Potential community space design for Montgomery street. Photo Contributed
After a week-long community engagement process, Alexandria city staff was happy to report that people like good things. At the Planning Commission meeting on Dec. 1, city staff started with a review of the three-day charrette, held between Nov. 16 and 20. The community meetings were intended to gain resident input on the Old Town North Small Area Plan update, but the way this was carried out received some criticism from the Planning Commission.
On a slide showing that the Old Town North residents had overwhelmingly supported “enriching community livability” and “cultivating urban village character,” Planning Commission member Stewart Dunn called out the staff on the subjective polling.
“Why would anyone vote against ‘enrich community livability’ or against ‘promoting viable balance of uses?’” said Dunn. “It’s like [asking people to vote on] motherhood and apple pie.”
Planning Commission member Maria Wasowski defended the language as trying to ensure that staff was adequately capturing the goals of the community. In the question on transportation, for example, the 11 percent opposed to neighborhood walkability were stating that it wasn’t a priority for them.
Most of the commission seemed willing to accept the findings of the charrette as the high concept framework for a plan rather than a plan itself.
“If the intent was point of departure, it’s been very successful,” said Commission member Nathan Maceck.
But the analysis also did note some more concrete areas for future development. Nancy Williams, principal planner, said that the central theme of the feedback was that Montgomery Park needed to emerge as a heart of the community. The necessity of added community meeting space in the park, which Chair Mary Lyman said was self-evident since staff had needed to contract with a company to find space to host the charrette.
The elephant in the room, for many on the commission and in the charrette, is the former GenOn plant to the far north of the plan’s coverage area. The description of an open space area on the bluffs overlooking the Potomac, with a clear view of the D.C. monuments, was an enticing one.
“We need creativity and flexibility on [the Power Plant] site,” said Lyman. “This could be its own separate plan. The potential here is amazing, I’m particularly impressed by the monument view.”
But Lyman also noted that, while she was impressed with the community engagement, staff still needed to continue reaching out to residents of Old Town North who hadn’t been able to attend the charrette.
“The one thing that’s important to do is to make sure that the people who weren’t able to be part of this [are] draw them in,” said Lyman. “That’s how discontent gets spread. You have people who feel left out of the process. We’ve done a good job of avoiding that, let’s continue to do so.”
“I appreciate everything that’s been said, but I want people to be mindful of the fact that this process emerged very quickly and there were a number of people who did their best to participate but weren’t able to as fully as they’d like,” said Herbert J. Cooper-Levy, a community representative on the Old Town North Small Area Plan Advisory Group. “As we move forward, we need to be aware that the concepts need to be tested. We’re at a very high level of concept rather than low level plans ready for implementation.”