Harry Kollatz is doing his best to add more in depth coverage of planning meetings regarding the Richmond riverfront on his blog for Richmond Magazine. In the latest post (click here), he reports on a meeting yesterday that included representatives from the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association (OHNA), Dominion Power, and City of Richmond.

At this week’s meeting, the concerns as expressed by OHNA through Pool and its president, Jennifer Hancock, included the possibility of the new and longer Second Street wiping away remnants of the canal; resulting traffic and noise; the special-use permit that Dominion still carries on its property, which allows open-ended construction (Pool was greatly concerned that construction of a once-planned 160-foot tower might go forward as a result); and the matter of what’s been referred to as an “amphitheater” for Venture Richmond to complement the Folk Festival site, on property that may be gifted to the organization by NewMarket.

Discussion ensued over the ramifications of a possible new street coming off 2nd that would connect to the riverfront. Oregon Hill neighbors are concerned that this would encourage more cars speeding down Idlewood off the expressway in order to get to 2nd Street.

From Kollatz’s post:

Hancock later reminded city engineers that they’d pushed for a roundabout at Idlewood, where the Downtown Expressway connects, and it’s mentioned in the Downtown Master Plan’s Transportation Analysis (p. 18). Transportation engineer Thomas Flynn said the excellent idea for a roundabout isn’t forgotten, it just needs $400,000 to be completed.

(Please see Issue #5).