Planning staff reviews five‑year progress on Richmond 300 master plan; highlights housing targets, code refresh and community concerns

Mary Anne Pitts, a member of the Planning Department’s Richmond 300 implementation team, presented the commission’s annual update on the citywide master plan at the Feb. 26 meeting.

Pitts said the planning and policy team — including planners Bridal Mercer, Samantha Lewis, Lola Neal and recently promoted GIS planner Erica Banks — conducted more than 51 public meetings and engaged an estimated 1,585 Richmond residents over the past year. The report summarized the plan’s vision for 2037 and the maps that guide implementation: nodes (current and future activity centers), priority neighborhoods (including public housing sites managed by the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority), future land use and future connections.

On housing, Pitts reported development activity the city identifies as involving Planning Department interaction: 107 affordable rental, homeownership or permanent supportive‑housing units with certificates of occupancy in 2023 and 43 such units in 2024. Fiscal‑year goals on the slide shown to the commission set a…