Category: Crozet

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Crozet Music Festival – 20 October 2007

Floyd Fest. Merle Fest. Charlie Poole Festival … Crozet Music Festival?

We are peaceful, music loving people and we’re grateful to live in such a beautiful area with so many amazing musicians.

The Festival will be Family Friendly. We’re hoping for lots of kids and adults should be aware of that and behave accordingly.

No bad behavior will be tolerated, and if you have to ask what we mean by that, you probably should find something else to do that day.

That said, we want everybody to have a rip roaring good time. Live music excites us, fills us with joy, and makes us dance
and jump around, all of which is cool.

Write it down – 20 October 2007.

It’s a no-brainer. Simple as that. With the music and energy in the Charlottesville area, why not?

“There’s more good talent here than there should be for a town this small,” says Savage. “It’s great to play local music, because it stands shoulder to shoulder with everything else we play.”

The event is the result of at least five years of effort and now he has the backing of a veritable “who’s who” of local music.

Where did it all start? And from where is the new momentum coming? In the organizer’s words:

First, I met Terry Allard. She took to the idea immediately and has been extremely helpful with ideas, contacts, and positive energy to make it happen. If any of you are not familiar with her work, please check out www.terriallard.com, she regularly sells out local engagements around the Charlottesville area and beyond. She and her husband run Reckless Abandon Music from their house in Batesville.

Next was Musictoday coming to Crozet. I first met those guys years ago when they started operations on Preston Avenue in an old mechanic’s garage, then followed them to the old Dettor Edwards property in Ivy. I called over there a year and a half ago as it became evident that they were moving the whole operation to the old Conagra factory, and the operator put me in touch with Del Wood, who it turned out is the CEO of the whole business. Heidi Sonen and I went to meet with him, he loved the idea of a festival in Crozet, and has been incredibly generous with his time ever since to answer my questions and assist in any way I asked.

From a recent C-Ville:

On the topic of local fests, Feedback got word that the folks out in Crozet have their own in the works. Bill Rossberg, the event’s organizer, tells us that the first Crozet Music Festival, scheduled for October 20 at Crozet Park, will be an all-day affair filled with live music, food, drinks and more. They already have some big names on the bill (Terri Allard, American Dumpster, Alligator), and, with proceeds from the event benefiting the park, Feedback (who has a soft spot for such things in his western Albemarle County heart) can tell this will be a fantastic shindig.

Kudos to Crozet Park for allowing this. Now is the time for Crozet Park to flex its muscles, build its infrastructure and prepare for the forthcoming competition from Old Trail, their pool, their fitness facility and the like. Competition is a great thing, so long as it’s embraced by both contestants. Witness what is happening in Charlottesville’s radio scene for an example of how not to embrace a competitor.

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Crozet’s water supply sufficient until 2035

 

Longbeavercreek1

As Croze’s water supply, the Beaver Creek Reservoir was thought in 2005 to have an adequate supply for at least the next 50 years. Last week, the Board of the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority (RWSA) learned that a safe yield study and revised population projections had shortened that window of sufficiency to approximately 30 years. As part of a $20,000 water supply planning grant, RWSA’s consultant Gannet Fleming determined the reservoir’s safe yield, or the amount of water the Beaver Creek Reservoir can provide Crozet at the time of our worst drought on record, to be 1.8 million gallons per day (MGD). [Gannet Fleming report]

In June and July 2007, Crozet’s almost 5,000 residents were using on average about 0.48 MGD of treated water from Beaver Creek. In other words, with a safe yield of 1.8 MGD, there is plenty of water in Crozet for today’s population. As a result of the excess capacity, and until the Ragged Mountain Reservoir is expanded, Beaver Creek is also looked to as a backup water source for the urban water supply (i.e. Charlottesville, UVA, and Albemarle’s urban ring) should the community enter a drought emergency.

When will Crozet’s growing population require more than 1.8 million gallons of water per day? The new answer: Sometime after 2035.

Gannet Fleming, first in 2004 while developing a 50-year urban water supply plan, and now in 2007 as part of the Beaver Creek safe yield analysis , has asked Albemarle for population estimates . In 2004 Gannet Fleming was told that Crozet’s projected build-out population in twenty years would be 12,000 people, a number they extrapolated to also be Crozet’s maximum population in 50 years. Since then, County staff have determined that the “theoretical ultimate build-out” population for Crozet could reach closer to 24,000 sometime beyond 2024.

Year CrozetPopulation
Estimate*
 GrowthRate
2000 3849
2006 4798 5%
2010 5832 5%
2015 7443 5%
2020 9500 5%
2025 12124 5%
2030 14751 4%
2035 17101 3%
2040 18880 2%

Albemarle County’s 30-year population projection for Crozet (2005-2035) is 17,101 [see table]. Mark Graham, Albemarle’s Director of Community Development, told Charlottesville Tomorrow that, “This is a population number for RWSA’s planning purposes, but it is in no way a number the County has adopted for Crozet”  Graham emphasized that the Board of Supervisors has not taken any action on these estimates and that they are for a point in time beyond the current master plan.

In their June 2007 report, Gannet Fleming determined that, by 2035, a potential Crozet population of 17,101 will demand 1.59 MGD. In light of the safe yield data, Gannet Fleming projects current water demand needs in Crozet could be met for next 30 years. RWSA staff suggests, however, that beyond 30 years, “future forecasts should reassess capacity for Crozet.” By contrast, before this 2007 study was completed, Gannet Fleming had predicted Crozet (at a population of 12,000) would require approximately 1.1 MGD in 2055.

Having a good water supply is but aspect of producing a safe and sufficient water and sewer system for growth area residents. As it stands now, Crozet’s water treatment plant has a capacity of only 1.0 MGD; furthermore the plants pipes reach maximum capacity at 1.3 MGD. Thus RWSA has other infrastructure upgrades to plan during the next 30 years to satisfy Crozet’s growing population. The capital project to design the water treatment expansion is currently scheduled to begin in 2010.

Here you can view all of Charlottesville Tomorrow’s past posts on Crozet, including items related to the 2006 discussion by the Board of Supervisors of Crozet’s population estimates.

Brian Wheeler
Charlottesville Tomorrow

* Crozet population estimates provided by Albemarle County to Gannet Fleming as part of water supply planning study completed in June 2007.

This article originally appeared on Charlottesville Tomorrow’s blog here.

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Crozet Town Meeting September 20th

Mark your calendars!

Thursday, September 20, 2007
Western Albemarle High School Cafeteria
7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for meet and greet

There is a lot of exciting activity underway on infrastructure improvement projects in Crozet, and you and your family are cordially invited to a town meeting to find out more.
At the meeting, County staff will make presentations about the status of current and future projects related to the Crozet Master Plan, followed by time for residents to talk with staff members, consultants, and officials about individual projects.

Topics will include:

– the Crozet Downtown Zoning Project,
– the Sidewalk and Streetscape Project,
– the Crozet Library,
– the Historic Resources Study,
– Reuse of the Old School Site,
– Master Plan for Western Park.

The Crozet Community Advisory Council and Crozet Community Association are co-sponsoring the meeting with Albemarle County, and representatives will be on hand to talk with you about opportunities for community involvement.

If you have any questions or need more information in advance of the meeting, please contact our Community Relations Office at (434) 296-5841. We hope you will join us!

Learn more at the County’s website.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – if you choose not to participate, you relinquish the right to complain.

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A change in RealCrozetVA.com

Anyone can post anything (so long as it’s not defamatory, insult-laden or designed to be disrespectful or laden with vitriol).

Register, set up a profile (you can choose to be anonymous) and start writing.

Register For Realcrozetva

It’s easier than writing a letter to the editor, and I know that your thoughts will be read by people who care and can often “do things” to make things right.

Some ideas –

– What type of growth you want to see in Crozet.
– Opinions on the Fall elections.
– Restaurant reviews.
– Your thoughts on the Crozet Community Association meetings
– the Crozet Music Festival

Please let me know your thoughts if you have any questions.

One thing I am working on is an interview with Henley’s new principal – what questions would you like to ask him?

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If you’re new to Crozet, Virginia

You should learn about Waynesboro (Crozet is in their market area anyway).

Take 64 West for about 17 minutes and take Exit 94. Then turn right. It’s worth it. In a recent poll on RealCrozetVA, 31% of people shopped exclusively in Waynesboro.

The people at the Home Depot in Waynesboro (I assume they are at Lowe’s, too) genuinely want to help you find what you are looking for. I returned something yesterday in under 60 seconds. He met me at the door to help! There’s a Martin’s grocery store (a Giant derivative), Super Wal-mart, drive-through Starbucks, and so much more. So much that as soon as the Target opens, you’ll forget all about 29 North.

For those of you who regularly go to Waynesboro, what do you like the most?

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Competition is a good thing

Competition makes the strong stronger, makes the efficient that much more so and forces needed changes and evolutions.

In Crozet, the Old Trail development (ultimately 2200 homes in a New Urbanist development) is a force to be reckoned with. They have plans for a fitness facility. Likely a grocery store. A pool next year. They have plans to provide “affordable” housing (which may have a different definition of “affordable” than many of us are used to).

The time for arguments about whether Old Trail should have been approved at such a scale, has past.

Crozet Park faces some very real competition. Currently, they have one of, if not the, best soccer field in the County of Albemarle. They have two very nice baseball fields, two playgrounds and an outstanding pool and swim team. When it comes to nuts and bolts, they are providing a product, and for the past forty years or so (a great history is here, provided by Crozet’s Brian Campbell) have held a monopoly in Crozet on these facilities.

But they won’t keep the reputation as having the best product if they don’t innovate and embrace their position as the hub of Crozet. Competition, by its very nature, takes advantage of the complacent.

Nostalgia can carry only so much; human nature causes people to go to the newer product. That’s why people buy new cars, new houses and new toys. “Used” items aren’t as much fun (and often not as valuable either).

Let’s hope that the Park Board sees fit to compete – the possibilities are endless.

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Development in Crozet the issue

Not surprisingly, Crozet’s growth is the primary issue in this year’s election.

The Daily Progress has a fairly in-depth article this morning.

Obligatory Ann Mallek quote:

“[Residents are] being very frank with me and almost everyone feels run over by the change that’s happened,” Mallek said. “All the promises that were made have been empty so far.”

Obligatory David Wyant quote:

“I think Crozet could be one of the nicest communities there is when it eventually builds out,” he said. Wyant said he worked to get a park included in the Old Trail development and for school improvements in Crozet. He also was involved in plans for a downtown library and is working so that the area can enjoy mass transit.

I would love to hear more about Crozet’s mass transit plans.

And – see where the candidates are getting their money.

So far, Mrs. Mallek has $15,010 and Mr. Wyant has $10,680, both of whom I expect will be collecting and spending (much) more. Both candidates, surprisingly have received relatively few contributions from Crozetians.

Democratic Central asks:

But if the issue is that there are all of these new people in Crozet now, then by definition there are a lot of people there who don’t know David Wyant and his family.  So I doubt that the fact that Wyant’s family has been in the area for generations will win it for him.

The real issue is, “Why didn’t you or anyone else notice that you got the growth estimates all wrong?  Can’t anyone there do math?”

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Homesick for Crozet

Ed. Note: One of my favorite parts of running RealCrozetVA is the reader submissions I receive from time to time. Should you ever want to write a story for the blog, please submit it here.

I wonder if anyone else who grew up in Crozet ever feels this way when they drive through Crozet today. I read that some feel the old Crozet was an eye sore, the old buildings and store fronts, etc. Maybe you need to go to Charlottesville to live. Crozet was a village.

The old bank is gone. Crozet Superette, run by Mr. Moses Sandridge and his wife is gone. The Crozet Shoe Shop is gone. The old Crozet Drug store, where Jimmy Robinson use to dip out the biggest ice cream cones for 10 cents, is gone. Old Seals’ gas station is gone. I remember Mrs. Seal well, sitting out in the front, helping out. Tomlin Grocery – long gone.  Sandridge Gas Station where the road to IGA begins. Morton’s Frozen Food, with the TV dinners, Ice box pies, etc – gone. Acme Visible records where my mother worked, closed. The Red Front Super Market and Nannie Wagner’s 5 and dime, just a sweet faded memory. Coffee Jackson selling Christmas trees in the parking lot beside the old bank, I just smile to think, “how did he make anything for his efforts?”

Crozet had a theater at one time. Crozet had a drive-in too. Crozet Pool was where most all of us kids stayed from sun up to sun down and then rode our bikes home, or walked. We all had swimming lessons too. Vacation Bible School at the old Crozet Methodist Church, and oh! the popsicles handed out at the end. All the fun sleigh rides down the hill in Orchard Acres. Christmas time was something else.

Fourth of July at Crozet Park was beyond excitment for us kids. We could barely sleep the night before it started. Starting first grade and Mrs. Sara Wyant. I loved her and she loved me. The train ride from Crozet Station to Charlottesville and then to McIntyre Park to play. Trick or Treating and our home-made costumes.

I rode through Crozet recently; it’s not the Crozet I remember.

Nothing like it. It has a feeling of not being sure who or where it  belongs. I felt sad when I rode to old Crozet Elementary School, I got out and walked around and went to the back of the school where I started first grade so many years ago. I walked through the play ground. I looked over and I spotted something that I knew could not  possibly be the same sliding board that I nervously slid down in 1962.

It sure looked the same. I went over and stood beside it. It still seemed larger than life to me. I looked underneath the sliding board and was so surprised to see stamped just under the steps it read, “Property of Crozet High School”. For all of you former Crozet residents you will know what that means.  I had found one thing they had not taken away from us. You know what I mean. I left with a feeling you have when you go back to a place you haven’t been for many many years and you find something that holds so much memory for you.

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Watch out Crozet – UVA have discovered us

From the Cavalier Daily –

Located just 10 miles away via Interstate 64 West, Crozet, Va. is the perfect destination for anyone looking to escape the standard routine of University life. With its array of unique outdoor activities and tasty food and beverage options, Crozet is a great place for a quick getaway. Here’s a list of some of the top ways to enjoy the town without breaking the bank.

The list of “things to do” keeps growing every month!

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