Seven civic associations in the city are urging officials to delay consideration of a measure to rezone a stretch of land along the GRTC Pulse bus line, citing concerns around building heights and a need to gather in person to weigh in on the measure. (File photo)
A coalition of seven Richmond neighborhood associations are petitioning city officials to table plans to rezone a swath of land that lies along the GRTC Pulse bus route until it’s once again safe to gather publicly.
The rezoning effort is the latest phase of the city’s implementation of the Pulse Corridor Plan, an initiative approved by City Council in 2017 to allow higher density and create more economic growth along the Pulse bus line. This stage of the plan focuses on the areas surrounding the Science Museum, Allison Street and VCU/VUU Pulse bus stops.
City Planning Director Mark Olinger says the stretch of land in question presents an opportunity for new zoning that opens the door for a modern, more urban neighborhood to spring up along the Pulse route.
“We've been very clear from day one that we weren't necessarily looking to replicate the Fan or Carver or any of the other abutting neighborhoods, but we think with new street patterns, the existence of Pulse and opportunities to think about the circulation through the area, that would create a neighborhood that would have its own sense of identity that would be in keeping with the character of an emerging city,” he says.
Not everyone is on board with the effort, however. In a letter to the city’s planning commission, planning department and Mayor Levar Stoney dated May 29, the seven groups raised concerns over the proposal to rezone parcels along a stretch of land largely north of West Broad Street that reaches from Arthur Ashe Boulevard to Belvidere Street, citing apprehension over multistory buildings that could result from the plan and lack of in-depth public engagement around the issue.
The civic groups attached to the letter are: the Carver Area Civic Improvement League, the Fan District Association, the Historic Jackson Ward Association, the West Grace Street Association, the Monument Avenue Preservation Society, the Newtowne West Association and the RVA Coalition of Concerned Civic Associations.
The rezoning ordinance was set for planning commission consideration on Monday, but the panel opted to defer its decision on the issue to its Sept. 8 meeting due to a need for further discussion between city planners and the concerned parties. In their letter, the civic associations are urging officials to postpone their decision until restrictions on public gatherings sparked by the coronavirus pandemic are lifted, citing a need for in-person community meetings to work through the details of the rezoning plan.
According to West Grace Street Association member Jonathan Marcus, the groups are primarily focused around areas that would receive TOD-1 (transit-oriented nodal) zoning, which would allow developers would be allowed to construct buildings of up to 12 stories, and other stretches of land that would be added to the city’s B-4 (central business) district, which would allow buildings that exceed 20 stories to be constructed along that stretch of West Broad Street.
Although the city’s zoning code doesn’t specify a maximum building height in the B-4 district, Olinger clarified that heights in the zone are determined by the width of the road along which buildings are constructed, meaning that taller buildings would be allowed on busy corridors such as West Broad Street but would have to be scaled back along narrower adjoining roads.
While Marcus says the West Grace Street Association is generally in favor of new development and added density, he explains that the organization feels that the city’s planning department didn’t properly engage the residents of historic neighborhoods on the outskirts of the Pulse bus route around the height limits allowed under the proposed zoning.
“We want density, we want development. Where we differ is we want development that is scaled to the general area,” Marcus says. “The planning department has proposed zoning that would allow buildings over 20 stories tall, which is essentially a downtown business district zoning, and greater density is one thing, but creating a mini-Manhattan in the middle of our mid-sized historic city is another, and that discussion has not been had.”
Olinger, meanwhile, explains that while the rezoning would open the door for high-rise buildings along the corridor, it doesn’t necessarily guarantee that the city would approve such developments sight unseen.
“Buildings of a certain size would need to come through a planning development process to make sure that [they fit] in with the character of the Pulse plan,” he says. “The idea that somebody can come in, pull a permit and build a 23-story building tomorrow without significant review by affiliated city agencies is not really how the process happens.”
Public engagement also has been a source of friction between the two groups. Although the city’s planning department held community input sessions, attended civic association meetings and polled city residents to gather feedback on the Pulse Corridor Plan since its earliest stages in 2015, Marcus says his neighborhood association was unaware of the 20-story height allowance because public meetings around the issue were focused broadly around land use and did not drill into specifics of the building heights associated with the rezoning plan.
“The fact that there are seven neighborhoods … saying, ‘We don't know where these decisions came from and how they came about’ is proof that these discussions have not been engaged in,” he adds.
However, Olinger and city planner Anne Darby argue that their department offered ample opportunities for public feedback on the Pulse Corridor Plan and the effort to rezone this section of the Pulse route, including five meetings with the West Grace Street Association between 2018 and 2019. While the neighborhood groups seek to table the issue until they can meet with planners in person, the planners say that high attendance at recent virtual Richmond 300 summits have shown that online gatherings can also be effective.
“We believe that we can have virtual meetings where there's good sharing of information and good sharing of thoughts without waiting until the state of emergency is lifted, because none of us know when that's going to be,” Olinger said.
