Urban Design Committee approves conceptual plan to relocate Richmond police memorial to academy entrance

The Urban Design Committee voted to approve a conceptual location, character and extent review to place the Richmond Police Memorial statue at the Richmond Police Training Academy entrance at 1202 West Graham Road.

The committee approved the proposal with conditions asking the applicant to simplify paving patterns across the drive aisle, provide ADA-compliant pedestrian crossings, examine statue-front lighting and consider narrowing the drive aisle to expand pedestrian space and enhance the statue’s prominence.

The memorial statue, originally created by sculptor Maria Kirby Smith and first installed in 1987, has been in storage since it was removed from Bird Park after damage during civil disturbances in 2020. Deputy Chief Sydney Collier of the Richmond Police Department described the department’s rationale in bringing the statue to the academy, saying the academy “is going to be the best place for the police statue” because most visitors and recruits walk past the proposed location and the site contains other department memorial elements, including names of officers on a plaque and a police museum in the academy building.

Landscape architect Beth Ruggles, presenting the concept, said the design attempts to unify pedestrian and vehicular circulation by extending a paver field across the drive aisle as a raised/flush crossing. She described the intent as creating a “flush transition across that space” and said bollards are proposed for protection while the team continues to refine the paving pattern and accessibility details.

Committee members raised several design concerns in discussion: the statue’s proximity to the road, the dominance of the existing flagpole in the composition, the scale and layout of paving arcs, pedestal height, and the stylistic fit of proposed lantern-style light fixtures with the building. Committee members asked the applicant to test options including moving or elevating the statue, narrowing the drive aisle (several members suggested reducing width from around 26 feet to 20 or 18 feet), and revising bench geometry and paving so the statue reads as the focal point.

A member of the public who said he had helped move the statue in an earlier relocation, Michael Burke, spoke in support and urged evening illumination so the statue remains visible at night; the committee included exploration of statue lighting among its conditions.

The committee’s approved motion (moved by Mr. Pearson and seconded by Ms. Gimmer) bundled the applicant and staff recommendations and added four applicant qualifications: provide statue lighting fronting Graham Road, ensure adequate pedestrian space in front of the statue (potentially achieved by narrowing the drive aisle), simplify the paving pattern across the drive aisle, and reconsider the lantern fixtures for style and scale. Staff recommendations already on the record asked for dark-sky-sensitive lighting, permeable hardscape and stormwater features where feasible, reuse of existing on-site materials, ADA crossings with detectable warnings, and opportunities for micro-mobility infrastructure such as bicycle racks. The committee voted to approve the conceptual plan.