The bridge work was supposed to have been done in a couple years, and now it looks like next year.
“Alternative B: The second alternative involves a phased approach to construction. The bridge would be reduced to one lane and two-way traffic would be controlled by a temporary traffic signal for at least eight months. Drivers would experience delays near the bridge site especially during rush hour with this alternative.”
Since September 2019, Albemarle County has been exploring alongside the Crozet community how to best reflect the community’s vision for future development in the latest update to the Crozet Master Plan. This month, we’ve focused on sharing the draft transportation recommendations that have been developed based on feedback gathered over the past 15 months.
The draft guiding principle for the Transportation chapter is to “create a multimodal transportation network that is safe and accessible for all community members, regardless of age, race, income and ability.”
We invite you to share your feedback with our project team. Community feedback will be shared with the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors as part of the review process. The Board of Supervisors will provide final direction and approval on the Crozet Master Plan.
Click the buttons below to read the draft or share feedback.
The questionnaire will be open from February 2nd – February 19th, 2021.
You may also submit your comments directly to Rachel Falkenstein, Planning Manager [email protected].
Thanks to Phil Kirby again for sharing this insight and knowledge.
Over the past few months, once my eyes were opened by the approach to development in my own backyard, I have started to watch more closely the planned development for Crozet.
I do not understand the details of how these things get approved but I have attended Crozet community meetings and I have been to a few Planning Commission meetings to watch how the commissioners react to recommendations from their staff and comments from the people who live here.
The Crozet Community Advisory Council, CCAC, has advocated for greater control of development – stressing that it should more closely resemble the accepted Master Plan and for the infrastructure that was expected to support the development be put in place. I think they are doing very good work to present the point of view of the people who live in Crozet these regards.
More importantly, during my involvement in these meetings I have become aware of three traffic issues that will directly affect our local neighborhoods. These are all documented in public domains – they are not my opinions – although I have not seen them addressed as an integrated issue.
As part of the current Foothill Crossing development (happening now adjacent to Parkside) an “emergency” access road, connecting to the next phase of Foothill Development, has been cut through the stream buffer and a crossing over the stream has been installed. A hundred feet of trees on either side of the stream were cut down and a culvert installed to accommodate this.
Right now the road is dirt. It has been used to haul excess soil from current Foothill Crossing site construction to the next phase of development on the other side of the stream.
The finished road will be 24 feet wide and paved with standard VDOT asphalt paving according to the plans. The drawings say it will be removed when the connector to downtown Crozet is complete.
The county engineers office confirmed that this road could be used as a construction access road in the future.
This cut through the steam buffer is done, it is there now, and no limitations to its usage are identified. It is highlighted in red on the sketch below.
Crozet Park has proposed to build an expanded Community Center and is requesting a Special Use Permit which will be presented to the Planning Commission soon. I have not been told when this will happen but Planning staff has made their comments and it could happen at any upcoming meeting.
The plans contemplate a new 32’ high, two story building with a 36,000 square foot footprint (see purple area on sketch below), with over two hundred new, paved parking spaces (counts by area shown on sketch below).
Crozet Park is also asking, as part of the permit, that the existing access road onto Hilltop, which currently used during special events, be expanded to become a two lane, permanent entrance/exit although their drawings do not show a VDOT approved configuration. The drawings say that configuration will presented later. (shown on the sketch below highlighted in red).
The CCAC has been shown these plans at a meeting that I attended. I am not aware that CACC raised any major issues with Crozet Park’s Request for a Special Use Permit.
At a recent CCAC Meeting a traffic study was presented by the county that analyzed the future impacts at the Old Trail/250 intersection, the Crozet Avenue/250 intersection and the Tabor/Crozet Avenue intersection.
The study indicated that Tabor/Crozet Avenue intersection would have unacceptable wait times when all the development planned in Crozet is complete (the study found the intersection is not a problem now) AND, even after all of the proposed infrastructure roads are complete (Eastern Avenue Connector to 250 and the connector to downtown), the intersection would not work properly because of conflicts of turns from Tabor with queuing to turn onto Jarman’s Gap.
The proposed solution was to eliminate left turns from Crozet Ave onto Jarman’s Gap, instead cars would turn left onto a loop road, that would be built around the Methodist church, and connect to Carter Street from which a right onto Jarman’s Gap could be made. This conceptual road is shown in red on the sketch below.
It should be noted that the study and proposed solutions were presented as preliminary findings of the study group. However, at the conclusion of the meeting they indicated that they planned to move forward studying the “loop road” solution.
I attended the CCAC meeting where this was presented, and I am not aware that CCAC has raised any major with this proposal.
I overlayed the plans submitted for the Special Use Permit for the Crozet Park, highlighted the proposed access road in red. New Building is purple, existing buildings dotted, new parking counts indicated.
I overlayed the Foothill Crossing plan to shown where the “emergency” road cuts through the steam buffer. I am not aware of limitations to usage of that roadway.
I sketched in red where the “loop road” is proposed at Tabor/Crozet Avenue.
The dotted yellow and gold lines are my attempt to highlight new traffic patterns that could result once the new roads are in place. I am not aware of any studies of these traffic patterns nor studies of the intersection of the proposed, new Crozet Park entrance at Hilltop.
I have my own opinions about these changes and plan to share them with the CCAC, the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors. I also realize that at one time the development I live in impacted someone else’s backyard and that these changes impact us all differently.
It is recommended to pursue the future extension of Eastern Avenue along the proposed Alignment B, as shown in Figure 3. This preferred alignment presents a balance of impacts to the identified constraints along with planned and unplanned developments. Alignment B matches the needs identified within the Downtown Crozet Master Plan with the lowest construction cost. Alignment B provides a crossing over Lickinghole Creek that lowers the risk of the bridge construction and future scour. The preferred alignment also minimizes impacts to utilities and private property by matching the alignment along Route 1260 (Cory Farm Road).
This is Figure 3
One can safely assume that all residents of Cory Farm know and knew about this road; it’s been planned forever, and it looks like the first resident of the neighborhood bought in 1997, per the GIS.
I’m struggling with reactivating the RealCrozetVA Facebook page; I recognize that it has thousands of people who used to visit it, but I’m also seeing that Facebookis dangerous. Thoughts welcomed.
There was a big land use meeting the other day. Here’s the blog post with the agenda, and below are the attachments sent out after the meeting. These land use decisions affect everything. Housing, schools, roads, trails, jobs, parks, and virtually everything else.
Note that the County are having Office Hours on 2 October. Read on for details.
These quick thoughts are part of an email that I sent to someone asking for my thoughts after the meeting. I wasn’t going to write a story until I was asked, so here it is.
We need creative density, commensurate with infrastructure improvements
There are a lot of people who say they want affordable housing, but want it somewhere else
Seems like a lot of Crozetians don’t like the current growth patterns, and want to shut down development. At least the ones speaking out.
Some of the stuff that is being built around Crozet is certainly contributing to the changes in Crozet
We need affordable housing here. Not “over there.”
I agree with the commenters that this feels somewhat rushed, but we still need to do something soon
We need a developer to come and propose/put up something like this that is functional and creative.
Ceasing development is not a good or viable solution (I’m working on a follow up post on this, and would welcome citations in favor or against this argument)
Zoom meetings are fantastic in that they open the meetings in a way that make them much easier to access, jump in and out, and learn.
(bolding is mine; this is part of the email from the County Staff as a followup
Thank you for attending yesterday afternoon’s Crozet Community Advisory Committee meeting. This was by far the highest-Zoom meeting we have had since we were forced to move engagement to a virtual format, with the turnout surpassing some of our public input opportunities that were open for over three weeks at a time. If you were unable to attend, please take some time to provide input through our questionnaire at https://publicinput.com/O2561.
I’ve had a number of requests for the video from the meeting as well as the Q&A list, chat, and presentation and wanted to provide those here. The meeting video can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/gCUKw8b4Mb0.
The Q&A list, chat log, and presentation slides are attached. We also wanted to create some additional opportunities for community members to chat directly with staff to provide feedback and ask questions about the Master Plan. Next Friday, October 2 from 11AM-1PM we will be hosting (virtual) office hours. Please consider joining us to learn more about the draft future land use plan, ask questions, and share your feedback! You do not have to attend for the entire time and can join whenever is convenient for you. You can pre-register/access the meeting here:
Take a few minutes and voice your opinion on bicycle and pedestrian connectivity in Crozet here.
“Crozetians have told us about the importance of connecting Crozet’s different neighborhoods and centers with safe routes for pedestrians and cyclists.
We invite you to discuss potential projects and recommendations that can address the community’s goals regarding bicycle and pedestrian connectivity.
Your participation will be used to draft recommendations in the Connectivity Chapter of the Crozet Master Plan. “
As you might know, the launch of the Crozet Connect is on August 5. To promote that new service JAUNT has partnered with Starr Hill Brewery and Old Trail to hold two service launch promotion events right before the service starts.
August 2, 7-9 p.m., Starr Hill Brewery
Live music by the Crozet Jam Band (they said they’ll do some “road” numbers). CONNECT Bus parked outside. CONNECT swag and info handed out. Possible rebranding of beer with CONNECT logo (brewmaster still working that out). Raffle for monthly passes.
August 3, 12-2 p.m., Old Trail Business Center
Family-oriented, picnic-themed event featuring local artist Sarah Lopez. Businesses will have exhibits. Waylands Crossing Tavern will serve outside on sidewalk. Ice cream truck and CONNECT bus parked. We’ll have a table with swag and info. Raffle for monthly passes.
ALBEMARLE COUNTY, VA – Albemarle County, Perrone Robotics, Inc., JAUNT, Inc., and Smart Mobility, Inc. today celebrated the first day of service for their autonomous shuttle transit service, the first public autonomous shuttle operating in Virginia on public roads.
AVNU (pronounced, “Avenue”, an acronym for Autonomous Vehicle, Neighborhood Use), is based on Perrone Robotics’ TONY GEM autonomous shuttle platform. The pilot will operate for three months, with routes shifting to different areas of Crozet. The first route will be within the Old Trail Village neighborhood and the second route will run between Old Trail Village and downtown Crozet. The AVNU pilot is supported in partnership by Albemarle County, Perrone Robotics, JAUNT, and Smart Mobility, Inc.
“It is with great pleasure that we launch the pilot of the next generation of transportation – autonomous neighborhood shuttles – here in Crozet,” said Ann Mallek, White Hall District Supervisor. “Albemarle County is so proud to support our homegrown company, Perrone Robotics, to bring this project to fruition and to support our development areas by providing small-scale transit service to connect residents with commercial and recreation centers.”
This electric-powered shuttle is designed to operate autonomously on public roads, navigating vehicle and pedestrian traffic. “With over 33,000 autonomous miles traveled using our technology, TONY powered vehicles bring the highest level of autonomy available in the world today to shuttles,” said Paul Perrone, founder/CEO of Perrone Robotics.
“We are deploying an AV platform that has been carefully refined since 2003, applied in automotive and industrial autonomy spaces, and now being leveraged to bring last-mile services to communities such as those here in Albemarle County, Virginia. What we deliver is a platform that operates shuttles autonomously in complex environments with roundabouts, merges, and pedestrian-dense areas.”
During the pilot, the shuttle will operate with an onboard safety operator that is actively monitoring the roadway and able to assume control of the shuttle if needed.
Perrone Robotics, Inc. (PRI)
Perrone Robotics has developed a general purpose software platform for robotics and autonomous vehicles called “MAX®”. The company is focused today on delivering its TONY product, built on MAX, to commercially deploy practical autonomous shuttling of people and things. With over 16 years of experience and over 33,000 miles autonomously driven, Perrone Robotics’ MAX autonomous engine enables standard vehicles of any size to collect input from any suite of sensors, fuse that information together into a coherent picture of what surrounds a robot, and then engage in appropriate maneuvers and actions. For more information, please visit https://www.perronerobotics.com/
Update: Answer to a Question
Question: I don’t understand. Is there a schedule? Or do you summon it somehow? I mean, if its route is within Old Trail, where is it going besides between people’s houses and the commercial block? School to Grit? Confused.
Answer: Today was the shuttle launch. Today from 10-12 and 3-5 as well as tomorrow, the shuttle will be available on a fixed loop in Old Trail. Beginning next weekend (July 20-21) the shuttle will be running on weekends on a closed loop in Old Trail. There will be a schedule that is publicized before next weekend (July 20-21).
Eventually the plan is to be able to summon it and to expand it’s range. Stay tuned!
It’s just past the blinking light on 250 on the way into Charlottesville. You know, the dip in the road that’s been getting dippier for the past few weeks?
via email:
PORTION OF RT. 250 IN ALBEMARLE TO BE CLOSED JUNE 12-13
Crews will replace large pipe; motorists advised to follow posted detour
CULPEPER — An upcoming pipe replacement project will close a portion of Route 250 (Ivy Road) in Albemarle County in mid-June.
VDOT will close Route 250 to through traffic to replace a large pipe located just east of Route 676 (Tilman Road). This work has been scheduled to avoid both morning rush hours. The road will be closed beginning at 10 a.m. June 12 and will reopen by 4 a.m. June 13, weather permitting.
The large pipe must be replaced to prevent damage to the travel lanes. Crews will excavate the soil above and around the pipe. After removing the pipe, crews will install a new pipe, backfill the area and resurface the road.
Due to the significant work required to remove the old pipe, it is not feasible to keep one travel lane open during this project.
Motorists are advised to use Route 738 (Morgantown Road) to get around the closure.
Drivers should check www.511virginia.org or the 511 mobile app for updated information about traffic conditions and follow @VaDOTCULP on Twitter for updates.
Join Us For Our Next Topic: Parks & Trails
