Lee Circle fence to come down in the spring

The fencing around Lee Circle should come down this spring, City Councilwoman Katherine Jordan wrote Friday in her weekly 2nd District newsletter.

What's happening: Last week, the city began prep work inside the concrete barrier and 8-foot-tall fence that for 27 months has surrounded the site where the massive Robert E. Lee statue once stood.

• Over the next few weeks, city workers will install irrigation and implement a temporary landscaping plan of $100,000 worth of mostly native plants.
• The fence and barrier will then come down, Jordan wrote.

A spokesperson for the City, Petula Burks, confirmed to Axios that "there is some movement" in prepping the greenspace, but did not respond to a request for a timeline.

Why it matters: In summer 2020, the circle became a focal point for racial justice activists, who planted community gardens, erected basketball hoops and renamed the area Marcus-David Peters Circle, in honor of a teacher killed by Richmond police in 2018 during a mental health break.

The intrigue: The city is now referring to the area as simply a "traffic circle," according to Planning Commission details, and implementing the plan that was designed to discourage pedestrian access.

Of note: The large greenspace has attracted pedestrians throughout its more than 100-year history, from summer sunbathers and neighbors walking their dogs to tourists who turned out for various Confederate holidays.