The Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association will be holding its monthly meeting tonight using Zoom. (Ed. note: If you need the Zoom link and password, I suggest contacting OHNA through the OHNA email at the bottom of the agenda.)
Welcome
• Explanation of Zoom procedures, how to ask questions, etc.
• Treasurer’s Report
Community Updates:
1. Lt. Brian Robinson, City of Richmond Police Section Lt, 4 th Precinct
2. Officer Luke Schrader, Police Liaison, VCU
3. Mr. Tito Luna, VCU Liaison
4. Ms. Stephanie Lynch, 5 th District Councilperson
5. Ms. Stephanie Rizzi, 5 th District School Board Representative
6. Ms. Colette McEachin, Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney
Updates
1. 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.
• These amendments are under consideration by City Council 2. We will be sent a link for candidate forums for the offices of:
• City of Richmond Sheriff Sunday 9 April 3pm
• City of Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Sunday 28 March, 3pm
• House of Delegates 69 th District Seat Tuesday 6 April, 6:30pm
Continued Business
1. SUP application for 105 South Laurel Street
• Zoning and Preservation Committee met with owner’s representative on 13 January 2021.
• The project proposes to divide the lot into three parcels, with three new four-bedroom houses (attached), for a total of 12 bedrooms in the project. The applicant proposed four parking spaces, to be located underneath the southernmost building.
• The project will be modified as a result of that meeting, and will be submitted for the February OHNA meeting.
o No revisions were submitted before this meeting
New Business
1. SUP application for 116 South Laurel Street.
• Zoning and Preservation Committee to meet with the owner within the week following this meeting.
• The project proposes to divide the lot into two parcels, with two new six-bedroom houses (not attached), for a total of 12 bedrooms in the project. The applicant proposed 12 parking spaces, to be located behind the building. These will be compact spaces, 8’ wide, in two rows of six.
• The owner proposes to reserve 4 of these spaces for the project, and rent out the other 8.
• As proposed this fails to meet several city design criteria for parking; the site may contain as few as 5 legal parking spaces.
2. Proposed all-way stop on South Pine Street at its intersection with China Street (at Open High School)
• Currently, only northbound traffic on South Pine Street stops at this intersection
• At the November 2020 OHNA meeting, a resolution supporting an all-way stop at South Pine Street and Albemarle Street was approved.
• After this meeting, a survey will be sent to the neighborhood to gauge support for these two stop signs. The results of this survey will be sent to Councilmember Lynch to support legislative efforts to secure these stop signs.
3. Support for Arbor Day Project in Pleasants Park
• We had a meeting this afternoon with Parks and Recreation to talk about replacing the damaged tree in Pleasant’s Park.
• Parks and Recreation will hold an Arbor Day event at Pleasant’s Park on Wednesday 21 April, 4-6 PM – it will be a tree-planting event.
• Parks and Recreation offered to provide 1 1/2″ caliper trees (they should be about six feet high -substantial trees), with mulch, for $250 each. The City would then match us, $125 from us, and $125 from the City per tree.
• We will send out a PayPal link so that anyone who wishes to make a donation to fund trees for the park can do so. Anything beyond what we need for this event will be earmarked for future improvements in Pleasant’s Park.
• Looking for volunteers to help plan the event, and for everyone to come and help plant a few trees.
4. Support for proposed VCU-student-led project to place a self-service food pantry in Oregon Hill
OHNA Monthly Meeting 23 March 2021 Agenda Page 2 • Their final project is to take a hands-on approach in combatting this food insecurity crisis by building little food pantries around the city of Richmond.
• They are funded by a VCU provided grant and actively pursuing additional fundraising in order to reach our goal of 8 pantries installed.
• The pantries would have a 4×4 wooden post cemented into the ground as a base, while the pantry itself is roughly 26” tall and 25” wide. Alternatively, if concrete posts is not ideal to the respective location, we would have a wide base frame to mount the pantry that is chained to a secure location.
• If approved, a committee will be formed to discuss location.
The Next OHNA meeting is scheduled for 7:00pm Tuesday 27 April 2021. That meeting will be held by Zoom; 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
Richmond, VA
OHNArva@gmail.com
