Tomorrow evening, the Richmond Planning Commission meets for what some hope will be the last public hearing before the commission votes to move the proposed Downtown Master Plan to City Council. For those not used to listening to nuance, it may seem that there are only two ways to plan Richmond's downtown -- allowing developers to pave over the James River and turn it all into retail space, or coating every building downtown with the grass spray they use on interstates to seed the median and turn the city into an ecological wonderland. Recent comments on this weblog lead me to wonder whether anyone has even read the damn thing.
The proposed Downtown Plan will satisfy neither extreme.
It will, however, provide a road map for the city's future that will guide planning decisions for years to come -- and create a better balance between development and public space than any plan embraced by the city in my lifetime.
It seeks to protect some of the last salvageable space on the north bank of the James River; creates a plan for public access along the south bank of the river; encourages retail, commercial and residential development along key stretches of the river downtown; and genuinely works to heal some of the worst urban planning decisions of the past 30 years, while protecting the integrity of some of our more fragile urban neighborhoods (Oregon Hill and Jackson Ward, to name two).
It has an implementation plan. It suggests a budget. It provides a concrete framework for future decisions. It is passionately pro-development -- and passionate that the James River should be as green and as public as possible.
It is radical for being ambitious. It is conservative in its light emphasis on green building and ecologically sound design. It is a lot for Richmond to chew, and it is not enough.
It will not change Richmond in 2009. It will set the stage for dramatic changes in subsequent years -- and for the development of a downtown that is built on a vision that started with 200 residents armed with magic markers and their individual views of what their city could become.
It will be a shame if the planning commission shrinks from this plan. It is half as ambitious as Richmond's residents deserve, and twice as ambitious as some would like it to be. That makes it something worth considering, in my book.
