To grow or not to grow – Lakeside residents take on a future vision of the area

At the Monday night kickoff of Henrico County’s design charrette for the Lakeside area, about 200 residents and business owners came together at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden to discuss what the area should look like 15 to 20 years into the future.

The county is working alongside the locally-based Glavé & Holmes architecture firm as well as the Maryland-based firm Michael Watkins Architect, LLC to create a new vision for the historic corridor using community input.

Despite rumors circulating that a master plan has already been finalized by officials, architecture firm owner Mike Watkins said that a plan will only develop after this week’s charrette, with next steps decided at Thursday’s final meeting. 

“Apparently, there is a rumor that surfaced that this is really all about rubber stamping a plan that’s already been done. I wish that were true,” Watkins said. “What you’re going to see happen is this master plan unfold in the course of the meetings we have throughout the week. So I don’t have a plan in my pocket. We really haven’t started any design work.”

In the auditorium of Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Watkins and Henrico Planning Director Joe Emerson shared the general direction of the Lakeside study – more development, guided by the goals and desires of the local community.

“We all know it’s going to grow. Because if you don’t grow, you don’t change a little bit, the alternative is that you just go away,” Emerson said. “But what we want to do is make sure that we get the right tools in place…that we’ve got these guidelines in place and it keeps that character of the neighborhoods.”

“At what point do you want to freeze it, dip it into amber, and preserve it forever? Change keeps happening, but it can be good change,” Watkins said. “And I think we would be hard-pressed to make a change to Lakeside Avenue that would make it worse.”

But while some changes might be welcomed, such as a much-needed grocery store in the corridor and more pedestrian walkways, some residents are fearful that too much development will reduce the area’s current socioeconomic diversity.

“I’m just afraid that beautifying will lead to gentrifying,” said resident Tiffany Royall. “I don’t want to make Lakeside another Carytown.”

Could Lakeside be Henrico’s new ‘garden district?’

Some business owners see more economic development as a great opportunity, however, such as local business owner Jarrett Douma, who runs Cowboy Construction and also owns several properties on Lakeside Avenue.

“I think it’s coming whether people like it or not. And really this is the goal, is to plan for that development,” Douma said. "I’m really looking to see what the county wants to do to help kind of engage more businesses, and see what the community wants as well, looking down the line for developments.”

Oftentimes, one successful business in an area will attract more successful businesses, Watkins said, which leads to all of the area’s established businesses flourishing rather than competing with each other. 

With the Lakeside corridor standing between Bryan Park and Lewis Ginter, Watkins suggested that the future of Lakeside could mean expanding greenery throughout the area and creating a kind of “garden district” – an idea that prompted a chorus of “yeses” from the crowd.

But many residents emphasized that what is really needed are some small changes: better sidewalks that are more walker-friendly, traffic control measures that address speeding cars, more crosswalks, a small grocery store, a coffee shop, and maybe some bike lanes.

“They call it the ‘Lakeside drag strip’ for a reason. There’s definitely a lot of speeding cars, especially at night,” said Douma. “I think as it gets developed, that will kind of slow down, especially with having more crosswalks. There's a lot of great restaurants, shops on both sides of Lakeside Avenue, and I think it’s important being able to walk and bike safely from one side to the other.”

Ray Weinstein, who runs Ray’s Swimming Pool and Supply, a family business that has been in Lakeside for 40 years, said that he hopes making the area more pedestrian-friendly will prompt more people to stop by his shop, rather than just “zooming by” in their cars.

“Adding more lighting, slowing the traffic down some, because I don’t know how many times I’ve almost been hit pulling out from my shack,” he said. “And getting the sidewalks completed that whole length of Lakeside Avenue. There’s a place where a telephone pole is blocking half of the sidewalk. If you’ve got a stroller or a wheelchair, how are you supposed to navigate that?”

While the corridor along Lakeside Avenue is the main focus of the design charrette according to Watkins, residents from nearby neighborhoods say there is also a need for more sidewalks in the area’s side streets.

“I think it's weird to be treating a place that is a residential neighborhood as if it's a major thoroughfare, and prioritizing the people who are passing through over the people who actually live here,” said resident Mikah Green. “Making it less hostile towards people who are trying to walk around, because people get killed a lot on roads around here.”

County officials and designers have invited community members to observe the design process on Tuesday from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Lewis Ginter’s Kelly Education Center auditorium. Officials will also host two additional community meetings on Wednesday from noon to 1:30 p.m. and on Thursday from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., also in the auditorium.

Liana Hardy is the Citizen’s government and education reporter. Support her work and articles like this one by making a contribution to the Citizen.