Tag: 22932

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CCAC Meeting – 18 February

As far as meetings go, this should be awfully informative.

  • I’ll admit I don’t yet fully grasp the need for, or role of, a Crozet ombudsman.
  • Naming the new road coming from Foothill Crossing through Parkside Village to downtown Crozet (my question:  how will it be phased in?)
  • The former Moose Lodge is getting a new life
  • Keeping Polo at King Family
  • Discussion about more opportunities for public meeting about Barnes Lumber redevelopment

(one small observation, item of encouragement – lots happen in these meetings – over many, many months and years. Please, please come to more than just the one meeting that affects you. Community involvement and awareness are work – valuable, necessary work.)

Agenda after the break.

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Past Few Days on RealCrozetVA Facebook

A few stories from the RealCrozetVA facebook community –

 

The view from my comfy seat at Crozet Mudhouse this morning. #working

A photo posted by Jim Duncan (@jimduncan) on

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Crozet Elementary Safe Routes to School starting soon!

via email:

CROZET ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TO BALLARD DRIVE

The purpose of this project is to provide safe pedestrian access along Crozet Avenue from the Crozet Elementary School to Ballard Drive. Drainage improvements, a sidewalk and a curb-and-gutter will be constructed along the west side including a pedestrian crossing at the school entrance. Plecker Construction Company has been awarded the construction contract and plans to start on March 2, 2015, weather permitting. AMT will assist the County with onsite inspection services and F&R Inc. will perform materials testing on the project. Funding for this project is primarily through a grant from VDOT.

The schedule of the project is as follows (weather permitting):
  • 03/02/15 – Start of Construction
  • 06/30/15 – Substantial Completion
  • 07/30/15 – Final Completion

If you would like more information regarding this project, please contact Frank Pohl, Senior Project Manager, by phone (434)-872-4501 x 7914 or by email [email protected].

 

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2015 Assessed Values in Crozet

This is a real estate post. I’m a real estate agent by the way) Questions? ask me … 434-242-7140. 

Pulling assessed values in Crozet is tough. Across Albemarle County, assessed values are up 2.64%; White Hall is up 2.94%.

Last year, Parkside Village had the highest percentage increase; this year, Old Trail and Western Ridge are leading the way.

One note: with respect to fair market value, my opinion is that an assessment has about as much validity as does a zestimate.

In my opinion, county assessed values are good for one thing – top-level trending information. As I wrote a few years ago:

Assessments are not a reflection of market value. They are a backward-looking assessment of what the market value may have been at the time the assessor looked at the house (most likely online, and not in person). The assessor may or may not know the condition of the property, the condition of the property’s neighbors, may not consider the traffic noise, crime stats, proximity of sexual offenders, level of inventory, smell of the neighborhood, etc. etc. etc. Assessments are why you pay taxes on.

The Daily Progress notes this year:

The current rate is 79.9 cents per $100 of assessed value. At that rate and including an assessment increase of 2.64 percent, the annual tax bill would edge up $63 to $2,460 on a home previously assessed at $300,000. The new assessments will be reflected in tax bills to be mailed in late April.

It costs nearly $12k to educate a student in Albemarle County schools; think about that for a minute when thinking about the new homes – and residents in the County.

I pulled data from the Albemarle County GIS site for the following neighborhoods:

  • Grayrock Orchard
  • Grayrock North
  • Bargamin Park – attached and detached
  • Waylands Grant – attached and detached
  • Western Ridge
  • Highlands (which includes Rockbridge)  – attached and detached
  • Old Trail – see note #3
  • Wickham Pond – attached and detached
  • Laurel Hills
  • Parkside Village – attached and detached

A few notes:

  1. Please. Please review the source data. And correct me.
  2. Source Data is here.
  3. Old Trail is inclusive of all homes – newer attached, older attached, big homes on half acre lots, smaller homes on tiny lots, villas near the golf course … it’s a massive neighborhood.
  4. The data is free; I did spend a bit of money having someone pull it all down and run the spreadsheets
  5. I removed outliers – the Lodge in Old Trail, for example, is valued at about $18 million – that would have messed stuff up. I also pulled new construction this year that was valued for say, $500k this year, when it was valued for $0 last year.
  6. New construction matters; the neighborhoods with the greatest increases had significant amounts of newer homes (even the few newer ones in Western Ridge – the part that feels like Foothills – impacted the numbers).
  7. Thinking about challenging your assessment? The form must be received by the County by 28 February.

Albemarle County real estate assessments are out … did yours go up? Go down? Questions about your assessment? Ask me …(434-242-7140. I’m a real estate agent by the way).

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CCAC Meeting 21 January 2015 – Foothills Rezoning and More

A large crowd showed up, including Charlottesville Tomorrow and NBC 29 to hear and learn about the proposed Foothill Crossing rezoning.

A great discussion was held, mainly with community members expressing the need and desire for infrastructure in Crozet as the developer described how the rezoning will route traffic through Westhall, Foothills, Westlake Hills, and Parkside Village.

What followed was a  pretty good discussion about economic growth & development in Crozet, the future of downtown Crozet, what Crozetians want,  what the community can and will support and more.

I’ll update this when Charlottesville Tomorrow,NBC 29, and Crozet Gazette  post their stories.

If you want to learn and exert your opinion/influence, come to these meetings. Again. And again. And again.

Storify story recapping all of the tweets after the break. Please, please read them all and get involved.

  Continue reading “CCAC Meeting 21 January 2015 – Foothills Rezoning and More”

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Where are the Walkable Homes in Crozet?

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What does “walkable” mean to you? Or bikeable? Walkscore is great, but it’s not great enough yet in Crozet.

Last week I posted a link on the RealCrozetVA Facebook page to this story.

Less driving and more physical activity and social interactions result when people live in pedestrian-oriented, activity-friendly developments known as “walkable communities,” according to a study led by Texas A&M University Professor of Architecture Xuemei Zhu.

…

The researchers found that in addition to improved physical and social activity, (the transit-oriented development), Mueller residents perceived more neighborhood cohesion than they did in their previous neighborhood.

So I asked Crozetians – where do you live? Is your home/neighborhood in a walkable location? As usual, the community came through, describing Waylands Grant, Old Trail, Foothill Crossing, Highlands, Foxchase, Westhall, Park Road, Grayrock, Orchard Acres, Parkside Village, Laurel Hills, Liberty Hall.

To see all the descriptions, spend a few minutes at the Facebook post (Storify wouldn’t pull in all the comments). If you’re looking for a walkable home, this is a good place to start your search for walkable homes in Crozet. But don’t place that much faith in the Walkscore; as with most data-driven technologies, it’s efficacy lags in less densely-populated areas. The best way to know how walkable a neighborhood is? Ask.

Walking to Downtown Crozet

Required disclosure: I’m a real estate agent. I represent buyers and sellers in Crozet (and Charlottesville, Albemarle, Nelson, Central Virginia).

Continue reading “Where are the Walkable Homes in Crozet?”

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When Do Homes Come on the Market in Crozet?

New listings, contracts, closings in 2016 in Brownsville + Crozet, excluding new construction listings, which accounted for about 1/3 of listings in Crozet in 2016.

Update 11/21/2017 – I updated the chart above.

I’ve written this story before, and the trends are pretty consistent year over year, but thought I’d update the chart for 2014 as this is good information for those thinking about buying in Crozet and those prepping for the home marketing/selling process.

I’m working on a couple additional posts that recap the 2014 Crozet real estate market … any particular questions or curiosities you’d like me to address?

Thinking about selling? Here are a few tips to get ready. Questions about buying a home in Crozet or ready to have the conversation about whether to put your home on the market? Call me anytime – 434-242-7140 – or email works, too.

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The past few days on RealCrozetVA Facebook (1-19 January)

I don’t like Facebook, but over 1500 people do like the RealCrozetVA facebook … and it’s quite a useful hub for the community.  These are the most recent posts there.

16 January – My curiosity led to a great conversation about Crozet’s walkable neighborhoods. I’m writing a story now about this.

16 January – Crozet Arts’ registration for winter classes is now open.

15 January – Walkable communities matter.

14 January – Safe Routes to School moving forward.

14 January – Peachtree Baseball has extended their registration.

12 January – Crozet Library has storytime for grownups. How cool is that? (I’d go to storytime if they held it on their rooftop bar. If they had one.)

January 12 – Foothill Crossing rezoning meeting on 21 January; are you going? What questions do you have?

January 8 – Artful in Crozet – art classes in Crozet.

January 5 – Interesting discussion on the Jobs in Crozet? question.

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Aiming to Ride Every Road in Crozet in 2015

“It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them.”

–  Ernest Hemingway

I was riding a few weeks ago and thought that while I’ve driven and shown houses/represented sellers on many/most of the roads in Crozet, the best way to learn the area is by bicycle.

So yesterday, I started. I did however forget to start Strava until I after I’d ridden on Railroad and through Mint Springs.

Continue reading “Aiming to Ride Every Road in Crozet in 2015”