Opposition to Manchester on the James in RTD

This was discussed here when the vote was going down last week and now the RTD is covering the debate as well.

Council members Kathy C. Graziano and Ellen F. Robertson supported Crosland’s request for $4.5 million in bonds even though they had voted against its special-use permit. They said they wouldn’t undermine a project that had previously been blessed by a majority of the council.

The Recovery Zone bonds cannot be used to finance apartment projects, but Crosland said it would use the bonds to finance a parking deck at Manchester on the James. Johnson said that’s an awfully fine hair to split for an out-of-town developer. With an initial $8.8 million in bonds and about $22 million in requests, the city should direct its limited allocation to other, less-controversial projects, he said.

“This is to build a parking deck for apartments for a business that’s located in North Carolina,” Johnson said. “All that money is going to be going back to North Carolina. We think this is kind of a short-term deal” in terms of stimulating the local economy.

Another interesting tidbit is, normally Crosland would have until June to request a building permit or it would lose approval for Manchester on the James but the 2009 General Assembly approved a law that keeps various zoning approvals, including special-use permits, valid through July 1, 2014.