RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — An elementary school in Richmond’s Southside has been left abandoned for nearly a decade. Now, plans for a possible apartment complex are receiving mixed reviews from the community.
A clerical error by Richmond City Hall has left Oak Grove Elementary School vacant since January 2013. Since then, the school moved to the new Oak Grove-Bellmeade Elementary School nearby but no plans for renovation or demolition of the old property have been made.
Residents in the community say the vacant lot has been a target for crime.
“There have been like drug rings and prostitution rings and there’s like multiple homeless families and communities living in there, like rat and possum issues,” said Charles Snellings, a resident of Oak Grove.
Recently, Lynx Ventures, A Richmond based developer has stepped in with plans to build 240 new apartments. In a recent meeting hosted by the Oak Grove Civic Association, members of the community expressed their concerns surrounding the development raising concern over possible gentrification. They believe the new development will bring added traffic and construction.
“We must continue to band together to stop these developers from bullying their way into our communities and taking over. Today, my community, tomorrow it could be your community or your community or your community. So we must put our foot down and stop these developers from bullying their way into our community and absolutely putting up things that does not benefit a profit or is not beneficial to us in our community,” said Barbara Starkey-Goode, President of the Oak Grove Civic Association.
Instead, they would like for the community to have a recreational space for their senior citizens and children such as a daycare or community center.
For now, Lynx Ventures wants to rezone the area so that this can allow the city to sell them the land. Once that is complete, this will jump-start the project.
