parking | ALXnow

Where the Polk Avenue sidewalk ends, neighbor concerns about parking and park stability begins

Published July 25, 2022 at 3:45PM

Teens skating on Polk Avenue past where the city is planning to build a new sidewalk (staff photo by Vernon Miles)

The City of Alexandria is planning to build a new sidewalk on the north side of Polk Avenue, but the city’s plans have some neighbors concerned about the construction’s impact on the nearby park and the neighborhood’s parking situation.

The city is planning to build a new sidewalk that connects two dead-end stretches of sidewalk that cut off abruptly into dense underbrush. The city said the sidewalk construction will help students in the neighborhood walk to Polk Elementary and Hammond Middle School — though students will have to cross the street anyway to get to Polk.

News

City Council approves potential pay-by-phone parking increase in Alexandria

By Vernon Miles

Published June 21, 2022 at 2:45PM

Street parking on Main Line Boulevard in Potomac Yard (staff photo by James Cullum)

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.

Opinion

Poll: Should Alexandria eliminate parking requirements for auxiliary housing units?

By Vernon Miles

Published June 16, 2022 at 1:30PM

Street parking on Main Line Boulevard in Potomac Yard (staff photo by James Cullum)

Auxiliary housing hasn’t taken off like the City of Alexandria hoped, but city staff are hopeful loosening some restrictions — including parking — could kick the housing type into gear.

The goal is to provide a boost to market-rate affordable housing which has been in freefall in Alexandria for years. While auxiliary housing hasn’t been as widespread as city officials might have hoped, a staff report prepared for an upcoming Planning Commission indicated that city staff are hopeful that eliminating parking requirements for auxiliary housing in “enhanced transit areas” could incentivize more commercial property owners to add residential units.

News

Alexandria hopes cutting parking requirements can boost city’s auxiliary dwellings

By Vernon Miles

Published June 15, 2022 at 3:45PM

Street parking on Main Line Boulevard in Potomac Yard (staff photo by James Cullum)

The City of Alexandria is considering increasing the number of auxiliary dwellings allowed in commercial buildings and nixing the parking requirements for most of them.

One of the biggest behind-the-scenes projects at City Hall has been an effort to make auxiliary dwellings — formerly accessory dwellings, we’ll get into that later — more viable in Alexandria.

News

Old Town pay-by-phone parking cost could increase in effort to push drivers to garages

By Vernon Miles

Published June 10, 2022 at 2:45PM | Updated June 10, 2022 at 5:06PM

A parking meter in Old Town Alexandria on King Street

(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.

News

Potomac Yard neighborhood backs parking restrictions ahead of Metro opening

By Vernon Miles

Published June 8, 2022 at 3:45PM

Potomac Greens neighborhood (image via Google Maps)

The Potomac Greens neighborhood has voted overwhelmingly in favor of new parking restrictions aimed at keeping the residential streets from being overrun by commuters.

The proposed parking district, which would encompass the Potomac Greens neighborhood, is scheduled for review at a City Council meeting (item 17) on Tuesday, June 14.

News

Automated parking garage in Old Town headed back to City Review

By Vernon Miles

Published May 2, 2022 at 9:50AM

Parking garage for 116 South Henry Street, image via City of Alexandria

Two years after plans to convert 116 South Henry Street into an automated parking garage first went to city review, the garage is going to the Board of Architectural Review again on Thursday (May 5) with some changes in mind.

The plan remains to build a 50-foot garage just off King Street, but the entrance is going through something of a redesign after the earlier designs were considered too “monolithic” at earlier hearings.

News

Neighborhood near Potomac Yard Metro could be getting new parking restrictions

By Vernon Miles

Published April 25, 2022 at 4:10PM

A Potomac Yard neighborhood could be getting its own residential permit parking district ahead of the opening of the nearby Potomac Yard Metro station.

At a Traffic and Parking Board meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight (Monday), the board will review a staff recommendation that a new parkin district be created in the Potomac Greens neighborhood.

News

Arlandria parking lot could be transformed into park and playground

By Vernon Miles

Published February 8, 2022 at 10:50AM

Rendering of AHDC public park and courtyard, photo via AHDC

A surface parking lot in Arlandria could be converted into a park and playground for a new affordable housing development in the area.

At a meeting tonight, Alexandria’s City Council is scheduled to vote on an ordinance to sell the property at 3700 Mount Vernon Avenue, a surface parking lot in Arlandria. The property is part of a larger redevelopment project by the Alexandria Housing Development Corporation (AHDC) that will add 475 deeply affordable units and 38,000 square feet of commercial space.

News

Fort Ward park overhaul gets a fresh timeline

By Vernon Miles

Published February 1, 2022 at 3:00PM

A man walks a dog at Fort Ward Park (Staff photo by Jay Westcott)

A local working group has been making its way through plans to update and improve Fort Ward Park, and last week the project got a timeline for when the public could see some of those changes.

Following the Civil War, the fort was home to a sizable Black community that was later pushed out by the City of Alexandria in the name of obtaining park space and historical preservation of the Civil War-era fort.

News

City Council to consider swapping parking for ‘parklets’

By Vernon Miles

Published October 11, 2021 at 9:45AM

One of the weird byproducts of the pandemic has been some rapid changes in zoning that were given widespread, impromptu pilot programs over the last year. One of those, the conversion of on-street parking to “parklets“, is being considered as a permanent zoning change.

A city presentation defined a parklet as the “conversion of an on-street parking space into an extension of the sidewalk, to be used for open space, public seating, or the use of an adjacent business for dining or retail.” Examples shown from other cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles show permanent features installed in former parking spaces.