Signs welcoming motorists to Crozet should start appearing on our major entry ways, Rt. 250 and Rt. 240, by the end of March, according to Crozet landscape painter Meg West, who has been organizing the installation of “Welcome to Crozet” signs on behalf of the Crozet Community Association.
She and Yancey Mills sign maker Peter Welch recently visited three locations with John Winn, the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Culpeper District permit inspector, who spray painted the spots where the posts of each sign should go.
West had already approached adjoining property owners and had their consent. Because the signs are in the VDOT right of way, they require only VDOT’s official approval. The CCA paid a $100 application fee for the permit and installation just awaits its issuance. Winn studied the characteristics of each proposed location and in wielding his paint can made sure the 2-foot-by-three-foot signs, which feature the steam engine silhouette also on Crozet Library’s sign, are both safely out of the way and as close in view as possible.
The sign for eastbound drivers on Rt. 250 will go near the F&R engineering company office, just east of the Interstate 64 interchange. A sign facing westbound drivers on Rt. 250 will sit just east of Clover Lawn shops along Missing Acres’ fence line. The third sign, and the first that will be erected because its preferred spot is actually outside the VDOT right of way, will face westbound traffic on Rt. 240 near the Albemarle County Service Authority’s water treatment plant lagoons.
West reported to the CCA at its March 10 meeting at the Field School that the community fund drive had raised enough for two and half signs to date and hearing that the CCA voted $200 from its roughly $800 treasury to finish the third sign. Major contributions came from Crozet realtor/blogger Jim Duncan, the U.Va. Credit Union, Brownsville Market and the Crozet Lions Club, who also volunteered to periodically tend the signs’ landscaping (likely bulbs and azaleas). Cash donations placed in jars on the counters of some local businesses also contributed substantially.
Given that the prompt success of the drive, the CCA decided to continue fundraising for a fourth sign on the north approach to town, such as at the sharp curve at the intersection of Buck Road and White Hall Road. Any additional money raised would also go towards the plantings.
