In the final item, they will review the entrance corridor guidelines on Route 250 west of Charlottesville for the rural areas to the east and west of Ivy Depot. (staff report)
Image screenshot below by Jim, from the Staff Report. This is interesting stuff, and how we allow this area to develop will influence how we build bike lanes one day, hopefully. (Related – Three Notch’d Trail Planning Funding Approved)
Next, the end is nigh for virtual meetings in Albemarle County. Assistant County Executive Trevor Henry will provide an update on the transition back to in-person public meetings for bodies that have not already done so.
“To prepare for in-person public meetings, investments have been made in equipment, software, and training to allow for some meetings to have elements of virtual participation and/or virtual access for the public,” reads the staff report. “Staff expects all public meetings held beginning September 1, 2022 will be held under the new framework.”
In the evening session beginning at 6 p.m. there will be a public hearing for a rezoning for the Old Dominion Village project in Crozet along Three Notch’d Road. The proposal is to rezone 23.68 acres from Rural Areas to Neighborhood Model Development for up to 110 units around a site currently occupied by Crozet Veterinary Care Center.
The Planning Commission unanimously approved the project in February, but recommended denial of a special exception to reduce the minimum setback between an existing animal confinement facility (vet clinic) and a residential lot line from 200 feet to 50 feet. The plan has been revised since then.
Location map for the Old Dominion Village project (Credit: Meridian Planning Group)
$2,007,045 for the Three Notched Trail Shared Use Path Plan in Albemarle County for the planning of a project that will develop a shared use path between the City of Charlottesville, the community of Crozet, and Western Albemarle and Nelson County.
(the following is from the beginning of the above-referenced release)
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) announced $64,207,045 in federal funding for Virginia infrastructure projects courtesy of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law negotiated by Sen. Warner and supported by Sen. Kaine. The funding was awarded through the Department of Transportation’s Rebuilding American Infrastructure Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) discretionary grant program that helps communities plan and carry out projects with local or regional impact.
“Virginia continues to benefit from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,” the senators said. “We are thrilled to see this funding head to Virginia for improvements throughout the Commonwealth that will have a direct impact on Virginians’ daily lives.”
Getting people out of cars onto bikes and e-bikes withing safe, protected lanes from Afton and Crozet to Charlottesville. Sounds simple, reasonable, and a no-brainer.
Getting there will take a lot of work, and huge thanks and congratulations to everyone who lobbied to get this funding.
The Three Notched Trail (TNT) is a proposed shared use path from the City of Charlottesville extending to Ivy, Crozet, and the Blue Ridge Tunnel in Afton. Additionally, the trail will connect users to the University of Virginia, the Blue Ridge Parkway, Shenandoah National Park, Skyline Drive, and the Appalachian Trail.
A “shared use” path is typically a 10’ wide paved trail that is physically separated from the motor vehicle travel way and allows bi-directional pedestrian and bicycle traffic. Once built, the TNT will provide local residents and visitors with car-free transportation and recreational opportunities.
We see the Three Notched Trail being a part of a larger Mountains-to-Sea Trail, connecting the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay. This continuous trail would make Virginia a trailblazer in outdoor recreation, tying together the Virginia Capital Trail with the proposed Birthplace of America Trail and Fall Line Trail. Imagine a continuous trail almost 200 miles long!
The cynical side of me is hopeful, but realistic. It took 10 years to get the sidewalks in front of Harris Teeter. Here’s hoping my great grand child will be able to get from here to there not in a car.
Greenhouse Coffee has been a place to meet my wife, daughters, and grandson, where my younger daughter had her first job, and the place where the Crozet Cycling Club would meet for early morning post ride coffee.
Simply, Greenhouse was just an important part of life in Crozet.
Thanks Camille for all of your hard work and sacrifice.
At least two trucks hit and got stuck in the past two weeks. One was white, and one was yellow (the yellow truck people left their debris under the bridge).
I figure once every 7 years, I might as well update the “how many times has the bridge in Crozet been hit by a truck?” post.
If you are in favor of housing that allows more people of more income and wealth levels to live in Crozet, I’d encourage you to attend this meeting, or voice your opinion in favor of more housing.
If you’re opposed to more housing for more people, I suspect this is already on your radar and neighborhood listservs and Nextdoors.
I’d wager if Albemarle and VDOT would add appropriate infrastructure when they approve developments, I’d wager they’d get some more support from adjacent homeowners.
As an aside, I wish I could find citation for the most egregious “argument” against this development made by a neighbor.
They are proposing a rezoning to allow for 157 homes.
Crozet needs new housing, but also needs supporting infrastructure and businesses to keep Crozetians in Crozet, and going to work not in cars (bikes, walking). Trails need to connect to downtown Crozet and other neighborhoods so that people aren’t forced to drive.
From the January CCAC meeting
Montclair is 17.5 acres.
Attached homes – towns & villas – throughout. Habitat will build 9-12 units in Montclair.
Through my lens representing buyers, from $200,000 and up well be on that, Charlottesville needs affordable housing. It’s not a nice to have. It’s an absolute, desperate, need.
I haven’t written one of these in a while. There’s a lot happening the national, regional, Crozet real estate market, so I thought I’d put some thoughts to metaphorical paper.
tl;dr: the market is changing, and what we’ve become accustomed to has changed. Questions? Ask me.
I started this section in the first few days of June, and have re-written it at least three five six times. My “econ” twitter list has been active as everyone learns about this market.
In short, I think we’re in a transitioning market rather than a transitory market; everything is different now.
This is a bit of a scary time in the real estate market. In the end, it will be OK. The move from a super-hot, multiple offer, escalating offers market to a much, much more conservative and even aggressive pricing strategy market has been fast.
One of the most important parts of what I do is help manage expectations of my clients. Two recent emails, one from a buyer and one from a seller’s agent, on a house my buyer lost out on in a multiple offer situation:
“We have thought about it and have decided to rent for a year before buying, hopefully to give the housing market time to settle! If it is okay with you we would love to reach out again next year when we are looking again.”
“They are all over the place, even wondering if they should just wait for other offers, which I am advising against.”
My response to the buyer was that I’ll absolutely be here next year and that I thought they were making a good decision. I’ve said the same thing to quite a few buyers recently. Twelve years ago I wrote that I think people moving to Charlottesville should rent first; I still think that’s the best advice.
My response to the seller’s agent was echoing her advice that waiting for other offers likely wouldn’t yield more offers. I suspect that those sellers were basing their expectations on the market from a few months ago rather than today’s reality.
The market from earlier in the pandemic that may be helping sellers set their own expectations is gone. As I’ve told clients, “What your neighbor got for their house four months ago, and how fast, and with however many offers, is irrelevant.”
Ali Wolf tweeted “If someone could afford the monthly payment of a $450,000 home at a 3% interest rate, the equivalent payment at a 6% interest rate is for a $316,000 home.”
I’m writing offers now with interest rate caps of 6.5%, and I’m thinking 7% might be next. And in the future, rates will fall again, and people will refinance. We will be fine.
Take a $600K house, with 20% down, at 3.25% interest = PI of $2,089/month. Principal + interest (not including taxes and insurance).At 6%, for that $600K house, the PI is $2,878.
At 6%, a $2,086 monthly payment with 20% down will get you a $435K house.
Some Albemarle County residents are torn about how the county should grow.
The county began surveying the community last month about seven proposed growth management options, part of the first phase of the county’s effort to update its comprehensive plan. The concepts range from reducing density in the county’s development areas to setting standards to help determine whether and how to expand a growth area.
Officials said 119 people have taken the survey, which closes at 10 p.m. Sunday. The responses, made public this week show stark divisions in the community. Other chances for citizen input will available to residents as the plan update moves along.
Albemarle (and the City of Charlottesville) are, and are becoming more unaffordable. We need to build affordable housing – much of which may be duplexes, triplexes, quads, apartments, etc so that people who want to live and work here can.
Think about your kids who you want to return to live nearby with their kids. Think about your parents who might need to move to be closer to you (and your kids). A lot of these may be (and probably should be) rentals – not everyone wants to own a home (I’m working on a story now for JimsNote in which I discuss how the “American Dream” of homeownership is not for everyone, and that’s just fine).
This survey will help Albemarle County government – Planning Commission, Board of Supervisors, et al – make a path forward for how we are going to grow, from 110K-ish now to 155K-ish in 2050.
Even better, pay to subscribe to support his work. (I do; if you’re interested in a free one-year subscription, ask me; I’m happy to offer one.)
Albemarle County is in the first phase of a review of its Comprehensive Plan with an eye on a growth management policy. A second questionnaire on the policy closes on July 17, and Albemarle’s Communications and Public Engagement office produced an explanatory video.
“The growth management policy is one of the tools that we use to implement the county’s vision by helping us to make intentional decisions about how and where we grow and what areas are protected,” states the narrator of the video.
The video states that one purpose of a growth management policy is to ensure that there are services for a growing population, including the provision of water and sewer services.
“The majority of new residential, commercial, retail, office, industrial, and mixed-use development is intended to be within the county’s development areas,” the video continues. “The rural area is intended to have limited residential development.”
Different community groups are also encouraging community members to fill out the survey.
“Designated Development Areas currently comprise only five percent of Albemarle County while Rural Areas currently comprise 95 percent of the County,” reads the newsletter. “Yet we in Forest Lakes are seeing the developmental impacts more directly, since the limited Development Area includes the 29-Corridor to the west of Forest Lakes.”
The Forest Lakes Community Association had argued against the nearby Brookhill and RST Residents developments, and points out there’s currently no public transportation in the area.
“Roads are planned that will eventually connect both developments directly to Ashwood Boulevard, with estimates of up to a 50 percent increase in daily traffic utilizing the Forest Lakes South exit,” the newsletter continues.
This spring, the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors were presented with a build-out analysis to determine if there’s enough room in the existing development area to meet the needs of a growing population.
Supervisors got an update on June 1, 2022 that I’ve yet to write about, but will before the end of the summer. You can watch the video of that meeting here, and let us know what happened!
After a dozen years leading Crozet Elementary, Gwedette Crummie is retiring, according to a recent announcement to the school community.
Crummie, the division’s longest-tenured principal, will step down this summer before the school welcomes 219 students from Brownsville Elementary following a redistricting approved earlier this year.
The $20.4 million, 28,000-square-foot expansion of Crozet will open this school year. (Jim’s note: if you’re buying a house in Crozet, make sure you know your school district; the MLS is driven by humans, and sometimes we make mistakes)
Crummie, who has worked in education for 36 years, wrote in her message to families that the decision to retire was difficult.
“However, the time is right for a new principal to join this remarkable school community with its beautiful new addition welcoming all students and families,” she wrote, adding that she’ll be starting a new career as a coach for young principals.
