At Planning Commission and City Council meetings next month, the city is looking to amend the zoning ordinance to allow for more co-living units to be built.
Co-living units are a type of shared living arrangement where individual bedrooms have shared amenities, like communal kitchens or bathrooms. These are usually rental units, for short or long-term stays. It’s the individual bedroom rented out, rather than the unit as a whole, in a co-living arrangement.
Well, it hasn’t exactly been a good news-heavy week in Alexandria.
There’s a possible serial killer in the area of Fairfax just south of Alexandria and the much-debated School Resource Officers have been removed from their posts pending an investigation into alleged inappropriate sexual messages to a former student, according to the Washington Post. A local juvenile was also killed in a fatal shooting this past weekend, though police said there’s no threat to public safety and the death is being considered an isolated incident.
Pump the brakes if you’re cruising down Seminary Road, the City of Alexandria has dropped the speed limit on the arterial road from 35 mph to 25.
The move comes after years of efforts by the city to redesign the road, which included reducing travel lanes to add more pedestrian and bicycle space, which have at times sparked intense backlash. In a press release, the city said the goal is to reduce speed on the street to limit the severity and frequency of crashes. The change will impact Seminary Road between I-395 and the City limits.
It’s the holiday season, so expect a series of closures and reduced services toward the end of this month.
In a press release, the City of Alexandria ran offered an overview of what services will be open and when.
(Updated at 3:15 p.m.) Three outgoing members of the Alexandria City Council were honored by their colleagues for their service at Tuesday night’s meeting.
Alexandria Vice Mayor Elizabeth Bennett-Parker, Councilwoman Del Pepper and Councilman Mo Seifeldein were presented with proclamations thanking them for their service by Mayor Justin Wilson on Tuesday night.
(Updated 3:20 p.m.) Ahead of the new City Council being installed in January, the current body is scheduled to take another look at the city’s ethics pledge.
The Mayor and City Council make a pledge when being sworn in to abide by a somewhat nebulous one-page code of conduct. The pledge was a point of contention when it was introduced by then-Mayor Allison Silberberg, who fought tooth-and-nail to get the pledge passed.
(Updated 12/14) Remember the American Rescue Plan Act? Earlier this year, the city received $29.8 million in funding to allocate toward projects across the city.
Five months later, a new report to the City Council scheduled to be presented at a meeting tomorrow breaks down how that’s been going so far. Here is ALXnow’s simplified, condensed version:
Understaffing within the Alexandria Fire Department put people and buildings at risk during a fire at Crystal City’s restaurant row on 23rd Street earlier this month, according to two unions representing more than 500 Alexandria and Arlington firefighters, medics and fire marshals.
In a sharply worded press release on Friday, Dec. 10, officials from the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 2141 and IAFF Local 2800 wrote that AFD’s inability to fully staff their department led to “multiple close calls” at a fire on Saturday, Dec. 4, in the 500 block of 23rd Street. No one was injured in the blaze, which caused $1.8 million in damages.
Alexandria is about to embark on a public relations campaign in response to the 5 cent Plastic Bag Tax, which goes into effect next month.
In a meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 14, the City Council will consider the release of $30,000 from contingent reserves to the city’s Department of Transportation and Environmental Services for outreach on the matter.
Alexandria’s COVID transmission rate has risen from “Substantial” to “High”, as the number of reported cases has surpassed 15,000.
As of Tuesday, Dec. 7, there have been 15,056 reported cases of COVID-19 in the city, according to the the Virginia Department of Health. There has also been another death since last week, bringing the death toll from the virus to 155.
The City of Alexandria is sending its Torpedo Factory plans into a public engagement phase that’s been decried by some city commissions as rushed.
The city is hosting virtual public meetings on Thursday, Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. and Friday, Dec. 10 at noon. Registration is required and each meeting is scheduled to last about an hour. Those wishing to speak on the plans can also do so at the Alexandria Commission for the Arts tomorrow (Tuesday) at 7 p.m.
