There are several SUPs for new restaurants and a general paid street parking motion coming to Old Town. This is a trend that indicates a strong reversal of the policies and intent of the 1992 Old Town Small Area Plan, which attempts to balance the competing interests of residents, retail and restaurants.
This raises concerns about the assumption that paid street parking (with free residential parking) solves the parking problem for Old Town. This is actually to the contrary, since restaurants will be given a free pass to proliferate at will, to the detriment of all other retail, especially independent retailers. Bribing the residents with free parking will just encourage them to get more cars, and to tie up more spaces. In the long run, the Old Town scene will be just residents and all the restaurants/bars, while every other group is effectively squeezed out and the problem is even worse, but at the cost of everyone else, especially independent retail and visitors who came for the historic ambiance.
Many who see Alexandria Old Town assume that it was always this beautiful, historic town. Actually, this is not the case. As a matter of fact, it was once so run down and dilapidated that in 1960, Alexandria planned to demolish 24 city blocks. Fortunately, wiser heads prevailed and instead, the city preserved and restored what was left of the historic heritage. The growing importance of tourism helped to spur this along, since the tourists came to enjoy the historic ambiance and charm. This symbiotic relationship was not only recognized by the city who spent a lot of money to support it, but was also validated by visitor studies indicating that the prime reason for visiting Alexandria was to enjoy the historic ambiance.
In 1992 the City of Alexandria undertook and adopted the Master Plan that is predicate for all development; it was designed to provide tourist access to historic areas of the city in order to “enhance the historic areas.” As such, this original document (which is often cited) carried the spirit and ideals of the movement that helped form the Old Town Alexandria that is known the world over for its history and charm.
With the issuance of this Master Plan, there was also a recognition of the need for a strategy to accommodate the subsequent changes. The solution had two parts; the first part being the creation of a balance between the needs of residences, retail businesses, and restaurants, to ensure a truly mixed use community. (This had already been adopted on the waterfront area in 1982, where in order to minimize the number of cars, the plan could only be developed if the developers put in mixed uses in a significant way). The second part was an outright ban on any future restaurants due to concerns about over proliferation of restaurants. This ban was later seen to be a bit drastic, so it was changed to require that the City Council must attest that there are no parking problems in Old Town before approving new Special Use Permits for new or expanding restaurants.
The 2012 Waterfront Plan eliminated the mixed use criteria, which shifted the precarious balance. Instead of dealing with the proliferation of restaurants and expansion of restaurant seatings, the city has chosen to gloss over the parking problem based on the recommendations of a flawed parking study that were incorporated in the 2012 Waterfront Plan. While the policy in 1992 was to ensure a precarious balance and control over restaurant proliferation it is today turning away from it by giving the restaurants access to street parking and charging for it instead of limiting the SUPs. The resident buy-in has been encouraged by allowing them to park for free. And the precarious balance goes to the wind. While the original intent of the Old Town effort was historic ambiance, it now seems to be focused on the desire for restaurants to open.
We are already seeing the effects of this imbalance, since there are weakened retail sales on King Street, and a lowered civic interest in historic preservation, as those who might be interested in it cannot see it. There are numerous examples of significant historic buildings being compromised, which would have been unheard of in 1992. The waterfront development is significantly altering the entire idea and spirit of the Historic District. In 1999, citizens from across Alexandria filled the City Council Chambers for eight months in a row concerning developments that would impact the historic character of Old Town. Today there is no such fervor, and the chambers are mostly silent.
Poul Hertel
And Connie Graham
Alexandria