is hosting a series of local Town Hall meetings throughout the county this fall.

To find out more about ATTA and what to expect during the 2009 county budget process, please attend our Crozet ATTA Town Hall Meeting:

Crozet Town Hall Meeting
Crozet Firehouse
5652 Three Notched RD, Crozet
Thursday, November 20, 2008
7:00 p.m.
Free and open to the public

If you read the Nov. 13 Daily Progress article “County’s decision: Cuts or tax hike” you saw the following statement regarding Supervisor David Slutzky’s approach toward our current financial situation:

David L. Slutzky, a Democrat, said the county should start with a tax rate closer to 90 cents – which would allow the county to avoid service cuts, and then systematically decide which of those services should be cut or scaled back.

Slutzky’s attitude is profound for several reasons:

A 90-cent real estate tax rate represents a 26.8% increase over our current rate. During the current economic climate — when so many of us struggle to provide for basic needs — suggesting such a draconian tax increase is absurd.

The premise is flawed. Raising taxes or cutting services are not the only options. More effective and efficient use of available revenues should be the first option. This is why the county is currently performing a Resource Utilization Study–to identify how we can do more with less!

Slutzky’s suggestion to raise taxes now and then fix government spending later is truly laughable.
The Program Service Review (Form 4) initiated by Albemarle County well over a years ago has gone nowhere (its goal was to identify 10% cost savings in every department).

It took the Albemarle BoS seven months to begin its current Resource Utilization Study after being challenged to do so by ATTA.
There remains a profound lack of sense of urgency by county gov. to make substantial improvements to how our tax money is spent.

Slutzky is basically ask us to trust him: raise tax now and he’ll lead the charge later to cut them in the future.

We all know what will happen: if we raise taxes now, there won’t be a later. There will only be new rationale to keep the tax rate at 90 cents — or raise it even higher.

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Gas Station Coming to 250 in Crozet

Huge Gas Station coming to Crozet

In response to John-N’s comment –

What about the imminent approval of a mega gas/diesel fuel station in the Brownsville-Yancey Mills area and its potential impacts on the western Albemarle community on Free State Lane? Some reports say it would be the largest of its type in Albemarle County! Marketing to I-64, perhaps open 24/7. Dramatically increased frequency of turn-arounds at that point on Rt.250 by vehicles coming from and returning to the interstate. It promises to be a safety issue in that neighborhood and also for the nearby school traffic. IMMINENT approval possible due to grandfathered zoning. What about the right — apparently NOT grandfathered in Albemarle County — to quality-of-life on Free State Lane? What about school traffic safety? Lots of questions. VERY LITTLE time — literally days — to seek public input or compromises. —- This should be no less a concern than the POLITICAL (i.e. Crozet Master Plan) issues of the Yancey proposal.

Basically, this (bolding mine) –

Request for preliminary site plan approval to construct a 7,000 square foot, two (2) story commercial building with eight (8) gas pumps and associated parking 4.06 acres. The property is zoned HC (Highway Commercial) and is described as Tax Map 55B, Parcel 1. The site is located on the south side of Rockfish Gap Turnpike (SR250), approximately 0.78 miles west of its intersection with Miller School Road/Crozet Avenue (SR240). This site is located in the White Hall Magisterial District and is recommended for Rural Area uses in Rural Area 3 by the Comprehensive Plan.

Is possible due to by-right, existing zoning. This is a story in progress; I had heard about this project but hadn’t had the time to research/write about it. I’m going to try to update this as the day progresses, but I understand that there is a meeting on Monday at Albemarle County about this. If anyone out there wants to make some phone calls/emails and update via the comments, please do so.

By the way, if you haven’t used Albemarle County’s online GIS program, you’re missing out on one of the best things local government has ever done.

Update 14 November: I heard back from Albemarle County today – for readability’s sake I’m not quoting out the following email I received from Bill Fritz, Chief of Current Development at Albemarle County. I am greatly appreciate for their remarkable response. Bolding, however, is mine.

The next deadline for the Re-Store’n Station site plan is Monday November 17. If the applicant wants to stay on the published review schedule Monday is the deadline for the applicant to submit a revised site plan addressing the comments of the Site Review Committee. If a revised plan is not submitted, review of the project will be suspended until such time as revisions are submitted. Monday is also the deadline for the site plan to be appealed to the Planning Commission for review. An appeal may be filed only by: the owner, an abutting property owner, member of the Planning Commission, member of the Board of Supervisors, the zoning administrator, the county executive, or the agent. An appeal must be in writing and state the reasons for review.

If revisions are made and the application is appealed this item will be scheduled for Planning Commission review on Tuesday December 9. If the item is not appealed staff will administratively take action to either approve or deny the plan by Thursday December 11. This project is a ministerial project meaning that if the plan does not meet the requirements of the ordinance it will be denied and if the plan does meet the requirements of the ordinance it will be approved. .

The site plan review process is a two step process. What is currently under review is the preliminary site plan. If the preliminary plan is approved it will be subject to conditions that must be met prior to the final site plan being approved. No development may occur until the final site plan is approved. Typical conditions include such things as: Architectural Review Board approval, approval of an erosion and sediment control plan, approval of entrance details by VDOT, approval of water plans, approval by Health Department, approval of landscape and lighting plan. Other conditions are possible and this list is only intended to give an example of the types of conditions commonly applied to preliminary approvals.

I hope that this information is helpful. If you have any other questions please feel free to contact either myself or Summer Frederick who is the planner coordinating the review of this application.

William D. Fritz, AICP
Chief of Current Development
434-296-5832 ext. 3242