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.
After the 2019 decision to maintain one high school, Alexandria City Public Schools is finally getting ready to send its expanded campus concept to the city for review.
Plans specifically for the current Minnie Howard campus are scheduled to go to the Planning Commission on Tuesday, Jan. 4:
Plans to convert a North Old Town office park into a mixed-use space are headed to city review early next year.
TideLock Property Owner, LLC is looking at turning the Tidelock office park at 1033, 1055 and 1111 N. Fairfax Street into mix of residential and retail development. Plans submitted to the city indicate the developer is looking to convert the existing space and add new density rather than demolish and rebuild.
The Alexandria Housing Development Corporation is planning to head to city review by the end of the year for a new project that will add 31 affordable housing units to the Seminary Hill neighborhood at 4547, 4555, and 4575 Seminary Road.
“The Applicant, the Alexandria Housing Development Corporation (AHDC) is seeking to consolidate three lots into one and build a condominium project that includes 31 affordable for-sale townhouse-condo units that target average median incomes (AMI) at or below 80% and 8 rental and for-sale multi-family units,” AHDC said in an application.
Right after the 100 block of King Street discussion last night, the Planning Commission approved a zoning text amendment that could let some West End developers make better use of the Mark Center site.
At the meeting, land use attorney Kenneth Wire represented the Mark Center Hilton and the Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA), two property owners at the site who have been pushing to have underutilized land around the Mark Center repurposed. Wire said the hotel owners are hoping sale of some of the property, particularly a parcel near a stormwater retention pond, could help fund a facelift for the very dated Mark Center Hilton.
The 100 block of Prince Street is impossible to miss. It’s where the one-way street parallel to King Street suddenly becomes a cobblestone lane called Captain’s Row. But with the 100 block of King Street closure getting a Planning Commission endorsement, one of the few remaining concerns is the potential impact on the historic street to its south.
The Planning Commission endorsed making the closure of the 100 block permanent in a pair of unanimous votes, though with some acknowledgment that there are still issues to be resolved down the road, like the need for a better barricade as originally called out at the Waterfront Commission.
After an extensive period of community discussion and development, the new townhouse portion of the Oakville Triangle development (2610 Richmond Highway) is headed to city review later this year.
“The applicant is seeking approval of a development special use permit with site plan to construct 84 fee simple townhomes with the accompanying subdivision,” developer Tri Pointe Homes DC Metro Inc. wrote in the permit application.
The 100 block of King Street has been closed to cars for over a year, and now the city is looking to make the change permanent.
At an upcoming meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 5, the Planning Commission is docketed to review a proposal by city staff to permanently turn the 100 block of King Street between Lee Street and Union Street into a pedestrian zone.
Alexandria is moving forward with a proposal to make it easier to build housing that allows several unrelated adults to share amenities. While that sounds an awful lot like “having roommates” — which is allowed, in case you’re renting an apartment in Alexandria and started to panic — city staff outlined some of the distinctions in the new policy at a Planning Commission meeting earlier this month.
According to a city report, a co-living unit is defined as:
Update 9/21 p.m. — A previous version of the article had a typo in Division Chief Carrie Beach’s quote
Housing preservation is a central pillar of the plan to save Arlandria-Chirilagua from the anticipated gentrification stemming from Amazon’s HQ2. Last week, city staff told the Planning Commission that effort will likely require at least $100 million from public and private sources to preserve or expand affordable options in the area.
What an interesting week in Alexandria. Here’s the rundown.
World champion sprinter Noah Lyles brought home his bronze medal from the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday. In a frank, TED Talk-like speech at Alexandria City High School, Lyles talked about the importance of mental health as he struggled to perform at the games.
