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Council says ‘no’ to ‘warehouse creep’ proposal

Jeremy M. Lazarus | 4/27/2023, 6 p.m.
City Council on Monday night rejected a nonprofit housing group’s plan to build a warehouse in South Side to assemble ...
Dr. Jones

City Council on Monday night rejected a nonprofit housing group’s plan to build a warehouse in South Side to assemble affordable modular replacements for worn-out mobile homes that mostly Latino residents occupy in the city.

Calling the proposal an attack on majority-black neighborhoods, City Council President Michael J. Jones secured support to kill a crucial special use permit that would have allowed project:Homes to install the warehouse at 112 Carnation St. as the assembly site.

Located in the 9th District Dr. Jones represents, the one-third acre property is a vacant lot project:Homes uses for storage; it sits next door to the headquarters building at 88 Carnation St. that the regional housing group has occupied for 21 years.

The special use permit that the Planning Commission recommended for approval would have overridden the lot’s current R-3 residential zoning.

The permit Richmond-based Baker Development Resources spearheaded for the project:Homes would have allowed assembly work only from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and barred cutting, grinding or other noisy metal work.

Dr. Jones, though, described the proposal as “warehouse creep” into a residential neighborhood in the 9th District he represents that would not be allowed in white communities.

He called the proposal an example of environmental injustice in making essentially a “not in my backyard” argument while also scolding Baker and project:Homes for failing to undertake a robust community engagement in the past year as the proposal developed and moved forward.

The only opposition came from another Black member of council, Ann-Frances Lambert, 3rd District, who said, “I am not understanding” the opposition to on-site creation of homes as a way to cut the cost to future buyers, many of whom live in increasingly decrepit mobile units they cannot afford to replace.

“Just a few weeks ago,” Ms. Lambert said, “we stood with the mayor to declare an affordable housing crisis; project:Homes has been there helping with the crisis.”

A major player in affordable housing, project:Homes seeks to improve lives by improving home , according to its longtime chief executive, Lee Householder. Among its portfolio of programs, the organization repairs and weatherizes homes and also develops affordable rental and for sale homes targeted to lower income families and individuals.

The fight over the project: Homes permit came on a night when the council also:

• Cleared the way for Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s administration to purchase Mayo Island in the James River for $14.9 million. The city has envisioned adding the island to its park holdings in Downtown for more than 40 years.

• Backed a proposal to remove minimum parking requirements for apartment and building developments. First District Councilman Andreas D. Addison, who promoted the proposal, said it could create more parking access by allowing the city to work with property owners to create shared parking. He noted that 50 recent developments added 12,000 parking spaces, though they were only required to provide about 4,700 under city requirements. Currently, all of those spaces are reserved solely for those who live or work in the buildings, even though most of the spaces are unused during the day.

• Removed a restriction preventing installation of a traffic-slowing roundabout at Laburnum Avenue and Hermitage Road now that a Confederate statue has been removed.

• Approved a plan allowing the 58-unit Bacon School senior apartments at 815 N. 35th St. in Church Hill to add 70 more apartments, two single-family homes and seven townhouses.

• Authorized a subdivision of 140 townhomes to be developed on 16 acres at 6140 Hull Street Road in South Side.