Alexandria residents fighting the city’s massive Zoning for Housing/Housing for All overhaul won a battle in court today, as Judge David S. Schell ruled their case has standing and can go to trial.
The plaintiffs, all Old Town residents, have been fighting to reverse the zoning changes since they were approved by City Council in Dec. 2023. While initial efforts were dismissed in court, their amended filing specified how their individual properties would be harmed as a result.
The Zoning for Housing/Housing for all includes a single-family zoning provision allowing developers to build homes with up to four units on any property, reducing parking requirements for single-family homes and analyzing office-to-residential conversions.
The residents argued that increased traffic and foot traffic are examples of particularized injuries that they would suffer, as well as increased taxes, parking problems, and population density.
Schell ruled that the case brought forward by Alexandria residents Phylius Burks, William Corin, David and Meghan Rainey, Joshua and Maria Carias Porto, Jimm Roberts and John E. Craig can take their case to trial. He also ruled that the local group, The Coalition for a Livable Alexandria, which is run by City Council candidate Roy Byrd, did not have standing in the case.
“We’re won a battle, but it’s still a long slog,” Byrd said. “The Coalition is not in the lawsuit any longer, but as an organization we will still support fundraising so that the plaintiffs don’t bear the financial strain of the lawsuit.”
Byrd said that upward of $30,000 has been spent on the effort, and that it could potentially cost six-figures.
Schell works in Fairfax and was appointed to the case by the Virginia Supreme Court after the city’s circuit court judges recused themselves. This is the second similar case for Schell, who was brought in for a case against Arlington’s Missing Middle zoning changes after the county’s judges recused themselves. The decision on the Arlington case is expected next month, and it may reveal a direction for the case in Alexandria.
“If the Arlington case is ruled in favor of the plaintiffs,” Byrd said, “then the city will have to make some decisions on how they move forward.”
