RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Richmond City Council unanimously voted in favor of approving five housing ordinances at their meeting Monday, March 28.
Combined, the five ordinances (2021-368, 2022-036, 2022-049, 2022-051, 2022-052) will provide additional housing options for single and multi-family homes in the Richmond area.
Willow Oakes/Clevedon neighborhood resident, Gerald Carter, spoke in opposition of Ordinance 2021-368 at the council meeting. Carter and his wife have lived in their home in the neighborhood for over 23 years, and he said that the zoning measurements approved for the neighborhood would make the housing project an “eyesore” and continues that the new development would negatively impact “all of the homes bordering or in plain sight of the Property and ultimately, Willow Oaks.”
The Enclave at Willow Oakes was approved as an R-4 Single Family Residential District, meaning the minimum area requirement of each housing lot is 8,000 square feet. The proposal was approved for 10 single-family homes.
According to Carter, with the other homes in the area sharing an R-2 Single Family Residential District status –which has a minimum area requirement of 18,000 square feet per housing lot– the new development will “not reflect at all the character and uniqueness of Willow Oaks.”
Carter’s main gripe with the new development is that the development’s F-4 status will not fit in with the rest of the larger F-2 housing lots.
“Stuffing ten of these proposed homes in this grid will look awful compared to the reputation and goodwill from the neighborhood it is attempting to emulate,” Carter explained.
Ordinance 2022-036, an expansion of a current multifamily development known as Beaufont Towers, deals with an assisted living community on the 350 and 400 blocks of Hioaks Roads. The proposal was approved for a building and parking lot expansion of the property.
Ordinance 2022-049 was approved, authorizing a new development of up to 34 single-family attached dwellings and three two-family dwellings at 2525 Belt Boulevard, 2613 Belt Boulevard, and 2701 Belt Boulevard. The development will be brand new, there are no current buildings at the spot of the planned structures.
Ordinance 2022-051 was approved for the 417 Libbie Avenue Condominium project by Urban Generation Living LLC. The three-story building will be constructed by converting a current non-residential building and parking lot into 26 condominium housing options in the area. Most of the opposition to the project involved residential complaints, where neighbors believed the condos would bring an increase in traffic through the Libbie Avenue area.
Finally, ordinance 2022-052 was approved, authorizing up to 73 single-family attached dwellings at 5300 Rear Hull Street Road, 5311 Warwick Road, 5315 Warwick Road, and 5323 Warwick Road.
