Alexandria Mom's Calendar of Events

Friday, September 18, 2020

Information from Seminary Hill Association re: City Issues and Meetings

from Seminary Hill Association:  


I try not to fill your email boxes with too many emails, but as we predicted, the City is moving full speed ahead with several important meetings and events on a short timeline that I would like to bring to your attention so you can participate if you wish.

The first series of events will be 3 lectures sponsored by ACPS in conjunction with the plan to rename TC Williams High School. Dr. Douglas Reed, the author of the very informative book, "Building the Federal Schoolhouse", which contains a large amount of information on TC Williams High School, will speak at each session. All sessions will be via Zoom from 6-7 pm. The first session will be Thursday, September 24th, and will discuss who TC Williams was, and his role as School Superintendent, and as a segregationist in Alexandria. The second session will be held on Thursday, October 1st, and will cover Alexandria's Role in Massive Resistance and Segregation. The third lecture will be Thursday, October 8th, and is titled The Real Story Behind Remember the Titans. You can learn more about these programs at the ACPS website at https://www.acps.k12.va.us/Page3412. All lectures will be taped for viewing if you are not able to watch them live.

The second important meeting will be the Community meeting to be held regarding the Taylor Run Stream Restoration project. This meeting will be held via Zoom on Tuesday, September 29th at 7:00 pm. As you may be aware, this project is intended to help meet the City's requirement to reduce the City's pollution load to the Chesapeake Bay, but as now planned, will involve serious environmental damage, including the loss of approximately 270 trees and irreversible damage to a rare wetland swamp found along the stream bed in the Chinquapin Heritage Trail. The Seminary Hill Association is very concerned about the impact of this plan and earlier this summer had asked the City to halt planning for this project until further information could be provided to residents. Nevertheless, during the summer, the planning proceeded ahead and now residents will be presented with a plan that is basically complete, but we are being asked for our input. Please go to the newly-created website for this project at http://www.alexandriava.gov/tes/stormwater/info/default.aspx?id=117629 to read more about this project and register to participate in this Zoom meeting

Finally, we were just informed about the invitation to participate in a virtual presentation on a Joint City and ACPS Facilities Master Plan (JFMP) We are asked to view the pre-recorded 12-minute visual presentation which discusses the need to maximize the use of public lands for multiple uses. This does, of course, include other uses on school grounds. After viewing it, you will be directed to a survey to provide feedback about your thoughts on the joint use of city facilities. As is the case with all surveys, you will notice a certain phrasing of the questions that can make it difficult to express your point of view.  So please take the opportunity to write comments in the spaces provided if you do not feel that the questions can adequately reflect your thoughts. The website for more information and the survey is https://www.alexandriava.gov/planning/info/default.aspx?id=113618#MeetingsandEvents.  The very short deadline for responses to this survey is September 30th, so please try to find a few minutes to register your thoughts before the City closes the survey.

For those who are interested in the project planned to build an apartment building and 15 townhomes on 2 single family lots adjacent to Fire Station 206 on Seminary Road, we want to provide an update. Along with neighborhood residents, Seminary Hill Association did testify at the September 8th City Council meeting, where pre-development loans were approved for 3 affordable housing projects located in areas of the city. Council did approve the $250,000 loan for the Seminary Road project, but in response to questions raised by SHA and neighbors, the approval came with a contingency. Thanks to the efforts of Council members Amy Jackson, Mo Seifeldein, and John Chapman, city staff was instructed to address, either in writing or by a virtual meeting, the concerns we raised regarding the topography and water issues on this stretch of property. A response from T&ES staff is expected next week. The developer attended the SHA meeting on September 10th and assured us that they will work closely with us as they proceed to determine if the project is possible. Seminary Hill will continue to monitor this project, as our initial reaction to the proposal is that this is a very inappropriate location to consider this kind of density in an area zoned for single-family homes with serious water issues, not only for the property in question but for all the neighbors surrounding the property.

The design for MacArthur School was approved by City Council on September 12th, so we can expect to begin seeing the demolition process in the near future. You should be aware that the initial budget for the school was $695 million.  During the design process, the budget apparently grew to $77.5 million, although the members of the MacArthur Advisory Committee were not aware of the increase during this time. Recent statements from ACPS indicate that the budget could now be $5 million over even that latest estimate. ACPS is in the process of trying to make adjustments to the project that can reduce the cost. Much of the cost overrun is alleged to come from the need for the underground parking garage in order to accommodate the larger staff and activities at the school. In addition, the school is scheduled to be a Net Zero energy building with solar panels, and the cost of the solar panels, which ACPS considered to be a future addition to the building, is not included in the latest cost estimates.

Thank you for participating in these events as you are able. The Seminary Hill Association will continue to do our best to monitor proposals that the City is pushing out at a rapid pace, and inform you of meetings and other events. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have concerns or issues you would like the Association to address. We are here to hear your concerns and represent you to the best of our ability.  As a reminder, our next SHA board meeting will be Thursday, October 8th at 7:00 pm. More information will be posted about this meeting later this month

Carter Flemming, President, Seminary Hill Association

No comments:

Post a Comment