Anticipating The Fall Line: A Plan For Equitable Trail-Oriented Development On Commerce Road, Eric King

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

Once completed, the Fall Line trail will provide a 43-mile active transportation route through Central Virginia from Ashland to Petersburg. Three miles of the trail’s alignment follow Commerce Road in Richmond’s Southside. As Manchester continues to undergo rapid change, trail-oriented development (TrOD) offers an opportunity to accommodate growth and transform the industrial corridor into a mixed-use destination as envisioned by the city’s master plan. While TrOD within the study area represents both economic and community development, relatively low residential property values and median incomes within surrounding neighborhoods warrant proactive measures to mitigate potential displacement pressures. Drawing from precedents set by …

Riverview Community Park Commoning Plan, Haley B. Keene

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

Riverview Community Park began as an illegal DIY skatepark in the Maymont neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia. Now, although it is a city park, it is still entirely managed by volunteer community groups (skateboarders, the neighborhood Civic League, and a community garden) who view the park as a creative, experimental community-led spatial project. Due to a dearth of communication between the three groups, the park has suffered political strife between the groups and a chaotic physical atmosphere. This plan utilizes a commons governance framework and participatory, asset-based community design to usher in a new era of enhanced collaboration, common narratives, and …

Assessing The Impact Of Permanent Supportive Housing On Property Values In Richmond, Virginia, Elaine Negasi

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

The combination of affordable housing and supportive services in permanent supportive housing is a proven housing intervention effective in providing housing stability for people who have long been homeless, unstable, or socially marginalized. Virginia Supportive Housing provides crucial resources in addressing the root causes of homelessness in the region.

In many cases, opposition to permanent supportive housing is based on concerns that property values will decline. As a response to these concerns, this study will provide insight into the extent to which property values are affected. This study aims to change the perception of permanent supportive housing to foster community …

Best Practices For Community Outreach For The Virginia Eviction Reduction Pilot, Callie B. Houghland

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

The purpose of this plan is to understand best practices for community outreach for the VERP program and provide materials to aid future outreach efforts. This plan has five parts. First, this plan will review characteristics that contribute to housing vulnerability, such as race or number of children, and consider which vulnerabilities should be prioritized in outreach. Then, this plan will identify how VERP grantees are currently conducting community outreach and who is being served through the program. Next this plan will look to understand who is missed between those who are most vulnerable and who are actually served across …

Tension Between Construction And Conservation : Dutch Gap Conservation Area Park Access Design, Colleen Campbell

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

The goal of this plan is to create a site-specific design as well as investigate the best practices to use to aid in mending the tension between conservation and construction especially in conservation areas. This comes in response to legislation passed by the Virginia General Assembly in 2019. Using literature, expert surveys, and public input a design will be created to aid the public in accessing the Dutch Gap Conservation Area. Many challenges are present in conservation areas and this plan will help to address which challenges are most important as well as the best way to mitigate these challenges. …

Expanding Equitable Housing Through Rezoning: Strategies For Land Use And Future Development Within Richmond, Kevin Costanzo

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

This paper serves as a critical component of the City of Richmond's extensive initiative aimed at comprehensively understanding and reforming its zoning regulations. Focusing on housing market conditions at both municipal and census block levels, as well as conducting individual neighborhood case studies representing diverse contexts within Richmond, it draws upon primary documents such as Richmond's master plan (Richmond 300) and the Department of Housing and Community Development's housing plan "One Richmond." The methodology involves thorough documentation and analysis of neighborhood-specific impacts of zoning regulations, utilizing the Pattern Book as a foundational resource. The content encompasses an examination of urban …

Plenty Of Room At The Inn: Strategies For Gentle Densification Of Cleveland Park, Woodley Park, Van Ness, And Forest Hills, Dc, Harrison M. Hyde

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

This capstone focuses on expanding housing opportunities, through the implementation of Gentle Density, in high-resource, single-family neighborhoods in Washington, D.C. The tangible outcomes of this study were be: a set of design guidelines, proposed changes to the Zoning Code of 2016, and an analysis of the co-benefits of densification. The co-benefits analysis examined any potential changes ridership changes for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, as well as changes in the potential customer bases for local businesses in each neighborhood. These analyses were done for a maximum build-out Scenario A, a less dense Scenario B, and a do-nothing Scenario C. …

Flood Resiliency And Sustainable Stormwater Management Plan, Cigdem Parlak Hancer

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Richmond Watts For Families: An Action Plan To Bring Multifamily Community Solar To The City Of Richmond, Daniel P. Rafferty

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

Seeking to advance community solar energy for multifamily residents within the City of Richmond, Virginia, the Richmond Watts for Families (WFF) is a plan to guide the city in developing robust multifamily community solar program(s). Community (shared) solar has emerged as an alternative approach to traditional rooftop solar energy by allowing customers to subscribe to a portion of a solar array that is shared among other subscribers, which has the opportunity to increase participation by marginalized communities and those currently without the financial or physical means to install solar This plan aids the city in implementing its recently adopted climate …

The Green Infrastructure Network: Mapping Hopewell's Social & Natural Assets, Derek J. Cathcart

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

This capstone plan provides a map of the network of physical green infrastructure (GI) and the actors involved in GI projects in Hopewell. Green Infrastructure is mapped spatially with GIS and distinguishes between the various forms of GI present in the city. A network map visualizes the relationships between actors and their relationships with GI in Hopewell. This plan analyzes Hopewell’s GI network of social-ecological assets and their relative interactions. While the capstone plan is not a resilience plan on its own, it fosters resilience in Hopewell by connecting actors like city departments, state agencies, residents, business owners, and local …

Transforming The Route 228 Corridor: A Safe And Connective Approach, Michael Boeh

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

This capstone plan centers around the Rt. 228/19 intersection and surrounding corridor located in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania. In spite of recent projects, the intersection continues to convey feelings of danger and a lack of safety. This redesign project will utilize SketchUp to demonstrate how safety and connectivity can be prioritized and made a reality for the Rt. 228 corridor.

Revitalize Wakefield: Charting A Course For Growth, Bannon T. Luckert

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

This plan focuses on discovering the objectives and aspirations of residents and merchants to formulate a revitalization strategy comprising actionable steps that will contribute to the flourishing of a rural downtown. By leveraging Wakefield's rich history and existing assets, this plan aims to help realize the vision of revitalizing Wakefield.

Growth In Appalachia: Downtown Revitalization Strategies For Covington, Virginia, Tucker L. Keener

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

This plan was created for the City of Covington, Virginia which is located in the Western part of the state in the Blue Ridge Mountains. This plan aims to identify the goals and desires of local community members and business owners that prioritize economic growth in the downtown core. The City of Covington has many great assets, and the goal of this plan is to leverage these assets to assist with downtown revitalization. Recommendations in this plan relate to ideas of enhancing downtown, creating and strengthening anchor institutions, and create downtown as a tourist destination.

Health-Based Urban Design And Planning Interventions; Maximizing Harmony, Vitality, And Wellness In Hopewell, Virginia, Suzanne K. Yeats

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

Urban planners as practitioners work to create a more progressive future while simultaneously redressing the past. This tension is found in many cities, including the City of Hopewell, Virginia where city planners, managers, economic developers work passionately for positive change. In Hopewell, there has been almost no population growth since 1970 and existing health outcomes are alarming. In every determinant of health category (medical, psychological, or social), this city falls below the state and national average. This health-based urban design and planning intervention capstone challenges the status quo by flipping the paradigm and placing the health of all residents first …

Social Invention For The Common Good: A Community Land Trust-Based Model For Affordable Accessory Dwelling Units, Adelaide Alexander

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

Executive Summary

Vision: High-quality, affordable ADUs address the housing crisis and foster racial and economic justice for residents of the Richmond region

Key Research Findings

Of MWCLT’s 95 properties, 80 are suitable for the addition of ADUs and another 6 may be suitable, subject to property-specific analysis and permissions.

Richmond now allows ADUs by right in all residential districts, so ADUs could be developed as infill projects or as part of subdivisions in the City.

In Chesterfield and Henrico, developing ADUs as affordable rentals will be most feasible as part of subdivision, rather than infill, development.

Estimated rents for a …