Alexandria officials are closing in on the final details of an ambitious plan to reinvent the historic city’s long-neglected waterfront.
But their efforts face hazards from residents worried about turning their beloved city into a tacky tourist trap, a swanky boat club at the heart of the development, and decades-old federal litigation over ownership of the Potomac’s banks.
City planners are moving quickly to draw up plans — and funding — for a wide promenade that would run from Daingerfield Island in the north all the way to Jones Point, under the Wilson Bridge. City planners want to draw on the charm of Old Town and wrap it around the banks of the Potomac River.
Alexandria’s wish list for a new waterfront:
» Unbroken walkway dotted with restaurants, shops and galleries
» Updated marina at the Strand area
» Permanent “infrastructure” for festivals at Oronoco Bay Park
» Replace “riprap” shoreline — craggy rocks to prevent erosion — with natural, green banks
Much is at stake: Old Town drew some 100,000 tourists from National Harbor’s water taxis last year alone. City officials want even more of those tourists — and their money. But a new riverfront isn’t cheap: Deputy Planning Director Karl Moritz said that even the outlines being considered could run up to $100 million.
“The waterfront is a very special and unique resource of Alexandria,” city planning Director Faroll Hamer said. “It has some unrealized potential.”
That’s the kind of talk that makes many Alexandrians queasy.
“It just feels like another Georgetown,” said Carol Brown, an Old Town resident who regularly strolls the riverfront with her family. “Too much commercialism, too much materialism, too much consumerism.”
Brown’s friend Carrie Severino said she was torn about redevelopment.
“It’s nice to be convenient to the restaurants. But you don’t want the huge crowds,” she said.
Currently, Alexandria’s river walk is ad hoc. A boardwalk juts out from the old Torpedo Factory — now an art colony — but then the trail turns to gray gravel and craggy rocks. The lone landmark at Founders Park is a volleyball net. To the north, the view is of the Washington Post’s rusting Robinson Terminal. To the south, it’s the chain link fences and slips of the boat club, coagulated with trash, algae and splintered lumber.
Also standing in the way are the members of the Old Dominion Boat Club, who have balked for decades at the thought of moving their slips and chain-link fences away from their prime spot at the foot of King Street.
If that weren’t enough, there’s also the Nixon-era federal lawsuit over who, exactly, owns the banks on which the club sits.
Through their lawyers, club officials declined to comment.
City officials say they’re confident they can overcome the lawyers and announce their plans for the riverwalk by late winter or early spring.
“I think we’ve all tried to look for what’s the best solution as opposed to focusing on the federal litigation,” Deputy City Manager Mark Jinks said. “They’re ongoing and we continue to have discussions.”
This isn’t the first time Alexandria thought it had successfully navigated through the treacherous waters. In the mid-1980s, officials announced a compromise with the boat club that would have allowed the promenade to begin; the federal government scotched the idea, saying its litigation took precedence. In 1998, another compromise was reached, but the City Council put off the vote.
“It’s just a mess,” said Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth and an Alexandria resident.
City officials promise it will be different this time. Jinks said his agency has been careful to include federal officials in its discussions with the boat club.
“We’re not at the end point,” Jinks said. “We’d all like to be.”
