Going back to in-person meetings. (my opinion: this is absurd, both from public health perspective, and from the public accessibility/recording of meetings perspective)
Local government matters, and as I’ve said for years, these meetings – as slow as they may seem – shape how our County lives and grows. Whenever the Crozet Downtown is redeveloped, that redevelopment will in part be influenced by a meeting three years ago, or five, or seven. Keep in mind that the lumberyard was sold at auction just over ten years ago.
Our main agenda item this month will be a presentation from the Downtown Crozet Initiative updating us on the status of the Plaza and the downtown redevelopment.
We’ll also leave some time at the end of the meeting to talk about areas where the CCAC may be able to help with some of the Master Plan’s implementation goals.
For example, Goal 5 in the Land Use section of the Crozet Master Plan suggests that the County should “Increase capacity of the CCAC, local schools, or other community groups to initiate, implement, and manage placemaking projects.” (Master Plan, p. 27)
There may also be opportunities for us to assist with some other Master Plan implementation goals, such as the Downtown Neighborhoods Architectural and Cultural Resources Study and Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing Survey. (p. 26)”
Crozet Community Advisory Committee Wednesday, August 10, 2022 7:00 P.M. – 8:30 P.M. Virtual Meeting
This meeting is being held pursuant to and in compliance with Ordinance No. 20-A (16); An Ordinance to Ensure the Continuity of Government During the Covid-19 Disaster.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS MEETING ONLINE:
Download Zoom. Use this link https://albemarle-org.zoom.us/j/94571782297 to join the webinar.
BY PHONE/CALL-IN:
Dial (301) 715-8592. Type in the Webinar ID 945 7178 2297 followed by the pound (#) sign. If you have any questions, please email [email protected]
AGENDA
Call to Order & Agenda Review (3 minutes) Joe Fore, CCAC Chair
Approve Meeting Minutes (2 minutes) Joe Fore, CCAC Chair
Presentation from the Downtown Crozet Initiative (60 minutes) Meg Holden, DCI President
Committee business – Master Plan implementation (30 minutes)
Land use and transportation are inextricably linked. We're locking ourselves into car-centric patterns when we incentivize sprawl. https://t.co/4qLdUwGJnt
— Walkable, bikable Charlottesville (@carfreecville) March 14, 2022
I commented noting that density is great, *but* should be done so that people can get places *without* getting in cars, & we have infrastructure for bike/ped transportation.
That was an interesting meeting, and like most such meetings, one that people will look back on in three years and say, “I remember that’s when learned about X.”
X could be that they don’t seem to have the rights of way for the Eastern Avenue extension to 250, or that they still don’t have plans for sidewalks on Tabor and High, but are underway on the sidewalks from Cory Farm to Harris Teeter on 250, or that Oak Street from the Square is going to be completely revamped.
A few highlights that I’m pulling from the google doc at the bottom
Joe Fore (CCAC) asks about the Rt 240 (Three Notch’) Shared-use Path – Park Ridge Dr to Music Today; that was broken into 2 segments
“Much smaller” pot of funding is federal, not state, for “transportation alternatives” – under $1M, requires 20% local match. You know, walking and riding bikes.
Project updates – skip to the bottom to read the discussion and questions about these
Eastern Ave South Extension – project was submitted last year; we find out in April if the state will fund it. ~$25M to do it (wonder what it would have been 15 – 20 years ago)
240/250 Roundabout – going to advertise this year, construction to begin by the end of 2022
Old Trail/WAHS/250 Roundabout – worst performing intersection in Crozet – will be submitted as a Smart Scale project in this round. My thought: if they aren’t planning to put bikes and pedestrians first, they’re wrong.
Last night’s CCAC meeting represented two firsts for me: One – this was my first meeting as a CCAC member rather than observer, and two – the first that I’ve tried taking live notes in a google doc instead of live-tweeting. I’m inclined to go back to tweeting as the google doc does not perform as well as Twitter for inserting screenshots of slide decks (would be super-helpful if we’d get the slide decks before the meeting)
The Crozet Community Advisory Committee meets virtually at 7 p.m. The focus for this meeting will transportation with an update on projects in Crozet, as well as a update and discussion of the Crozet CONNECT service operated by Jaunt. (meeting info)
As I’ve said for years … these meetings may seem boring and disconnected, but the information is critical to how we live in Crozet. See a few of my transportation-thoughts at the bottom after the agenda.
Crozet Community Advisory Committee Wednesday, March 9, 2022 7:00 P.M. – 8:30 P.M. Virtual Meeting
This meeting is being held pursuant to and in compliance with Ordinance No. 20-A (16); An Ordinance to Ensure the Continuity of Government During the Covid-19 Disaster.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS MEETING ONLINE:
Download Zoom. Use this link https://albemarle-org.zoom.us/j/94571782297 to join the webinar.
BY PHONE/CALL-IN:
Dial (301) 715-8592. Type in the Webinar ID 945 7178 2297 followed by the pound (#) sign. If you have any questions, please email [email protected]
AGENDA
Call to Order & Agenda Review (3 minutes)Allie Pesch, CCAC Chair
So much changed and unchanged in this post from 2006. Talk about a bubble, $4 gas, living closer to work … I assume w/ so many working from home, location *may* be less important, but proximity to stuff still reigns. https://t.co/6hNf5RG2Ic
This meeting is being held pursuant to and in compliance with Ordinance No. 20-A (16); An Ordinance to Ensure the Continuity of Government During the Covid-19 Disaster.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS MEETING ONLINE:
Download Zoom. Use this link https://albemarle-org.zoom.us/j/94571782297 to join the webinar.
Community meeting for Montclair development in Crozet
The Crozet Community Advisory Committee meets virtually at 7 p.m. and the year begins with a review of a rezoning of two parcels of land on Route 240 in Crozet to the west of Wickham Pond. This is the first application to proceed following an update of the Crozet Master Plan. (meeting info) (formerly known as the White Gate Village)
One parcel is currently zoned light industrial and the other is zoned for rural uses. The applicant seeks rezone both to the Neighborhood Model District. The 2010 version of the Future Land Use Map designates one of the properties for green space, and the other light-industrial and green space. The updated plan designates both as having elements of Middle Density Residential, Low Density Residential, and green space.
According to the narrative written in September 2020 by Shimp Engineering (#3), the proposed development is a “mixed-unit residential community with limited complementary commercial uses.” The project would be most intense along Route 240, tapering back towards a conservation along a stream.
The project was deferred while the Master Plan update was under development. A new code of development has been submitted that increased the maximum request from 125 units to 157 units.
From the Rezoning (bolding mine)
PETITION: Request to rezone 12.19 acres from the RA Rural Area zoning district which allows for agricultural, forestal, and fishery uses; residential density (0.5 unit/acre in development lots) to NMD Neighborhood Model District which allows for residential (3 – 34 units/acre) mixed with commercial, service and industrial uses. Request to rezone 5.32 acres from the LI Light Industry zoning district which allows industrial, office, and limited commercial uses (no residential use) to NMD Neighborhood Model District which allows for residential (3 – 34 units/acre) mixed with commercial, service and industrial uses. Proposal includes approximately 3.5 acres of open space and recreational amenities throughout the development. A minimum of 58 and a maximum of 157 residential units are proposed at a maximum gross residential density of 8.96 du/acre for the entire development and a maximum net density of 12 du/acre for the area designated for development in the Crozet Master Plan. A maximum of 16,500 sq. ft. of non-residential uses are proposed. Request proposed to amend the ACSA jurisdictional area boundary to water and sewer on Tax Map Parcel 56-91A.
The late afternoon (of the 12 January Albemarle County Board of Supervisors’ Meeting) is reserved for transportation issues with new reports from Albemarle transportation staff and the Virginia Department of Transportation. The ten-page county report is a summary of what took place in 2021, including the reclassification of several roads in order for them to quality as Entrance Corridors. There’s also information about pending Smart Scale pre-applications including these projects already endorsed by the Charlottesville-Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Policy Board.
A roundabout at District Avenue and Hydraulic road
A bike/pedestrian bridge to connect South Pantops and Woolen Mills (see Friday)
Avon Street Corridor Bicycle and Pedestrian Improvements
5th Street Extended Multimodal Improvements
Other projects under consideration for submission by either Albemarle County or the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission:
U.S. 250 Corridor Improvements – Hansen Road to Peter Jefferson Parkway
Avon Street Bicycle and Pedestrian Improvements
Ivy Road / U.S.29 / 250 Bypass Interchange
Belvedere Boulevard / Rio Road Intersection Improvement
5th Street Extended Bicycle and Pedestrian Improvements
Crozet Avenue / US 250 West Intersection Improvements
U.S. 250 / Route 22 / Milton Drive
The VDOT report tracks projects in planning and construction. Preliminary engineering is underway for a roundabout at Route 240 and U.S. 250 east of Crozet as well as a connector road between Berkmar Drive and Airport Road. When the latter is completed, Berkmar Drive would connect all the way to the UVA North Fork Research Park. Three more roundabouts are planned and funded in the county at these locations:
Lots of discussions at last week’s CCAC meeting; it was the first I’d been able to make in some time, and many of the conversation topics were familiar, if not the same as they have been discussing for some time.
Transportation updates, Crozet Master Plan is nearing approval from the Board of Supervisors, brief conversation on proffers for new developments in Albemarle County, touching on tax service districts, climate change and density and looking long-term.
Lots of important discussions that will eventually lead to substantive and tangible changes to the community. These meetings matter, but the ones that really matter are the Albemarle County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors meetings.
(nextdoor is not a representation of community members 🙂 and I’d argue that the CCAC tries to be.)
Is there a “101” type explanation of the difference between land use plan in a master plan, and zoning? I have a hard time understanding sufficiently so as to explain to clients. https://t.co/SnnuHRFPQN
Elevator speech: Master plan describes upper limit on building potential based on a desired community vision; zoning prescribes what can actually be built legally based on political reality behind ordinance approval.
via email (bolding mine) … I’m wondering if this will actually be a shorter-than-normal meeting. #CCAC1021
The October meeting of the Crozet CAC will be … Wednesday, October 13 at 7 p.m. on Zoom. We will take this opportunity to share and discuss ideas and suggestions for the next several months of CCAC meeting topics. I’m calling it “agenda planning and reflection,” as I received emails back with many good agenda ideas from committee members, and would like to open this to the group to discuss, as well as give staff and other experts more notice to prepare for future meeting invitations. It should be a shorter meeting than usual. Agenda and meeting details are posted here.
Please also mark your calendar for the Board of Supervisors meeting on Wednesday, October 20, which will include the public hearing for the final draft of the Crozet Master Plan. Instructions for participating and other details for that are here.
In conversation with a client last night, I was asked, “how do you know all of this about what’s happening in Charlottesville and Crozet?” My first answer was that I read – a lot, and one of the best places to do so is Sean’s Charlottesville Community Engagement weekly roundup, daily email, and podcast. It’s why I pay to subscribe. Part of my job is to try to know more than my clients. Sean helps with that.
And frankly, it’s our job as citizens to try to know more, and be more involved in our community.
Today’s show focuses on Crozet in western Albemarle County. Crozet is not a town, but it is a designated growth area under the county’s growth management policy.
But it is a place with traditions. Here’s an announcement made at the June 9, 2021 meeting of the Crozet Community Advisory Committee about an event coming up on Saturday, July 3.
“I’m Tim Tolson, president of the Crozet Community Association, and along with other civic groups in Crozet we’re hosting the annual Crozet Independence Day celebration parade at 5:00 p.m. as part of the Crozet Volunteer Fire Department that ends at the Crozet Park where the celebration will take part, take place. We’ll have fireworks around 9:30 or quarter to 10 when it gets dark.”
The Albemarle Planning Commission will take up the Crozet Master Plan at a work session on Tuesday, June 22. At the June 9 CAC meeting, committee members and participating residents got a presentation on the implementation of projects intended to bolster Crozet’s urban character. They also had the chance to comment on the plan update to date.
But first, the implementation projects. The master plan is a large overview of the entire area, and further studies are suggested. The draft implementation chapter shows a list of ten potential topics ranging from a Downtown Neighborhood Architectural and Cultural Study to a stream health study for Parrot Branch, a local waterway. Initial feedback has already been submitted and planner Tori Kanellopoulos gave the rundown for how planning projects scored.
“The top ranked projects were the Crozet Avenue Shared-Use Path feasibility study, the Three Notch’d Trail feasibility study, and the Route 250 West design guidelines,” Kanellopoulos said. “And then the policy projects were also ranked and the top priority was updating residential zoning designations to allow for more preservation of natural resources.”
Potential capital projects were also ranked. Kanellopoulos said the highest ranking projects are the completion of Eastern Avenue, downtown Crozet intersection improvements, and sidewalk connections.
Let’s hear more about that Three Notch’d Trail.
“Lately there’s been a lot more focus and attention on the potential Three Notch’d Trail which would ideally connect from the Blue Ridge Tunnel along Crozet and over to Charlottesville,” Kanellopoulos said. “A feasibility study would look at this alignment and there are opportunities to partner with [the Virginia Department of Transportation] and the Planning District Commission and trails groups to look at the feasibility study for the alignment.”
Supervisor Ann Mallek said later in the meeting that VDOT planning may not have staff to conduct that feasibility study this year, but community work can be done now to prepare for that work possibly in 2022.
“And the other blessing that goes along with that is 2022 is when [Virginia] is going to take over the rail access right of way from CSX and therefore that increases greatly the possibility that we will be able to have a trail beside the rail,” Mallek said.
Another “catalyst” project now in the implementation chapter is Western Park, which has long been called for in the plan and for which the county received 36 acres in 2010 as part of the Old Trail rezoning. A master plan for that project was created in 2018 that identified three phases. The first is recommended for funding, a decision which would be made by the entire Board of Supervisors during the budget process.
“This phase one would include the access road with parking, a playground, and additional support of infrastructure and utilities,” Kanellopoulos said.
Committee member Sandy Hausman noted the rankings were based on responses from fewer than a hundred people.
“I wonder if anybody feels like this there needs to be a bit more outreach, like a mass mailing to everyone who lives in Crozet,” Hausman said. “It just feels to me that this is a relatively small group of people who tend to be paying attention to this stuff and everybody else will be unpleasantly surprised in a year or two when things start happening.”
Committee member Joe Fore said he wanted to see all three phases of Western Park listed as catalyst projects, meaning they would be prioritized first.
“I think just given the fact that it’s been in the works for so long, that the phases of at least getting started, the land is already there,” Fore said. “I understand it’s expensive but it’s not an Eastern Avenue or Lickinghole Creek bridge expensive.”
Fore also said he would support the creation of a special taxation district to help pay for new infrastructure. The Albemarle Board of Supervisors has previously been briefed on how service districts or a “business improvement district” could be levied in certain areas to fund amenities.
“I looked through currently, and this may be a comment for the full draft, there’s only one mention of service districts in the entire draft and that’s in reference to funding ongoing activities and services at the plaza and downtown,” Fore said. “But I would like to see maybe a little bit more and maybe a full suggestion saying maybe this is something we should explore in Crozet to fund some of these capital projects so we’re not constantly having these be projects are ten years out.”
The Board of Supervisors last had a formal presentation on service districts at their meeting on December 7, 2016. (presentation) (story)
“It’s a pretty broad statute as I read it,” Fore said. “Things like sidewalks, roads, programming, cultural events, economic development, beautification and landscaping. It’s a very broad statute. It seems to me you could raise money for most of the kinds of projects that we’re looking at. When we look at the list of priorities and say, yikes! Where are we going to get all the money for this? Well, rather than say let’s raise taxes on everybody in the county, you might be able to say let’s raise funds specifically from Crozet that would stay in Crozet for some of these projects we want to see in Crozet.”
CAC member David Mitchell is skeptical of the idea and said it would lead to Crozet receiving fewer direct funds from the county.
“Over time we will start to be looked at by the other Supervisors as ‘they have their own money, they can do their own thing’ and you’re going to slowly over time lose your share of the general fund,” Mitchell said.
Supervisor Mallek agreed.
“I would really discourage our citizenry from burdening themselves because I think David is right,” Mallek said. “We need to go to toe to toe, to say, this is a need that’s been on the books.”
Mallek singled out the Eastern Avenue connector road that will provide north-south travel. A major obstacle is the cost of a bridge required to cross Lickinghole Creek.
“We have made all of these zoning changes prior to 2007 that were counting on that bridge and we absolutely have a moral obligation to build it,” Mallek said.
Eastern Avenue is ranked #8 on the county’s transportation priority list and there was an update in May. There’s not yet a full cost estimate on what it will cost, but engineering work is underway.
“This project is currently being evaluated through an alignment study and conceptual design which is funded through the Transportation Leveraging Fund in the [Capital Improvement Program],” reads the update. “The alignment report was presented to the Board in January and the preferred alignment was selected. This project is being considered for a Revenue Sharing Grant application.”
Allie Pesch, the chair of the CAC, said she wanted Eastern Avenue to be the top implementation priority.
“I like seeing Eastern Avenue at the top of that list,” Pesch said. “That is a priority for everyone in our area and just so overdue.”
After this discussion of implementation, county planner Rachel Falkenstein turned the conversation to the working draft of the master plan. The draft that will be reviewed by the Planning Commission at their work session on Tuesday incorporates feedback from the June 9 CAC meeting. (download the draft)
“We still have a couple of steps to go before we get to our public hearings and we’ll continue to accept feedback and make revisions to the chapters and to the content,” Falkenstein said.
You’re reading Charlottesville Community Engagement. On June 22 at 7 p.m., the Jefferson Madison Regional Library and the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society gives a glimpse into the cemeteries at Pen Park in Charlottesville. Tucked behind the Meadowcreek clubhouse are three, enclosed, family cemeteries, with the oldest dating back to the Colonial era.
Outside the enclosures of the family plots, the city has confirmed the presence of 40 or more unmarked graves, all likely those of people enslaved at Pen Park. Join us as a panel of three professionals discuss what led to the examination of this site, the process of the investigation, and the efforts to identify and commemorate those buried there. Register on the JMRL website.
A few days after the CAC meeting, the Downtown Crozet Initiative held a public meeting to talk about a 30,000 square foot plaza intended to be located at the former Barnes Lumberyard. The plaza would anchor a mixed-use building and a hotel through a public-private partnership. The idea involves construction of a connector road using revenue-sharing funds from VDOT. That process requires a local match.
Frank Stoner is a principal at Milestone Partners which seeks to redevelop the space. They’re putting up $2 million to serve as that match.
“This project started in 2014,” Stoner said. “We developed this road plan in 2016, 2017. Most of the design elements of the road have been resolved. We felt strongly and I think the community felt strongly and the county felt strongly that the streets had to be appropriate for the small town that is Crozet and not be a highway through the middle of downtown which is kind of where VDOT wanted to go with it.”
Albemarle County has contributed $1.6 million in cash to the project, and will provide another $1.6 million in rebates through a process known as tax increment financing. (read the June 2019 performance agreement)
Stoner said the idea is to build an urban plaza, not a park.
“And most importantly we wanted this plaza to be the heart not just of the neighborhood but the Crozet community,” Stoner said.
Credit: Downtown Crozet Initiative
VDOT is contributing $2.5 million and the Downtown Crozet Initiative is seeking to raise over a million in private funds.
“Which will be used to fund essentially the furniture, fixtures and equipment, sculpture, artwork, seating, all of that kind of stuff that goes in the plaza,” Stoner said.
The designs aren’t close to final yet, but Stoner wanted to get feedback from the community. There are also no identified tenants for any of the spaces yet.
“We haven’t really been in the position to take commitments because there have been so many unknowns because of the VDOT plans and then we had some stormwater issues we had to work through and so it has just been one obstacle after another,” Stoner said.
Stoner said if all goes according to plan, construction could get underway next year. To Stoner, success means making sure it’s a place to expand what already makes Crozet Crozet.
“If we can’t create a place that’s affordable for local businesses, then we’re not going to succeed,” Stoner said.
In April 2020, the firm Downtown Strategies unveiled their report on a Downtown Strategic Vision for Crozet. Stoner suggested interested parties might take a look. (take a look)
Nearby there is a separate VDOT project to rebuild the existing Square to add sidewalks and address ongoing stormwater issues. (watch the June 14 presentation)
“This is no longer the Crozet Master Plan; this is now the Planning Commission and staff master plan, because we voted against the middle density, and here we are back with it again,” (Tom Loach) said.
County Staff don’t get paid enough to be treated like this.
