Candidate Question #3
What is your opinion on high-density development and its impact on the quality of life for existing users and residents in Alexandria's many neighborhoods especially with regards to traffic, parking, the environment?
Kirk McPike While density is often discussed as a problem to be solved or avoided, I prefer to think of density as one of many tools that can help the city to achieve larger goals. Like all tools, there are times when it's the best approach we can take and other times when it is not a good fit.
When used properly, density can allow us to foster attractive, walkable, and livable transit-oriented neighborhoods that include arts, retail, office and green spaces such as parks. When paired with affordable housing requirements, these developments can help Alexandrians who have lived here their whole lives continue to afford a home in the city they love. Development also allows us to modernize infrastructure, including stormwater and sewer management systems that presently don't have the capacity our city requires, and to better safeguard Alexandrians from the impacts of climate change. Denser, walkable neighborhoods with transit access also produce significantly lower carbon emissions per capita than do other types of neighborhoods.
However, we should also evaluate each proposed increase in density in terms of the impact it will have on current residents. Concerns about traffic and parking are valid, and we need to be thoughtful about where and how we choose to add density to Alexandria. If elected to the City Council, I will take very seriously the need to listen to residents and experts to find the right balance when considering questions of development and density.
Sarah Bagley Alexandria has historically been a dense environment and given our geographic size, that will remain the case and is not without its benefits when it allows for walkable neighborhoods and access to public transportation. As we balance our need for additional housing and the replacement of lost affordable housing stock, additional density should require investments into transportation and our sewer, water systems as well as larger environmental impacts. As Alexandria remains and grows as a desirable place to live, we must leverage that fact with developers to ensure that they are preparing proposals with contributions to our infrastructure, either by investing in our roads and transportation hubs and with a
design that considers the needs of residents, including protected green spaces for residents and pets and the appropriate environmental impact studies are performed and vetted prior to approval. Proximity to frequent public transportation and urban design that reduces the need for as many car trips will help reduce the traffic impacts and parking needs. Development should also be conscious of providing options for seniors as well as those who identify as disabled who may be looking to downsize or have smaller spaces to maintain.
Amy Jackson My opinion of high-density development is honestly on a case-by-case basis. As I have said in the first answer on this
questionnaire, our City has many unique neighborhoods, and because of that, high-density is more do-able in some areas than in others. As we modernize for the future, our City needs to keep in mind the big picture, not just that one project at that one time, but who, what, where, when, why and how that development will impact its surroundings, and how it will all work together when orchestrated correctly and incorrectly. I believe Councilors should consider all the pros and cons of the community outreach, the infrastructure, the open space, the parking, the traffic, the schools within its boundaries and the enrollment, and how all of this and more will impact the community, now and decades into the future. High-density concepts bring developers to the table knowing we expect a certain amount of affordable housing units in return to mitigate our abundant loss throughout the years. However, I also believe that other tools in our toolbox should be used to incentivize and strategize our affordable housing needs, not just build more. That obviously helps our tax-base, but again, we need to find and maintain a balance. We need City plans to continue to work for the future of our City and not against its progress.
James Lewis When considering new development projects, especially high-density development, the City needs to carefully examine and mitigate impacts.
Looking at past development actions by the City, I think – at times – the City has been a bit too hasty to say ‘yes’ when a coyer approach could have yielded greater community benefits.
I’ve served on the City’s Traffic and Parking Board for more than 7 years and I’m the current Vice Chair. Unfortunately, I’m very familiar with traffic, parking and environmental issues created by new development because our Board is often involved in trying to fix the situation, sometimes months or years after development decisions are made.
At this stage, our Board has a limited number of tools. However, more aggressive engagement and proactive planning can prevent or mitigate these challenges.
Alyia Gaskins As a community, we have invested a lot of public money into making Alexandria a place where people want to live. I am running to ensure that when our City Council considers development, we ask the tough questions: Who does this benefit? Who can afford it? How does this align with our community’s values? What is the impact of this development on health and quality of life?
Density is a critical tool in helping address the affordable housing crisis in our city. I believe that when we consider the impact of development we need to adopt a more coordinated approach. It is important that new housing developments are synced with investments in transit and other efforts to make our community more walkable, while also taking steps to mitigate traffic. We also need to actively push for community benefits that enhance our quality of life such as new tree plantings, open spaces, and public art.
Achieving this goal requires us to create more opportunities for community members to provide input before the development process begins and throughout the process so that we can look to create proffers and other development conditions that will proactively address the potential adverse impacts of any kind of development. As part of that process I plan to draw on my deep planning experience, especially the lessons I have learned through my work with the National League of Cities, in order to anticipate those adverse impacts and generate creative, proactive solutions to any challenges that we anticipate.
Patrick Moran There is an enormous amount of development in my neighborhood. I live on the 400 block of North Henry Street. My business, Tactical Land Care, has its office on the corner of N Henry and Queen St. Route 1 is very congested from 4 pm until 6 pm every day of the week. I am concerned that the added traffic from commuter and cut-through traffic in the developments along the Route 1 Corridor to include Crystal City, Potomac Yard, Oakville Triangle, Monroe Avenue, South Old Town, and Huntingtown are all happening in a short amount of time with a wait and see approach to see how our existing infrastructure can handle it. I understand that investing in our community is a good thing and something we are lucky to have. But to manage it and proactively mitigate future challenges, I believe we need to proactively plan with Smart City Experts to incorporate the technologies that have proved successful in mitigating a lot of the concerns in other cities that can otherwise occur with a huge number of people beginning using outdated infrastructure simultaneously.
These same technologies could provide the capability to incorporate traffic metering to generate additional revenue from out-of-state commuters who pass through our streets daily without shopping at our stores.
William Campbell As a reminder, one of the city’s biggest challenge is injecting compassion into capitalism. If the city is honest in its convictions and desires to maintain its level of diversity, then retaining affordable housing is a must. Statistics show that diversity decreases in high poverty and high income/cost areas. Diverse housing choices rewards us with varying incomes, cultures, and race/ethnicities. Ideally, these various housing options should be distributed throughout our city. Once there is agreement as to what our city needs, the focus can turn to achieving those goals.
There are limited numbers of entities in the business of providing free/low-cost housing. Additionally, current affordable housing must be renovated and maintained even while capitalism eye’s it all. Therefore, to retain affordable housing choices, someone must fund it! Our current tax structure and associated income streams fall woefully short of being able to fund affordable housing. Limited, city-funded housing incentives only impact a few hundred citizens. Federal government provides support to previously federally owned properties but the support provided is insufficient even for adequate maintenance. Therefore, our most viable means of retaining housing diversity is using tools to incentivize developers. The primary incentive is to increase allowable density. The challenge is to properly place and scale this density in ways that will minimize the impact on existing residents. Modern technologies, undergrounding parking, and walk/bicycle integration can alleviate parking woes and actually improve the environment. Traffic will remain a challenge in the DMV and proper studies and calming strategies are a must.
Kevin Harris Since the year 2000, Alexandria has lost 90% of all affordable housing units in the city. This has caused a mass exodus of working class families and communities of color, as they are pushed further and further away from our community. I personally know dozens of families who have been pushed out of their homes and our communities during this time. Losing these families makes Alexandria worse for everyone.
Density done well will allow our frontline essential workers, communities of color, and working class neighbors to live in the city. My opinion on these projects starts simply- people matter more than aesthetics.
To combat our affordable housing epidemic, more density is needed. However, as stated in my first answer, increased density does not mean decreased quality of life,for our city residents
Increased density, when tied to the proper community conversations, input from environmental professionals and careful consideration of traffic concerns, can be beneficial for all residents.
Though my first priority is ensuring our people can continue to be a part of our community, I promise to always work with community members to ensure new developments are done in the most efficient, environmentally conscious, and resident friendly manner possible, and that my door will always be open to any constituent who has concerns regarding development.
John Taylor Chapman When it comes to development in Alexandria, I think we have a unique opportunity to gain more community benefits, particularly when it comes to more workforce housing, employment opportunities, and economic development. As a city, we can do better at how we manage development and there is new research out there – especially with Smart-City initiatives that are helping jurisdictions innovate and think out of the box when it comes to development and planning. In February, Fairfax County hosted Virginia’s first-ever Smart-City Challenge. This was a month-long virtual competition where teams of participants developed and pitched potential solutions to challenges in health, transportation, housing, education, environment, infrastructure, public safety, and other facets of society. I think piloting an initiative like this also gives the City a special opportunity to engage with our residents, students, and businesses on innovative solutions to our challenges, such as how we better manage high density development.
Additionally, I think we need to have a city-wide discussion around what we are gaining and losing through development – with some suggesting more density adds to more traffic congestion. I believe we need to be better at guiding the type of development we want and need – placing a focus on designing more walkable neighborhoods which will reduce the need for more cars on the road and allow for more community uses.
Bill Rossello High density is tailor-made for areas that are already urban, and areas surrounding transit hubs. For example, I think what’s happened in North Old Town is suitable for that area. However, Alexandria is already the most densely-populated city in Virginia and the metro DC area (except for DC itself), ranking in the top 7% of cities over 100,000 nationwide. Our infrastructure cannot handle much more. City official want to increase the population by another 65,000 people! If they are successful, there will be no place left to build schools to house the kids, gridlock will become a common word, parking will become nearly impossible to find, flooding will be more commonplace, our open space and tree canopy will be severely reduced, and the quality of life overall will decline dramatically. I will work for residents over developers, and promote more sensible approaches to development throughout the City.