Unanimous City Council vote approves Planned Parenthood clinic in Northside

The former Brook Hill School at Chamberlayne and Azalea avenues is planned to be razed to make way for a new Planned Parenthood health center. (BizSense file photo)

A plan for a third Planned Parenthood clinic in Richmond is moving forward following a unanimous approval Monday evening.

City Council declared surplus and OK’d the transfer of the former Brook Hill School site at Chamberlayne and Azalea avenues to the Virginia League of Planned Parenthood, which is planning a $6 million health center on the Northside property.

The approval provides the 1-acre property to VLPP for $10, a point of contention for some opponents as well as supporters of the project who were among 40 people who spoke in a hearing before the vote.

While most of the 30 speakers in opposition to the project focused their comments on arguments about abortion, several questioned why the city was selling the property for $10 rather than its assessed value of $1.24 million, contending that such funds should benefit Richmond Public Schools.

Among them was former councilman Marty Jewell, who said a city ordinance had been passed to require that proceeds from the sale of surplus school properties be used to benefit the school system.

“You’re giving it away for $10,” Jewell said.

Following the hearing, council heard from Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Sharon Ebert, who said the decision to sell the property at a nominal cost was made in light of VLPP’s commitment to develop the new center, as well as the city’s commitment to support VLPP in light of the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

In 2022, council approved a resolution expressing the city’s opposition to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that made abortion a protected right under the Constitution.

The new center will be similar to VLPP’s East End Health Center on 25th Street. (BizSense file image courtesy VLPP)

The resolution called for the Virginia General Assembly to protect and expand abortion access in the state, and Mayor Levar Stoney and the city’s human services department extended their support to VLPP, which worked with the city to identify the Chamberlayne site as a suitable location for a new clinic.

Noting that VLPP made an unsolicited offer for the property, Ebert described the $10 sale amount as a contribution to help the group raise the funds needed to demolish the existing building and build the new 10,000-square-foot center, which VLPP projects will cost $6 million and accommodate at least 12,000 visitors per year.

Ebert added that the existing building had previously been declared surplus when the city accepted it from RPS in 2022. She said the building was already in bad shape at the time and had since worsened due to a pipe break and mold and mildew damage from a leaking roof. Lead paint and asbestos are also concerns, she said.

Councilmembers did not offer any comment ahead of the vote, which Stephanie Lynch called for following President Kristen Nye’s invitation for discussion. Katherine Jordan asked to be added as a patron of the ordinance with her vote, joining fellow patrons Andreas Addison, Ann-Frances Lambert and Nicole Jones, along with Nye, Lynch and Stoney.

Following the unanimous vote, Stoney’s office issued a release applauding the approval.

Levar Stoney

“Access to affordable, quality health care, including reproductive services, is essential to the well-being of our residents,” Stoney said in the release. “I am proud the City Council unanimously voted to approve this land transfer. Richmond is leading the way in the South for protecting reproductive rights and increasing access to health care.”

The release also included comments from VLPP CEO Paulette McElwain and from Lambert, who represents the Third District that includes the site at 4929 Chamberlayne Ave.

“This new Planned Parenthood Center will not only improve access to reproductive health care, but also ensure that we live up to our promise of addressing health inequities in our city,” Lambert said in the release. “I am proud that this center will be in the Third District and I look forward to seeing all of the benefits it will provide Northside and beyond.”

According to the city, the facility will create 20 jobs and provide “family planning, primary care and gender-affirming care with subsidized fees to make care affordable to city residents who do not have insurance or whose insurance doesn’t cover the care they need or have high deductible plans.”

The facility would be similar to VLPP’s East End Health Center at 1122 N. 25th St. The group also has a West End facility at 201 N. Hamilton St. A project timeline has not been established.

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