INSIDE THANK YOU, CROZET page 2 IT’S YOUR PARK page 5 GET BROADBAND page 6 MULLER HONORED page 7 WE’RE TAKING OVER page 8
MAY 2014 VOL. 8, NO. 12
CCAC Reviews Planning Report on Barnes Proposal
GOLDIE BABER page 9
JAKE KING WINS page 10 AROUND FOX MOUNTAIN page 11 CAR SHOW page 13 YOUTH ORCHESTRA page 15 NO YES OR NO page 16 SECRET INGREDIENT page 17 MAN-UP page 18 REST IS RECOVERY page 19 HOUSE SALES SLUMP page 20 TICK CHECK TIME page 22 AWESOME STATS page 23 PANAMA HOTEL page 24 BLAISE GASTON page 26 TANDEM ACROSS AMERICA page 27 ROUNDED-UP page 28 THANK YOU, MRS. P! page 31 PANTHER HERE? page 32
Architect’s rendering of the new Rutherfoord Hotel, construction of which will begin soon in Old Trail.
Rutherfoord Hotel About to Begin Construction Financing for the Rutherfoord Hotel is complete, according to hotel developer David Hilliard, also the builder of The Lodge at Old Trail, and construction should begin soon. It will be built on a site adjoining The Lodge. Hilliard said construction should take 12 to 13 months and he is expecting to open in the late spring of 2015. The final piece to the financing plan was a loan provided by Middleburg Bank. “I want to thank Middleburg Bank for believing in the hotel,” said Hilliard, “for believing in Crozet and for
believing in our local wine industry.” The four-story, 52-room hotel is designed with one eye on the wedding business at area wineries. It will have a bridal suite and a bridal porch. Its rooms range from 400 square feet, already larger than an average hotel room, up to 650 square feet. The first floor will include a bar and restaurant with a total of 45 seats. The fourth floor will feature an indoor/outdoor entertainment space with a catering kitchen. The third floor will include a meeting room that will accommodate 100.
The Crozet Community Advisory Council met with county planner Claudette Grant April 17 to discuss her report on a proposal by developer Frank Stoner to develop the Barnes Lumber property. “The county and you [the people of Crozet] are looking for primarily employment there and commercial opportunity and some residential, but not heavy residential. We have asked the developer for clarification of residential use,” said Grant. Her report found seven “big issues”: the builder’s commitment to employment; the location of a community “green” or plaza; transportation, referring, she said, to a lack of connectivity in the road plan; phasing of development; stormwater concerns; proffers that need revision; and a water and sewer capacity concern raised by the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority. “Housing would develop first,” said Grant. “We don’t want to end up with a residential development. We want an employment base.” She suggested that one way to regulate that concern would be to link concontinued on page 14
Gold Medal-Winning Starr Hill Opens New Tasting Room Crozet’s Starr Hill Brewery opened a new tasting room April 18, dramatically up-scaling its sampling venue over the noisy industrial setting that used to introduce suds-lovers to its shifting variety of beers. The new bar set-up opened just a week after Starr Hill won a gold medal in the American-Belgo-Style Ale category for its brew Whiter Shade of Pale, a white IPA, at the 2104 World Beer Cup in Denver. More than 4,750 beers from 31 countries were entered the competition. It’s the 21st medal the brewery has won in major competitions since it opened in 1999. The brewery debuted its summer seasonal Soul Shine, a Belgiancontinued on page 31
From left: Brian McNelis, Josh Cromwell and Mark Thompson