The Agenda: Local government briefs for 3.10.25

City releases draft water report, invests $5M in plant repairs, upgrades

Richmond’s water treatment plant beside the James River. (Image courtesy City of Richmond)

The City of Richmond released a draft of the after-action assessment report from HNTB Corp. on the January water outage. The draft builds on preliminary findings that were released in February and precedes a final report that’s to be delivered at a later date.

Recommendations from HNTB’s reports implemented so far include operating the water treatment plant in “summer mode” with dual power feeds on a regular basis, and establishing new emergency response protocols for inclement weather event. The city said in a release that staffing standards have been upgraded, inspection protocols have been strengthened and about $5 million has been invested in plant repairs and upgrades.

Additional recommendations to be implemented include improvements to backup power systems, valve controls, communication protocols and staff training. The full draft report can be downloaded here.

City names new utilities director, announces administration appointments

Scott Morris

Scott Morris was named the City of Richmond’s public utilities director. He had previously been serving as interim director and replaces April Bingham, who resigned in the wake of the January water outage.

Morris served as water director and chief deputy at the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. He previously worked at Chesterfield County’s utilities department for over a decade and spent four years working at Richmond’s wastewater plant.

Morris is a decorated U.S. Navy veteran and graduated from the naval nuclear program. He has a doctorate of business administration degree from Liberty University and a master’s in information services from VCU.

The city also announced the appointments of four other directors.

Maggie Anderson, previously chief of staff for former mayor Levar Stoney, was named director of the office of intergovernmental affairs. Ross Catrow was promoted to strategic communications director after previously serving as deputy director. Gail Johnson, previously senior deputy director for public works, was named general services director. Merrick Malone was named housing and community development director after previously serving as deputy director.

The city also announced that Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Traci DeShazor will resign at the end of March. In her three years with Richmond, DeShazor has served as equity and inclusion advisor, chief equity officer and deputy CAO, leading the city’s human services portfolio.

Real estate disposition plan back on City Council agenda

Richmond City Council meets in regular session Monday at 6 p.m.

Continued from meetings in January and February is a vote on a real estate disposition plan that calls for unloading 28 surplus parcels totaling about 55 acres to housing nonprofits and private developers, with a goal of adding to the city’s tax base and increasing its supply of lower-income housing.

Council plans to continue to its March 24 meeting a plan to add six townhomes beside an existing four-unit multifamily dwelling at 3618 Hawthorne Ave., beside Laburnum Avenue. To be continued to April 14 is The Lawson Cos.’ special-use request for 180 income-restricted apartments it is planning on a 10-acre site at 5015 Snead Road in the Piney Knolls area.

The full agenda for the meeting can be found here.

26-home subdivision near Short Pump on Henrico planning agenda

The Henrico Planning Commission meets Thursday at 6 p.m. Full agenda here.

Business includes a request from the Henrico Economic Development Authority to rezone 15 acres for a planned detoxification center at the Eastern Government Center complex on Nine Mile Road. The EDA would lease the center to Pyramid Healthcare, which is lined up to operate the facility.

Schell Brothers seeks to rezone 9 acres northeast of Pouncey Tract and Shady Grove roads for a 26-home subdivision. A rezoning request from Godsey Properties for a 140-home subdivision off Creighton Road is being deferred to the April 10 meeting. The 52 acres are at the northern terminus of Westover Avenue and the eastern terminus of Waving Meadow Road.

Chesterfield board OKs changes for commercial projects at Magnolia Green

The 1,900-acre development in Chesterfield’s Moseley area was first zoned in 1991. Since then more than 2,000 dwellings have been built on the property. (County doucments)

The Chesterfield Board of Supervisors has approved a zoning amendment for Magnolia Green that lifts restrictions on development of its commercial tracts.

The board voted last month to strike rules from the original 1991 rezoning case that limited Magnolia Green to 20,000 square feet of retail and office space across the entire site.

The approved zoning amendment was focused on the 88 acres that front Hull Street Road and are designated Community Center (CC) in the development’s conceptual plans. Those areas are anticipated for shopping centers, mixed-use development and office buildings, and are no longer bound by the site-wide limit. Also lifted were limits that retail development be restricted to no more than 12,000 square feet and that individual retail and office building sizes be no more than 5,000 square feet.

The acreage subject to the zoning amendment has remained largely undeveloped, save for a daycare facility, since Magnolia Green secured its original zoning approval.

The square-footage caps initiated by the 1991 case remain in effect for areas of Magnolia Green categorized as Activity Center (AC). The AC tracts are intended for retail and personal service businesses that would cater to nearby residents.

Project developer Starfield Cos. has previously shared with BizSense that while historically there has been little interest in the project’s commercial areas, that has started to shift and the zoning amendment is intended to better position the project for the increased interest by commercial users.

More than 2,000 residential units have been built at Magnolia Green in the decades since its original rezoning.

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