Richmond planners set new height limit for buildings

Buildings along the James River could be a little higher, but the city would have the power to keep vistas clear by limiting the buildings' sizes, under amendments proposed to the Downtown Master Plan.

One key historic vista is the view from Libby Hill Park, which gave Richmond its name.

While the new height limit voted yesterday by the city Planning Commission is higher than the current limit, it still would lop off some top stories of two buildings developer George Ross wants to erect on the riverfront below Libby Hill Park. The vote was 7-2.

The new limit is about 15 feet less than the shorter of two buildings Ross wants to erect.

Commission members also voted unanimously to add language saying the city had the power to preserve river views, specifically including the Libby Hill Park view, by limiting the height and mass of buildings.

Ross said he needed time to digest the commission actions, which came after a nearly two-hour discussion.

The commission's proposed amendments can't take effect unless approved by the City Council. If they are, they will be what the commission and council use as guidance as they consider zoning changes and exemptions from zoning rules.

Neighbors and preservationists have fought Ross' plans for a high-rise complex of condominiums, a hotel, offices and stores, saying they would block the view of the James River from the park.

The view is said to have inspired Richmond's founder, William Byrd II, to give the city its name, because it is so like the view of the River Thames from Richmond-upon-Thames, just west of London.

"What we were doing was writing a standard for riverfront development," said commission Chairwoman Bev Lacy.

The commission's proposed new height limits say buildings along the river from Shockoe Bottom east should be no more than four to six stories above the 100-year floodplain -- that is, the elevation the Federal Emergency Management Agency says a once-a-century flood would reach.

The downtown plan's current limit for that area is four to six stories above ground level.

The difference for Ross' site is 21 feet, or nearly two stories.

"It's a big concession," Lacy said. Commission member Robert Mills said the proposed new limit was more realistic.

It is still less than Ross' latest proposal, which plans one building averaging 108 feet high and a second averaging 141 feet high.

While the downtown plan talks of stories, rather than feet, city officials say the proposed new limit would allow for a building 93 feet high, assuming six, 12-foot-high stories above the flood plain.

Contact David Ress at (804) 649-6051 or .