Politics & Government

Alexandria Officials Hope for Compromise But Unwilling to Drop Eminent Domain in Boat Club Feud

Old Dominion Boat Club and city to enter a 90-day negotiation period concerning riverfront parking lot.

Alexandria will begin steps to implement the process of eminent domain should a 90-day negotiation period with the Old Dominion Boat Club over its parking lot not yield a resolution, city leaders decided Tuesday night.

Council approved the measure by 6-1 vote following a lengthy hearing in which ODBC members urged city leaders to keep negotiating and remove consideration of eminent domain in implementing a waterfront redevelopment plan that seeks connectivity and public access along the Potomac River's shore.

Mayor Bill Euille has called the boat club’s fenced-in lot located near the foot of King Street “the missing link” to the city’s waterfront plan. The boat club and city officials have been negotiating throughout this year. Euille brought eminent domain back to the table in October when he scheduled Tuesday's hearing. 

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Vice Mayor Allison Silberberg cast the lone dissenting vote Tuesday night. When her motion to separate eminent domain from the proceedings failed, ODBC members stormed out of the chamber. Some yelled “dog-and-pony show” and “spend our money wisely” during their exit.

“After having sat through three-and-a-half-hour meeting where only three or four people were in favor of eminent domain out of more than 60 speakers, council immediately defaulted into a position that apparently didn’t take into account what the speakers had to say,” ODBC President Miles Holtzman said. “They seem to want to have their cake and eat it too, meaning they want to be perceived as conciliatory while not giving up the hammer of eminent domain. We can only hope as we go forward they can take what was said tonight into account.” 

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Councilmembers said they have received plenty of correspondence from citizens in favor of seizing the lot, which club members use to park their cars and access a boat ramp. They remained hopeful a compromise was within reach in the longstanding feud.

“We’ve had five rounds of negotiations over the last 15 years and they never can seem to quite get to fruition,” Councilman Tim Lovain said. “It’s my hope that just the threat of eminent domain is enough to focus the negotiators, hopefully with the help of a mediator, on reaching a solution and inducing and agreement everyone can be happy with.”

An independent mediator could be employed to facilitate negotiations during the 90-day period if both sides agree. It wasn’t clear when that time period would begin.

Last month, Holtzman made a concession to council saying the historic club is willing to open public access across part of its property.

The ODBC has since offered to scale back its 21,775-square-foot lot to 18,565 square feet to allow walkways along the river and the Strand, more space for an envisioned plaza at the foot of King Street and to implement much-needed flood mitigation measures.

The city says it needs to scale the lot to 11,500 square feet and that it wants the public access to become city land.

The club would like to retain the ownership and lease or grant some rights to the property.

Several speakers Tuesday said they felt the two parties were close enough to continue negotiations, though animosity remains.

“Would you really rather have some grass [parkland] than a partner on the waterfront who will sponsor and support city events?” past ODBC president and longtime city resident said Charles Huettner asked council. “The city is a historic seaport. ODBC is the only continuously operating tie to that history. If you take the ODBC boat launch and parking lot you will destroy this historic institution.”

Other speakers lambasted council for floating the “draconian” measure of eminent domain, with some believing the city was setting itself up to fail in front of a recently amended state law that strengthens property rights and prohibits the use of eminent domain for private enterprise, job creation, tax revenue generation or economic development.

“The last thing I want to do is utilize eminent domain,” Councilman Justin Wilson said. “It’s essentially the local government’s use of force. It’s absolutely a last resort.”

Others chided councilmembers for costly legal battles—several of which have been waged against the boat club in the past—and the toll that takes on city taxpayers as well as the funding for the club’s charitable endeavors.

“I want a council that recognizes and spends our limited tax dollars on real issues,” said ODBC member David Hammond. “We should allow our city more access to affordable housing than access to a slightly wider walkway around the parking lot.”

A few speakers suggested alternative resolutions to the feud, the most transformative being a land swap of the city-owned Beachcomber lot at the foot of Prince Street for the entire ODBC property, clubhouse and all. The boat club would then get a new building at the new site and the city would get to construct its Fitzgerald Plaza at the bottom of King Street.

Euille said it's an idea that was put on the table during previous negotiations.

“You’ve given some thought to it and those are some possibilities,” Euille said. “Hopefully in having more frank and honest discussions, we can have a compromise. That’s what council would like to see occur.” 


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