Crozet is a designated growth area, and its community advisory committees are a clearinghouse for information with no binding authority. File photo.
The Albemarle Board of Supervisors is scheduled to adopt a new Comprehensive Plan on October 15 after a public hearing, but at least one county advisory board has urged revisions to be made first.
On October 8, the Crozet Community Advisory Committee adopted a resolution critical of language in the AC44 document that points the way to how Albemarle’s designated growth area might one day be expanded.
“The AC44 Growth Management Policy, as currently drafted, fails to sufficiently address Crozet’s future growth and development needs,” reads the resolution’s conclusion.
Since 1979, comprehensive plans in Albemarle have divided the county’s 726 square miles into growth and rural areas with development generally discouraged in the latter. The current AC44 document suggests no boundary adjustments at this time.
The unincorporated community of Crozet is one of the designated growth areas and the community advisory committee exist to serve as a clearinghouse for information. They do not have any binding authority; resolutions are symbolic.
Nevertheless, the resolution argues that language about growth area adjustments is confusing and could lead to premature expansion. Page 12 of the draft includes criteria for how land could be removed from the development area as well as guidelines for how it might be added in the future.
“The policy’s failure to define how these two sets of criteria work together risks making removal indistinguishable from expansion, contrary to our stated intent of limiting growth to existing boundaries,” the resolution continues.
The CCAC is asking the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors to consider several changes to the new criteria, including fully investing in infrastructure within existing development areas before making new ones.
However, the Planning Commission already recommended adoption after a public hearing on September 30. The Board of Supervisors held a further work session on October 1 at which one supervisor echoed many of the concerns reflected in the CCAC’s resolution.
“That is a topic which I’m hearing a lot of concern about because of its lack of detail and understanding,” said Supervisor Ann Mallek of the White Hall District, which covers Crozet. She’s also a non-voting member of the CCAC.
Michael Monaco, chair of the CCAC, says the intent of the resolution is not to clarify the language and not stop the update.
“I don’t believe there’s a strong desire to delay the adoption of AC44 entirely, but rather to see our feedback incorporated into the Growth Management Policy either through revisions to the current draft or future revisions following approval,” Monaco wrote in an email.
Monaco says he sent a copy of the resolution to the four active community advisory committees but had not heard back as of October 13.
Bill McLaughlin, the chair of the Places29-North CAC had not seen the resolution but hopes the county can follow language in the plan that requires a new review in five years.
“When the AC444 project started, data centers were not even considered, and today the issue is front and center,” McLaughlin said.
The last Comprehensive Plan update was on June 10, 2015.
The Village of Rivanna Community Advisory Committee has not met since the spring of 2022, after the members at the time quit to protest a lack of activity to update their master plan.
