It’s about time. Thank you everyone for all of your hard work.

From our Supervisor, Ann Mallek:

As I get ready for dinner, please help to share my thanks with all in the Crozet and Western Albemarle community who have supported construction of the Crozet library since 1988. This afternoon the Board of Supervisors did approve sending the project to bid. The Board will approve final wording a week from today, at our 3 pm financial planning discussion in room 241.   

A final vote is still needed to send the project to construction, of course, as every project requires final approval once the bids are received and evaluated. Decisions on the fiscal year 2013 budget will be made in March/April, 2012.

Today’s first step is essential to make the process real in the minds of our bidders and our donors. Today’s success would never have happened without you. I may be the point of the spear, but you are the muscle-the sustained, informed, persistent outreach from many members of the community was and still is essential. You wrote letters, made phone calls, met with supervisors individually, sent emails, and stormed the BOS meetings with witty and intelligent information about the history of the project. No supervisor could ever ask for more from her constituents.   

The bid documents will be finalized in about a month. The plans are now at about 98% completion. Board member Duane Snow suggested adding to the bid process that builders are invited to make suggestions of cost savings for the project. This will continue the value engineering on the plans begun this fall.

The CIP or Capital Improvement Program committee has the library as its number 1 project. Their report will come to the board and the public during the next week.

The funds for the library construction are based upon an equalized tax rate. Retaining a fourth tax cut in a row would leave the local government facing severe service cutbacks and remove any capital projects from the budget, even emergency projects. 0.5 cents of the equalized rate revenue is to be used for capital projects ONLY, and other efficiencies and reductions in local government operations will be used to meet increased expenses for retirement system payments and other mandated obligations.

There is more work to do, more baby steps to accomplish, but we are on a better path today. Pleased stay focused on this project and continue to share your support with the bos@albemarle.org.

Thank you again. See you at the Soiree.

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Ted Strong at the Daily Progress reports:

Limits on children’s and other programs at the Crozet Library is the net result of a recent fire marshal’s inspection, the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library board heard Monday.
After the marshal found a number of safety issues, county officials restricted the library’s occupancy to 50 people. During the summer, the library sees more than 10,000 patron visits each month.

The County’s collective negligence in not building the new Crozet Library is remarkable.

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via email from Build Crozet Library –

Please come out to meet and work on building our outreach. Let’s find out who we are reaching with our emails, website, and Facebook page and figure out who we could be reaching. Think about geographic locations, library patron groups, schools, subdivisions, community groups, etc.

Prior to the meeting I will send out a link to a Google doc and ask for your help to identify targets. [Please note:  the meeting room is used until 7 pm for 'books and blankets', so we will wait until the toddlers in pjs and their parents clear out before we start.]

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The Albemarle County Fire Inspector is telling the board that runs the Crozet Library that a limit must be placed on the number of patrons inside the building at any one time.

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Check it out.

And … Rodney Thomas calls the need for a New Crozet Library “An Emergency.”

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via email:

Greetings friends/patrons of the Crozet Library,

Crozet and JMRL staff and board representatives have been working with Albemarle County staff and Supervisors for some time to urge them to fulfill their promise of building the new Crozet/Western Albemarle Library.

The plans for the new library were approved by the County Architectural Review Board in April. The parking lot for the new library is currently under construction.

A small group of supporters is convinced that strong and sustained advocacy is the only way to get the new library built. We are in the process of organizing this grassroots effort as “Build Crozet Library.”

There’s a particular urgency to this effort: without seeing steps taken toward building the new building soon, JMRL will need to start reducing the collection at the current Crozet Library. The excellent staff has done everything they can to make the space work for all patrons, but the crowded conditions are not sustainable.

WED, Oct. 5, at 9:00 am:

the Board of Supervisors is holding its regular meeting in Lane Auditorium of the County Office Building.

Please consider attending this meeting and making a public comment in support of building the new library.

Please note:

Public comment is one of the top items on the agenda, so it would not take a great deal of time to show up, speak, then leave.

If you could arrive early, there is a sign up sheet available from 8:15 to 8:30 am. However, according to the BOS clerk, Ms. Ella Jordan, ?If you do not get here in time to sign up the Chair always asks if there is anyone who wishes to speak who did not have an opportunity to sign up.

Each commenter is allowed three minutes; it is not necessary to take up all of that time. Anyone can simply stand and speak their support and be done.

If you would like to speak and have concerns about what to say, please let me know. Thanks to Tim Tolson, William Schrader, and the excellent staff, we have plenty of information on the need for the library.

Thank you for your consideration. If you cannot speak, but would like to support our efforts in any other way, please just let me know.

Thank you,

Jane Kulow

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Question from a reader:

Hey Jim, didn’t find anything in realcrozetva, any idea what they’re doing at the library site?? Are they actually working on the library or parking lot? thanks in advance!

It’s the library’s temporary parking lot, will be gravel and should be completed very soon.

View Crozet, Virginia in a larger map

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From the Newsplex:

However, it’s coming up with the remainder of the nearly $7 million price tag that’s put construction of the library on hold. The Crozet Library Steering Committee was informed last year that the project could be postponed until 2015 if the money cannot be raised.

Of course, if you’d been paying attention last month, you would have known this.

(full post here from the CCAC meeting)

** If anyone out there is interested in live-tweeting any Crozet meetings, please let me know. I’ll happily help.

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If the new Crozet ever gets built (PDF) …

When will the new library be built?

The schematic plan for the library was presented to the Planning Commission in February of 2009, and will be presented to the BOS in March of 2009 after presentation to the Crozet community. Once the schematic plan is approved, formal design will proceed. Based on revised Capital Improvements Plan recommendations under consideration by the BOS, construction funding will shift from July 2009 to July 2011, allowing for completion by Fall 2012.

… Will Crozet’s next Library be this?

The next library is a place, still. A place where people come together to do co-working and coordinate and invent projects worth working on together. Aided by a librarian who understands the Mesh, a librarian who can bring domain knowledge and people knowledge and access to information to bear.

The next library is a house for the librarian with the guts to invite kids in to teach them how to get better grades while doing less grunt work. And to teach them how to use a soldering iron or take apart something with no user servicable parts inside. And even to challenge them to teach classes on their passions, merely because it’s fun. This librarian takes responsibility/blame for any kid who manages to graduate from school without being a first-rate data shark.

The next library is filled with so many web terminals there’s always at least one empty. And the people who run this library don’t view the combination of access to data and connections to peers as a sidelight–it’s the entire point.

Wouldn’t you want to live and work and pay taxes in a town that had a library like that? The vibe of the best Brooklyn coffee shop combined with a passionate raconteur of information? There are one thousands things that could be done in a place like this, all built around one mission: take the world of data, combine it with the people in this community and create value.

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The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors will discuss the future of public libraries during their meeting on Wednesday.

More at WVIR.

As an aside, I wonder if anyone from the Albemarle area is going to the Computers in Libraries conference, and specifically the Adding Value to Communities session.

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Brandon Shulleeta fills us in in today’s Daily Progress.

No target date raises issue of fundraising:

Finalizing project plans, and readying the library for contract bids, increases the likelihood of the county receiving donations and grants, Supervisor Duane Snow noted, adding that there are people interested in donating.

“But they can’t donate to something when they don’t know what is, what all is involved and whether or not it’s just a pipe dream,” Snow said.

A fundraising committee had set a goal of raising about $1.6 million, Halliday said, and though the committee has collected about a tenth of that money, the fundraising campaign has become stagnate because the committee has not been able to tell potential donors when the library might be built or precisely what it would look like.

As does lack of confidence or trust in our government to actually get something done.

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Duh.

Here is the report referenced by NBC29 and commissioned by the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library (JMRL) board.

I emailed John Halliday, the Executive Director of the JMRL and asked three questions:

1 – Why was the study commissioned?
2 – Can you tell me how much it cost?
3 – What was the purpose of the study? It seems obvious that the library is too small.

His answers:

The study was done as a routine review of library facilities.  JMRL’s Five-Year Plan, 2009-2014 called for a review of library facilities to be completed by June 2010.  The review was completed in June, even though it had a July date.  The cost was $2000.  We called in a consultant because we wanted JMRL’s facilities to be looked at objectively, from an outsider’s perspective.  The review included space needs (size) based on current standards, condition of physical plant including furnishings and mechanical systems, and security needs.

More on the history of the Crozet Library’s need and plans to build at Charlottesville Tomorrow’s cvillepedia.

The above information isn’t new:

Crozet Library – Some numbers on why it’s Needed (12/09)

Parking at the Crozet Library is an issue.

The Twitter responses were pretty one-sided.

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Update 10 February:

Ann Mallek writes that the meeting tonight is questionable due to the weather. Make sure you check albemarle.org before you go.

From the CrozetEagle listserv:

Many of you may not know that the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors has spoken about closing Scottsville Library and our own Crozet Library. Due to budget constraints, they say there is not enough money for these libraries. It has been shown that the cost of running the libraries in Albemarle County is well below the other areas in Virginia. Also the Crozet Library has increased their volume of circulation over the last 2 years. As you know, once they do close this library, it is very likely we will not get another one – new or old back into this area.

Please help us save our local library! They are trying to brainstorm ideas of how we can help save the library. Right now due to weather conditions, they are not having a library meeting scheduled. But, there is a Board of Supervisors meeting on Wednesday Feb. 10th. Anyone who wishes, can go and sign up to speak out for the library.

We also have petitions to sign against closure put out at Crozet Pharmacy, Crozet Hardware Store, Mudhouse and the Post Office. I will try to put out more petitions as weather clears. Also there is a website I have created for people to post on and I am sending these to Board of Supervisors:www.savecrozetlibrary.webs.com . Please forward this info to anyone you can! On this website is a calendar for future events. If we can get the weather to co-operate, I will try again to post new dates for any meetings.

You can also email Albemarle County Supervisors to let them know how you feel. So far they are saying that the Scottsville Library will definitely close and Crozet is on the border line of closure!!

Any ideas would be helpful, if you can’t attend the meeting but would like your ideas expressed, feel free to email me – Karen Elias . Thanks for supporting a great community cause!!

From The Hook:

Not only is Crozet not getting the mammoth new library it was expecting, a possible ten percent budget cut might mean closure of library it already enjoys, and Scottsville could lose its library with just a five percent cut. This is according to Anthony Townsend, president of the board of the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library.

And from NBC29:

With Albemarle County proposing budget cuts of 5 or 10 percent, the library’s board says it will not stand for it.”Such cuts would likely force the closure of Albemarle’s two smallest branch libraries in Scottsville and Crozet,” Townsend said. The library’s president says they will not have Albemarle dictate how its money is spent, especially when it comes to its hours of operation.

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A reminder that the Crozet Library Design Steering Committee monthly meeting is this Monday, April 27, from 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM at the Old Trail Golf Clubhouse conference room.

Everyone is welcome to attend.

Tentative Agenda

I. Welcome & Re-cap
II. BOS Meeting and preps
III. Schematic Design
a. Site Review
i. Angled vs. perpendicular
ii. Bus travel lane
iii. Site connectivity (Block study)
b. Elevation Review
i. Roof
ii. Corner
iii. Main Street entrance canopy

IV. Next meeting

V. Adjournment

The committee’s meeting agenda, minutes, membership, information about the new Crozet Library, etc. are all posted on the Albemarle County web site.

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CROZET LIBRARY SCHEMATIC DESIGN UNDERWAY

Steering Committee Begins Meeting This Week to Guide Design Process

Schematic design for the new Crozet Library gets underway this week as the project consultant meets with county staff and the Board of Supervisors-appointed Library Steering Committee on Tuesday afternoon. The new 20,000 square foot facility is expected to open in 2011, providing space for state of the art library services for the western Albemarle County area as well as community space to support public needs in downtown Crozet. Construction of the library supports a host of infrastructure projects that have multiple benefits for the public including the sidewalk project, shared public parking for downtown, construction of Main Street, and the Crozet Avenue streetscape project.

The Crozet Master Plan adopted in December, 2004, established an expanded downtown library as a critical community priority because the current Crozet Library, which is 1,900 square feet in size, was determined to be inadequate for the community’s current and future library needs. The master plan envisioned a new downtown library that could provide improved library services and also could serve as an anchor for a revitalized downtown Crozet – a major public sector investment and visible presence that would help support critical infrastructure improvements like parking, sidewalks, and the new Main Street.

The new library will be constructed on two parcels of property owned by Albemarle County along Crozet Avenue next to B&B Cleaners. These properties together provide approximately two acres to house the new library facility and associated parking.

Last year the Board of Supervisors expressed unanimous support for pursuing LEED Certification for all newly-constructed County buildings including the Crozet Library— LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and is a nationally accepted rating system for designing and building green buildings. The new Crozet Library will be the County’s first planned LEED Certified building project.

In April, 2008, the Board of Supervisors approved the formation of the Crozet Library Steering Committee. The committee’s charge is to oversee the schematic design phase of the project. Formal design will take place from January through December 2009, and bidding for construction will be held December 2009/January 2010. Construction is expected to begin in the spring of 2010, with completion scheduled for spring/summer of 2011.

Summary of Major Library Project Milestones to Date:

- Downtown library endorsed by adopted Crozet Master Plan – December, 2004
- Purchase of Harris property for establishment of new Main Street – March, 2006
- Selection of project architect – September, 2006
- Contingent contract on Amato property – September, 2006
- Consultant meetings with stakeholders on library site – September, 2006
- Public meeting on library site selection – October, 2006
- Board work session on library site selection – November, 2006
- Purchase of Amato property – December, 2006
- Topographic surveys/alignment studies for Crozet Avenue and Main Street – initiated January, 2007 – completed June, 2007
- Board of Supervisors establishes library building at 20,000 sq ft with approximately 15,000 sq ft dedicated initially for library programming– March, 2007
- Downtown Zoning project begins – May, 2007
- Consultant selected for Crozet Avenue/Main Street Streetscape project – May, 2007
- The streetscape project that will create New Main Street and access to the Crozet Library gets underway – August, 2007
- Structures on the Harris property are removed as part of site preparation for the library project – March, 2008
- The Board of Supervisors appoints a Steering Committee work with County staff and the project consultant during the library’s conceptual design phase – May, 2008
- The Board of Supervisors adopts the downtown zoning ordinance for Crozet that establishes the conditions necessary to design and construct the library as envisioned in the Master Plan – June, 2008

* republished in entirety from the County’s press release

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Read the story at Charlottesville Tomorrow.

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My family moved out of Charlottesville to a farm near Crozet 9 years ago. We moved out this way because we could see the way things were changing in the north of Albemarle County, way more traffic, more subdivisions, more shopping centers. I grew up in SC which has been taken over by shopping centers and developments. When one gets run down, the developers move a mile down the road, abandon the first shopping center and build another. There are many abandoned shopping centers around Greenville, SC. It is an ugly, concrete filled, traffic inundated place, that used to be green and lovely until the developers took over. I would hate to see that happen to Crozet. It seems to be already happening in the north of the county.

I love old Crozet. Yes, it is rundown in some ways, but my kids love watching the train at the old library, I love being able to look for books in the library and still being able to keep an eye on my kids. If the library doesn’t have a book that I want, they will get it for me from another library in the county or in the state. I love that the librarians know my name, and that I know the people in the hardware store, and the pizza and grocery store.

I really would rather not see the Harris Teeter go in on 250. Our traffic will increase substantially, and where one store goes, others will follow. I make a trip to Charlottesville or Waynesboro once a week for a major shopping trip, what I run out of during the week, I shop for locally.

I love that I can have chickens, roosters, donkeys, horses and cows and no one complains about the noise, smell, flies, … We live in what is now a rural area. How long that it will remain that way is questionable, but I chose to move here because it was a largely rural area. I think that it is the charm of the area, and keeps it unique. If we add all the things that people want like a movie theatre, Chinese restaurants, more pizza places, more stores, then it will begin to be more like NoVA and less like Crozet. What will make our town unique? We will look like every other place in suburban USA.

Editor’s Note – anyone is welcome to submit a story to be published on RealCrozetVA.com. If you’re interested, please let me know. Also, a new library is coming.

Technorati Tags: albemarle, crozet

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Let’s hope that the new Library (more on the plans here) has some of the impacts that Jim Bacon details after his recent visit to two different library settings -

The (Shirlington) library also contributes to the vision of a community where things are happening 24/7. “We have a regular flow of traffic on the streets during the weekday but especially during early evening and the weekends,” says director Susan McCarthy. Many of the visitors arrive on foot. “Most of our traffic is through the front door,” not from the parking deck connected to the side door. “We have a lot of people who come over from the offices during the day, checking out a book for the weekend or using the wireless.”
…
Five years ago, libraries were struggling for identity. Who needed them when vast repositories of knowledge were available online, Amazon.com was delivering books to your doorstep, and Google was digitizing thousands of books for access over the Internet? By redefining themselves in an increasingly depersonalized society as community crossroads where real, live people come together and interact, they have emerged as relevant as ever.

Technorati Tags: crozet

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The library will be Downtown. Thanks to Jeremy Borden with the DP:

Board members said neither site would please everyone, but they all had their own reasons for wanting the site downtown.

Now … is that house historic?

And … also from the DP:

School Board member Brian Wheeler said that in the Crozet Master Plan, the new elementary school’s cost is listed at $12.4 million. According to the school division’s long-range planning committee estimations, it will cost $29 million if construction started in 2017, the year planned. This figure does not reflect the cost of acquiring land for the school, Wheeler noted.

Update 11-04-06: Cvillenews has a story. All stories on the library.

Technorati Tags: crozet, library

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About one hundred and fifty people attended this past Wednesday’s Library meeting at Western Albemarle High School. Supervisor David Wyant opened the meeting with the sweeping statement that “The library today involves the internet.”

The lead architect’s presentation was highlighted in part by her seeming un-awareness of the political environment in Crozet. A few of the notable laugh lines were:

- a slide noting how a great library can jump-start development

- her response to a question regarding when “new” Main Street will be built

- her noting that all the sidewalks, benches, light posts, etc. Crozetians have been promised for years would be part of the implementation plan

- her noting that there have been a few studies regarding the building of a new Crozet library. (since 1987!!!) No one can say that Albemarle has not done their due diligence.

In all seriousness, the meeting was informative, enlightening and about 45 minutes behind schedule. I look forward to the follow up meetings.
These are the major observations and questions I left with -

- Regarding the Downtown Location (Site Option #3 -pdf) – what is the historic value of the property? At what point will this issue be put to bed and not be a component of the equation that could derail the entire project?
- There were surprisingly few young people (25-35 years old) in attendance. One would think that more would be interested as they will benefit greatly from a state of the art library, particularly because of the library’s intended focus on children and teens.

- A general (library) rule of thumb is that when a library reaches a checkout rate of 25 books per square foot, it is time to start looking for a new home. Crozet’s checkout rate is 64 books per square foot. Clearly, the time is right for a new library.

- Nothing is more enlightening than a Power Point presentation.

- The architects (Grimm and Parker) are planning an additional half-dozen or so public meetings.

- Will the library offer free wireless to their surroundings?

- I was impressed and happy to see and hear that the architects intend to build with green, sustainable concepts.

- An idea for future meetings – distribute (and market) the pertinent materials before-hand.

My vote: The Downtown Location.

Albemarle’s Crozet Library Page.

The Daily Progress’ report

NBC29′s report

NB:

- as always, County Staff showed their tireless dedication. We owe them some real thanks.

- one of the more challenging aspects of so-called “citizen journalism” is the whole “not getting paid to do this part.”

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Library meeting: Real chance to be heard, or PR obfuscation?

Can our voices make a difference, or has the County already decided where to put the library? Is the listening sincere or just a calculated strategy, in reaction to Crozetians’ anger over Old Trail and the way those plans changed?

All that cynicism aside, here is my main question after the library meeting: why do none of the proposed buildings (never mind the sites) have the 22,500 square feet they’d like without future additions? Why are we already planning a building that is too small? And if it’s true that Mountainside is planning to move, and who knows when the new Main Street will be built, and maybe they’ll build a new elementary school . . . how can you choose a site for a community centerpiece when the things you’re using to decide seem to be shifting under your feet? I’ve never made a $5 million choice, so I worry about making the right one. But maybe the goal is to make the choice right, rather than make the right choice?

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This evening at Western Albemarle High School, architects will present the two site options – one Downtown and one at the “Old School Location.” Both have their merits, and both would benefit from community input. Hope to see you there at 7!

In the meantime, consider this recent article from the WSJ about modern collegiate libraries.

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Are you handy with a scoop and carving knife? Do you have hidden vegetable carving talents? If so (or if not), enter the carved pumpkin contest this October. Simply drop off your carved pumpkin on Friday, October 27 or Saturday, October 28 during regular library hours. After dark on Monday October 30, drop by to see the illuminated pumpkins. Entries will be judged by the library patrons Monday night with winners announced on Tuesday. Then bring your artistic pumpkin home with you, just in time for Halloween! Crozet Library. Directions: 5791 Three Notch’d Road, Crozet, VA 22932-0430. For more info call: 823-4050.

Note: Click on the address link above. It links to a new “Community Map” I am working on as a feature addition to the site. As the name suggests, it is for the community to participate.

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A suggestion from a reader:

As community leaders meet to discuss plans for the future, preserving the past, and helping to enhance Crozet’s business independence – how about developing free internet access as is available in downtown Charlottesville?  My husband and I are both in lines of work where the computer is our office and it would really be great to be able to go to a coffee shop or park bench to tap out e-mails, read the news, etc., while being in the company of our Crozet neighbors.  See the following link as a reference: Charlottesville Free Wireless

Perhaps the new library will help to facilitate this notion?

I think this is a fantastic idea. The Jefferson-Madison Regional Library offers free wireless. If the new library were to provide free wireless in all directions – wow!

I’ve broached the idea of a regional wireless cloud once before. Wireless access for The Square would be fantastic. Say what you will, providing wireless is a form of drawing people together, of encouraging community. Even if this interaction is fleeting, as we say a quick hello and return to our laptops. It is about the community.

Unfortunately, Crozet does not yet have a coffee shop, and if we get one at the new Clover Lawn Shoppes, it might be a Starbucks, with their ridiculous pay-for-use T-Mobile internet, another reason I won’t go there.

This note from a reader provides me the perfect opportunity to correct one thing from the recent profile done on realcrozetva by the Crozet Gazette. The saturation of internet access in Albemarle is around 75-80%, not broadband saturation; but we are getting there!

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Wednesday, October 25, 7:00pm, Western Albemarle High School: Community Feedback Time!

Albemarle County Representatives and Grimm and Parker architects will solicit community feedback regarding the library and its potential sites. Community feedback from this meeting will be reported to the Board of Supervisors.

If you can, come to this meeting. A vibrant, dynamic, interesting and functional library can shape and enhance a community in a way unlike any other development.

Sign up for Albemarle County’s excellent, informative and timely! A-Mail (or continue to visit realcrozetva and/or subscribe to the realcrozetva calendar!)

From A-Mail:

Officials from Albemarle County and the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library are inviting Crozet area residents to attend a public meeting on Wednesday, October 25, from 7:00 pm until 9:30 pm at Western Albemarle High School. The purpose of the meeting is to update the community on the status of the project, introduce the project consultant, and get public feedback on two location options for the new library to share with the Board of Supervisors prior to their final site selection decision.
The consultant team is led by Grimm & Parker Architects, a firm headquartered in McLean, Virginia with a 30-year history of successful library and other public architecture projects. The Grimm & Parker team was selected based on their overall public library expertise, experience with downtown and town center libraries, and their successful track record of integrating public comment and input into library design and programming decisions, among other criteria.
The meeting will include an introductory overview of the library project, a brief discussion of library design possibilities, and then a detailed site analysis of the two locations under consideration conducted by the consultant team. The consultant will then lead participants through a facilitated feedback session to generate input that will be passed on to the Board of Supervisors.
Anyone who has questions or would like more information is asked to contact Albemarle County’s Community Relations Office at (434)296- 5841.

Technorati Tags: crozet, library

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