Alexandria Waterfront

163 Pages·2011·9.36 MB·English

Alexandria Waterfront
DRAFT Small Area Plan
City of Alexandria
Department of Planning and Zoning
July 2011 Draft

Waterfront Small Area Plan
Plan Status, Opportunities for Public Comment and Supplemental Information
The Waterfront Plan is under consideration by the Alexandria City Council. In late June,
2011, the City Council adopted a resolution establishing a seven-member Waterfront
Work Group to identify Plan consensus areas and identify, categorize and narrow
differences on the concerns that residents have raised. The first meeting was held on
July 27, 2011 and more meetings are planned. The meetings are open to the public.
Notices of future meetings, meeting materials, and other information about the Work
Group’s activities are available at the Waterfront Work Group’s web page, which is
accessible from a link on the home page of the City’s website or from the Alexandria
Waterfront Plan website:
http://www.alexandriava.gov/Waterfront
Members of the public are actively encouraged to continue to review, comment upon,
and ask questions about the plan. The website features a comment board where the
public can read comments from others and post their own observations or issues.
Comments are also welcome via email, letter or phone call and contact information is
available on the website.
Supplemental Information
In addition to this Plan document, the website provides considerable background
information about this planning effort. In addition to documenting the past two years
of public engagement, several documents may be of particular interest to readers:
> Alexandria’s Waterfront Plan: A Summary is a user-friendly alternative to this
document. It has one-third the pages of this document but includes virtually all of
the plan’s recommendations and enough background to explain them.
> Supplemental material to the draft plan provides more background about the
plan’s hotel recommendations and the plan’s cost and revenue estimates.
> Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) provides short answers to the most-asked
questions about the Plan.
DRAFT Alexandria Waterfront Small Area Plan i
ii DRAFT Alexandria Waterfront Small Area Plan
Table of Contents
List of Figures iv
Acknowledgements vi
Executive Summary ix
Chapter 1: A Waterfront Introduction 1
> Waterfront History
> Waterfront Planning History
> The Concept Plan
> The Plan
Chapter 2: Goals and Waterfront Wide Elements 15
> A Plan for the Public Realm
> A Plan for Development
> A Plan Which is Uniquely Alexandrian
> A Plan Which Creates Systems that Work
Chapter 3: Character and Theme Areas 35
> Gateway North/Canal Center
> Tide Lock Park and Rivergate/Rowing Facility
> Oronoco Bay Park
> West’s Point - Robinson Terminal North
> Founders Park
> King Street to Queen Street -The Watefront’s Core
> The Strand
> Point Lumley - Robinson Terminal South
> The Waterfront Periphery - North and South
> Waterfront Hotel/Restaurant Policy
> Proposed Zoning for Private Development Sites
Chapter 4: Transportation, Circulation, and Parking 105
> Vehicular Traffic
> Pedestrian Movement
> Bicycle Travel
> Transit
> Water Taxi and Water Transportation
> Parking
Chapter 5: Implementation 125
> Revenue Potential
> Developer Contribution Potential
> Taxes and Funding
> Phasing
Appendix 1: Community Participation
Appendix 2: settlement agreements
Appendix 3: Hotel Technical Memorandum
Appendix 4: Marina Market Assessment Data
Appendix 5: Alexandria Waterfront Art Plan
Appendix 6: Alexandria History Plan - Alexandria, A living History
DRAFT Alexandria Waterfront Small Area Plan iii
List of Figures and Tables
Figure 1 Arts and Culture: Theme Areas
Table 1: Public Space Summary xi
Table 2: Private Redevelopment Sites: Density and Height Analysis xii
Table 3: Garage Spaces and Utilization xiii
Table 4: Historical Periods 3
Figure 2: Waterfront Planning Boundary 4
Figure 3: Activities Map 5
Table 5: Waterfront Planning History 7
Figure 4a: Waterfront Early Concept Illustrative Plan (May 2010) - North Section 8
Figure 4b: Waterfront Early Concept Illustrative Plan (May 2010) - South Section 9
Figure 5a: Waterfront Small Area Illustrative Plan with Place Names - North Section 10
Figure 5b: Waterfront Small Area Illustrative Plan with Place Names - South Section 11
Figure 6: Waterfront Small Area Illustrative Plan 17
Figure 7a: Connections - North Section 18
Figure 7b: Connections - South Section 19
Figure 8: Existing and Proposed Public Space 23
Figure 9a: Existing Open Space in the Core Area 24
Figure 9b: Proposed Park or Plaza Public Space in the Core Area 24
Figure 9c: Proposed Park, Plaza, or On-Pier Public Space in the Core Area 25
Proposed Park, Plaza, On-Pier, or
Figure 9d: 25
Pedestrianized Street Public Space at Full Build-Out in the Core Area
Figure 10: Development Sites 26
Figure 11: Integrated Flood Control System Concept 30
Figure 12: Illustrative Plan showing Oronoco Bay Park 42
Figure 13: Illustrative Plan for Robinson Terminal North showing Conceptual Pipefitter’s Building Expansion 45
Figure 14: Original Shoreline 46
Figure 15: Illustrative Plan showing Founders Park 48
Illustrative Plan View of the Food Court and Chart House, showing Conceptual Piers
Figure 16: 52
Near the Foot of Thompsons Alley and Extending from Cameron Street
Figure 17: Developer’s Conceptual Perspective of a Redesigned Food Court 53
Figure 18: Illustrative Plan showing Torpedo Plaza and the Expanded Marina Concept 54
Figure 19: Activity Levels in the Core Area 57
Figure 20a: Existing Public Spaces - King Street Park and Waterfront Park 61
Figure 20b: Conceptual Proposed Public Spaces - Fitzgerald Square and Waterfront Park 61
Figure 21: Portion of Plaza Constructed over Water as Proposed 62
Figure 22: Illustrative Plan showing a Marina Arrangement Extending only to the Pierhead Line 68
Illustrative Plan showing an Expanded Point Lumley Park
Figure 23: 71
and a Portion of the Redevelopment in the Surrounding Area
Figure 24: Illustrative Plan of Robinson Terminal South showing Conceptual Marina 78
Figure 25: Windmill Hill Park Concept Plan 80
iv DRAFT Alexandria Waterfront Small Area Plan
List of Figures and Tables (Continued)
Figure 26: Crowne Plaza Infill Concept 83
Figure 27: Height Districts 87
Figure 28a: Active Frontages - North Section 88
Figure 28b: Active Frontages - South Section 89
Figure 29: Robinson Terminal North settlement agreement Map 90
Figure 30: Robinson Terminal North Conceptual Massing Model 91
Figure 31: Robinson Terminal North Proposed Public Space and Active Frontages 92
Figure 32: Robinson Terminal South settlement agreement Map 94
Figure 33: Robinson Terminal South Conceptual Massing Model 95
Figure 34: Robinson Terminal South and Cummings-Turner Proposed Public Space and Active Frontages 98
Figure 35: Cummings-Turner Redevelopment Conceptual Massing Model 100
Table 2: Private Redevelopment Sites: Density and Height Analysis 103
Table 6: Private Redevelopment Sites: Uses 103
Figure 36: Road Network 106
Table 7: Pedestrian Volumes 108
Figure 37: Crash Map 110
Figure 38: Motorcoach Locations Map 113
Table 8: Core Area Garage Spaces and Utilization 117
Figure 39: Publicly Available Off-Street Parking Locations (Old Town Area Parking Study) 119
Table 9: Waterfront Demand Generators and Parking Space Analysis 120
Table 10: Core Parking Area Supply Summary 120
Figure 40: Public and Private Parking Locations Map 121
Table 11 Cost by Phasing Location 143
Table 12 Cost Summary 143
DRAFT Alexandria Waterfront Small Area Plan v
Acknowledgements
City Council Marina Subcommittee,
Mayor William D. Euille Alexandria Waterfront Committee
Vice Mayor Kerry Donley Doug Gosnell, Chair
Frank H. Fannon Linda Hafer
Alicia Hughes Nate Macek (Chair, Alexandria Waterfront Committee)
Rob Krupicka Peter Pennington (Vice Chair, Alexandria Waterfront
Redella S. Pepper Committee)
Paul C. Smedberg Townsend Van Fleet
Planning Commission City Departments
Chair John Komoroske
Vice Chair H. Stewart Dunn, Jr.
Alexandria Economic Development
Donna Fossum
Partnership, Inc.
Jesse Jennings
Val Hawkins, President & CEO
Mary Lyman
Stephanie Landrum, Senior Vice President
J. Lawrence Robinson
Christine Mindrup, Vice President Commercial Real Estate
Eric R. Wagner
Alexandria Convention and
Committee for Public Arts, Alexandria
Visitors Association
Commission for the Arts
Stephanie Pace Brown, President & CEO
Matthew Harwood, Chair
Rebecca Adams
City Manager’s Office
Susie Cohen
Karen Conkey Jim K. Hartmann, City Manager
Mike Detomo Mark Jinks, Deputy City Manager
Dene Garbow Tom Gates, Assistant City Manager
Kathy Glennon
Pat Miller (Chair, Alexandria Commission for the Arts) Fire Department
Adam K. Thiel, Fire Chief
History Plan Committee, Alexandria John North, Battalion Chief
Rodney Masser, Fire Captain
Archaeological Commission

James McCall, Chair
General Services Administration
Katy Cannady
Ann Davin Jeremy McPike, Deputy Director
Tom Fulton Patrice McAuliffe, Capital Projects Manager
Ellen Hamilton
Vince LaPointe Office of Historic Alexandria
Ted Pulliam J. Lance Mallamo, Director
Seth Tinkham Dr. Pamela Cressey, City Archaeologist
Alexandria Restaurant Commission, Police Department
Alexandria Chamber of Commerce Earl L. Cook, Police Chief
Tina Leone, President & CEO, Tamara Hooper, Captain
Alexandria Chamber of Commerce Len Fouch, Lieutentant
Jay Palermino, Director,
Membership and Sponsorship Investments
vi DRAFT Alexandria Waterfront Small Area Plan