City of Alexandria, Virginia
________________
MEMORANDUM
DATE: JANUARY 18, 2022
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
FROM: JAMES F. PARAJON, CITY MANAGER /s/
DOCKET TITLE:
TITLE
FY 2022 Draft Proposed Long-Range Planning Interdepartmental Work Program.
BODY
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ISSUE: What planning work priorities should be established for FY 2023 and beyond?
RECOMMENDATION: That City Council:
(1) Receive this report and provide guidance to staff on the Draft FY 2023 Long-Range Planning Interdepartmental Work Program; and
(2) Schedule this Work Program for final consideration and adoption on May 10, 2022.
BACKGROUND: Each year, City departments involved in long-range planning and implementation jointly prepare a Long-Range Planning Interdepartmental Work Program for the upcoming fiscal year and beyond. The work program includes the completion of plans and studies underway, new plans scheduled to begin, and implementation of previously approved plans.
The draft Work Program, provided as Attachment 1, is presented for Planning Commission (January 4) and City Council (January 25) feedback and guidance early each calendar year to help inform development of the City Manager’s Proposed Operating Budget as well as development of a final Work Program docketed for City Council approval on May 10. This annual review cycle ensures coordination of work, staffing and financial resources, and the opportunity for Planning Commission and City Council to ensure alignment of proposed planning work across departments with the City’s Strategic Plan. This memo provides a summary of project highlights in the draft work program; a complete project descriptions document will be provided as part of the docket package for consideration of the final work program in May.
DISCUSSION:
Planning and Zoning
In FY 2023, the volume of planning work desired well exceeds what available staffing resources can support, and so as in years past, the exercise to develop a draft work program involved prioritizing some planning initiatives and delaying others. For the Department of Planning and Zoning, the first priority in calendar year 2022 is the City Strategic Plan. This is currently scheduled to take approximately one year to complete and is intended to provide strategic direction for City Council and budget decision making over the next five years.
Small Area Planning
There are several Small Area Plans that have been raised as priorities and all have merit to be next on the work plan, following the launch of the strategic plan. However, since staff can manage only one to two planning processes at a time, a recommendation for sequencing must be developed based on community needs and priorities, infrastructure, and anticipated future redevelopment sites. The recommended prioritization and sequencing of large-scale planning efforts is reflected below in #1-3.
1. Alexandria West Plan Updates, to include the Beauregard Plan (PZ, TES, RPCA, Housing): Staff is prioritizing a comprehensive update to the 1992 Alexandria West Small Area Plan for a variety of reasons. As a 1992 Plan, the land use recommendations need to be updated, particularly to address large-scale properties that have recently requested redevelopment, namely Southern Towers and Newport Village. In addition, the Mark Center area is undergoing strong market pressure to convert existing office space to residential uses. Further, there are other specific elements of the Beauregard Plan that need updating, including the Seminary/Beauregard intersection, requests for some land use reconfiguration, such as on the Monday Properties site, and the developer contributions policy, including affordable housing. Consideration has also been given to integrating a discussion of developing small area plan-standard sustainability guidelines into this planning process. While detail about the scope, timing, and geography of this planning effort will need to be further discussed and refined, Staff believes that a planning update for this area of the City is the highest priority and should begin in FY 2023.
2. Mount Vernon Avenue Business Area Plan/Del Ray (PZ, TES, RPCA, Housing): A planning effort for this area of the City has been identified in the work program for several years, with a variety of topics identified by diverse stakeholders. Guidance for redevelopment sites, business district challenges, historic preservation concerns, and infrastructure (particularly lighting) are among those topics that have been raised. From a land use perspective, the most pressing of these are developing updated guidelines for development sites, particularly with two large sites that have indicated desire to redevelop in the near future: the former City DCHS property at 2525 Mount Vernon Avenue and the Hyundai site at 1707 Mount Vernon Avenue. Both of these large sites warrant planning level review rather than piecemeal development review given their importance to the Avenue and in order to proactively address community impacts and benefits. Staff recommends that this planning effort begin in FY 2024 following completion of the Strategic Plan, unless a targeted redevelopment site planning process can be accommodated before Alexandria West begins.
3. Duke Street Plan Update (PZ, TES, RPCA, Housing): While this area of the City is also under a 1992 Plan, Staff believes that the transportation planning currently underway for the Duke Street area relative to the proposed transit corridor should precede a land use plan update. The transportation planning is anticipated to be complete at the end of FY 2023. Further, Staff has indicated that development projects in this area of the City may precede the planning effort, if they provide significant affordable housing component. Staff proposes that this planning effort be scheduled for FY 2024 or beyond pending further discussion as part of the next work program update.
Citywide Land Use Master Plan Update and Zoning Ordinance Update
Since 1992, Alexandria has updated its Master Plan through citywide chapters focused on topic areas such as the Housing Master Plan, the Mobility Plan, and the Open Space Master Plan, and by updating chapters for subareas through new Small Area Plans. In recent years, the idea of a comprehensive update to the City’s Master Plan (that is, all small area plans at once, plus updated selected citywide elements that have not been updated since 1992) has been raised. For example, the Zoning for Housing work program includes a near future look at whether the Zoning Ordinance should be comprehensively revised or whether it should continue to be revised in an incremental (albeit in an intentional, organized and strategic) fashion. A citywide update to the Master Plan would establish high level citywide land use objectives that integrate 21st century understanding of equitable, functional, and sustainable land use planning and position the City to meet current and future challenges. It would also enable a single citywide land use map reflecting the goals, strategies and recommendations within the individual Small Area Plans. Further, a citywide land use master plan update would provide the necessary guidance to feed into an update of the City’s Zoning Map and Ordinance, should a comprehensive zoning ordinance rewrite be endorsed. Staff believes this is the right moment to consider whether a comprehensive Master Plan/Zoning Ordinance update should be scheduled, potentially to take place after completion of the plans identified above, in approximately FY 2025.
Zoning
As referenced above, City Council approves practical updates to the Zoning Ordinance on a regular basis. In addition to these, and until a broader Zoning Ordinance update is considered, P&Z staff will study, solicit public input, and bring a variety of higher-level Zoning Ordinance Text Amendments to hearing during 2022 and 2023. The amendments are meant to streamline and modernize rules and regulations which regulate development and uses throughout the City and have been identified by City Council, Planning Commission, City staff, developers, and citizens. Those amendments include:
• Small Business Updates: With the changing business landscape, staff plans to study expanding by-right and Special Use Permit uses along King Street and Mount Vernon Avenue. This update will also include modernized hotel and lodging sections.
• Accessory Structures: Staff will study floor area ratio calculations for shade structures located on business storefronts, commercial and residential rooftop spaces, and playgrounds. Staff also plans to correct conflicting terminology for “accessory uses” versus “accessory structures.”
• Sign Ordinance: Staff have identified projecting signs and wall signs regulations which require clarification and simplification. Updates will include tabular information and visual images to help the user better understand regulations. Furthermore, staff plan to address gas station and electric vehicle charging signage as well as study potential regulations for murals.
• Subdivision Regulations: The subdivision section of the Zoning Ordinance is often difficult for staff, applicants, and the Planning Commission to understand. In addition to is subjective nature (i.e., the term substantial injustice) some sections are poorly written or outdated. Staff intends to study how other similar jurisdictions approach subdivisions and propose a modernized set of regulations.
• King Street Outdoor Dining Standards: With the expansion of outdoor dining in public rights of way, the recent closure of the 100 block of King Street, and the introduction of parklets and streeteries, staff has identified the need to update the King Street Outdoor Dining Standards to accommodate new forms of outdoor dining and broaden them to encompass the entire city.
Zoning for Housing
Zoning for Housing is tied to the Washington Metropolitan Council of 2019 Governments Regional Housing Initiative (RHI) in which the City, through City Resolution 2926, is a participant. The goal of RHI is to produce 75,000 units of new housing across the region over a ten (10) year period with 75 percent of those units affordable to households of moderate- and low-income and located in close proximity to activity centers with jobs, retail, other services, multi-modal transportation centers and amenities. The City’s Housing Master Plan contains a host of tools to promote affordable housing production and the Zoning for Housing will add to the City’s toolbox by studying and addressing regulatory barriers to affordable housing in the Zoning Ordinance, and it also designed to create new zoning initiatives to facilitate housing affordability and production. As part of RHI, the City is studying a number of initiatives by phases under a Zoning for Housing Prioritization Plan. Phase I of that effort is underway and will continue through FY 2022 as shown in the Bar Chart and as described below:
• Co-living Policy: This study and proposed policy is aimed at providing flexibility for more unrelated adults to live together beyond the four unrelated adult maximum established by the Zoning Ordinance. It will offer tenants a private living area as well as access to communal areas like kitchen and living spaces. The policy recommendations will be a tool for the City to begin addressing housing equity, providing flexibility for existing and new market affordable units, and streamlining the development process for this type of housing.
• Conversions and Housing Unit Density in Commercial Zones: This study is examining locations appropriate for office retention and support while also examining opportunities where conversion from office to residential, especially in mixed use zones, may be appropriate by addressing bulk and other regulatory restrictions.
• Density Height: A study to determine the appropriateness of modifying the height provision of Section 7-700 (Density Bonus) to facilitate housing production in a manner that remains consistent with the character of a surrounding community.
• Townhome Zones Reconciliation: A study to examine various townhouse zones to better streamline those zones for consistency and standardization if/as possible.
• Accessory Apartments: A study of current regulations for accessory apartments to make sure they are consistent across the commercial zones and ensure they are reflective of current developments trends.
Zoning for Housing initiatives to be studied in future phases will be outlined in an updated Zoning for Housing Prioritization Plan that is anticipated to be presented to the Planning Commission and City Council in Quarter 1 of Calendar Year 2022.
Implementation of SAP Zoning Recommendations
Old Town North Power Plant CDD (PZ, TES, RPCA, Housing)
Staff is working closely with Hilco Redevelopment Partners (HRPS), the owner of the former Pepco/Mirant/NRG coal fired power plant site in Old Town North, and the community on the process for redeveloping this important Old Town North site consistent with the adopted Old Town North SAP. Currently underway are a series of community meetings focusing on remediation, sustainability, open space, land use, affordable housing, the arts, and transportation. Approvals that will be required are a CDD rezoning and conceptual plan, anticipated for public hearings in late spring 2022, followed by Development Special Use Permits.
Eisenhower East CDD Update (PZ, TES, RPCA, Housing)
The Coordinated Development District (CDD) #2 and #11 zones were adopted in the late 1990s and the early 2000s to guide development in the City’s Eisenhower East neighborhood to be consistent with the Eisenhower East Small Area Plan Chapter of the City’s Master Plan. With the adoption of the 2020 Eisenhower East Small Area Plan, the CDD #2 and #11 zones no longer comply with the objectives and recommendations of the small area plan. Staff’s work effort will include a text amendment to the CDD table in the zoning ordinance and working with the CDD property owners to update the CDD #2 and #11 concept plans and conditions, so the zones implement the recommendations outlined in the updated small area plan and adopt the newly developed CDD best practices.
Eisenhower West CDDs (PZ, TES, RPCA, Housing)
The Eisenhower West SAP adopted in November 2015, recommended establishing CDDs to guide the redevelopment and coordinate on neighborhood and plan-wide improvements. Several CDDs have since been approved, including #17 Landmark Gateway, #17a Cameron Park, #26 Public Storage/Boat US, #27 Greenhill/West Alexandria Properties, and #28 Greenhill South. CDD#26 Public Storage/Boat US at 80 acres, is the largest of the neighborhoods. This neighborhood includes industrial areas along Pickett Street at the Fairfax County border and the former Vulcan Materials Company site south of Backlick Run. The approximately 18-acre Vulcan site is one of the largest parcels in the neighborhood and, if redeveloped, would provide nearly eight acres of open space along Backlick Run plus a variety of housing types and nonresidential uses. Staff will work with property owners to expand CDD#26 to achieve the uses, density, and infrastructure improvements identified by the SAP; coordinate with Fairfax County on the proposed Farrington Connector, a vehicular connection between Edsall Road and Fairfax County; advance the potential widening of the existing Van Dorn Street Bridge, if the multimodal bridge anticipated in the SAP is infeasible; conduct community outreach to design the road network between Edsall Road and Backlick Run; and design existing and potential park spaces on the north and south sides of the Run.
Arlandria Zoning Implementation (PZ, Housing)
The Arlandria-Chirilagua Plan recommends a new zone or modifications to an existing zone to implement the housing affordability incentives established by the Plan. After Plan adoption Staff will review and analyze options, and if a new zone is deemed necessary, the proposal will undergo a public process and approval by City Council. The Plan also recommends an amendment to the Zoning Ordinance to allow small-scale street vendors to sell items such as food, art, crafts, and other items within specified locations in the public right-of-way. The City will engage community stakeholders in developing the parameters of a new street vendor program. Potentially, a pilot program may be considered to provide an opportunity to experience the potential benefits and test the viability of such a program, as well as to help determine and refine the standards and parameters that would guide the program.
Transportation and Environmental Services
Duke Street Transitway (TES, PZ)
The Duke Street Transitway project received $87 million of Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) Regional funds toward environmental planning and design to implement the transitway envisioned in the Alexandria Mobility Plan and the Alexandria Transit Vision. The project kicked off in Spring of 2021 with a visioning and planning phase to create the concept for the transportation elements of the corridor, focusing on transit and access to the transit system. This effort is intended to be coordinated with the future Duke Street Area Plan Update.
Curbside Management for Food Trucks (TES, PZ, CAO)
This project will build on the previous efforts of the Food Truck program that was developed in 2015 and will identify potential changes to make the program more effective. Currently there are only three locations for food trucks on public right of way, which have had very limited success, and the process to remove or add new locations is cumbersome. This project will evaluate the overall approval process for food trucks on public right of way, assess the current locations for continued food truck service, and potentially identify new food truck service locations.
395 Ramp at Landmark (TES, PZ, DPI)
The I-395 northbound ramp to eastbound Duke Street Modification project improves the accessibility and safety for drivers accessing the proposed INOVA Hospital site at the existing Landmark Mall site from the I-395 ramp. The project includes an operational and safety analysis report, complete design, and construction. This will be a City-led project in partnership and coordination with the redevelopment efforts of the Landmark Mall site. The construction of this project is slated to be complete June 2027.
Lower King Street Closure (TES, PZ, DPI, RPCA)
The Lower King Street Closure project includes the engagement, design, and construction of a redesign for the recently closed 100 block of King Street. This project will include coordination with other waterfront improvements, particularly those related to stormwater management. Through this project, the street section will be redesigned to create a new pedestrian-oriented plaza. Additionally, building on the success of the closure of the 100 block of King Street and responding to requests from the business community, staff will also evaluate the closure of the Unit block of King Street as part of this effort. Staff anticipate closing the Unit block as pilot project in spring 2022. Staff will review the outcomes and community response to this closure and determine a more permanent closure should be incorporated into the redesign planned for the 100 block. Engagement from the business and residential communities will be included early in the process prior to developing a concept plan and ultimately the final site plan.
TMP Reform (TES, PZ, CAO)
Transportation Management Plans (TMPs) are Special Use Permits (SUPs) that new development projects file to remove congestion, often mandating a fee to pay. The City is updating this program to bring it in line with transportation demand management (TDM) practices in cities across the country. TES and PZ staff are working with developers and properties with existing TMPs to draft a new ordinance. Among the likely changes include more centralized management, TMP fund payment discounts for building City approved transportation improvements, and new reporting requirements with better measurement. Staff anticipate bringing an ordinance to Council in spring 2022.
Parking Standards Evaluation & Update (TES, PZ, OH)
The standards for multifamily residential buildings were last updated in 2015 with a recommendation to evaluate the performance of those standards about every five years. The purpose of this effort is to collect data to evaluate the current parking standards for new development and determine if adjustments are warranted.
Update City's Multimodal Transportation Study Guidelines and Standards (TES, PZ)
The purpose of this effort is to update the City’s guidelines and standards for Multimodal Transportation Studies associated with site development. The update will include guidance more aligned with industry standards and practices and consistent with other jurisdictions and agencies, as well as an update to the City’s submission process.
FEMA Floodplain Remapping and Ordinance Revisions/Effective Changes (TES, PZ, OH)
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is performing a Flood Insurance Study to update the City’s current floodplain maps. Updates are conducted periodically by FEMA to update floodplain maps, with the last updates in Alexandria occurring in 2011. The maps help set minimum floodplain standards to help communities build safely and resiliently, and they also determine the cost of flood insurance, which helps property owners financially protect themselves against flooding. Changes will affect some residential and commercial property owners, who may need to obtain coverage under a new flood insurance policy or alter existing policies. Properties newly added to the FEMA floodplain will be subject to floodplain development regulations. Owners of properties entering, leaving, and staying in the FEMA floodplains will be receiving notifications from the City, on behalf of FEMA. This effort is unrelated to recent flooding the city has experienced. The City is a partner in this process, but FEMA develops the new maps and sets the process timeline. Preliminary Maps and a new Preliminary Flood Insurance Study were published by FEMA in September 2020. Before the new maps take effect in Fall 2022, residents will be invited to participate in a review and appeals process. The City’s Floodplain Management Ordinance will need to be revised and accepted for the new maps to go into effect.
Update Water Quality Management Supplement to the Master Plan (TES, PZ)
This update is effectively an update to the City’s Chesapeake Bay Preservation Plan of the City’s Mater Plan that was previously adopted in 2001. The need for the update is jointly precipitated by the need to bring the Plan to current requirements and to make changes noted in the recent review by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VDEQ) of the City’s Chesapeake Bay Act implementation and overall program. Minor changes will be made to the plan that will go through the requisite public engagement, Planning Commission, and City Council approvals following inter-departmental collaboration.
Stormwater Management Resiliency Master Plan (TES, PZ, DPI, OEM)
The City has experienced repeated and increasingly frequent flooding from intense storms that has led to recent flash flooding events (July 8, 2019; July 23, 2020; and, September 10, 2020; and August 15, 2021) primarily as a result of climate change-induced severe rain events. Indications are that the City will continue to experience these severe rainfall events more frequently and that these large capital projects can provide a mix of conveyance and storage options to achieve long-term solutions to flooding issues. As part of the City’s Flood Action Alexandria initiative and broader climate change impacts beyond extreme weather events, resiliency planning will look holistically at the stresses the City faces and work to implement creative solutions that will allow the community to adapt and thrive, even under challenging conditions. The Plan will outline the City’s approach to managing the risk from these extreme rain events and the worsening of average conditions, will identify at risk infrastructure, and will consider revisions to existing ordinances, policies, and procedures to create a more resilient Alexandria.
Chesapeake Bay Phase 3 Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) 100% Action Plan (TES, DPI, PZ, GS, ACPS)
The Phase 3 Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) 100% Action Plan is to comply with remaining 60% pollutant reductions to clean up the Bay under the “Chesapeake Bay TMDL special condition” to be incorporated into the 2023 to 2028 General Virginia Pollution Discharge Elimination System (VPDES) Permit for Discharges of Stormwater from Small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4) No. VAR040057. The upcoming 5-year MS4 permit is currently under development to be subsequently issued to the City of Alexandria (City) in 2023. The “Bay Cleanup Mandates” are enforced through three 5-year MS4 permit cycles. The MS4 permit required the City to implement stormwater treatment best management practices (BMPs) sufficient to achieve 5% of the reduction targets for the first 5-year permit (2013-2018). The City’s current MS4 general permit effective November 1, 2018 through June 30, 2023 requires implementation of practices to achieve an additional 35% or 40% of total reduction targets during the second 5-year permit by 2023. The anticipated MS4 general permit effective for the July 2023 - June 2028 timeframe will require the remaining 60%, or 100% total of the reductions, be met by the end of the third permit cycle (2023-2028), no later than by June 2028. Development of the Plan will include cross-functional collaboration to finalize and begin implementation of the plan by the anticipated July 2023 timeframe.
Housing
ARHA Redevelopment/Repositioning (ARHA, Housing, P&Z)
As part of its broader repositioning and preservation strategy, ARHA has selected a development partner for its first redevelopment site-Samuel Madden, a 66-unit public housing community on Route 1. Plan development and community engagement are expected to extend from Q4 FY 2022 through Q2 FY 2023 with public hearings anticipated in Q3 FY 2023. In addition to Redevelopment Site 1, ARHA’s FY 2021-2022 workplan also includes the “Year 15” refinancing of Chatham Square and the Braddock, Whiting, and Reynolds developments as ARHA exercises its rights to buy out the interests of its tax credit investors and the redevelopment of Ladrey Senior Highrise into a non-senior multifamily development (that will preserve the existing 170 units designated for senior and elderly residents). ARHA released its RFQ in November 2022 and expects to select a partner for Ladrey in early 2022.
Housing Master Plan Update (Housing, PZ)
City Council has asked staff to consider an update to the 2013 Housing Master Plan (HMP) which sunsets in 2025. On an ongoing basis, in consultation with the community, the City has reviewed and implemented tools and strategies recommended in the HMP, conducted a midpoint check in at 2020's Housing Summit, and is on track to meet its HMP target of new affordability in 2,000 units by 2025. In endorsing the COG-led Regional Housing Initiative in 2020, the City set a new goal to add 2,250 more affordable and workforce units by 2030 and launched the Zoning for Housing Initiative to broaden regulatory tools to potentially enhance housing affordability. The HMP update is anticipated to begin with internal study in CY 2023 to identify and address a limited number of specific topics, such as new approaches to affordable homeownership, strengthening housing access and equity, colocation and P3s for housing, and senior housing/housing plus care models.
Inclusionary Zoning Study (Housing, P&Z)
In 2020 the first step of an inclusionary zoning (IZ) feasibility study was conducted to examine whether a IZ policy could facilitate production of more affordable units than are yielded through existing housing policy and investment. Concurrent to this process, the 2020 Housing Contributions Workgroup concluded its work which resulted in the City Council’s adoption of a new housing policy in December 2020 for projects seeking additional density above that permitted by the underlying small area plan. To allow staff time to more comprehensively evaluate the impact of the new housing policy over 36-month period, as well as to study IZ through an equity lens, staff propose to revisit the IZ feasibility study in 2024. Internal research will resume in late 2023 with community and stakeholder engagement (including AHAAC) anticipated in Late Winter through Summer 2024. Recommendations regarding the potential establishment of an IZ policy are planned to be drafted and brought to Planning Commission and City Council in Winter 2024/Early 2025.
Parks and Cultural Resources
Action Plan for Vibrancy & Sustainability at Torpedo Factory Art Center (CMO, RPCA, DGS, AEDP, P&Z)
Based on the recommendations of prior studies and the current Art Center management, this Action Plan is designed to achieve priority results and outcomes to establish a foundation for a renewed Torpedo Factory Art Center. The goal is to improve the efficiency of operations and sustainability of the Art Center while also broadening and deepening its connections to the community and re-configuring the first-floor spaces to create a more dynamic public experience. In addition, staff will work to create a separate public entity to consolidate the City’s artistic assets in the Old Town North Small Area Plan with the Torpedo Factory, as directed by City Council.
Parks and Recreation Master Plan (RPCA, P&Z, TES)
RPCA will update its Parks and Recreation Master Plan (2002), a chapter of the City’s Master Plan, in order to provide a broad policy and management framework to guide decision-making for current park and recreational needs of Alexandria residents for the next 10 years. The plan will be informed by the Publicly Accessible Open Space Policy Framework, the Parks and Recreation Needs Assessments, the Resource Recovery Policies, the Department’s Strategic Plan, and other relevant city plans. The recommended vision, policies, and actions are intended to further the city’s comprehensive planning approach for the recreational needs for residents, the existing work force, and visitors to Alexandria.
Citywide Parks Improvement Plan Update (RPCA, PZ, TES)
The Citywide Parks improvement plan was created in 2003 with the intent that it would be updated every ten years to reflect changing community and infrastructure needs. The next update will occur in 2023.
Dog Park Master Plan Update (RPCA, TES, DPI, P&Z)
Adopted by City Council in 2000, the Dog Park Master Plan defines areas for unleashed dog exercise and establishes guidelines for the creation of any new fenced dog parks and dog exercise areas. This update will include a study of equitable distribution of dog facilities in the City and will review and update dog park rules, regulations and design standards to ensure best practices are maintained. The update will include an action plan to meet projected development plans and population forecasts.
Cameron Run Regional Park Feasibility Study (RPCA, TES, DPI, P&Z)
This project will provide funding for a future feasibility study of Cameron Run Regional Park in advance of the expiring lease agreement between the City of Alexandria and Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority (NOVA Parks). The 2025 plan will consider changes in the community since 2017 and potential impacts to surrounding open spaces, including Hensley Park, located at 4200 Eisenhower Ave. The 2017 feasibility study identified a range of options from a conversion to a full natural site to a multi-use active recreation park with aquatic facility. Costs to implement the 2017 options ranged from $1.7 million to $26.0 million. The project would provide updated conceptual plans, a park management plan and implementation strategies beginning in 2029. The current land license agreement between the City of Alexandria and NOVA Parks expires on December 31, 2028.
PLANNING COMMISSION FEEDBACK: At their January 5 public hearing, Planning Commission received the draft FY 2023 work program and individual Commissioners provided comments. No vote by the Planning Commission was requested or taken. Chair Macek suggested moving the Duke Street Plan ahead from number three in the small area plan cue to number two. He indicated that once the ongoing transportation analysis and planning is complete for the Duke Street Corridor, the land use plan should follow as soon as possible after, as it represents a big opportunity for the City from an economic development and transit perspective. He also suggested applying for a Federal Transit Administration Transit Oriented Development Grant for the land use planning process, as it is a well-funded grant program with limited competition. Finally, Chair Macek suggested adjusting the timing of the inclusionary zoning process to complete in Fall 2024 under the currently seated City Council. Commissioner McMahon agreed with staff's proposal to start discussions about adding a comprehensive land use plan update to the work program as there is value in looking at/updating these concepts citywide, as well as strategic issue areas such as climate change and sustainability. Commissioner McMahon also questioned whether review of the King Street Retail Zone to allow medical office on the first floor might be moved up within the prioritization of zoning text amendments, possibly delaying the sign ordinance update which seems less urgent.
NEXT STEPS: Staff will incorporate guidance provided by Planning Commission and City Council at their January 2022 meetings, as well as coordinate among departments to further refine project scopes and timing and solicit input from community stakeholders and City Boards and Commissions. Feedback on the draft work program will inform the FY 2023 budget process, as well as the final work program to be considered for approval by City Council in May 2022.
FISCAL IMPACT: Many work program items proposed for FY 2023 already have City or grant funding identified and/or will be completed within existing resources, or will need to compete for funding as part of the FY 2023 budget preparation process now underway, as well as during the community and City Council consideration process after the City Manager proposes the FY 2023 operating budget and FY 2023 to FY 2032 Capital Improvement Program in February.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Draft FY 2023 Interdepartmental Long-Range Planning Work Program (“Bar Chart”)
2. Presentation
STAFF:
Emily A. Baker, Deputy City Manager
Karl Moritz, Planning and Zoning
Helen McIlvaine, Office of Housing
Jeffrey Farner, Planning and Zoning
Carrie Beach, Planning and Zoning
Tony LaColla, Planning and Zoning
Hillary Orr, Transportation and Environmental Services
Megan Oleynik, Transportation and Environmental Services
Alex Block, Transportation and Environmental Services
Jesse Maines, Transportation and Environmental Services
Jack Browand, Recreation, Parks, and Cultural Activities
Tamara Jovovic, Office of Housing