Brian Wheeler has a great post that about the current Albemarle County redistricting process.
This part is stunning –
However, this report does not include Old Trail Village or Wickham Pond (two developments in Crozet submitted after the committee started its work). It also does not include the proposed development at the Breeden Farm (south of I-64 near Mill Creek and 5th Street). The Breeden Farm alone could be larger than all of the growth projected for Crozet (i.e. there could be housing for more than 12,000 people, the number projected for Crozet).
How does the process have any credibility when developments of this scale are not even being considered in the equation? These developments should not be surprises to anyone; to not include them is ridiculous. People choose homes frequently based solely on school districts and they should have some faith that their kids will have some semblance of stability in their public education. I think this dovetails quite nicely to what I said yesterday about APF’s.
Jim – This statement might be a misunderstanding: “How does the process have any credibility when developments of this scale are not even being considered in the equation?” The redistricting process does factor in our major growth areas. Just because Old Trail Village and Wickham Pond were not in the redistricting report doesn’t mean staff and the committee were blind to the potential for growth in Crozet. Now that the matter is before the school board, I can request the most current information for our deliberations, particularly on these new site plans, so that we can reality check the assumptions made in Dr. Castner’s recommendation for redistricting. We have been planning for Crozet’s growth for quite a while as evidenced by the expansion of Henley Middle School (completed this month). We have in the capital plans additional elementary schools which will be built where they are needed first. Thanks for the post! Brian Wheeler (At-Large Member, Albemarle County School Board–This message is not an official communication of the Albemarle County School Board)
Brian –
Thanks for the clarification. Reality checks are good things to have from time to time, as is quick corrections of my occasionally emotional statements (I try to keep them in check but … the three to a seat thing from the other day really set me on fire).
Thank you for providing the quick response and for doing what you do.
–Jim
Pingback: Central VA real estate news, trends and opinions » Blog Archive » Where is Albemarle Growing?