After late-night procedural maneuvering, Lavender Hill event space permit is voted down by City Council

Months of bitter fighting over a proposed West End event space ended with a Monday night vote by City Council to reject a special use permit that would have allowed outdoor events at Lavender Hill.

The vote had been on Council’s docket since its Jan. 12 meeting, but Monday night’s resolution was a chaotic one, as one Councilor motioned to vote seconds before another could motion for another deferral.

Lavender Hill’s owner, event planner Nadia Anderson, was applying to host outdoor events with amplified sound, which drew objections from nearby neighbors in Sauer’s Gardens, who said it would create unacceptable levels of noise and disruption.

Richmond’s Planning Commission voted 8-1 to recommend that City Council deny the permit, but Council asked the stakeholders to work towards a compromise that would protect Anderson’s ability to hold outdoor events in the space as well as the indoor gatherings she is already permitted to host.

On Monday Councilor Andrew Breton, whose 1st District includes Lavender Hill, reported that the two sides were unable to reach a compromise.

“We really tried everything to figure this out, because of the value that we saw with this business and the importance of protecting residential use,” Breton said. “In the end, we weren’t able to bridge the gap.”

Breton said one major sticking point was whether amplified sound would be allowed in the venue’s outdoor space.

“All the proposals that seemed reasonable for being adjacent to residences would come with the reasonable response of, ‘I can’t make enough money to fund a business if I don’t do enough weddings,’” he said. “It’s not that anyone was being unreasonable or intransigent or stubborn.”

Before the vote, multiple speakers addressed Council from both sides of the issue.

Anderson herself spoke as well. She said she had offered additional reductions in the number of events she would be allowed to hold annually, from an initial proposal of 52 to 24, but said Breton told her “the reduced offer was not substantial enough.” 

The City Council, however, was ultimately not persuaded by supporters, voting to reject the proposal shortly after more than an hour of debate. Six members voted to deny the permit, with Nicole Jones (9th District) casting the lone vote in favor of the expanded events and Council President Cynthia Newbille (7th District) abstaining.

“We have in my opinion done a disservice because I believe that there are things that we could have worked through and we did not,” Jones said.

There was one final attempt at a last-minute compromise, led by Councilor Ellen Robertson (6th District). She mentioned a proposal that would have allowed 10 days per year of outdoor events of up to 150 guests with amplified noise, and an additional 20 days per year of outdoor events with up to 50 guests and a “portable tabletop speaker.”

Robertson asked Anderson to state whether she would be in favor of the compromise, to which she said she would. 

Robertson then floated the idea of postponing the vote to a future date to allow time to write out an amendment that spelled out those terms.

Breton objected at that point, stating that those terms had not been agreed to by the neighbors, and an additional delay “would cause more expense and it would cause more damage to everyone’s sanity – the mental health of everyone involved.”

With uncertainty over how the Council would proceed, Breton then motioned for a vote, which was followed seconds later by Robertson motioning to delay the decision.

After discussion with the city lawyer, it was ruled that Breton’s motion needed to be addressed first because it was made first, and that Robertson’s motion became moot after the results of that vote.

Council officials advised Robertson that a potential path forward would be to introduce a brand new special use permit at a future meeting.

Anderson returned to the dais to ask for a clarification on the sequence of motions and votes, to which she was told that the Council would have to get back to her, with other business remaining to be handled.

After the rejection vote, Planning Director Kevin Vonck was asked about possible next steps, and said Anderson could continue hosting indoor events, as she is allowed to do under current zoning laws, or attempt to resubmit for a new special use permit.

Contact Michael Phillips at mphillips@richmonder.org.