RECENT COMMENTS

The city’s master plan

Last week the city released the City of Richmond’s Master Plan 2000-2020. There is a wealth of information available regarding the city’s present level of performance and long-term goals.

The section specifically focussing on the East End, The East Amendment District Plan, accurately describes the current conditions of the the area, noting the condition of the housing stock, the development in Shockoe Bottom, the under-developed commercial corridors of 25th Street and Nine Mile Road, etc.

Description of the area’s condition is direct. Notable observations include:

• The East District contains the highest percentage of vacant housing of any area in the City.
• There is a need to stabilize the residential neihjborhoods “particularly north of Broad Street”.
• Some of the area’s long-term stability is threatened by social and economic conditions associated with a few of the area large multi-family housing complexes.”

Another section of the document, the East End Land Use Map, shows the different land-uses of the area. As would be expected, most of the area is classified as “Single Family (medium density)”. Interestingly, the map shows the land use of the housing projects as “Transitional Office”, instead of the more accurate “Multi-Family (high density)”. Elsewhere in the plan, the RRHA is given the go-ahead to completely re-make the projects into a mix of public, subsidized, and private single-family homes.