held June 13, 2018
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Last night, the Alexandria City Council held their regular legislative meeting, where they considered a Lease Agreement between the City of Alexandria and Sweetbake, Inc. for use of vacant café at the Torpedo Factory Art Center; the FY 2019 Long Range Interdepartmental Planning Work Program; and a waiver to the Special Events policy to allow for programs and events on consecutive weekends at the Interim King Street Park at the Waterfront in support of the City’s King Street Corridor Initiative.
Details on these items can be found below.
Item: Lease Agreement for use of vacant café at the Torpedo Factory Art Center
Action: After being pulled from the consent agenda for discussion, unanimous vote to receive report and schedule for public hearing
Next Steps: Public hearing on Saturday, June 23, 2018, after which Council will vote to authorize the City Manager to execute the Lease Agreement
Description: Following the vacancy of a space in the Torpedo Factory Art Center (TFAC) previously occupied by a cafe, City staff issued a call for cafe or barista management. Following receipt and review of proposals, Sweetbake, Inc. was chosen to provide coffee, pastries, sandwiches, soups and other refreshments. This docket item asks City Council to review the lease and authorize the City Manager to execute it.
Details & Issues of Interest:
– Lease agreement details:
term- 15 months, ending 9/30/19
coincides with current leases of all other TFAC tenants
operation 7 days a week
– Tenant- Sweetbake, Inc. doing business as Bread & Water Company, operates in Belle View and Arlington and numerous farmers markets around the region
Item: FY 2019 Long Range Interdepartmental Planning Work Program
Action: Unanimous vote to adopt the Long Range Interdepartmental Planning Work Program for FY 2019 with changes
Next Steps: Implementation
Description: In January 2018, the Planning Commission and the City Council provided preliminary input on the Draft FY 2019 Long Range Interdepartmental Planning Work Program to help inform both the FY 2019 budget process and the final work program. Based on Council and Planning Commission input, staff prepared a revised draft FY 2019 work program for final review.
Details & Issues of Interest:
– Focus on updates to existing plans in areas identified as economic development areas for the City:
Landmark Mall site re-plan – to begin as soon as the property owner (Howard Hughes Corporation) is ready, currently anticipated to be in Fall 2018
Following Landmark Mall will be the Eisenhower East Small Area Plan Phase 2 Update, anticipated to begin in early 2019 and conclude in Fall 2019- update land uses, density, infrastructure, and improvements to the public realm, in order to maintain the area’s competitive potential as a Metro-proximate redevelopment area in the regional market
Next, after Eisenhower East Phase 2 is the update to the Mount Vernon Avenue Plans (Del Ray and Arlandria) – stakeholders are supportive of a targeted/strategic update and discussed two commonly shared objectives of the plan update: 1) Review/update parameters for infill and redevelopment projects, and 2) Identify funding tools and prioritize tasks/goals for implementation
– In addition to major small area plans, a number of non-geographic projects and initiatives will also proceed such as:
Joint City Schools Facilities Master Plan
Sanitary Sewer Master Plan
PY Metro, West End Transit Way
– Council members asked questions about the number of studies related to affordable housing and whether there were synergies and the scope of the Transportation Master Plan and it’s inclusion of big solutions to address mid-City congestion and cut-through traffic.
– Council also directed staff to include the previously approved study of combination/coordination of the two Board of Architectural Review boards into the final work plan documents.
Item: Waiver to the Special Event Policy to allow for programs and events on consecutive weekends at the Interim King Street Park at the Waterfront in support of the City’s King Street Corridor Initiative
Action: Unanimous vote to receive the recommendation and schedule the proposed pilot waiver for public hearing
Next Steps: Public hearing on Saturday, June 23, 2018
Description: The 2012 approved Waterfront Small Area Plan calls for programming public spaces and promoting the waterfront as a cultural destination. In Spring of 2018, the King Street Corridor Initiative was created- designed to enhance Alexandria’s quality of life and economic competitiveness through programming, beautification and marketing. The initiative is timed to capitalize on the opening of the interim King Street Park at the Waterfront to shine a spotlight on Alexandria and its waterfront. The programming portion of the initiative is essential to maintaining market share as waterfront destinations like The Wharf and other well-funded destinations upgrade their offerings.
Details & Issues of Interest:
– In 2010, City Council approved the City’s Special Events Policies and Procedures which limits the number of event occurrences in Old Town.
– According to the Special Event Policy “Events in Old Town with anticipated attendance over 500 are limited to no more than one such event every other weekend in a calendar year. A weekend is defined as beginning Friday, 5 p.m. and continuing through Sunday, 6 p.m.”.
– The King Street Initiative- Visit Alexandria + a number of City departments and business partners- is seeking a waiver on this policy for a pilot one year period from October 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019.
– The waiver will be limited to up to ten sets of consecutive weekends during the FY 2019 pilot.
– A vast majority of programs of the King Street Corridor Initiative will be public space activation attracting fewer than 500 guests, as opposed to large-scale special events for which the not-on-consecutive-weekends policy was created to address.
– City protocol will be followed, and special events applications will go through the Special Events Committee for review and approval.
– Types of events (seasonal and ongoing):
history programming such as mobile history exhibits, reenactors, tours and events;
hands-on arts programs with the Mobile Art Lab and other local arts organizations and artists;
rotating public art and related programming;
small concerts and other performances;
pop-up markets that highlight the region’s makers and creators;
programs featuring local foods and culinary traditions; and
recreational activities such as oversized games, outdoor yoga and other classes.
Land use items we are tracking in July & August:
None! The City Council will go into recess following their final June meetings- so we will pick-up land-use tracking in September
Weigh in on these issues!
Contact the Planning Commission – PlanComm@alexandriava.gov
Contact the City Council – Call.Click.Connect.