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.

The developers have more options and the economy of scale favors apartment buildings so that's what will be built. If you bought a SFH in a neighborhood of SFHs, tough luck. This will destroy the charm of Del Ray.

But Del Ray is already one of the most architecturally diverse areas in the city. You can have an apartment complex next to single family homes next to a duplex. It's one of the few things that I find appealing about Del Ray.

This is exactly it though you can’t build anything in Del Ray but a giant SFH anymore. At least in Del Ray, Z4H is a return to the neighborhood’s roots.

So reverse gentrification?

[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.

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

Yep. And that's what I plan to do to my Justin Wilson loving neighbors who are against the zoning changes.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember when Alexandria used to actually be a relevant place. I sincerely doubt this will help.

Relevant to what?

A place that people talked about. A place that people in DC would decide to spend the day hanging out. A place for restrained nightlife. A place where cool Hill staffers would live. A place that used to have cool private sector jobs, like the Carlyle Group.

I’m not sure what it has now and that’s exactly why it’s just not relevant anymore.

We're talking about it now...

No one is talking about the place but the politics. The city government seems desperate for their own relevance by just proposing a potpourri of progressive policies to win them public attention but that’s it.

After this passes and the newspaper articles and social media posts and everything else subsides, the underlying reality of Alexandria will be unchanged and the political leaders will once again propose another policy designed to gain public attention. Rinse and repeat.

[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.

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 presumably a house and an ADU and allowed by right today - you don’t need zoning for housing for that to be legal which is why it is already happening.

[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 presumably a house and an ADU and allowed by right today - you don’t need zoning for housing for that to be legal which is why it is already happening.

You guys could be more credible in your screeching if you bothered learning the basics of what you’re screeching about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember when Alexandria used to actually be a relevant place. I sincerely doubt this will help.

Relevant to what?

A place that people talked about. A place that people in DC would decide to spend the day hanging out. A place for restrained nightlife. A place where cool Hill staffers would live. A place that used to have cool private sector jobs, like the Carlyle Group.

I’m not sure what it has now and that’s exactly why it’s just not relevant anymore.

We're talking about it now...

No one is talking about the place but the politics. The city government seems desperate for their own relevance by just proposing a potpourri of progressive policies to win them public attention but that’s it.

After this passes and the newspaper articles and social media posts and everything else subsides, the underlying reality of Alexandria will be unchanged and the political leaders will once again propose another policy designed to gain public attention. Rinse and repeat.

Spelled it wrong. More like poo-pourri!

[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.

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.

[Anonymous]

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.

Developers are salivating, that's for sure.

[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.

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember when Alexandria used to actually be a relevant place. I sincerely doubt this will help.

Relevant to what?

A place that people talked about. A place that people in DC would decide to spend the day hanging out. A place for restrained nightlife. A place where cool Hill staffers would live. A place that used to have cool private sector jobs, like the Carlyle Group.

I’m not sure what it has now and that’s exactly why it’s just not relevant anymore.

We're talking about it now...

No one is talking about the place but the politics. The city government seems desperate for their own relevance by just proposing a potpourri of progressive policies to win them public attention but that’s it.

After this passes and the newspaper articles and social media posts and everything else subsides, the underlying reality of Alexandria will be unchanged and the political leaders will once again propose another policy designed to gain public attention. Rinse and repeat.

You're either extremely naive or intentionally misleading with your post.

[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.

Developers are salivating, that's for sure.

Housing doesn't build itself. Whom is most housing built by? Developers.

[Anonymous]

It's going to pass, just like the Seminary bike lane road diet changes that were passed despite overwhelming Alexandria resident objections.

Remember, this is the city that put in that removed the traffic circle and in its place constructed that stupid Eisenhower T intersection this summer because it got a grant money from 15 years ago to do it and didn't want to have to give the money back, all while admitting the traffic circle was better and safer.

It's clown town here. Nothing makes sense, on a consistent basis, and the local politicians basically do whatever they want.

[Anonymous]

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.