Thursday, February 28, 2013
Vice Mayor Allison Silberberg reaches out to 93-year-old musician, receives letter opposing "modernized" waterfront.
Alexandria Vice Mayor Allison Silberberg is making a push for “reasonable compromise” on the city’s waterfront plan and has brought in the assistance of folk music legend Pete Seeger. Silberberg's push follows the introduction of a new zoning text amendment by city officials earlier this month that, if approved, will allow the city to overcome existing litigation and spur new development along the riverside of the Potomac. See: City Council Aims to Vote Again on Waterfront Plan Elected in November, Silberberg is the lone current councilmember to express opposition to the plan and a desire to spend more time on it. Her idea for compromise includes limiting the number of hotels along the waterfront. The current plan calls for two small …
Friday, February 15, 2013
City Manager Rashad Young, at the request of City Council, introduces new zoning amendment that if passed will allow city to "get beyond litigation."
Alexandria city officials announced Friday the introduction of a new zoning text amendment that if passed will allow the city to overcome existing litigation and begin implementation of the controversial waterfront small area plan that would spur development along the Potomac River. In an executive session of City Council earlier in the week, Mayor Bill Euille said councilmembers "provided guidance" to City Manager Rashad Young indicating that he should request the Planning Commission initiate and consider the new text amendment to implement zoning of the plan. “This action provides us with an opportunity to get beyond the litigation,” Young said Friday. “We are agreeing to meet the supermajority standards the plan opponents are asking …
Monday, December 31, 2012
Short-term recommendations approved; Shared-street concept draws skepticism.
Earlier this month, Alexandria City Council approved a series of short-term changes to Old Town’s Union Street corridor. The changes stem from a recommendation in the Waterfront Small Area Plan that the city review vehicular, pedestrian and other impacts along one of Old Town’s busiest streets between Jones Point Park and Pendleton Street. One of the more transformative recommendations is to design, with input from the community, a pedestrian plaza on the south side of the unit block of King Street next to Mai Thai and Starbucks. Other short-term recommendations include: Council also adopted an amendment to institute improvements at the intersection of Franklin and Union streets. Long-term recommendations of the plan call for pursuing a …
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Judge denies motions by the city and its opponents in a case brought by the city asking the court to rule that the Board of Zoning Appeals does not have certain authorities.
An Alexandria Circuit Court judge last week denied separate requests by the city and its opponents in a case brought by the city asking the court to rule that Alexandria’s Board of Zoning Appeals does not have certain authorities. The judge’s rulings mean the case is still on course for an April hearing next year. The Board of Zoning Appeals last spring sided with citizens who had asked it to reconsider a ruling by the director of Alexandria’s Planning and Zoning Department. Faroll Hamer had ruled as invalid their petition requesting the city not rezone some waterfront land near their homes and so not allow hotels. The city filed suit in circuit court to express it disagreed with the BZA ruling and at the time, City Attorney Jim Banks said…
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Board of Architectural Review expected to hold informal work session on Carr Hospitality proposal for waterfront hotel in lieu of formal vote.
Alexandria’s Planning and Zoning director told members of Old Town’s architectural review board that they will discuss a waterfront hotel proposal as an informal work session rather than a formal application in response to critics of the plan. Friends of the Alexandria Waterfront, a group opposing zoning changes along the waterfront permitting uses such as hotels, sent a letter July 9 to the Board of Architectural Review for the Old and Historic Alexandria District asking it to defer reviewing a proposed hotel at 220 S. Union St. because of legal issues, zoning requirements and other reasons. The group said in the letter that considering a “certificate of appropriateness” for Carr Hospitality’s proposal “is both premature and inappropriate…
38.80309
-77.040498
200 S Union St, Alexandria, VA
/articles/city-slows-process-for-waterfront-hotel-plans-in-response-to-concerns
/locations/7440174
Monday, May 7, 2012
Co-chairman Andrew Macdonald will step away from the group as he runs for mayor. Fellow Chairman Boyd Walker earlier this year announced his intentions to resign as he runs for council.
Citizens for an Alternative Alexandria Waterfront Plan has announced new leadership and said its co-chairman, Andrew Macdonald, has stepped down from his position as he runs for the mayor’s seat, which will be decided in November. CAAWP co-founder Boyd Walker earlier this year announced he also would step aside to run for City Council. The group has elected vocal CAAWP supporters Bert Ely and Mark Mueller as co-chairmen. The group, which largely opposes the city’s plan to redevelop the waterfront, said in a statement: “In the coming months, CAAWP will be focused on raising funds to support a two-part challenge to the legality of the waterfront plan and rezoning that City Council adopted on Jan. 21.” City Council passed a plan to redevelop …
Friday, April 20, 2012
Project planners hear from citizens at community meeting following briefing on three station alternatives.
Alexandria citizens expressed concerns with the construction of a Potomac Yard Metrorail station that would impact nearby wetlands and the George Washington Memorial Parkway during a community meeting Thursday at Cora Kelly Recreation Center. Project planners with the city used the event to brief the crowd on three build alternatives for a station under evaluation as part of an environmental impact study for the project. A no-build alternative is also being evaluated. It includes improvements to existing transit options in the area. Two of the three station alternatives—an at-grade station located between the parkway and CSX tracks on a new track alignment north of Potomac Greens and an aerial station located west of the CSX tracks almost…
38.83665
-77.05791
Cora Kelly Recreation Center
25 W Reed Ave, Alexandria, VA
/articles/citizens-express-concerns-about-construction-impacts-of-potomac-yard-metro-station
1901266
/locations/6859847
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Citizens for an Alternative Waterfront Plan seeks to raise about $50,000 to pay for the legal costs accrued by three women who have sued the city over a waterfront rezoning issue.
Citizens for an Alternative Alexandria Waterfront Plan is hosting a “mailing party” Tuesday evening in an effort to fundraise for the citizens seeking to squelch city efforts to rezone parts of the riverside, allowing development such as hotels. CAAWP leader Andrew Macdonald said the group seeks to raise about $50,000 for legal fees, but hopes that some of the work related to the case will be offered pro bono. “This is a VERY important mail out. The three petitioners, Marie Kux, Beth Gibney, and April Burke, as well as Mark Mueller and Bert Ely, both of whom have been integral to the legal process, need our support in reaching out to donors to pay for the legal bills incurred as a result of the petition effort,” reads a marketing effort by…
38.805118
-77.044677
Pat Troy's Restaurant & Pub
111 N Pitt St, Alexandria, VA
/articles/alexandria-waterfront-plan-opponents-seek-to-raise-funds-for-legal-case
419785
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Thursday, November 17, 2011
Waterfront Work Group discusses trolley and transportation linkages.
Alexandria is currently looking to expand trolley service outside of Old Town, with several proposed routes in Del Ray. Abi Lerner of the city’s Department of Transportation and Environment Services briefed the Del Ray Citizens Association on Monday about some potential routes in Del Ray and Carlyle. The motorized trolley currently runs free passenger service from King Street Metro station down to the waterfront along King Street. Lerner identified four alternative routes under examination. The first would start at Braddock Road Metro station, move north on Mt. Vernon Avenue and then loop down Commonwealth Avenue by Cora Kelly School and back to Mt. Vernon along W. Reed Avenue. A second alternative would start at Braddock Metro, run north …
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Waterfront group makes headway, but concerns loom over best approaches.
The group striving for common ground on the city’s waterfront redevelopment plans met this week to address flood mitigation and some aspects of parks and recreation. Group member Mindy Lyle asked City Engineer Emily Baker, on a scale of 100 to zero, what are the city’s chances of getting flood mitigation grants, to which Baker said “not zero, but low.” Businessman Bert Ely, who is also a member of a group seeking an alternative to the city's plan, asked why it should include recommendations for flood mitigation at all. “Is it a significant enough issue?,” he asked. “I believe so and that’s what we heard from the community,” said Baker. “It should be incorporated in what’s being done in parks and open space.” The city’s flood mitigation …
38.80423
-77.04027
King St & N Union St, Alexandria, VA
/articles/waterfront-work-group-strives-for-consensus-on-flooding-mitigation-parks
/locations/5722750
Defy Libtards
7:24 pm on Wednesday, March 6, 2013
If that restaurant/nightclub were called Leather and Lace, I'm sure our male civic leaders would most certainly be looking to "solicit" that business owner for "advice". And perhaps help pay someone's way through "law school". Isn't that right David Englin? more ›