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Albemarle County Police Department and Nextdoor

A forthcoming announcement from Nextdoor & Albemarle County Police:

We are excited to announce that Albemarle County Police Department has shown interest in using Nextdoor to provide important updates and information to neighborhoods in your area. As part of this effort, you may see periodic updates from Albemarle County Police Department staff in your neighborhood. The purpose of these updates is to share alerts, news, and other notifications that are relevant to your neighborhood. It’s important to note that Albemarle County Police Department staff can only see their own posts and replies to these posts. They will NOT be able to access or view any information that you and your neighbors have shared in your neighborhood. Communicating with Albemarle County Police Department staff is entirely voluntary, and you can see more information here. You may choose to unsubscribe from all Albemarle County Police Department posts, as explained here. Please visit our Help Center if you have any questions.

Nextdoor has proven to be quite useful for communicating within the Crozet area; I remain firm in my belief (and practice) that the open internet is a far better space in which to have community conversations, rather than walled off behind closed sites. Not everyone wants to create a Nextdoor or Facebook account, and this is a furthering of the siloing of the internet.

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A Sunday in Crozet

Bike ride past Beaver Creek followed by polo at King Family Vineyards (and then I showed a lot in Crozet)

Beaver Creek Reservoir
Roseland Polo at King Family Vineyards

 

Some days, things work out, thoughts about traffic, crowded schools and roads, and other worries temporarily fade away.

All told, Crozet is a great place to live.

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Traffic in Crozet (letter from a reader)

via email:

I’ve lived in Crozet, down the street from Crozet Park most of my life. I understand my small town is going to grow. But I don’t get how we can continue on the path without fixing some problems?

Westlake is continuing to build and now more land across from the park is being developed. After being promised for the last eight years we’re getting another way out of our neighborhood I’m beginning to think it will never happen.

Between construction vehicles, school buses and your everyday commuter we are at our max. When a bad storm hits and we are stuck waiting for debris to be cleaned up before we can leave our home. Also all traffic is going out of Tabor Rd on to Park Ave, at this point we need a light at that intersection because no one wants to let each other out of Tabor Rd.

The lumber yard is going to be developed and with places such as Piedmont Place and others coming to Crozet Ave is continuing to see more congestion that it can’t handle. At what point will something finally be done? Are we going to wait like the county did with 29 North?

We should plan to fix problems like water use, schools and roads before it gets out of hand. Crozet is growing at a rate to fast for anyone to keep up. People in Brookwood, Westhall, and Westlake deserve another way out! The road from Parkside Village to 240 will not solve our problems either.

I’m hoping you will take my email serious, cause this effects many families.

*edited to add line breaks

The corresponding Facebook post (with lots of traffic & comments).

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Perrone Robotics Bringing Great Things to Crozet

via C-Ville (read the whole thing)

Crozet residents are aware that big things are happening in their town. Foremost among these has been Perrone Robotics Inc.’s move to invest in the construction of a new multimillion-dollar downtown complex. While the logistics of the project are still being hashed out—for instance, an estimated $3.15 million in funding for Crozet Plaza, a central park and greenspace, has yet to be secured—in December 2016, PRI struck a deal with developer Milestone Partners and, in early July, cut the red ribbon on a temporary 5,000-square-foot office and testing facility located on the site of the proposed construction. Once the plaza goes in, and surrounding offices, residential apartments and restaurants are installed, Perrone plans to build a permanent office and testing facility.

What’s significant about this move? PRI is bringing top-tier Silicone Valley innovation to the Charlottesville area.

Positioned at the forefront of the autonomous car revolution, PRI is seeking to play a key role nationally and globally in its development and implementation. “It’s not often that you get the opportunity to go to work for a company that’s doing things this exciting, and is located in an area that’s this beautiful,” says Chief Operating Officer Greg Scharer.

For PRI founder Paul Perrone, that’s exactly the point. Contrary to the volatility of the Silicon Valley workplace—where talented employees are constantly jumping ship, chasing the highest bidder—Perrone has built a company culture devoted to long-term stability and family values. “The people that come to work for us are some of the best and brightest in the world,” he says. “We want them to be invested in the company’s future, love where they live and feel confident they can raise their families in this community.” With its proximity to the mountains and Charlottesville, Perrone says Crozet is a perfect fit.

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Sk8Crozet Skate Park Coming to Fruition

Very cool. #lovecrozet #crozet

A post shared by RealCrozetVa (Jim Duncan) (@realcrozetva) on

 

via the Daily Progress (read the whole thing)

A bored teenager will always find something to do — either constructive or destructive. But with a newly planned skate park in Crozet, young skaters soon could have a place of their own creation.

When a group of young teens was caught setting small fires and painting graffiti at the former location of Barnes Lumber a few months ago, police and fire investigators didn’t see malicious future criminals. Instead, they saw a need to help young people develop a sense of community.

Not wanting the teenagers to go through the court system, Albemarle County police Officer Andy Gluba instead sought a way to help the young skaters build their own skate park in Crozet. Little did he know, Sk8Crozet — a group dedicated to making Crozet a more skater-friendly place — also was interested in creating a park.

…

The future skate park — which will be a non-permanent pilot park at first — will be located in a small square of the parking lot by the back basketball court in Crozet Park. Along with Sk8Crozet, Gluba also reached out to the park’s board to see if the skate park could be put there because of its central location.

For the time being, the park will consist of small, easily moved components — such as rails and other small obstacles. By gathering data about who uses the park and how they use it, the park’s board can determine whether a permanent park would be appropriate, according to the board’s president, Kim Guenther.

“By permanent, it doesn’t mean it would be at Crozet Park,” Guenther said. “I don’t know if we have room. It could be somewhere else in Crozet. But this pilot will allow us to just do a little data gathering.”

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Creekside Neighbors Unite for Neighborhood Traffic and Child Safety

Last week, I noted the 12 new homes coming near the Creekside section of Old Trail. It seems many of the folks who currently live in Creekside are working to change the plans.

Chris and Meghan Little, who bought their lot for its privacy for their young children 4 years ago, sent this

 

Overwhelming popular opinion and fear is that: Traffic from Greyrock will be redirected to the town-center and to the public schools via this new street, which is VERY dangerous.  We have a very tight community of neighbors and CHILDREN in the Private Road area, and they all run, ride, and play in this Private Road Area every day.  We aim to improve property and community value, enhance bike and sidewalk activity, and we wonder who will maintain the ‘Green Spaces’ and what will reside there?

Also why does the developer not adhere to the 15’ home setback lines?  These homes will be out of place in the current configuration.

If anyone wants to be added to the Birchwood Hill Rd./Welbourne Ln. Opposition Email Thread, please email us.

 

 

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Crozet Trails Etiquette

Crozet Trails are amazing, connect Crozet and Crozet neighborhoods in a remarkable way, and as they grow, and their usage grows, this is a new area for many of us to learn to live together and get along. 

Friend & neighbor Mark McCardell wrote the following on Nextdoor, and said I could re-publish it here.

I write this as a jogger, hiker, mountain biker, dog owner, and Charlottesville Area Mountain Bike Club (CAMBC) member (which maintains most of the multi-use trails in the county and city).

On multi-use trails there is a general etiquette that users should observe

1) Mountain bikers yield to all foot traffic. When approaching pedestrians from behind, MTB’ers should use their bell and announce they are passing on the left if space is permissible. If space is not permissible, you (the biker) must yield until there is space.

2) Runners approaching pedestrians from behind should announce they are passing on the left.

3) Dog owners should keep their pets leashed at all times. Because I use the trails for just about everything I have experienced just about everything. In one case an unleashed dog caused me to wreck on my mountain bike. In another case an MTB’er did not announce their passing and I could not short leash my dog in time, and she caused him to wreck.

Even when I have had my dog short leashed, it still wasn’t courteous for a runner or MTB’er to pass close by without announcing. Our previous dog was not dog friendly and unleashed dogs on the trails always led to negative encounters. Observing multi-use trail etiquette allows everyone to enjoy the amazing multi-use trails we have in our area.

 

Jim’s final note: when sharing trails and spaces, I advocate the “don’t be a butthead” rule, which is sort of like the Golden Rule, but more direct. When I’m riding my mountain bike on the Crozet Trails (or anywhere, on road or trails), I do everything I can to be nice to those with whom I’m sharing that space or road. Being nice is usually easier.