Alexandria, Boat Club Negotiating Over Waterfront Plans

The Old Dominion Boat Club and the City of Alexandria have been holding talks regarding the city's plans to revamp the waterfront.

The city had hoped to carry out its vision for a developed waterfront by relocating the parking lot of the boat club, but that plan has been met with resistance.

However, the two groups met last week and Faroll Hamer, the city's head of the Planning and Zoning Department, said, "It went well...Talks are moving in a positive direction for the city and the boat club."

They are scheduled to continue negotiating this week.

At the , Boat Club President Miles Holtzman said the club would reconsider a new location for the boat club building, according to Hamer.

Holtzman said in an email to Patch that "As mentioned at the [Planning and Zoning] Hearing on April 5th, we continue to have a positive dialogue with the City.  Beyond that, I am going to have to decline further comment as discussions are still ongoing..."

The groups have talked on and off for years regarding development of the waterfront but had remained largely at loggerheads. A January court ruling in United States v. Old Dominion Boat Club said the government could not close down the private facility and forcibly allow more public access to the waterfront.

Now that that decades-old case is closed with the ruling in favor of the boat club, the two parties have moved forward in talks.