City of Alexandria, Virginia
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: SEPTEMBER 16, 2020
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
FROM: MARK B. JINKS, CITY MANAGER /s/
DOCKET TITLE:
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Consideration of a Resolution to Request that the Potomac Yard Metrorail Station Official Name be "Potomac Yard - VT" Metrorail Station. [ROLL-CALL VOTE]
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ISSUE: Consideration of "Potomac Yard-VT" Metrorail Station as the official name of what is now known as the "Potomac Yard" Metrorail Station.
RECOMMENDATION: That City Council endorse the attached resolution formally requesting that WMATA begin the process to consider "Potomac Yard-VT" as the name for the Potomac Yard Metrorail Station.
BACKGROUND: In spring 2020, Virginia Tech expressed its interest to the City in changing of the name of the "Potomac Yard" Metrorail Station to include reference to the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus. WMATA has an established policy, "Metro System Station Names" that articulates the requirements for station names and the process by which jurisdictions and WMATA must advance proposals. WMATA's policy includes a host of requirements including that names be less than 19 characters. For naming stations after universities, the policy states that a university must have more than 5,000 students, the campus must be within 0.5-mile of the station, and the university needs to have a significant classroom presence at the campus location. City staff have discussed this proposed name in detail with WMATA staff and have been given enough encouragement by WMATA staff to proceed that City staff bringing this forward for Council endorsement.
Council considered this item at its September 8, 2020 meeting and deferred it to the September 22, 2020 meeting. One specific question at that meeting was a request for more clarity on the process. If Council adopts a formal resolution supporting and requesting a name change, WMA...
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