With this meeting recap alert, we are launching a NEW effort to keep parties interested in economic development in Alexandria up-to-speed on decisions made by the Planning Commission and City Council each month. We recognize that the business and real estate communities are busy, and may not tune-in to these meetings on a regular basis.
The AEDP staff will provide a recap of actions taken at four meetings a month- the Planning Commission’s regular meeting, City Council’s two legislative meetings and City Council’s monthly public hearing.
Our recaps will only focus on issues and projects effecting economic development- and will contain some editorial on the discussion and decisions and their impact on real estate and business.
Consider these alerts your cheat-sheet to decision-making made by our appointed and elected officials. This first email covers what happened ‘while you were sleeping’ last night at the Planning Commission’s first meeting of 2018, which adjourned just before 1:00 AM.
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Recap of Planning Commission Meeting
held January 4, 2018
Last night, the Planning Commission held their regular monthly meeting, where they discussed Commercial Parking Standards and a Development Special Use Permit for Blocks 4 & 5 in Eisenhower East (Stonebridge Carras development anchored by Wegmans).
Item: Commercial Parking Standards
Action: Unanimous vote to initiate and recommend approval of the text amendment to City Council
Next Steps: City Council will hold a public hearing and vote to adopt the new standards at their Saturday, January 20, 2018 public hearing
Description: A collection of changes and updates to the City’s parking standards for Office, Hotel, Retail & Restaurant uses. The standards have not had a comprehensive review since the 1960’s, and do not reflect existing parking demand and market trends.
Details & Issues of Interest:
– Changes would take effect in February, if approved by City Council
– Adjusts parking minimums and creates parking maximums for hotel, retail, restaurant and office uses
– Encourages shared parking between different uses
– Small business friendly- eliminates common ‘parking reduction’ requests and related costs incurred by small retail/restaurant/personal service businesses
Item: Hoffman Town Center – Blocks 4 & 5 (Wegmans)
Action: 6-0 vote to initiate and recommend approval of the Master Plan amendment, and recommend approval of the Coordinated Development District (CDD) amendment and related approvals
Next Steps: City Council will hold a public hearing and vote on these items at their Saturday, January 20, 2018 public hearing
Description: A collection of changes to the Eisenhower East Master Plan and the zoning on vacant parcels at the Eisenhower Metro station to allow for development of a mixed-use project by StoneBridge Carras. The 1.7M square foot project includes several residential buildings atop a retail podium and will include a Wegmans grocery story.
Details & Issues of Interest:
– 1st of two stages for this project- these are focused just on the approval of uses, density, and massing while Stage 2 (expected in March) will tackle the details and design of the project
– Master Plan Amendment allows for a change in uses from commercial to residential, increasing the density and number of building stories allowed on the site, and allowing more parking for a regional grocery store
– CDD amendment and Stage 1 Development Special Use Permit (DSUP) allows for a combined development option for Blocks 4&5, permits 834,554 SF of residential, 252,421 SF of retail & 622,006 SF of parking floor area for a maximum number of parking spaces of 1,546
– Issues to be resolved before Stage 2 is approved:
affordable housing (on site or contribution)
connection of open space areas on top of the retail podium
allowable uses on second floor of ‘retail’ space