An update to the city's master plan, dubbed Richmond 300, could be finalized and receive consideration from Richmond City Council by the end of this year, city Planning Director Mark Olinger says. (File photo)
After three years in development, a long-awaited update to the city’s master plan is nearing the finish line.
The Richmond 300 plan, named after the city’s 300th anniversary in 2037, will guide local land use, zoning, transportation and housing development decisions over the next two decades and could receive final consideration from the Richmond City Council by the end of this year if approved by the city’s Planning Commission in October, city Planning Director Mark Olinger says.
Though area plans such as the Pulse Corridor Plan have been developed in recent years to focus on certain parts of the city, a comprehensive land use plan hasn’t been adopted in the city since 2001. A lot has changed in Richmond since then, Olinger explains, not the least of which is the city’s population: Over 30,000 have moved into the city from 2000 to 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
To address expansion in the city over the last 20 years and adequately plan for future growth, city planners have worked since 2017 to craft the new master plan, receiving thousands of survey responses and countless questions and comments over the course of more than 100 public meetings in the process.
“It's a purposeful, thoughtful look forward as to how we think we could accommodate more growth in the city of Richmond, keep the character that we already have, but provide opportunities for new residents and new jobs to occur … in a way that doesn't detract from the overall quality of life in the city,” Olinger says.
In June, city staff released a draft of the development framework, which details recommendations that include the creation of 10,000 new affordable housing units for low- and very low-income households over the next 10 years, new parks across the city, and the means to spur economic and residential growth in areas such as Greater Scott’s Addition, downtown, Manchester, Shockoe and Jackson Ward.
Following the draft’s release, city residents were invited to offer feedback on the plan during a six-week public comment period that featured 11 virtual summits focused on specific parts of the draft. The city’s planning staff is now in the midst of revising the draft and expects to present a “prefinal” version of the plan on Sept. 8 to the Planning Commission and the Richmond 300 Advisory Council, a 21-member Planning Commission subcommittee focused on the master plan’s development. The revision also will be posted on the Richmond 300 website.
Though the public comment gathering process was not slowed by the ongoing pandemic, Olinger notes that a shift to virtual meetings this spring in an effort to follow social distancing guidelines was an adjustment for both city residents and planning staff members.
Despite the change, however, he adds that the virtual summits likely made the meetings more accessible to residents who may not have attended an in-person summit otherwise.
“It’s a different kind of engagement,” he adds. “It doesn’t mean it’s better or worse, it just means it’s different, and I think one of the things that it has taught us is that we have to be flexible.”
Looking beyond the public comment gathering process, however, Olinger says COVID-19’s longer-term impacts on life in the city remain an open question. In April, the planning department released a survey around the ways that COVID-19 could lead to permanent behavioral shifts among city residents. In their responses, city residents indicated continued interest in teleworking, added sidewalks and more outdoor facilities such as parks, balconies and porches.
“We're going to see a change in how the dynamics of employment occur and the location of employment," Olinger says. "I think things will continue to shake out with where people want to live and how they want to live.”
The city’s Planning Commission is slated to receive a presentation on the Richmond 300 plan on Sept. 21 and will vote on the plan at its Oct. 8 meeting. For more information about the master planning process, visit richmond300.com.
