What is going on at Crozet

[H2_RECOVERY]

Chris Packard would like everyone to know what is really going on at Crozet.

My wife (Heather Packard) and I (Chris Packard) have been members of OCC
since 2002. I changed my email address a couple of years ago and have not
been able to post on the lists since that time, but I have been regularly
following them. Posts of late, like the one below, motivated me to fix my
Yahoo ID so that I can speak up and let everyone know the truth of what is
going on.

My wife and I haven't been able to make a meeting in some time, so I thought
it might be helpful for me to "introduce" us. For roughly the past 10 years,
we have resided on the property that many people in the wheeling community
refer to as "Crozet". We truly appreciate the support quite a few of you
have offered and continue to offer.

I would like to clear up some misconceptions. First, "Crozet" has never been
a "park". It is private property surrounding the house where my wife and I
reside, and it is maintained by the non-profit club, Rockcrawlers for the
Preservation of Future Access (www.RCPFA.com). My wife and I lease the
property from the landholders who are also our neighbors, and they have been
fully aware of the rock crawling activities for as long as they have
occurred. In fact, permission for use of the property in this manner was a
contingency for us when we sold our home and moved to this property nearly a
decade ago. Please note that my wife and I are members of RCPFA (as well as
OCC, VA4WD, and UFWDA), helped to establish and nurture the growth and
development of RCPFA, and we serve in an advisorial capacity for the RCPFA
Board of Directors (BOD) who are elected by the club membership, but we are
not BOD members.

In order for people to wheel on this property, there have traditionally been
two options. First, membership in RCPFA has conveyed the ability for someone
to wheel on the property at any time it was not officially closed (the club
maintains a calendar of activities via the forum referenced above). This
included member-only events, "open" events, and the ability for two or more
members to organize, with permission from the RCPFA BOD, a run of their own.
Second, the club has, for several years now, organized periodic "open"
events. These have typically been in conjunction with fund-raising and/or
charity events (examples include an annual event around Memorial Day weekend
to support and raise money for the EOD Wounded Warriors Foundation, an
annual event in December to drive toy donations for Toys for Tots and food
donations for the local Blue Ridge Area Community Food Bank, and periodic
events to drive awareness/membership for organizations like UFWDA and Tread
Lightly). These "open" events, in addition to being charitable functions,
have also served as opportunities for nonmembers to get a sense of the
property/obstacles before committing to RCPFA membership. In addition to
maintaining the "Crozet" property, RCPFA has and continues to organize
activities outside of the "Crozet" property (eg., club representation at
events such as Big Dogs and cleanup-type activities on other public and
private trails). To be clear, RCPFA exists in and on its own outside of the
adopted "Crozet" property it maintains.

There is a great deal of speculation on the Internet and across the various
wheeling community/club forums (and, frankly, very little truth/fact-based
details of the actual situation).

The truth is that we have a neighbor about one mile away at the very end of
Bearwood Road (he lives at the intersection of Rt 810 and Bearwood Road),
and he does not like traffic. In fact, he has been a thorn in the sides of
our other neighbors, including the landholders themselves, for quite some
time. He incorrectly refers to Bearwood Road (which is a state road for a
portion of its mile length, including the area nearest him) as part of his
driveway/private property, and he has made past complaints about local women
who have temporarily parked their vehicles on the side of Bearwood Road in
order to jog/run more safely than they can do on Rt 810. He has made similar
complaints of horseback riders and has even complained about the noise
coming from the commercial activity of the orchard packing facility near his
home. Please note that his mother has lived in the nearby home/complex
referred to as the "Rockery" for many years before he moved into this house
(sold to him by his mother) roughly 3 years ago, and it is impossible for
him to have not been aware of the activity that has been occurring on this
property for nearly a decade. He is self-employed (he sells pornograghy on
eBay), and he clearly has a lot of time on his hands. He has frankly made it
a personal vendetta to stop vehicles from driving by his home on the
weekends, and he has attempted to disguise this vendetta as an ecological
compliant. In fact, with the assistance from a couple of his friends, he
created a FaceBook page (defunct after 2 days in existence) designed to
promulgate his propaganda. When one of the landholders posted on that
FaceBook page that he was incorrect that this property is in the watershed
of the Beaver Creek Dam (it actually starts lower down on other property
maintained in conservation by the landholding family), he immediately
deleted her post.

As we have well-known since we moved, this property we reside on is part of
a land conservation easement held jointly by the Virginia Outdoor Foundation
(VOF) and the Albemarle County Department of Parks and Recreation. On 22nd
March, we received a visit from both of these entities (they have conducted
site inspections in past as part of their standard operating procedures). We
are waiting for a written notice of their official determination, but while
they were touring the property, they stated that they could find nothing of
concern to immediately address. Please note that recreational use of the
land is expressly permitted as part of the land conservation easements.

Additionally, as the result of this neighbor's complaint, we were also
visited on that same day by 2 representatives of the local Albemarle County
Zoning department (they are required to respond/investigate any complaint
they receive). They initially expressed some concern about the potential for
RCPFA activities conducted on the "Crozet" property being viewed as
commercial in nature and potentially requiring a special use permit, pending
the overall number of such events. Specifically, the collection of daily or
weekend registration fees, while administrative in nature rather than being
associated in any way with land-use fees, could have the appearance of
commercial activity. These have ceased to exist. Additionally, because
attendance at past "open" events have been made available outside of RCPFA
membership, they felt this could give the appearance of being open to the
public/publicly advertised.

The RCPFA BOD is currently in process of looking at the structure of RCPFA
membership to ensure that everything is in compliance with the Albemarle
County Zoning department's recent official letter and that it will also be
in compliance with any requests (should these occur) from the entities
previously detailed above who dually hold the land conservation easements.

[H2_RECOVERY]

I hope that this will serve to put an end to the speculation and unfounded
information that is being circulated (i.e., what are these past permits we

have supposedly acquired?, where is this new venue we are considering?, what
did we try in past and then were left alone?, etc.). I welcome any questions
or requests for clarification/more information, and you can reach me via
post on this list or contacting me directly.

If we were to ever cease the rock crawling activities on this property,
please rest assured that it would simply be because the joy we experience in
participating in this great sport and helping to nurture and preserve that
same joy for our fellow community members has been overcome by the PITA of
having to speak the truth in the face of constant speculation and erroneous
"facts", even if motivated from good intentions, rather than growing sick of
dealing with governmental entities and regulations.

Again, a very heart-felt gratitude to those of you who have already offered
your assistance and support.