The first of 6 scheduled neighborhood-specific meetings on the Downtown Plan took place tonight at the The Bankquet Place (1120 Hull Street). The 2-hour meeting included an overview of the process so far, the plan as it pertains to Manchester, and a lively Q&A session.

Chuck Wray of the City of Richmond Planning Commission began the meeing with an overview of the process as of yet. He recounted the meetings over the summer, and the circulation of the draft plan and public comment sessions. He described the purpose of the current set of meetings as “to speak more intimately” with the areas, specifically tonight as the components relate to Manchester. In setting up the next piece of the presentation, Wray described a need for a realistic view, saying that “there are a lot of things in this plan that won’t happen overnight.”

Next up was Brooke Hardin, with a 20-minute overview of the foundations (PDF) of the current plan and its recommendations for Manchester (PDF):

• traditional city – pedestrians, 2-way traffic, shared parking, transit
• river – protect views, rscue mayo island, enhance centerpiece
• urban architecture – reform regluations, focus on design
• variety and choice – diversify land uses, building types, incomes, transportation options
• green – parks, street trees, architecture
• history – commit to preservation, new architecture worthy of context
• mixed income – economic diversity, attainable housing, goods/services for persons of all incomes

Moving forward he outlined sugestions that that they had received: a parking garage for Hull and Commerce; a central greenspace between 11th/12th/Porter/Bainbridge; protect riverfront greenways and 13th Street wetlands; even more towards Hull Street revitalization; prepare for transit connections; maintian viable industrial uses; restore historic industrial buildings (consider City Old & Historic); and encourage walkable thoroughfares.

This was followed by what became a lively Q&A session, some of which is summarized below:

Q. The Seibert lot and recycling lots are the property of long-time owners. How can the city have a vision for someone else’s property? Where would the money come from to implement changes?
A. The plan doesn’t call on the city to take property, no recommendation to condemn. Where does the community see the neighborhood going? City can recommend through plan to move towards the community vision, be supportive of collective vision. Some things will happen this year, some things will happen 20 years from now.

Q. New sidewalks and new trees along Hull Street. What is the reality of the city being able to fund this expensive effort?
A. Want to move forward woth annual capital improvement project. Has to be collective value of council, administration. Can happen through private partnership.

Q. What about incentives, an enterprise zone?
A. Tax abatement program (SHOW BOUNDARIES), other historic district benefits already available.

Q. How far up Hull Street is called Manchester for the sake of the plan?
A. Hull and Jefferson Davis. We had to draw line, this is always difficult. Next step: a plan to take a look city wide. As you get further down Hull, the issues change.

Q. 1400 block of Semmes to remain commercial? (there is a history here, apparently, of real estate shenanigans by the city…)
A. Recommending a mix of uses.

Q. How can we ensure that affordable housing remains?
A. We need a wide range of housing types, this maintains affordability. Opportinuties for rentals, and rowhouses/townhouses. This will naturally create a more diverse population. Recommendations for incentives (though this likely to be limited, need to work with market).

Q. Neighborhood deserves a full block central park and a bike path. We need the antique streetlighting and the brick sidewalks.
A. We will write that down.

Q. The plan does not inlude Blackwell, which is part of this one big community.
A. We had to draw line because of resources. Blackwell is part of Neighborhoods in Bloom and zoning work has been done there: already well along in parts of planning.

Discussion ensued in response to this, with a few more people putting in their $.02. (response: “We’re going to get there, that is the next step in the process.”) Can language alluding to the eventual inclusion of Balckwell be included in the Plan? Neighborhood consensus is to include Blackwell.

(*heated*) … Need to change the name of the plan, because the “master plan” gets changed whenever they want. Need decent housing AND BRING ME A GROCERY STORE. I want something done and the master plan as it stands does nothing for me.

Q. Beautification of the bridges, please. These are gateways to area.
A. City has funds right now to look at this.

The audience of the well-attended meeting included Councilwoman Robertson of the 6th District, who stayed for the entire meeting. Surprisingly, no media were obviously present; some of this would’ve made for good TV.

The next up of the scheduled meetings is:
VCU and Downtown Neighborhoods (Monroe Ward, Oregon Hill, and Carver)
Monday, February 4,6-8PM
William Byrd Community House
224 South Cherry Street