Alexandria’s City Council is expected to vote Jan. 21 on a new $50 million rezoning plan that will increase density along the city’s historic Potomac River waterfront. During the past four years, the city has held numerous public hearings and “charrettes” to persuade residents to sign on to its gauzy vision of chic boutique hotels and expanded green space. But many Alexandrians are not buying the dream. In fact, “the political potato is getting hotter and hotter,” Waterfront Plan Work Group member Burt Ely told The Washington Examiner.
That’s because, as Ely points out in his minority report, the plan “is nothing more than a marketing brochure” for increased commercial development along the river. Two of the most important parts are missing: a study on how higher densities will affect Alexandria’s traffic congestion, and any specifics on water-related access. “That second issue is totally unresolved.”
One of the few concrete proposals is the loss of 100 parking spaces in parking-starved Old Town. Some of them belong to the Old Dominion Boat Club, of which Ely is also a member. Although the city backed away from a prior threat to seize ODBC’s property via eminent domain, Ely says it’s still “lurking in the background.”
“They’re talking about large green open space at the bottom of King Street, which they would have to take out of ODBC’s parking lot,” which is essential to the club because it’s used for launching boats.
And even though the Circuit Court upheld ODBC’s right to a vested easement on Wales Alley dating back to 1789, the city issued a special-use permit that allowed the Virtue Feed & Grain restaurant to set up tables and chairs for private outdoor dining in the same alley all summer.
In a May 14, 2010, memo to City Council members, Mayor William Euille denied having any “direct involvement in the day-to-day management or policy making decisions” of the restaurant located at 106 Union Street.
City attorney James Banks later parsed it for The Examiner: “The mayor is not an investor in Virtue Feed & Grain or the company that owns Virtue Feed & Grain. He’s an investor in Mango Mike’s” — whose owner is an investor in VF&G. Got that?
However, Vice Mayor Kerry Donley, who votes on matters before the council, has yet to publicly reveal the fact that Virginia Commerce Bank, where he is employed as a vice president, gave Virtue Feed & Grain loans totaling $3.9 million.
If the restaurant flops, Donley’s employer stands to lose a lot of money. Conversely, the bank stands to profit financially if higher waterfront densities contribute to the restaurant’s long-term success. Yet Alexandrians are supposed to believe that somehow this is not a huge conflict of interest.
In his minority report, Ely slammed “the numerous ‘charrette charades’ and public hearings” designed to make commercial development near the waterfront palatable to the public without telling them the whole story. “Rarely mentioned is the fact that this upzoning would greatly increase the market value of commercial properties” along the waterfront, which is what this exercise is really all about.
Nothing wrong with making money, as long as the public interest is balanced against the expected private gain. But there’s something plenty wrong when city staff forges ahead on a disputed rezoning plan that will dramatically alter one of Virginia’s most historic districts without first conducting detailed traffic and marine engineering studies to determine its feasibility both on and offshore. And when elected officials don’t reveal their stakes in the outcome.
Barbara F. Hollingsworth is The Examiner’s local opinion editor.
