City Council | ALXnow

City Rethinking Waterfront Plan, Other Capital Projects Amid Rising Construction Costs

Published March 4, 2020 at 2:20PM | Updated March 4, 2020 at 2:58PM

A screenshot of a video from city council's Capital Improvement Program work session on Feb. 26 at City Hall. (Image via City of Alexandria)

Rising regional construction costs and are making Alexandria planners rethink a number of capital improvements, including the city’s extensive waterfront plan.

“We are in a highly volatile construction market, and it has been very challenging,” Deputy City Manager Emily Baker told city council in a budget work session on Feb. 26. “And it’s been very challenging for us to keep coming to you and saying, ‘Well, you know, we thought the project was going to cost X and now it’s going to cost some multiple of X.'”

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Mayor Announces Nearly 40 Streets Chosen for Repaving This Year

By Vernon Miles

Published March 3, 2020 at 11:45AM

Construction workers repave a street in Old Town Alexandria (Staff Photo by Jay Westcott)

Long-running efforts to address the condition of Alexandria’s roads will continue this summer with a new set of local roadways set for repavings.

Roads were prioritized for repaving based on the Pavement Condition Inventory, according to a newsletter put out by Mayor Justin Wilson. The study done last year showed roads throughout the city score poorly, particularly the side streets through neighborhoods.

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Council Focuses on Cut-Through Traffic, Speeding in New Alexandria Mobility Plan

By James Cullum

Published March 2, 2020 at 10:30AM

Traffic moves along Duke Street near N. Jordan St. (Staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Members of the Alexandria City Council are looking to curb cut-through traffic through city neighborhoods.

Last week, Mayor Justin Wilson, Vice Mayor Elizabeth Bennett-Parker and Councilman John T. Chapman sent the city manager’s office a memo, requesting staff look into implementing a residential permit program restricting cars from driving through streets during peak periods, and imposing higher fines for drivers speeding through residential areas, as Arlington recently did.

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City Buckles Down for Potential Coronavirus Outbreak

By Vernon Miles

Published February 27, 2020 at 4:30PM

The City of Alexandria is working on plans to handle a potential Coronavirus outbreak, but if you’re looking to a free face mask from the city, you’re out of luck.

“Our health department is not there to deliver masks,” said City Councilwoman Amy Jackson at a City Council meeting on Tuesday. “We’ve seen an increase in requests, but you have to find your own if that’s what you want to do.”

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City Threatens to Go ‘Back to Market’ Over Southern Access at Potomac Yard Metro

By Vernon Miles

Published February 26, 2020 at 11:45AM | Updated February 26, 2020 at 12:05PM

After months of stalled discussions over the cost of adding southern access to the Potomac Yard Metro station, Mayor Justin Wilson said the city could start the process of financing it over again.

The Potomac Yard Metrorail Implementation Work Group “expressed a great amount of frustration at the amount of time we have spent working with WMATA and their contractor to come to an agreement on a potential change order for improved southwest access,” Wilson said at the City Council meeting last night (Tuesday). “The message that was crystal clear from PYMIG was to set a date to have pencils down regardless of where we’re at and pursue going back to market to bid out the improved southwest access.”

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Alexandria May Spend Millions Repairing Damaged Portions of Holmes Run Trail

By ALXnow.com

Published February 26, 2020 at 9:30AM | Updated February 26, 2020 at 12:09PM

Detour for Holmes Run trail (Staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Alexandria may allocate $6 million to reopen closed portions of the Holmes Run Trail.

The trail, which was damaged in last July’s flash flooding after the Barcroft Dam overflowed, in addition to previous flood damage from 2018, is currently closed in four sections. City Manager Mark Jinks has proposed new capital funding to reopen all four sections.

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Council Amends Eisenhower East Plan to Add Hundreds of Potential Affordable Housing Units

By James Cullum

Published February 25, 2020 at 3:15PM | Updated February 25, 2020 at 6:41PM

Alexandria is a little ahead of schedule increasing the number of affordable housing units in the city, and two new deals are getting it closer to meeting its regional housing goals.

On Saturday, Council unanimously adopted proposals to increase the number of affordable housing units in Eisenhower East by the hundreds, and to add nine affordable units in a new mixed-use Aspire Alexandria development in Braddock.

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Eisenhower Partnership Fights for Increased Bus Frequency

By Vernon Miles

Published February 24, 2020 at 4:30PM | Updated February 24, 2020 at 4:47PM

A DASH bus on King Street in Old Town Alexandria

The Eisenhower Partnership is making a last-minute push to try to salvage a 15-minute bus service plan for Eisenhower Avenue ahead of tomorrow’s City Council meeting.

Currently buses cycle along Eisenhower Avenue every 30 minutes, as they do in much of the rest of the city. A new plan would increase the frequency of service in densely populated corridors, while cutting down or eliminating service to some less-densely populated residential areas.

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Council Approves Mount Purrnon Cat Cafe and Wine Bar in Old Town

By James Cullum

Published February 24, 2020 at 2:00PM | Updated February 24, 2020 at 8:11PM

If your idea of paradise is a glass full of wine and a roomful of cats, then you’re in luck.

On Saturday, City Council unanimously approved a special use permit for Mount Purrnon Cat Cafe & Wine Bar, and the two-level building at 109 S. Alfred Street promises to be full of purr-sonality when it opens this spring.

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Affordable Senior Housing Included in Proposed New Development

By Vernon Miles

Published February 19, 2020 at 2:00PM

Rendering of Aspire Alexandria (image via City of Alexandria)

Among the benefits of the new Aspire Alexandria project headed to the City Council this Saturday (Feb. 22) are a handful of new homes that could meet a critical need in the city.

Aspire Alexandria is a new housing development at 1112 First Street, where Tony’s Auto Service is today, aimed at offering independent senior living. The anticipated move-in age is between 77-82, but the facility will not offer direct assistance with daily living activities or memory care needs.

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City Could Ban Trucks from Residential Road in Taylor Run

By Vernon Miles

Published February 19, 2020 at 10:30AM

As part of an effort to curtail truck traffic through residential streets, the City Council could add E. Taylor Run Parkway to the list of streets where truck traffic is banned.

On Saturday (Feb. 22) the City Council is scheduled (item #13) to review a potential ban on commercial truck traffic on the street, which connects Janneys Lane and Duke Street.