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Social justice coalition Richmond for All held a rally in front of City Hall before City Council's meeting on Tuesday, where speakers called for a stop to evictions from public housing and petitioned the city to abandon the $1.5 billion Navy Hill proposal. (Photo by Rodrigo Arriaza)
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Second District City Council member Kim Gray speaks at the Richmond for All rally at City Hall Tuesday. (Photo by Rodrigo Arriaza)
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Richmond for All supporters filled the City Council Chambers at Tuesday's meeting. (Photo by Rodrigo Arriaza)
Richmond City Council on Tuesday agreed to postpone a vote on 10 ordinances key to the Navy Hill redevelopment proposal until next year.
The measures originally appeared on the meeting's agenda, but council members voted unanimously to continue the ordinances until their Jan. 13 meeting, painting a clearer picture of when a decision on the $1.5 billion redevelopment proposal might be made.
Speaking at the most recent Navy Hill Development Advisory Commission meeting, Council President Cynthia Newbille said that City Council wouldn't make a final decision on Navy Hill until it receives the commission's recommendation. The council-approved citizen group is tasked with reviewing the development proposal and is expected to deliver its recommended course of action in late December.
The 10 bills would, among other things, create the Navy Hill Fund, declare the Richmond Coliseum property and other city-owned land across 10 downtown blocks as surplus, authorize the city's chief administrative officer to execute a development agreement with project developer NH District Corp. (NHDC) and expand the city's Coliseum Mall District to encompass the entire development area.
If approved, the project — touted as the biggest economic development endeavor in Richmond's history — would call for the construction of a publicly funded 17,500-seat arena, a new GRTC transit center, a bevy of mixed-use buildings with at least 280 affordable housing units and a renovated Blues Armory.
The city would sell all the publicly owned property except for the Blues Armory and the proposed arena site, which would remain under city ownership and would be leased to NHDC through the Richmond Economic Development Authority. The purchase price for the city-owned parcels identified as part of the Navy Hill project was set at $15.8 million through negotiations between the city and the developer.
While most of the project would be financed through an estimated $900 million in private funds, new real estate tax revenues collected from an 80-block special tax incentive district would be used to repay arena construction bonds. (Real estate and other taxes currently collected in that district would continue to go to the city's general fund, but increased real estate tax and parking revenue would be used to repay the bonds. Also going toward paying off the bonds would be sales, lodging, business and professional license taxes, and meals taxes from new businesses that open as part of the development, except for 1.5% of the meals taxes from new restaurants, which would be directed toward schools.)
As City Council continues to hold its own work sessions to review the project — two more are scheduled — the city also is expected to hire a second independent consultant to weigh in on the proposal's potential merits. At Tuesday's informal meeting, Interim Council Chief of Staff Meghan Brown said negotiations with vendors will begin this week, and Newbille said she hopes to present a proposal by the next Organizational Development Standing Committee meeting on Dec. 2.
Mayor Levar Stoney and city officials also will hold a series of town hall meetings on Navy Hill, where attendees can ask questions about the project. They kick off on Thursday at Carver Elementary School from 6 to 7:30 p.m. and on Sunday, Nov. 17, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at the Peter Paul Development Center on North 22nd Street.
Although the decision to defer the Navy Hill-related ordinances took place without much fanfare, supporters and critics of the project were out in force at Tuesday's meeting.
Social justice coalition Richmond for All held a rally at the steps of City Hall before the council's regular meeting, where some 50 participants held signs decrying the Navy Hill project and the city's eviction crisis — with a focus on the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority's recent evictions of public housing residents. In a news release last week, the RRHA announced that it would freeze all evictions from its public housing complexes for the remaining calendar year.
On Wednesday, the mayor's office announced the formation of a 17-member Eviction Task Force to address the causes of evictions in the city and develop solutions. The group will hold its first meeting on Dec. 2 from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in the large conference room on the second floor of City Hall, according to a city news release.
"In 2019, there will be no more evictions in public housing, and we're here to say that on Jan. 1, 2020, there's not going to be evictions in public housing then, either," said Kristin Reed, an organizer with Richmond for All. "We're here to say that we're not going to accept that our City Council can draw a line around the land that we're standing on and redirect all of the public revenue from this property to fund private development."
Second District Council member Kim Gray was among the speakers at the rally, and she said the Navy Hill arena would funnel years of future tax revenue toward repaying arena debts and away from the city's general fund. Over the entire 28-year arena bond period, new tax revenues from the 80-block area would be expected to reach $316 million without the Navy Hill project, according to a presentation from Navy Hill Development Advisory Commission Vice Chairman John Gerner.
"Our mayor will tell you that this Navy Hill development is for the children — the only truth in that is that the debt will be for our children," Gray said. "I think we need to reconsider everything that's come before us with the 80 blocks that's being proposed and the revenue that will be taken out of our revenue streams."
Stoney has said the arena would be a catalyst for investment in the city, and that taxpayers will not be on the hook if the development falls short of projections. Estimates provided by the city financial advisor Davenport & Co. say the project will generate roughly $1 billion in net general fund revenue over 30 years for the city after the bond debt is paid. Of that amount, Stoney has earmarked $500 million for schools; $340 million for public safety and other core services; $150 million for housing needs; and $10 million for art, history and culture.
During Tuesday's meeting, there also were some visible supporters of the Navy Hill project, through none spoke during the meeting's public comment period. City residents were scattered throughout the crowd holding up signs that said "You don't speak for us." NHDC spokesman Jeff Kelley said they were supporters of the project who were "mostly focused on jobs."
"Our supporters who came to last night’s council meeting wanted to make sure their voices were heard. They want council to know they support the jobs that Navy Hill will create and that the opposition — who thinks the status quo is good enough — does not speak for them," Kelley wrote in a statement.
Also on Tuesday, City Council approved a measure backed by Stoney in an effort to address gun violence. Under the new law, city residents are required to report lost or stolen firearms to the Richmond Police Department within 24 hours under threat of civil penalty. The law became effective upon its passage.
The bill was one of two public safety-related ordinances introduced by Stoney at a news conference last month. City Council amended the second of Stoney's ordinances — which would penalize drivers found to be distracted by a smartphone or other handheld devices while behind the wheel — and is expected to vote on the measure at its December meeting.
