Alexandria’s Recreation, Parks, and Cultural Activities (RPCA) is planning an overhaul of recreational park on Eisenhower Avenue to add new sports fields and other amenities.
Joseph Hensley Park at 4194 Eisenhower Avenue — just west of the Animal Welfare League — is currently an open field mostly occupied by a central baseball diamond. The new design will feature two baseball diamonds and a soccer field with synthetic turf.
A barge, new pier and cottages are still joining the Tall Ship Providence as part of the historical exhibit, but the pandemic has forced the ship operates to reduce the scope of their nautical ambitions.
The Tall Ship Providence Foundation is seeking city permission at a Planning Commission meeting on March 2 to amend earlier amendments to improve the planned design and layout of pier, cottages and barge. The Maritime Center section of the Tall Ship Providence was originally approved last March.
Old Town residents have banded together against what they say is overdevelopment with the planned construction of the 750-unit, seven-story Heritage apartment buildings.
Made up of more than 80 neighbors, the Citizens Association of the Southwest Quadrant (CASQ) launched a website, sent emails to news organizations and created an online petition against the development, which they say will result in hundreds of additional vehicles on area streets, affect property values and destroy the historic charm of the area.
If you plan to stay at the new boarding facility at the intersection of N. Fayette Street and Queen Street, you’ll always have a convenient place to get your hair cut.
The planned affordable roominghouse for men above Heads Up Barbershop (300 N. Fayette Street) — and owned by the same family — is scheduled to go to the Planning Commission on Tuesday, Feb. 2. The four-bedroom unit will have individual bathrooms and a shared central kitchen and laundry facility. The application notes that most residents do not own cars and no off-street parking will be provided.
The Heritage, a new development in Old Town widely reviled at a September Board of Architectural Review meeting, is headed to the Planning Commission on Tuesday, Feb. 1, for review after some architectural fixes.
The plan is to demolish four 1970s-era buildings in southeast Old Town — along South Patrick and North Washington streets — originally built as an urban renewal project in the historic Black neighborhood The Bottoms. Despite community objection, the BAR and City Council found that the buildings do not meet historic preservation criteria.
Shortly after the City Council approved overall plans for the new Oakville Triangle, developers are coming back to the city next Tuesday (Dec. 5) with specific development applications for various pieces of the development.
Developers have submitted three applications for sites in the development area, including the creation of development blocks and the medical facility. The first application would lay out a street grid and infrastructure for the new development. In total, four development blocks would be created.
St. Andrews United Methodist Church (845 N Howard Street) on Seminary Hill is seeking Planning Commission approval to demolish and rebuild its church on a smaller lot.
The church is headed to the Planning Commission on Tuesday, Jan. 5, seeking permission subdivide its current lot to reconstruct the church on one part of the property closer to the street and sell the rest to St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School.
While further south Alexandria is finalizing plans for the northern end of the Old Town Waterfront, the overall north point of the Alexandria waterfront is about to get some love too.
At a Planning Commission meeting yesterday approved plans for several new pieces of Potomac Yard, including a sweeping new plan for a 4.6 acre extension at Potomac Yard Park that will run from just south of the planned Potomac Yard Metro station to Four Mile Run.
Alexandria is moving forward with plans to implement new Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) policies aimed at making it easier to build units both attached to existing houses and separately on residential lots.
ADUs are generally small units sold or rented out to residents other than those in the main house. ADUs increase the availability of housing stock and have been eyed as a potential solution to the decline in market-rate affordable housing. These hopes for ADUs are also frequently paired with concerns that they could add density to Alexandria’s existing neighborhoods.
If you want to build bonus density, office-to-housing conversions, or continuum of care facilities in Alexandria, a new report says you should have to pony up a little extra cash to support affordable housing.
Trading density and other exceptions to zoning code for a contribution to the affordable housing fund has been a longstanding practice in Alexandria and other localities, but the new “Update to the City’s Affordable Housing Contribution Policies and Procedures” being presented at Tuesday’s Planning Commission meeting includes a recommendation push for that system to be codified.
The future of Potomac Yard’s building signage may seem overly technical, but the upcoming discussion at the Dec. 1 Planning Commission meeting could shape the future of the neighborhood’s new skyline.
The goal of the signage program, put together by Elkus Manfredi Architects and Roll Barresi & Associates, is to ensure the design of signage throughout Potomac Yard is consistent as new developments are brought forward.
