Alexandria is warning residents against scammers impersonating city officials and asking for payments for outstanding fees.
The city issued a security alert on its website to permit applicants and property owners, although no scams have been reported within the city. Ebony Fleming, the city’s communications director, said the FBI sent out an initial alert and that the city’s warning is a precautionary measure.
The city issued a fraud alert yesterday after fake invoices were sent to customers using the Alexandria Permitting and Land Use System (APEX).
The city’s sent out an email on Wednesday (Sept. 18) stating that APEX users were being targeted. The city only allows permit applications through the system, and the city said that fake invoices are being mailed to customers.
An update to the city’s special events policy intended to make the process simpler wound up creating some confusion at the City Council this weekend.
At a meeting on Saturday, Diane Ruggiero, deputy director of the Alexandria Department of Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities, talked the City Council through some of the changes. Among the changes to the special events policy are allowing large events (500+ people) on consecutive weekends and a requirement to file a notice of intent with the City Special Events Committee at least 180 days prior to the event.
Inova has filed concept plans for the 10-acre site that will relocate the Alexandria hospital to the former Landmark Mall property and is expected to start construction in 2024.
Phase I of the campus construction proposal includes a 565,525-square-foot level 2 trauma hospital with below-grade and structured parking, a 107,239-square-foot cancer center and a 88,085-square-foot specialty care building, according to the development concept plan filed with the city last week. The existing parking garage will remain, adding 550 parking spaces for the campus to the additional 950 spaces to be constructed.
A historic Old Town home that had most recently been an art gallery could undergo a conversion into a small hotel.
Bruce and Thelma MacGregor, owners of 105 North Alfred, are requesting a special use permit to turn a current commercial and apartment building into a hotel. The home was originally built in 1790, and the permit notes that the property was recently used as an art gallery with eight apartment units on the floors above.
(Updated at 3 p.m.) Micro-mobility company Helbiz is poised to be the first company in Alexandria offering both e-scooters and e-bikes in Alexandria.
“Helbiz… has been awarded a permit to operate both its innovative e-bikes and e-scooters in Alexandria, Virginia, making it the only company to offer both transportation solutions in the market,” the company said in a press release. “This permit follows the launch of the company’s fleet of e-bikes in neighboring Washington, D.C. and highlights Helbiz’s continued commitment to offering eco-friendly micro-mobility solutions in the area.”
The City of Alexandria announced today that it will be launching APEX, a loftily-named new permitting and land use application system, early next month.
The goal of the new system is to take the complicated application system — which currently requires a trip to City Hall — and make it simpler and entirely digital. APEX is designed to handle everything from permits to add a new deck to a home to land use applications for larger projects, according to a promotional video for the new system.
