CCAC – 9 August 2023 – Long Range Transportation

Long-range transportation. We are so good at long range planning, it seems that often we neglect to actually execute and build. This is a long post, but worthwhile.

CCAC – 9 August 2023 at 7PM at Crozet Library.

From Joe Fore, CCAC Chair

The Crozet Community Advisory Committee will meet next Wednesday, August 9, at 7 pm in the large meeting room at the Crozet Library. (If you can arrive a few minutes early to help set up the room, it will help ensure that we can start promptly at 7.) I’ve attached the agenda. 

Our main agenda item will be a presentation from the Charlottesville-Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization, which is updating the region’s long-range transportation plan, Moving Toward 2050. After the presentation, we’ll discuss transportation needs in the Crozet area. The project’s website includes a survey where you can share your opinions about necessary improvements to our roads, transit system, and bike/pedestrian infrastructure. I strongly encourage everyone to take the survey before our meeting.

We’ll also hear updates from our Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors liaisons and debrief July’s All-CAC Town Hall meeting. Time permitting, we’ll also discuss the proposed update to the County’s stream buffer regulations–a topic that came up last year in our discussions about the Montclair project. The County is seeking feedback on the current draft, which you can read here. Please read through the draft before the meeting, if you can.


From the Week Ahead:

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Crozet CAC to review plans for long-range transportation plan 

The Crozet Community Advisory Committee will hold their monthly meeting at the Crozet Library beginning at 7 p.m. with a scheduled ending time of 8:30 p.m. That’s to give enough time for attendees to help break down the room before the library closes. (meeting info)

There are three items on the agenda.  The first is a presentation from the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission on the long-range transportation plan that is currently in development. 

“The purpose of this plan is to identify priority transportation needs for the City of Charlottesville and urbanized portions of Albemarle County,” reads the agenda.

Participation in transportation decisions is fairly low. This stuff is all very confusing. Another purpose of Charlottesville Community Engagement is to try to change that from a third-party, non-government perspective.  I believe democracy needs information and context to survive and thrive. Here are some stories about the Long Range Transportation Plan process:

The CAC will also have a discussion of the proposed Riparian Buffer Overlay District that is under review.  This is an outcome of Albemarle’s stream health initiative. 

“Albemarle County is developing a Riparian Buffer Overlay District to protect and improve vegetation along rivers and streams, strengthen buffer requirements that were narrowed in 2014, and be more consistent with Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act,” reads the description on the Engage Albemarle site

Input is being taken on the Engage Albemarle site through August 13. There are 39 responses so far. 

Finally, the CAC will discuss the recent virtual meeting on the AC44 process. I have a summary of that here

  • The James River Water Authority’s Board of Directors will meet at 9 a.m. in the Fluvanna County Administration Building in the Morris Room. That’s at 132 Main Street in Palmyra. There will be a discussion of the status of the project to build a waterline between the James River and Zion Crossroads. A draft permit from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality will soon be ready for public review. Property acquisition for right of way is underway. (agenda packet)

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