This letter is directed to Albemarle County staff, Planning Commissioners, elected Supervisors, and our fellow Crozetians.
Crozet residents are being excluded from critical decisions affecting our daily lives. In our opinion, the County is prioritizing irresponsible growth at the expense of the community and to the benefit of developers. This is unacceptable, and it is incumbent upon the County and the community to change it.
Three principles for community development are clear:
Residents deserve to have a say in their community.
Infrastructure capacity must be evaluated before approving new developments to promote safe neighborhoods and adequate public services.
Developers must respect property rights and fulfill their promises.
Unfortunately, we believe these principles are not being upheld in Crozet. The CCAC, meant to give the community a voice, has been reduced to a forum where developers hold court. The County, eager to meet growth targets, approves rezonings despite widespread local objections.
For instance, during the February 21 Board of Supervisors meeting, over fifteen residents from different Crozet neighborhoods spoke to oppose the Montclair rezoning, citing safety issues and non-compliance with the County’s Comprehensive Plan. Despite over 1,000 signatures against the rezoning, the County approved it, disregarding community input.
In our opinion, there has been a pattern of developers breaking promises to residents and disrespecting property rights. Some examples include:
In Glenbrook, per a 6/2/23 Crozet Gazette article, some purchasers of single-family homes were led to believe by drawings of future site plans and by promises from the developer that their homes would have premium mountain views. However, the developer impaired their mountain views by constructing, twenty feet from their property line, a solid wall of attached villas that were not part of the original plan. To add insult to injury, a set of three-story townhomes exceeded the maximum County-approved building height. Despite the developer’s disregard for County regulations, the County could do nothing because the error was discovered too late.
In Westlake Hills, amenities promised by a developer, including a pool and community center, were never built.
Also in Westlake Hills, a developer and a builder devised a scheme to covertly transfer control of a parcel of land out of the Westlake Hills HOA, without notifying the residents. Residents rightfully expect their property rights within an HOA to be respected, necessitating transparency and consent in such a transfer. To protect their rights, several homeowners have filed a lawsuit.
Given this troubling legacy, we have serious concerns about future developments in Crozet. Foremost of our concerns is Project Heron, a partnership between a developer and the County to extend Eastern Avenue south to Route 250, which would include a bridge over Lickinghole Creek. While we support this construction, we have several questions and concerns. For one, the County has admitted to destroying project documents and there is evidence that they did so in an improper fashion, failing to file the required forms. Additionally, the project’s $17 million cost estimate seems unrealistic. VDOT’s most recent cost estimate was $39.5 million and, to the best of our knowledge, the developer lacks material experience in designing and constructing complex infrastructure in an environmentally sensitive area.
The Project Heron partnership also raises questions about a potential quid pro quo arrangement between the County and the developer. Emails between the two parties (which were obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request) conflate Project Heron with the approval of the developer’s rezoning application. The County’s discussions on Project Heron should contain zero references to the rezoning application, especially references that state when the County will approve the rezoning application. In another concerning action, the County has delayed publicly releasing their staff report on the rezoning application until five days before the Planning Commission’s meeting on the rezoning. This deviates from the standard process and is yet another example of the County dismissing the public while continuing to engage with developers.
We have raised our questions and concerns with County officials, but their responses have been limited, vague and uninformative. We are deeply concerned that the County’s handling of Project Heron may result in the following sequence of events: (i) the County will approve both the rezoning application and Project Heron; (ii) the developer will construct the private development; (iii) the developer will devise an excuse (e.g., cost overruns) to backtrack on its commitment to build a bridge over Lickinghole Creek; and (iv) without this bridge, residents of East Crozet will be subjected to even more vehicles on its already inadequate existing roadways, increasing congestion and safety hazards.
In conclusion, we request the following:
To the County and Board of Supervisors: Respond to our questions and release rezoning application staff reports at least one month before Planning Commission meetings. Consider community concerns in your decisions.
To Crozet developers: Honor your commitments and respect our community.
To Crozet residents: Join us in advocating for a better Crozet by writing letters, attending meetings (including the August 13th Planning Commission meeting), and supporting potential legal actions in the future when our property rights are violated.
Nadia Anderson, Liberty Hall HOA President
Carol Fairborn, Westlake Hills
Luke Fairborn, Westlake Hills
Rashmi Ghei, Westlake Hills
Aaron Howell, Westhall HOA President
Minsu Kim, Westlake Hills
Bill O’Malley, Westlake Hills
Steve Walsworth, Cory Farm HOA
