Not many small towns have the spirit or available volunteer expertise to undertake a professional quality survey of their citizens. That’s another thing that sets Crozet apart from the usual.
The Gazette congratulates the committee that has worked for the last eight months to prepare the survey form that you will find in this issue’s center pages. Those pages are designed to allow readers to pull them out and mail them to the Crozet Community Association, the survey’s official sponsoring organization (at P.O. Box 653 in Crozet, 22932). The 39-question form takes about 15 minutes to complete.
Most households inside the Crozet growth area should expect to receive a letter in the mail inviting them to take the survey online, sometime in the week of June 5. If you receive a letter, please have one person in your household take the survey as described in the letter. Other persons in your household who want to take the survey should go to crozetcommunity.org/2017/05/public-survey, which will be live after June 10.
Special thanks go to Tim Tolson, the hardworking president of the CCA, and to Tom Guterbock and Shawn Bird, who contributed their professional knowledge to the effort.
The survey is a reprise of the 2009 survey that Crozet volunteers also conducted to learn about local opinions in advance of the planned 2010 review of the Crozet Master Plan.
Our elected representatives have often said how useful that survey was in informing them about where local opinion stood on public policy choices. We get stronger representation when we give clear guidance that can stand up to analysis.
Results from this month’s survey will provide the information base for the next review of the Plan, which will be conducted in town hall meetings this fall. The Crozet Master Plan is a sound, positive and durable document that will likely only need a few tweaks, but periodic updates allow the community to adjust it to current facts and unforeseen situations.
Here is your chance to weigh in on what you want Crozet’s future to be. Take the time to fill the survey out and give your answers some thought. At the end you can add your own ideas in a special comment section.
Crozet has long been blessed with a high level of citizen participation in town life and that accounts a lot for of the quality of life we enjoy here. The survey is egalitarian, a chance for literally everybody to join in and to contribute to the progress and prosperity of our hometown.
Now, make your marks.