This question on Reddit was a fun writing prompt for me.
Hi all hoping you can give me the local’s perspective of Crozet. My wife and I are lifelong Marylanders seriously looking at moving away from the DC area to the greater Charlottesville area in the next 2-3 years. We’ve got two kids in elementary school and are looking for a lot of what the area has to offer. We came down earlier this summer and stumbled upon Crozet as a potential area of interest.
Is it really as nice as it seems? What are you’re thoughts? We want to be close enough to Charlottesville but be able to maintain a small-town feel.
And my answer
Lots of people from NoVa/DC/Maryland move to Crozet/Charlottesville.
Crozet is a great place to live; we’ve raised two kids here. Close to mountains, hiking, biking, 25-30 minutes to Charlottesville, and Crozet is becoming more self-sufficient all them time. The mountains aren’t going anywhere.
But … as I tell my clients (yes, I’m an agent), there’s a ton of growth yet to come, and in my opinion (as someone who’s lived in Crozet for 20 years, and as a Realtor), this growth comes with challenges. Much of the growth is homogeneous with limited character, but that’s the nature of such production-built-homes, schools are crowded, and traffic (yes, really) can be a challenge. 64 can be a disaster, but they are improving 118B.
Keeping the “small town” feel is one of the key points in the Crozet Master Plan, and is often discussed. But … I don’t have great confidence in the Plan being followed; it’s an aspirational document it seems. If you live close to the elementary schools (there are two, Brownsville Elementary and Crozet Elementary), you can walk or ride bikes to school with your kids. This was one of the best things I did as a parent.
Quite a few links:
- Read the whole Crozet Master Plan (the County’s new site is challenging, IMHO)
- Also on CvillePedia
- Recap of the most recent CCAC (Crozet Community Advisory Committee) meeting. They have a non-voting authority, but help guide growth in Crozet.
- Link to the most recent Crozet Gazette; a great resource.
- Lots of stuff to do outdoors
- If you ride a bicycle, Crozet is amazing.
- Albemarle County is projected to add ~14K people in the next decade
- Also, rent first
I’d be happy to put you in touch with clients who have made the same move.
Questions?
Crozet is a melting pot consisting of methheads,good ole boys, and rich outsiders . i think there using old trail just to see how high they can stack shit. Ive lived here my whole life, i remember wen crozet was just one stop sign, not 4 and a stoplight. Crozet is rapidly getting to big for its britches, we need to remember where we come from and not get above our raisings
It is a shame that someone in Crozet would leave such a comment. To the inquiry about Crozet, I can say I have lived here over 30 years and it is a very good place to live. Needless to say there have been many changes over that time, some good, some bad. Given the option, I suspect many who have lived here for some time would prefer the old Crozet. That said, many of the changes to Crozet and many of the people who have moved here have been good for Crozet. Despite the language found in the prior post, our school system is quite good. Our little town offers enough of the services one would need without having to travel too far. Our community park is a jewel and we have one more coming in the future. In fact, the biggest threat to Crozet is the fact so many people want to live here. If your moving to this area you would be wise to put down roots here!