Category Archives: community

Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association Meeting Tonight

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From email announcement:

Good evening OHNA members,

I look forward to seeing everyone Tuesday at 7pm for our monthly OHNA meeting. This meeting will be Zoom only.

The Zoom link is provided below. This will allow for full remote participation.

I have attached to this email
1. the agenda for the 27 September meeting (also pasted in below),
2. the minutes for the August 2022 meeting, and
3. the 2022 meeting schedule.

As you know, our amendment to the Richmond 300 plan was not approved by the Planning Commission last week. While we will talk about it at our next meeting, I just wanted to thank everyone who took the time to write a letter to the planning commission (we had 47 letters of support, and none in opposition), or took the time to speak in person or via Microsoft Teams at the planning commission meeting. While we were not successful last week, I want to thank each and every person who took the time to support this effort. The fact that we were not successful makes me no less grateful for your support.

We look forward to seeing everyone Tuesday evening.

Thanks,
Bryan

Monthly Meeting Agenda
Tuesday 27 September 2022
7:00PM
This meeting will be by Zoom only.

Topic: OHNA Monthly Meeting – September
Time: Sep 27, 2022 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

(Editor’s note: Zoom link and passcodes redacted. Please email OHNA at ohnarva@gmail.com in order to receive those items)

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. Ms. Verenda Cobbs, VCU
4. Ms. Stephanie Lynch, 5th District Councilperson
5. Ms. Colette McEachin, Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney

Updates:

1. Update on shooting, Monday 5 September 2022
2. Update on the fall festival, Saturday 22 October 2022
· If you would like to volunteer in any capacity, please email ohnarva@gmail.com
3. Meeting with VCU and Randolph on 6 September 2022

Continued Business
4. Proposed Amendments to the Richmond 300 Land Use Plan / Neighborhood Coalition Update
• This item passed unanimously by City Council on 27 June 2022
• The Planning Commission hearing on 18 July 2022 was informational only; no vote taken.
• Planning Commission voted on this issue at the 15 August 2022 meeting (1:30pm).
o Despite the fact that we had 47 letters in support, and none in opposition, and had several speakers in support, and none in opposition, the Planning Commission voted unanimously against our amendment.
o Next steps

5. Amphitheater planned for Tredegar Green.
· It is slated to seat 5,000 people and accommodate and additional 5,000 standing, as per our meeting with the developer’s representative. No additional parking is planned.
· When the previous amphitheater plan was proposed, the neighborhood raised questions about hours of operation, noise levels, and parking, none of which were ever answered.
o Applicant has not yet scheduled a meeting with OHNA

6. An SUP application has been filed with the City of Richmond for the demolition of 708 China Street, and its replacement with a building.
· The Zoning Committee met with the applicant, and asked them to reconsider demolition and incorporate the historic building into their new construction
· The applicant has not yet come back to the neighborhood with a revision

7. An SUP application has been filed with the City of Richmond for the construction of a two-family of 823 China Street, a vacant lot
· The Zoning Committee met not yet met with the applicant

8. An SUP application has been filed with the City of Richmond for the sponsorship signage to be placed around the field owned by St. Andrew’s School.
· The Zoning Committee met not yet met with the applicant

9. Proposal to replant the Idlewood traffic circle.
• The city has creatively applied a layer of red mulch to the traffic circle

10. Recurring issues with fireworks from rental property near Pine and Albemarle streets.

11. Traffic issues along Idlewood at Cherry and Pine Streets
· There have been a number of recent accidents at these two locations.
· These two intersections suffer from poor visibility and the high speed of cars exiting 195 east onto Idlewood

New Business
12. An SUP application has been filed with the City of Richmond for the construction of a two-family of 823 China Street, a vacant lot
· The Zoning Committee met not yet met with the applicant

13. An SUP application has been filed with the City of Richmond for the sponsorship signage to be placed around the field owned by St. Andrew’s School.
· The Zoning Committee met not yet met with the applicant

14. Any other new business?

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 Schedule, 2022 Fourth Tuesday of each month
Zoom information to be sent before meeting, while meeting remotely
Tuesday, 27 September 2022
7:00pm
Tuesday, 25 October 2022
7:00pm
Tuesday, 15 November 2022
7:00pm [moved up one week to avoid Thanksgiving]
Tuesday, 27 December 2022
7:00pm

Last Hurrah For Summer?

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Take some time to put your feet in the river!
Possible thunderstorm tomorrow with cooler weather ahead.

*** An hour or so before any rain hits, make a point of going outside your residence and picking up litter and trash, including sidewalk and street. As a riverfront neighborhood, we have a special responsibility for keeping pollution out of the river. ***

Wes Freed R.I.P.

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As with Dave Brockie, Donnie Corker, and Dika Newlin, Richmond is seeing some of its more interesting ‘outsider artists’ pass away. Freed’s illustrations and music certainly captured some of the ‘abandoned’ and haunted vibe of late 80’s/early 90’s Richmond (and especially Oregon Hill). He contributed greatly to Throttle Magazine and so much other local media.
Hopefully he is reunited with his dear wife, Jyl, who preceded him in death.

Jim Bland, of Plan 8 Music, posted some of his artwork, past and recent press in remembrance.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/wes-freed-drive-by-truckers-dead-obit-1234586844/

https://pitchfork.com/news/wes-freed-drive-by-truckers-artist-dies-at-58/

https://www.styleweekly.com/richmond/lead-singer-of-dirt-ball-painter-actor-meet-wes-freed-youve-never-met-anyone-like-him/Content?oid=1384917

http://swampland.com/articles/view/title:the_wes_freed_interview

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wes_Freed

Pool’s Presentation To Planning

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On July 18th, neighbor Charles Pool, on behalf of the Oregon Hill Home Improvement Council, made a presentation the City’s Planning Commission.












Since that presentation…

The Planning Department is tasked with drawing a revised master plan land use map to correspond with the Res. 2022-R033 that was unanimously approved by City Council in advance of the next August 15th meeting of the Planning Commission.

Please provide a copy of this revised master plan land use map as soon as possible so that we can check to be sure that your map accurately represents the unanimously approved Resolution of City Council 2002-R033.

Thank you for your assistance.

Sincerely,

Charles Pool

VICTORY: City Council Passes Amendment Resolution Unanimously!

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Oregon Hill residents were surprised and delighted last night when 5th District Councilperson Stephanie Lynch’s resolution to amend the City’s Richmond300 plan passed by 9-0 vote.

After months of waiting, the neighborhood can breathe a sigh of relief, as the resolution strongly suggests and helps move the neighborhood into the new Residential land use category instead of Mixed Use (though not officially yet). Residential would allow buildings of one to three stories in height, conforming to the current R7 zoning yet eliminates the ability to build to an unspecified additional height on portions of South Laurel and Idlewood streets.

Neighbors feared if the amendment did not pass, Richmond300 would have made Oregon Hill permanently Mixed Use. That would have changed the current R7 height limit of 35 feet (effectively two- to two-and-a-half stories) to a new height limit of four stories.
It would have allowed even taller, unspecified heights on portions of South Laurel and Idlewood Streets. This new height limit would have incentivized developer-driven tear-downs to build new, taller buildings (An application for just such a teardown in Oregon Hill has already been filed with the City Planning office) and ruined Oregon Hill’s streetscapes and stature and character as a historic neighborhood.

Thankfully, Councilperson Lynch worked with neighborhood leaders to craft the amendment resolution, and last night, it came to fruition.

Award presentations, a boisterous discussion over collective bargaining (Council further delayed voting on matters), and a lengthy vote on items in the ‘Consent Agenda’ made for a long night. But around 9:30 pm, City Council finally took up the resolution, RES. 2022-R033. Councilperson Lynch gave a quick introduction which referenced the neighborhood’s decades-long battle for survival in the shadow of Virginia Commonwealth University. Neighbors lined up and spoke, some in person and some over online Zoom connection.

Some themes quickly emerged- neighbors love and cherish the current character of the neighborhood, which has become more diverse and family-friendly in recent years. They are not anti-business or against affordable housing. In fact, the neighborhood has a record of supporting small businesses and affordable housing. And, lastly, and perhaps most importantly, neighbors, despite participating in the Richmond 300 planning from the start, have felt ignored and disrespected. OHNA President Bryan Green, speaking virtually, summarized the re-zoning issues well.

Vice president of City Council, Ellen Robertson, called for the administration to give their stance on the amendment, and Maritza Pechin, City planner, spoke in support of Mixed Use designation for the neighborhood. She clumsily compared Oregon Hill to other neighborhoods like Westover Hills and Windsor Farms, and under questioning about height differences from 1st District Councilperson Addison and others, was visibly shaking.

Councilperson Lynch, while complimenting Pechin and other planners on their overall work for the City, made it clear that the neighborhood’s objections were not ‘NIMBY’ in nature and deserved to be incorporated in the plan.

At that point, Council took a vote and passed the resolution. (It was clear that this was not the only amendment to the Richmond300 that City Council is considering).

The Oregon Hill residents who did attend in person walked out of Chambers in stunned silence but were happily elated during their walks/drives homes. Neighbors who attended online quickly spread the news on neighborhood social media.

What comes next will be a subject of tonight’s (Zoom-only) Oregon Hill neighborhood association meeting. Celebration and appreciation for Councilperson Lynch has got to be part of it.

The Richmond300 planning and neighborhood proposals will certainly wind up back at the Planning Commission, but this unanimous decision sends a strong message.