City Manager Apologizes For Secrecy Of Potomac Yard Changes

ALEXANDRIA, VA—Alexandria City Manager Mark Jinks has apologized to the public in a letter Thursday for keeping the changes to the Potomac Yard Metro project secret during the procurement process.

"While there has been extensive communication, consultation and engagement among stakeholders throughout this long and complex process, this was not the case for the procurement phase of the project last year and this year, reads the letter. "On behalf of your City government, I apologize that we did not live up to the standards we set and our community expects."

Because the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is in charge of the procurement process, city officials were allowed to participate by signing a confidentiality agreement. City officials had known about the changes to the Metro station, including the elimination of the south entrance at East Glebe Road, since last summer.

"We believed we were prohibited from informing the public of cost-saving design changes," wrote Jinks. "It now appears there was a critical misunderstanding about what could be released. In hindsight, City staff and I should have pressed harder to clarify the basis for keeping the design changes confidential."

Officials said changes like eliminating the south entrance were needed to keep the costs from rising even more. In April, the city announced the project budget had increased from $268.1 million to $320 million due to rising construction costs.

The only remaining entrance to the Metro will be near the Potomac Yard shopping center. The entrance will be accessible about a block away from where the south entrance would have been on Potomac Avenue. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here.)

Residents and businesses that were banking on being near the south entrance expresses outrage when the changes came to light in May. Earlier this month, Concerned Residents of Potomac Yard filed an FOIA request to receive documents and emails relating to the Metro project. The revealed city officials had an image of the Potomac Yard Metro design with the changes removed in April, nearly a month before the public found out.

The next step in the Metro project will be WMATA choosing a contractor. Under this timeline, the station would open in late 2021 or early 2022.

Read the full letter from Jinks below:

To the Alexandria Community:

Since the 1970s, the City has worked closely with residents and businesses towards the vision of a new Potomac Yard Metro Station. After decades of hard work, we are closer than ever to the significant transit, environmental and economic benefits the station will provide.

While there has been extensive communication, consultation and engagement among stakeholders throughout this long and complex process, this was not the case for the procurement phase of the project last year and this year. On behalf of your City government, I apologize that we did not live up to the standards we set and our community expects.

To maintain the integrity of the competitive procurement process, we were required to curtail some of our communication with the public while Metro reviewed confidential bids from prospective construction contractors. City staff were permitted to participate in the process only if they adhered to Metro’s strict confidentiality rules.

The station was originally designed to have two entrances on the west side of the tracks (one on the north end of the platform and one on the south end), and another entrance on the east side of the tracks. When initial bids far exceeded the project’s budget, the only practical way to keep the $320 million station financially viable was to remove the south entrance along Potomac Avenue. The north entrance will be accessible about a block away.

We believed we were prohibited from informing the public of cost-saving design changes. It now appears there was a critical misunderstanding about what could be released. In hindsight, City staff and I should have pressed harder to clarify the basis for keeping the design changes confidential. This would have allowed us to have a more informed conversation about communicating changes to the public.

Many members of our community are understandably upset. We typically provide better communication, and the community rightfully expected better. We would have preferred to communicate the design changes much earlier and more directly than we did, and we commit to more thoroughly reviewing how confidentiality applies or does not apply to future situations and projects.

The Potomac Yard Metro Station will dramatically improve transit options, help the environment by taking cars off the road, spur economic growth through new homes and jobs, and provide increased tax revenue to meet vital community needs. We are committed to providing timely and accurate information about this project and look forward to a new station that will make our entire community proud.

Mark Jinks, City Manager

SEE ALSO:

• Potomac Yard Metro Changes Scrutinized In FOIA Email Release
• City Defends Potomac Yard Metro Project Changes
• Elimination Of Potomac Yard Metro South Entrance Sparks Outrage
• Potomac Yard Metro Project Faces Scrutiny, Meeting To Come
• New $320M Potomac Yard Metro Budget Approved By Council
• Cost Increases For Potomac Yard Metro Project

Image via City of Alexandria