RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) — Richmond City Council took the next step Monday night by removing the city’s last standing Confederate monument.

City leaders passed a resolution to involve the Circuit Court to expedite the process of removing the AP Hill statue from Laburnum Ave.

Since 2020, the city says it has been working with Hill’s family to relocate the Confederate general’s body.

“We have offered options to the family, which the city obviously hopes they will choose,” Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney said.

One of those options presented in October 2021 was to move Hill’s remains to a cemetery in Culpepper, an offer the city says it has yet to hear.

“What the city council voted on last night was that we ask the courts to give us the option of reinterring General Hill’s remains and hopefully we will come to a resolution as soon as possible,” Stoney said.

The city says it hopes the court will see that he tried to work with the family and give him permission to move Hill to another location.

City residents who live near the statue at the intersection of Laburnum Ave. and Heritage Rd. say part of the reason they want to see the statue fall is because they think it causes a lot of accidents.

“It’s dangerous, it’s a nuisance, and we have car accidents here at least once or twice a week,” said Heather DM, a resident living nearby.

At Monday night’s meeting, Councilor Ann-Frances Lambert called the stretch of road the most dangerous intersection in the city of Richmond.

According to accident data from Virginia DMV, in 2020 there were 17 accidents at the statue and 12 last year.

“I was here one day and saw a huge tractor-trailer turn in front of the statue instead of going all the way around and coming down the opposite side of the traffic,” DM said.

The resolution passed Monday will also allow the city to donate Hill’s statue to the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia once it is removed.

The city says once the statue is removed, the area will be paved over until the community hears more feedback on what to put in its place.

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