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OHNA Meeting Tomorrow Night

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From email announcement:

Monthly Meeting Agenda

Tuesday 16 November 2021
7:00PM

Location: St. Andrew’s Church
St. Andrew’s Church has kindly allowed us to use the church for this meeting.
(Zoom meeting info redacted; Please email OHNA at OHNARva@gmail.com if you need that information.)

They ask that all participants remain masked and socially distanced during the meeting.
We ask that invited guests limit their presentations to no more than 5 minutes.
We ask that questions, comments, and suggestions be kept to no more than 3 minutes.
This meeting will be recorded.

Welcome
· Treasurer’s Report

Community Updates:

1. Lt. Brian Robinson, City of Richmond Police Section Lt, 4th Precinct
2. Officer Luke Schrader, Police Liaison, VCU
3. Mr. Tito Luna, VCU Liaison
4. Ms. Stephanie Lynch, 5th District Councilperson
5. Ms. Colette McEachin, Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney

Updates

1. Proposed all-way stops on South Pine Street at its intersection with China Street (at Open High School) and South Pine Street at its intersection with Albemarle Street
· The paper has been submitted.

2. New no parking area around stop signs at Pine and China (Tuesday 9 November), and Pine and Albemarle Streets (Monday 15 November).

3. Proposed Amendments to the Richmond 300 Land Use Plan / Neighborhood Coalition Update
· Move Oregon Hill from Neighborhood Mixed Use to Residential land use category (Randolph is in this category).
· If Planning will not move Oregon Hill to Residential, then change the maximum height in the Neighborhood Mixed Use category from four stories to two stories.
· Remove the clause that allows taller buildings along major streets.
o Idlewood and South Laurel between VCU and Idlewood are designated major streets
o The amendments were continued by Land Use Committee. City Planning staff have recommended that no amendments be adopted.
o It was continued, yet again, to Tuesday 16 November 2021.

4. Updates on 105 and 116 South Laurel SUP Applications
· Both applications were heard at the Planning Commission on Monday 4 October
· We supported the SUP for 105 South Laurel Street, as per OHNA vote. This project was on Council’s 9 November agenda.
· After agreeing at the OHNA meeting to place a preservation easement on 103 South Laurel Street, the applicant later reversed course and refused to place the easement. It was agreed to as a condition of the neighborhood supporting the SUP. I asked the Planning Commission to delay the SUP to allow us to work with the applicant to meet the conditions that they agreed to, or to make such an agreement a condition of their motion. We lost, unanimously, despite letters from adjacent landowners objecting to applicant’s refusal to do what they agreed to do. I do not see this paper on Council’s 9 November agenda.

5. New SUP, 617-719 China Street
· We should see this at our December meeting.

Continued Business

1. Sculpture for Pleasant’s Park, by local artist Mickael Broth (image at the end of the agenda)
· The sculpture will be installed in Pleasant’s Park.
· The artist has offered it to us for $600; OHHIC has offered to donate $300, at our last meeting, OHNA was authorized to provide up to $300 for the purchase, and to seek donations to augment the cost.
· We can accept donations here at the meeting with our Square account!
· The artist has offered to help with installation
· If approved, we will begin the process of location approval with Parks & Recreation and the Urban Design Committee.

2. VCU student party issues
· There have been several large, loud parties in the last few weeks. There are problematic, repeat issues in the 200 block of South Laurel, and the intersection of South Laurel and China streets.
· Report issues to both RPD and VCU. Keep track of: date, time, location, fraternity / sorority affiliation, names of individuals involved, names of landlords, etc.
· OHNA is setting up an online form to track problem party locations, so that we may follow up with RPD and VCU. We will keep a spreadsheet of problematic locations and fraternity / sorority locations, and regularly report this information to VCU.

3. Potential dog park in the linear park

4. Bulletin board for Pleasant’s Park

5. Holly Street Playground cleanup to be scheduled for December. We are trying to put together a date, and will let everyone know once it is settled. We will focus on clearing brush just beyond the south and west fence lines.

New Business

1. OHNA officer elections.

The Next OHNA meeting is scheduled for 7:00pm Tuesday 28 December 2021. Please note that the meeting is a week later to avoid conflict with holiday-related travel. That meeting will be held in person with the Zoom option; the location will be announced later — hopefully, it will still be St. Andrew’s, and a link will be sent separately.

Bryan Clark Green, President
David Cary, Co-Vice-President
Jennifer Hancock, Co-Vice-President
Chris Hughes, Co-Vice-President
Harrison Moenich, Secretary
John Bolecek, Treasurer

OHNA Meeting Tonight

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From email announcement:

Good morning OHNA members,

I look forward to seeing everyone Tuesday at 7pm for our monthly OHNA meeting.

We will be meeting in St. Andrew’s Church — they have kindly allowed us to meet in their sanctuary. This will be our first indoor meeting since the beginning of COVID. Just in the nick of time — it is getting cooler, and, more importantly, we were running out of light.

St. Andrew’s has asked that all participants remain masked during the meeting and remain socially distanced.

We are also providing a Zoom link provided for those who wish to join remotely. This should allow for remote participation, including the ability to ask questions remotely — those in person won’t be able to see remote participants, but we should be able to hear them. Please be patient — I am not yet sure how we will have to set everything up in the church, and between masking and spreading out, it might be a little more of a challenge to hear clearly. We will do our best to make sure that those who join us remotely can hear and be heard.

Thank you very much to everyone who joined us at our first annual Oregon Hill Fall Festival, held this past Saturday. It was a wonderful time — lots of neighbors, and lots of folks from the community joined us for the event. It really was a great time. A special thank you to our OHNA Secretary Harrison Moenich for organizing this terrific event. I don’t know about you, but I am already looking forward to next year.

We will share more thanks shortly to our many volunteers and sponsors, along with photographs of the prize-winners from the house decorating contest.

I have attached to this email
1. the agenda for the 26 October meeting (also pasted in below),
2. the minutes for the September meeting,

We look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow evening.

Thanks,
Bryan

Monthly Meeting Agenda

Tuesday 26 October 2021
7:00PM

Location: St. Andrew’s Church
Topic: OHNA monthly meeting for October
Time: Oct 26, 2021 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

St. Andrew’s Church has kindly allowed us to use the church for this meeting. It will be our first time indoors in almost two years!

They ask that all participants remain masked and socially distanced during the meeting.
We ask that invited guests limit their presentations to no more than 5 minutes.
We ask that questions, comments, and suggestions be kept to no more than 3 minutes.
This meeting will be recorded.

(Editor’s note: Contact OHNA over email at ohnarva@gmail.com for Zoom meeting information)

Welcome

· Treasurer’s Report

Community Updates:

1. Lt. Brian Robinson, City of Richmond Police Section Lt, 4th Precinct
2. Officer Luke Schrader, Police Liaison, VCU
3. Mr. Tito Luna, VCU Liaison
4. Ms. Stephanie Lynch, 5th District Councilperson
5. Ms. Colette McEachin, Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney

Updates

1. Proposed all-way stops on South Pine Street at its intersection with China Street (at Open High School) and South Pine Street at its intersection with Albemarle Street
· It appears that the paper has finally been submitted.

2. Proposed Amendments to the Richmond 300 Land Use Plan / Neighborhood Coalition Update
· Move Oregon Hill from Neighborhood Mixed Use to Residential land use category (Randolph is in this category).
· If Planning will not move Oregon Hill to Residential, then change the maximum height in the Neighborhood Mixed Use category from four stories to two stories.
· Remove the clause that allows taller buildings along major streets.
o Idlewood and South Laurel between VCU and Idlewood are designated major streets
o The amendments were continued by Land Use Committee. City Planning staff have recommended that no amendments be adopted.
o It was continued, yet again, to Tuesday 16 November 2021. 3pm Tuesday 19 October. Perhaps we should schedule a one-year anniversary for the submission of our amendments.

3. Holly Street Playground Cleanup
· Thank you to everyone who came to our Saturday 16 October cleanup of Pleasants Park.

4. Neighborhood fall festival, Saturday 23 October 2021
· Thank you to everyone who participated in this event, and a special thank you to Harrison for organizing such a great afternoon and evening
· It was great to see the neighborhood turn out for this event
· We were able to raise quite a bit of money for our parks from this event. I am still tallying up the receipts, but hope to have a report at the meeting on the results.

5. Updates on 105 and 116 South Laurel SUP Applications
· Both applications were heard at the Planning Commission on Monday 4 October
· We supported the SUP for 105 South Laurel Street, as per OHNA vote. This project is on Council’s 9 November agenda.
· After agreeing at the OHNA meeting to place a preservation easement on 103 South Laurel Street, the applicant later reversed course and refused to place the easement. It was agreed to as a condition of the neighborhood supporting the SUP. I asked the Planning Commission to delay the SUP to allow us to work with the applicant to meet the conditions that they agreed to, or to make such an agreement a condition of their motion. We lost, unanimously, despite letters from adjacent landowners objecting to applicant’s refusal to do what they agreed to do. I do not see this paper on Council’s 9 November agenda.

Continued Business

1. Potential sculpture for Pleasant’s Park, by local artist Mickael Broth (image at the end of the agenda)
· The sculpture would be installed in Pleasant’s Park
· The artist has offered it to us for $600; OHHIC has offered to donate $300, perhaps OHNA could contribute $200, and we could seek the additional $100 in donations.
· The artist has offered to help with installation
· If approved, we will begin the process of location approval with Parks & Recreation and the Urban Design Committee.

2. Folk Festival update
· Any issues to report?

3. VCU student party issues
· There have been several large, loud parties in the last few weeks. There are problematic, repeat issues in the 200 block of South Laurel, and the intersection of South Laurel and China streets.
· Report issues to both RPD and VCU. Keep track of: date, time, location, fraternity / sorority affiliation, names of individuals involved, names of landlords, etc.
· OHNA is setting up an online form to track problem party locations, so that we may follow up with RPD and VCU. We will keep a spreadsheet of problematic locations and fraternity / sorority locations, and regularly report this information to VCU.

New Business

1. Potential dog park in the linear park
2. Bulletin board for Pleasant’s Park
3. Holly Street Playground cleanup to be scheduled for December.
4. OHNA elections will take place at our 16 November meeting.

The Next OHNA meeting is scheduled for 7:00pm Tuesday 16 November 2021. Please note that the meeting is a week early to avoid conflict with Thanksgiving-related travel. That meeting will be held in person with Zoom option; the location will be announced later, and a link will be sent separately.

Bryan Clark Green, President
David Cary, Co-Vice-President
Jennifer Hancock, Co-Vice-President
Chris Hughes, Co-Vice-President
Harrison Moenich, Secretary
John Bolecek, Treasurer

An addendum:

Dear OHNA members:

I have received a resolution to add to the agenda for tomorrow’s meeting. The resolution is below, for your consideration. The intent is to vote on this resolution tomorrow night.

Thanks,
Bryan
Resolution regarding the consolidation of parcels that make up Linear Park in Oregon Hill
By this motion, OHNA requests our City Council representative to advance an ordinance that recognizes and consolidates the various parcels that make up the Linear Park in Oregon Hill. By consolidating these parcels, Linear Park will be clearly acknowledged as a city park owned by the Department of Parks on Recreation, and will be consistent with the manner in which other city parks are consolidated as single parcels. The intent is to protect Linear Park from subdivision and development, so that it may be used by residents of Oregon Hill and the City of Richmond for its intended use, as a park.

The parcels to be consolidated are:

1. 600 Idlewood Avenue (Parcel ID W0000169032)
2. 300 S Belvidere (Parcel ID W0000142005)
3. 302 S Belvidere (Parcel ID W0000142006)
4. 304 S Belvidere (Parcel ID W0000142007)
5. 306 S Belvidere (Parcel ID W0000142008)
6. 308 S Belvidere (Parcel ID W0000142009)
7. 310 S Belvidere (Parcel ID W0000142010)
8. 312 S Belvidere (Parcel ID W0000142011)
9. 314 S Belvidere (Parcel ID W0000142012)
10. 316 Belvidere (Parcel ID W0000142014)
11. 320 S Belvidere (Parcel ID W0000142016)
12. 604 Albemarle Ave (Parcel ID W0000142019)
13. 420 S Belvidere (Parcel ID W0000120006)
14. 420 ½ S Belvidere (Parcel ID W0000120011)
15. 422 S Belvidere (Parcel W0000120015)
16. 606 Spring Street (Parcel W0000120019)
17. 604 Spring Street (Parcel W0000120018)
18. 609 China Street (Parcel W0000139009)
19. 607 China Street (Parcel W0000139010)
20. 601 China Street (Parcel W0000139012)
21. 610 S Belvidere (Parcel W0000139022)
22. 626 S Belvidere (Parcel W0000139029)
23. 700 S Belvidere (Parcel W0000133009)

Former Councilperson Chuck Richardson Is Releasing An Autobiography

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Former Councilperson Chuck Richardson, who once represented Oregon Hill on City Council, is releasing an autobiography this Saturday at the Black History Museum. (Registration is required – see details at this link: https://chuckrichardson.EventBrite.com). Its entitled “Cease Fire! Cease Fire!: Councilman Chuck, A Hero (In) Addiction” (click title to go the book website).

Henry W. “Chuck” Richardson tells his life story in his own words with his brother Monte Richardson. With a foreword by Dr. Raymond P. Hylton,
Chair of the Department of History at Virginia Union University, Cease fire! Cease fire! includes dozens of personal pictures and historic events in
Richmond, Virginia.

Trash/Recycling (Might Be) Tomorrow

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This Wednesday is a “Red Wednesday”, which hopefully means trash and recycling pickup. I say hopefully, because the Central Virginia Waste Management Authority has struggled to maintain its schedule due to a shortage of workers and has missed some pickups recently and had to reschedule. That said, as neighbors, we should do our best to help.

One tool that might help ameliorate the situation if pickup does not come is this online form:
https://cvwma.com/programs/residential-recycling/recycling-service-request-form/

Please go over what can be recycled. Ideally, rolling recycling containers are stored and deployed in the back alleys along with trash cans. Please make sure you pick up containers after pickup tomorrow night.

If you have not done so already, don’t forget to sign up for your Recycling Perks.
In order to take your recycling to the next level, read this: 10 ways to improve your recycling.

In recycling news, more and more people are recognizing the problem of plastics.

From a recent Politico article that is part of a special report, The Recycling Myth:

Most experts agree that recycling is an important way to reduce waste and to recover valuable materials, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and conserving significant amounts of energy and water. And yet, of the 2.3 billion tons of waste generated in the EU each year, only 37 percent gets recycled.

Some materials, such as aluminum cans, glass and paper, are relatively easy to repurpose (Nearly three-quarters of this type of waste sees a new life as a consumer product.)

But plastic poses a particular problem. Of the 29 million tons of plastic waste collected in the EU (European Union) in 2018, less than a third was recycled. About a quarter went into landfills, and about 43 percent was burned in incineration plants.

“Plastic recycling is largely a fraud,” said Jim Puckett, the executive director of the Basel Action Network, an NGO (non-governmental organization) in the U.S. that works to end illegal waste trade. “It’s been sold to us as being the answer to all the plastic waste and consumption, but in fact it really has some fundamental aspects of non-circularity that are going to plague that myth and dream forever.”

That’s not what the plastics industry wants to hear. With growing public concern about plastics — fueled by stories about garbage patches in the middle of oceans, bottle-strewn beaches and animals choking on plastic pellets — the industry is worried their product could end up as a taboo, like tobacco.