The Crozet Community Advisory Council will host a monthly series of five public forums on changes to the Crozet Master Plan, beginning Oct. 15. The schedule for the plan’s revision process calls for final recommendations to go to the Board of Supervisors for action next July.
This month’s meeting will focus on the Crozet Growth Area land use map and address density issues already raised by citizens. The forums will be hosted by the Field School in the Old Crozet School auditorium [across from Crozet Elementary on White Hall Road] and begin at 7 p.m. The public is encouraged to participate.
Subsequent forums, and their topics, will be: Nov. 19, Downtown; Dec. 17, Jobs/Housing/Light Industrial issues; Jan. 21: Land Use/Population Density; Feb. 18, Transportation/Greenways/Bike Planning/Community Facilities.
The CCAC will make the community’s recommendations in March, the Planning Commission will comment on them in April, and a Crozet town meeting will be held to discuss them in May. The Planning Commission will hold its public hearing in July and forward final recommendations to the Supervisors.
The plan update is not intended to change the overall goals set by the community in 2004, but to look at specific areas that may need modification. The review process will also consider requests from individuals for specific changes to the land use map and plan.
Crozet’s main goals for the revision were clear from opinions collected in the CCAC questionnaire filled out by 700 residents in June: restraining population growth to the 12,500 figure ratified by Supervisors in the 2004 document, promoting the downtown business district and limiting commercial expansion along Rt. 250, and effectively concentrating residential densities around commercial zones. Citizens expressed themselves as strongly against any expansion of the Growth Area boundary as well.
The master plan text refers to a build-out population of 12,000, although the land use designations shown on the current plan map and potential housing densities allowed in the plan’s tables allow for an ultimate population of up to 24,760.
A strong majority of Crozetians also said they want the plan to promote the vitality of businesses in the central Crozet business district, address public infrastructure needs (such as sidewalks that connect neighborhoods to downtown), ensure sufficient parking, and protect the integrity of neighborhoods surrounding downtown.
The survey also proved out the community’s determination to preserve and enhance its small town character, its neighborhoods, its distinct identity, and to promote public safety and crime prevention.
The current master plan discourages further commercial development along Route 250, although citizen requests to change the plan have been received and must be considered. Among them are a proposal to rezone 148 acres on the southeastern corner of the Interstate 64/Rt. 250 in Yancey Mills to light industrial use and a request to rezone the northwest corner of the Rt. 250/Miller School Road intersection to commercial use.
Later forums will discuss transportation improvements, sidewalks, bike paths and trails, bus and rail service, and set expectations for the width, functionality, and appearance of Crozet Avenue, Three Notch’d Road, and “Eastern Avenue,” a road planned to connect Cory Farm with Three Notch’d Road, Rt. 240, near MusicToday.
The forums will also review the plan’s priorities for public investment in infrastructure and services (roads, facilities, public buildings); environmental issues such as stream preservation, open space, the water supply, and recycling; parks and greenways, school needs and redistricting, and sewer capacity for new development.
