The folks behind the Echo Harbor proposal presented their most recent designs to the Church Hill Association tonight.

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The next Church Hill Association membership meeting will be held Tuesday, May 19, at 7PM at St.John’s. Topics on the agenda include a presentation of a revised design for the Echo Harbor proposal, Historic Richmond Foundation on the publishing of the new Church Hill book, procedures and designs for historic plaques, and more. CHA members, guests and visitors are encouraged to attend.

Style Weekly has the story on how City Council seems to be closing ranks against the city’s planning director Rachel Flynn for for her flat rejection of amendments to the Downtown Master Plan that benefit the Echo Harbor :

Critics of the process say those remaining amendments stem from the undue influence of private landholders and developers kept alive by public officials in a position to benefit from them — such as Planning Commissioner Bob Mills and City Councilman Bruce Tyler, both architects whose firms do business with some of the landholders most upset by the master plan. [...] “The mayor makes the decision with regard to who’s in charge of community development,” Tyler says. “I would respectfully ask him to consider what she has done and respectfully ask her to leave.”

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The Planning Commission yesterday voted in favor of raising the heights allowed for development along the river and also in favor of rezoning the interior of Union Hill to R-63.

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Writing for Style Weekly, Thad Williamson describes the conflict and politics at the core of the Echo Harbor proposal:

Should the public allow high-rise condos in a flood plain that blocks public view of the river, the very view that led William Byrd II to name the city Richmond? The developers, Falls Church-based USP Rocketts LLC, argue in effect that we should simply ignore the downtown plan, and its attractive vision for making the river the centerpiece of a revitalized downtown, in answering that question.

In the developer’s view, what’s important is not how use of that property fits into the overall plan to revitalize downtown, but whether it can be used in a way that maximizes revenue to the property owners. That single-mindedness led USP Rocketts’ lawyer, James Theobald, to tell the Planning Commission on April 20 that the downtown plan failed to respect private property and even amounts to a regulatory taking.

The RTD has info and a rendering on the revised Echo Harbor design:

George Ross, a principal with USP Echo Harbour, said an architectural rendering from Libby Hill shows that Echo Harbour’s average 108-foot-tall eastern building would be about as far from a historically significant bend in the river as a 150-foot-tall residential building approved but not yet developed at Rocketts Landing would be on the bend’s other side.

The rendering, by architectural firm Baskervill, does not show Echo Harbour’s bigger western building, which would average 141 feet in height. The maximum height in previous proposals was 188 feet.

Last night’s public hearing at the City Planning Commission meeting on possible amendments to the Downtown Master Plan got a little heated, according to the RTD:

Director of Community Development Rachel Flynn flatly rejected a suggestion from a planning commissioner that her staff review plan language offered by the developers for the site along the James River east of downtown. [...]

“We’ve been talking with these developers for three years,” she said of USP Rocketts. “We don’t agree.”

The commission will vote on May 4 on the final amendments.

An email from Heather Dinkin concerning Echo Harbor has with much forwarding become an open letter to City Council 7th District representative Betty Squire:

Thank you for coming out [...] to meet with all of us last week, and for listening to everyone’s comments and concerns. What sticks with me about your comments, is that you are going to “evaluate the facts”.

I would like to offer up some facts.

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A public hearing will be held at the City Planning Commission meeting on Monday, April 20, 2009 at 6:00pm in Council Chambers on the 2nd floor of City Hall. The City Planning Commission will be considering a number of amendments to the Downtown Master Plan adopted in October 2008, including viewsheds, waterfront access, and development standards for the former Tarmac property (AKA “Echo Harbor”). [via]

The RTD is reporting that City Council voted 7-2 to keep alive a series of controversial amendments, a possible boon for the proposed Echo Harbor development. The amendments will now be forwarded to the Planning Commission for consideration and then sent back to the council for a final vote.

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The battle over Richmond Intermediate Terminal continues afresh. A new partnership between the proposed developer of Echo Harbor George T. Ross and restaurateur Michael Ripp offers “a joint project that would include moving Dock Street to allow the shifting of the condominium towers out of the view from Libby Hill Park and expanding public access to the river along the property”. [via]

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In advance of the RTD’s Public Square on the James River, the Church Hill Association has reconfirmed its position with regard to Echo Harbor:

The developers are proposing 250 condominium units to be built in two 350’ wide buildings, (in a stair-step configuration), separated by a 275’ view corridor. These structures are to be placed atop a 3 level of parking garage, all of which would be setback 50’ from the river. Following the Q&A session …a motion was made, seconded, and universally approved. It stated: “The Church Hill Association opposes the development as proposed and recommends no rezoning other than RF-1 with its 60 foot height limit.”

Richmond Chief Administrative Officer Sheila Hill-Christian has asked the RRHA to reconsider the sale of two vacant lots that were earlier promised to the Echo Harbor developer. The 2 properties, on a section of Main Street that leads to Richmond Intermediate Terminal, would be necessary for the developer to build a bridge from them over Dock Street to the project for emergency access. Hill-Christian says that the earlier agreement to sell the properties was made without knowing that Wilder and city planners opposed it. [via]

In an email to City Council urging them to support the Mayor’s plan for a public marina on the land slated for the Echo Harbor development, James Ukrop wrote:

“As you consider your decisions about to be made on the riverfront . . . please balance the long-term benefit to our city vs. the short-term gains. [...] By investing in the marina and park site, you will not only create more public access to the river, you will also not lose the magnificent view of the river from Libby Hill (one of our city’s most valuable assets).”

[via]

The first public hearing on the recently released updated Downtown Master Plan will be Monday, Dec.3rd at 6:30PM at the City Planning Commission meeting in the 5th floor conference room in City Hall. Backers of this vision of Richmond’s future are urging citizens to turn out to show their support for the plan.

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A fairly large crowd from around the area turned out Saturday morning for 7th District Council Representative and Vice President Delores McQuinn’s Town Hall Meeting at the United House of Prayer (926 Chimborazo Boulevard). The meeting began amidst murmered chatter about the previous night’s events at city hall…

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nbc12 is carrying the self-explanatory “Echo Harbour developers change design“, with a video tha includes a rendering of the proposal. (and the related press release…)

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State Delegate Jennifer McClellan has introduced a bill that designates the panoramic view of the James River from Libby Hill Park in Richmond, Virginia, as a Historic Viewshed in Virginia.

Here are notes from the first half of the meeting last night, please add more if you have anything.

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