A Monorail for Belle Island

May 2009. The temporary closing and recent repairs to the Belle Isle pedestrian bridge — damage caused by concrete that plummeted off the Lee Bridge — posed an inconvenient nuisance. But if the 1969 City Council had approved a $6 million James River parks plan, we all would be looking at a much-altered Belle Isle.

via richmondmagazine.com.

Riverfront Design Plan for Downtown Richmond

June 28, 2010. The Department of Planning and Development Review, on behalf of the City of Richmond, is soliciting professional services of a landscape architectural/urban design firm with experience in developing landscape design plans for waterfronts to prepare a Riverfront Design Plan for Downtown Richmond .

The Plan would include detailed design for both banks of the riverfront from the Robert E. Lee Bridge downstream to the City line / Ancarrow’s Landing. The Plan should identify public access points, open spaces, specific development concepts/landscape treatments, and trail development. The Plan is expected to guide the programming and design of future public spaces, inform the City’s capital improvement process, identify strategic partnerships with private landowners, and generally outline the relationship of the built environment (including private development) to public spaces and the natural environment.

Pursuing initiatives that connect the public to the James River was a central theme identified during the development of the Richmond Downtown Plan, adopted in July 2009. The development of a detailed design plan for the riverfront is a priority for implementation in the Richmond Downtown Plan. The community values and policies adopted in the Richmond Downtown Plan form the basis for the more detailed work contemplated in the Plan.

richmondgov.com

DEQ report: More Va. waterways polluted

Of local interest, the report disclosed additional problems with the James River in Richmond.

The stretch from the Boulevard Bridge to just upriver from the Mayo Bridge — an area popular with paddlers, waders and swimmers — was listed as polluted with mercury and the long-banned pesticides DDT and chlordane.

That stretch already was known to be polluted by fecal bacteria, primarily from the waste of wildlife and upriver cattle, among other sources.

via Richmond Times-Dispatch.

River – To swim against the tide

City of Richmond, Virginia

Urban-planning mistakes have hidden the James River from view.

The James River runs right through Richmond, so why are local leaders so blind to the possibilities it offers for recreation, development and tourism?

To contemplate riverfront access today is to lament a series of tragic urban-planning mistakes that walled off the riverfront from downtown.  timesdispatch.com

River – Study to explore expanding access to Richmond’s riverfront

City of Richmond, Virginia

The city of Richmond wants a closer look at ways to improve and expand public access along the downtown riverfront, including on Mayo Island and the site of the proposed Echo Harbour development.

The study is expected to cost about $500,000 …  timesdispatch.com

Law Suits – Commercial rafter seeks $5.5 million from Richmond

City of Richmond, Virginia

…Kraft is back in Richmond Circuit Court, looking for a big payback from the city and, potentially, individual officials who he said retaliated against him  for enforcing his former contract for operating a commercial rafting business on the James.  timesdispatch.com