east end transformation charrette
Mayor Jones and Bon Secours Announce East End Planning Initiative
Goal is to build healthier, more vibrant Church Hill/Nine Mile Road
Corridor
View the East End Charrette Website >>
Richmond, VA – Mayor Dwight C. Jones and Peter J. Bernard, CEO of Bon Secours Virginia, announced today a series of public engagement meetings, known as a charrette, and designed to plan for revitalization of the East End and Nine Mile Road corridor. Key contributors to the process are the Richmond Redevelopment Housing Authority (RHHA) and Bon Secours Richmond Community Hospital.
The charrette, an intensive week-long planning session, will take place June 1 – 7, at various Church Hill and East End locations.
“The goal is the development of a vision to guide transformative social, educational, and physical changes within the East End Planning District,” said Mayor Jones. “This is an important undertaking that can lead to revitalized housing as well as increased educational and economic opportunities.”
The public engagement of East End community members, small business owners, public housing residents and other stakeholders is expected to support grant applications for two key federal initiatives – the Promise Neighborhoods Initiative and the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative. Successful applications would result in multi-million-dollar support to the city to improve communities in and near 25th Street and the Nine Mile Road corridor.
The purpose of the charrette is to identify specific designs, housing and business opportunities, as well as policy and management recommendations for the revitalization effort. The object is to ultimately determine what means are necessary to engage the residents and make the neighborhood a more desirable place to live and work.
“The upcoming charrette is different in scope than others we’ve conducted around our health care facilities,” said Peter J. Bernard, CEO of Bon Secours Virginia. “The need for a healthier and vibrant community and living environment is the impetus for this project. From our perspective, it is not necessarily hospital expansion, but development of a flourishing community that will benefit East End residents.”
Mayor Jones announced an aggressive economic development agenda at his first State of the City address. He has reorganized the Departments of Community Development and Economic Development and made clear his desire to see meaningful development in targeted corridors in the city of Richmond. The 25th Street/Nine Mile Road Corridor has been high on the Mayor’s list of targeted development areas.
The company selected and contracted to conduct the charrette is Duany Plater-Zyberk (DPZ), DPZ is known internationally as a leading proponent of traditional town planning and New Urbanism. DPZ has held charrettes similar to the East End Charrette in Baton Rouge, LA, Newberg, NY and West Palm Beach, FL.
The opening and closing sessions of the charrette are open and the public is encouraged to attend. The opening session will be held from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Robinson Theatre, 2903 Q St., the closing session will be held on June 7 from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Robinson Theatre.
A special session for children, parents and neighborhood residents will be held on Saturday, June 5, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Family Resource Center, 2405 Jefferson Ave.
The design studio, the hub of activity for the planning team, is open to the public throughout the charrette process and is located at the Family Resource Center, 2405 Jefferson Ave.
