As Alexandria’s City Council mulls over an expensive revamp of City Hall, one of the major changes could be a move away from the current historic chambers into a more accessible first-floor room.
The City of Alexandria is working through a year of public engagement that could reshape not only City Hall but Market Square outside the building. The proposal will come back to the City Council for a vote in July.
Alexandria’s current City Hall was built in 1871 as a replica of an earlier City Hall — built in 1817 — which was destroyed in a fire. The building has seen extensive renovations over time, though much of the interior is long overdue for repairs and replacement owing to years of deferral behind other budget priorities.
The City Council meets in chambers on the second floor at a wooden dais with a huge image of Alexandria’s historic waterfront overhead. City Council members acknowledged the grandeur of the room and expressed a fondness for it, but many also recognized that the more can be inaccessible and outdated for the city’s current needs.
Jeremy McPike, director of the Department of General Services, noted that the current City Council chambers are often too small for the kinds of crowds that can gather for contentious discussions.
“If there’s a large meeting overflow, you have to go down the hall and downstairs,” McPike said. “So if you’re a citizen coming in to engage, that disconnect is kind of a big deal.”
McPike said as the design team started to explore alternatives, they landed on creating a new first-floor space that’s more intuitive and close to the entrance to the building.
“You’re drawn to City Council as soon as you come into the space,” McPike said.
McPike also said the current City Council chambers have security and egress issues that could be fixed with a first-floor location.
While most of the City Council expressed enthusiasm for the idea of new Council chambers, there was some mixed feelings about what to do with the current room. One option was to preserve it for ceremonial events and other meetings.
“I like the idea of it being on the first floor, it’s very inviting,” said Council member Abdel Elnoubi. [We’d] certainly be preserving this one, but this one being on the second floor isn’t necessarily as inviting. If someone doesn’t know where the Council chamber is, it takes effort to find it.”
City Council member Canek Aguirre was conflicted about the idea of the move.
“I kind of like being in this room,” said Aguirre. “When I have guests come to visit, this is always one of the rooms to show them. But… when I visit other city halls, I’m not going to lie, I’m always a little jealous of the modernity. If that’s some of what we can do, I’m willing to put aside some of my feelings to create a chamber of the future. I would like to preserve this chamber, not necessarily in its usage, but in its aesthetic.”
City Council member John Chapman, who has served in those chambers longer than anyone else on the Council, was less enthusiastic about maintaining the current chambers as an alternative Council meeting space.
“I don’t know if I would support having first-floor chambers and keeping this space as a historical whatever,” Chapman said. “If we’re going to have it remain here, let’s keep it here and use it. If we’re not, let’s look at how best to use this building and this portion of the building if we’re going to close the door on using it as a Council chambers, because it’s not a particularly large space and as we’re giving the arguments about why we’re not using it, the same arguments go for using it as another space.”
Mayor Alyia Gaskins said the first-floor move would help make City Hall, and City Council discussions, feel more accessible.
“How does this become the people’s place… that the building facilitates that and people can feel like they’re part of the decision?” Gaskins said. “I’m leaning toward the relocation of the chamber to the first floor. That is an exciting opportunity that, from the minute you walk in, you’re part of the business of the government.”
