City of Alexandria rolls out timeline for massive housing reform project

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh yay, the anti-SFH missing middle kooks are at it again. The MoCo YIMBYs are over here trying to convince local politicians that we should model ourselves after the new zoning policies in PORTLAND of all places, touting the decrease in average property values there…of course, with no idea how much of that decrease was due to the decrease in quality of life and not just an increase in “affordable” housing. At least it’s comforting to know that they have infected Virginia, too.

So in a meeting at George Mason Univeristy, the head planner for the City of Portland (who grew up in Arlington) said that in the last 20 years of up zoning in Portland, 5,000 of the projects were Accessory Dwelling Units that people built in their back yards for family members or rentals. She dashed the dream that the townhouses, semi-detacheds, and 3 to 6 plexes that Arlington approved in July will not take existing housing out of the stock and replace it with affordable owner occupied housing. The YIMBYs lead by the Alexandria renter who styled himself "An Arlington refugee" who couldn't afford to live in Arlington and that's why he wanted Expanded Housing Options in Arlington. Now switching to Alexandria up zoning, he is a loyal son of Alexandria.

So far this has what has happened in Arlington: Buiilders have applied for 22 EHO permits. Fifteen of them are for three to six plexes which are high likely to be rentals because it will be too expensive and difficult to have condo ownership with a small number of units. The remaining semi-detached and townhouses have projected prices of $1.3 to $1.5M. Only two of the projects are in neighborhoods that are not already mixed use.

YIMBYs wanted this type of housing in Arlington so that they could have cheaper access to North Arlington schools. It will be interesting to see if anyone want to have cheaper access to any Alexandria schools.

I have no idea what point you are trying to make (are you saying building more housing is only worthwhile if it is owner-occupied?) but I will say I lived in a 3 unit condo for many years and it was no big deal (I assume it cost a few thousand more to set up, but the developers recouped that by being able to sell three units instead of one).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The schools have been overcapacity for years the roads are impossible to travel on now in the city. City officials have seriously lost their minds. When city council was asked about class sizes and overcapacity issues years ago and asked what their plans are with all the 10 newish affordable housing buildings the literally sat there and blinked. You can't make this incompetence up.

Impossible, you say? So everyone is just sitting at home? Or, if you mean impossible to travel on by car, how come there are so many cars on the roads?

Hey go back to posting hour bike lobby crap on AlxNow. You know the roads are crowded.

My daughter ended up with a daily drop off occupational therapy appointment every day Mon-Fri this summer at a location where I needed to go up duke st, then over and up seminary road. I did the round trip drive twice daily all summer and not once did I see a single bike in the bike lanes. Honest to god, not a single bike even though the times I was driving varied and often included am or pm rush hour. What an absolute waste and cause of more vehicle congestion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The schools have been overcapacity for years the roads are impossible to travel on now in the city. City officials have seriously lost their minds. When city council was asked about class sizes and overcapacity issues years ago and asked what their plans are with all the 10 newish affordable housing buildings the literally sat there and blinked. You can't make this incompetence up.

Impossible, you say? So everyone is just sitting at home? Or, if you mean impossible to travel on by car, how come there are so many cars on the roads?

Hey go back to posting hour bike lobby crap on AlxNow. You know the roads are crowded.

My daughter ended up with a daily drop off occupational therapy appointment every day Mon-Fri this summer at a location where I needed to go up duke st, then over and up seminary road. I did the round trip drive twice daily all summer and not once did I see a single bike in the bike lanes. Honest to god, not a single bike even though the times I was driving varied and often included am or pm rush hour. What an absolute waste and cause of more vehicle congestion.

It didn't cause more vehicle congestion. It did make the road safer.

https://www.alexandriava.gov/sites/default/files/2022-11/Seminary%20Road%20Project%20Evaluation.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh yay, the anti-SFH missing middle kooks are at it again. The MoCo YIMBYs are over here trying to convince local politicians that we should model ourselves after the new zoning policies in PORTLAND of all places, touting the decrease in average property values there…of course, with no idea how much of that decrease was due to the decrease in quality of life and not just an increase in “affordable” housing. At least it’s comforting to know that they have infected Virginia, too.

So in a meeting at George Mason Univeristy, the head planner for the City of Portland (who grew up in Arlington) said that in the last 20 years of up zoning in Portland, 5,000 of the projects were Accessory Dwelling Units that people built in their back yards for family members or rentals. She dashed the dream that the townhouses, semi-detacheds, and 3 to 6 plexes that Arlington approved in July will not take existing housing out of the stock and replace it with affordable owner occupied housing. The YIMBYs lead by the Alexandria renter who styled himself "An Arlington refugee" who couldn't afford to live in Arlington and that's why he wanted Expanded Housing Options in Arlington. Now switching to Alexandria up zoning, he is a loyal son of Alexandria.

So far this has what has happened in Arlington: Buiilders have applied for 22 EHO permits. Fifteen of them are for three to six plexes which are high likely to be rentals because it will be too expensive and difficult to have condo ownership with a small number of units. The remaining semi-detached and townhouses have projected prices of $1.3 to $1.5M. Only two of the projects are in neighborhoods that are not already mixed use.

YIMBYs wanted this type of housing in Arlington so that they could have cheaper access to North Arlington schools. It will be interesting to see if anyone want to have cheaper access to any Alexandria schools.

Why would it be bad if they were rentals?

Also there are plenty of condo associations with a small number of units. I don't know why it would be harder to do that in Arlington than anywhere else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The schools have been overcapacity for years the roads are impossible to travel on now in the city. City officials have seriously lost their minds. When city council was asked about class sizes and overcapacity issues years ago and asked what their plans are with all the 10 newish affordable housing buildings the literally sat there and blinked. You can't make this incompetence up.

Impossible, you say? So everyone is just sitting at home? Or, if you mean impossible to travel on by car, how come there are so many cars on the roads?

Hey go back to posting hour bike lobby crap on AlxNow. You know the roads are crowded.

My daughter ended up with a daily drop off occupational therapy appointment every day Mon-Fri this summer at a location where I needed to go up duke st, then over and up seminary road. I did the round trip drive twice daily all summer and not once did I see a single bike in the bike lanes. Honest to god, not a single bike even though the times I was driving varied and often included am or pm rush hour. What an absolute waste and cause of more vehicle congestion.

FYI, they don’t care if bikes actually use the bike lanes. They sell them for bicycle use but their intended purpose is “traffic calming.” You know, slowing down traffic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The schools have been overcapacity for years the roads are impossible to travel on now in the city. City officials have seriously lost their minds. When city council was asked about class sizes and overcapacity issues years ago and asked what their plans are with all the 10 newish affordable housing buildings the literally sat there and blinked. You can't make this incompetence up.

Impossible, you say? So everyone is just sitting at home? Or, if you mean impossible to travel on by car, how come there are so many cars on the roads?

Hey go back to posting hour bike lobby crap on AlxNow. You know the roads are crowded.

My daughter ended up with a daily drop off occupational therapy appointment every day Mon-Fri this summer at a location where I needed to go up duke st, then over and up seminary road. I did the round trip drive twice daily all summer and not once did I see a single bike in the bike lanes. Honest to god, not a single bike even though the times I was driving varied and often included am or pm rush hour. What an absolute waste and cause of more vehicle congestion.

FYI, they don’t care if bikes actually use the bike lanes. They sell them for bicycle use but their intended purpose is “traffic calming.” You know, slowing down traffic.

Yes, you're right. Bike lanes make the roads safer for everyone. Which is a good thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The schools have been overcapacity for years the roads are impossible to travel on now in the city. City officials have seriously lost their minds. When city council was asked about class sizes and overcapacity issues years ago and asked what their plans are with all the 10 newish affordable housing buildings the literally sat there and blinked. You can't make this incompetence up.

I was present at the meeting during the PY (Potomac Yard) build out where he stood up when asked where the new school for the new neighborhood was going to go.

He said, paraphrasing, "These are mostly smaller apartments and people in apartments don't have kids."

ACHS/TCW is literally the single biggest HS in the entire state at 4800 students. It's 15% over capacity right now and the kids that 'don't live in apartments' will be hitting HS in 3 years.

[Anonymous]

The City doesn’t lack housing. There are massive condo buildings in west Alexandria and they are not full. If the City was serious they would move on from public housing and provide home buyer assistance.

Image if they had done that 20 years ago. They would have given a generation of families a hand up. But instead the liberals choose the thing that makes them feel good - a hand out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The City doesn’t lack housing. There are massive condo buildings in west Alexandria and they are not full. If the City was serious they would move on from public housing and provide home buyer assistance.

Image if they had done that 20 years ago. They would have given a generation of families a hand up. But instead the liberals choose the thing that makes them feel good - a hand out.

I can't believe people are still insisting there is no housing crisis.

Also, this proposal is about zoning reform, i.e., enabling owners of private property to have more freedom regarding use of their private property. What part of that is a liberal feel-good handout?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The City doesn’t lack housing. There are massive condo buildings in west Alexandria and they are not full. If the City was serious they would move on from public housing and provide home buyer assistance.

Image if they had done that 20 years ago. They would have given a generation of families a hand up. But instead the liberals choose the thing that makes them feel good - a hand out.

I can't believe people are still insisting there is no housing crisis.

Also, this proposal is about zoning reform, i.e., enabling owners of private property to have more freedom regarding use of their private property. What part of that is a liberal feel-good handout?

No, it's not. SFH will be outlawed/ severely curtailed in areas. That's fewer rights, not more rights.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The City doesn’t lack housing. There are massive condo buildings in west Alexandria and they are not full. If the City was serious they would move on from public housing and provide home buyer assistance.

Image if they had done that 20 years ago. They would have given a generation of families a hand up. But instead the liberals choose the thing that makes them feel good - a hand out.

+1. The Blake on Beuregard is 70% vacant. They are so desperate that they are offering two months free rent and no security deposit if your credit is over 800.

This has nothing to do with housing. This is about social justice in their mind. Stick it to the white man. That's the council's primary objective in everything. Social justice, not actual governance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The City doesn’t lack housing. There are massive condo buildings in west Alexandria and they are not full. If the City was serious they would move on from public housing and provide home buyer assistance.

Image if they had done that 20 years ago. They would have given a generation of families a hand up. But instead the liberals choose the thing that makes them feel good - a hand out.

I can't believe people are still insisting there is no housing crisis.

Also, this proposal is about zoning reform, i.e., enabling owners of private property to have more freedom regarding use of their private property. What part of that is a liberal feel-good handout?

No, it's not. SFH will be outlawed/ severely curtailed in areas. That's fewer rights, not more rights.

Currently: Only detached single-unit houses allowed
Proposed reform: Detached single-unit houses allowed, AND other housing types ALSO allowed

That's more rights, not fewer rights.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The City doesn’t lack housing. There are massive condo buildings in west Alexandria and they are not full. If the City was serious they would move on from public housing and provide home buyer assistance.

Image if they had done that 20 years ago. They would have given a generation of families a hand up. But instead the liberals choose the thing that makes them feel good - a hand out.

+1. The Blake on Beuregard is 70% vacant. They are so desperate that they are offering two months free rent and no security deposit if your credit is over 800.

This has nothing to do with housing. This is about social justice in their mind. Stick it to the white man. That's the council's primary objective in everything. Social justice, not actual governance.

When someone interprets zoning reform as "sticking it to the white man," that says a lot about their beliefs and preconceptions.

[Anonymous]

Isn’t Alexandria already large enough with 150,000+ residents? How large does the council want the city to be? Infrastructure and city services are already subpar compared to neighboring jurisdictions in Virginia. It’s only going to get worse by cramming more people within the city limits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t Alexandria already large enough with 150,000+ residents? How large does the council want the city to be? Infrastructure and city services are already subpar compared to neighboring jurisdictions in Virginia. It’s only going to get worse by cramming more people within the city limits.

How much car traffic do you want there to be in Alexandria? How polluted do you want the air to be? How hot do you want the planet to get?