Welcome to Union Hill!
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
For several years we've been working hard to find the best way to share all of the important information you need relating to public safety, zoning, and social activities in our neighborhood. We've been knocking on doors, using local church bulletins, and we're even on Twitter and Facebook. We hope to use this website as an organizing tool and as a way to strengthen our community here in East End.
Below is a letter written to Richmond's Chief Administrative Officer regarding a proposed 5 story development at the intersection of Mosby and Cedar Streets in Union Hill. It would require the demolition of the existing housing:
March 18, 2010
Mr. Byron Marshall
Chief Administrative Officer
City of Richmond
900 East Main Street
Richmond, VA 23219
Re: Proposed Development of 1900 Cedar Street in Union Hill
Dear Mr. Marshall:
Union Hill has worked hard these past several decades to claw its way back from a neighborhood riddled with rampant drug use, high crime, a 70 percent vacancy rate, and the devastating mass exodus of families and resident homeowners. Thanks to the substantial support and financial investment of the City of Richmond, Union Hill has made an astounding come back.
Today we are a vibrant, wholly integrated, mixed-income community where students live next to attorneys who live next to working single mothers who live next to trades people and small business owners. That is the essence of our vision for Union Hill and it is true to our historic roots as a traditionally integrated, working class neighborhood with origins dating to the close of the Revolution. At that time, we were an exciting experiment in urban living and we are again. No other neighborhood in the City has our mix of people, energy, and affordable, historic housing stock in such close proximity to Downtown.
That is why we urge you to oppose the current plan of Genesis Homes Manager, LLC to construct a five-story, 111 unit development using 100% Low Income Housing Tax Credits from the Virginia Housing Development Authority as its first phase of a two-phase plan.
The residents of Union Hill voted unanimously to oppose this project, not because we are opposed to low-income residents or increased density: we want greater density and mixed income development. What we do not want is a return to the failed urban planning models visited on our neighborhood throughout the mid-twentieth century. This project, as proposed, lacks the mixed-income character of responsible development, is out of scale to and context with existing uses, and fails to provide badly needed access to goods and services in our community.
As a community, we have consistently endorsed policies that encourage responsible, appropriately scaled development that provides access to housing, goods and services for our residents at every stage of life. We look forward to the opportunity to work with Genesis Homes Manager to find a positive solution to both its development needs and the needs of Union Hill. Fortunately, we do not have to look far to find success stories that have achieved similar goals. As we pointed out at last night’s meeting, Jefferson Mews borders our neighborhood and is zoned identically to the Cedar Street property. Thanks to community input and a neighborhood-minded developer, that project successfully combines elements of home ownership, rental units, and affordable housing in a way that has positively impacted the surrounding neighborhood.
Please consider us eager partners in welcoming responsible development and in shaping the positive future of our neighborhood. We want to continue the great advances made in our neighborhood, thanks to the investments of the City of Richmond. We hope you share our view that this project, as proposed, is a long way from accomplishing either and that the presentation received by our association last night is just the beginning of a community dialogue with Genesis Homes Manager, LLC.
Respectfully yours,
Matthew A. Conrad
Union Hill Civic Association
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