The fate of a controversial proposal to build a 13-story condominium which could obscure the view from Libby Hill Park is still uncertain as Richmond City Council has pushed back a vote again.
The fate of a controversial proposal to build a 13-story condominium which could obscure the view from Libby Hill Park is still uncertain as Richmond City Council has pushed back a vote again.
180º RVA reported on its Facebook page Sunday that Councilwoman Cynthia Newbille, 7th District, will ask tonight for the public hearing for a special-use permit for The James at River Bend development to be delayed because she is currently negotiating with co-developers David White and Louis Salomonsky to reduce the height of the building. The group had asked its member to show up en force wearing green at the meeting tonight.
Newbille and the developers could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon.
Opponents of The James at River Bend say that the 65-unit-building would block part of the celebrated view from Libby Hill, and the modern structure would not fit in with the character of other buildings in the area at the end of historic Tobacco Row.
16 story Pear Street at the end of East Cary Street (building on left is 6 stories)
“We are arguing that this building should not interrupt that view,” said John Whitworth, secretary of the Church Hill Association, one of the several Richmond civic associations which have banded together as 180º RVA to preserve views along the James River. The group has collected more than 2,000 signatures on a Change.org petition and a paper petition, Whitworth said.
“It’s sort of an odd terminus for such an important street,” said David White, the project’s co-developer, of the currently vacant and overgrown gas station at the end of Cary Street. The site is the easternmost point of the city street grid, White said, so it deserves an “iconic building” like the Carillon at the end of Boulevard. “It’s a kind of exclamation point to the street,” he said.
White spoke with RVAMag late last week before this weekend’s developments.
Both sides of this debate agree that the site should be developed – the contention is over how tall any development should be. 180º RVA, which takes its name from the 180º panorama available at the top of Libby Hill, argues that the site at 2801 East Main Street is in the Urban Center Character Area of the 2010 Downtown Master Plan, which limits building heights to five to six stories.
In his application to the Richmond Planning Commission, White said the site is not included in the Downtown Master Plan or the 2012 Riverfront Plan areas, and its Urban Center character designation was probably a drafting mistake. He said that the group’s assertion about building heights in the area is also false, especially since he owns a 10-story building in Tobacco Row.
Echo Harbor from the Soldiers and Sailors Monument
While perhaps not as famous as the Libby Hill Park view which gave Richmond its name, those who live in the neighborhood believe the area up for development should still be protected.
“Without a doubt, the high-rise would forever mar the historic and panoramic views from Libby Hill Park and disrupt the historic integrity of Tobacco Row within the Shockoe Valley and Tobacco Row Historic District,” said Eugenia Anderson-Ellis of the River View Advocates in an April press release from 180º RVA, “This is everyone’s view, not one that should be appropriated by a few.”
