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February 14, 2008
Letter to City Council
Dear City Council members and citizens of Richmond,
VCU has proposed building an inappropriate 100,000 sq. ft. recreational facility in the Oregon Hill neighborhood. VCU cannot build the recreational facility as proposed without city approval to close two alleys on the site of the proposed building. We note that the proposed new master plan of the City of Richmond calls for a moratorium on closing streets and alleys in the city.
In 1990, the state review by the Wilder administration rejected the VCU master plan that proposed athletic and dormitory expansion into the Oregon Hill neighborhood. Instead, all of these facilities were constructed on vacant surface parking lots in the Broad/Grace Street corridor for the betterment of the University and the City. After this, VCU President Eugene Trani pledged that no new VCU facilities would be built in Oregon Hill south of Cary Street.
VCU now owns vast surface parking lots in the Broad and Grace Street corridor, and it would again be better for the University and City to develop these vacant parcels instead of encroaching into Oregon Hill. VCU did not include any of these vacant blocks in the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) when considering alternative sites for the proposed recreational facility. Before the state review of the EIR was complete VCU illegally began construction of its Lobs and Lessons tennis facility on the one feasible alternative site included in the EIR for the recreational center.
The Oregon Hill neighborhood endorsed the VCU master plan 2020, which called for a smaller natatorium to be constructed at Cherry and Cary. Last year, VCU abruptly changed its master plan, without community involvement, after the recreational project was already submitted for state review.
The inappropriate scale of the proposed VCU recreational facility was cited in staff reports of the Va. Dept. of Historic Resources and the City of Richmond. But VCU has not reduced the size of the proposed structure that would stretch over 270 feet on Cherry Street. While this huge building would be detrimental to the Oregon Hill neighborhood, it would be an asset on the many vacant parcels that the University already owns on Grace and Broad Streets.
By refusing VCU’s request to close the alleys between Cherry and Linden Streets, you will be supporting the goals of the city’s master plan and helping to direct VCU’s expansion to vacant areas in the Broad and Grace Street corridor sorely in need of development.
Thank you for your consideration of this request.
Sincerely,
Scott Burger
President, Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association
What do you believe would be an appropriate size for a VCU recreational facility?
The question is not so much what but where.
Its understandable that students desire a good 24 hour recreational facility in a convenient location.
VCU already owns property (blank parking lots on Broad and Grace, the existing field on Cary and Harrison, the existing tennis courts on Cary, to name just a few other options) that could serve this purpose without encroaching on Oregon Hill, without closing alleys, without putting a huge structure up against historic houses.
Oregon Hill has already sacrificed more than enough for VCU.
What would it take for Trani to keep his word to the community?
Couldn’t the pre-existing gymnasium be renovated and expanded as a recreation center open to Oregon Hill residents? This would create a neighborhood asset rather than a liability, as well saving the historic gym building and numerous Grace Street businesses that are consistently threatened by VCU’s encroachment into Carver.
Oregon Hill has no problem with the idea of renovating the historic City gym/market/auditorium, and has no problem with a smaller natatorium on that block (which was what was on the original VCU master plan).
The issue is that VCU is now proposing to build a huge monster that will include a renovated current gym, but also wipe out Green Alley and the remaining stable’s footprint.
Just a few of the basic concerns:
- It goes against Trani’s pledge by encroaching further into neighborhood and destroying more historical fabric of the neighborhood.
- There’s no additional parking or traffic considerations planned for it
- It will totally outsize houses and businesses in the area.
Again, VCU has other places in its existing footprint they could build on without encroaching on any more neighborhoods.
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