It's Thursday!

🌧️ Today's weather: Mostly sunny then showers and thunderstorms likely, with a high of 91 and a low of 70.

🎧 Sounds like: "Make It Rain," by Fat Joe featuring Lil Wayne.

🎂 Happy birthday to our members Jeniffer Maloney, Quentin van Marcke de Lummen, Yvonne Bellamy-Arvin and Tony Mattera!

Today's newsletter is 1,081 words — a 4-minute read.

Chesterfield expects to add more than 100,000 residents by 2050. But its proposed long-term plan calls for less residential density countywide, not more.

Why it matters: Chesterfield's approach to growth stands out in the region.

• While Richmond and Henrico have explored adding more housing in neighborhoods and commercial corridors, Chesterfield is moving in the other direction.

State of play: The county's draft plan envisions 9.6% less residential density and 7.5% less commercial density than the plan adopted in 2019.

• The changes would reduce how much residential and commercial development the region's most populous county is planning for.
• The biggest land-use changes are south and west of Route 288, "particularly in the Bermuda and Matoaca districts," per county officials.
• Officials say residents' concerns about traffic and the pace of growth — plus the county's need to "catch up on infrastructure" to support its growing population — drove the changes.

Between the lines: Chesterfield's population is just under 400,000 people, up from 364,000 in 2020, per the plan.

• The county projects it'll top half a million by 2050.

The intrigue: Even as Chesterfield plans for less residential density, the county acknowledges it needs more affordable housing.

• 1 in 4 county households spends more than 30% of its income on housing, including 44% of renters.
• And households need to earn around $200,000 a year to afford a median-priced, new single-family home in the county, about twice its median household income.

Zoom in: The county wants to address those housing needs by steering more housing options to already developed areas and encouraging:

• More townhomes and duplexes.
• Greater use of accessory dwelling units, aka ADUs or granny flats.
• Affordable housing incentives for developers.

Yes, but: The draft doesn't outline where specifically the affordable housing Chesterfield says it needs would be built to accommodate its projected growth.

What's next: Chesterfield is hosting a series of community meetings in the coming months.

Full story

A Richmond restaurant owner says the city mistakenly pulled roughly $60,000 from her bank account this week for a utility bill that typically would've been around $1,500.

Why it matters: The erroneous charge left Harry's at Hofheimer owner Natalie McNamara scrambling to get her money back and raised fresh questions about the city's billing system amid ongoing problems.

State of play: McNamara, who owns and operates the Scott's Addition spot, received a $58,486.76 water bill last week, according to records reviewed by Axios.

• Her typical monthly water bill for the space is roughly $1,500.
• Most of the increase appeared to be connected to the building's fireline meter, which showed usage jumping from zero to 9,989.83 CCF for July — a line item cost of over $55,000.
• McNamara says DPU officials told her yesterday that the spike stemmed from a meter-reading issue that the department should have caught.

The other side: A city spokesperson said in a statement that DPU doesn't comment on "specific customer billing concerns."

Between the lines: The error required McNamara to spend a week unsuccessfully trying to reach DPU by phone.

• Trying to reconstruct her billing history also required navigating the city's two billing systems, she says.
• She finally got the disputed charge removed after contacting her City Council rep, who connected her with the DPU director.

What they're saying: "I worked at a law firm ... so I know how to advocate for myself," McNamara tells Axios. "Most people don't."

• She shared her story to warn Richmonders to closely check their water bills, she says.

Full story

🛒 The parent company that owns Ellwood Thompson's Local Market, the natural food grocer that until 2018 was locally owned and operated, is being acquired by a data center developer. (The Richmonder)

⚽️ Colonial Heights approved the sale of a 38-acre site near Southpark Mall to Richmond-based hotelier Sina Hospitality, which plans to build a sports tourism complex there. (BizSense)

Police charged a 19-year-old VSU student as an accessory after police say a suspect in Saturday's mass shooting hid in her dorm room. (WRIC)

👀 The measles outbreak in Buckingham and Cumberland counties is over, per the state health department. (Times-Dispatch)

If you’ve ever wanted to party on a private island in Richmond, this weekend is for you.

Today

☕️ Sefton Coffee Co. is turning its supply basement into a listening room. Doors open at 6pm. $12.

Friday

😻 CatVideoFest is back at the Ashland Theatre through Saturday with a compilation of cat videos. 7pm. $14.

Saturday

🇪🇬 The Egyptian Festival is back until Sunday near Highland Springs. 11am-8pm. Free admission.

Sunday

🏝️ Party on a private island (Sharp’s Island) with the Pair Club, which is celebrating one year of hosting singles events. Non-singles are also invited. 2:30-6:30pm. $39.19.

🎶 Union Market’s Sunday music series just started up again, with live music on the patio through Oct. 18. 6-8:45pm. Free.

Full list, including a Forest Hill parking lot party and an opossum taxidermy class.

Sabrina here. The closest thing to an Italian summer in Richmond might be a converted garage in Church Hill on East Marshall Street.

Why it matters: Almost everything at Giorno Market is imported from Italy, its peachy umbrellas are reminiscent of those on the Amalfi Coast and the lack of AC will make you feel very European in no time.

The big picture: Amelia and Freddie Gimenez opened the Italian-inspired market last year across from Chimbo Sandwich Shoppe.

• Giorno's shelves are filled with delicious Italian staples, like wine, rigatoni and cavatappi pastas, sauces, and clementine Italian sodas.
• The market also has trinkets hidden throughout, like Ferrari replicas, making for a solid game of "I Spy."

Plus: Giorno's serves coffee, including a peaches and cream latte, and has free wine tastings on Thursdays, 5-8pm.

Keep reading for the hours

😱 Karri is terrified of her water bill now — and was also still having billing issues until yesterday.

• The wait time when she called DPU yesterday was one hour. Pro tip: Email them.

😀 Sabrina is happy she's a renter and doesn't get a water bill but she's still not over her Dominion Energy bill nearly doubling.

Thanks to Alexa Mencia Orozco for editing today's edition