LATEST VCU SCHEME BLASTED
VCU’s latest plan to demolish one historic livery stable in the Oregon Hill Historic District and to move another is strongly opposed by the neighborhood’s civic association. “We strongly object to VCU’s biased study that the livery stable at 917 Green Alley proposed for demolition lacks integrity,” stated OHNA President Scott Burger. “It is obviously […]
VCU’s latest plan to demolish one historic livery stable in the Oregon Hill Historic District and to move another is strongly opposed by the neighborhood’s civic association. “We strongly object to VCU’s biased study that the livery stable at 917 Green Alley proposed for demolition lacks integrity,” stated OHNA President Scott Burger. “It is obviously the University that lacks integrity by going back on their promise to not encroach further into our historic neighborhood. The latest in a long string of misrepresentations on the project is VCU’s assertion that it will make the 100,000 sq. foot addition fit in with the modest 1,500 sq. foot Oregon Hill homes.”
Ironically, VCU itself renovated the stable at 917 Green Alley, proposed for demolition. Such renovations of historic properties are typically approved by the Va. Dept. of Historic Resources. VCU now claims that the building lacks integrity due to their own renovation. According to Burger, “Moving the stable at 911 Green Alley is no more satisfactory than VCU’s attempt to move the Museum of the Confederacy.”
“VCU compromised the Environmental Impact Report for the project by starting construction on a portion of the project, the Lobs and Lessons Youth center, before the review was complete. The University considered no alternative sites for the project, including the vacant parking lots – closer to the student dorms – that VCU owns on Broad and Grace Streets,” said the OHNA President.
VCU still is providing no additional parking for the 100,000 sq. foot recreational facility proposed for the narrow one-way Oregon Hill street, which is already heavily impacted by student parking. “The massing of this huge building in our historic district with no parking is outrageous,” said Burger. “The city and the Dept. of Historic Resources cited the massing of this building as the fundamental problem with VCU’s plan, and that remains unchanged.”
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