Zoning Must Uphold Richmond 300, RVAgreen's Climate Equity Action Plan 2030, Solar For All, & Our SolSmart Commitments!
Today let's discuss YARDS, and their relation to HEAT.
Objective 2: Reduce risks and impacts to the community and natural environment from extreme heat and drought.
ENV-2.1 Urban Heat Island Reduction: Develop, fund, and implement an urban heat island reduction plan and program.
ENV-2.2 Urban Forest and Green Space Planning: Use urban forest and green space planning to increase climate resilience.
When zoning rules how much developers can build on a lot, it is in terms of "maximum building coverage" (how much a building can take up on a lot) and "minimum yard setbacks" (how much unbuilt yard is on the lot).
Today, the median building coverage in our most dense neighborhoods ranges from 12% (RD-A) to 34% (RA-A). Zoning wants to increase the space a building can take up on a lot to 80% and even 100% as suggested by Eric Mai in August's Zoning Advisory Committee meeting.
What does this mean for Richmond?
"Extreme heat is the #1 climate-related threat to the Richmond region. It causes more deaths in Virginia than any other natural disaster and is detrimental to the regional economy."
- Nicole Keller, PlanRVA Resilience Planner
Richmond's Climate Equity Action Plan 2030, adopted by City Council in 2023, has several goals being negated by the current draft zoning and Zoning Advisory Committee members (specifically Elizabeth Hancock Greenfield, and Eric Mai, both building lobbyists).
How do our yards impact heat?
Richmond needs to COOL THE CITY.
Yards and gardens can decrease local surface temperatures by as much as 41°F.
Tree canopy cover can reduce local daytime surface temperatures by up to 42.8°F.
Yet zoning is trying to eliminate yard percentages on every lot in Richmond.
Locally, the Science Museum of Virginia shows us:
"Our results identified a ~16°F difference between the warmest and coolest places in the city during the hottest time of the day (3-4pm). As you might guess, the coolest places had lots of dense shade and plants (namely, Dogwood Dell Loop trail) while the hottest places were industrial areas with very little tree cover (Scott’s Addition, Manchester, Shockoe Bottom). Most of these places also remain at these elevated temperatures well into the evening. There are other interesting relationships between where heat accumulates in city and neighborhoods to investigate, but we’ll get into that in a follow-up blog post.What’s especially interesting is that the hottest temperatures make a boomerang-shaped boomerang, extending from the west end of Broad Street all the way across the James River and into the south side of the city through Manchester. As it turns out, this looks a lot like two other datasets related to urban heat accumulation in cities – our tree canopy and impervious surface maps. More precisely, where we have low tree canopy and high impervious surfaces, we see high air temperatures."
Search the draft zoning and you will discover that YARDS are not mentioned once.
What has replaced the term yards? Amenity space.
What is amenity space? Amenity space is not required to be unbuilt, nor soil-based. Amenity space is overwhelmingly IMPERVIOUS (look at any apartment tower courtyard!). What counts as amenity space? Gyms, storage lockers, balconies, pools... Amenity space is CONCRETE.
Concrete significantly contributes to Richmond's urban heat island effect, with paved areas (or amenity space) increasing city temperatures by up to 22°F. Concrete absorbs and retains much more solar heat than natural surfaces like vegetation (i.e., YARDS).
How will we achieve RVA Green 2050 goals when zoning wipes out our largest square footage of resilience opportunities: the yards that currently exist ON EVERY LOT? Residential lots contribute more square footage to our urban heat reduction than any tree wells or parks in the region! (Richmond parks make up only 7% of our city's land!)
Let's review: What has more square footage per block - residential yards with their current protections or… tree wells?
- R-2 Single-Family Residential District: current maximum lot coverage is 25%, which implies at least 75% of the lot must remain "unbuilt" or open space.
- The R-4 Single-Family Residential District: current maximum lot coverage of 30%, leaving at least 70% as open space.
- The R-6 Single-Family Attached Residential District: currently the R-7 Single- and Two-Family Urban Residential District have a maximum lot coverage of 55%.
- The R-1 Single-Family Residential District: currently has a maximum lot coverage of 20%, leaving at least 80% as open space.
Zoning's new draft districts (and Zoning Advisory Committee conversations) are attempting to annihilate our LARGEST ASSET of urban cooling: RESIDENTIAL YARDS.
Richmond must protect and insist upon soil-based yards because developers (and Richmond Refresh planners) have not only removed the term but are attempting to allow NONE. Developers are removing the requirement that each lot does its part in mitigating water runoff and help to cool our heat islands. Insist on not only maintaining and protecting the amount of soil on every lot, but insist apartment towers to do MORE as they have more residents depending on that space for resilience.
What will LESS YARD PERCENTAGES bring neighbors if developers get their way? MORE flash flooding.MORE heat.
MORE deaths.
“These areas experience more heat and flooding due to lack of trees, more paved surfaces, and inadequate infrastructure. It is critical that the City of Richmond’s efforts to address climate change uplift the voices and center the priorities of these communities.”
MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD! Comment on the draft zoning here.
You only have until September 28!Copeland Casati is a sustainability and affordable housing professional with over 20 years of experience.