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Commission backs preliminary community unit plan for Mosby Court South with affordability, material and floor-area amendments
Summary
The commission recommended approval of ordinance 20-26-106, a preliminary community unit plan to redevelop Mosby Court South with up to 500 units and 25,000 sq ft of commercial space, adding a staff amendment to specify a 600,000 sq ft maximum residential floor area and removing vinyl siding as a permitted exterior material; the redevelopment includes phased construction and a 1-for-1 replacement commitment for existing units.
The Richmond Planning Commission voted to recommend ordinance 20-26-106 to city council to authorize a preliminary community unit plan for Mosby Court South, a redevelopment of roughly 12.84 acres in the East End that would permit up to 500 dwelling units and up to 25,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space.
Staff planner Shayana Trump said the preliminary plan aligns with Richmond 300 goals for neighborhood mixed use and that staff recommends approval with an amendment to insert a 600,000-square-foot maximum residential floor-area statement in the ordinance text. "These are maximums," Trump said, explaining that the ordinance establishes upper limits and that final unit counts and floor areas will be phased and refined during later approvals.
Steven Nussmith, CEO of the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority, described the redevelopment as necessary to replace aging public-housing stock and emphasized resident engagement and a tenant "bill of rights." "At the heart of everything we do is for the residents," Nussmith said, and RRHA representatives said the project guarantees a 1-for-1 replacement of public-housing units through phased construction.
Cheryl Hampton, RRHA senior vice president for real estate and community development, provided a phase-by-phase affordability breakdown: phase 1 roughly 170 units with about 43 deeply affordable units (vouchers attached), phase 2 about 177 units with 44 deeply affordable, and phase 3 about 131 units with 33 deeply affordable; remaining units would range from 50%–80% area median income and market-rate. The applicant said they will seek vouchers and funding mechanisms to support the deeply affordable units.
Commissioners focused questions on permitted exterior materials, building height and minimum open space. After discussion, the commission adopted staff’s recommended amendments during the motion: add the 600,000 sq ft residential floor-area language and remove vinyl siding from the list of permitted exterior materials. Commissioners also encouraged greener inner-parking design and attention to open space and traffic-impact mitigation; the commission then voted to forward the preliminary plan and amendments to city council.
The recommendation advances the redevelopment to city council and then to future final-plan and site-plan stages, where detailed design, materials, unit mix and traffic mitigation will be resolved.
