Letter to the Editor: Mayor Euille on the Waterfront Plan

When the City first embarked on the Waterfront Small Area Plan two years ago, the clear and universal goal was to create a waterfront for everyone.

The vision that emerged through the public process was to not only maintain what’s left of Alexandria’s authentic and unique history on the waterfront but to greatly enhance it; to create continuous access to the water’s edge; to create new parks and public spaces,  museums or other cultural activities; and add things for families to do. The primary themes would be history, art, boating and enjoyment of the waterfront. And importantly, the plan would have to be economically sustainable for a small City with major budget demands for fire stations, schools and transit.

Right now, on a beautiful spring day, you can find lots of people milling about at the foot of King Street, looking for something to do, but almost no one in the large and green Waterfront Park, just a half block away.  Continuous access to the water is interrupted in key places by warehouses and parking lots.  The shoreline floods, especially at the foot of King Street. The community has created a vision of something better, and the City Council has a responsibility to implement it in a way that is economically sustainable. 

My purpose is to correct the many misconceptions concerning what is actually proposed.

The Plan is primarily a park and public space plan. It adds new public space totaling almost 5 acres – land that is now parking lots, street ends, buildings and private industrial piers-- the equivalent of 5 new Market Squares. Those public spaces will have activities such as a skating rink, museum, people-watching, play areas, fountains, kayak rental, outdoor movies, market and others that are family-oriented and low impact. And it will dramatically improve access to the water’s edge.

New development is proposed for three sites with existing non-historic warehouses that can redevelop now, without a Plan.  The sites are allowed, by current zoning, to build up to 650,000 square feet of new development. The Plan would increase that amount by about 160,000 square feet, which amounts to about 2% more than existing development at the waterfront, and is an amount that has been found acceptable by the National Park Service. The plan adds important new guidelines for developer contributions to waterfront improvements that will benefit all visitors and keeps heights at or below nearby buildings. It’s a far cry from the 7 million square feet and 4,000 hotel rooms planned for National Harbor.

Hotels are a good use for the waterfront, because they are low impact, welcome the public, and pay for the park improvements and activities that people have asked for.  They are low impact in terms of traffic and parking, need for services and noise.  Most of the recent development on the waterfront has been private residential communities, and these can be very attractive, but people who have purchased residences on waterfronts tend to oppose public uses and activity in their front yards. 

Waterfront hotels would not be concentrated at the foot of King:  almost half of the hotel space could be at the Robinson Terminal North property, about six blocks away from the next nearest other hotel.  The hotels proposed would increase the percentage of hotel in the Waterfront area from 3% to 6%.  Hotel rooms contribute – in net tax revenue – about six times what housing does, and these are revenues that would be available to pay for the new parks and other amenities in the Plan.

Only one new restaurant is specifically proposed in the Plan – the Beachcomber. Restaurants are permitted by the current zoning and are one of the potential ground floor uses in new development. Many of the Alexandrians participating in the planning effort specifically requested additional waterfront and outdoor dining opportunities. The Plan includes a rigorous public review process for new hotels and restaurants, to make sure the individual and cumulative impacts of each new business are fully addressed

Solving most of the frequent flooding is a key element in the Plan, and is in the first phase of implementation.  There are two elements:  the first will slightly raise the foot of King Street at the Strand and Union, which will reduce the most frequent nuisance flooding by 90% and could be completed independently. The second element adds additional protections with a series of low walls and flood gates that are attractively integrated into the waterfront park landscape and protect against the average 10-year flood.

Waterfront redevelopment will not be connected to the combined sanitary/storm sewer system. The redevelopment sites are served by a 42-inch sewer interceptor that runs through the east edge of Old Town and directly to the sewage treatment plant. None of the sewage will go into the combined system that occasionally overflows.

The Plan emphasizes the creation of a southern cultural anchor to balance the Torpedo Factory’s function as an arts anchor, and calls for $3.6 million of City funding that could be used for a variety of activities – a new cultural or history building, a maritime museum, history center, relocated or expanded archaeology museum, permanently moored ship of character, the Seaport Foundation, and uses in the restored historic warehouses at the Strand.  The Plan permits, but does not require, museums at Robinson Terminal North or South and does not envision the taking or purchase of either site by the City, which would add many millions of dollars to the City’s budget,  eliminate a potential source of contributions to other public benefits, and add to traffic congestion.

The parking strategy recommended by the Plan is already being implemented.  Many people don’t know there are about 700 parking garage spaces going unused – even on busy weekends – and that’s a problem we can solve. Better signage directing visitors to garages, new parking meters and stricter enforcement are three of the parking improvement initiatives already under way. In addition, a parking implementation plan will create specific triggers to ensure that all new development is adequately parked before it can be approved.

The Plan is supported by many of the City’s volunteer boards and commissions that represent varied interests across the entire City.  The Waterfront Committee, the Parks and Recreation Commission, the Historic Alexandria Resources Commission, the Alexandria Archaeology Commission, the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership, and the Alexandria Convention and Visitors Association have endorsed all or parts of this Plan.  The Alexandria Commission on the Arts is due to vote later this month, but many members have indicated support for the significant public art proposed in the Plan. The Plan has also received considerable support from individual community members.

Alexandria does not want to be like anywhere else. We all agree that it’s critical for the Plan to improve what’s there now without compromising our identity as a historic City, and we all agree with many elements that are in the Plan.

We must find a balance of the elements that are contentious – a balance that combines the right amount of both active and passive open space, economic development, vibrancy and great architecture into a mix that is compatible with existing neighborhoods and businesses. This Plan has received a tremendous amount of public input over the past two years. It’s time to make a decision that will complete the transformation, begun 40 years ago, from an obsolete industrial area to a world class waterfront for the entire community.

William D. Euille

Mayor, City of Alexandria