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Downtown Master Plan Revealed

Preserving Richmond's historic architecture, going greener and creating mixed-use housing were some of the themes presented Monday during the first public hearing on the city's proposed Downtown Master Plan .



However, as discussion and questions were raised, officials said several times that the city would have to start the changes now that would take time and challenges to implement and afford.



"There will be flashpoints of controversy and times you will get exhausted from working on certain aspects," said Victor Dover of Dover Kohl & Partners , which researched, designed and created the plan.



"It's not easy to bring about a vision so many people want, but if you do, it will be more valuable to people. You won't see it all at one time. That's why you need to get started on it soon and sustain it."



At a special noon hearing before the city's Planning Commission, associates with Dover Kohl & Partners gave a brief overview of their first draft of the plan, which is the result of more than five months of meeting and talking with nearly 800 city residents about what they want to see as the future of downtown Richmond.



The plan, which is available here , city libraries and community centers and the city's Web site , has an executive summary and seven chapters, including one on the group's recommendations for what specifically the city needs to do to make the suggested changes.



Officials encouraged residents to read the plan and send in more responses and suggestions to improve the plan.



"We really emphasize that this is a draft. It's really the citizens' plan," Planning Director Rachel O. Flynn told the commission before the presentation.



Officials also emphasized that the first draft was exactly that and that they expected it to change.



The seven big themes of the plan are:



The traditional city, which includes focusing on traditional modes of transportation, like pedestrian traffic, restoring many of the city's one-way streets to two-way traffic and creating a downtown trolley car;



The river, which focused on making the James Riverfront accessible to everyone via walkways and open spaces;



Urban architecture, by getting current architecture back on track to looking like the original buildings where the attractive windows and doors face the roads;



Variety and choice in housing, by realizing that city living is the opposite of living in the suburbs and adapting your land use rules accordingly;



Mixed-use and affordable housing, which focuses on creating housing diversity in the city at a variety of price levels;



Green qualities, continued support and creation of the city's parks and tree-lined streets with even more greenery built into landscaping designs, and;



History, which means focusing on preserving the architecture of the city, including trails and museums.



The next step is for the plan to go before the Planning Commission next Monday, Dec. 3, at 6:30 p.m. to hear public comment on it.