Alexandria's Zoning For Housing Sees More Opposition In Patch Survey

ALEXANDRIA, VA — A majority of Patch survey respondents expressed their opposition to Zoning for Housing as the proposal heads to Alexandria City Council for final action.

Before City Council has its anticipated vote on Zoning for Housing Tuesday, Patch surveyed Alexandria readers on the hot-button issue. Zoning for Housing, a zoning reform package designed to boost housing stock and affordability, has drawn many speakers for and against during Alexandria Planning Commission and City Council public hearings. Tuesday's meeting is expected to not have a public comment opportunity.

With nearly 500 responses, 81.5 percent of respondents in our survey said they do not support the Zoning for Housing proposal. There were 15.4 percent who said they support the proposal and 3.1 percent who were unsure. The survey is not intended to be scientific and was open anonymously to readers of Old Town Alexandria, Del Ray and West End Alexandria Patch.

We asked respondents what part of Zoning for Housing they find most beneficial or harmful. There are eight components to the Zoning for Housing proposal: single-family home zones, townhouse zoning, residential multifamily zones, historic development patterns, coordinated development districts and affordable housing, office to residential conversions, industrial zones, and transit-oriented development. A bonus height for affordable housing proposal was not recommended to move forward.

Survey respondents who said they support the proposal cited reasons like affordability and increasing housing options. The most commonly supported areas of the proposal were changes to single-family zones and parking requirements, transit-oriented development, office to residential conversions, coordinated development districts and historic development patterns.

Opposed respondents largely cited the proposal that would eliminate single-family housing zones by allowing more housing types in these zones as well as reduced parking requirements. These respondents cited concerns about density, the character of neighborhoods, overcrowding, traffic and insufficient infrastructure.

Here are some of the reasons respondents support Zoning for Housing:

• I support it strongly, due to the need for more affordable housing and more access to housing for the teachers in our schools and other municipal employees.
• I’m a teacher in Alexandria. I live in a one bedroom condo. My partner and I can not afford another house in the community we both work in even though we are both seasoned professionals. I love this community and I love living in the community I work in.
• I support more housing of all types and price points
• Increased tax base could open opportunities for funding to support affordability and diversity, and public education
• More housing is needed in the city for all, but especially those making 50-60k per year. This number represents 50% of the Annual Median income in this city. What our janitors, and baristas make. These earners should be able to live in the city where they work, and not commute enormous distances to work.
• The city desperately needs affordable housing. Single Family zoning is detrimental to affordable housing and increases car dependency.
• Responsibly adding housing helps the whole community. We need to be creative and this is a great start
• Old Town has never been better. The redevelopment of north Old Town is fantastic. We need more housing to address affordable housing and the zoning changes should help (not fix, but help).
• Alexandria is largely unaffordable for working class and middle class people
• Many of my neighbors and friends have had to leave Alexandria because of skyrocketing housing costs. This proposal is a modest first step toward addressing our housing crisis.
• I'm a current homeowner, but one that spent 12 years renting in Alexandria before buying because of the high cost of real estate. We can easily accommodate duplexes in these neighborhoods so we can create more affordable home ownership and rental options. And I've lived in and next to some of these multifamily units while in Del Ray, we could use more of them.

Here are some of the reasons respondents oppose Zoning for Housing:

• I have lived in Del Ray off and in since the late 1980s. Change is inevitable, and many good things have happened in that time. But greedy developers and the city politicians they have in their pockets threaten to ruin all that was good.
• Alexandria's schools, roads, police/fire, and neighborhoods are bursting at the seams. Schools are overcrowded. Roads are gridlock. Police/fire are understaffed. Neighborhoods do not have enough parking. Fix the problems in Alexandria before increasing population. We are not prepared.
• I oppose because zero parking required is unrealistic and unfair to existing residents who do not and are not able to have off street parking.
• Too much density. Alexandria is already too crowded. Too much traffic.
• I oppose the housing proposal, because city services, flooding, etc. cannot keep up with the amount of building of residential homes in Alexandria. In addition, the urbanization of Alexandria will ultimately those aspects of Alexandria that are most beautiful, including the trees and open spaces.
• It will not result in more affordable housing. Multiple units on previous single-family zoned lots will not be affordable, they will be listed/sold/leased at market rates for the value of the neighborhood.
• I am a long-time resident who lives in a small bungalow. I don't mind change, would love to provide housing for those who don't make as much (I'm a teacher) and I enjoy a small city, but I do not support the proposal because it is mostly helping the rich build bigger houses...and additional houses behind their giant houses to be used by them and their friends and families. Developers are building with little regard for design, privacy, and the environment (as if this is a cookie-cutter neighborhood in the suburbs where everyone wants the same house).
• Alexandria is already too densely populated. Traffic and crime are already bad enough. We don't need to add more people and pavement until we can get the flooding under control. People renting out houses in their backyards is destroying the character and peacefulness of Del Ray.
• Most of the changes proposed will not help housing affordability and have not been fully researched to know the impact on Alexandria’s infrastructure
• I think such an important change should be put to a referendum of citizens.

While some respondents said the whole proposal should be scrapped, others say more time should be spent on research, or that components of the proposal should be reviewed and approved individually. Some would support eliminating the single-family zone proposal and keeping other components like office to residential conversions.

Others believe the proposal hasn't gone far enough, like the opportunity for bonus height allowances, eliminating parking requirements in all areas, loosening lot size and setback restrictions, or allowing garden-style apartments anywhere in the city.

See more about Zoning for Housing on the city's website.