In approving the Karig project, Alexandria’s City Council showed that they are not environmentalists. Mayor Allison Silberberg was the only member who supported residents with legitimate concerns about the development’s environmental impacts.
As approved, the project will further degrade a watershed of the Chesapeake Bay, including a forested wetland at its headwaters. It will deforest a ravine that is a remnant habitat for some of the city’s unique, Coastal Plain biological diversity. The deforestation and construction work above outcrops of swelling clays may also trigger landslides and other hydrological problems for adjacent homeowners, a problem that dates back to the 1960s when Pulte built homes here.
Citizens and members of Temple Beth El Congregation who demanded more thoughtful and comprehensive environmental impact studies were met with stonewalling, obfuscation, and misinformation by city staff. Residents offered a variety of reasonable alternatives that might have reduced some of the environmental degradation caused by the project. These alternatives were met with disdain by the city and dismissed out of hand.
It was extremely painful to watch another planning travesty unfold, but unfortunately it’s been the “Alexandria Way” for decades, despite the stranglehold that Democrats have on city affairs. The leadership of Alexandria puts development and developers ahead of good environmental planning and environmentally concerned residents, even when the facts indicate that they should do otherwise.
Alexandria does not deserve to be called an Eco-City. Electing a new City Council should be our next priority.
Andrew Macdonald
Former Vice Mayor
Ph.D., Geology