The Henrico Planning Department has released its finalized draft for a Lakeside “reimagined” – a corridor with apartments atop of small businesses, trees adorning wider sidewalks, public plazas and parks, and less car traffic.
The final plan – which Henrico planners stress is a recommendation rather than a mandate – would revamp the current car-traversed but mostly quiet corridor into a neighborhood emblematic of Richmond’s Carytown. Planners kept almost all of the aspects discussed at last year’s design charrette in the finalized version, including the somewhat controversial bike lanes and reduced car lanes.
The existing Lakeside corridor, stretching from Bryan Park to Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, is flanked by a mix of single-family homes and one-story businesses. Planners are recommending that the county recategorize Lakeside as an Overlay District to increase density along the corridor, allowing townhomes and mixed-use buildings…