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Crozet Zoning meeting

Add your voice to the discussion of what Downtown Crozet will look like. From the County:

CROZET DOWNTOWN ZONING
COMMUNITY MEETING #1
May 10, 2007 — 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Crozet Fire Station

Crozet is a special place with a strong identity. If you participated in the Crozet Master Planning process, you will remember the saying we heard frequently: “all roads lead to downtown”. The Master Plan identified downtown as the largest and most important of the centers of residential and economic activity.

While a vision for downtown exists, the question still remains “How do we get there”? In response to this, Albemarle County has commissioned Community Planning and Design, in collaboration with Milt Herd and Bruce Dotson, to recommend zoning which will help implement the Master Plan vision for a thriving Downtown Crozet.

As part of this study we will be investigating existing limitations with the current code and best practices in communities of similar size and scale. Several alternatives will be presented to the community, and with your input one approach will be recommended for the county to adopt. This process will evolve over the next six months and will provide opportunities for community participation in developing the new zoning regulation.

Mark your calendars and make plans to participate in this important process.

Learn more at the County’s site. The agenda is below and here as a PDF.

So – here is the question – how do you envision Downtown Crozet?

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RSS in plain English

Perhaps the most efficient way to read this and other blogs if through RSS. Learn about it by watching this short video:


Click To Play

There are two types of Internet users, those that use RSS and those that don’t. This video is for the people who could save time using RSS, but don’t know where to start.
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A third Crozet candidate?

We know that incumbent David Wyant is running again.

We know that he is being challenged by Ann Mallek.

But is there a third candidate who may soon declare? Perhaps a Crozet resident? Rumors say that there may be somebody who will be announcing soon. Any insight from any of the readers?

This will be a very interesting race that will impact Crozet, possibly dramatically. The demographics have changed in the White Hall district significantly in the past four years. Pay attention, folks. It will be interesting. Make sure you educate yourself and get involved.

Keep up on the current state of the campaigns and elections at Charlottesville Tomorrow.

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The Virginia Tech Shootings

Ed. note: I hadn’t intended to comment on the horrific events in Blacksburg yesterday until I received this email:
With the horrific events in Blacksburg yesterday, I thought it might be good to have a local outlet for people to share concerns, prayers, etc.

Everyone is just in shock from these events, and it is hard to digest them.

I think sharing and talking about them always helps.  This event hits close to home for everyone in the Commonwealth – for who doesn’t have a friend or relative who either attends or has a family member attending VT?!  Just like all the towns in Virginia, Crozet has a heavy heart today.

Worst, the media is doing a horrible job with coverage – they are like monsters, attacking the police and administration for thier actions, as if this could have all been prevented.  Now is not the time for that, shame on them for bringing that up in such a classless manner.

I know I can say on behalf of our community that our prayers and thoughts are with the families of the victims, the shooter, and the entire Blacksburg community. I hope people will share their thoughts and ties of VT to Crozet (I am an alum).

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A brief history of RealCrozetVA

18 months. It has been 18 months since RealCrozetVA was founded.  RealCrozetVA was started in September of 2005 with a simple goal:

I am starting this blog somewhat on a whim, so as to provide a forum for Crozet to (hopefully) discuss their thoughts about Crozet’s growth.

My whimsical vision also sees this as a place to discuss Crozet’s goings-on, music and cultural events, local vineyards, etc. This will be a slow start, as my business and my blog and my life already consume so much of my time. Please be patient, and if anybody wants to help out, please let me know.

You may start here to learn a little bit about some of what has been happening in Crozet.

And it has grown slowly but surely. After a recent mailing to raise awareness of the blog, traffic has spiked. Hopefully we will be able to keep some of that traffic and interest. That it has been over 18 months since its inception is amazing; it feels like only yesterday that I got the bug to start it.

Realcrozetva Traffic for the past 12 months

One thing differentiates realcrozetva from some of the other “hyper local” blogs that have been discussed in the re.net – it was started purely for the community, with no desire to gain profit (much like cvillenews.com, but even more localized). Only very recently have I added the “Search for Homes” tab, and I debated and struggled with that for quite some time; I do not want to detract from the site’s being for the Crozet community. One of the best features of the site is the Community Map, which shows many, although not yet all, businesses in Crozet.

I cannot yet attribute a single transaction to the site, and don’t really care; that was never the goal. The relationships I have had the opportunity to develop, the ways in which I have been able to give back to the community, primarily due to this blog, and even more importantly, emails such as this make it worthwhile –

Good morning… quick note on your blog.  … I’m a big fan of the RealCrozet blog. I’ve passed it along to many new friends I’ve made here.  It’s great … well done, and a wonderful way to pull the community together.  Thank you!

The goal remains the same – to give something to the Crozet community, to provide a forum that is used to connect and bring together Crozetians, new and old. Here’s to another 18 months.

* I have cross-posted this with RealCentralVA; it and RealCrozetVA have completely different audiences, and I think this post will be interesting to both.

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Help Clean up Crozet this Saturday

From the Crozet Community Association digest:*

We are going to do the Crozet Clean up this Saturday April 14th beginning at 9AM behind Fabulous Foods. This year Henley Middle School student council is going to help as well as volunteers from Western who will be painting more murals in the Great Valu parking lot.

We would love to have members of the community join us and help out and we want to remind folks to drive slowly this Saturday morning.

Crozet Clean-up Day – Saturday April 14, 2007

Please come out and join us and help us clean up litter around Crozet. Even if you can’t make it on the day of the event there are still ways that you can help.

1.  Register to be a volunteer on Saturday April 14, 2007. It’s easy to do just stop by Fabulous Foods and sign up.

2.  Help us identify streets or areas that have a trash problem so that we can make sure that our crews target those areas.  This can be anywhere around the Crozet area.  You can do this several ways: : leave a note at  Fabulous Foods, Email Heidi  or you can  call and leave a message at 823-7828.

3.    Help to get the word out to area students so that they can get involved and fulfill their community service hours. All students must sign up and pick up a parental permission form that they will need to bring back signed on Sat. 4/14

4.  Drive carefully and slowly this Saturday morning we will be on the streets !

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Raising awareness of RealCrozetVa take 2

Taking the idea of a reader responding to the post asking for ideas on how to raise awareness of RealCrozetVA, I am doing a very limited mailing (it costs a lot of money!) to some of the Crozet neighborhoods. We have had some interesting discussions lately, on and off-line. Thank you.

Crozet Realcrozet Mailing-1

The postcard is below – feel free to download it, print it out and give it to your friends and neighbors. As always, if you have a story idea or want to write one yourself, please contact me.

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More on Harris Teeter coming to Crozet

Are they coming? Maybe.

Following up on a tip from a reader, I found this page on Harris Teeter’s site, a page that surprised the Harris Teeter representative with whom I spoke. That they are planning to “go green” is exciting.

Responding to the query as to whether Harris Teeter would be coming to Crozet, Keith Rudemiller, one of Harris Teeter’s Vice Presidents of Real Estate Development, responded with cautious, non-definite statements that Harris Teeter has “a strong interest” in coming to the area, but without definite agreements signed and in place, he was hesitant to commit to the specifics noted on their website (and below). In short, it sounded as if there have been letters of intent signed, but no contractual obligations confirming that they will indeed be building a new store in Crozet.

In response to the question about why they are going to “go green,” Mr. Rudemiller stated that “there is an an evolution towards green” and that they intend to “be at the forefront of this by building more eco-friendly stores, and incorporate LEED standards.” Their determination to help lead this trend is commendable.

The Crozet Gazette has more in this April’s issue (PDF); there is also an artists’ rendering of the proposed design.

Harris Teeter’s corporate communications director Jennifer Panetta said later that a 42,000-square-foot  store is tentatively slated to open in  late 2008 in the new Blue Ridge Shopping Center adjacent to Blue Ridge Builder’s Supply. A spokesman for of  Great Eastern Management, which has been trying to develop the shopping center for 17 years, noted Harris Teeter’s steps toward design approval, but said no deal with them has yet been signed.

Time will tell.

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Eminent Domain in Crozet?

Maybe, maybe not. Spurred by an email from a reader:

Jarman Gap road widening improvements for 2009 – everyone agrees it’ll be nice, but did you know they’re probably taking eminent domain and taking land from the Crozet Methodist Church, as well as all the way down to Grayrock?  I live in Grayrock and several homeowners could lose 5-10 feet of their quarter acre lot!  There is likely to be a lot of protest to this, and more public awareness is better – will also affect Waylands Grant and Bargamin Park.

I contacted Allan Sumpter, Residency Administrator with the VDOT regarding the possibility of the Commonwealth using eminent domain along Jarman’s Gap. This is his response:

The Jarmans Gap roadway construction project is still in the design phase.  Since the inception of the project, an enormous amount of growth has occurred along Route 691 relatively quickly. This growth has made it necessary for VDOT to go back and acquire additional survey information to reflect the physical changes that have occurred along the roadway.  Presently, our design team is working to update plans that reflect how these physical changes into the roadway design.  Thus, the project has not reached the right-of-way phase. 

I’d like to explain how this process works.  Once design is complete on a project plans are submitted to our Central Office in Richmond for approval to proceed to the right-of-way acquisition phase.  This phase includes all necessary property acquisitions, temporary and permanent construction easements and utility easements. When approval is granted, our right-of-way section is given clearance to begin.  Each affected property is appraised by a licensed appraiser.  After the appraisal is complete, a negotiation agent contacts the property owner to arrange a meeting to present them with an offer on what VDOT needs to acquire for the project.  This may include more than one visit.  If and when the offer is accepted, legal documents are drawn up to complete the transaction and the property owner is paid.  In cases where all attempts to reach an agreement have failed VDOT will then make a decision to proceed to use the power of eminent domain.  A “certificate” is filed with the court system and upon court approval, VDOT can then proceed with the project.  A final agreement on what the property owner is paid is made through that system.

As I explained, the project is not yet to this phase.  Initial data indicates there are 105 property owners affected on the project. The exact acreage from each to construct the project varies.  This information is listed on the plans and will be available once the plans are completed.  Therefore, it is not possible for me to provide exact figures to you at this time.  If all goes well, the project is appears to be headed to the right-of-way phase this Fall.  Right-of-way agents would then start contacting property owners with specifics at that time.  I hope this information clarifies this process.  As for construction, we hope that construction will be ongoing during the 2009 construction season. (ed. note: bolding mine)

I hope this information is useful. If you have questions, please let me know.

Allan Sumpter
Residency Administrator

More information on the status of the Jarman’s Gap project at Cville Tomorrow, and at Albemarle County’s website (and here).

The question is this – do the road improvements that will benefit the community supersede the property rights of the landowners? 

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