With Six You Get Eggroll, But How Many Does It Take to Get a Waterfront Plan?

With six you get eggroll, but just how many does it take to get a waterfront plan?

That question has been eating at many stakeholders of Alexandria's waterfront since the City Manager's Office last week offered the idea of creating a work group charged with assisting City Council in addressing the many outstanding waterfront issues.

Like all things waterfront in Alexandria, it’s not going to be easy. There’s a hubbub over just who will be on that committee and what exactly its members are supposed to do.

The City Manager’s Office last week circulated a memo recommending the plan’s composition and mission, which will be considered by council at its June 28 meeting.

“To date staff believes that the council has indicated the work group is not expected to develop a new plan, but would be expected to identify the elements for which there is agreement and then focus its attention on the remaining issues where there is not agreement,” reads the memo to the mayor and council from Acting City Manager Bruce Johnson.

He also suggested a possible composition for the work group: one to two council members, representatives from Planning, Parks and Recreation, Arts, and the Historic Alexandria Resources commissions, Waterfront Committee, Chamber of Commerce, Old Town Civic Association, an advocacy group such as Citizens for an Alternative Waterfront Plan and three to five at-large citizens.

At the City Council meeting last Saturday, members of the public spoke about this proposal.

Potomac Street resident Bob Wood, who identified himself as a life-long public planner, said: “We desperately need a vision for our waterfront. We hear of a proposal from the city manager that looks like a replay of a conflicted waterfront committee.”

Wood believes five to seven members “without political ties or special interest affiliations” would suffice.

City Councilman Rob Krupicka said, “My concern is that the groups on the list have been participating for the last two years. And where are we right now?”

City Councilwoman Del Pepper said, “The devil is in the details…I feel like nothing less than 10” members will do, adding that she supports the idea of having no council members on the group as “we don’t want this characterized as another council group.”

Councilman Paul Smedberg pushed for having a “smaller committee” and for having a council member or two in attendance at its meetings. 

“We need to have a plan for redevelopment that is something that we want and not what the developer wants. I think it would be a shame if we don’t have a plan…We wouldn’t get the amenities and other things that people agree upon in the plan,” he said.

Councilman Frank Fannon urged that the work group tap into Alexandria’s “highly educated citizenry” who may have expertise in urban planning, flood control and other relevant issues.

Councilwoman Alicia Hughes cautioned that the work group’s composition should “be mindful of other civic associations” in addition to Old Town’s. She also asked that the group include a member of the Old Dominion Boat Club, which owns land right at the heart of much of the city’s waterfront plan.

John Gosling, president of the Old Town Civic Association, said, “if the starting point for the workgroup is to address the plan, a summary of the plan should be broadcast to the public." 

Smedberg agreed that there is no “clear, concise executive summary of what has changed.”

There’s also the problem of the model, which is generally posted on display in Council chambers when relevant. Vice Mayor Kerry Donley said because there have been so many changes since that model, “it causes confusion and strikes at the credibility of what we’re trying to achieve.”

Mayor Bill Euille said it’s important to bring all stakeholders to the table, but “every citizen is a stakeholder” so just who are the principal stakeholders?

He offered that his council peers offer up a couple of names each to be considered as part of the work group.