Alexandria on the Cusp of Eliminating All SFH Zoning

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Failing schools, imploding commercial real estate, and murders are not quite enough to destroy Alexandria, so the Council is a freight train about to vote on Tuesday to eliminate all SFH zoning. Yay.

Hooray!

Don't worry, OP, they are not eliminating detached one-unit residential buildings. They are simply eliminating zoning that bans everything except detached one-unit residential buildings. Property owners - like you - will now have more options for your property.

Great, so our neighbors can build condos next to our bedrooms and destroy the single family neighborhood we love.

So let's play this out....

There is a neighborhood of say 100 homes. How many of those owners do you think will sell in the next ten years? Of those, how many do you think are currently "tear down" such that it is more palatable for a developer to purchase than for a new family to move in? Of those, how many have lots large enough to put in more than a duplex? And if they were to build that duplex, how likely is it that it would be any larger than a huge house that would otherwise be built?

The sky is not falling.

When Alexandria raises property tax assessments to reflect the increased lot value based on the potential for multi-family unit development, more and more homeowners (particularly those on flat or fixed incomes) will be forced to sell out, whether they want to or not. This has the potential to transform some single family home neighborhoods in just a few years.

Forcing newly retired seniors out is what happened in Falls Church many years ago. It was sad. But people these days don’t care about anyone 50+. They just want them to die.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who is going to want to buy a $2M single family house next to an small apartment building with affordable housing?

Oh, right ALL of you who voted for this.

Have fun!

So the zoning reform will result in affordable housing? Great news!

Each unit in a multiplex will be $1M after the first owner sells if not sooner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Failing schools, imploding commercial real estate, and murders are not quite enough to destroy Alexandria, so the Council is a freight train about to vote on Tuesday to eliminate all SFH zoning. Yay.

Hooray!

Don't worry, OP, they are not eliminating detached one-unit residential buildings. They are simply eliminating zoning that bans everything except detached one-unit residential buildings. Property owners - like you - will now have more options for your property.

This!

You know what pays for all the stuff you want, OP? Property tax dollars. From incremental smart development like the ones in this package of reforms.

You can keep your SFH but when you go to sell it, it may sell for more because there will be more options for what it can become, and that will lead to both more tax dollars and more residents as one large house becomes four smaller ones in some places, especially places that support transit. Win-win-win-win.

This makes me want to vomit. This happened in my town and it ruined the downtown. It is a burned out ghost town ghetto now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This might be a good destination to deal with the migrant crisis in DC, NYC, etc.

Not really. Potomac and Great Falls should be annexed first. They have the most available land and land between houses where additional duplexes and apartments could be built and they are both really close to the city

But they are not Metro accessible. Migrants in NYC are rejecting the new housing in NYC for multiple reasons but primarily because it is not easily accessible to the subway and jobs. Great Falls and Potomac are bedroom communities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Failing schools, imploding commercial real estate, and murders are not quite enough to destroy Alexandria, so the Council is a freight train about to vote on Tuesday to eliminate all SFH zoning. Yay.

Hooray!

Don't worry, OP, they are not eliminating detached one-unit residential buildings. They are simply eliminating zoning that bans everything except detached one-unit residential buildings. Property owners - like you - will now have more options for your property.

Great, so our neighbors can build condos next to our bedrooms and destroy the single family neighborhood we love.

So let's play this out....

There is a neighborhood of say 100 homes. How many of those owners do you think will sell in the next ten years? Of those, how many do you think are currently "tear down" such that it is more palatable for a developer to purchase than for a new family to move in? Of those, how many have lots large enough to put in more than a duplex? And if they were to build that duplex, how likely is it that it would be any larger than a huge house that would otherwise be built?

The sky is not falling.

In my neighborhood there are $700k houses that are tear downs or $1.4 million dollar mc mansions. And every $700k house sold recently has been torn down.

Right, so that means the only option in your neighborhood 20 years from now absent the zoning change would be huge space-wasting energy-guzzling mcmansions.

Lets play a game. Which scenario is a bigger waste of resources?

A. A SFH of 2500 sqf with 5 people
B. A one bedroom apartment of 1400 sqf with one person

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Failing schools, imploding commercial real estate, and murders are not quite enough to destroy Alexandria, so the Council is a freight train about to vote on Tuesday to eliminate all SFH zoning. Yay.

Hooray!

Don't worry, OP, they are not eliminating detached one-unit residential buildings. They are simply eliminating zoning that bans everything except detached one-unit residential buildings. Property owners - like you - will now have more options for your property.

Great, so our neighbors can build condos next to our bedrooms and destroy the single family neighborhood we love.

So let's play this out....

There is a neighborhood of say 100 homes. How many of those owners do you think will sell in the next ten years? Of those, how many do you think are currently "tear down" such that it is more palatable for a developer to purchase than for a new family to move in? Of those, how many have lots large enough to put in more than a duplex? And if they were to build that duplex, how likely is it that it would be any larger than a huge house that would otherwise be built?

The sky is not falling.

In my neighborhood there are $700k houses that are tear downs or $1.4 million dollar mc mansions. And every $700k house sold recently has been torn down.

Right, so that means the only option in your neighborhood 20 years from now absent the zoning change would be huge space-wasting energy-guzzling mcmansions.

Lets play a game. Which scenario is a bigger waste of resources?

A. A SFH of 2500 sqf with 5 people
B. A one bedroom apartment of 1400 sqf with one person

Where are there 1400 sf one-bedroom apartments?!

[Anonymous]

Hey, you voted for it. Reap the rewards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Failing schools, imploding commercial real estate, and murders are not quite enough to destroy Alexandria, so the Council is a freight train about to vote on Tuesday to eliminate all SFH zoning. Yay.

Hooray!

Don't worry, OP, they are not eliminating detached one-unit residential buildings. They are simply eliminating zoning that bans everything except detached one-unit residential buildings. Property owners - like you - will now have more options for your property.

Great, so our neighbors can build condos next to our bedrooms and destroy the single family neighborhood we love.

So let's play this out....

There is a neighborhood of say 100 homes. How many of those owners do you think will sell in the next ten years? Of those, how many do you think are currently "tear down" such that it is more palatable for a developer to purchase than for a new family to move in? Of those, how many have lots large enough to put in more than a duplex? And if they were to build that duplex, how likely is it that it would be any larger than a huge house that would otherwise be built?

The sky is not falling.

In my neighborhood there are $700k houses that are tear downs or $1.4 million dollar mc mansions. And every $700k house sold recently has been torn down.

Right, so that means the only option in your neighborhood 20 years from now absent the zoning change would be huge space-wasting energy-guzzling mcmansions.

Lets play a game. Which scenario is a bigger waste of resources?

A. A SFH of 2500 sqf with 5 people
B. A one bedroom apartment of 1400 sqf with one person

Where are there 1400 sf one-bedroom apartments?!

Not to mention that “mcmansions” being built after tearing down a 700k house are almost certain to be WAY more than 2500sf.

[Anonymous]

City is rehabilitating itself with these zoning changes. They are also finally doing away with Confederate street names. Public hearing is this Thursday.

Details: https://x.com/alexandriavagov/status/1729286252258546023

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Failing schools, imploding commercial real estate, and murders are not quite enough to destroy Alexandria, so the Council is a freight train about to vote on Tuesday to eliminate all SFH zoning. Yay.

Hooray!

Don't worry, OP, they are not eliminating detached one-unit residential buildings. They are simply eliminating zoning that bans everything except detached one-unit residential buildings. Property owners - like you - will now have more options for your property.

Great, so our neighbors can build condos next to our bedrooms and destroy the single family neighborhood we love.

So let's play this out....

There is a neighborhood of say 100 homes. How many of those owners do you think will sell in the next ten years? Of those, how many do you think are currently "tear down" such that it is more palatable for a developer to purchase than for a new family to move in? Of those, how many have lots large enough to put in more than a duplex? And if they were to build that duplex, how likely is it that it would be any larger than a huge house that would otherwise be built?

The sky is not falling.

When Alexandria raises property tax assessments to reflect the increased lot value based on the potential for multi-family unit development, more and more homeowners (particularly those on flat or fixed incomes) will be forced to sell out, whether they want to or not. This has the potential to transform some single family home neighborhoods in just a few years.

Forcing newly retired seniors out is what happened in Falls Church many years ago. It was sad. But people these days don’t care about anyone 50+. They just want them to die.

So-called smart growthers are incredibly ageist. They think that if you need to drive to shop you should just sell your home (for denser development, naturally) and move to Leisure World.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's like Godwin's Law for bike lanes. As an online discussion about housing issue grows longer, the probability of someone bringing up BIKE LANES BAD!!! approaches 1.

I didn’t post that bike lanes were bad. What I posted was that the city council went ahead and voted for Durham’s pet project, to the tune of $1,000,000+ for about 0.9 miles of bike lanes on Seminary and a road diet, with Justin Wilson being the tie breaker, when the overwhelming majority of residents who lived in Seminary Hill and other parts of Alexandria had voiced their objection. So get the facts straight. The city council decides what they want to do, then fabricate this public process to do it. About everything.

There are right and wrong ways to do things. The city council and Wilson are shifty, insincere and frankly lie. Remember that when he runs for Congress.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Failing schools, imploding commercial real estate, and murders are not quite enough to destroy Alexandria, so the Council is a freight train about to vote on Tuesday to eliminate all SFH zoning. Yay.

Hooray!

Don't worry, OP, they are not eliminating detached one-unit residential buildings. They are simply eliminating zoning that bans everything except detached one-unit residential buildings. Property owners - like you - will now have more options for your property.

Great, so our neighbors can build condos next to our bedrooms and destroy the single family neighborhood we love.

So let's play this out....

There is a neighborhood of say 100 homes. How many of those owners do you think will sell in the next ten years? Of those, how many do you think are currently "tear down" such that it is more palatable for a developer to purchase than for a new family to move in? Of those, how many have lots large enough to put in more than a duplex? And if they were to build that duplex, how likely is it that it would be any larger than a huge house that would otherwise be built?

The sky is not falling.

In my neighborhood there are $700k houses that are tear downs or $1.4 million dollar mc mansions. And every $700k house sold recently has been torn down.

Right, so that means the only option in your neighborhood 20 years from now absent the zoning change would be huge space-wasting energy-guzzling mcmansions.

Lets play a game. Which scenario is a bigger waste of resources?

A. A SFH of 2500 sqf with 5 people
B. A one bedroom apartment of 1400 sqf with one person

But which one advances DEI?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Failing schools, imploding commercial real estate, and murders are not quite enough to destroy Alexandria, so the Council is a freight train about to vote on Tuesday to eliminate all SFH zoning. Yay.

Hooray!

Don't worry, OP, they are not eliminating detached one-unit residential buildings. They are simply eliminating zoning that bans everything except detached one-unit residential buildings. Property owners - like you - will now have more options for your property.

Oh, yes. Don't worry, no one will force demotion of your single family house.

What this means is that if you live on a street currently zoned for single family homes, your neighbor can sell their house to a developer who could throw up a multistory, multiunit apartment building as a matter of right.. There would be no review, no consideration of impacts, and no process in which you can submit a comment.

This is false and misleading.

The proposal allows up to 4-plexes on what would currently be single family lots, and they can't be any bigger than the single family home you would otherwise have been able to build there.

I get why you're lying, because the thing I just described simply isn't scary enough to gin up the fear you need to get people to oppose it. But you need to stop.

You are a bald faced liar.

Go look at 316 E. Monroe right now. Old colonial was scraped from the lot last week and they are currently putting TWO, 4 bedroom houses on the lot. These guys saw the writing on the wall and jumped the gun by a week.

That's terrible! You should definitely file a complaint with code enforcement!

Oops, no, wait, they actually have a permit, applied for on August 22, 2023, and issued on October 5, 2023, for building a new duplex with ADU. The current zoning is R 2-5.

Do you not count 2 duplexes as two housing units? I sure do. And the addition of an ADU now means .... a lot that once had 3 or 4 people and 1 or 2 cars, now will have ~9 people and 8 cars. In what world does the neighbor want that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Failing schools, imploding commercial real estate, and murders are not quite enough to destroy Alexandria, so the Council is a freight train about to vote on Tuesday to eliminate all SFH zoning. Yay.

Hooray!

Don't worry, OP, they are not eliminating detached one-unit residential buildings. They are simply eliminating zoning that bans everything except detached one-unit residential buildings. Property owners - like you - will now have more options for your property.

Oh, yes. Don't worry, no one will force demotion of your single family house.

What this means is that if you live on a street currently zoned for single family homes, your neighbor can sell their house to a developer who could throw up a multistory, multiunit apartment building as a matter of right.. There would be no review, no consideration of impacts, and no process in which you can submit a comment.

This is false and misleading.

The proposal allows up to 4-plexes on what would currently be single family lots, and they can't be any bigger than the single family home you would otherwise have been able to build there.

I get why you're lying, because the thing I just described simply isn't scary enough to gin up the fear you need to get people to oppose it. But you need to stop.

You are a bald faced liar.

Go look at 316 E. Monroe right now. Old colonial was scraped from the lot last week and they are currently putting TWO, 4 bedroom houses on the lot. These guys saw the writing on the wall and jumped the gun by a week.

That's terrible! You should definitely file a complaint with code enforcement!

Oops, no, wait, they actually have a permit, applied for on August 22, 2023, and issued on October 5, 2023, for building a new duplex with ADU. The current zoning is R 2-5.

Do you not count 2 duplexes as two housing units? I sure do. And the addition of an ADU now means .... a lot that once had 3 or 4 people and 1 or 2 cars, now will have ~9 people and 8 cars. In what world does the neighbor want that?

It’s a transit rich neighborhood with a rich history of duplexes on lots just like that. Several people in this thread are saying that we are both neighbors and comfortable with it - so…this world I guess?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Failing schools, imploding commercial real estate, and murders are not quite enough to destroy Alexandria, so the Council is a freight train about to vote on Tuesday to eliminate all SFH zoning. Yay.

Hooray!

Don't worry, OP, they are not eliminating detached one-unit residential buildings. They are simply eliminating zoning that bans everything except detached one-unit residential buildings. Property owners - like you - will now have more options for your property.

This!

You know what pays for all the stuff you want, OP? Property tax dollars. From incremental smart development like the ones in this package of reforms.

You can keep your SFH but when you go to sell it, it may sell for more because there will be more options for what it can become, and that will lead to both more tax dollars and more residents as one large house becomes four smaller ones in some places, especially places that support transit. Win-win-win-win.

NP here. I thought the entire premise of upzoning is that it will increase the supply of “affordable” housing and decrease the average price of housing, thereby making housing more affordable. At least that’s what several members of city council ran on and the mayor has been pushing. And now PP is claiming that upzoning is for increasing the collected real property taxes.

Which is it?

The entire premise of zoning changes to allow a wider range of housing types is: to allow a wider range of housing types. This will have many benefits.

A wide range of housing types is already available. What are these “benefits” of eliminating SFH zoning in Alexandria?

1. More housing
2. more tax revenue
3. higher property values for existing owners

4. More smaller landlords who are unlikely to properly maintain the properties.

Let’s be honest, that’s the real problem. When you are taking about quadplexes you are taking about renters and landlords. Not the type of landlords that maintain large complexes, but the type who are more likely to maintain older residential properties with little exterior maintenance or care for the neighbors to the property. That’s this issue. And it’s rarely an issue who rents the property but who maintains its.