Now that the Albemarle County Planning Commission have approved Adelaide, the next step is the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors meeting.
Continue reading “Adelaide Approved by Albemarle County Planning Commission”
The Vue – Coming to Downtown Crozet – 120+ Apartments
An interesting by-right development is coming to downtown Crozet.
The Vue. 120+ apartments on Blue Ridge Avenue.
Dig into the plan. (start here) Get informed and aware. The preliminary site plan is here.
The Crozet Gazette isn’t a fan of the project. (bolding mine)
The poster child for abuse of this policy is a new by-right apartment project called The Vue on Blue Ridge Avenue. On land zoned R6 and designated at that density in the Crozet Master Plan, Pinnacle Construction and Development of Charlottesville will build nine 14-unit apartment buildings, a clubhouse and swimming pool to create a total of 125 apartments with an effective density of R18. This cynical and exploitative move is an act of sabotage to the master plan and destroys a happy 125-year-old neighborhood.
Read the whole thing.
Update: The Crozet Gazette pulls this from their archives:
Adelaide Neighborhood Public Meeting
I had intended to post this letter a couple weeks ago from the proposed Adelaide developer. Since then, the Cory Farm HOA have gotten together and written a letter outlining some of their concerns. Both are below.
So as to not bury the lede, the CCAC meeting where this development will be discussed is Wednesday, 16 December at the Crozet Library.
– Letter from the HOA to the CCAC of the adjacent neighborhood, Cory Farm.
Crozet is going to grow, folks. We are a growth area. How we grow is, in part, up to us. In part.
Old Trail Aiming to Downzone to Build Fewer Homes
Just over 10 years ago, Old Trail was approved/rezoned.
If you’ve seen the Albemarle County signs at the entrance to Old Trail and wondered, what’s that for?
In short, they’re seeking a downzoning from the allowed 1,600 units to 1,100 units. As I advise my clients: Old Trail will grow; so will Crozet. Be aware, and If you don’t own it (whatever “it” is), it’s going to change.
Update 16 December 2015:
Charlottesville Tomorrow reports on the proposed downzoning. I’m awfully curious about this part, seeing as how more connectivity is needed.
March Mountain also wants to remove a reference to a future road connection with Henley Middle School. Staff members want the developer to retain a pedestrian connection and reserve it for emergency vehicle access and the developer agreed.
Clarifying Update – 16 December 2015, from the County’s report (pdf):
#2: Henley Middle School Connection
The applicant has proposed to remove the road connection that was shown on the original application plan, and is also shown in the Crozet Master Plan, between Block 19 and Henley Middle School and instead provide a pedestrian only connection. Planning staff, school staff, and the applicant have met concerning this connection and while the schools currently do not have this connection in their plans, they do not want to foreclose on the possibility of a connection in the future to alleviate traffic on Route 250 coming into and out of the school and help with bus traffic. Therefore, the note should be revised to include both a pedestrian and road connection between Block 19 and Henley Middle School. Staff’s understanding is that the applicant is amenable to this change.
#1: Interconnection between Blocks 32 and 22
The applicant has proposed the following note in regards to Street T, which is the connection between Blocks 32 and 22: “The developer reserves the right, but not the obligation to build the road between Block 22 and Block 32 as an approved public or private road or as a secondary emergency accessway. If this road is constructed, the developer reserves the right to impact the stream buffer as shown on Sheet 3.”
Staff is in support of this road being designated as an optional public or private street because of the large impacts to the stream buffer, however, the note should be revised to delete the reference to “secondary emergency accessway.” The proposed note appears to leave it to the discretion of the developer to decide whether or not to build an emergency accessway, If during the site plan or subdivision process for these blocks, Fire and Rescue, VDOT, or engineering find that a secondary emergency access is needed for the health, safety and general welfare of the public, then this connection will need to be made. As stated, the developer would not need to adhere to that requirement.
And the accompanying RealCrozetVA facebook post.
Continue reading “Old Trail Aiming to Downzone to Build Fewer Homes”
Old Trail was Rezoned Nearly 10 Years Ago
Hard to believe that nearly 10 years ago, Old Trail was rezoned (that was the 2nd post on RealCrozetVA!).
A few thoughts:
- It’s a shame that the Daily Progress’ archives are no longer available — note the broken links in my story.
- I’m glad I quoted a reasonable part of their story.
- Reading the BoS Executive Summary from that meeting, I’m hard-pressed to see how anyone ever thought that Old Trail was going to be more of a retirement community, as I’ve heard many people say over the years as a means by which to excuse not planning better.
- Harder to belive that it’s been nearly 10 years since the rezoning!
The story remains the same. This could have been written today:
Most of the frustration, though, has been directed at the county for not funding long-term improvements outlined in Crozet’s master plan, such as parking, better roads and sidewalks.
That said:
- We now have an extremely active and useful Jarmans Gap with sidewalks and bike lanes.
- Old Trail is a thriving community
- Schools remain a challenge.
- Downtown’s Streetscape is finished and is outstanding.
- The Crozet Library is truly awesome.
Crozet Town Hall Recap
The Crozet Town Hall, #CTZBarnesHall as captured on Twitter, was interesting.
A few notes before diving into the recap … if you see errors, please let me know):
– Probably at least 125 people were there – many of whom I knew, but had never before seen at a Crozet meeting. Awesome. An involved and informed community like this is a tremendously valuable thing.
– I think the childcare was a huge offering by the developer and helped to get folks out.
– Thanks to the developer and the team for setting all that up.
– Tremendous conversations were had, I heard a lot of great feedback and look forward to the followup meeting on 11 June in which results/recap will be presented.
– Common themes/desires I heard – walkability, economic vitality, greenspace, infrastructure
– It was hot in the Field School – and, as far as I could tell, everyone stayed.
– Sean Tubbs’ Charlottesville Tomorrow story is great.
– What did you think? What questions did you hear? What answers did you like/dislike?
100 Seat Restaurant Coming to 240/250 Intersection?
Read the entire letter from the prospective developers to the Crozet community –
Our goal is to restore a 100 seat restaurant to the former building site, thereby transforming this highly visible piece of property into both an attractive landmark, consistent with the ‘look and feel’ of the setting, as well to add a productive element to the commercial tax base.
While the proposed restaurant use is allowed by-right, a Special Use Permit is required for water usage in excess of 566 gallons per day (or 400 gallons per site acre per day). As part of the SP application process, we commissioned a detailed and professional assessment of the potential groundwater capacity in the vicinity of the parcel. The key findings of this report were as follows:
The entire letter is here (pdf) and the referenced groundwater study is here.
I assume the traffic study is public … need to get a hold of that. I misread … there is no traffic study required by VDOT.
Town Hall on Development of Downtown Crozet – 27 May 2015
This is important, folks. They’re offering food and childcare; please, take advantage of this opportunity to learn and voice your opinion.
From the Crozet Gazette (be sure to go there and read the whole thing):
The public is invited to a town hall meeting sponsored by the Crozet Community Association and Milestone Partners, the new owners of the 20-acre former Barnes Lumber Company property in downtown Crozet, that will be held Wednesday, May 27 at The Field School at 1408 Crozet Avenue to solicit community views on how the property should be designed and economically developed. The effort is tagged as the Downtown Crozet Initiative: A Vision for Barnes Lumber.
Refreshments and design examples will be offered beginning at 5:30 p.m., with the meeting starting formally at 6 p.m. and lasting until 9. Child care and food (probably pizza) will be provided. A follow-up meeting that will show a response to input from the May 27 meeting is set for Thursday, June 11.
If you plan to attend, the organizers ask that you RSVP by May 24 to: www.goo.gl/forms/4c2bypKd03. Walk-ins are welcome, however.
Other key background information on the subject is available at the CCA’s website, www.crozetcommunity.org.
The Newsplex has a good story today about the upcoming town hall meeting.
Christine Gyovai is leading a town hall meeting at the end of the month to gather community that community insight. Gyovai says the planning commission hopes to generate realistic ideas to make the area more accessible, and economically viable.
“What kind of economic development do the folks what to see in Crozet in the future? What kind of businesses? Where will kids be able to hang out if there are in high school? Where do they want to be able to take their families to in five years or 10 years. It’s chance for people to come together and share those ideas,” Gyovai said,
Several business owners say, like Dabney, they have concerns the lumber yard will become a either residential or massive commercial development, and the local small businesses would be priced out.
A simple request – if you’re going to meeting, or participating in the conversation, please spend a few minutes reading these stories and comments – a lot of our neighbors have already expressed opinions and thoughts there.
Turkey Farming Coming to Crozet
Charlottesville Tomorrow reports:
British poultry company plans to invest $2.3 million to open a specialty production and processing plant in Crozet, its first operation in the U.S., officials announced Thursday.
Here’s the location, using the County GIS.
And on Google Maps –
Jobs and agriculture. Should be good, right?
Update: the folks from Kelly Turkeys USA stopped by the facebook post and answered a bunch of the questions. I tried to embed the comments below, but they really don’t convey that well in the storify format.
What do you think, Crozet?
I had a great conversation this week with a Community Development Student at Texas A&M University about Crozet and thought the questions posed were good and relevant for us all to ponder:
“When responding to these questions, keep in mind the problems Crozet has faced since the 1990’s and how the town has evolved to alleviate these issues.
For the following questions, think in the context of increased population and traffic congestion.
1.) Do you commute to work every day? Drive a child to school?
a. As compared to 2000, how has your daily drive to and from work/responsibilities changed within the Crozet community?
2.) What are some of the changes you have witnessed to the Crozet landscape over the past 10-20 years?
3.) Have these changes been for better or for worse?
4.) What was done to help alleviate the problems these changes made?
5.) Is there anything that you would have done differently?”
And, as I’m curious, and you answer, please say how long you’ve lived here.