South of the James

By Conaway HaskinsObserving his writings, it is evident that the Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Michael Paul Williams does not particularly care for certain area suburbs, nor does he seem to be the biggest fan of white people, especially when he feels they are harming black people. Thus, it was no surprise to read his recent column whereby he railed against the prospect of his hometown Richmond Braves engaging in talks with Chesterfield County officials to explore a new baseball stadium as a possible use for the ill-fated mall. According to Mr. Williams, “it’s hard to imagine the Richmond Braves are holding out for this” with the “this” being, in his words, “the craggy stretch of Midlothian Turnpike near Cloverleaf Mall.”

Williams offers up his case for why developing the Cloverleaf site with a minor-league ballpark is a bad idea. Yet, it was difficult to ascertain whether he was more interested in laying out all of the stadium options facing the region (with preferences toward Richmond and Henrico), promoting the purchase of Cloverleaf by a Richmond-based African-American mega-church, or merely taking yet another turn at bat against Chesterfield’s always-entertaining public leaders. At any rate, Mr. Williams struck out.

However, before anyone thinks that this is a Chesterfield Observer editorial, let’s get right the point. First, the Richmond Braves option is worthy of serious consideration by Chesterfield County as an alternative mixed-use development model for that site. Second, the decision by Chesterfield to not sell the Cloverleaf site to Faith Alive International Ministries (a predominantly African-American congregation) does seem to be all about color, but in this instance, that color is green.

As noted in the Times-Dispatch last week, “R.M. “Dickie” King Jr., chairman of Chesterfield County’s Board of Supervisors, said he is aware of preliminary talks between the Braves and the county, though he has not been involved. County Administrator Lane B. Ramsey said he would describe the talks with the Braves as ‘preliminary, informal discussions about a site in Chesterfield.’ That site, he confirmed, is Cloverleaf Mall, at Midlothian Turnpike and Chippenham Parkway, just west of the city boundary. But King said he isn’t optimistic about a deal to bring the Braves to Chesterfield. Any stadium deal needs to be a regional effort and Chesterfield would want a commitment from private investors before the county invites the Braves in, he said…‘It would be difficult for me to support using county tax dollars to fund something like that,’ King explained.”

After paying nearly $9 million for the complicated land deal that is Cloverleaf, Chesterfield’s Board of Supervisors has been scrambling to find a suitable buyer for the site, one that will purchase it for a price that allows the county to at least recover the costs of the purchase and some opportunity costs. It is well documented that Faith Alive, led by Rev. Steve Parson, has offered to buy the site from Chesterfield, but those efforts have been rebuffed for the most part. There are plenty of reasons – the sheer economics of it for one – why Chesterfield would not want to sell the site to a church or church-related enterprise. However, since Chesterfield has never been known as a beacon of racial uplift, and since this is Metro Richmond where festering racial unpleasantness is woven into the fabric of public and private life, it has been rather easy for allusions of bigotry to creep into this deal. A recent Style Weekly article underscores this point.

The alternative weekly paper notes that W. Avon Drake, an associate professor of African-American studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, as says that “Richmond Christian Center, also known as Faith Alive International Ministries, would be a positive anchor for the community in that part of Chesterfield, which has seen demographics shift over the years. Today, many of the surrounding residential neighborhoods are poorer, with more black and Hispanic families. A wealthy church with many middle-class black families would be a strong role model for the rest of the community, Drake says. As for the county’s resistance, Drake, who spoke to Style about the issue in November, puts it bluntly: ‘If a prominent white church proposed developing the aging mall, the reaction would be different. I think they do not want a black institution of presence in that area of Chesterfield County that could develop into a power base of sorts for blacks,’ Drake says. ‘I have no doubt.’”

This writer has no evidence to refute Dr. Drake’s claim that race is guiding this decision other than a few conversations with various persons with varying interest in the development of Cloverleaf. On the other hand, this writer also has no evidence that Chesterfield’s reluctance to deal with the church is rooted in racism. As a resident of Chesterfield, an African-American resident no less, any racism or bigotry in this regard would truly be an abomination. Thus, in the lack of such evidence, it behooves one to look at the facts surrounding this case before passing judgment.

Churches are fine, upstanding community institutions, and Chesterfield County is home to its fair share (several of which this writer attends). However, churches are nonprofit entities, and as such, are not subject to the same levels of taxation and regulation as other landowners, including for-profit businesses and homeowners. Even when a church has for-profit subsidiaries (apparently the case with Faith Alive), the tax status of those entities is dependent on the church’s decision about business status incorporation. Given their legal status, churches may own parcels of land and buildings that are relatively free from real estate taxation. When those church-owned businesses rent space from the church, as opposed to owning them outright, the businesses are merely tenants and not subject to the same taxation as the landlord congregation.

This issue non-taxation is a critical one for any municipality, particularly in situations where economic and real estate development – and the accompanying public revenue streams and infrastructure expenditures – are concerned. In a nutshell, Chesterfield stands to lose from the sale of the Cloverleaf property to the church on two fronts. First, as a nonprofit, the church does not pay state sales taxes on purchases, a portion of which is returned to the county from the Commonwealth and church ownership of Cloverleaf would seemingly take that large property off the real estate tax rolls. Second, the costs of necessary infrastructure improvements related to roads, sewers, and schools for potential new families, would be borne by the taxable entities and properties in the county, thus shifting the burden of paying for the development to the rest of the county. Fees and taxes from real estate and related activities are the lifeblood of municipal public finance. Thus, in this deal, green, the color of money, trumps black, the color of the church congregation.

As to the merits of the stadium deal itself, Mr. Williams’ assessment of the possibilities of the Braves moving into the east end of Chesterfield may not be wrong, but it probably is not as bleak as he makes it seem. Sure, such a ballpark deal is unlikely and very expensive, and the county has rightly expressed its desire to limit tax-payer funding for the deal. Yet, it is not such a far-fetched proposition.

Cloverleaf is a vast expanse of land ample enough to house a ballpark, the accompanying parking, and other residential and commercial development. Though in a declining corridor, it is not comparable to the far more decaying sections of Richmond. The area is ripe for development as shown by nearby location of the Boulders and Stony Point developments. It sits at the intersection a major local thoroughfare – Midlothian Turnpike/Route 60 – and Chippenham Parkway, which provides direct access from the West End of Richmond and portions of Henrico. Chippenham is also just south of the Powhite Parkway, a gateway to the Downtown Expressway and Interstates 64 and 95. Downtown Richmond is merely 15-20 minutes from Cloverleaf. Yes, across the border in Richmond, the Midlothian Turnpike area is somewhat blighted and sketchy, but that calls out for regional cooperation between the city and the county to revitalize this once-active corridor, not abandonment.

Interestingly, as the Style article points out, the demographics of that end of Chesterfield is home to a growing Latino population – the fastest growing demographic among major and minor league rosters – and an increasing black population – the specific target of outreach efforts by Major League Baseball. Locating the Braves there could have the effect of helping the team expand its market ethnically and also geographically what with Chesterfield’s growing and increasingly affluent population, especially in light of Richmond’s steady population decline in the last decades.

In the end, keeping the church out of Cloverleaf is not yet a foregone conclusion. Any thing could happen. By the same token, the Braves moving to Chesterfield is a rosy, but promising, scenario. Still, regardless of whether tossing baseball into the Cloverleaf equation results in homerun, one thing is certain – no one should balk at the idea this early in the game.