by Dick Hall-Sizemore
Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg (D-Henrico) is very upset about the plan to locate a Rosie’s Gaming Emporium in Henrico County. This is the facility that features “historical horse racing,” which many have equated to slot machines.
Churchill Downs, the parent company of Rosie’s, plans to open the facility in an existing shopping center, the zoning of which would allow by right the uses proposed by Churchill Downs. That is, it would have allowed them by right before June 25, when the Board of Supervisors enacted an ordinance requiring a provisional use permit for any such facility. What has got VanValkenburg and others upset and frustrated is that Churchill Downs won the “race to the courthouse.” It filed its plans with the county on June 18; therefore, the zoning ordinance in effect on that date governs. There is nothing the county can do about it.
Shortly thereafter, Henrico’s three state senators and five delegates sent a letter to the Churchill Downs CEO expressing their opposition to the manner in which the company submitted the plans and asking the company to withdraw its plans and play by the new rules. A month later, there has been no reply. Now, the senator is upset that he is being ignored. “I am extremely disappointed in Colonial Downs Group and Rosie’s Gaming Emporium for their lack of response…. It is deeply problematic when you have every local and state elected official in Henrico asking a company to submit itself to public input, transparency, and to engage in a fair process and they refuse to respond.”
Finally, VanValkenburg told a reporter that he would prefer not to have a gambling facility in Henrico at all, and particularly not in the location identified for the proposed Rosie’s site, which he believes is ripe for other forms of redevelopment that would be a better community fit. (I have used the wording used by the Henrico Citizen, a community newspaper. I did not use quotes because the article did not indicate it was directly quoting the senator, instead just paraphrasing his remarks, and I did not want to imply that I was quoting the senator.)
I am going to go out on a limb here. The phrase “better community fit” sounds like code to me.
A little context is needed here. The shopping center is located at the intersection of Staples Mill Rd, and Glenside Drive. The two other Bacon’s Rebellion contributors and any commenters who live in Richmond know where this intersection is and can probably guess where I am going with this. The location is not in the eastern half of Henrico, the poorer section where most of the county’s racial minorities live. Rather, it is located in the center of the county in a white, middle-class area. In fact, it is not too far from the Glen Allen area, in which half-a-million-dollar homes have been sprouting with abandon.
Full disclosure: The location is not too far from where I live and I am not too happy about the idea of a Rosie’s being there. My concern, however, is about the additional traffic that the gambling facility will generate at an already busy intersection, which I often use. I am not too worried, however, because the section of the intersection that I use is not the one that will probably get most of the Rosie’s traffic.
Back to Sen. VanValkenburg and his frustration. I don’t feel too sorry for him. He should have considered this possibility before he voted for the legislation that authorized historical horse racing. Perhaps he never thought it would come to his area of the county.
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