Richmond is undergoing a zoning refresh that has many impacts on our neighborhoods.
It is important to comment on both documents via the QR Codes 1 & 2 below. If you would like to order your own signs, you may do so via the 3rd QR Code, and find your local neighborhood association contacts via the 4th QR to get involved in your community!
Make sure to UP vote, DOWN vote, reply to existing comments, and ADD YOUR OWN!
1. COMMENT ON THE DRAFT ZONING MAP HERE:
2. COMMENT ON THE DRAFT ZONING DISTRICTS HERE:
WANT YOUR OWN SIGNS? ORDER YOURS HERE! (Or call Sir Speedy: (804) 358-8500)
Please note: 1. If you want more than one sign, please note how many in the comment field, pay for the first, then pay for the rest when you pick them up. 2. You may pick them up, hence no shipping, just note so in the comment field!
GET INVOLVED!
JOIN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION!
Ideas of things to think about:
1. Draft Map:
- Locate your neighborhood blocks, look up the districts now assigned to them, and comment on:
- If you support duplexes as well as an ADU (accessory dwelling unit) on every lot in Richmond.
- Density should target highest opportunity areas, not areas that are already dense.
- Zoning intends to shrink required yard space (and now call it "accessory dwelling space" which can be concrete balconies, gyms, and storage lockers!). Consider insisting that yard percentages be maintained, that they be unbuilt and soil-based, and that the percentage should be expanded on multiunit lots so residents can supplement hard times with gardens. A May 2025 Code Refresh presentation states a goal of increasing city-wide tree canopy from 42% to 60%. Yet zoning aims to reduce yards and has no protections for existing trees, no requirements to plant new trees, and no lot coverage requirements (the amount of area that can be built on a given lot). Tree wells are great, but yards offer even more square footage of potential!
- Consider insisting on historic protections! Did you know that most of old Richmond neighborhoods including the Fan, Oregon Hill, and many parts of Shockoe have no demolition protections? A developer can buy any historical home and demolish it if this zoning is approved, even if on the National Register. Demolition of historic housing destroys generations of Richmond’s architectural heritage and is bad for the environment by filling landfills with many environmental consequences.
- Buildings over 3 stories must complete a shadow analysis to not erode their neighbors' rights to solar access in keeping with Richmond's SolSmart and Richmond 300 commitments. Sunlight affects cicadian rhythms, mental health, and makes us healthier, more sustainable and resilient!
2. Draft Districts:
- Look up the districts zoned for your neighborhood and places you love.
- Setbacks (the depth a building is set back from the sidewalk, alleys, and along sides of the lot) are being shrunk and even eliminated which will put buildings right up against neighbors, and even blocking neighbors' windows!
- Stepbacks are when taller buildings are "stepped back" so not to shade out and hunker over neighbors. These too are being eliminated in many areas.
- Voice your support for demolition reviews to ensure irreplaceable existing affordable housing and rentals as well as historical architecture are not demolished just so a developer can profit! Haven't we learned our lessons in Fulton and Jackson Ward?
- If demolition occurs, insist on
- Implementing equitable value carbon taxes on embodied carbon - 20% for a flat demolition with no deconstruction of materials, for example.
- Mandatory reuse of materials through deconstruction.
- Consider voicing support for the Cultural Heritage Stewardship Plan which will
- Provide design overlays and guidelines for how new construction should blend in to the existing neighborhood character and culture.
- Center equity and inclusion by honoring historic places and experiences that are important to historically underrepresented communities.
- Create a city-wide preservation plan.
...and more.
Further thoughts:
- The often-quoted “Richmond needs 39,000 new housing units to meet existing need” is false. The REGION needs AFFORDABLE housing, including ownership opportunities. (Read the report! "Richmond Regional Housing Framework 2020-22 Data Update” p. 2, TinyUrl.com/RVAhousingNeeds) That's 39,000 housing units for over 4,367 square miles, not for Richmond city's mere 60.
- Data shows about 90% of the 55,000 residents added to the Richmond REGION between April 2020 and July 2024 were due to migration. How long will they stay? Traditionally, renters eventually seek mortgages, and current density projects do not offer that. What are Richmond's plans for schools, infrastructure, and ownership opportunities?
- We are concerned about existing affordable rentals and home ownership. Any small home that goes on the market will now compete with developers who will outbid possible new homeowners so they can fit a multi-unit and ADU on any lot that USED to be a starter home for regular people. Goodbye homes within a dream of reaching, they will now all be luxury multi-unit permanent rentals... lot by lot, no longer owned, but investor rentals.
- Head's up transit lovers: studies show how gentrification is killing the bus: https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/05/la-gentrification-public-transit/