The GenOn Power Plant redevelopment plans are headed to the City Council with the backing of staff and the Planning Commission but lingering concerns from local workers.
Hilco Redevelopment Partners’ plan is to replace the power plant on the 18.8-acre site with six blocks of new, mixed-use buildings of varying densities and heights and coordinated open space. The city is also planning to expand the boundaries of the Old Town North Arts and Cultural District to include the site.
The Alexandria City Council will vote on a resolution Tuesday night to protect access to abortions in the city.
The resolution, which was initially drafted by Councilman Kirk McPike, lays out several steps that the city will take.
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade today (Friday) in a landmark decision that will effectively ban abortion in more than a dozen states.
While Virginia is not a state with any “trigger laws” that go into effect as a result of the decision, Alexandria has seen its share of back and forth over abortion. In March, the City Council withdrew a proclamation recognizing abortion providers, a decision some on the City Council said they later regretted. Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) has also expressed support for banning most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Alexandria is hoping to get federal funding for an audit of the city’s high-crash intersections to look for possible solutions.
The project, which includes the audit, public engagement and design, is estimated to cost $1 million. The grant would cover up to $800,000, with the city or the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority.
Five years after the City Council struck down a plan to get a Business Improvement District (BID) up and running in Old Town, a discussion of BID frameworks is coming back to the city.
While the city earlier rejected the idea of a BID in Old Town, BID advocates managed to get the concept approved as part of the city’s American Rescue Plan Act funding.
Paying to park your car in Alexandria by phone could be getting more expensive soon.
Alexandria’s City Council voted unanimously on Saturday to enable staff to up the cost of pay-by-phone parking.
The Alexandria School Board approved changes to their operating procedures on Thursday night (June 16), and updated rules on engagement with the media.
The operating procedures are a guide for Members’ behavior in office — and state that comments made to media by Board members will “likely be interpreted by the public as an official statement of the Board,” and that all statements (when Members are designated to speak on behalf of the board) must be sent to the Board Chair and Superintendent. The changes now state that School Board Members must now avoid directly communicating with ACPS staff “about Division business”, and clarified language to say that Board members will now receive all written responses to media made by the Alexandria City Public Schools communications team.
Alexandria Vice Mayor Amy Jackson took fire from one of her colleagues Tuesday night (June 14) against the appointment of former School Board Member Christopher Lewis to the Alexandria City Public Schools Law Enforcement Partnership (SLEP) Advisory Committee.
Jackson said that Lewis already serves on the city’s Community Policing Review Board and recommended Mike Mackey, the director of the Alexandria Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court Service Unit.
Mayor Justin Wilson says its time to take a step back and reassess Alexandria’s approach to student safety.
In a joint City Council meeting with the School Board on Monday night (June 13), Wilson said that the community needs to be educated on how the city and school system plan to make schools safer.
In the wake of the fatal stabbing of 18-year-old Luis Mejia Hernandez, the Alexandria City Council is taking an active role in reducing violence in schools, according to a Council memo that will be discussed tonight (June 13).
Up for discussion is the creation of “a citywide, multi-year plan with clear objectives, activities, agency roles and contributions, and performance metrics” by this September, as well as a youth safety and violence prevention summit by the end of July.
(Updated 5 p.m.) Next week, the City Council will review a set of new parking rates (Item 19) for Old Town that aim to push drivers off the street and into the city’s underutilized garages.
The new ordinance would expand the area of Old Town where drivers who don’t have residential or guest permits must pay by phone to park. The current rate in those zones is currently $1.75 per hour, but the new ordinance would allow the Director of Transportation and Environmental Services to set a rate of up to $5 per hour.
