Category: Crozet

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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.
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240 Bridge Work Beginning 22 November 2021

240 Bridge sign

One of several Crozet area transportation projects gets underway on Monday.

via email:

CONSTRUCTION BEGINS MONDAY ON RT. 240 BRIDGE

Crozet Ave. reduced to one lane controlled with signal during rehabilitation work

CULPEPER — Route 240 (Crozet Avenue) will be reduced to one lane at the bridge over Lickinghole Creek south of Crozet beginning Monday. This will allow rehabilitation of the current substandard structure that carries more than 7,000 vehicles per day.

During the construction work, traffic over the bridge will be controlled by a temporary signal; traffic in the open lane will be separated from the work by temporary barriers. Once the work is complete on one side of the bridge traffic will be shifted to the new lane and the opposite side of the bridge will be reconstructed.

Motorists should drive with extreme care as they travel through the work zone. Workers and equipment will be operating near the travel lane and there is likely to be congestion and delays, especially during morning and afternoon commuting hours, due to the lane closure. The advisory speed limit through the project construction area is 15 miles per hour.

The $1.17 million project will be constructed by Clearwater Construction Inc. of Mercer, Pa. It is scheduled for completion in July 2022. Information about the project is available on the Virginia Department of Transportation’s web site at: Route 240 (Crozet Avenue), Albemarle County. 

Current traffic conditions and other real-time travel information can be found on the 511 Virginia website, the free VDOT 511 mobile app or by calling 511 from any phone in Virginia. VDOT updates are also on Facebook and the district’s Twitter account, @VaDOTCulp.

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Redistricting Brownsville and Crozet Elementary Schools (2022)

Redistricting of Brownsville & Crozet coming soon. 

I noted on RealCrozetVA Twitter this morning:

– As ever, no one will be happy. 

– This is why I tell clients to never count on school districts remaining the same.

In response to this

I don’t have kids but obviously my home re-sale value depends on good schools and I support that. Are some of the schools in our area CLEARLY not as good as others? Or is most of the stress here around kids having to change schools half-way through?

I wrote this

Katherine Knott at the Daily Progress reports:

(make sure to click through and read the whole thing!)

An advisory committee tasked with determining how to best move students from Brownsville to Crozet elementary will finalize its recommendation Tuesday.

Over the last few months, the committee made up of representatives from the Brownsville and Crozet communities has reviewed student enrollment data, projections and redistricting scenarios. More recently, the committee released four scenarios to gather feedback from the community via surveys and virtual meetings.

…

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, nearby Brownsville Elementary had nearly 900 students while the building’s capacity was 764. At Crozet, enrollment was up to 360 students, 30 more than the building’s capacity. The $20.4 million, 28,000-square-foot expansion of Crozet will add about 340 seats.

This school year, Brownsville has 729 students while Crozet has 328.

Under the initial scenarios, between 226 to 272 students could move from Brownsville to Crozet, leaving both schools with room to grow. Over the next five years, the division is projecting Brownsville to add another 235 students, though that’s using the current attendance zones.

…The scenarios would affect people living in the Grayrock and Waylands Grant/Bargamin Park neighborhoods as well as the Western Ridge/Foothill Crossing/Wickham Pond area. The largest group of Brownsville students would come from the Western Ridge area, according to presentations.