Crozet's community blog
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.
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.
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.â€
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.
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?”
Mark your calendars!
Thursday, July 26, 2007
7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Crozet Fire Station
5624 Three Notch’d Road in Crozet
If you don’t participate, you can’t complain. These meetings very likely will decide in large part, how Crozet will look many years from now. Begin your education at Albemarle’s great website.
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I haven’t listened to it yet (allegedly I’m on vacation) but am hoping that Tom addresses his reasons for dropping out of the Board of Supervisors’ race.
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The C-Ville has a good summary of last Thursday’s meeting.
The consultants will now cook up some options for how to achieve this vision of a pedestrian-friendly, business-friendly, traffic-friendly downtown Crozet—whether by imposing a historic overlay district or outright alterations of the zoning or some other method known in the worlds of planners and land-use academics. They will present these options to Crozet on May 24.
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They wouldn’t actually represent only Crozet, believe it or not; they represent all of the White Hall district, but for those of us in Crozet, it may seem like it. (PDF is here)
Now that there are three candidates in the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors’ race, what questions would you want to ask them?
David Wyant, the incumbent, native of the area.
Ann Mallek, very involved native of the area.
Tom Loach, very involved transplant, not that it matters much.
(why bring up whether one is a native or not? It matters to some)
Top issues? –
– Growth
– Transportation
– Property Taxes
– Downtown Crozet
What does the population of Crozet look like now? How different is it than four years ago?
Some possible questions –
– Do you support ASAP’s desire to find an “optimal population” for Albemarle County?
– Do you support David Slutzky’s Transfer of Development Right plan?
– What are your thoughts on transit? How would you seek to implement transit locally and regionally, if you support it? If not, why not?
– Would you support a local or regional sales tax to help pay for transportation needs?
– What does your vision for Crozet look like?
– What are the intended consequences of slowing or stopping growth and what might be some of the unintended consequences?
– What do you think about Crozet incorporating as a town?
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Tom Loach, local anti-growth advocate.
Courtesy of the Crozet Gazette, via Charlottesville Tomorrow:
Thomas Loach, a resident of Crozet since 1989, submitted a letter to the editor outlining his experience and asking area residents, particularly those in the designated growth area around Crozet, to sign petitions to put him on the ballot for the November 2007 general election as an independent candidate.
Charlottesville Tomorrow has a lengthy post.
Update 5/9/2007: The May edition of the Crozet Gazette is online. (PDF)
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Add your voice to the discussion of what Downtown Crozet will look like. From the County:
CROZET DOWNTOWN ZONING
COMMUNITY MEETING #1
May 10, 2007 — 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Crozet Fire StationCrozet is a special place with a strong identity. If you participated in the Crozet Master Planning process, you will remember the saying we heard frequently: “all roads lead to downtown”. The Master Plan identified downtown as the largest and most important of the centers of residential and economic activity.
While a vision for downtown exists, the question still remains “How do we get there”? In response to this, Albemarle County has commissioned Community Planning and Design, in collaboration with Milt Herd and Bruce Dotson, to recommend zoning which will help implement the Master Plan vision for a thriving Downtown Crozet.
As part of this study we will be investigating existing limitations with the current code and best practices in communities of similar size and scale. Several alternatives will be presented to the community, and with your input one approach will be recommended for the county to adopt. This process will evolve over the next six months and will provide opportunities for community participation in developing the new zoning regulation.
Mark your calendars and make plans to participate in this important process.
Learn more at the County’s site. The agenda is below and here as a PDF.
So – here is the question – how do you envision Downtown Crozet?
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