No New Density in Beauregard Corridor

Petition Asserting the Position That There Should Be No Increase in Beauregard Area Density Until Proven Transportation "Solutions" Are Fully Implemented

WHEREAS on January 21, 2006, the Alexandria City Council adopted the 2004-2015 Strategic Plan, which included numerous goals and objectives addressing the nature, character and focus of future development in Alexandria; and

WHEREAS on August 13, 2008, our City government wrote the Department of Defense ("DoD") encouraging them to locate BRAC-133 at Mark Center, resulting in a dramatic contradiction of many of the goals and objectives previously set forth in the Strategic Plan; and

WHEREAS the August 13, 2008, letter asserted that "While VDOT believes that additional traffic analyses...is warranted, the City is satisfied that the prior analyses which have met the City's rigorous standards sufficiently considered the impact..." and "...it is difficult to see how further studies are needed..."; and

WHEREAS with respect to the Mark Center site, VDOT, in fact, stated "this site was not viable"; and

WHEREAS more than a dozen traffic studies have universally concluded that area traffic will get appreciably worse with the opening of BRAC-133 and that only the most minor of traffic mitigation options are available; and

WHEREAS no one in City government expressed any concern about the contents of the August 13, 2008, letter; and

WHEREAS on January 24, 2004, City Council approved the Development Special Use Permit ("DSUP") for the "Plaza I" section of Mark Center setting forth development requirements for the area which BRAC-133 now occupies; and

WHEREAS the BRAC-133 development in many respects materially differs from the DSUP; and

WHEREAS City government repeatedly asserts that the BRAC-133 development is, in fact, in "general conformance" with the DSUP; and

WHEREAS our City government is now proposing to move forward with extensive new development and redevelopment along the Beauregard Corridor without any agreed plan of how to address, much less implement, meaningful traffic solutions in an area which already experiences frequent gridlock and has numerous intersections with failing "levels of service";

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that there be no increase in the building density currently allowed in the Beauregard Corridor area until transportation solutions identified by respected experts outside of Alexandria City government are fully implemented. Promises are not an acceptable substitute for tangible, effective mitigation--mitigation which must focus on public transportation.