From email:

Dear Honorable Members of the Richmond City Council,

I would like to express my appreciation for the postponement of the Ordinances that would grant Venture Richmond tax exemptions for its “Tredegar Green” amphitheater properties.

Venture Richmond wants exemption from all the rules. It wants to be exempt from having to bid for city contracts, to be exempt from the non-profit prohibition of engaging in substantial lobbying, to be exempt from having to answer all of the questions submitted by the Taxation by Designation Committee, to be exempt from paying real estate taxes, and even to be exempt from the moratorium on exemptions.

As you carefully consider this issue, I would like for you to understand the frustration that the Oregon Hill neighborhood has experienced in dealing with Venture Richmond, which apparently also feels exempt from treating its neighbors and George Washington’s James River and Kanawha Canal with respect. Venture Richmond wants to be exempt from the zoning requirements for its proposed amphitheater at “Tredegar Green,” to be exempt from protecting Oregon Hill and the Va. War Memorial from the noise and parking congestion of events at the amphitheater, and to be exempt from protecting the historic canal from damage so that it can again be a “blueway” westward to Maymont.

Recently Venture Richmond notified the Corps of Engineers that it may withdraw from the Section 106 review of the amphitheater project by the Va. Dept. of Historic Resources if it cannot be exempt from the holding off implementing much of the project before the review is completed.

The “Tredegar Green” amphitheater also includes city property, so it is my hope that the Richmond City Council, when drawing up a revised lease for this city property, will not exempt the significant interests of the community. The Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association and the editorial staff of the Richmond Times Dispatch have endorsed limiting the amphitheater to the properly zoned property below the canal, and this would eliminate any cause to damage the canal and protect the Oregon Hill neighborhood and the Va. War Memorial from excessive noise and parking congestion.

Thank you for your consideration of the needs of the community and for the postponement of the untimely Venture Richmond tax exemption Ordinances during the moratorium on tax exemptions by designation.

Sincerely,

Charles Pool