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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At the March 22 meeting of Richmond City Council, the city administration introduced an ordinance to direct funds from the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation to paint the Pulse Bus Rapid Transit bus-only lanes red.

“With this ordinance, we’ll join other pioneering cities in using red lanes to help complete our streets, building a safer and more efficient transit system for our riders,” said Mayor Stoney.

The pavement of the transit-only lanes will be painted red, either solid or hatched, starting with the stretch of Broad Street between Thompson Street and Foushee Street. At peak travel, approximately 14 buses per hour use that section of the major thoroughfare.

Red lanes have two key benefits: route efficiency and pedestrian safety. Clearly marked, bright red lanes help drivers understand when they must vacate a bus lane, which improves bus arrival times. The clear red markings also indicate to pedestrians that the traffic flow is different from other lanes, inspiring extra caution.

The grant funds were secured by the city’s Office of Equitable Transit and Mobility, led by longtime transit professional Dironna Moore Clarke.

“Complete streets lead to safer, faster, better transit,” said Clarke. “As we seek to build out a truly multimodal network, the red bus lanes along the Pulse route will serve as a model for other key corridors.”

A combination of city funds and the state grant will make this project possible. The state will reimburse the city over $1.6 million for the project, and the city is allocating $413,452 from the Department of Public Works Central Virginia Transportation Authority special fund account.  

Project completion is planned for Spring 2022.

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On Wednesday, March 17, the city will launch an updated version of RVA311, the city’s current customer service and response system, which includes improvements to the online citizen portal and completely new mobile apps.
 
Using the improved web portal at RVA311.com and the mobile app, residents will be able to:

• Sign up to receive important city alerts and announcements straight to their phone;
• Use optimized search functions to find the right request type for your needs;
• Explore requests around the entire city, view request details and check in on request status using a map;
• Switch to a simple list view if users do not prefer a map; and
• Turn city services into a team effort, “upvoting” and “following” requests of interest instead of creating duplicate requests.

 
Also through the new web portal, residents will be able to view requests citywide, in their council district or in their neighborhood providing unprecedented public insight into the city services users request and the administration delivers every day via the “Insights” tab. 
 
“When a Richmond resident connects with RVA311, whether through a phone call, the website or the mobile app, they’re doing us a service: helping us help them,” said Mayor Stoney. “RVA311 serves as the eyes and ears of the city, telling us what residents prioritize and where service provision can improve. These exciting new features will make it easier for resident to request support and for the administration to provide it.”
 
Pete Breil is the Director of Citizen Service and Response. He, RVA311 Product Owner Tina Haney, and the Customer Service and Response team have been crafting the next generation of RVA311 for over a year. 
 
“We are delighted to launch the next generation of the citizen portal for RVA311 along with the completely redesigned mobile apps for both iPhone and Android,” said Breil. “The new self-service options for non-emergency requests incorporate over two years of citizen feedback and focus group input, and the new map-centric views make it easier to submit, track, and view requests in your community.”
 
Breil and his team take seriously their role as the main touchpoint between community members and the public servants fulfilling requests: “Our goal continues to be providing you, the resident, with the tools you need to connect with city services quickly and effectively, while also improving the tools city departments need to respond.”
 
You can download the next generation RVA311 mobile app in the App Store or on Google Play starting Wednesday, March 17. Also starting Wednesday, the user portal on RVA311.com will be updated.
 
As always, the hardworking team at Customer Service and Response is looking forward to serving Richmonders, whether they reach out via the new and improved mobile app and web portal or simply by calling 3-1-1.
 
 

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The City of Richmond has launched a digital workshop for community engagement accessible on the Department of Economic Development’s Resort Casino webpage. To coincide with the digital workshop, the city will also be having two virtual community meetings – today, March 9 at 6:00pm and tomorrow, March 10 at 12:00pm.

Digital Workshop

The digital workshop is a set of three interactive documents that highlight benefits, negative impact mitigation, and revenue associated with a Resort Casino. Community members are encouraged to leave their comments, suggestions, and concerns where prompted on each document.

The documents are accessible on the Resort Casino webpage.  Links to each document are also available under “Digital Engagement”.

Virtual Community Meetings

Held via MS Teams, community members will learn about 1) the community engagement process and 2) the community benefits a resort casino may provide, how to mitigate potential negative impacts from a resort casino, and how communities have used resort casino revenue.

Links and call-in information for both virtual meetings can be found below:

Tuesday, March 9 - 6 P.M. - Click here to join the meeting

Or call in (audio only) 
+1 804-316-9457  
Phone Conference ID: 890 465 30# 

Wednesday, March 10 - 12 P.M. - Click here to join the meeting 

Or call in (audio only) 
+1 804-316-9457  
Phone Conference ID: 837 455 515# 

For more information about Resort Casino community Engagement opportunities, visit: www.rva.gov/economic-development/resort-casino

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Today, Mayor Levar M. Stoney and administration leadership presented the proposed FY22 budget to Richmond City Council. Despite municipal revenues projected to be nearly $18.5 million less than revenues in last year’s FY21 proposed budget (when excluding one-time funding sources from both fiscal years), the $770.3 million proposal is balanced, with expenses in line with current revenue projections.
 
“The difficult decisions we had to make reflect the extraordinarily challenging economic times we’re in, and while this budget is limited in its ability to provide for new programming, it does protect the work we’ve started to make our city more equitable,” said Mayor Stoney. “Facing the need to do more with significantly less challenged us to look even more closely at how we can allocate the resources we have to produce better results for Richmonders.”
 
With proposed utility rate increases, the average customer will see a $5.27 increase in their monthly utility bill. This increase in utility rates will fund more than $3 million in infrastructure improvements to address flooding in key areas, particularly Southside.
 
However, the budget as proposed contains no increases in real estate, personal property or other general taxes.
 
The proposed Operating Budget and FY22-26 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) include the following key investments (the list is not exhaustive):
 
Transit, Mobility and Transportation

• $8 million to the Greater Richmond Transit Company;
• $33.5 million in investments in sidewalk maintenance and construction, paving, new bike lanes and bridge maintenance, and other transportation related improvements in addition to an anticipated $16.7 million from the Central Virginia Transportation Authority;
• $2.5 million specifically for new sidewalk construction (up from $900,000 in FY21) as well as an increase in the number of sidewalk crews in the Department of Public Works;

 
Housing Affordability and Security

• $2.9 million to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund (level-funding from last year);
• $485,000 to the Eviction Diversion Program (level-funding from last year);

 
Equity and Community Safety

• $1.1 million in operational funding to the Department of Emergency Communications to establish the Marcus Alert (as supported by community advocates and members of the Task Force to Reimagine Public Safety);
• $28 million for the Enslaved African Heritage Campus in the FY22-26 CIP;
• Funding for a Community Safety Coordinator, the city’s point person for implementing a gun-violence prevention framework, coordinating services for Richmonders experiencing homelessness and working with residents to address other community safety concerns;
• Creation of the Office of Engagement under the Department of Citizen Service and Response;
• Creation of the Office of Equity and Inclusion under the Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Human Services;

 
Children and Families

• $187 million to Richmond Public Schools, fully funding the school system’s operational funding request (constitutes a $6.4 million increase when excluding RPS’ use of one-time funding in FY21);
• $200 million for school modernization in FY24, including funding for a new George Wythe High School;

 
Good Governance

• Full funding, in the FY22-26 CIP, to complete the renovation and expansion of the Southside Community Services Center;
• A two-step salary increase for sworn police officers and firefighters;
• An hourly wage increase for city employees making $12.07/hour to $13/hour; and
• Nearly $6 million in the general fund to implement the recommendations of the Gallagher Class and Compensation Study, which found that many city employees make significantly less than their mid-range salaries compared to market rates.

 
In favor of implementing the recommendations of the Gallagher Class and Compensation Study, Mayor Stoney appealed to service quality and consistency: “The fact is, we will not achieve service improvement goals if we do not stabilize the attrition rate in the city workforce or if we cannot competitively recruit.”
 
He also shared that the creation of a pandemic-era budget resulted in the adoption of multiple municipal best practices, including increasing the transparency and accountability of the budgeting process. In the budget document, the Richmond City Council will be able to view a list of frozen and funded positions per department, tying the funded positions to specific city needs and functions. In order to balance the budget, the administration has decided to freeze an additional 150 positions, compared to last year’s budget.
 
The Mayor closed on a positive note, stating, “Whether times are lean or prosperous, I want you to know that I will continue to be bold and embrace the challenges before us.”
 
“We will take the actions required to remove barriers to opportunity and ensure our city can recover the right way.”
 
Interested parties will be able to learn more about the budget, read the mayor’s remarks and watch the presentation here.

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