Dear Members of the Claudius Crozet Park Aquatics and Fitness Center, Park Users, and Members of the Western Albemarle Community,
The Claudius Crozet Park Board, a group of sixteen community volunteers, will be presenting a proposed initial site plan for an improved fitness and aquatics facility at the Park to the Albemarle County Planning Commission on Wednesday, November 3rd at 6:00 p.m.
Local social media has been covering the proposed improvements with some vigor. Unfortunately, much of the information being shared on social media is just plain false. In an effort to better inform the community, the Park Board is providing the following information to debunk some misinformation and provide data on the project. The full site plan proposal is available and you can listen to the Park Board’s proposal to the Board of Supervisors on Wednesday, November 3rd at 6:00 p.m. by joining the zoom meeting. If you would like to support the improvements in your local park, please review these instructions to learn how you can participate in this process.
Myth #1 – the proposed facility is a For-Profit facility – FALSE. The Claudius Crozet Park is a 501(c)(3) non-profit entity run by a volunteer board of directors. The present facilities, which include aquatics and fitness amenities have been run by multiple organizations over the last eleven years. The board relies on outside expertise to run these facilities and will continue to rely on such expertise in the future. The new facility will consist of aquatics and fitness amenities and will be run by an organization with the skills and resources necessary to manage the facility. The identity of that organization is not yet known. Regardless of who runs it, the Park will continue to be a non-profit organization dedicated to providing affordable recreation to the entire community. No community members will be turned away from the Park because of financial inability to pay. THIS IS NOT A COMMERCIAL PROJECT. IT IS A COMMUNITY PROJECT!
Myth #2 – a developer is pushing for the creation of the new facility – FALSE. The project to improve the Park’s amenities is the result of volunteer board and community members responding to requests from the local community and Albemarle County Parks and Recreation to better meet the needs of the growing Western Albemarle community. There is no big developer looking to make a profit pushing this project.
Myth #3 – the improved amenities will significantly worsen an already bad traffic situation – FALSE. The Park is already a busy place. So is Crozet. Expert traffic analysis has shown that the proposed access and flow of the improved amenities, combined with the completion of pending connector roads will have a positive effect on traffic flow within the community. Further, providing amenities in the local community reduces overall miles driven on all of our county roads, it keeps our friends, family, loved ones, and our most at-risk teen drivers off of the main routes between Crozet and the higher quality amenities in Charlottesville. Local amenities reduce overall traffic and save lives. There are too many crosses and flowers on Ivy Road and I-64. Keep our people safe and local.
Myth #4 – the proposed new facility is about the same footprint as Harris Teeter – FALSE. The footprint of the proposed facility is much less than Harris Teeter. However, because the new facility offers amenities on multiple floors, to include multiple group exercise classrooms, an indoor walking track, and an indoor basketball court, the overall footprint is much smaller than our local grocery store but offers amenities on the same scale. The overall height of the facility is significantly less than your local library and is about the same height as the blue dome that is presently used to make the pool accessible year-round.
Myth #5 – the new facility significantly reduces green space in the park – FALSE. The truth is that there will be more paving. However, the overall untreated rain water runoff will be reduced by the introduction of vastly improved bio-filter systems. The additional paving will almost exclusively cover the over flow parking areas that almost always have cars on them already. This area is technically not green space and leaving it unpaved without bio-filter and storm water management is environmentally unsound. The additional paving is environmentally conscious and effects only an area that is already unavailable to green space use due to overflow parking. If the overflow parking area to the west of the south entrance driveway is deemed green space, then the overall loss of green space is about 5% of the Park’s available space. If the overflow parking area is not deemed green space, the loss of green space is negligible. Regardless, the environmentally responsible course of action requires that this area, since it is now primarily a parking area, be managed in a manner that properly addresses treatment of storm water entering this area. Additionally, the year round use of the pool presently results in massive use of liquid propane in an essentially un-insulated facility. The new facility will offer year-round amenities integrating solar and passive energy utilization. Outdated facilities will be replaced by environmentally responsible improved facilities.
Additional information about this project can be found by following these links: