The CCAC meeting on 10 April 2024 was an open house at Brownsville.

Spend some time going through the slides. The transportation section is particularly interesting.

A few highlights:

• Read about the Albemarle County 2024 Budget at Charlottesville Community Engagement
• County Schools account for 45% of the County budget
• 3 new schools will be built in Albemarle in the next three years.
• The police gave an update on traffic issues; zero discussion about how to minimize traffic issues by having more bike and pedestrian infrastructure.
• Albemarle County’s transportation dashboard is here. Getting transportation projects completed is a massive challenge as so many things (and humans and humans’ agendas) need to align to get funding.
• A resident from Pleasant Green asks why don’t developers build sidewalks? We don’t have a safe sidewalk route. Answer was that in 2016 the Commonwealth eliminated proffers, and those were what funded offsite improvements (Read — sidewalks, etc not in a specific development)
• Westlake residents suggested revisiting the Crozet Master Plan, as it was predicated on the Eastern Connector, which is so very much delayed.
• “A comment about not enough parking in the new square and people are upset about not being able to make left into the square Ann – right in/right out has been planned for 15 years. Me: people are complaining about having to drive a few extra feet?”
  • The Left turn into the Square is a disaster, particularly in mornings and afternoons.
  • If we as a community – Crozet & Albemarle – are truly concerned about traffic, we need fewer cars on the roads.
  • “Never forget, when you’re being asked to prove that safe bike-lanes or pedestrian crossings across unsafe conditions are ‘needed,’ it’s hard to justify a bridge by the number of people swimming across a raging river.”
  • Me: the county and VDOT don’t require connectivity. They build just for cars.
• There was a question about an infrastructure gap analysis, asking for an analysis about lacking infrastructure. No good answer was given.

From the CCAC meeting last week (thanks to Crozet Gazette for the video below!)

If you have an hour, please watch the video. If you don’t, please read or skim the information below.

My notes from watching the video

• The Square project and Barnes Lumber are two separate and distinct projects, despite efforts to coordinate and execute together
• 11 month project
• Christmas tree going away; chance a tree will be in the Plaza
• No left turn into the Mudhouse – finally.
• Replacing sidewalks at the end of the project… Five phases
• No improvements to Tabor and Jarman
• $2 million project
• Seven years since the project was first funded
• Will there be a webcam for the public to watch? Great question.
• I’ve written about The Square many times over the years, from the railroad fence to the sinkhole to the sign in the Square. And a lot more.
• I saw no mention of bike parking, despite evidence that bike infrastructure is profitable.
  • In the minds of many business owners, though, there’s still a direct correlation between cars and customers. Too often, the opposition to bicycle infrastructure is led by retailers who believe ample car parking space is critical to their customer base. But that belief could be depriving businesses of their best potential patrons: cyclists. … 2009 study of Bloor Street in Toronto, ON, found that customers who arrive by foot and bicycle visit the most often and spend the most money per month.” (bolding mine)
• More members are needed to join the Crozet Community Advisory Committee. They need fresh faces and new blood. 🙂

The PDF of the presentation is here.

From Charlottesville Community Engagement on 20 February 2024

Albemarle report provides details into Crozet’s Square project

In June 2012, Albemarle County acquired a 0.36 acre parcel in downtown Crozet from CSX Transportation in a transaction in which no money changed hands. The strip of land is known as The Square and spans between Crozet Avenue and Oak Street on the western edge of the Barnes Lumberyard.