The City of Richmond has scheduled the next virtual community meetings to report on the public comments received since March 2021 on resort casinos and proposed resort casino projects and locations. The meetings will take place on Thursday, April 8, at 6:00pm, and Friday, April 9, at 12:00pm. The meetings will be held via MS Teams and will feature the same presentation.

Thursday, April 8 at 6:00pm

MS Teams Link: http://bit.ly/APR82021

Join via Phone: 1 804-316-9457

Conference ID: 478 604 710#

Friday, April 9 at 12:00pm

MS Teams Link: http://bit.ly/APR92021

Join via Phone: 1 804-316-9457

Conference ID: 175 675 932#

Videos of the two virtual meetings, the digital community engagement, and more information about the Resort Casino RFQ/P process can be found at www.rva.gov/economic-development/resort-casino.

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Pilot program uses public space to facilitate safe support for local businesses

In June of 2020, Venture Richmond and the City of Richmond announced “Picnic in a Parklet,” a program designed to assist Richmond restaurants and other businesses with safe reopening and social distancing requirements. Through this partnership, business owners were offered design and permitting assistance for their requests for more outdoor space, particularly parklets.

This week, construction will begin on five prefabricated parklets at locations adjacent to businesses who participated in the Picnic in a Parklet program. The first two pilot locations include N 29th Street in Church Hill, adjacent to the Nile Ethiopian Café, and N Shields Avenue in the Fan, adjacent to Joe’s Inn. Three additional locations are currently in the works with interested business owners. 

“The Picnic in a Parklet program has been an exciting new frontier for the city and its partners,” said Mayor Stoney. “Public space is a valuable community asset that we have the responsibility to use intentionally and equitably. These five new parklets outside small businesses certainly meet that mission.” 

Parklets are outdoor patio spaces constructed in the on-street parking lane of the street in front of a business that can function as an area for customers to gather and/or take to-go orders and eat outside safely-distanced. Parklets are by definition public space, not a single restaurant’s outdoor dining area. However, restaurants can offer lightly packaged to-go orders for people who simply want to dine in the parklet in front of the restaurant. The parklets were fabricated by Archatrack and purchased by the City of Richmond Department of Public Works. 

“Picnic in a Parklet is a testament to what can happen when city departments, placemaking experts and businesses work together,” said Jason Alley, Provisional Policy Advisor for Restaurants and Small Businesses. “This commonsense collaboration makes it possible for countless residents to safely enjoy public space while supporting our treasured local business community.”

In addition to the five prefabricated parklets purchased and installed by the City of Richmond, two business-led, custom-designed parklets are making their way through the city’s permitting process and will be considered by the Urban Design Committee and Planning Commission this spring. The parklets will be located in Brookland Park and Jackson Ward and are designed by HKS Architects and Walter Parks Architects, respectively. 

“We are so excited to see Richmond join the dozens of other American cities who have decided to try parklets on for size, particularly as a way to provide more urban public space during the pandemic,” said Max Hepp-Buchanan, Director of Riverfront and Downtown Placemaking for Venture Richmond. “I think the mix of city-owned prefabricated parklets and custom-designed parklets awaiting permitting will help make future parklet projects that much easier for businesses and organizations interested in transforming public space. We look forward to assisting them in this process as well.” 

General information about parklets can be found here: https://nacto.org/publication/urban-street-design-guide/interim-design-strategies/parklets/

More information about the City of Richmond’s Parklet Program can be found here: https://www.rva.gov/planning-development-review/parklet-program 

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Group will engage teacher voices to advance career preparation and year-round school goals 

The application for Richmond Public Schools educators to join the city’s Educator Task Force (ETF) is open and available here. 

The mission of the ETF is to engage and elevate educators’ voices to support and advance Mayor Stoney’s children, youth and education priorities for his second term while responding to emerging priorities as needed. Teachers, counselors and other support staff will comprise the task force.

“In any conversation on supporting Richmond’s children and families, educator voices are irreplaceable,” said Mayor Stoney. “I’m hopeful the recommendations of this group of experienced professionals will support the success of Richmond’s children inside and outside the classroom.”

The task force’s recommendations will inform the work of the Office of Children and Families (OCF). Planned for FY22, OCF will also convene a Youth Advisory Council to guide its work. 

The ETF will support and work toward three of the six core priorities of OCF: adequate income and wealth, access to high-quality, affordable early experiences, and enriching whole-community learning experiences. 

Specific goals for the 2021 ETF include recommendations for college and career preparation for students grades 6-12 and guidance for planning for a year-round academic calendar.

The following criteria will be considered in application review:

• Current employment in Richmond Public Schools;
• Connections to Richmond’s more vulnerable communities, including but not limited to Latinx populations, Black populations, economically disadvantaged populations and public housing communities;
• Recommendation letter from school-level administration; and
• Representation from all geographic quadrants of Richmond.

The application will close April 16. View the application under the “Educator Task Force” tab on the Mayor’s Working Groups webpage.

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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded the City of Richmond Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), Henrico County Economic Development Authority (HEDA), and project:Homes (p:H), a 501(c)3 organization focusing on safe, affordable housing in Central Virginia, collectively hereinafter referred to as Coalition, with a $600,000 grant to assess properties under its Brownfields Program. The federal grant will provide funding for the City and its coalition partners to assess commercial and industrial properties in target areas with environmental contaminants and potential redevelopment or reuse opportunities.  

“This Brownfields assessment grant is crucial to moving our region forward by helping to encourage redevelopment, recruit businesses, create well-paying jobs and revitalize neighborhoods in the City of Richmond and Henrico County”, said Keisha M. Birchett, Project Development Manager for the City of Richmond.

Brownfields are abandoned, idled, or underused industrial and commercial properties where expansion, redevelopment or reuse is hindered by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance pollutants or contaminant. 

“The first step in the process is to develop a database of Brownfield sites that will act as a catalyst, for reuse.” said Toney Hall Deputy Director of HEDA. 

The initial target areas will identify sites along the Richmond Highway (formerly Jefferson Davis Highway) and Commerce Road corridors, properties around the Henrico Plaza, and properties along Mechanicsville Turnpike and the Laburnum Gateway.  The Coalition will also work with owners of both public and private properties to conduct assessments and plan how these properties can be reused or redeveloped in the future.  The database of sites will also be used to market sites to potential developers.  Once a site has been selected for the program, EPA Brownfields grant funds for Phase I and Phase II Environmental Site Assessments can be accessed.  Grant funds can also be used for lead-based paint and asbestos material surveys, mold studies, national historic preservation act applicability, and certain types of planning activities.

Lee Householder, CEO p:H said, “The EPA Brownfields grant has the potential to break down barriers, to reuse properties for affordable housing in the City and Henrico County.” 

Draper Aden Associates, an environmental and civil engineering firm, will manage the implementation of the Brownfields grant program.

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