Crozet Community Association (CCA) Minutes of the
September 8, 2022
Claudius Crozet Park Community Building

(Please enter Crozet Park through the front gate on Park Road and park on the basketball courts located behind
the main facility and near the Community building. Please do not park along Hilltop Street or Indigo Road.)

Click here for PDF version of these minutes.

Welcome: Tim Tolson, President,  welcomed the 8 people present and called the meeting to order at 7:35 PM.   The CCA secretary, Jo Ann Perkins, has injured her hand and can’t take minutes.  Ann Mallek volunteered to send her notes on the meeting to help Tim with minutes.

Agenda Review/Changes and additions from the floor.  
– Tom Loach ask to add a motion to New Business.

Approval of the CCA’s minutes of March 10, 2022.
– Tom Loach mad motion to accept them as presented, Ann Mallek seconded and unanimously approved

Treasurer’s Report: (2022 Dues: Still just $10 annual contribution). Tim reported the CCA: $4,000.58; CIDC: 7,898.99; TOTAL: 11,899.55 – There are 2 outstanding bills for the CIDC.

Albemarle County Police Department (ACPD; Blue Ridge District Evening Patrol Division) may visit and give an update. – They may stop by.

Discussion:  Growth in Crozet and the 2022 Crozet Master Plan

– Tim provided some background information about the 2022 Crozet Master Plan, the Montvale subdivision proposal and Crozet United and Eric Schmidt want the stream placed back on the maps.   The County staff seemed more solicitous about what Crozet residents wanted when we did the 2004 master plan and the 2010 revision.  That seemed not to be the case for the 2022 revision.  They pushed middle density housing onto the maps over the objections of both residents where it was being proposed and the CCAC.

Tom Loach said he thought the new Crozet Master Plan was a disaster for the community. It was not the CCAC members choice.  There were three CCAC meetings on land use and the CCAC objected twice and voted no 12-5.   It was pre-determined before it came to the CCAC.  Middle density did not/does not exist as a zoning category.  Just last week, Old Dominion on the border of Beaver Creek (and the growth area) got 8-9 homes per acre.
Affordable housing has been discussed since 1993, it was part of the first Crozet Master Plan.  We wanted to maintain the character of the community back then.  In 2004, the consultant said Crozet would have a maximum of 12,800 for the current 3,000.  In 2020,  the Crozet Gazette reported 16,700 units were issued for Crozet growth area.

In 2022, another consultant added another 870 houses to Crozet.   The comprehensive plan goals, 4 out of 7 are aimed at Crozet.   We did a survey and try to work with the county, since 1993.  Who wanted more population in the survey?  What was expected new growth that was compatible with existing neighborhoods.   The community welcomed development but at the lower range of density.  There were individual threats to the comprehensive plan.

In 1985, the CCA was formed and gave voice to its desires.  The first community survey [NOTE: in 2010]  talked about amenities like bike and pedestrian paths, types of development on 250. Yancey Mills/I-64 interchange.   In 2017 did another survey, statistically sampled, got over a 65% return rate saying similar things to 2010 survey.

The CCAC has voted over and over again since 2005 about development and density.  The original 2004 Crozet master plan used the neighborhood model and incorporated bona fide affordable units.  The community worked a lot with PHA on their Blue Ridge Avenue mixed income neighborhood model.   Only to have PHA sell the land to a developer.  For years there’s been a presentation about water.
He suggested another meeting – a state  of Crozet meeting.  Have a fact sheet for background. Like was done at the Field School years ago.
[NOTE: that meeting was to gather ideas for the development of the Barnes Lumber property.]  Have speakers from the county to answer questions.

Terri likes the pedestrian crossing at Harris Teeter on Route 250.  The narrowness slows people down.

Update and News from Ann Mallek, our county supervisor

The county is working on a revised comprehensive plan called “AC44” – Albemarle County 2044 –  the revision of the county’s comprehensive plan.  There are seven options being explored with surveys and community input sessions.

1. It has more density in development areas, keeping green infrastructure.
2. It has opportunities to reduce maximum densities to align with more usual growth as passed. It has the neighborhood model; Grey Rock in process, Crozet wanted affordable housing. Bob Hirshman rendered a model with affordable housing interspersed but it  was not accepted.
3. It includes new criteria about expanding the growth areas. Since 1975 , the county has opted to be 95% rural and keep 5% of the land rural land. Use property tax exemption to incentive rural land and give that tax benefit to the growth area – was implicit to the concept. In 1991 there was a review of cost offsets. Approximate 2 to 4$ million.   [Note: She explained the  land use program.]
4. Opportunities for development at the I-64 interchanges. The I-64/Route 250 interchange at Yancey Mill is already a disaster.  The section from Harris Teeter to I-64  has at least one accident per month.  Rural character not intended to be served by public utilities.

Is a waning view about maintaining the rural area.?  She thinks not really.

Terri Miyamoto: If we want to keep rural areas rural and not increase density so much, where will people live?   Seems like in 20 years, more land will be needed in the growth area.

The county has fallen down on infrastructure. There might be less resistance to growth if there were confidence on delivery of infrastructure.

Old Business: 

• Crozet Independence Day Celebration will be Saturday, July 1, 2023.
  Tim talked a little about why there were not fireworks this year (July 2, 2022). Our usual fireworks company could not provide a shooter and there was less supply.  A company that came and looked at the site in early May couldn’t get fireworks supplies from China and decided that the new house near the park made the height fireworks we use to have unsafe. Doubted their insurance company would allow.As for this past July’s event, while the crowd was definitely smaller, the vendors  gave out the same amount of donation as 2021. We did have about half the total amount on beer sales and people did not stay until dark. We did not have a “gate” just asked for donations, and so we collected about $3,000 less that way.
  Brandon Black helped with parking again this year.  And Tim gave great appreciation and thanks to David Ferrall for all his work and coordination for the event in Tim’s absence (on his trip to Alaska).Ann suggested for next year we consider a Drone light show. Maybe Mark Eisener in Free Union?Terri said that  when the plaza is done, we will need remote parking for it.  And we need a middle of the day run for Jaunt – the Crozet Connect. 

New Business:  

• Tom Loach discussed the land use value tax and requested that  the County of Albemarle provide to the CCA  the total amount of taxes deferred under the Use Value taxation since its inception in 1975.   Additionally the CCA requests the approximate additional cost to county taxpayers to support the land use program, i.e. in 191 this amount was 11 cents of the tax rate.Tom Loach discussed the CCA conducting another community survey using the 2017 participant information to get feedback from the community about the issues and options that involve the Crozet community in Albemarle County’s “AC44” comprehensive plan revision.  He thinks that most of them will effect Crozet.He made a motion that the CCA set up a survey committee, similar to the last one in 2017, to gauge the support for each of the county’s AC44 options. Ray Grant seconded the motion.  It passed unanimously.[Note: Per Article VII of the CCA bylaws, this motion must be presented and voted on at the next meeting of the CCA, and accepted in order to be adopted.]

Announcements –  

• Household Hazardous waste on Friday & Saturday, September 23 and 24 from 9AM to 2PM at IMUC
• Bulky Waste Amnesty days:
  • Furniture/Mattresses – October 1, 2022
  • Appliances – October 8, 2022
  • Tires – October 15, 2022
• Electronic Waste Collection Day– Saturday, September 22, 2022 from 9A to 3P at IMUC
  • You MUST pre-register:  https://www.rivanna.org/ewaste/
  • Details on website and http://www.rivanna.org/hhw/
• Commercial Hazardous Waste Collection – Thursday, September 22, 2022.  Qualifying businesses* must pre-register with MXI Environmental by September 16 to obtain an appointment.  To Register, call or email Peggy Snead at (276) 628-6636, extension 203 or peggys@mxiinc.com.” There is a fee associated with disposal.

Future Agenda Items?  – None.

Meeting adjourned at 8:55 PM.

These minutes were prepared by Tim Tolson, from Ann Mallek’s and his notes.

Tentatively, the next CCA meeting is November 10, 2022 at 7:30 PM

CCA meetings are at 7:30 PM on the second Thursday of the odd numbered months
(except July).

Email us at: CrozetCommunity@gmail.com

Join our email list by signing up at: http://CrozetCommunity.org/contact-us/

These minutes of the September 8, 2022 meeting were unanimously approved at the November 10, 2022 meeting.