June 3, 2026
I am genuinely curious as to where the Planning Commission and Albemarleians (and Crozetians) would want new homes to be built. Please, point to a map and say, “this is where 18 or 50 or 100 houses should go.”
(note: 29 North has hundreds and hundreds of houses in the short term pipeline, and Greene County has thousands. And every house we push out to Greene instead of building here is more 29 and 33 traffic, more SUVs, longer commutes. “Over there” isn’t neutral — it’s the car-dependent option. Building where people already work and go to school is the version with less driving.)
We say we want affordable housing. Houses become more affordable when more supply is provided.
And when an opportunity comes up to build more houses, the answer is always, “no, not here.”
At some point, “over there” needs to become “here.”
I am a broken record. We need to think generationally as a society when we’re making housing decisions. In the vein of “plant trees the shade of which you’ll never enjoy,” let’s build houses – and infrastructure and community for our kids and grandkids to appreciate, enjoy, and live in.
If you say you want affordable housing, but don’t want more houses, what solution do you propose?
Quite the discussion on FB and bluesky and bluesky
““Cory Farms is zoned R-4 and to the east are more recent rezonings, with Liberty Hall zoned Neighborhood Model District and developed at about six dwelling units per acre,” said county planner Rebecca Ragsdale.
The new conceptual plan called for two building zones with up to 11 units, each to be served by separate vehicular entrances. Four of the units would be designated as affordable.
Justin Shimp, civil engineer for the project, said he understood neighbors might be unhappy with the inconvenience, but encouraged the Planning Commission to look at a broader picture.
“We have to increase this density to get a more diverse housing type and affordable units,” Shimp said. “Four affordable units [would be] something like $260,000 a piece. So that’s a very deeply affordable product in the middle of Crozet that really wouldn’t exist without a project like this.
Around a dozen people spoke at the public hearing, with all but one in opposition.”
~ From C-Ville. Please read the whole thing.
Deed restricted affordable houses are good. Are we going to do that for everything? No. Can we trust that things will *stay* affordable? No.
Can we advocate for more housing in addition to affordable houses? Yes.
More houses = more supply = more affordable housing.
This is not my chart. It’s Michael’s, from a great thread.
Note: We also need more non-car infrastructure so that we can get around without having get in cars and SUVs.
And yes, I’m a realtor with Nest Realty in Charlottesville and I live in Crozet, and I’ve lived in Crozet for 20+ years. I benefit when I represent buyer and sellers, and my wife and I benefit more by living in a great community and raising a family here.
This is a bigger conversation than a blog post or thread or Facebook post. At some point, we need to do more than recognize the housing crisis and work to fix it. What we’ve been doing is not working.
We need to think differently, and perhaps smaller.
Across the country and throughout North Carolina, people are struggling with rising housing costs and population growth, coupled with the growing imperative to create more sustainable communities. In Raleigh, one of the most promising solutions is surprisingly small: Accessory Dwelling Units, better known as ADUs.
Sometimes called backyard cottages, granny flats, carriage houses, or garage apartments, ADUs are small, secondary homes on the same property as an existing residence. They can take the form of a detached backyard home, an apartment above a garage, an in-unit (often basement) conversion, or an addition attached to the primary house.
For decades, these kinds of homes were heavily restricted or outright illegal in Raleigh and many American cities. But Raleigh’s recent reforms have helped change that. Today, the city is becoming a leader in showing how ADUs can support affordability, sustainability, and neighborhood evolution, and possibly help welcome some of our neighborhood NIMBYs into the YIMBY movement.
ADUs can help people rethink what housing growth and new neighbors actually look like. They have the power to turn skeptical, even long-time homeowners into active participants in solving the housing shortage. While ADUs won’t solve the housing crisis on their own, they are an integral part of the solution.
I have no objection to you writing about affordable housing, but when it comes to Crozet, you’re way off base. I’ve been living in Crozet for going on 40 years, and I can tell you that when I moved into Crozet, most of the housing stock was, in fact, affordable.
Your writings also ignore the amount of work the residents of Crozet put in to ensure the future allotment of affordable housing in Crozet, starting with the first Master Plan. You ignore the fact that, as a result of the Crozet Master Plan, two new developments were built that met its criteria and included a mix of housing types, including affordable units.
As for accessory units, they were included in the original Master Plan, but very few have been built in any of the new developments. Then there was the community’s effort to work with PHA to build a mixed-use development on land they owned, but they backed out, sold the land, and we ended up with an apartment building.
As for the number of homes to be built in Crozet, I would remind you that it was the county consultants to the Crozet Master Plan who calculated the “Maximum Ideal Population of Crozet, to be 12,198, a number Crozet will now exceed by 15 to 20 percent.
And let’s not forget the County’s failure to deliver on its promise of “Concurrent Infrastructure” to keep up with development.
But if you really want to understand the failure of affordable housing in the county, go to Crozet United website and read their recent series of articles on the topic.
(Jim’s note: I edited the comment to add paragraphs)
Thanks Tom.
We agree on this – “And let’s not forget the County’s failure to deliver on its promise of “Concurrent Infrastructure” to keep up with development. ”
And you ignore that several developments were developed as single family vs. the more dense attached product because the County made developing so expensive and difficult that the developers chose by right single family.
Yes, the PHA thing, well, bad. But at least we got housing out of it.
What’s been done is not working. I’d love to see solutions proposed.
Think about what you are saying. Both of you moved here and have tried in one way or another to change the place. And it backfired on you. One of you thinks that you can form nonsensical committees, constantly promote to other migrants and try to run the place. The other wants to promote a lifestyle that lifelong residents have never wanted. While you do not have the same northern attitude that you are the only one that knows anything, the other has basically fled from a failed area as have most of the migrants, and basically has spewed the same narrative for years. Actually believing you were smarter than Ann who is from Connecticut and realized what you were from the start. Even the websites you mention are from people trying to gain influence and say nothing. Crozet United? Just more pure self promotion. The easiest way for affordable housing is mobile homes on 1 acre lots. But you do not want that because you are scared of the demographic shift that it would cause. Well, those people are Virginians who do the work that you do not want to do and who helped create the place you came to. To move to a beautiful area is simply not enough for you. You just want it your way and that is why this downward trend will continue until you get scared enough to move again. I keep rooting for the developers. They want to make money and leave. The traffic circle would be the monument to let future generations know who was once here…
Jim, I don’t ignore that several developers decided to develop by right, rather than the fact that the developers did not/refused to build according to the Model Neighborhood Plan as defined by the Crozet Master Plan. You asked for solutions, and I provided the fact that the Crozet community, acting in concert with the county, had provided the solution in the Master Plan and had a valid proof of concept in the two developments I mentioned in Crozet. You also haven’t addressed the fact that Crozet will exceed the maximum population agreed upon and was determined by the county, not the community, which agreed to quadruple the community’s size. The bottom line is that the community of Crozet did everything in its power to accommodate growth in a well-planned fashion, and at every turn, the county reneged on its agreement with the residents of Crozet.
So when you say what’s been done is not working, don’t blame the residents of Crozet.
Tom –
If Crozetians really want control instead of being represented by 1 out of 5 Supervisors, we need to incorporate as a town. Simple
They refuse to pay for it and are scared of losing any perceived power they think they have through an election which, would be required along with firm boundaries. They just want the demographics that they want. That did not work where they came from so are now trying it here…
You still continue to speak for a community that you do not even know. What facts do you have that the Crozet community presented anything. Since you will never represent me or any number of other people what you are saying has no meaning when you make false claims and the County knows it. Government changes with every election and the same for the Crozet Growth Area. Everything changes and nobody owes you anything. Try to remember that. Also, what agreement with the “residents of Crozet”? Strange I have never seen or was sent or promised anything and you have no right to say it. You only represent yourself. Everything else sounds like a NY fantasy. Any luck with your narrative when you lived up there???
You really should stop with the Bluesky nonsense. It certainly is not used by most folks and it’s so far slanted to the left you miss over half the population. If you insist on using BS you should minimally also post on the most widely used platform which is X. But maybe you don’t care about engaging with people who have different political opinions (or other opinions) than you.
But for the topic at hand, again I think you are way off base. Crozet has been mismanaged for decades now. I know you want cars to disappear off the face of the earth, but it will not happen in our lifetime. I know you ride your bike a lot, it’s certainly not a safe thing to do with the windy, hilly and narrow two lane roads.
You sound fun.
I avoid X because I choose to not associate with racists and white supremacists; I used it for decades before the transition.
Bonus: you don’t have to read what I write on X or here.
The nice thing about opinions is that we don’t have to agree. I think cars have their place, and people riding bicycles and walking do too. We could build a community and infrastructure where they can coexist.
You think I sound fun, great because I am! You don’t sound fun at all.
Instead you possess full blown TDS. You claim X has racists and white supremacists? Of course that is total BS, but apparently you are not intelligent enough to understand that. You should seek treatment for your TDS. Because people believe in America and its laws does not make them racist lol. Why can’t you simply have a debate without falling into the normal wacky left position of “oh you must be a racist”.
Bluesky has less than 10% of the 600,000,000 active users on X. But of course you claim they are all racist LOL.
So stop with your sanctimonious lecturing. It’s really a very poor look for you.
I mention racism and white supremacy and you think of the president. Thank you.
As I stated, you demonstrate your sanctimonious beliefs daily. Tell us Jim, where are these white supremacists and racists you repeatedly claim to be on X? Is Tim Scott? Condoleezza Rice, Thomas Sowell? Larry Elder? Byron Donalds? Did you vote for Winsome Sears for governor? Or did you vote for Spanberger? We know the answer to that but does that make you a racist? Your TDS clearly indicates you believe your president is a racist. Care to share any facts to substantiate that belief?
Meanwhile, you tell us we need to eliminate cars in Albemarle Co. presumably to save the planet. Never mind what mega polluting countries (e.g. China) do.
Does POTUS live in Crozet? Since Crozet never had the demographics that it now has, who should take the credit for it? Please do not blame the Developers, they are just catering to the crowd…
Racists and White Supremacists??? And they are only online? You think that the demographics here are a fluke of nature? That people spend a fortune to move where there is nothing and complain without a serious underlying reason? It is far more subtle, but it is far from being a harmonious multicultural community than it once was. You might of came here for the opportunities that growth areas provide people in your line of work but for the rest it is a very different story…