Administrative Information

Access

Collection is open for use without restrictions

Use Restrictions

none

Preferred Citation

Box/folder, Patrick McSweeney Papers, M 280, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University.

Biographical/Historical Information

Patrick M. McSweeney is a lawyer currently with McSweeney, Stutts, and Burtch in Richmond, Virginia. He lives in Powhatan and is the Powhatan representative to the Richmond Regional Planning District Commission (R.R.P.D.C.) which he joined in 1977 and served as chairman in FY 1981. Mr. McSweeney is concerned about the environment and aside from the work with the R.R.P.D.C., he belongs to the Conservation Council.

The Richmond Regional Planning District Commission consisted of Henrico, Chesterfield and Richmond, when first organized in 1956 under the auspices of the Richmond City Planning Commission. In 1968, the Virginia General Assembly enacted the Virginia Area Development Act (VADA) allowing local governments to voluntarily form and join planning commissions. The new commissions would be more involved in the political decision making process than before. The new commission was formed in 1969 as the Richmond Regional Planning District Commission. The Commission provides many services including: comprehensive planning, water quality management, population and data forecasting, and transportation services. Included here is a list of chairmen and the names of the three Executive Directors.

Chairmen
Nathan J. Forb FY 1969-1970 (Deceased)
Edwin H. Ragsdale FY 1970-1971
James C. Francisco, Jr. FY 1971-1972
Earl H. Henley FY 1972-1973
Anthony P. Mehfoud FY 1973-1974
W. Thomas West FY 1974-1975
Howard D. Brown FY 1975-1976
Aubrey H. Thompson FY 1976-1977 (Deceased)
J. Ruffin Apperson FY 1977-1978
Richard S. Ellyson FY 1978-1979
George W. Jinkins, Jr. FY 1979-1980 (half term)
Charles M. Johnson FY 1979-1980 (half term, Deceased)
Patrick M. McSweeney FY 1980-1981
Richard S. Gillis FY 1981-1982
Terry L. Cook FY 1982-1983
Henry O. Holliman, Jr. FY 1983- 1984
Joan Girone FY 1984-1985
Andrew J. Gillespie FY 1985-1986
John A. Waldrop, Jr. FY 1986-1987
Karl E. Hawk FY 1987-1988
Paul C. Robinson FY 1988-1989
Harry G. Daniel FY 1989-1990

Scope and Content Information

The collection covers Mr. McSweeney's involvement in water issues in the Richmond area from 1958-1987. There is only one item from 1958 and the bulk of the collection ranges from 1977 to 1985. The collection particularly covers his involvement with the R.R.P.D.C., which he joined in 1977. The R.R.P.D.C. water materials cover many topics. The bulk of it concerns the Richmond-Crater 208 program, which was a coalition of Richmond and Petersburg R.R.P.D.C. members as well as private citizens concerned with water problems in the metropolitan area. The 208 program concerns Sewage Treatment Plants (STP), James River Water Quality Management Plan, and James River Water Quality Monitoring Program (both abbreviated JRWQMP), Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO), and Non-Point Source (NPS) pollution. There are also a great deal of correspondence and reports concerning the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit, a federal permit about which there is some controversy over Richmond's compliance. Materials in the collection include correspondence, notes, reports, agendas, minutes, some legal documents, publications and newspaper clippings. The newsclippings that could be identified by source, date and page and are held in the James Branch Cabell Library periodicals collection were discarded and are noted in the series listing. The correspondence is largely between Mr. McSweeney, the R.R.P.D.C. and the State Water Control Board (SWCB).

The collection contained audio cassettes of two meetings, one of the SWCB and the SWCB and the R.R.P.D.C. These have been transferred to M15, series 16, numbers 205 and 206. Also removed from the collection was a Style magazine, v. IV, # 21, May 1986. This can be found in the Department's collection of Style. The program "The James River as Commonwealth--A Public Symposium" can be found in the Department's University Publications file under Environmental Studies.

Of some interest are letters to and from Senator John Warner, Senator Harry F. Bryd, Jr., Rep. Dan Daniel, Rep. Robert W. Daniel, Jr., Rep. J. Kenneth Robinson, and Rep. Thomas J. Bliley.

The materials in this collection cover on-going projects and additional material will be added in the future. Until then, the newspaper is a good source of information pertinent to the collection.

Arrangement

The collection contained disorganized, loose papers and a few labelled files when received. The order was established by the compiler by subject in keeping with the few files that were labelled. Within the subject headings, the papers are arranged chronologically. Many of these papers and reports are technical and some knowledge of water quality and the related terminology would be helpful.

Series I--RRPDC non-water related materials (n.d., 1974-1983); Series II--RRPDC water materials (N.D., 1971-1987) sub-series 1: NPDES Permit (n.d., 1977-1985), sub-series 2: Richmond/Crater 208 (n.d., 1973- 1986), subseries 3: Water Treatment (n.d., 1971-1986), sub-series 4: Water Quality (n.d., 1977-1987), sub-series 5: Laws for Planning Commissions (n.d., 1976-1983); Series III--Water laws (n.d., 1958-1985); Series IV--Water groups and publications (n.d., 1977-1986); Series V--Miscellaneous materials (n.d., 1978-1985); Series VI--Newspaper Clippings (n.d., 1974-1986); Series VII--Reports (n.d., 1974-1986)