It’s looking good. Last week, my no-longer-a-second-grade-daughter and I rode our bikes from Parkside Village to get ice cream at Trailside Coffee; it’s an easy ride.
I haven’t taken photos of Jarman’s Gap in a while, but I’ll say this – it’s a fantastic road – easy to walk and ride on. It’s surely going to allow better connectivity – both physically and psychologically – between the neighborhoods along Jarman’s Gap and downtown Crozet.
Last week I lamented the possibility of Crozet Avenue becoming a bottleneck. This week, it appears that the right turn lane may not be viable. After the break, you can see Piedmont Development Group’s proposal for a right turn lane followed by Albemarle County’s response. I’m no engineer so I’ll leave it to those who know better as to whose response is more practical. All I know is this – traffic and congestion are coming; those who live within walking or biking distance of downtown Crozet will benefit greatly from the growth.
Update: The Newsplex did a nice story on proposed new development One clarification: the new development could help or hurt the Crozet community. My greatest personal concern is that the new development seems to have its sole access via Park Road. Go to the end of this post for an excerpt from a relevant discussion in 2006.
145 more homes could be coming to the area between Western Ridge and Foxchase and Westhall. This sort of development has wide-ranging ramifications and potential impacts:
– school populations and balancing
– loss of natural landscape (which all new neighborhoods tend to do)
– infrastructure – will there be any improvements? i.e. – roads, bicycle paths, connectivity?
– more housing inventory which could be a good thing, depending on what houses will be built (remember, I’m a Realtor)
– more traffic on 240
Seems a bit of a squeeze. I cannot imagine that many more houses coming out through existing neighborhoods would be a good, safe, or appealing reality. If the entire landmass that is Crozet becomes residential homes then the things that attract people to Crozet – keeping land/home prices so stable – will be gone and people will no longer desire – and pay – to live here. The view of the mountains, the expanses of open land – already depleted – and the country – not full on suburb – are very fragile and once gone cannot be brought back.
I know that the sidewalks are being used now quite frequently and I look forward to more people using the bike lanes when they’re in place … if you haven’t been down Jarman’s Gap lately, the progress (while seemingly slow to those who are living through the construction) is coming along quickly.
Big thanks go to the Crozet PTO for organizing today’s Walk to School Day. In spite of the sudden rain, a lot of families continued on and made it to school on foot and bike without incident. I hear the next Walk to School day is March 9.
“Daddy! More people should ride bikes! There’s less traffic!”*
What a nice surprise to get to Crozet Elementary this morning after riding just over a mile to find that the bike rack had been moved to a more visibly prominent location. I even heard kids discussing the new location.
I asked Crozetians for the services of a teenager to photograph the walk from Trailside Coffee in Old Trail to Henley Middle School. From sidewalks to paths to the bridge back to a path, it looks like a pretty nice walk to me.
To the kid who took the pictures, thank you. To the administration of Albemarle County Schools, please be reasonable and allow kids to walk to school.
Update: Thank God for bureaucracy. How ever would our children survive without it?
Update #2: From Jessica with the Crozet Trails Crew:
Thanks for the slide show. The Crozet Trails Crew would like to work with Old Trail, the Schools, and the County to improve and/or maintain this trail so that school officials, parents, and kids feel like it is a safe option for getting to and from school. We would be happy to meet with all interested parties on site and to schedule a workday as early as September 4th. Please contact [email protected] to volunteer or with suggestions.
I’d heard about this and driven/ridden my bike by the site of the soon-to-come retention pond but haven’t yet taken photos.
Happily, I received this email from a reader today:
I wanted to bring to your attention a detention pond that VDOT has planned along Jarmans Gap Road. My hope is that you could post a story on Real Crozet to get the community at large involved. I have been trying to convince VDOT that this plan is a ridiculous solution to the storm water problem on Jarmans Gap but so far I haven’t gotten very far. It is my understanding that the developer for Old Trail also tried working with VDOT on an alternate plan to no avail.
I have a meeting with Ann Mallek on Thursday at the site to try and get the BOS on my side but the honest truth is the Western Bypass is occupying most of their time these days.
The plan, as I understand it; there is a large detention pond planned for the green space at the entrance to Old Trail (where the sign used to be). This detention pond will be filled from the bottom using the curb and gutters along Jarmans Gap. This water will then be drained through a controlled release into the storm water drains that run through Old Trail. This “pond” will be 10 feet deep and surrounded by chain link fencing that is 6 feet tall. There is landscaping in the form of trees and shrubs only only the South side (which is the side closest to the home on Old Trail Drive that it will sit beside). There are small plantings planned for the North side along Jarmans Gap. The other 2 sides will remain bare. Forgetting the fact that the fencing planned is hideous, I find the entire project offensive. VDOT has planned this as if it were way out in the country and wouldn’t be affecting anyone. This is a main corridor in Crozet and I think this will affect everyone! I can think of no other development/neighborhood in Albemarle County, or the City of Charlottesville for that matter, that has such an eye sore at it’s front door.
When I first discovered this plan, the VDOT employee that I spoke with said in no uncertain terms that it WOULD be a mosquito pit. When I asked him if he would want to live next to something like that he said “absolutely not”.
This is from Justin Beights, Old Trail’s Developer responding to my inquiry several weeks ago:
Dear Neighbors,
Many of you have contacted us regarding the work on Jarmans Gap Road. As you know, this is a VDOT project over which we have little control. However, please know that we have been attempting to work with VDOT for nearly two years to keep this work from negatively affecting our homeowners. Unfortunately, such efforts have met with resistance on the part of the transportation department.
Currently, the work at the intersection of Old Trail Drive and Jarmans Gap Road involves the creation of a sediment basin to collect run-off from the construction site. This is a typical environmental requirement of any construction that involves moving dirt (we have several in Old Trail Village, including the pond behind the town homes on West End Drive). Ideally, VDOT’s stormwater management would tie into the existing structures and systems in Old Trail Village. We have offered to work with VDOT engineers to create just such a solution, but they have not been open to this overture. Options for VDOT other than the collection basin at the intersection (Carriage Park entrance) would be to convert the permanent structure to a bio-filter or piping the runoff to one of our existing ponds. Neither of these options is attractive to VDOT because that would incur greater expense than the retention pond they’re digging now.
At this point, we are trying to convince VDOT that the sediment collection basin should be temporary in nature, and that a more attractive, beneficial solution should be conceived. Feedback from homeowners in the area should be directed to the VDOT, as it is a state organization responsible to the taxpayers. Regardless of your avenue for expression, please know that you have our support to reduce any negative impact on you and your quality of life here in Old Trail Village and Crozet.
Sincerely,
Justin Beights
President
Beights Corporation
The Walk to School portion has been rescheduled due to lack of participation.
Crozet Community Advisory Council Meeting – Walking & Biking to School meeting to try to get community buy-in. This is the sort of meeting that the community needs to, if it truly believes in connectivity and walking/biking to school, get behind. If the buy-in/interest isn’t expressed, we will have the continued status quo – as in – nothing happening.
“Please join us at the Crozet Community Advisory Council (CCAC) meeting (Thursday, April 21st at 7:00PM). The meeting will be dedicated to the topic of walking and biking to the local schools. Representation from each of the schools and PTOs will make this a much more lively and effective discussion. Thank you for making time in your busy schedules to discuss this important topic.
Location: The Meadows Community Center, 5800 Meadows Drive (off of 240) in Crozet”
