Council declines two citizen-review commissions on code refresh after protracted debate over outreach and equity

Richmond City Council voted down two ordinances intended to create citizen review bodies to oversee the city's code refresh work and implementation of the Richmond 300 master plan.

Council considered two separate papers: ordinance 2026-092 to establish a Code Refresh Commission and ordinance 2026-096 to establish a Resident Planning Review Commission. Both measures were the subject of an extended public hearing that drew dozens of residents, renters'advocates and civic leaders with sharply divergent views on the right path forward for the citywide zoning rewrite known as Code Refresh.

Supporters of the commissions, including Councilwoman Trammell and residents such as Patricia Merrill (Westhampton Citizens Association), argued a citizens'review panel would increase transparency, district representation and public trust. "A Citizens Review Commission ... could work to ensure whatever version of code refresh is proposed adequately conforms to the vision of Richmond 300," Merrill said, urging the council to create a commission that includes renters as well as homeowners.

Opponents — including renters, organizers and some tenants'rights groups — warned that unpaid, volunteer commissions often privilege people with time and resources and thus risk repeating existing outreach failures. Maria Duuster of the Homes for All Our Neighbors Coalition said the coalition "strongly agrees with the intent" of these proposals but opposed the commissions because they could reproduce inequities and fail to reach renters and underrepresented residents without additional paid supports and a transparent integration procedure for the commissions'reports.

Council members debated whether the city's existing engagement offices (Office of Neighborhood Engagement, participatory budgeting and communications) should be resourced and mobilized instead of creating new bodies. Several councilmembers (including Councilmember Nicole Jones and Vice President Jarrett) urged using administration capacity to do deeper district-level outreach and education rather than standing up another commission that might confuse residents or narrow engagement.

Council Carl roll-call votes recorded: on ordinance 2026-092 the paper failed (two "Aye" votes from Ms. Trammell and Ms. Abubakar; the remainder voting "No"); on ordinance 2026-096 the paper likewise failed (Ms. Gibson and Ms. Auberger voted "Aye"; a majority voted "No"). After the votes, President Newbill and several members directed staff to present a clear outreach and engagement plan and to define what threshold of resident response would qualify as sufficient public input before future actions.

Why it matters: Code Refresh is a citywide zoning rewrite that affects every parcel in Richmond and carries potential consequences for preservation, displacement and infrastructure capacity. Testimony in the hearing repeatedly raised the need to ensure renters, low-income residents and geographically diverse voices are meaningfully included and to be explicit about how citizen input will be weighed in future map and text decisions.

Next steps: Council asked administration and staff to return with clear engagement targets, answers to outstanding Planning Department questions (including parcel-level displacement analysis), and a plan to deploy existing neighborhood-engagement resources. The ordinances to create the commissions were not adopted.