Alexandria City Council on Wednesday (April 29) approved City Manager Jim Parajon’s proposal to increase metered parking fees and parking ticket fines.
Without discussion, City Council approved raising parking meter rates from $1.75 to $2.75 and parking ticket fines from $40 to $55. The approvals were part of Parajon’s $979.1 million Fiscal year 2027 budget, which Council approved Tuesday night without a real estate tax increase.
Alexandria City Public Schools is asking the city for permission to use a temporary parking lot in Potomac Yard — once part of the former arena proposal — for school buses this summer.
ACPS filed a special use permit application with the city asking to temporarily use a 45,000-square-foot lot for three months at 3331 Exchange Avenue in the Potomac Yard neighborhood. The property was pitched in 2023 as a new $2 billion home for the Washington Wizards and Capitals before losing support in Alexandria and fizzling out with lawmakers in Richmond.
Alexandria City Council torpedoed City Manager Jim Parajon’s plan for paid metered parking on Sundays, but balanced a $726,000 shortfall by raising parking meter fees from $1.75 to $2.75 and parking ticket fines from $40 to $55.
Last week, City Council directed Parajon to consider a number of alternatives to his Sunday parking plan. After deliberation, a majority of members endorsed Option E at Tuesday night’s add/delete work session, as the final touches are being put on the city’s $977 million Fiscal Year 2027 Budget. The move will generate $1.1 million in funding — covering an approximately $726,000 shortfall from removing the Sunday parking fee proposal and adding about $329,000 to the city’s general fund.
Alexandria City Council has a full docket at its upcoming meeting Saturday as final budgetary decisions approach.
City Council will conduct a number of public hearings, including setting the real estate and personal property tax rates for the next fiscal year, additions and deletions to City Manager Jim Parajon’s proposed $977 million Fiscal Year 2027 budget, an increase to the stormwater utility fee, new parking fees and the addition of paid metered parking on Sundays.
A majority of Alexandria’s City Council won’t support City Manager Jim Parajon’s proposal for paid parking on Sundays, but the door to increasing parking meter rates and fines is still open.
City Council had first reading on a number of parking-related ordinances yesterday (Tuesday), which, if approved later this month, would increase parking meter rates and parking ticket fines and add paid parking to metered spots on Sundays.
Alexandria City Manager Jim Parajon is asking City Council to approve paid parking on Sundays and an increase in parking meter rates.
The initiatives are included in Parajon’s proposed $977.3 million Fiscal Year 2027 budget and have gotten mixed reviews. If approved by City Council, the measure would make Alexandria the only locality in the region with parking meter enforcement on Sundays. Additionally, Parajon is proposing to increase parking violation fines from $40 to $50.
Two appeals on the Alexandria Traffic and Parking Board’s approved Braddock Road changes to accommodate bike lanes are heading to City Council.
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Pastor Kate Costa said the church is submitting an appeal Monday, March 9 after getting signatures from church members over the weekend. The appeal concerns the board’s Feb. 24 decision to remove on-street parking on Braddock Road, including an accessible parking space in front of the church.
After a meeting that stretched into the early morning hours today (Tuesday), the Alexandria Traffic and Parking Board approved a proposed redesign of the Braddock Road corridor that would remove parking, construct new bike lanes and install other safety improvements for bicyclists and pedestrians.
The board approved the full staff recommendations for Braddock Road between West Street and Russell Road in the Rosemont and Del Ray neighborhoods, prompting the project to continue forward in the design phase.
Some residents have pushed back on proposed lane changes and parking removals on Braddock Road ahead of the Alexandria Traffic and Parking Board’s review on Monday.
The changes are being proposed on the major route between West Street near the Braddock Road Metro and Russell Road in the Del Ray and Rosemont neighborhoods. The city has worked on the Braddock Road Corridor Improvements project since last year as a response to concerns from Alex311, the 2023 Safe Routes to School walk audit at George Washington Middle School and the Virginia Department of Transportation.
The Market Square Garage is closing next Monday, Feb. 9, to allow crews to begin renovations at City Hall and Market Square, according to a city announcement this afternoon (Monday).
Monthly pass holders “should have already been contacted” about new parking options, and a list of alternative locations in Old Town is available on the city’s website. The garage is closing as the project site will be secured with fencing this month, according to the announcement.
An Alexandria developer has proposed replacing a small outdoor parking lot in Old Town with a new mixed-use apartment building.
Windmill Hill is seeking approval to build a three-story, eight-unit apartment building with ground floor retail at 220 and 224 S. Peyton Street. The 4,400-square-foot property is currently home to a 16-space outdoor parking lot located about a quarter-mile from the King St.-Old Town Metro station.
