Category Archives: government

Upcoming Meetings

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On Monday, February 10th, City Council will meet. Venture Richmond’s proposed tax exemption for its Tredegar Green property is supposed to be on the agenda.

On Wednesday, February 12, Councilperson Parker Agelasto will hold a 5th District meeting.

From announcement:

WHAT (Richmond, Virginia U.S.A.) – The Honorable Parker C. Agelasto, Councilman, Richmond City Council Central 5th Voter District will hold a district-wide meeting in the Richmond Central 5th Voter District. This is part of regular meetings he holds, which include information on his Richmond Central 5th Voter District goals and accomplishments; a thematic agenda of current interest; and, special guests. This meeting is free and open to the public and all Richmond Central 5th Voter District residents are invited and encouraged to attend.
The planned agenda/discussion topics for the upcoming meeting include:
· Richmond Public Schools Update
The Honorable Mamie L. Taylor, Trustee, Richmond Public Schools Board of Trustees Central 5th Voter District
· Monroe Park Discussion
Ms. Alice Massie, President, Monroe Park Conversancy
· Updates: The Honorable Parker C. Agelasto, Councilman, Richmond City Council Central 5th Voter District
– Richmond City Stadium
– Mayor’s Economic Development Plan for Shockoe Bottom and the Boulevard
· Questions, comments, ideas, suggestions and concerns

WHEN Wednesday, February 12, 2014; 6:30-8:00 p.m.

WHERE Richmond Department of Parks Recreation and Community Facilities Byrd Park Round House
600 S. Boulevard; Richmond, Virginia

On Tuesday, Feb. 18, The Public Forum on the Richmond Riverfront Plan and updates on projects such as Brown’s Island Dam Walk and Chapel Island Trail will be held, 7:00 pm at the Virginia War Memorial. This is after being snowed-out last month.

RiverfrontFeb18PublicMeeting

Editorial On Venture Richmond’s Tax Exemption

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On Monday, February 10th, the Richmond City Council will vote on giving Venture Richmond a tax exemption for its real estate on the site of its proposed amphitheater below Oregon Hill. City Council should not approve this tax exemption for Venture Richmond for the following reasons:

The City Council has a moratorium on granting tax exemptions by designation. Venture Richmond submitted this application in 2012, and Venture Richmond failed to meet the deadline of April 8, 2013, as established by City Ordinance 2013-19, for introducing an ordinance exempting property from taxation by designation.

State code requires that City Council consider whether the executive salary of the organization is reasonable when considering an organization’s application for tax exemption. Venture Richmond Director Jack Berry receives a salary of over $240,000 annually. If Venture Richmond can afford to pay its Director $240,000 are we to believe that it cannot afford to pay $43,836 in real estate tax?

State code also requires that City Council consider whether the non-profit applying for tax exemption engages in substantial lobbying for legislation. According to Venture Richmond, it has spent at least $32,000 lobbying for the Mayor’s Shockoe Stadium proposal. The Mayor is President of Venture Richmond, and Venture Richmond has been engaged in substantial lobbying for the Mayor’s legislation.

Richmond’s Tax Exemption by Designation Committee recommended AGAINST a real estate tax exemption for Venture Richmond, and the committee sessions generally focused on the amount of executive salaries, revenue sources and any duplication of city services being performed by each applicant. The other organizations that applied but did not receive exemptions were VMFA parking lots, Science Museum of Virginia properties, Family Lifeline properties, CHAT Property, Hands Up Ministries properties and Richmond Urban Senior Housing property.

On its application for real estate tax exemption for its amphitheater property, Venture Richmond stated that the property was in compliance with zoning codes. Yet the amphitheater above the canal is not zoned for an amphitheater. Venture Richmond also stated that it does not compete with other organizations in the marketplace, a contention that is disputed by private promoters. Venture Richmond also stated that it does not provide or deny services based on ability to pay, a contention that would be disputed by those not affording a ticket to Venture Richmond paid events.

According to a video-taped presentation given by Venture Richmond Director Jack Berry to the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association, the intention of Venture Richmond is to rent out the amphitheater with no limitation on the number of events annually, and to serve alcoholic beverages on the property. Rental property generating income for the non-profit is generally not considered a charitable purpose for tax exemption.

I will be very interested to see how other local media covers this issue. Joined corporate and political power in Venture Richmond’s board that runs roughshod over citizen concerns is a real problem, whether the issue is the Tredegar Green amphitheater plan or the Shockoe stadium proposal.

“City Council may rule on fate of park foliage”

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On March 8, 1991, an article appeared in the Times-Dispatch.

VCU plan to remove 37 trees from Monroe Park 3-8-91

The article was about how VCU was trying to get control of the maintenance of Monroe Park and had a plan to cut down 37 of the mature trees. VCU said that the trees were “improperly placed, damaged, dangerous and add nothing to the function or aesthetics of the park,” and stated that removal of the trees would, “make the park safer.”

Fortunately this maintenance agreement was not approved in 1991 because of neighborhood objections, but if the newly proposed lease is approved, VCU would be in charge of the maintenance of the trees and would be given carte blanche to remove as many trees as it wanted without any recourse. Most of the trees that were slated to be removed in 1991 are still in the park, and there is no reason to think that VCU would not again want them removed, “to make the park safer.”

As a result of VCU’s attempt to remove 20% of the mature trees in Monroe Park in 1991, the Monroe Park Advisory Council was established with neighborhood representation from Oregon Hill, the Fan, and Carver. The proposed Monroe Park Conservancy has NO neighborhood representation, but includes four VCU administrators, and four city administrators.

Tax Exempt Status For Venture Richmond?

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Former neighbor and citizen activist Silver Persinger documented a very interesting part of a recent informal City Council meeting. Click here for the video.

From Docket Review portion of the meeting. Discussion of Ordinances 2014-2, 2014-3, and 2014-4.
Comments from City Assessor James Hester on Tax Exemptions [4:45].
Parker Agelasto asked if the administration had contemplated having Venture Richmond donate the land to the city to achieve the same result of exempting the land from property taxes. Jeannie Welliver from the City’s Department of Economic and Community Development seemed to be on the verge of melting down and looked physically ill [11:25]. Jack Berry then argued why Venture Richmond should be granted the exemption and was adamant that Venture Richmond was not interested in donating the land to the City [13:44].

The Possibility Of Parking Permits

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Special thanks to Mr. Bergin for answering questions about parking decal regulations at last night’s Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association meeting.

He sent this message this morning:

Hello all,

Attached as a PDF is the city code, Criteria for establishment of a
residential restricted parking district. I want to make a few points on
what we discussed:

1. You should have a minimum of 10 contiguous block faces, and as I
stated legal explained to me that if not contiguous, the separation of
blocks should be reasonable. Also, remember it is not blocks but block
faces.
2. Fewer than 60% of the properties within the proposed district are
owner-occupied. The calculation is based on the proposed district, not
an individual block face, and it is the property not the number of
households at a property.
3. There is nothing to prevent you from having different hourly and
time-restricted regulations in your district.

Please read section 102-301 which thoroughly discusses the process of
establishing the district.

Let me know when or if I can be of assistance.

Good luck and thanks,

Steven D. Bergin
Department of Public Works
Parking Division

Residentail Restricted Parking District

Monroe Park Lease Proposal

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Click here to download a Monroe Park Ordinance and Lease.
This will most likely not get voted on by City Council anytime soon. But it could provide an interesting discussion point at the ‘Community Conversation on Monroe Park’ next Tuesday at the Nile Restaurant.

As one neighbor remarked,

This lease is a pretty outrageous document! I am just flabbergasted that the City Council would consider such an arrangement:

The Mayor is given the authority to appoint one-third of the board, and the administration is given the authority to approve any changes to the planned improvements.

The Tenant (Monroe Park Conservancy) pays only $1 annual rent, and pays no real estate taxes.
The Tenant shall establish polices of the use of the park, subject to approval of Richmond’s Chief Administrative Officer.

The Landlord (the City) pays for any damages to the park.
The Landlord, with VCU, pays for all police and security.
The Landlord at no charge supplies all gas, water, electricity, sewer, and storm water expenses.
The Landlord is responsible for repairing and replacing all structural elements.

Will Mayor Jones Destroy History?

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From C. Wayne Taylor’s website, City Hall Review:

January 27, 2014
VIA EMAIL TO:
Ms. Lou Brown Ali, Chief of Staff, lou.ali@richmondgov.com
The Honorable Mr. Baliles and Honorable City Council
City of Richmond
900 E. Broad St., Suite 200
Richmond, VA 23219 USA
Re: George Washington’s Canal at Tredegar Green
Dear Mr. Baliles and Members of Council,
Mr. Dwight Jones, Mayor of Richmond and President of Venture Richmond, wants to drastically reshape George Washington’s canal at Tredegar Green. Only a portion of the channel bottom would remain authentic.
Mr. Jones claims the canal berm interferes with visibility from the northern portion of Tredegar Green to the southern portion. Mr. Jones knows that raising the ground level of the northern portion of Tredegar Green would increase visibility to the southern portion.
Why is Mr. Jones proposing to lower the ground level of the northern portion of Tredegar Green?
Sincerely yours,
C. Wayne Taylor, Publisher
City Hall Review LLC
CityHallReview.com
Copy: City Clerk, Better Government Richmond, News media, Interested parties

City Planning Commission Postpones Vote On Amphitheater

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Excerpts From the Times Dispatch article:

The Richmond Planning Commission voted Tuesday to postpone a vote on Venture Richmond’s amphitheater proposal for Tredegar Green after hearing concerns about the possible impact on future plans to re-water the James River and Kanawha Canal.
…
But commissioners continued a vote on a final plan review until early March to allow the City Council to take up an amendment to Venture Richmond’s lease that would require the organization to raise the height of the canal towpath to about 85 feet if, at some point in the future, the planned 83 feet proves insufficient to allow boats to navigate the canal west to Maymont.
The vote was unanimous with the exception of Commissioner Melvin Law, who abstained. The lease amendment was raised as a solution after the Planning Commission was advised that it did not have the legal authority to attach a future obligation to the property that’s not directly tied to Venture Richmond’s plans.
…
“I don’t want to put it at 85 feet just because somebody from Oregon Hill wants it that way,” Berry said.

City Schedules Three Land Use Meetings on Same Day (TOMORROW!)

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With a nod to the City Hall Review:

City of Richmond
January 21, 2014
1:30pm – Planning Commission Meeting
3:00pm – Land Use Standing Committee Meeting
7:00pm – Richmond Riverfront Plan Projects Public Forum

Also, from Fans of Monroe Park Facebook Page:

On Tuesday, January 21, 2014, Alice Massie, president of the Monroe Park Conservancy, will make a presentation to Richmond’s Land Use Committee at 3PM. This is the first step in turning the park over to this private entity. There is a public comment period. This will take place at city Hall, 2nd floor council chambers.

Click here for previous post on Monroe Park privatization.

Also note how the Riverfront Plan Public Forum will happen AFTER Venture Richmond’s Tredegar Green amphitheater plan goes to the Planning Commission.