Blog
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Zoning Code Refresh — A Nightmare For Our Communities?
Perhaps once in a lifetime are the citizens of any city faced with an existential threat similar to Richmond’s imminent Code Refresh. The Fabric of CommunityCode Refresh threatens to tear apart the fabric of our communities by damaging both their appearance, cohesiveness, desirability, and market value. Affordable Housing?Code Refresh is promoted by generally well-intended folks including our Mayor under the guise of affordable housing. It is our studied opinion—and that of many experts—that the Code Refresh plan as proposed will drive up prices…
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“Concerned About Code Refresh” RALLY!
Join us for a “Concerned About Code Refresh” RALLY! 📅 July 21, 6-8 p.m.📌 ACCA Temple Shrine1712 Bellevue Ave.FREE PARKING ✍🏽 REGISTER to attend: https://tinyurl.com/StandUpToCodeRefresh 77,000 Parcels Forcibly Rezoned, Yet No One Asked US.Did they zone YOU RD-C, RA, RM? Just concerned? Hear from past and present Councilmembers and details on a REFERENDUM INITIATIVE! JOIN US to LEARN MORE, STAND UP, and SPEAK OUT! 👉🏼 Richmond’s “Code Refresh” Forced Rezoning Causes The Following Harm, And You Have No Vote! 👉 The City Committee with 14 developers who wrote “Code Refresh” may stand to profit personally. Normally, this would be illegal.…
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The News On Code Refresh Zoning
Code Refresh HARMS our communities. Read our concerns in the Open Letter to the Mayor. Code Refresh displaces, causes gentrification, destroys tree canopy and access to sunlight, overburdens fragile infrastructure, and FAILS every basic requirement that an SUP must pass, that: 1. A project won’t be detrimental to the health, safety, morals and general welfare of the community involved,2. It won’t create congestion in the streets, roads, alleys, and other public ways and places in the area involved.3. It won’t create hazards from fire, panic, or other dangers.4. It won’t tend to cause overcrowding of land and undo and an…
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Concerned About Sewage and Parking?
Concerned about parking, sunlight blocked, your neighborhood’s houses, trees and soil demolished to cram 3 homes on every lot? In Richmond, all of the following six SUP criteria must be met to pass: “And if any one of them is not met, the special use permit is not permitted,” confirms Rodney Poole, chair of the Planning Commission. Code Refresh must maintain these protections of our existing communities… or be rejected.
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Code Refresh DUMPS MORE SEWAGE in the James!
Presently the city is a large polluter of the James River. It dumps raw sewage into the James with every major storm in what’s called the combined sewer overflow. Richmond ignores its EPA river pollution violations already. Code Refresh adds 100,000 new residents and with that, eventually 10 million gallons of new sewage. Let’s tell city council NO TO MORE POLLUTION of our James River!!! 1. COMMENT on Code Refresh so your thoughts are COUNTED:https://rva.gov/planning-development-review/code-refresh 2. TELL YOUR COUNCILMEMBER what you think:https://www.rva.gov/richmond-city-council/council-contacts
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Code Refresh: MYTH BUSTING!
Northside’s Rich Souser weighs in on Code Refresh MYTHS: “I received this postcard from the city regarding the current rewrite of the entire city’s zoning code. It arrived just like the ghost of Christmas past haunting Scrooge (or the Grinch visiting Whoville) on Christmas Eve. In the spirit of the season, here are my ‘Twelve Myths of Code Refresh.’ Myth 1-Code Refresh is required to implement the city’s ‘Richmond 300 master plan.’ Reality- The drafts presented so far are not accurate reflections of the city’s 2020 master plan goals. First, that plan is already outdated. It is past due for…
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Zoning Code Refresh — A Nightmare For Our Communities?
Perhaps once in a lifetime are the citizens of any city faced with an existential threat similar to Richmond’s imminent Code Refresh. The Fabric of CommunityCode Refresh threatens to tear apart the fabric of our communities by damaging both their appearance, cohesiveness, desirability, and market value. Affordable Housing?Code Refresh is promoted by generally well-intended folks including our Mayor under the guise of affordable housing. It is our studied opinion—and that of many experts—that the Code Refresh plan as proposed will drive up prices and offer housing at almost exclusively market rates. Why Market Rates?Because builders and developers must currently pay…
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Unlimited Rooming Houses For All of Richmond
Richmond’s proposed zoning Code Refresh seeks to allow rooming houses in every neighborhood, permitting an unlimited number of unrelated people to live in a single home. Picture this: 10 people living in a 10 room house, each with pad-locked bedroom doors, sharing one bathroom, allowed an unlimited numbers in every neighborhood! Richmond has seen this movie before. West Grace Street in the 1960s–70s, with blight, crime, and community collapse. With RPD currently not enforcing the noise ordinance, how will a neighbor quiet a noisy rooming house at 2 AM in Ginter Park, Oak Grove, Church Hill, or anywhere else? Code Refresh…
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Richmond Dumps Millions of Gallons of Raw Sewage into James River
The city of Richmond uses a combined overflow sewage system which presently dumps raw sewage into the James River at the time of a heavy storm, year round. The city’s new zoning Code Refresh program proposed by the city Administration will increase the number of residences in Richmond by up to 50,000 dwellings and 100,000 residents, according to Richmond’s planning director, Kevin Vonck. Based on recognized engineering data it has been determined that based on sewage per new resident, sewage output will increase by over 10 million gallons per day if Code Refresh as envisioned is fully built. It is…
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“City Employees Only” Please Tell Us What You Need Or What You See
This space reserved for Richmond City Employees and Former Employees Only. If you work for the city, here’s your chance to express your thoughts and needs. What is it that holds you back? Do you need better computing power or better systems? Is there a problem with management? How do you feel about other city staff in general. No names please. Here’s your chance to tell us. Be polite.
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Richmond 311 System, Can’t Reach Anyone?
City 311 System, Does it Work For You? Richmond has had an ineffective 311 system for about 25 years. It has never worked as an effective means of allowing citizens a way to reach city employees. The biggest problem is that 311 acts as a go between. They write a ticket covering your request and in theory, forward it to someone. In practice, many tickets are canceled by city staff, and often no help is provided. 311 acts as a stone wall, blocking citizen access to services we are paying for. There is no oversight to prevent staff from canceling…
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Water Crisis? Will it happen again?
Water Crisis More To Come? January 2025 saw Richmonders without drinking water for 5 days, and two more boil water advisories thereafter. May 2025, DPU staff had failed to perform routine maintenance, replacing filters, and the water plant failed again. Do we have the right systems and staff in place? Do you have confidence in the city water treatment plant? Should there be a regional authority created to run the Richmond water plant?
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The Big One What Will It Take To Put Richmond On The Right Course? Be Polite!
The possibilities here are limitless, but here are a few: – Promote a full study of city finance and operations. – Hire efficiency experts to find the waste, fraud, and abuse – Demand that city real estate tax be lowered to the average rate of Henrico and Chesterfield – Reduce wasteful and redundant city staff positions. Cut staff by 25% – Should Richmond give up on governing itself and perhaps consider joining the far better managed, business-like, Henrico, in a power sharing Regional government? What are your ideas?