Take the time to learn about the contracting Downtown Crozet area.
C-Ville has a detailed report as well.
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Details on the development from last week’s C-Ville on the recommended approval.
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Charlottesville Tomorrow has the story:
“Currently my livelihood is at stake,†he said. “I’m not looking to develop this property for profit, but merely to keep my business in the County.â€
With Albemarle’s current anti-business environment and reputation, one would think the County would want to encourage keeping small businesses in the County.
Take the time to exercise your voice and opinion on how you want Crozet to look in the next two, five and thirty years.
For those who don’t receive Albemarle’s excellent A-Mail:
The Planning Commission will hold a worksession on Tuesday, October 30, 2007, at 4:00 p.m., to review and discuss the Crozet Downtown Zoning project, with a focused discussion on a recommendation for a single Downtown Crozet Zoning District and the zoning regulations to be established for that district.
Topics will include: building setbacks, building height, land uses, the requirement for mixed use, parking requirements, sidewalks, landscaping, and buffer/screening requirements.
Click here to view the Planning Commission Agenda.
There will be an opportunity for public comment. If you are unable to attend the meeting and would like to send the Planning Commission your thoughts about the Crozet Downtown Zoning Project, please complete our email Comment Form in the “What’s New” box on the Master Planning webpage.
The regular Planning Commission meeting will follow at 6:00 p.m. The Planning Commission meets in the Lane Auditorium located in the County Office Building – McIntire Road.
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“It’s a victory for Crozet,” says Atwood, clearly buoyed by the conditional approval. The county is currently looking at changing the zoning in downtown Crozet to encourage mixed-use redevelopment. “We’re taking the old bones of a town and recreating them. They’ve always been talking about redoing Crozet, and it’s time to do some work there. It’s a community that really wants their identity back.”
Redevelopment – good or bad?
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At Charlottesville Tomorrow, co-hosted by the Free Enterprise Forum. This time with a transcript and audience questions!
Not including bike lanes is a serious flaw in the design of an “improved” Downtown Crozet.
“Where are the bike lanes?†asked one man. There are none planned, answered the consultant.
“Would people have to bike on the sidewalk?†Experienced bikers often ride on the street, explained the consultant. The man didn’t seem satisfied.
For a local government with such a great recent track record of embracing green initiatives and active lifestyles, this is a shame.
Whom should we contact at the County to express a desire for bike lanes?
Also, per David Wyant: “We want a walkable, bikable community.” – 1:01 of the White Hall Forum.
Update: Here is some of the relevant Code regarding riding bikes on sidewalks.
Update 2: From Jack Kelsey,
Thank you for your inquiry and the web-links. In response to your September 25th email, we recognize that this street corridor is really constrained with some existing features that are very important to Crozet residents. Our primary challenge during the design process is going to be achieving a balance of the improvements to: accommodate the needs of all users (vehicles, pedestrians, bicyclists, and future transit); aesthetically enhance this main thoroughfare of the Downtown; preserve existing unique features and characteristics of Crozet Avenue and Crozet; increase vitality and economic benefit to downtown business owners; and try to provide environmentally sensitive solutions to stormwater management within this constrained corridor.
At this point we have not made any absolute decisions as to design elements, but as a starting point we are using the Crozet Master Plan, Historic Crozet Streetscape Enhancement Project grant application, and the County Sidewalk and Bicycle Facilities plans as our guidance. That said, bicycle lanes are being provided on Jarmans Gap Road and the new Main Street. In the event that the constraints do not allow for the provision of bikes lanes, we will plan for an alternate means to provide bicycle access and interconnection. Â
Through our design and public involvement process we will be welcoming the residents’ input as we work together to achieve the needed balance and help those involved and impacted by this project to find some benefit.
Sincerely,
Jack M. Kelsey, PE
Transportation Engineer
Department of Facilities Development
Update 3: From an unsolicited email from Ann Mallek:
In the UNJAM 2025 long range transportation plan which I have worked on since 2000, the focus is on multimodal, or all forms, of transportation infrastructure. For the first time more than ten percent of the federal funds are to be used in transit improvements.
The stipulation was made that all new roads in subdivisions should be wide enough and properly striped for bike lanes, and that as existing roadways were improved, they were to be brought into conformance by adding striping where width allowed and adding paved shoulder or separate paths where needed.
As the supervising authority over VDOT’s road projects, it is up to the Board of Supervisors to make sure about those details, as projects are approved and also as the projects are built out. While visiting in the neighborhoods recently, I have learned about poor follow up on project implementation. In one area a house has been constructed on top of a filled in storm water detention pond lot and the water has all been diverted into a pipe and dumped into the field across the street, where it impacts that owner’s basement.
Details are important, from the planning aspect or the follow through. We cannot look away once a decision is made. The community is counting on enforcement of all provisions of permits.
Ann Mallek
Candidate for Supervisor, White Hall district
Regarding Ann’s email – it’s reassuring that one of the candidates for this year’s election is reading and contributing to the discussion. Thank you.
Regarding the sidewalks, it appears that if there’s room, they’ll put in the bike lanes. What we seem to have here is an instance of the County being between a rock and a hard place. People want the bike lanes, but they also want the front porches saved. Read about the petitions to save the Barbershop’s front porch here, Cocina del Sol’s porch here and September’s Crozet Gazette (PDF). There’s always more to the story, and I am grateful to those who have chosen to contribute to the conversation. Would it be fair and accurate to say that we might have to choose between bike lanes and front porches?
Technorati Tags: albemarle, bike lanes, crozet, politics, transportation
Cvillenews asks the question today. I’ve pondered doing a story about incorporation but want to research it (and try to get some UVA law students to help). There are a couple of reasons that Crozet doesn’t incorporate, and three of those are that
1) We’d have to pay separate taxes to the town
2) We’d have to hire our own police force with said taxes
3) Everybody wants everything but doesn’t want to pay for it.
Maybe we can talk about it this evening at tonight’s Town Meeting at Western Albemarle High School. The fun starts at 7 and (is scheduled to) ends at 9.
The town meeting will also serve as the kick-off for the Downtown Crozet Streetscape Project Phase 2, which will focus on pedestrian-friendly improvements like sidewalks, landscaping, and lighting along Crozet Avenue to Tabor Street and will begin construction of New Main Street to provide access to the new Crozet library.
Thanks for the incomparable Charlottesville Tomorrow you can listen to last Thursday’s Crozet Community Association forum with challenger Ann Mallek and incumbent David Wyant.
Growth, infrastructure, transportation – issues that are pertinent to all Crozetians and Albemarle County residents – it’s all there.
Listen at Charlottesville Tomorrow or CvillePodcast.
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.