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Public commenter urges support for surplus transfer of Sankofa community site; commission forwards consent items to city council
Summary
The commission forwarded a consent-agenda ordinance declaring city parcels surplus and recommending conveyance of the Sankofa community site to a community organization; Duron Chavis spoke in support of transferring stewardship to a community land trust.
At its meeting, the Richmond Planning Commission voted to forward its consent agenda to Richmond City Council with a recommendation of approval, including an ordinance to declare surplus two city-owned parcels and direct conveyance for community use.
The consent agenda included Ordinance 2026-003, described by staff as a proposal to declare surplus and convey city-owned real estate at 301 Burrow Bridal Road (parcel 201209301307) and 313 Covington Road, commonly referred to in the meeting as the Sankofa community site, to a community organization for nominal consideration and for the purpose of facilitating urban agriculture and community programming.
During the public hearing on the consent agenda, Duron Chavis identified himself as the board chair of the organization he named and thanked the commission for considering the transfer. Chavis said his organization had stewarded the sites for five years, running an urban-agriculture demonstration with greenhouses, solar-powered irrigation and more than 150 fruit trees, and that the property helped distribute food throughout Central Virginia. "We're very excited about the potentiality of being able to take this space and continue to transform it into an example for the region as to what urban agriculture can be," he said.
After no additional public comments, the chair closed the hearing and the commission took a roll-call vote to approve the consent agenda as presented; staff stated that those items will be forwarded to city council with a recommendation of approval.
Next steps: the ordinance and other consent items will proceed to the Richmond City Council for final action. The commission did not take separate action to finalize a transfer; council consideration is the next formal step.
