North Barton Heights Civic Association

Meetings

Our current schedule of membership meetings planned for 2026 is as follows. All meetings are planned to be hosted at the North Ave branch of the Richmond Public Library located at 2901 North Ave. Richmond, VA 23222 in the main conference room unless otherwise noted:

  • Saturday, January 24,2026.  Monthly Meeting.
  • Saturday, February 28,2026.  Monthly Meeting.
  • Saturday, March 28, 2026.  Monthly Meeting.
  • Saturday, April 25, 2026. Monthly Meeting.

All dates are subject to change and will be announced here as well as on our Facebook. NOTE: This list was last updated on January 24,2026.

Meeting Agendas

Want to speak at one of our meetings? Have ideas for formats, etc.? Reach out to us at nbhca.rva@gmail.com.

Meeting Minutes

Members may obtain older meeting minutes via YouTube or request a hardcopy via nbhca.rva@gmail.com

 

January 2026 Meeting

Scribed and entered January 28,2026 at 13:58.

Meeting Date: January 24, 2026

Meeting Location: 2901 North Avenue Public Library

Attendees: 29 In person

 

Meeting came to order at 12:19 PM

Welcome by President Karen Link-Aaron

Agenda presented by President and Secretary, Melissa Harl.

Reading of the Treasury Report for November – December 31, 2025 by President.

 

Top Topic:

The Vice President of the North Barton Heights Civic Association has stepped down.

The remaining officers will be appointing an interim member to fulfill the duties of this position for, up to, two (2) months.

At the end of the two months a new VP must be elected by the membership.  

We will be announcing the interim VP in the next 10 days, if there is an eligible candidate after which Members may self-nominate to fill the role by informing the remaining officers by email for consideration.  This self nomination must be done up until one week prior to the second monthly meeting post-vacancy.

All Officer positions require that they be in good standing with the association.  Good standing requires dues [where applicable] are paid and current.

Refer to Position Description for details.

Vice President Duties:

  • Presides of the NBHCA meetings in the absence of the President.
  • Assists with the President’s duties as needed.
  • Will automatically serve as President should the person serving as the President vacates the role or otherwise becomes incapacitated.
  • Attendance at the Leadership meetings held by-monthly with our City Council Person and other district 3 Civic Association board members is not mandatory however recommended.  

REMOVAL or RECALL of ANY Officers:

Any officer can and will  be recalled from any position by a unanimous vote of the other members in good standing for any unexcused absence of two consecutive meetings.

An excused absence is any prior notification to the officers for missing a meeting due to travel, work schedule, illness or personal matters.

For more information email the board at:

NBHCA.rva@gmail.com

 

Meeting Minutes: None to pass on from October due to the office vacated by the Secretary due to move to another city. Video is at large. November is our official membership drive month and December is set aside for new officer installments and our end of year celebration.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:  

 

Northside Fresh Value Grocery Store.  Location to be at 2917 North Avenue. Keeping up email exchange with Mr. Bobby McIntosh.  He has asked for a Letter of Support from our association.  We will comply.  His presentation at our end of year celebration was very informative.  Everyone was excited about the layout and the services he is proposing. City did reject an inspection of the property due to the excessive flooding in the basement.  Bobby is working with the owner trying to get this last hurdle taken care of.  Bobby has reported receiving his LOI [Letter of Intent] pending resolution of the code violations issued to the building owner. The Mayor’s office has assigned an Economic Development team to assist Bobby with development and funding efforts. 

 

SUP -175124-2025 ICO BPB and Woodrow Avenue.

Baker Development Resources initiated contact on 11/12/2025. We took the initiative to procure the SUP number, who was the assigned PDR rep and what was the status. Marisa Perez has been our POC with our President with copies going to PDR, and other interested parties. The initial plan presented to PDR was rejected due to an overwhelming rejection from the surrounding neighbors as well as our civic association.  Initially Marisa Perez and others were to have visited us on this date to present their proposal for the civic association approval.  On January 7, 2026 the developer expressed that they were making extensive changes to their proposal and had been working with a resident near to the site proposed. 

 

The president of our association relayed to both PDR and the developer that while resident input is valuable the consensus of the entire neighborhood would be used in determining what/if their proposal is acceptable or not. The civic association would vote once the proposal is presented. The developer is required to present a proposal at a minimum of one visit.

On January 7, 2026 the president requested the developer to provide a high level overview of what changes are in the works so that we could share with our members.  No reply at that time.

January 21, 2026 The developer is now reevaluating and possibly changing from a multifamily build. The Civic Association extended an invite to them to our next meeting on February 28,2026.  They have accepted. 

 

ACCOMPLISTMENTS in 2025 – Looking in the rearview mirror!

  • Three Honey Do projects completed which include rebuilding steps, power washing and painting two front porches for seniors in our neighborhood.  All work is pro bono.

 

  • Poopie station was donated by our cleanup BPB crew and installed by the Honey Do crew at the North Avenue Library median strip.

 

  • We installed a new seed library at the North Avenue Public Library.  We have plenty of drawers for flowers and veggies.

 

  • Four members completed the Citizen Emergency Response Team aka C.E.R.T. course given by the Emergency Management Division of RVA and FEMA.  All received their certificates, backpacks and a ton of new gear. DPU Bobby Vincent got us signed up for RED E and the Director of CERT were also visitors.. Signed us up!!

 

  • Two members completed the RVA TREE Steward course.  We had the Director Dana Marshall come for a presentation prior to signup. Courses were at Pine Camp from September through November 2025.

 

  • Five Code Refresh Training modules were created and presented at the North Avenue Public Library.. We sponsored 5 Code Refresh Workshops open to not only the civic association but to surrounding communities.  What we gained through these workshops is we now have a strong working knowledge and understanding of what the CR is bringing not only to NBH but to the city as a whole.

 

  • Over two dozen YouTube Code Refresh videos were created by a member and widely distributed by other civic associations and the Mayor’s office.

 

  • NBHCA sponsored 12 BPB RVA Community Cleanups.  Our totals for the year was 666.72 LBS!!  WOW!

 

  • We sponsored a Fund and Food drive for the St. Thomas Episcopal Church located at 3602 Hawthorne Ave. From October through December 21, 2025 our QR code generated over 900 ‘pings.  Director Cummings relayed via email that our contributions were substantial.  We also donated over 25 bags of non-perishable food, 300 plus handled paper bags, and signed up to be an ambassador to a nearby neighbor so we could pick up food on his behalf.  

 

  • We held two membership drives in 2025.  One in April where we hand delivered to over 720 doorknobs [where feasible].

 

  • We had over two dozen speakers visit us between March and December.

 

  • We sent over 892 emails.
  • Our Advisory board member and our President attended and participated in over 24 city sponsored Code Refresh workshops and virtual meetings as well as over a two dozens meetings with RVA’s Leadership Coalition for Code Refresh.

 

Whew!  Yes it’s been a whirlwind year.  2026 is looking very promising as well!

 

GUEST SPEAKERS:

 

  • Presentation by Carol Freysinger.  A new way of getting emails out faster and with more focus on our immediate neighborhood where members can exchange communication.  

 

  • Mr. Anthony Cherry a two time Virginia Golden Gloves champion and a Silver Glove Title holder.  Mr. Cherry is opening up Cherry Pick’d Boxing and fitness gym at 201 W. Brookland Park Blvd.  He brought along several students to showcase and give us an example of what they’ve learned.  One young man is going for a state title.  Hoping to be open in five months which would be great – right in time for summer break!  He offers mentorships as well as they teach other skills to local kids.  We are very excited.  Welcome to the neighborhood!!!

 

Actions before next meeting. 

 

Discuss in more detail how emails would be collected.  Who would make up the team? Who would act as moderator.  What can and cannot be discussed within this email forum.  We have already heard that no politics will be up for discussion. No sexual topics. Etc.  TBD

 

The next meeting is scheduled for February 28,2026. 

 

The meeting adjourned at 1:46 PM.  Folks stacked chairs.  Good to hear a lot of folks talking afterwards sharing ideas and getting to know one another