Meeting - September 15, 2025

neighborhood wasone theft from a motor vehicle. A neighbor asked about what sounds like gun shots at night. The police officer said that people shoot guns and light fire-works down at the river, most likely hearing that . Update from the Maymont Foundation’s Curator and Director of Historic Resources and Collections (Katherine Garrett-Cox)Maymont’s 100th Anniversary is in 2026 . The mansion will bereopening in March 2026, the wildlife trail will be reopening in April 2026, and the 100th celebration will be in June 2026 . Maymont is collecting oral histories, photos, and interviews as part of the anniversary. Neighborhood residents are encour-aged to share stories. Maymont’s Bier-Garden event is this weekend . Garden Glow starts October 15th and will last four weeks. The entrance will be at the Nature Center again. Tickets are available for neighborhood residents. Emailmaymontcivicleaguerva@gmail.com if interested in tickets. Maymont has three new exterior signs, and the sign at the Magnolia Gates will be replaced. A neighbor asked about re-striping the Hampton Street park-ing lot to fit in more cars and thus fewer cars on neighborhoodstreets . Maymont said that re-striping is a city issue and not a Maymont issue. Delegate Carr said Maymont should contact Bobby Vincent, City of Richmond Director of Public Works. A neighbor mentioned safety concerns with the Shields Lakegravel parking lot during Garden Glow, and Maymont said theywill look into it . A neighbor mentioned concerns with Maymont habitats, and Maymont said they are at least annually monitored by the Vir-ginia Department of Wildlife Resources . Presentation on Richmond’s Zoning Ordinance Rewrite by City of Richmond Planning Department (Marianne Pitts)Zoning was last substantially updated in 1976 . The process is currently in Phase 5, drafting and finalizing thezoning ordinance. Comments on the zoning rewrite will be accepted through September 28, 2025. There will be an additional comment period in November2025. The full final draft will be available in February 2026. In our neighborhood, the main change is to the minimum lotwidth for residential detached districts. Everything is in draft and subject to public comments. Our neighborhood is currently zoned R-5, and the new pro-posed zoning is RD-C. RD-C was selected because for the ma-jority of the neighborhood, lots are less than 50’ and would benon-conforming if the proposed zoning was RD-B (minimum lot width of 50’) . The zoning goal is to provide more residential opportunitiesacross the city. Website for more information: https://www.rva.gov/codere-fresh. Any comments can be emailed to Marianne Pitts, Mari-anne. Pitts3@rva.gov. Comments and concerns from neighborhood residents in at-tendance:The proposed up to 75% lot coverage allowed by-right istoo high . Future tree coverage and green space will decrease. Increased density is not preferred. Big houses will overlook the majority single story homes inthe neighborhood. Lack of confidence in the outcome of the zoning process. The City should address vacant homes, which goes hand inhand with zoning. Ms. Pitts said that once a property isdelinquent on property taxes for two years, the City canmove to sell the property . Property taxes will increase. My Pitts said that zoning willnot automatically raise taxes, though new developmentcould increase property values which would increase prop-erty taxes . Noise in the neighborhood will increase with reduced sideyard setbacks. Zoning changes will change the feel of the neighborhood,and the neighborhood is currently a jewel for working classpeople . This will not bring about more affordable housing. Increased development will negatively impact stormwaterin the future. Increased development will make parking worse in theneighborhood, particularly during events at Maymont andwith the future reopening of the T exas Beach bridge . This will further gentrification in the neighborhood. The 25’ minimum lot width should be applicable across the City. The neighborhood is being treated like the Fan. Maymo