Politics & Government

Alexandria vs. Old Dominion Boat Club: How Will it End?

Alexandria's public hearing to discuss options for implementing its waterfront plan in regards to the boat club's parking lot set for Nov. 19.

Fed up with the pace of negotiations with the Old Dominion Boat Club, Alexandria Mayor Bill Euille and City Manager Rashad Young last month announced the scheduling of a special hearing to publicly discuss options for implementing the city’s waterfront plan in regards to the club’s parking lot and adjacent areas, including the use of eminent domain.

Located near the foot of King Street, Euille called the ODBC member parking lot “the missing link” in the city’s plan for waterfront redevelopment, crucial for assuring connectivity and public access along the shore of the Potomac River. It’s also necessary for implementing flood mitigation measures, a major focus of the plan.

Club leadership has also expressed its displeasure with the on-again, off-again nature of talks, but ODBC President Miles Holtzman made a concession to City Council at its October public hearing saying the club is willing to open public access across part of its property.

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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.

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.

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The club would like to retain the ownership and lease or grant some rights to the property (The city is currently leasing some of its waterfront property for outdoor seating at the soon-to-open Waterfront Café and Market at a cost of about $11,000 a year). 

Both sides laid out their arguments last week at a meeting of the city’s Waterfront Commission in packed room in City Hall. After commission members asked their questions, members of the public were given a chance to do the same.

“We had suggestions by a lot of people, 'Can’t you do this? Can’t you do that?’” said Faroll Hamer, director of the city’s Department of Planning and Zoning. “Pretty much the answer is ‘We tried this, we tried that.’ There are a lot of solutions. There’s probably not a million. We’ve probably tried 30 or 40. And maybe there’s 100. But there’s probably some relatively finite number. I don’t know what that is. When you do this, you have to sit at the table with the idea that both parties want to resolve it, but for whatever reason that has not been the case in the past.”

Following the meeting, Planning Commissioner Stewart Dunn, a member of the waterfront body, said he believes splitting the difference in square footage “is always a good solution.” He also suggested binding arbitration or simple hard-nosed negotiation with all the appropriate parties present.

Another suggestion was to bring in Laurie Olin, the renowned landscape architect whose firm is responsible for the design elements of the waterfront plan. His expertise and apparent enchantment of some redevelopment critics could be utilized to find a happy medium.

Eminent domain, while not the city’s first option, could become its final one. The city can initiate its use with a simple majority vote by council. Euille likely wouldn’t have floated eminent domain unless there was confidence council would approve its use. 

But that’s an expensive, ugly option.

“It might be very time consuming and costly,” Dunn said.

A year ago, Virginia voters approved an amendment strengthening property rights and prohibiting the use of eminent domain in the commonwealth for private enterprise, job creation, tax revenue generation or economic development.

However, the city eyes the space for public space and connectivity.

The amendment also expanded the definition of just compensation, potentially increasing the cost to the city if it is successful in using eminent domain.

And, of course, the boat club has shown it’s willing to defend its property in court.

So how does this conflict end? An answer could be fleshed out during the city’s special public hearing, which begins at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 19 in City Hall.

In the meantime, does anyone out there have any ideas? Tell us in the comments section below. 


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