August Crozet Gazette is Chock Full

In Crozet by Jim Duncan2 Comments

This month’s Gazette has a slew of great and relevant stories. (they all do, but this month felt particularly meaty). Pick up a copy and read the whole thing. CCAC Explores Land Use and Crozet’s Character The Master Plan contains a future land use map …

Albemarle County Announces Safe Routes to School Grant for Crozet Elementary

In Crozet, Schools by Jim1 Comment

Approximately 177 of 305 students live within two miles of Crozet Elementary School and there are over 200 homes in neighborhood located within one-half mile of the school that will be able to take advantage of the new pedestrian features. In addition, the private Field School located directly across the street from Crozet Elementary will also be linked by the new sidewalk to neighborhoods north of downtown Crozet and will be served by the new crosswalk and warning sign features. … The Crozet PTO’s Walk to School program already sponsors monthly walks for children and their parents and supports the Safe Route project as a way to encourage active, healthy lifestyles among students, and the school administration is strongly committed to promoting alternative transportation for their students. … “Our goal is for families to feel comfortable allowing their students to walk or ride their bikes to school, and with the changes funded by this grant, we envision one-third to one-half of our student population now being able to safely walk to school.”

Crozet Gazette Pulls No Punches

In Crozet, Growth, Politics by Jim2 Comments

The decision of the departing Kaine administration to bailout the investors in Biscuit Run, the largest subdivision ever approved in Albemarle County, and turn it into a state park will add to growth pressure in Crozet once the housing market begins to revive, which, we nonetheless hope, comes soon. The addition of Biscuit Run’s 3,100 houses to the Albemarle market with better proximity to Charlottesville meant homebuyers had an attractive alternative at a time when county policies were aiming growth on Crozet and claiming that it could handle a population of 24,000. … And about that $9.8 million: hasn’t Crozet been told for the last 12 years that there is no VDOT money to pay for Jarmans Gap Road improvements, and more recently that there is no funding possible for Crozet library ($6.3 million), the number one priority library on the state library’s list of construction projects? Thus the poor Virginia tax payer now has to pay to master plan and then operate in perpetuity a state park he had no idea he wanted, in a place he probably would not have picked, and to make up millions in tax revenue that was forfeited in the form of credits.