Category Archives: government

OHNA Letter To City Council and Richmond300 Committee

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OHNA President Todd Woodson sent this letter yesterday:

Dear Richmond City Council and Richmond 300 committee members,

In good faith, the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association participated in the planning process for the Richmond 300 Master Plan. We are therefore troubled to see that our input in the process has been ignored and that the future land use designation proposed for the Oregon Hill Historic District is the inappropriate “Mixed-Use” designation with an 8 story height limit.

This “Mixed-Use” designation is not acceptable for Oregon Hill. We insist that this inappropriate designation be replaced with the “Medium-Density Residential” future land use designation with a height limit of 35 feet. We note that over 90% of the Oregon Hill Historic District now has the R-7 residential zoning with a 35 foot height limit that corresponds with the “Medium-Density Residential” future land use. We fought hard for this appropriate R-7 residential zoning, and we do not want it to be undercut by an inappropriate “Mixed-Use” future land use designation in the Richmond 300 master plan. Any non compliant development can be judged on its merit with the Medium Density Residential designation.

We note that representatives of the Oregon Hill neighborhood were not allowed to serve on the Richmond 300 committee. As a result, a “Mixed-Used” future land use designation, which conforms neither to current conditions or to the aspirations of the historic neighborhood, was selected.

Please let us know as soon as possible that the future land use designation for the Oregon Hill Historic District will be corrected in the Richmond 300 plan to “Medium density residential” with a 35 foot height limit.

Thank you for your prompt consideration of these important concerns.

Sincerely,

Charles T Woodson, president, Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association.

5th District Newsletter and Leaf Collection

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If you have not seen it already, please do follow this link to the new 5th District newsletter from Councilperson Agelasto’s office. There is plenty of good information in it about City planning and events.

One thing that is missing because it came out after the newsletter was put together is the City’s leaf collection plan. It looks like Oregon Hill is in ‘Sector 1’ for this and therefore our time for the program is between October 1 and November 13. Please follow this link to go to the City’s Department of Public Work’s webpage on this for more details.

Councilmember Parker C. Agelasto’s 5th District Meeting Thursday

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REMINDER The 5th District Meeting is this Thursday, August 22 at 6:30pm at Ephesus SDA Church, Richmond (3700 Midlothian Turnpike). The agenda is list below.
AGENDA
• Back to School Drive
Please bring school supplies for donation to students of Richmond Public Schools
• Richmond Public Schools Updates for the 2019-2020 School Year and School Rezoning Process for the 2020-2021 School Year
• Proposed Richmond Navy Hill Development Project: Presentation with Questions & Answers
Sharon Ebert, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer, Richmond Department of Economic and Community Development
• Richmond Central 5th Voter District Updates
The Honorable Parker C. Agelasto, Councilmember, Richmond City Council, Richmond Central 5th Voter District
• Questions & Answers

***Another reminder that the next community cleanup will be Saturday, September 14 at 9am.

Disaster Preparedness Workshop Scheduled For September 7th

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From announcement:

The Disaster Preparedness Workshop (formally known as Survivor Day) is set for Saturday, September 7, 2019! The Office of Emergency Management will host the annual Regional Workshop where residents can learn how to live safely through natural disasters and other emergencies, like hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, blizzard, active threat and more. Residents will learn how to survive in their homes without power for at least 72 hours, and they’ll find out what to take with them should they need to leave in a hurry. Upon completing the training each household will receive a FREE disaster preparedness backpack to include supplies. Emergency and Community Response professionals will teach residents the best ways to prepare for those life threatening situations.

Find out more and sign up here: https://planrva.org/emergency-management-home/em-workshops/

OHNA Meeting Tonight

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The Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association is meeting tonight at 7 pm at St. Andrew’s Church.

The agenda will include a short presentation by a group concerned with recidivism and alternatives to incarceration, new data regarding traffic and speeding along Idlewood,
new stop signs, parks master plan suggestions from Storefront for Design, an update on non-demolition overlay district application. Also, 5th District City Council candidate Stephanie Lynch is supposed to make an appearance.

Last Chance To Give Voters A Voice On VCU/Farrell Coliseum Scheme

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If Richmond citizens want to be able to vote on the VCU/Farrell/Stoney coliseum scheme, their last chance to do so may be decided in the next few days. Over 13,000 Richmond citizens have signed the petition for the “Choose Children over a Costly Coliseum“ Referendum, drafted by Paul Goldman, supported by the Sierra Club Falls of the James and others. Many of these signatures were done on Election Day last year, but the deadline to file the petition is coming up quickly (like in the next few days!), and more signatures are needed to ensure it getting on the ballot. If it does not make it on the ballot, citizens may be forced to live with and pay up for whatever the Mayor and City Council do with the $1.4. billion scheme, and it could effect City budgets for a decade to come. So, what’s it going to be? Schools or corporate welfare?

In the interest of informing the public, I am going to post the petition/referendum here. However, please ask yourself, why has local media not done so- again, over 13,000 Richmond citizens have already signed it. So why have Times Dispatch, Style, RVA Magazine, etc. mostly ignored this heroic grassroots effort? If you have been following along, including the latest FOIA struggle, things may be more clear. The Richmond Free Press and oregonhill.net have offered the most coverage on it.

The first Put Schools First referendum was fairly straight forward in demanding that Richmond leaders, especially the Mayor, come up with plan to modernize the schools first in the City’s budget planning. This second referendum, perhaps due to opposing nature, is a bit more convoluted, so here’s a quick explanation: it first states that citizens want schools to come before a new coliseum. It then includes a poison pill provision against using a TIFF (Tax Incremental Financing Fund) to finance the scheme by stating that a majority of the funding raised would have to go to schools first. It then ends with a measure to keep the schemers from going back to the meals tax for money.

If you are a resident of the City of Richmond and a registered voter, please take the time to sign this petition, even if you ultimately decide to not vote for it once it is on the ballot. 13,000 of your neighbors have already done so, don’t let them down! Give people a voice!

New Stop Signs In Consideration

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Oregon Hill is once again looking at possibly changing traffic patters as a new proposal is being weighed at City Council’s Land Use, Housing, and Transportation Committee.

Ordinance 2019-147 reads:
To erect all-way stop signs at the intersections of Spring Street and South Pine Street, Spring Street and South Laurel Street, Albemarle Street and South Laurel Street, and Albemarle Street and South Cherry Street, with a painted stop line at each intersection.

This follows neighbors’ discussion with City Councilperson Parker Agelasto’s office in regard to continued concerns about traffic safety. To quickly recap, neighbors originally requested all-way stop signs at Spring and Laurel and Spring and Pine, but agreed to try changing more intersections’ stop sign direction, now that concerns have continued, all-stops are being reconsidered.

Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association Meets Tuesday

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OHNA (Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association) will be meeting this coming Tuesday (fourth Tuesday of the month) at St Andrew’s Church at 7PM.

On the agenda are updates from VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University, RPD (Richmond Police Department), VCU police, Councilperson Agelasto’s office, a presentation by St. Andrew’s School of it’s proposal for the William Byrd Community House and Idlewood property, a presentation by the Storefront for Design on neighborhood parks, a presentation on an Open High School and Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay grant, stop sign petitioning, an update on the Oregon Hill/Open High/Richmond Parks beehives (Please remember to plant bee friendly plants and please DO NOT use Roundup or any other glyphosate based products as it poses a threat to the bees and possibly to humans. L.A. County recently banned its use as are other localities), FiOS installation, crosswalk painting, New Market corporation’s plan to fill in part of the historic canal, and other important matters.

NOTICE: VHDA Board Meeting

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From the Virginia Housing Development Authority website:

A meeting of the Board of Commissioners of the Virginia Housing Development Authority will be held at 1:00 p.m. on May 21, 2019, in the Board Room on the First Floor of its offices located at 601 South Belvidere Street, Richmond, Virginia. The Board may also meet during meals before or after the meeting on May 21, 2019. No time period has been scheduled during the meeting for public comment.