East End Vision

The studio design and public sessions are being held at the Family Resource Center, located at 2405 Jefferson Avenue.

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Whether this is your first Charrette or you are old hat to the process, there is a lot to keep on top of ! Here are some of the buzz words you may encounter:

Accessory Unit: A secondary building associated with a principal building by ownership and shared lot. May be rented but not sold separately. Syn.: Ancillary building, backyard cottage, carriage house, garage apartment, granny flat, outbuilding.
Cartway (or Travelway): The width of a street measured from curb to curb. Excludes sidewalks and planting strips.
Civic Use: Premises used by organizations considered to support the common good and therefore given special treatment within traditional neighborhoods. Civic sites should be reserved within every new urban neighborhood even if their advent is in the distant future.
density: Quantity of buildings and users, usually measured in terms of dwelling units per acre.
Floor/Area Ratio (F.A.R.): The ratio of the floor area inside a building to the area of its lot. If a one-story building covered its lot completely, its F.A.R. would be 1.
Infrastructure: Physical public service improvements, including utilities, streetscapes and thoroughfares but excluding buildings and community amenities.
Liner Building: A building that wraps around a parking lot or structure in order to mask it from the street.
Live/work: A single-family house or townhouse with the first floor available as a commercial space, either independently leased or in conjunction with the residential unit above.
Mixed-Use: Multiple functions within the same building or the same general area. One of the principles of new urban development from which many of its benefits are derived, including that of pedestrian activity and traffic capture.
Network: A web of intersecting thoroughfares. The street network is the
principal structuring device of the urban pattern.
Open Space: Area free of building that, together with a well-designed system of thoroughfares, provides a public realm at all scales of urbanism. Specific examples are:
green — a medium-sized public space available for unstructured recreation. A green is surrounded by buildings, its landscape consisting of grassy areas and trees. Greens require limited maintenance.
Square — a public space, seldom larger than a block, at the intersection of important streets. A square is enclosed by frontages; its streetscape consists of paved walks, lawns, trees, and civic building. A square requires substantial maintenance.
Park — a large, open area available for recreation and fronted by buildings. Its landscape of paths, lawn, trees and open shelters is naturalistically disposed and requires limited maintenance.
Plaza — a public space at the intersection of important streets set aside for civic purposes and commercial activities. A plaza is enclosed by frontages; its landscape consists of trees and durable pavement requiring little maintenance.
Outbuilding: a secondary building associated with a principal building by ownership and shared lot. May be rented but not sold separately. Syn.: accessory building, ancillary building, backyard cottage, garage apartment, granny flat.
Pedestrian Shed: The distance most people will walk rather than drive, providing the environment is pedestrian-friendly (equivalent to one-quarter of a mile or 1,320 feet).
Sectors:
Civic — religious, cultural and educational institutions and special interest associations operating for public benefit, often not for profit.
Public — various agencies of government acting under the leadership of elected officials for the public good.
Private — property owners, developers, merchants and others operating for profit.
Setback: The mandatory minimum or maximum distance between a lot line and a building exterior wall. Open porches, balconies, overhangs and ramps are usually exempt from setback requirements.
Terminated Vista: The view that occurs at the end of a thoroughfare. In planning, the terminated vista is always given careful consideration.
TND (Traditional Neighborhood development):
A comprehensive planning system with the mixed-use neighborhood as its basic element. Most of the neighborhood is within a five-minute walk of the center. The center supports local level retail and institutions. Syn.: new urban community.
Urban Fabric: The general physical aspects of urbanism, emphasizing building types, thoroughfares, open space, streetscapes and frontages apart from environmental, functional, economic and socio-cultural aspects.
Vernacular: The common heritage and language of building in a region.
VMT (Vehicle Miles Traveled): The number of miles of personal auto travel per day. TNDs have relatively low VMT, illustrating the effectiveness of balanced uses and walkability in traffic mitigation.
*From the Lexicon of the New Urbanism.

Dear Friends:

It is a privilege to join Mayor Dwight Jones and his team in the development and execution of the East End Planning Charrette.

The Mayor has spoken widely about his desire to revitalize Church Hill and the Nine Mile Road corridor, and it is Bon Secours’ desire to help him achieve his goal.

Bon Secours Richmond Community Hospital, located in Church Hill, has long been committed to the residents of Church Hill and Richmond’s East End. It is natural for us to want to contribute to the growth, restoration and longevity of the area, particularly as it pertains to health care, education, social change and development.

Bon Secours is not unfamiliar with the Charrette process. We have used the intensive study in the long-term planning of St. Mary’s Hospital and St. Francis Medical Center. Our goal has always been to provide hospital settings that are conducive to healing the body, mind and spirit, and our hospitals reflect that. The charrette process has helped us further establish relationships with the communities we serve.

We hope that the same will be true for the City of Richmond. The East End Planning Charrette goals are simple: a healthier and more vibrant community as well as the development of a flourishing living environment that will benefit all East End residents. Let’s hope the Charrette is the first step in that realization. The residents of this rich and historic part of Richmond deserve a desirable community in which to live and work.

Sincerely,

Peter J. Bernard
Chief Executive Officer
Bon Secours Virginia

Charrette is a series of intensive planning sessions where citizens, designers and others collaborate on a vision for development. It provides a forum for ideas and offers the unique advantage of giving immediate feedback to the designers. More importantly, it allows everyone who participates to be a mutual author of the plan. The charrette will be located at the East

The Richmond East End Charrette is your chance to help design the future of Richmond’s East End – Church Hill’s 9 Mile Road Corridor. Through this blog, twitter and Facebook we invite you you follow along and share your thoughts and feelings. This is about community, so please think of this blog is a virtual community. Thank you for being a part of Richmond’s future!