Buttermilk & Molasses

The Downtown Plan: So Much Drama, So Little Sturm und Drang

The grassroots spluttered at Monday night's meeting of the Richmond Planning Commission, but it proved its resilience -- mostly by sitting through a working session of the planning body just to see the new Downtown Master Plan get approved.

Next stop, City Council.

A year and a day after 400 people crowded Manchester's Plant Zero for the kick-off of the very public process to develop the visionary plan, about 60 people (including media and planning staff) gathered for a less-than-dramatic vote by the commission.

Low drama. High bureaucracy.

"The main thing I want to stress," began commission chairman Robert Mills, "is that this is a working session. I really want us to focus on the items at hand."

And so began a chapter-by-chapter edit of the plan.

"Any comments on chapter one?" intoned Mills. Silence.

"Chapter two?"

Chirp.

"Chapter three?"

A nervous murmur. No takers.

With Chapter Four, detail mania swept the panel.

"On chapter four point twenty," Mills enjoined. "This particular map, I'm trying to get this consistent with the words."

Translation: The document calls for a study of the former 6th Street Marketplace food court, but the graphic map of the plan shows it demolished. Six minutes of discussion follows.

"Page four point twenty-five," intoned commissioner William Hutchens. Four minutes.

"Four point twenty-eight," added Mills. Three minutes.

Rehabilitate Kanawa Plaza or build a new building? Is it the MCV Campus or the VCU Health Sciences Campus or the VCU Medical Center? Is it a parking deck with retail or a mixed-use facility?

This is the rich material of urban politics and policy.

An hour into the working session, the crowd listlessly waited for something dramatic. People began slipping out of Council Chambers (including me). Reporters hung out in the hallway, playing mumbly pegs with Mark Holmberg's Times-Dispatch anniversary switchblade.

Fortunately for those who ply the high seas of the Internet, people like the TD's Will Jones get paid to stick these meetings out.

After a healthy spate of minor edits and revisions, the planning commission voted 9-0 to approve the Downtown Master Plan with "no major changes to the plan."

The plan heads to City Council later this summer. Time will tell whether the current Council will give a professional tip o' the hat to the plan -- and the public, the professionals in the Community Development department, and the planning commission -- or use it as a political football in an election year that has one member running for Mayor and several others fighting for their seats.

The Downtown Plan: Relocation

Tonight's meeting of the Richmond Planning Commission has been moved the City Council Chambers on the second floor of City Hall. The meeting -- where the commission is set to vote on the proposed Downtown Master Plan -- is open to the public, and slated to begin no earlier than 6:00pm. There will be no opportunity for comments from the public, but if you're free come on out and let the commission know you support the plan.

The Downtown Plan: Meeting Set for Tomorrow

Tomorrow's meeting of the Richmond Planning Commission -- set to be held in the 5th floor conference room at City Hall -- may not be able to relocate, after all, despite calls from some groups. That's because City Council has called a special meeting tomorrow at 6 p.m. at City Hall to wrestle with its continuing budget dispute with the mayor.

Be that as it may, the planning commission's anticipated vote on the proposed Downtown Master Plan for the city remains open to the public:

The City of Richmond Planning Commission will discuss further revisions to and consider adoption of the June 2008 Draft Downtown Master Plan on Monday, July 21, 2008.  The meeting is open to the public, but there will not be a public hearing.  The discussion on the Downtown Master Plan will be held at the end of the regular meeting agenda and will begin no earlier than 6:00pm.  The meeting will be held in the fifth floor conference room of City Hall (900 East Broad Street).

The Downtown Plan: TD Endorses

Tomorrow, the Richmond Planning Commission considers the revised Downtown Master Plan for the City of Richmond. The Times-Dispatch's editorial team pitches a strong endorsement for the plan this morning:

The process for establishing a vision for Richmond's downtown -- which serves as Virginia's downtown -- has proceeded for many months; we cannot remember a more open exercise regarding public policy. The officials involved and the public participants deserve a cheer.

... A paper as wide-ranging as a master plan inevitably will include items that will please observers as well as items that annoy them. Resolution of competing claims is achieved by resisting the temptation to let the perfect become the enemy of the good, indeed, the enemy of the very good. The plan's recognition that downtown includes precincts south of the James is welcome news. Many of those involved in the process also understand that results ultimately will depend on the market. Things can be directed, but not forced -- as the cruel experience of the Sixth Street Marketplace attests. We recommend approval of the Draft Downtown Master Plan.

The Downtown Plan: Fourth Down. Will They Punt?

Even after assertions two weeks ago that the proposed Downtown Master Plan was almost certainly heading for a vote this Monday, July 21, there's growing concern that the Richmond Planning Commission is going to pull a Lucy Van Pelt and delay their vote on the plan.

The City of Richmond Planning Commission will discuss further revisions to and consider adoption of the June 2008 Draft Downtown Master Plan on Monday, July 21, 2008. The meeting is open to the public, but there will not be a public hearing. The discussion on the Downtown Master Plan will be held at the end of the regular meeting agenda and will begin no earlier than 6:00pm.

The meeting is currently slated to be held in the 5th floor conference room of City Hall.

In a series of email blasts delivered end-of-day Thursday, organizations supporting the proposed plan -- and others interested in seeing the current plan voted up or down by the planing commission on Monday -- put their concerns into the public domain.

Envision Richmond listed their concerns rather succinctly:

• There is a possibility that the Planning Commissioner's vote on the plan will be delayed yet again - though it was scheduled to be voted on this Monday July 21st.
• Corporate land owners keep submitting last minute changes.
• The meeting will be held in the remarkably cramped 5th floor conference room rather than the City Chambers, despite the fact that people have been turned away at the last two hearings for lack of space to listen and participate.

One immediate tactic Envision Richmond is deploying is a press release on Friday announcing broad support of the draft plan by the public; their goal is to garner an additional 250 signatures by noon Friday in support of the plan. Sign their petition here.

SIZE MATTERS
As Envision Richmond points out, there is some concern that interested members of the public won't have an opportunity to hear the commission's discussion on revisions, or observe the vote.

The last session of the planning commission drew about 60 people and spilled into the 5th floor hallway, leaving more than a dozen residents unable to see or hear the public discussion on the plan's changes. It would make sense to move Monday's session to a larger space, right? Robert Mills, chairman of the planning commission, polled his peeps -- stay in the 5th floor conference room or move to the far larger Council chambers?

It was the smaller conference room by a whisker. Voting in favor of moving the meeting to a larger public space were Bev Lacey, Barbara Abernathy, Kathy Graziano and Michael Jackson. Voting in favor of the 50-person capacity 5th floor conference room were Mills, Chuck Wray, Rodney Poole and Melvin Law. Bill Hutchins was undecided, and deferred to Mills.

The Partnership for Smarter Growth suggests that residents interested in seeing the meeting moved to Council chambers email commission members before Monday. Their email addresses are BMills@comarchs.com; BevLacy@comcast.net; Sheila.Hill-Christian@richmondgov.com; Michael.jackson2@richmondgov.com; Kathy.Graziano@richmondgov.com; WHutchins@tcva.com; CWray@BCWH.com; Rodney@thewiltonco.com; BAbernathy@live.com; lawmanchem@yahoo.com; Joe.Lerch@RichmondGov.com 

TURNOUT MATTERS
It's been a year since hundreds of residents gathered at Plant Zero for two days of learning, brainstorming and planning -- creating some of the key foundational elements of the proposed Downtown Master Plan. Initial meetings drew hundreds of residents interested in shaping the future of Richmond. Even a series of follow-on sessions organized by the planning commission in January and February drew upwards of 50-75 interested residents and businesspeople week after week.

And while the plan will continue from the planning commission to City Council -- if passed by the commission -- Monday's vote marks a major milestone in a year-long journey. Though the commission's meeting does not include space for public comments, a large turnout will send a message to members of the commission, members of City Council and the slate of candidates running for mayor.

Here's how the Partnership for Smarter Growth puts it:

You'll see us there handing out "Pass the Plan" stickers, watching and waiting to see if our voices will be heard.  This is not a public hearing, but our presence is important.   The Plan will be discussed at 6:00 pm after the regular meeting.  At City Hall, 900 East Broad Street, in the cramped 5th floor conference room, unless we can get it moved to the Council Chamber.

Everyone has had a chance to weigh in, and the result is an exceptional blueprint for a vibrant, connected Capital City.  Let's thank the Planning Commissioners for their work and ask them to listen to this mandate for a stronger River City.

POLITICS MATTERS
Blame the delayed vote -- and a potentially longer delay -- on a final push by several of Richmond's major corporations, who remain concerned about the plan's recommendations on their property. In a recent email to Robert Mills, chairman of the planning commission, Venture Richmond's executive director outlined those concerns in a last-minute pitch for a series of changes to the plan:

Berry writes, in part:

The draft plan still shows the elimination of the Reynolds Metals manufacturing plant in Manchester [Page 4.31,32,39,40]. The plant itself employs about 500 people, and Reynolds Packaging employs over 1,000 people in the region. We should not send a message to these employees, and to the new owners of Reynolds, that they are not wanted. The draft plan proposes to redevelop the site with a "parking garage to provide needed parking, lined with habitable spaces to create a pedestrian-friendly street frontage" (4.31-32). I'd suggest that the master plan show the plant as is, and not refer to it in derogatory terms "...in one instance, an industrial building has agglomerated four urban blocks, interrupting the street grid..." I'd suggest that the jobs and the economic vitality provided by that plant, which has been there about 70 years, is far more important than restoring the street grid.

Oddly enough, I was just part of a discussion not a month ago with several members of Richmond's corporate community about conversations with the plant's new owners about it being acquired by the city, the operations being moved and the street grid and canal access being restored.

Berry's other concerns were all raised in the public session earlier in July -- the plan's recommendations for 7th Street adjacent to the Federal Reserve Bank [Page 3.31]; the illustrative 10th Street overlook where a Dominion power sub-station currently sits [Page 4.27]; and the proposed signature building at the north end of the Manchester Bridge [Pge 4.28].

These are issues that have been discussed and negotiated for months -- which makes the last-minute play for revisions a bit annoying. Berry's argument on almost every point is that the proposals in question are "not realistic." I'd expect nothing less from a visionary document.

Monday's planning commission is the political equivalent of a fourth down. All eyes are on the commission -- Will they go for a first down, or will they punt?

Scooped by the Satirists at Tobacco Avenue

Tobacco Avenue, the satirical weblog affectionately known as Richmond's peu d'oignon (little onion), has scooped Buttermilk & Molasses and the other owners of breaking news in the area with a tongue-in-cheek report that Richmond's Downtown Plan has been making the rounds of City Hall men's rooms.

“Guys, honestly, this isn’t bathroom reading.  I need you to take this thing seriously and use it to make some important decisions,” [Community Development Director] Rachel Flynn said in a sharply-worded email to all men at City Hall, including the mayor and his administrative staff.  “You can’t just read over this in your spare time.  I’m really just frustrated with each and every one of you right now.”

...Flynn added that if men at City Hall really needed something to read, she knows of several of those Bible-verse-a-day books in women’s stalls that could be put to good use.

The Downtown Plan: Rcom's Take on "The Last Hearing"

Last night, the Richmond Planning Commission gathered for what was touted as the last public hearing before the commission's vote on the proposed Downtown Plan for the city. Buttermilk & Molasses provided a fairly thorough snapshot of the night late yesterday, and Richmond.com's Dionne Waugh came along today with another glimpse into the drama. In addition to including some quotes my cramped hand was unable to transcribe (or my tired eyes were unable to actually decipher), Richmond.com includes an entire conversation about the Echo Harbor project that I apparently missed entirely:

Ford Webber, who lives at First and Grace streets, said the city needs to make sure that as it moves forward, it does not tinker with what has been successful.

"This is a masterful master plan. I commend city for getting the best experts and bending over backward to get community involvement," he said. "I see one overriding theme-urban communities. As we go forward, let's rememer that urban downtown needs to be dense, pedestrian friendly and have a mix of uses. Having an energetic vibrant downtown is a pre-requisite, not an option."

Resident Jason James told the commission that he hoped the plan wouldn't be the end of getting the public involved in planning.

"It strengthens people's connection to the city, and makes people like me even more invested in the city," he said.

The commission also heard from several attorneys representing developers who spoke on behalf of their clients, such as Echo Harbour.

James Theobold, who represents the Echo Harbour project, questioned why such a large-scale plan like this could move so quickly through the process when their request for a rezoning was still pending after being filed in August 2006. He also criticized how the project was portrayed in the plan, which now includes an alternate development there.

"It doesn't block the view of the river from Libby Hill terrace. It does in fact promote access to the river that doesn't exist there. It also extends the Capital Trail on our nickel. The plan represents an investment of over $160 million, all without any subsidies from the city," he said.

The Downtown Plan: One Hearing That Didn't Go Extra Innings

Blame it on the holiday weekend. Blame it on the principle of repetition. Or, perhaps, everything that needs to be said finally has been said. The point being that Monday night's public hearing on the proposed Downtown Plan for the City of Richmond actually ended early.

And though Robert Mills, chairman of the Richmond Planning Commission, encouraged speakers to address the revisions made in the plan earlier this summer, most spoke in more general terms of their support of the plan. And many called on the planning commission to bring the proposed plan to a vote -- almost a year to the day since the public process began in a packed room in the Manchester District's Plant Zero.

"It's been a year now since we've unveiled this process," said David Herring of ACORN (the Alliance to Conserve Old Richmond Neighborhoods), "and it's been an inclusive process. I would hate to see the momentum of the plan, and the excitement and engagement of the public fade because carried the public process too far."

About 60 people spilled out of the 5th floor conference room at City Hall for Monday's meeting, though fewer than half of them approached the microphone to comment.

The meeting began with the Department of Community Development's Brooke Hardin addressing the key changes made in the June revision of the plan, and comments the department had received. The key changes included changes related to the former Tarmac property and Mayo Island on the James River; infrastructure improvements in the Shockoe area; and proposing that Idlewood Avenue transition to a two-way street with a roundabout.

One sticking point in the current plan involves language and recommendations impacting property owned by New Market -- essentially the Ethyl Corporation land enveloping the old Tredegar iron works. Specifically, Hardin said, the planning staff was unable to support three specific changes requested by New Market's lawyers -- language targeting 7th Street as a primary frontage street; revised language regarding the view from the Virginia War Memorial; and revised language calling for "active, street-oriented uses."

A lawyer from Williams Mullens, speaking on behalf of New Market, seemed perplexed by what he implied was a change of opinion by the department -- based on conversations between city staff and New Market's legal team. "I've got to say that I'm really surprised," he said. "I'm not sure why these changes are problematic."

But the majority of the meeting was dominated by praise for the Department of Community Development, and for the plan itself.

"I've been following the Master Plan process very closely," said Leighton Powell of Scenic Virginia. "I think the vision we have in the Master Plan is very exciting."

"This downtown plan in its entirety is one of the best I've seen in my 11 years of working in the field," echoed Stewart Schwartz of the Coalition for Smarter Growth.

"Eight years ago, I gave up the practice of real estate law to dedicate myself to urban revitalization," said downtown resident Ford Weber, who also serves as program director of LISC Virginia (Local Initiatives Support Corporation), an urban revitalization organization. Webber called the Downtown Plan "a masterful master plan."

"We have made tremendous progress in downtown ... we do need to make certain as we move forward that we do not tinker with what has worked so far," he continued. "An urban downtown needs to have a mixture of uses."

Another downtown property owner was more strident in her support. "I've been part of this process since it started," she said. "Don't try the compromise route ... no one is going to be completely happy."

"This is no time to lose your spine," she admonished the planning commission.

"I rise in support of your parks along the James River," said Richmond resident Diane Worthington. "I come from Charleston and also Old Towne Alexandria, and [the river] is a great way to build a city."

Suzanne Hall, representing the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, noted that her organization was "very interested in increasing the tourism infrastructure in the city." She continued by calling the Downtown Plan "visionary and bold ... and a wonderful effort at listening to our citizens."

Listening was on the mind of at least two others in the room. Robert Grey was the only candidate for Mayor in the room, noting afterward that he was there to listen to the public's views. And North Richmond resident Jason James pleaded with the planning commission to keep public engagement on its radar.

"I hope that this will not be the end of public participation in planning," James said. "It's not only that everyone wants to have their say, but it makes people feel more connected to their city."

The evening ended with a rare voice of support for a more cautious approach. "There's a lot of people who want you to ramrod this thing, but I hope you will resist the pressure and ensure the needs of the large property owners, that their desires are looked out for, too."

The planning commission is scheduled to vote on the Downtown Plan at their July 21 meeting. If approved, the plan will go to Richmond City Council for a vote.

The Downtown Plan: Comments Deserving Comment

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.

The Downtown Plan: Flynn Weighs Back In

If things go as planned -- which they haven't so far -- the Richmond Planning Commission will hear more comments from the public this Monday, July 7, and then vote two weeks later on July 21 to advance Richmond's proposed Downtown Plan to City Council for their consideration.

Just in time for election season.

A year into the process, which launched last July with a series of public discussions that drew hundreds of interested Richmonders, I asked the city's Director of Community Development, Rachel Flynn, to reflect back on how the development of a new Master Plan for downtown Richmond has gone.

She started with the positive.

"I think what's gone really well is that it has been an incredibly inclusive process and a very public one," she said. "It has been about the community, which is what our department is all about -- we're not the Department of Individual Development, we're the Department of Community Development."

But she's quick to acknowledge some mistakes and miscalculations, as well.

"In hindsight what I should have done is gone slower," Flynn said, "because for some in Richmond it was too much, too fast, too soon."

She was referring to the initial time frame for the Downtown Plan's development, which the department originally hoped to move from public brainstorming to City Council approval in the span of four months.

"Sometimes you just need to let things ripen," Flynn continued. "It wasn't a lack of reaching out, but the reaching out just didn't work in every case. I guess I was used to this from my time in Lynchburg, but in hindsight that was over a span of eight years and here we tried to do it in four months. The push back we got was inevitable, I recognize now."

The irony is not missed on Flynn.

"Usually bureaucrats get blamed for taking too long to do things," she noted with a chuckle.

Apparently, that is less of a problem with the bureaucrats back in charge.

Since the plan was delivered to the Richmond Planning Commission for its review, revisions and approval last November, the Department of Community Development's fast-paced plan has slowed to a crawl.

A public hearing was held at City Hall in December, followed by a series of neighborhood meetings in January and February. While Flynn values and appreciates the additional public outreach, she's not sure much changed as a result.

"In my view ... we didn't hear anything different in those meetings," she said. "Nothing major that shifted the plan, or the boundaries, the basic initiatives, none of that changed."

The extra time did provide space for opposition to the draft Downtown Plan to emerge in a more focused manner.

"What was also going on was that private interests like New Market, Dominion Power, even our traffic engineers, started coming out more in private -- going directly to staff or going directly to Bob Mills (chairman of the planning commission), not in these public hearings, and saying 'We want this stuff.'"

Flynn pointed at Dominion Power as an example. Dominion owns a surface parking lot along Cary Street between 8th and 9th streets that the Downtown Plan identified as a gateway to the city. As traffic comes across the Ninth Street Bridge into the city, there sits the lot.

"We really saw it as an opportunity to create a landmark building, to develop the site in a way that really created a nice gateway," Flynn said. "Well, Dominion said they wanted that language taken out. The reason is that they want to build a parking garage there, and I just couldn't disagree more. If we're going to have a better city, the long-term view says to do it right, and do it right now. The quick and cheaper way is to just put a parking deck there and kill the street."

Another example is New Market, which represents Ethyl Corporation and a large swath of river front property near Tredegar. Flynn says the maps and the language in the plan has changed and evolved as a result of New Market's requests -- and the lawyers continue to ask for changes.

The Department of Community Development has also spent a lot of time at the table with Virginia Commonwealth University, and while a number of changes have been made Flynn doesn't seem interested in compromising core elements of the Downtown Plan. VCU's medical campus development essentially turns its back on East Broad Street.

"The plan is clear that Broad Street is the street," Flynn said. "It's our Pennsylvania Avenue and VCU is making Marshall Street their main street."

"VCU has said to take out everything in your plan that doesn't line up with our (VCU's) Master Plan. We said no. The public wants something different on East Broad Street," Flynn said. "One of the big issues is West Hospital. The public said emphatically, 'Do not tear down West Hospital.' Trani was opposed to that. The compromise was that we changed the language  -- that the city and VCU would explore every opportunity with West Hospital, which at least keeps the conversation open."

When Flynn looks back over the past year, she says she has mixed feelings.

"At times it has been very rewarding, and at times very stressful. But it comes with the territory. When you put yourself out there, people are going to say things," she said.

It's her passion for creating community that pushes her forward.

"It's so wasteful for us not to be maximizing our river front," she said. "It drives me crazy that we're just letting it go to waste. Yes, there are a few naysayers, but I want a beautiful city -- not some place I am embarrassed about. Why shouldn't our citizens have the most beautiful city possible?"

The Richmond Planning Commission will hear one final round comments about the proposed Downtown Plan from the public this Monday, July 7, from 6:30 until 8:00 p.m. in the 5th floor conference room of City Hall at 900 East Broad Street.