Downtown Crozet Association to Become Crozet Board of Trade

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The officers of the Downtown Crozet Association voted in February to change the organization’s name to the Crozet Board of Trade and to broaden its agenda to represent all western Albemarle businesses and to work for local economic and community development goals.

The new name resurrects one in use in Crozet for three decades in the early 20th century when local business leaders organized a group to promote Crozet products through marketing campaigns. (For details, see The Crozet Gazette, Jan. 2013, pages 11-12.)

Reviving the name is meant to give local merchants and business owners an organization that is devoted to addressing prosperity issues.

A non-profit organization recognized by the IRS as a community-building civic organization, the DCA was formed in 2007, before Old Trail village shops or the Clover Lawn/Harris Teeter shopping areas were built. The DCA’s first goal was to create a zoning district for downtown Crozet with terms that recognized the idiosyncratic circumstances of Crozet’s historic business district and did not treat it as if it were a suburban shopping center with expansive parking lots.

The county supervisors created the roughly 50-acre Crozet Downtown District, adopting zoning rules for it that are designed to create a traditional, mixed-use town center that is pedestrian-friendly. The district is unique in the county.

The DCA has customarily also handled fundraising for Crozet’s Fourth of July fireworks show. It was a sponsor of the effort to create the Crozet Historic District, officially recognized by the U.S Department of the Interior in November, which makes designated older structures in central Crozet eligible for state and federal renovation tax credits.

The CBT will host a public meeting about the construction schedule for the streetscape project on Crozet Avenue once a contractor for the job is selected by the county.

The current officers of the CBT are Sandy Wilcox, president (The Blue Goose); Jean Wagner, vice president (Crozet Great Valu); Brenda Plantz, treasurer (Parkway Pharmacy); and Mike Marshall, secretary (Crozet Gazette).

Businesses and professionals that would like to be on the CBT mailing list are asked to send an email to [email protected].