City Council spent last Saturday discussing alcohol sales, closing times for restaurants and development. They approved special use permits for two 7-Eleven convenience stores, expanded services at the Old Town Theater, a car impound lot and a condominium high rise.
Council approved the final piece of the Park Center development, which will now include a 16-story, 173-unit condominium building.
"The Park Center site plan was approved in 1984 and then amended in 2000 to convert some residential use to a low-rise hotel," said Eileen Fogarty, the city's director of planning and zoning. "The hotel provided very few public enhancements because it was approved at a time before Council was requiring extensive public enhancements.
"We have worked very hard with the applicant to make this building high-quality and to ensure that there is significant public benefit from this complex," she said.
The staff recommended allowing the developer to increase the height by 20 feet, adding two stories and 23 units. In turn, the city will receive seven additional affordable housing units. "That brings the total to nine affordable units that will be available in this building," Fogarty said.
Staff does not see the additional height as a problem. "The site is depressed 30 feet from King Street and is set back from the street 200 feet," Fogarty said. "This makes it shorter than the buildings around it."
Fifty-three percent of the site will be consolidated open space. "This will include the deck around the building, the pool area and other amenities for the owners," said Duncan Blair, who represented the applicant. "We have worked very closely with staff on this development and believe that it has been a positive experience and has led to a good project."
The Planning Commission had originally received this item in March but asked for additional study of traffic and parking. "The Planning Commission asked us to study the traffic impact of building a condominium building as opposed to the hotel," said Tom Culpepper, the deputy director of the Department of Transportation and Environmental Services. "The applicant's traffic consultant did some modeling and found that the traffic impact of the condominium high-rise is less than traffic that would be generated by the hotel.
"Also, in looking at parking, we discovered that there is very little off-street parking in this area. It is already part of a residential permit zone and that doesnít seem to be helping. We have offered to look at ways of increasing the parking inventory in the area and will certainly do that. Park Center has also agreed to make parking available in the garages that they own. They have a 2,000-car capacity and in the evening, the garage is only used by Copeland's restaurant and by the health club," he said.
Dina Biblin represented approximately 500 property owners in the neighborhood. "We don't believe that these traffic numbers are worth the paper they are printed on," she said. "We are very distressed that the city is continuing to allow this type of over development without regard to the traffic impacts. We would like you to wait until the Hampton Place buildings come on line and would also like you to consider the impact of the giant Target that is going in at Skyline before you approve this 173-unit on the neighborhood. We already have nowhere to park our cars and traffic is terrible. Also, transit service to the area is woeful. Please don't do this," she said.
VICE MAYOR DEL PEPPER agreed with some of Biblin's concerns. Pepper said, "Anyone who has traveled through the intersection at King and Beauregard during rush hour understands that there is a problem. I really would like to see more study on the traffic impacts. It doesn't seem to make sense that a 173-unit condominium high-rise would generate less traffic than a 160-room hotel," she said.
Councilwoman Joyce Woodson asked for a clarification. "It is my understanding that, no matter what we do, something is going to be built here. Either we are going to have a hotel or something. And that something is going to generate traffic. We are not going to be able to simply build nothing. Therefore, I want to really make sure that everyone understands that the issue is whether there is a significant difference between the amount of traffic that will be generated by the condominium as opposed to the hotel," she said.
Culpepper said that while there is some difference, it is not significant. "We do not see any of the intersections in this neighborhood failing because of the condominium building," he said. "And all of the numbers indicate that the condominium will generate less traffic than the hotel."
Councilman Rob Krupicka asked that the agreement with Park Center to provide parking be put in the special use permit as a condition. "I just want to make sure that we get this commitment in writing and that we know how many parking spaces they are required to provide," he said. "I would also like to see those spaces be made available for as many hours as possible."
Fogarty noted that this was already part of the conditions of the SUP. "The Planning Commission left this broad enough for us to specify," she said. "If you want us to specify a minimum, we can do that. We could, for example, say that Park Center has to provide an additional 15 percent of parking in one of their garages."
Councilman Andrew Macdonald made a motion to remand the matter to the Planning Commission. "I agree with the neighbors that we need to study the traffic impacts more," he said. "Therefore, I would like to remand this to the Planning Commission for further consideration."
Pepper initially seconded the motion and then withdrew her second. "I must unfortunately withdraw my second," she said. "I guess we have studied the matter and there are some agreements to do things that will help. We are going to build something here, after all."
One of those agreements is to look at expanding DASH service. "When can this study be finished," asked Councilman Krupicka.
"We can certainly complete the study by the end of the year but adding buses or routes will depend on DASH," Culpeper said. "I don't know whether they have the equipment or the staff to accomplish this. But we will study the matter and work with them."
In the end, Council approved the only ownership project at Park Center by a vote of 6-1.
PEPPER REMOVED the car impound lot from the consent calendar, explaining, "I think that this site should get the award for the ugliest site in the city," she said. "We want to redevelop this area and approving such uses as this isn't moving us in that direction."
The request was to allow a car impound lot to be placed in the same block of Colvin Street as Mayor William Euille's business office. "If we do approve it, I think we should limit the time that it can remain a car impound lot to five years," said Councilman Paul Smedberg. "Then, if we have other redevelopment opportunities, they can be considered at that time."
Woodson said she disagreed with that suggestion. "This is an industrial area," she said. "While this area may be redeveloped in 20 or 30 years, I just don't think anything significant is going to happen in five. I couldn't support that condition.
"This is an industrial area and there are similar uses around this property. I am going to support this request," Woodson said.
"Ms. Woodson is correct," said Euille. "There are other uses of this type on the street. The property needs to be kept in good condition but I see no reason to disapprove this use."
The car impound lot was approved 5-2, with Smedberg and Pepper voting against it.
THE OLD TOWN Theater is back and will feature old movies, provide live entertainment, sports events on a big screen and food and drink.
"The new owner plans to show second-run movies and film festivals such as the Marx Brothers and that kind of thing," said Duncan Blair, who represented the applicant. "Also, we will have beer and wine available if the Alcohol Beverage Commission gives us a license. There will be live shows and we will also show special sports events on occasion."
The theater will be open until 2 a.m., which gave the Old Town Civic Association some pause. "First of all, we would like to say that OTCA is wholeheartedly behind the Old Town Theater and we look forward to enjoying movies and events there for a long time to come," said Carolyn Merck, the president of OTCA. "Our concerns are in the margins.
"We do wonder why this business model depends on the theater being open until 2 a.m. We are concerned that this will set a precedent and every restaurant and establishment along King Street will want to be open until 2 a.m. We would rather see the theater close at midnight during the week and be open until 2 a.m. on weekends.
"We are also concerned about the sale of beer and wine. We would like to see this limited to the lobby area and not have it sold at your seat," she said.
Blair responded. "We aren't going to be open until 2 a.m. every night of the week," he said. "We just want the flexibility. The key is to have two shows. If the first show begins at 7:30 p.m. and lasts for two hours and we have an hour to clean up for the next showing, it would start at 10:30 or 11 p.m. and end at 12:30 or 1 a.m. Also, we would stop selling alcohol an hour before closing," he said.
Council members agreed that this was an appropriate use for the theater and approved the request unanimously.
THERE ARE 15 7-Eleven stores in Alexandria. Council agreed to allow two of them to continue operating along with the others. Council denied both stores' request to sell single containers of beer.
"I would like to see us add a condition that requires any establishment that is selling alcohol to receive training from the police about the sale of alcohol to minors," Woodson said.
The Planning staff agreed to include that condition in future applications.