“If you ask Valerie L’Herrou, she’ll tell you that there is a “historical feeling that Oregon Hill is under attack.”
L’Herrou, who is president of the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association, attributed that feeling to decades of mistreatment — from racist redlining that denied financial resources to residents, to Ethyl Corp.’s acquisition and demolition of historic homes, to being rent in two by the Downtown Expressway, to Virginia Commonwealth University’s attempt to snap up land and tear down significant landmarks.
Oregon Hill’s residents managed to weather Ethyl and the interstate, and to stave off VCU’s expansion bid. Had they not done the latter, the parcel of land on which L’Herrou’s house is built would now host a college soccer field.
But 43 years later, she said it seems as if the war is back on.
L’Herrou said residents are anxious about the city’s zoning overhaul process, which has deemed more than 80% of Oregon Hill’s buildings out of conformity with the current zoning ordinance. The so-called nonconformities will influence possible zoning changes, which L’Herrou and others fear could result in the demolition of the quaint historic homes that define the neighborhood in favor of large, modern developments.”
Many residents are very thankful for this attention by reporter Sam Parker and urge him to keep investigating. For Planning Dept. officials to not seem to care about the accuracy of the ‘pattern book’ that Richmond taxpayers paid for is shocking. This sadly corresponds with incorrect data from the ‘Richmond300’ team that declared that Oregon Hill was ‘mixed use’.
Hopefully the media spotlight will continue when the neighborhood is barraged later this spring, summer, and fall by crowds and noise from the new amphitheater and Brown’s Island concerts. It’s not lost on Oregon Hill residents that their stages are pointed right at the neighborhood.
The feeling is certainly one of being ‘under siege’.