After listening to the testimony from 50 citizens over a five-hour period, the Alexandria City Council approved an amendment to the Special Use Permit that will allow for the completion of the Mark Center development.
The development has already received approval. The Mark Winkler Company was requesting to turn two buildings into three and final approval for the sixth building, which has already been approved in concept.
Council approved the amendment by a 6-1 vote, with Councilman Andrew Macdonald voting against it.
“This project was previously approved and it brings many benefits to the city,” said Mayor William D. Euille. “We have heard what the citizens have said and understand that we need to look at the impact of traffic throughout the city. However, the proposal before us today is reasonable and we should move on.”
“The issue really is how to take a development that has already been approved by previous Councils and devise a transportation management plan that deals with increasing levels of traffic,” said Eileen Fogarty, the director of planning for the city.
Most of the citizens who spoke agreed. “Almost no one is opposed to this development,” said Robert Kirk. “What we object to is the transportation management plan.”
Councils and Planning Commissions began approving the project in 1992, and unanimously approved it again in 1995, 1998 and 1999. “We are reducing the parking by 14 percent and we already had less parking than our competitors around the region,” said Howard Middleton, who represented the Winkler Company. “We believe that this will mean a reduction of about 10 percent in the number of cars that this will bring to the development.”
The biggest issue appeared to be the infrastructure improvements. The Special Use Permit required that the Winkler Company devise a strategy of road improvements that the city agreed to before the rest of the project could be built. One proposal was a ramp from I-395 directly into the Mark Center development.
“We looked at this very carefully and have concluded that this is not a feasible or even a desirable option,” said Richard Baier, the director of the Department of Transportation and Environmental Services.
“As a policy matter, the Federal Highway Administration does not build ramps into or out of private developments. The developer went to FHWA in the 1970s and was turned down when they requested such a ramp. Also, this type of a ramp would increase the cut-through traffic for those who wish to get to or from Skyline.”
THE OPTION THAT the city and the developer have chosen is a triple left turn at the intersection of Seminary and Beauregard. Three turn lanes on Seminary would turn into three turn lanes on Beauregard, which would turn into two lanes on Mark Center Drive. “We are doing everything we can to build safety into this intersection,” Baier said. “That will include signage, lighted pedestrian crossings near this intersection and the elimination of the ability of those coming off the I-395 ramp to turn directly into Mark Center. We will have a left turn lane from Seminary into Mark Center but those who wish to use it must cross the Seminary Road Bridge in order to do so.”
The triple left turn intersection had been rejected by the city in 1998. “Many things have changed since then,” Baier said. “These triple left turns are being used in many locations, including some in Fairfax County, and they are very safe. We have better modeling techniques now than we did five years ago and we have more data on the safety of such intersections. This is a good option for this area.”
Still, the citizens were not satisfied. “We have reduced the parking and you say that you like the project, so I guess I need to know exactly what you want,” asked Councilwoman Joyce Woodson.
Steve Dujack responded. “I’m not sure exactly what is the right answer,” he said. “We are not engineers or experts in traffic and transportation. I guess we would like to have been involved in these discussions two years ago instead of in the past month.
"Also, if I had to pick a number of parking spaces, I guess I would say around 4,000. The number of parking spaces that is being proposed is overwhelming when you consider the amount of traffic that will be coming into this development and our neighborhood,” he said.