I’m writing to ask your help in an important community-driven effort that will help shape the future of Crozet. As you may have read in last month’s Gazette, a volunteer committee has prepared a community survey on growth issues and the future of Crozet. The survey is ready for presentation to the public this month. Its results will be the starting point for an update of the Crozet Master Plan in town hall meetings this fall.
The committee includes Crozet Community Association president Tim Tolson; retired planning commissioner Tom Loach; current planning commissioner Jennie More; White Hall Supervisor Ann Mallek; Tom Guterbock, the director of U.Va.’s Center for Survey Research; Shawn Bird, a political polling expert; Crozet Board of Trade president Mike Marshall; and county senior planner Elaine Echols. Other interested Crozet citizens have also attended meetings.
The committee has prepared a scientifically valid survey with neutral questions. Some 2,000 households inside the Crozet Growth Area and another 1,000 in nearby areas will be sent letters asking them to participate in the online survey. The goal is to get at least 500 households from this random representative sample to respond, with the heavy majority being from inside the growth area.
The same survey will also be available to anyone in the public online or in a paper form published in the Crozet Gazette and also available at Crozet Library. These responses, valid and sought after, will be analyzed and reported separately.
The committee has made diligent efforts to be thrifty about the cost of the effort. The expense, including sample purchase, comes down to less than $2 per invitation for the 3,000 letters and follow-up postcards should the letter not get the needed 500 participants.
The Crozet Board of Trade is undertaking to raise $6,000 to cover the cost of the survey. We believe this information is worth getting. The results will be publicly available.
The Board of Trade is a civic nonprofit that traditionally has raised funds for Crozet’s Independence Day fireworks show. It also raised the funds to create the Crozet Historic District. Your contribution is tax deductible and will be acknowledged.
This is a worthy cause. I hope you will send a contribution made out to the Crozet Board of Trade to P.O. Box 261, Crozet, Va. 22932. You can also donate online at this address: crozetcommunity.org/2017/04/donate-survey (Please note that 3% of your donation is kept by Network for Good as its fee.)
Thank you for supporting your hometown and believing that our caring can make its future prosperous and bright.
Nancy Virginia Bain
The Gazette notes with deep sadness the passing of Nancy Virginia Bain last month. She was, unofficially, the Queen of Crozet and one we can be proud of. She knew the town intimately and was busy helping it at all times. Whatever the situation, she was a sunbeam and glowed with charity and compassion. Her answer to life was yes. She sparkled.
She deserves to remembered as the co-founder, with June Andrews, of The Green Olive Tree thrift store. This vital volunteer enterprise provides affordable goods for our community and donates thousands from its income every year to worthy Crozet community causes. This legacy alone is monumental. No doubt St. Peter waved her on through the gate.