parking | ALXnow

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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City Council candidates clash on critical local issues, Part 2

By ALXnow.com

Published May 6, 2021 at 3:30PM

(Clockwise from top left) Michael Lee Pope, Kevin Harris, Kirk McPike, Sarah Bagley, Bill Capbell, John Taylor Chapman, Amy Jackson, and Patrick Moran in the center in the Alexandria Democratic Committee's City Council debate. (Image via YouTube)

In a crowded City Council election, the Alexandria Democratic Committee split the candidates into two groups for moderated debates, which posted Tuesday night.

Alexandria journalist Michael Lee Pope moderated the discussion, which touched on critical talking issues in city races over the last few years, from parking to broadband to — of course — Seminary Road. Interestingly, the coronavirus pandemic was not a main topic of discussion.

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Parking issues plague Potomac Yard, city looks to create residential parking district

By James Cullum

Published April 30, 2021 at 10:45AM

Dave Dolton moved to Potomac Yard last month, and with his new garage full of unpacked boxes has been parking on the street. One of his neighbors wasn’t too happy about his extended street parking, and left a strongly worded note on his windshield.

“Please don’t park and take up space on a street where you don’t live,” the note says. “Alexandria has parking rules — and your vehicle has been reported. Thank you.”