Government

The EDA is seeking to rezone more than 1,300 acres for two data center campuses, one near Westchester Commons and the other on part of the western Upper Magnolia Green site near Moseley.

The 21-acre donation includes the former Tuckahoe Village Recreation Association property and adds to 240 acres along the creek that Wilton has donated to the county since the early 1980s.

The Zoning Ordinance Modernization Project is several years in the making and would revamp the county’s zoning ordinance, which specifies which land uses are permitted where and under what circumstances.

Officials are considering expanding the project area beyond a 9-acre assemblage that includes the Richmond Coliseum to include more city-owned properties.

The 12,000-square-foot educational and interpretive center will serve as a starting point for the Shockoe Project, leading into other components, such as a long-planned 62,000-square-foot slavery museum, burial ground memorials and other commemorative sites.

The transaction with Altria subsidiary Philip Morris closed three months later than originally scheduled, and the same week that VCU received approval from Gov. Youngkin to buy Altria’s downtown research building.

“I’m quite confident it will be in litigation very shortly,” said Bill Leighty, recently dismissed from the VCU Wilder School, of the dispute between VCU Health and Richmond over the payments stemming from a failed development project.

Mayor Danny Avula presented his administration’s $3 billion spending plan, which would maintain the current real estate tax rate and increase general fund spending by 5.5% over the current budget.

The price hikes will help finance two new parking decks the airport is planning: a 5,500-spot deck for the general public that would be built at the current Economy A lot, and an additional two-story deck for rental cars. 

Gov. Youngkin said Monday he is vetoing language that legislators put into the state budget to allow Henrico to hold a referendum on the controversial project, which is already underway.