Citizens are asking the city to protect a 3-acre, old-age, oak-heath forest off Seminary Road across from the Virginia Theological Seminary. The site is currently threatened by a developer who wants to construct four mega-homes there. The project has sailed through the planning process, despite a host of environmental concerns raised by local residents, and it will now be appealed to the City Council.
Local residents do not believe that silt fences and engineering will safeguard their treasured forest. Nor do they believe that the plastic clays and groundwater that underlie this forest and their neighborhood are suddenly no longer hazards.
The forest occupies an ancient geological ravine that city planners call a “swale.” It lies at the headwaters of Strawberry Run, a tributary of Great Hunting Creek. To service their subdivision, the developer wants to run a large sewer line through the ravine, threatening a wetland that seeps from the gravelly terrace.
A good deal of the forest will be bulldozed to make room for a road and the four McMansions. If this project is approved, you can say goodbye to the wetland and forest ecosystem, and the birds, mammals, and other biodiversity there.
This parcel was once on the city’s list of potential open space sites. Given how little of our native forests remain in Alexandria, it should be bought and preserved. Instead, we are relying, as usual, on a developer and weak environmental regulations to safeguard that which is irreplaceable. And we call ourselves an Eco-City?
Alexandria has done a terrible job preserving and protecting Its Chesapeake Bay tributaries, wetlands, and terrace gravel forests. We have turned meandering streams like Cameron Run into storm drains, permitted development to degrade the former Winkler Botanical Preserve, failed to stop erosion in Monticello Park, and allowed sewer lines to despoil stream valleys.
I hope that as many Alexandrians as possible join with the residents of Seminary Hill and the congregation of Temple Beth El to demand — yes, demand — that the city do more to preserve and protect what little natural green canopy and habitat still remain. This appeal will be heard by the council in December or January. Join the voices to protect the Karig Forest.
Andrew Macdonald
Alexandria