From Times Dispatch article:
The city of Richmond’s plan to lease out Monroe Park was slowed down Monday night as a well-known activist submitted a competing bid that forced officials to take more time to weigh the two proposals.
Activist Mo Karnage, who has been involved with serving meals in the park for the homeless, submitted a bid that would put the park under control of a body called the Keep Monroe Park Open and Free Committee.
The Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association (OHNA), at its February meeting, voted to oppose the Shockoe stadium proposal, due to the questionable finances and the possible destruction of important Richmond history.
OHNA meets again tomorrow evening at 7 pm at the William Byrd Community House. At 8 pm the meeting will focus on planning for the Idlewood roundabout project.
Yesterday, City Council’s Land Use Committee voted unanimously to recommend approval of a plan to lease Monroe Park, one of the oldest public parks in the country and the oldest in Richmond, to the Monroe Park Conservancy, a private, nonprofit group, despite much public opposition.
From ‘City watchdog’ C.Wayne Taylor:
To: News Media
1. “Tredegar Green” is the The City of Richmond Riverfront Plan designation for the land just west of Tredegar Iron Works.
2. George Washington’s historic canal runs across the center of Tredegar Green.
3. Venture Richmond is preparing to destroy George Washington’s historic canal.
4. Venture Richmond has a grading plan pending before the city Planning Commission.
5. Venture Richmond revised its plan to dodge Department of Historic Resources review.
6. The revised plan was submitted to the city of Richmond Friday.
7. The revised plan was forwarded to the planning commission after 5pm Friday.
8. The planning commission meets on Monday at 1pm to consider the plan.
9. The public has not been officially notified of the revised plan.
While Venture Richmond may have the legal right to destroy George Washington’s historic canal, such action is contrary to the purposes of Venture Richmond. Venture Richmond is a nonprofit corporation established for the good of downtown Richmond.
Venture Richmond receives substantial financial support from the city of Richmond. Mayor Jones is the President of Venture Richmond. His administration submitted the application to the planning commission to destroy the canal.
Keeping up with our local government:
The City Planning Commission will hold a special meeting on Thursday, March 13, 2014, at 10:00 am to receive a presentation on the Mayor’s Capital Improvement Plan for FY15-FY19. Although some neighbors wanted to speak at the meeting in support of Councilman Parker Agelasto’s CIP budget request for rewatering the James River and Kanawha Canal, there is no public hearing at this meeting and the public will not be allowed to speak. The full budget is referred to Council and its committees. Once that occurs, public hearings with time for public comment will be scheduled both at the committee level and the full Council level.
Also,
A request for bids is in the Classified legal section of today’s Times Dispatch newspaper for the Monroe Park lease. A term of 30 years is advertised. Bids to be received by 5:00 pm on Monday March 24 and presented to City Council at 6:00 pm on March 24.
Oregon Hill neighbors continue to investigate the private, non-profit Venture Richmond. What they are finding may be of interest to all Richmond citizens.
Venture Richmond is (allegedly) leasing the city property at Brown’s Island and the city property at ‘Tredegar Green’ each for $1/ year. The wording of the lease obligates Venture Richmond to pay to the city an amount equal to the city real estate taxes unless exempted. Even if exempted, Venture Richmond is obligated to pay to the city the city real estate taxes that would accrue by any sub-lessee, such as an entity sub-leasing the canal boat concession.
The city’s Finance Department has confirmed that they have no documents relating to the payment of these real estate taxes by Venture Richmond for the Brown’s Island or Tredegar Green leases nor do they have any documents relating to an exemption. The Finance Department has been in contact with the City Attorney on the issue. The real estate taxes for Brown’s Island alone would be over $70,000 per year. This appears to be similar to the situation encountered with the Redskins Training Camp deal:
This comes at the same time that Venture Richmond has applied to City Council for an exemption from real estate taxes for the property owned by Venture Richmond at Tredegar Green. The catch is that Venture Richmond is making this application for exemption during a moratorium on exemptions by designation. They are in fact seeking an exemption from the moratorium on exemptions. The assessor’s committee that examined Venture Richmond’s application for exemption unanimously rejected the application over a year ago, citing, among other issues, the high salary of Venture Richmond employees. Collectively the top four employees of Venture Richmond make over $640,000 annually.
It is even questionable if Venture Richmond has a valid lease on the city Tredegar Green property. State code requires that any city lease with a term of five years or more to be put up for bids. The City Clerk could provide no documentation that the Tredegar Green lease, which is for a term of over five years in length, was ever advertised for bids (in the same vein as the recent Monroe Park situation).
This is all coming to a head next Monday, March 17, 2014, when Venture Richmond’s proposed Tredegar Green amphitheater, which would do great damage to the historic James River and Kanawha Canal, is on the agenda of the Richmond City Planning Commission. The Planning Commission is supposed to review Venture Richmond’s lease of the Tredegar Green property, when it appears that this lease may not be valid. Equally strange would be for the Planning Commission to consider this item if Venture Richmond has not honored its (alleged) lease by paying the real estate taxes or by showing an exemption.
The Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association (OHNA) has asked that the City Planning Commission exclude the city property above the canal from Venture Richmond’s proposed amphitheater because that property is not zoned for an amphitheater. OHNA also points out that the city Tredegar Green property will be the logical location for the eastern terminus of the canal when the canal is rewatered. If the property above the canal is removed from the proposed amphitheater there would be no cause to damage the historic canal.
From letter:
To the Members of the Richmond City Planning Commission,
The Richmond City Planning Commission continued Venture Richmond’s amphitheater issue to the March 3, 2014 meeting of the Planning Commission in order that new lease arrangements could be worked out for the city-owned property.
At the February 25, 2014 meeting of the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association (OHNA), our organization voted to ask that this item be continued to a later hearing because at this late date we have yet to see any lease language, despite repeated requests. We understand that no lease was introduced at City Council on February 24, 2014.
It is of great importance that adequate time be taken to assess any new lease for the city property proposed for use by Venture Richmond’s amphitheater. The City Planning Commission should also take into consideration the fact that City Councilman Parker Agelasto has introduced a CIP budget request for re-watering the James River and Kanawha Canal, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.We ask that the new lease exclude the city property above the canal. This city property above the canal is not zoned for an amphitheater. A 1990 study sponsored by Richmond Renaissance determined that this city property above the canal would be the best location for the eastern terminus and canal boat dock of the re-watered canal. Because the Tredegar Wall that was illegally demolished is slated to be soon rebuilt, the city property above the canal will not be within view of the proposed amphitheater stage. OHNA has endorsed the compromise of confining Venture Richmond’s proposed amphitheater to the property below the canal in order to minimize the adverse impacts upon the canal, the Va. War Memorial and the Oregon Hill neighborhood. This compromise was also endorsed by the editorial staff of the Richmond Times Dispatch.
We ask that the Planning Commission delay any final approval of the amphitheater plan until the reviews by the Corps of Engineers and the Va. Dept. of Historic Resources (DHR) are completed. We are concerned that Venture Richmond is threatening to withdraw from the promised Corps of Engineers and DHR reviews if Venture Richmond cannot begin work on the landscape plan for the proposed amphitheater before the reviews are completed.
We ask that the Planning Commission make it clear that it will constitute a “substantial” change to the plan if Venture Richmond removes the fill in the canal that provides the wetlands contact, which triggered the Corps of Engineers and DHR reviews. The Planning Commission and city staff have promised that the amphitheater must again be reviewed by the UDC and Planning Commission if any “substantial” changes to the amphitheater are made subsequent to the reviews by the Corps of Engineers and DHR.
The Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association would like to express our gratitude for the time and attention that the Planning Commission is devoting to this issue and for your consideration of our requests. The James River and Kanawha Canal promises to be a remarkable tourist attraction and notable feature of Richmond.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Hancock
President
Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association
The Times Dispatch headline for last night’s City Council meeting was pretty triumphant, “Shockoe baseball stadium plan wins initial backing 6-3”, which may not be that surprising given the newspaper’s ties to the proponents of the controversial Shockoe Bottom stadium proposal.
But the opposition is not giving up. From the Facebook announcement:
THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES! The Defenders will be hosting a second Activists Meeting this Thursday, Feb. 27, 6:30 pm, at the William Byrd Community House, 224 So. Cherry St., RVA 23220. This will be a opportunity to network and share ideas on how to strengthen the movement against a Shockoe Bottom stadium and for a real Historic District. The Defenders will be promoting a more organized community petitioning campaign as a way to reach out to those not yet involved and encourage them to join this important struggle. Hope to see you there!
Also, the editor of this community news site has started a boycott petition, which may take on increasing importance if political options continue to fade. The boycott was also reluctantly announced at last week’s City Council Land Use and Financial Committee meetings. I say ‘reluctantly’ because the boycott was started due to failing local politics. It is open to non City residents as well.
“We, the undersigned, stand in opposition to the Mayor’s Shockoe stadium proposal. There are many reasons to oppose a stadium in Shockoe Bottom: the questionable finances of the developers’ plan, parking, traffic, leaving the best and most accessible site for baseball in the city and disrespecting the incredible history of what once was the largest slave-trading district north of New Orleans. Some of us are county residents who do not want to travel into the Bottom for a baseball game.
As long as the Shockoe stadium proposal is still a threat, from this point forward we promise to boycott the Flying Squirrels’ baseball games and other supporting businesses. This is not something we take lightly- many of us like the Flying Squirrels and recognize the harmful economic effect that this boycott will have. However, with the Mayor and proponents not allowing a referendum or citizens’ vote on the Shockoe stadium proposal, and in effect muting our political voice, we have decided it is time to exercise our economic voice.”
How many subscriptions and sales can the Flying Squirrels afford to lose before they recognize that this stadium proposal is not viable for lack of public support?
Although most of the presentation was philosophical in nature with the subtext of the raging Shockoe Bottom controversy, Mr. Pinnock did generously show some slides of VERY PRELIMINARY ideas for the proposed Virginia Emancipation Proclamation and Freedom Monument for Browns Island. These visuals showed a raised structure that would offer enclosed meditative space with slats that would allow light to come in.
It will be interesting to see if this proposal, or the controversial ‘Tredegar Green’ amphitheater proposal, will be allowed for discussion at tonight’s Riverfront Plan forum. It’s worth noting that the Proclamation Monument proposal has not been without some controversy, and its worth remembering that Browns Island has been brought up as an alternative to the Kanawha Canal site for the proposed amphitheater.