Braddock Metro

NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN

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ALEXANDRIA, VA

Braddock Metro Neighborhood Plan

City of Alexandria, Department of Planning & Zoning www.alexandriava.gov/planningandzoning 703.838.4666

MARCH 2008

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

CITY COUNCIL Mayor William D. Euille Vice Mayor Redella S. Pepper Councilman Ludwig P. Gaines Councilman K. Rob Krupicka Councilmember Timothy B. Lovain Councilman Paul C. Smedberg Councilman Justin M. Wilson

PLANNING COMMISSION Eric R. Wagner, Chair John Komoroske, Vice Chair H. Stewart Dunn, Jr. Donna Fossum Jesse Jennings Mary Lyman J. Lawrence Robinson

CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE James K. Hartmann, City Manager Mark Jinks, Deputy City Manager

DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING AND ZONING Faroll Hamer, Director Richard Josephson, Deputy Director Kathleen Beeton, Division Chief, Neighborhood Planning and Community Development Jeffrey Farner, Division Chief, Development Thomas H. Canfield, NCARB, City Architect Carrie Beach, Urban Planner Andrew Spurgin, Urban Planner Valerie Peterson, Urban Planner

Consultant Team

GOODY CLANCY David Dixon, FAIA Phil Goff Ben Carlson Martina Ruhfass Ganesh Ramachandran Steve Wolf Paul Santos David Curran Agnieszka Siuda

KRAMER & ASSOCIATES Robert Kramer Andrew Bing Edward Thomas

KITTELSON AND ASSOCIATES Yolanda Takesian Brandon Nevers Phill Worth

RETAIL COMPASS Heather Arnold

W-ZHA, LLC Sarah Woodworth

Interdepartmental Team

ALEXANDRIA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIP Stuart L. Litvin, CECD Stephanie Landrum

ALEXANDRIA REDEVELOPMENT AND HOUSING AUTHORITY Roy Priest, Interim Executive Director

ALEXANDRIA TRANSIT COMPANY (DASH) Sandy Modell Al Himes

OFFICE OF HOUSING Mildrilyn Stephens Davis, Director Helen McIlvaine

POLICE DEPARTMENT David P. Baker, Chief Captain David Huchler

RECREATION, PARKS & CULTURAL ACTIVITIES Kirk Kincannon, Director Aimee Vosper Laura Durham Mary Stephenson

TRANSPORTATION & ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES Richard Baier, Director Thomas Culpepper Yon Lambert Sandra Marks James Maslanka

Special thanks to Rhae Parkes from Abt Associates for graciously volunteering her time to make a presentation on public housing issues during Community Workshop #1.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Executive Summary 1

2. Community Vision 11

3. Principle 1: Create a sense of place with neighborhood identity, vitality, and diversity 17

HISTORICAL INFLUENCES LOCAL AND NATIONAL RECOGNITION DIVERSITY SUSTAINABILITY AND GREEN DESIGN

4. Principle 2: Provide walkable neighborhoods that are secure and feel safe 35

WALKING STREETS ADDITIONAL WALKING ROUTES INTERSECTION IMPROVEMENTS

5. Principle 3: Establish a series of community-serving, usable open spaces 43

NEIGHBORHOOD PARK METRO PLAZA

6. Principle 4: Encourage community-serving retail and services 47

RETAIL NEEDS RETAIL GUIDELINES

7. Principle 5: Promote mixed-income housing and follow an inclusive process to deconcentrate public housing 53

NEIGHBORHOOD OPPORTUNITY EXISTING PUBLIC HOUSING REDEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES DECONCENTRATION OF PUBLIC HOUSING NATIONAL EXAMPLES CHALLENGES NEXT STEPS

8. Principle 6: Manage multimodal transportation, parking, and road infrastructure 67

BACKGROUND TRAFFIC IMPACT ASSOCIATED WITH FUTURE DEVELOPMENT TRANSPORTATION DEMAND MANAGEMENT

9. Principle 7: Achieve varying and transitional heights 87 and scales

   URBAN DESIGN FRAMEWORK URBAN DESIGN CONCEPT BUILDING HEIGHT AND MASSING LAND USE, DEVELOPMENT, KEY REDEVELOPMENT SITES

10. Implementation Strategy 115

    IMPLEMENTATION ADVISORY GROUP COMMUNICATIONS CITY'S INTERAGENCY BRADDOCK IMPLEMENTATION TEAM FUNDING PUBLIC AMENITIES CAPTURING REVENUE FROM NEW DEVELOPMENT PLAN RECOMMENDATIONS BY CHAPTER

Appendix A–Design Guidelines 127

Appendix B–Braddock Metro Neighborhood Plan Process 149

Executive Summary

The Braddock Metro neighborhood contains nearly all of the ingredients of a great traditional neighborhood: an existing network of walkable streets and small blocks; a surrounding fabric of human-scaled, historic row houses, small apartment buildings and churches; a brand-new community center; a riverfront and downtown commercial core within easy walking distance; and a rail transit station that can whisk riders to the heart of the nation's capital in twenty minutes. This Plan is about writing another chapter in the story of this great neighborhood. It focuses on preserving and enhancing those aspects of the neighborhood that are beloved—its traditional scale and character and walkable streets—while at the same time helping the neighborhood adapt to emerging opportunities and challenges—the changing nature of its diversity, the increased importance of transit, and the evolving value society places on sustainability. All of the Plan’s recommendations are designed to achieve this integration and balance. In addition, the Plan takes two important steps forward: investing a portion of the fiscal benefits from development in implementing the Plan’s recommendations and initiating a new partnership with the community to oversee implementation.

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Historic rowhouses in the Parker-Gray Historic District

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

The seven principles that emerged from the stakeholder interviews and community comments early in this planning process represent the community’s aspirations for finding the right balance between preservation and change. The principles are:

• Create a sense of place/neighborhood identity, vitality and diversity.
• Provide walkable neighborhoods that are secure and feel safe.
• Establish a variety of community-serving, usable open spaces.
• Encourage community-serving retail and services.
• Promote mixed-income housing and follow an open, fair and inclusive process to deconcentrate public housing.
• Manage multi-modal transportation, parking and road infrastructure.
• Achieve varying and transitional heights and scales.

While general, the principles point the City and the community in the right direction for the future. The principles also establish the organization and framework for this Plan, as each one is the subject of a separate chapter and discussion.

NEIGHBORHOOD IDENTITY

As an overarching theme, the issue of identity emerges in any discussion of the Braddock Metro neighborhood. There is a sense that this vital neighborhood, with its rich history and charming residential streets will become just an anonymous part of Alexandria’s urban expanse and an afterthought to Old Town unless steps are taken to affirm its individual character and bring its diverse residents together. This Plan confronts this clear message with a series of recommendations. First, it recommends a robust program to preserve and publicize the neighborhood’s ar-

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chitectural and cultural history through an enhanced historic preservation program and new interpretive signs or markers along a walking route on the most historically significant streets in the area. Carefully considered public gathering places, including both parks and retail and community services must be created so that residents have places to meet and know each other. New mixed-income communities on the site of current public housing developments will be an opportunity to bring people of various income levels together.

BRADDOCK METRO STATION

A chief organizing feature of the neighborhood and this Plan is the Braddock Metro station. It and the general close in location of the neighborhood have led to increased property values, pressure for new transit oriented development, and the ability to achieve increased density without excessively increased traffic.

In fact, it is the proximity of two Metro stations, both within a 10-minute walk for most residents, which reinforces the connectivity and competitive advantage of the neighborhood. With easy connections to Reagan Washington National Airport, Arlington County, and downtown Washington, Metro is the travel mode of choice for nearly half the neighborhood’s commuters. Braddock Road station itself, however, does not integrate well into the neighborhood physical fabric, separated as it is from the rest of the area by a two-acre swath of land dedicated to loading, moving, and storing buses, taxis,

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and private automobiles. The Plan recommends both improved pedestrian connectivity to the site—through urban design, lighting, signage, and crosswalks—and putting this land to more appropriate use with mixed-use redevelopment, ground-level retail and an open plaza. Redevelopment would also include the enhancement of adjacent Braddock Road and West Street, turning them into prime locations for community-serving retail to help create activity and a gathering place for people who work and live in the Braddock Metro neighborhood.

WALKABILITY

The Braddock Metro neighborhood features a traditional grid of streets and regularly-sized blocks, giving the neighborhood a human scale and making it walkable. Buildings ranging in height from two to three stories fill most of the area’s blocks. The low scale and historic architecture of the Parker-Gray Historic District reinforces the area’s livability. Where the grid has been lost to large “superblocks,” particularly in Andrew Adkins and the Northern Gateway, walkability and a strong sense

The Braddock Road Metro station

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Enhanced streetscape improvements

of place – key components of the community’s vision for the neighborhood – can be strengthened by restoring the grid and enhancing the streets with generous sidewalks and greenery.

Giving the pedestrian priority, as this Plan does, means that enhanced streetscape improvements, bike facilities, and pathway connections within and from the neighborhood should be made. The Plan calls for specific improvements for pedestrian access at, for example, the Wythe/Braddock/West intersection and at Route 1 and Fayette and First Streets. It also suggests that a pedestrian corridor through Braddock Place would facilitate travel to and from the Metro, connect the Jaguar development to the rest of the neighborhood and provide enhanced opportunity for retail businesses.

FUTURE DEVELOPMENT AND DESIGN GUIDELINES

The land in front of Braddock Road station is one of several sites likely to undergo redevelopment over the next five to 20 years. Because of the neighborhood’s proximity to Potomac Yard, a once bustling rail yard, it has numerous warehouses, light industrial and other commercial buildings. These properties’ real estate value has risen enough to make them prime candidates for redevelopment into housing, hotel, office, and retail uses. Finding ways to integrate these new larger buildings into a compatible development framework will help assure that they do not overwhelm the fine-grained texture of the historic blocks south of Wythe Street and east of Henry Street. Design guidelines, which are part of this Plan, address the compatibility of height, building massing, and architectural character for new buildings. They require new development near the Braddock Road station to make a sensi-

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The site in front of the Braddock Road Station

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Future Fayette Street view looking south to First Street showing Jaguar development on the right

tive transition to the rest of the historic neighborhood.

New buildings at the Metro station will be taller and incorporate ground-floor retail; new buildings east of Route 1 will remain as walk-ups or townhouses with backyards. In between, there will be a transition of height and scale that will rise from east to west. Route 1 will be made more pedestrian-friendly, with new residential, retail, office, and live-work buildings.

Design guidelines included in this Plan will ensure quality architecture, compatible urban design and improved walkability. In particular, these guidelines will establish maximum heights for building faces to create “shoulders” that step down next to the street and limit the height of buildings along the sidewalk while allowing added height near the center of the block. These guidelines establish ground level set-

backs to create landscaped “green edges.” In addition, the Plan encourages landowners to integrate sustainable design features, including LEED certification, into new development projects in collaboration with the sustainability recommendations set forth in the Vision for Alexandria 2015 report.

REDEVELOPMENT OF PUBLIC HOUSING

It is the recommendation of this Plan that the nine blocks in the center of the neighborhood, now occupied by public housing, be redeveloped with housing for mixed-income communities. It is specifically recommended that the ARHA-owned James Bland (and Addition), Andrew Adkins, Samuel Madden (Uptown), and Ramsey Homes properties be redeveloped at higher densities and with a mix of populations including public housing, affordable, workforce,

Andrew Adkins public housing site

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and market rate units. The Plan recommends future designation of the sites as CDDs, with the creation of CDD guidelines during the Braddock East planning process. Blending income levels will help protect the economic and cultural diversity of the community. The Plan acknowledges the challenges involved in this dramatic change, but also recognizes the rare opportunity redevelopment creates for the neighborhood and the City.

The Plan further acknowledges the Braddock East planning process and recommends that comprehensive planning take place for all of these sites as part of that effort. While this Plan makes general recommendations, it is

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A large neighborhood park and smaller pocket parks will provide places or walking a dog or sitting on a park bench.

the Braddock East process that will address details regarding the mix of units, financing, site plan design, height, density, building types, open space and parking for the redeveloped sites.

OPEN SPACE

The community places significant value on additional recreational opportunities, and wants to see places for walking a dog or sitting on a park bench to read. This Plan recommends a new, large centrally located public park to be located on the Post Office site at Wythe and Henry Streets. In addition, smaller pocket parks and a plaza are envisioned as part of private development projects throughout the neighborhood.

The Plan recommends that these open spaces be accessible to the entire community. Better lighting, more street trees, and new traffic-calming features will enhance the public realm that surrounds and connects the new parks. Because the Plan anticipates a community that is less dependant on cars in the future, these improvements will be introduced throughout the neighborhood but concentrated on “walking streets” that enhance the pedestrian connections to the Metro station, the rebuilt Charles Houston Recreation Center and the proposed neighborhood parks to establish walking as the primary mode of transportation in the neighborhood.

NEIGHBORHOOD SERVING RETAIL

One of the community’s redevelopment goals is the creation of a lively new neighborhood square, the centerpiece

of new development adjacent to the Metro site, which takes advantage of the neighborhood’s ability to support over 80,000 square feet of new neighborhood-serving retail. In addition, this untapped demand will support additional new retail located as part of other new developments; this additional retail will play a critical role in promoting walkability by adding destinations and providing places of activity. The Plan recommends financial assistance to support local entrepreneurs who can bring high-quality new retail, restaurants, and other business that contribute to the neighborhood’s unique quality and character. This is especially the case at key areas for community activity such as at the Metro site and along Queen Street. These funds could also support efforts to recruit high quality retailers.

TRANSPORTATION

Traffic congestion will be mitigated by implementing transportation demand management policies and programs to encourage new and existing residents and employees to use transit and other alternatives to single vehicle travel, including carpooling, car sharing, walking or biking in the neighborhood. The Plan recommends revising current parking requirements for properties located within 2000 feet of the Braddock Road Metro station, as the City has successfully done at the King Street and Eisenhower Avenue Metro Stations in an effort to encourage transit use and reduce the number of vehicles on neighborhood roads. New development projects will provide enough underground parking to avoid aggravating the on-street parking crunch, but not so much that it encourages households to own additional automobiles or employees to drive to work. Mixed-use development sites will share parking among different users who park at different hours of the day.

The Plan recommends the establishment of a district-wide transportation management program (TMP), managed by a coordinator to oversee numerous strategies that will ease the demand for drive-alone vehicle trips within the neighborhood. Strategies include ridesharing programs, incentives to use transit, pedestrian and bike facility enhancements, and management of shared parking lots and garages.

IMPLEMENTATION

The Plan takes advantage of a new approach to implementation not available during previous rounds of planning: leveraging the neighborhood’s growing wealth and real estate values to help implement significant public improvements in the neighborhood. These community-benefit dollars generated by new development will help to support amenities such as walkable streets and a new neighborhood park, and take advantage of the underlying value of public housing sites to transform public housing into a mixed-income community that is part of the larger neighborhood.

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The community was heavily involved in the creation of this Plan and should also be involved in its implementation.

Amended 6/19/21, Ord. 5353

Development Sites

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The 20-year redevelopment scenario for the Braddock Metro neighborhood that includes potential building projects on 17 different sites as well as new parks and plazas, enhanced green streets and improved pedestrian/bike connections

8 Braddock Metro Neighborhood Plan | MARCH 2008

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View of the proposed new public square in front of Braddock Road Station

Most of the funds for these public improvement projects will come from new development and by city capital investments which can be supported through the increased tax revenue that new development will create. This will not happen overnight, however. The Plan assumes a 20-year buildout period where developer contributions and other funds will gradually pay for the public improvements that the community helps to prioritize in the implementation phase of the Plan.

The Plan also represents a significant new step toward involving the community in managing implementation. While Alexandria has long embraced community-based planning, this Plan makes the community a partner with the City in implementing the Plan by creating an Implementation Advisory Group that will form soon after the Plan’s adoption.

The time has come for a plan that spells out the aspirations of the Braddock Metro neighborhood community. New development projects—slow to arrive after the completion of Braddock Road station over 20 years ago—have recently been completed and several others are ready to go. The recommendations put forth in this Plan promise to improve the neighborhood’s livability through a strategic list of public improvement projects and programs that will be funded through well-designed and context-sensitive private development. The Plan aspires to create a neighborhood that is safe, walkable, dense enough to support retail, and replete with housing opportunities for a diverse range of people at different income levels.

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Community Vision

As Americans throughout the country continue to rediscover the joys and value of the history, culture and walkability of older urban neighborhoods, inner Alexandria stands poised to strengthen its reputation as one of the most livable places in the Washington region. Building upon the many positive attributes and opportunities within the neighborhood and striving to overcome the area’s challenges are the keys to creating a successful plan. The following chapters—one for each of the seven principles created and unanimously supported by the community members who participated in the development of them—lay out the vision for a series of planning ideas and public policies that will further enhance the Braddock Metro neighborhood’s livability for years to come. This vision builds upon the work that the City and the community did together to ensure that neighborhood stakeholders were heard and that solutions to tough problems were found.

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A diverse group of neighborhood residents, business owners, developers and elected officials worked together to identify ways of improving the Braddock Metro neighborhood’s quality of life.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

After several years of work, considering neighborhood issues, the community began an intensive, five-month community planning process in late September 2007 that resulted in this Plan. Building on a series of stakeholder interviews last summer, and assisted by a group of professional planners and facilitators, participants attended two educational workshops, a full-day community charrette, a walking tour of the neighborhood, and five work sessions.

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During the community charrette and work sessions, the summaries of the small-group exercises were done by pairs of community members and reporters were encouraged to engage with others in a panel-like format.

The participants were neighborhood citizens and other concerned Alexandrians, and most faithfully attended all sessions. A detailed look at the process is presented in Appendix B.

Topics covered at the various educational workshops, charrette and working sessions included:

• New demographics and neighborhood values
• Elements of livability and placemaking
• Urban design framework
• Public realm: parks, pedestrian corridors, edge conditions and retail activity
• Zoning and development rights
• Public housing
• Retail feasibility
• Neighborhood history and preservation
• Residential and office development feasibility
• Transportation and traffic management
• Height and mass of potential new development
• Successful mixed-income communities

These and more topics provided information to the community as they weighed and balanced competing concerns and worked to create the vision for themselves that this Plan articulates.

Creating a community vision involved many lively and important discussions among community members, all of whom brought diverse points of view to the process. Ultimately, these discussions focused on the core opportunities and challenges facing a diverse community such as:

• balancing the advantages of convenient access to Metro with the development pressures that this convenience creates and
• balancing its commitment to sustainability with its concerns about the impacts on the quality of life due to higher density development adjacent to Metro.

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During the November 3 community charrette participants rated area buildings and streetscapes in a visual preference survey.

Opportunities and Challenges Facing the Braddock Metro Neighborhood

UNDERUTILIZED WAREHOUSE AND LIGHT INDUSTRIAL SITES

• Valuable land appropriate for new mixed-use development
• Opportunities for new development that can generate funds to help pay for public amenities

BRADDOCK ROAD METRO STATION

Easy access to greater Washington region

LACK OF RETAIL PRESENCE

• Braddock Place: greater visibility needed to support retail
• Henry Street: high visibility, but too busy to support many neighborhood-serving businesses

POST OFFICE DISTRIBUTION FACILITY

Trucks and surface parking detract from character of this valuable site

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CONCENTRATION OF PUBLIC HOUSING

Valuable ARHA-owned sites could provide land for new mixed-use, mixed-income development central to the neighborhood.

CONCENTRATION OF PUBLIC HOUSING

The 365 units on the Adkins, Bland, Madden, and Ramsey sites create a high concentration of poverty in portions of the neighborhood.

TRAFFIC CONGESTION & NOISE ON ROUTE 1

Conditions limit pedestrian comfort and safety and make local vehicle travel difficult during peak periods.

DISTRICT-WIDE OPPORTUNITIES

PERMEABLE AND WALKABLE STREET GRID 250-foot-by-350-foot blocks provide optimal access for pedestrians, cyclists, and local vehicle trips throughout the neighborhood

PARKER-GRAY HISTORIC DISTRICT Architectural identity and historic character that is unique to the Braddock Metro/Parker-Gray neighborhood

DISTRICT-WIDE CHALLENGES

PERCEPTION OF SAFETY PROBLEMS Neighbors perceive safety issues related to the public housing sites and vacant warehouses.

COMPATIBILITY OF NEW BUILDINGS WITH SCALE & CHARACTER OF HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOOD Transitional building heights and scales needed between Parker-Gray and the Braddock Metro station.

LACK OF PUBLIC PARK OR OTHER USABLE OPEN SPACE New development projects, public housing sites, and the Metro site offer some green space, but most is not particularly usable for most of the community.

• Opportunities
• Challenges

Building on the Opportunities and Overcoming the Challenges

UNDERUTILIZED WAREHOUSE AND LIGHT INDUSTRIAL SITES

Encourage high-density development that will create a vibrant, mixed-use neighborhood and help generate public-benefit funds.

BRADDOCK ROAD METRO STATION

• Improve pedestrian access to the station from the surrounding neighborhoods.
• Manage multimodal transportation, parking and road improvements surrounding the Metro site.

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LACK OF RETAIL PRESENCE

• Provide two or three neighborhood retail "squares" at strategic locations, including at the Metro station if/when the site is redeveloped.
• Enliven the ground-floor of the Braddock Place office buildings with community-serving uses.
• Promote Queen Street retail with assistance programs and other initiatives.

POST OFFICE DISTRIBUTION FACILITY

Relocate postal distribution facility and replace it with a neighborhood park and mixed-use building that retains the post-office retail and counter services.

CONCENTRATION OF PUBLIC HOUSING

Re-create the public housing sites as mixed-income communities.

CONCENTRATION OF PUBLIC HOUSING

• Develop mixed-income housing on ARHA sites through an open, fair and inclusive process.
• Increase job-training programs and other social services for public housing residents.

TRAFFIC CONGESTION, NOISE ALONG ROUTE 1

Promote live-work units and other uses that can thrive adjacent to Route 1

BUILDING ON OPPORTUNITIES

PERMEABLE AND WALKABLE STREET GRID

• Design sidewalks and streets that are green and invite walking: on-street parking buffers pedestrians from traffic, trees line the sidewalks, and buildings engage the public realm with active uses and well-landscaped setbacks that create a green edge.
• New buildings along the four "walking streets" will step down to 3-4 stories along the sidewalk.
• Encourage redevelopment of "super-blocks" into a more permeable and historically contextual street grid.

PARKER-GRAY HISTORIC DISTRICT

Further strengthen the neighborhood's identity, vitality, and diversity that compliment the architecture and character of Parker-Gray.

OVERCOMING CHALLENGES

PERCEPTION OF SAFETY PROBLEMS

Create safe, secure streets through environmental design and redevelopment of underutilized property to provide additional eyes on the street.

COMPATIBILITY OF NEW BUILDINGS WITH SCALE & CHARACTER OF HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOOD

Develop guidelines that require building "shoulders" to ensure that new development adjacent to the historic district is sympathetic to its scale and character.

LACK OF PUBLIC PARK OR OTHER USABLE OPEN SPACE

• Incorporate usable and accessible open space within all private-sector development projects.
• Create a 1.5-acre neighborhood park on the Post Office site or in conjunction with redevelopment of the Adkins block.

Ultimately, all of the discussions set the stage for a new vision that affirmed most of the recommendations from the earlier planning process in 2005–06, but added significant elements such as:

• Creating additional places that nurture a sense of community for the neighborhood—principally the new park, supporting Queen Street, and creating a lively neighborhood square at Metro
• Committing to overcome the social divide between the public housing community and much of the larger community by transforming public housing into mixed-income housing
• Acknowledging and celebrating the richness that diversity and multiple individual histories adds to the neighborhood’s quality and character
• Recognizing that many feel they have not benefited equitably from recent development in the neighborhood
• Forging a direct link between development and funding public benefits
• Recognizing that well-managed development can and should contribute to enhancing neighborhood character and quality.

Coming to these understandings took a commitment and intensity from citizens and staff alike, but built on a rather easily arrived at set of principles, refined over time, that tell the story of Braddock’s future.

The following list of seven principles reflect values that participants in the planning process share, and also underlie all of the ideas in this Plan. Each principle is the topic of a separate chapter, including more detailed recommendations to achieve it. In combination, they offer a vital and comprehensive community vision.

PRINCIPLES FOR THE BRADDOCK METRO NEIGHBORHOOD

1. Create a sense of place/ neighborhood identity, vitality and diversity.
2. Provide walkable neighborhoods that are secure and feel safe.
3. Establish a variety of community-serving, usable open spaces.
4. Encourage community-serving retail and services.
5. Promote mixed-income housing and follow an open, fair, and inclusive process to de-concentrate public housing.
6. Manage multimodal transportation, parking and road infrastructure.
7. Achieve varying and transitional heights and scales.

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The process produced two particularly important benefits that were not part of prior planning efforts for the neighborhood. A community-wide dialogue addressing the future of public housing—one that will bring the public housing and larger community together to talk about their shared future—is underway. In addition, the process created a new partnership between the community and the city, represented initially by an Implementation Advisory Group to manage the implementation of this Plan.

PRINCIPLE 1

Create a sense of place with neighborhood identity, vitality, and diversity

During the Braddock Metro neighborhood planning effort, the community made it clear on numerous occasions that it wants to preserve and strengthen its neighborhood’s sense of place. Overwhelmingly, residents enjoy the two-to-three-story scale of most blocks in the neighborhood and the tree-lined streets with landscaped setbacks in some areas. Most appreciate the diversity of cultures, income levels and lifestyles within the neighborhood as well. The Plan aims to maintain these important attributes and reinforce them through strategic initiatives to preserve the architectural character and cultural diversity, and promote sustainability and green design. The other overarching goal is to promote the identity of the neighborhood as a walkable, diverse, active, historic community that aspires to be one of the most livable in the Washington metro area. Central to this identity is the serious need to create places where people of diverse backgrounds and lifestyles can come together. The walking streets, parks and retail squares discussed in subsequent chapters will go a long way to implementing this need.

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Historic architecture and mature trees found in the Parker-Gray Historic District help create a powerful sense of place.

The Plan recognizes the differences between the smaller-scale, historic row house blocks that now help establish the neighborhood’s sense of place, and the redeveloping industrial sites located adjacent to Metro where larger scale development is planned. Taking advantage of Metro’s proximity is essential in an era that values sustainability and seeks alternatives to auto-dependence. The public-benefit dollars generated from this development will help to reinforce the character of the neighborhood for years to come. The Implementation Advisory Group will enable the City and community to work together to manage these public benefit dollars to enhance the identity, vitality and diversity of the neighborhood.

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Early 20th-century warehouse building along Fayette Street

HISTORICAL INFLUENCES

The area’s three most poignant and influential historical stories relate to its concentration of industrial uses, its heritage as an African American neighborhood, and the importance of its architecture and buildings. In addition, the opening of the Braddock Road Metro Station adds another chapter to the twentieth century history.

1. Industrial/Commercial History

Businesses and residences have survived side by side for most of the history of the Braddock Road Metro area. Prior to the Civil War, the Alexandria and Washington railroad line had been built along the center of North Fayette Street when there was little business activity in the Braddock area. Notable enterprises included a Rope Walk located west of West Street from Oronoco to Queen Streets, an ice house at 218 North Columbus Street and Jacob Hoffman’s sugar refinery at 220 North Washington Street. More businesses arrived as the area developed.

By the latter part of the nineteenth century the area had numerous small businesses, such as ice houses and hay and feed stores, and the railroad had attracted a series of industrial uses nearby. The railroad station was located at 200 North Fayette, and a wood yard was not far away in the 800 block of Cameron Street. The Belle Pre Bottle Company, and the Alexandria Glass Company, both large, multi-building

businesses, were located in the 1100 block of Madison and Montgomery Streets, respectively. Other warehouse uses hugged the railroad, lining North Fayette Street. In addition, uses such as a cobbler's shop at 200 North Alfred and an ice house at 300 North Alfred served the residential population.

By 1950, there were still businesses that were reminiscent of an older way of life such as J & S agricultural equipment (530 North Henry), the Mutual Ice Company (on North Payne), Stark & Slagle coal and fuel (North Henry extended) and L Hoge feed and grain store (at 511 North Fayette), but the nature of most of the businesses in the Braddock Road Metro Area was now squarely based on twentieth century technology. Moving and storage companies such as the Victory Van lines (520 North Fayette) and Duncan Transfer (400 North Columbia), electrical contractors such as Zimmerman Electrical Contracting (509 North Fayette) and sales and metal working firms such as Alexandria Sheet and Metal Works (700 North Fayette) were important businesses.

Auto related businesses (which were to be so prevalent in the area at the end of century) were also beginning to locate in the area, primarily in the 600 and 700 blocks of North Henry Street. There were also many small businesses, such as beauty salons (there were 17 barbers and beauty salons), restaurants and small retailers. Queen Street, between North Fayette and North Henry Streets, emerged as a prime location for neighborhood oriented businesses.

During the second half of the twentieth century, after the railroad line was moved, the industrial and business climate began to decline. Auto related businesses such as Tony's, Pat's Radiator and European Auto Body on North Henry Street were the dominant business sector in the area by 2000. A few large businesses such as Hennage Printers at 1101 Pendleton Street and Check Soda (215 North Payne) recalled older technologies while companies such as Commonwealth Scientific instrument makers (various locations, including 800 North Henry) represented new high technology industries. Many large warehouses, including Sykes (300 and 621 North Henry), Hopkins Furniture (1112 Cameron Street), Security Storage (621 North Payne), and Braswell (1017 Queen Street) enjoyed the large industrial sites from a prior era.

The arrival of the Braddock Road Metro Station and dramatically increased property values have meant the gradual closing of most of the industrial and storage businesses in the Braddock area, as economic pressures and continuing market changes replace such uses with residences and retailers.

2. Uptown: An African American Neighborhood

The location of the railroad and industry attracted African Americans, who had always had a significant presence in Alexandria, to the Braddock area in particular. Originally populated before the Civil War, the area bounded by West, Cameron, North Columbus and Montgomery streets was known as Uptown, and became the

largest of Alexandria’s ten historical African American communities. Over time, and especially through the twentieth century, Uptown was a vibrant, self-contained, self-sufficient neighborhood, offering home, church, schools, entertainment shopping and recreation to its citizens.

Uptown Institutions and

Businesses

Prominent among the institutions in the area was a multitude of churches, including St. John Baptist Church, St. Joseph Catholic Church, Russell Temple C.M.E. Church, Third Baptist Church, Meade Memorial Episcopal Church, and Ebenezer and Mt. Jezreel Baptist Churches.

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Historic photo of the Weenie Beenie (Photo courtesy of the Black History Museum)

There were also a number of fraternal organizations providing civic services to the community, a few of which used or rented their buildings for public events. The most frequently used buildings for community purposes were the American Legion Post 129 at 200 North Fayette Street and the Elks Home at 227 North Henry Street. Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, and most of the up and coming male and female black vocalists, groups and bands played at the Elks Home during the decades of segregation.

Small neighborhood businesses and offices dotted the area, especially

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Former grocery warehouse, later the Alexandria Laundry, on Queen Street

at corner sites. In the Queen Street corridor from Alfred to Payne streets were located the Colored Drug Store, later known as Dr. Blue’s Pharmacy and Dr. Henry Ladrey’s office on Henry Street. Throughout the changes in industry and business over the decades, the 1100 block of Queen Street between North Fayette and North Henry Streets, remained a prime location for small, neighborhood serving businesses, especially African American owned businesses, including a taxi cab company, Dancey’s barber shop, Mrs. Dancey’s carryout, a cafeteria, movie theater, restaurants and automobile businesses. While other parts of the Braddock area business community have seen radical change, this block of businesses remains strong, and

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Historic Uptown photo (Courtesy of the Black Historic Museum)

includes such existing enterprises as Sgt’s Restaurant (recently closed by fire, with hopes for a reopening), barbershops, a grocery store and auto related parts and tires store.

Parker-Gray School

Perhaps the most significant feature of the Uptown neighborhood was the emphasis on the education of its children, and the strong, rigorous response by educators to the demand. Several free and private schools were established in homes and churches before, during and after the Civil War. A public school for African Americans was established in Alexandria as early as 1785. It existed at the Alexandria Academy until 1847, when the City of Alexandria, originally part of Washington D.C., was relocated to Virginia, which prohibited the education of African Americans. Later, the Hallowell School for Girls (400 North Alfred) and the Snowden School for Boys (South Pitt Street), built in the 1870s, educated generations of African American children until 1920.

In 1920, the Parker-Gray Elementary School was constructed at 900 Wythe Street and named to honor the beloved principals, John Parker and Sarah Gray, respectively, of the Snowden and Hallowell Schools. Originally opened as a school for grades 1-8 only, students who wanted a full high school education were forced to attend Dunbar, Cardozo, Armstrong, or Phelps High Schools in Washington, D.C. Parker-Gray became Alexandria’s first African American high school in 1932. Over time the segregated Parker-Gray High School became known for its excellence in education and its dedicated teaching staff who were involved in neighborhood activities and well known to the community.

Increased enrollment eventually required a larger high school, and in 1950 the high school relocated to a new building at 1207 Madison Street, retaining its name. The old school building on Wythe Street was then renamed Charles Houston Elementary School, in appreciation of the famous NAACP lawyer and dean of Howard University Law School who used his influence, power and knowledge to aid the Alexandria African American community in their fight to secure a separate high school building. It was Charles Houston who trained the lawyers, developed the strategy, and wrote the brief that upheld the cause of integration in the Supreme Court. Integration of Alexandria’s schools was achieved in 1964 and the Parker-Gray school closed its doors in 1979. The original Parker-Gray school site then became the home of the Charles Houston Recreation Center.

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Original 1920 Parker-Gray School building located at the 900 Wythe Street, later the Charles Houston Elementary School and site of the Charles Houston Recreation Center.

Library - Civil Rights Action

The Black History Museum at 902 Wythe Street is a monument to the dedication of Alexandria’s African Americans to retain their history and their neighborhood. The small, one room, Robinson Library was originally built in 1940 at the corner of North

Library sit-in at the Alexandria Free Library, 1939 (Photo courtesy of the Black History Museum)

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Alfred and Wythe streets by the City of Alexandria to address the need for African Americans to read and borrow books from a public facility. The lack of that opportunity was brought to the City’s attention when, in 1939, five young, well dressed and courteous African American men refused to leave the newly built Alexandria Free Library at 717 Queen Street (now the Kate Waller Barrett Branch), when they were prohibited from using that "whites only" public facility. Leading and organizing the effort was Samuel Tucker, a local, African American attorney. As a result of this early "sit- in," Otto Tucker, Edward Addis, Morris Murray, William Evans and Clarence Strange were arrested, charged and then released from custody. Despite requests by Tucker for a ruling in the court case, the charges were later dropped and the City built the Robinson Library.

The Uptown neighborhood, now known as Parker-Gray, or Inner City for its close-in location within the City, has long maintained an African American presence in the Braddock area. The Black History Museum stands as a testament to the history and influence of the Uptown neighborhood, even as the community faces inevitable change.

3. Parker-Gray Historic

District

History

Historic preservation has long been recognized as an integral part of the land use process in the City of Alexandria. However, the Uptown area, which contains significant architectural and cultural resources, was not included in the original Old and Historic Alexandria District’s boundaries, adopted in 1946 to include only those properties east of Washington Street.

Starting in 1969, when City Council attempted to expand the historic district to protect the area, Uptown residents opposed the effort, because they feared that a historic designation would increase the cost to repair, maintain and renovate their homes and that housing prices would rise beyond the affordable range.

After the completion of formal surveys that found concentrations of historically and architecturally significant buildings from the mid to late 19th century in the neighborhood, and in recognition that redevelopment was occurring regardless of the lack of designation, City Council and the neighborhood were ultimately convinced that protecting the destruction of buildings in the neighborhood by historic designation was the only means to assure that new development remained compatible with existing small scale homes.

Thus, in 1984, the Old and Historic Alexandria District, at that time the only historic district, was expanded

to include 40 additional blocks, encompassing most of the Uptown neighborhood. This change established the boundaries of the Parker-Gray Historic District (the District) and regulations for Board of Architectural Review (BAR) jurisdiction, and created a new Parker-Gray panel that would decide cases within the Parker-Gray neighborhood.

The stated purpose of the district was to preserve and protect the architectural and cultural character of the predominantly residential neighborhood. Final design guidelines for the District were adopted in 1983 and continue to set the standards for architectural review in the District in addition to those standards set forth in the Ordinance. In 1992, the Parker-Gray Historic District panel was abolished and formally became the Parker-Gray District Board of Architectural Review.

Along the way, in recognition of the important social and cultural heritage of the neighborhood, City Council acted to assure protection of the Uptown community. In 1974, the City Council passed Resolution No. 276, noting that “there exist in Census Tract 16 a substantial number of well-built and well-maintained homes that establish the predominantly residential character of the area” and that it was the policy and objective of the City Council “to preserve and improve Census Tract 16 as a viable, predominantly residential community.” The resolution also stated that “City Council will seek to preserve the opportunity for homeowners of all income levels to continue residing in the 16th Census Tract and to find effective ways to protect residents from the threat of rising land values and taxes resulting from speculation and development pressures.”

Historic Neighborhood Character

The Parker-Gray Historic District (the District) is mostly residential, with commercial development concentrated primarily along North Patrick and North Henry streets. The area follows the street grid and building setbacks found in the adjacent Old and Historic Alexandria District. The majority of the residential development consists of single-family attached residences. However, there are a number of small apartment buildings as well as some detached single-family houses. Commercial structures include shops, offices, warehouses, fraternal organizations and buildings formerly occupied by movie theaters. Churches are located throughout the neighborhood and are among its most significant landmarks.

The District developed gradually over the last half of the 19th century and first several decades of the 20th century. Buildings from the early 19th century are few and generally concentrated on the southern end of the district near King Street on North Patrick, North Henry and North Payne streets. A significant upsurge in development associated with the New Deal and World War II era growth of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area is reflected in the brick rowhouses along Oronoco and Buchanan streets. The entry of the federal government in the field of housing is reflected in the blocks of mid 20th century public housing development at the north

end of the District. Most buildings in the area are small-scale vernacular interpretations of popular or high style architecture.

Identifiable stylistic influences include Italianate, Queen Anne, Second Empire, Colonial Revival and Art Deco, Art Moderne, Bungalow and International styles.

Neighborhood Protection

As one of the City’s two locally-regulated historic districts, changes to the exterior of buildings and structures within the District which are visible to the public must be reviewed by the BAR to ensure they will be compatible with their neighbors on the block and in the immediate area as to the:

• scale and mass of the building;
• height of the roofline along the street;
• architectural style, including architectural detail and material, texture and colors;
• retention of original distinguishing qualities of the building; and
• historic appropriateness of new building features.

The Parker-Gray Historic District BAR meets monthly to review and act on applications for work on buildings in the District. The Board also reviews any request to demolish a building or portion of a building in the District.

LOCAL AND NATIONAL RECOGNITION

In addition to the Parker-Gray Historic District protections created by the City, steps are being taken now and should continue in the future to celebrate further the neighborhood’s strong historic past.

National Register Nomination

In January 2008, the City completed its submission of the nomination of the Uptown/Parker-Gray neighborhood to the National Register of Historic Places and anticipates a successful determination by the United States Park Service later in 2008. The National Register nomination is one of the three concurrent overlapping planning processes in the Parker-Gray neighborhood – in addition to the Braddock Plan and the Braddock East planning process – and as such has required substantial coordination and communication with residents to avoid confusion. The interrelation of the various planning efforts and boundaries was discussed at the Braddock Metro Neighborhood Plan meeting on October 16, 2007. City preservation staff also held a meeting with the community in early February 2008 to provide information about the nomination process, the district boundaries, and the benefits of the historic designation.

The potential listing in the National Register will formally acknowledge the importance of Uptown, one of Alexandria’s thriving African-American neighborhoods before segregation was abolished in the 1960s. Listing also brings some protection from actions involving the Federal government, such as highway widening or redevelopment involving federal funds or permits. Owners of qualifying properties listed

on the National Register who undertake substantial renovation are eligible for investment tax credits on state and federal income taxes. However, the threshold for qualifying for such credits is difficult to meet in Parker-Gray or Old Town due to the area’s high property values.

Queen Street Retail District

During the decades of segregation, Queen Street was “Uptown’s” thriving commercial street. There were two movie theaters, barber shops, stores, restaurants, a drug store, doctors and lawyers offices. Ray Charles and other entertainers performed in the theaters and fraternal lodges. On warm evenings, people strolled along the sidewalks between Fayette and Patrick, the core of the business district. While the vitality of business along Queen Street did not survive segregation, it maintains an important role in the commercial energy of the neighborhood as well as in its historic past. This Plan makes several recommendations to retain and enhance its business vitality, including financial support for both new and established businesses. See Chapter 6 for more detail on this important neighborhood recommendation.

Future Preservation Efforts

This Plan recommends that the City undertake additional steps to document, memorialize and celebrate the neighborhood’s history. A first step in celebrating the neighborhood’s rich history is making the history more accessible and more visible. Documenting and memorializing the history will also strengthen neighborhood diversity. Finally, supporting Queen Street’s unique and locally owned businesses will help create an active market for them within the neighborhood.

As part of the Braddock planning process, many ideas for preserving and celebrating Uptown/Parker-Gray’s history were recommended. Neighborhood residents developed the following suggestions:

• Conduct an oral history project in Uptown/Parker-Gray, perhaps in the context of a citywide African American History of Alexandria; Gather stories, photos and other documents from previous and long-time residents;
• Take examples from other cities, such as Birmingham, Alabama, which has done a great job telling the story of segregation and the fight for civil rights within the neighborhoods in the places where important events occurred. Parker-Gray could similarly integrate the telling of the neighborhood “story” into the urban fabric itself, through interpretive markers, wayfinding signs, and public art;
• Create a walking tour/trail (with an accompanying booklet and podcast) that follows interpretive signs detailing important cultural and historic events, and connects to other trails within the City;
• Install pavers imbedded with writing/art along walking corridors and at key locations, both to commemorate the neighborhood’s history, but also to set it apart as a unique district with a cohesive character;

• Support retail on Queen Street to help re-establish it as an important and vibrant community corridor;
• Implement streetscaping recommendations in the Braddock Plan that make walking in the neighborhood more comfortable – street trees, sidewalk improvements;
• Document buildings that have been torn down; and
• Consider changing the name of the Metro Station to Parker-Gray, and tie the Metro into a walking tour, perhaps by developing a tour map that begins at the Station.

In addition, an interpretive program should be developed that would present a national story illustrated with the Parker-Gray example. For instance, the national stories might include 19th century industrial and railroad growth in the edges of cities, the Civil War and Alexandria, and of course, the national story of racial segregation. Making the stories accessible could take several forms:

• An audio tour or podcast that could be downloaded from the city’s tourism website is one method, and
• A heritage trail with informative historical panels and walking tour maps is another.

The latter serves another purpose in that following it could draw visitors and shoppers from King Street over to Queen and beyond. A local example is the neighborhood trails developed and signed by D.C. Cultural Tourism. In Atlanta, the Auburn Avenue area around the Martin Luther King Jr. site was given well-designed sidewalks with historical panels for the 1996 Olympics,

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Historical, interpretive sign of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s boyhood home in Atlanta, GA. (above) Interpretive walking map sign from Washington DC. (right)

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in preparation for international visitation. Small businesses along Auburn Avenue continue in largely African American ownership, serving locals and an increasing number of tourists from all over the world.

Each of the above recommendations deserves further consideration and development in order to enhance the neighborhood’s unique character and sense of place.

DIVERSITY

The economic and racial diversity of the Braddock Metro neighborhood is one of its strengths, but this is changing through redevelopment and gentrification. A strong demand for urban living is driving up property values and rents, and many lower-income and African-American residents have left the neighborhood. In the year 2000, for the first time, the neighborhood’s white non-Hispanic

population outnumbered its population of African-Americans. In 2006, nearly four times as many neighborhood households earned $100,000 or more annually as in 1990.

The Plan supports diversity through the explicit recognition and celebration of the neighborhood’s history as well as the development of a range of housing types at differing levels of affordability. Diversity of housing should incorporate unit size ratios and amenities that are conducive to families with children. While the mix of housing types, unit sizes, and affordability levels is no guarantee that the Braddock Metro neighborhood will retain its current racial diversity, it can at least ensure a mix of people with different lifestyles, family sizes, and other characteristics that will promote the neighborhood’s livability. Developers in the Braddock

Metro neighborhood should consider hiring area residents and other workers from the surrounding community in order to enhance employment opportunities for those with carpentry, masonry, electrical, plumbing and all-around construction skills. Increased employment for local residents will translate into higher incomes, equipping more current Braddock Metro neighborhood residents to cope with rising housing costs and remain in the neighborhood.

The recent closing of Sarge’s restaurant due to fire damage leaves the African-American community without a full-service, sit-down restaurant to call its own. Many members of the community have voiced concern about this void. While the Alexandria Black History Museum can serve as a formal gathering space, it does not cater to

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New businesses have begun to fill in empty spaces between existing historic African-American businesses along Alberta Street at the center of the colorful Alberta Arts District in Portland, Oregon.

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Sarge’s Restaurant before the fire

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Storefronts along Queen Street

more spontaneous, informal gatherings with food that a sit-down restaurant can provide. Sarge’s Queen Street location offered an ideal spot for such socialization.

With or without Sarge’s, Queen Street represents a unique opportunity to preserve community character and sense of place for African-Americans who live in the Braddock Metro neighborhood, especially those who have spent their whole lives there. The key to retaining this sense of place lies in preserving and promoting locally-owned small businesses.

Today, businesses along Queen Street (and elsewhere) are fragile and threatened by high property values and taxes and a dwindling customer base. A key step in this direction would be to establish physical enhancement programs for the street’s sidewalks, the street itself, building façades, and signage. Technical assistance programs run by the Small Business Development Center and the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership—which focus on developing business plans, low-cost loans, marketing, and brokering business partnerships—should continue to actively assist small business on Queen Street and throughout the Braddock Metro neighborhood as well. The Queen Street Area Business Association should coordinate all efforts and work to broaden the reach of these programs beyond existing participants and promote the area to new businesses and create a distinctive, interesting, and funky alternative to nearby King Street.

The Plan recommends using between $4-$6 million to support existing businesses and recruit new businesses that will enhance the livability of the neighborhood. A portion of the funds created through new development should be used to support Queen Street businesses, underwrite historic preservation projects, and/or improve the street’s physical condition.

While much of Queen Street’s future patronage will come from local residents who arrive on foot, planning to strengthen the street should recognize the importance of convenient, nearby parking. One challenge to revitalizing Queen Street retail is the difficulty of getting there by car. The street’s one-way, eastbound traffic flow creates an obstacle for cars traveling from nearby Route 1. The

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Historically African-American U Street in Washington has recently seen a revival thanks to the renovation of many older buildings, new nearby residential, new retail and nightlife.

City should study the feasibility of reconfiguring the street for two-way traffic, especially between West and Patrick Streets, a change that would offer improved access to existing and future businesses. Enhanced vehicle circulation, along with revived businesses, will also enhance the perception of safety on the street, which in turn will encourage more people to visit the portion of the Braddock Metro neighborhood that has been perceived as unsafe.

To promote the small-scale redevelopment of some of the properties along Queen Street and elsewhere in the Braddock Metro neighborhood, the Plan encourages “live-work” buildings. Live-work is a use that fits well into the fine-grained fabric of a historic commercial street. It allows new construction and rehabilitation projects that create ground-level space that can flexibly accommodate residential, office, or retail uses. Ideally, a live-work building includes loft-like spaces at street level that provide space for home offices, small shops, cafés, or other neighborhood-oriented stores, as well as services such as chiropractic offices, hair salons, or dental offices. Typically, the small business owner or entrepreneur also lives in the space itself or within the building. Live-work space can occupy either the ground-floor space of a larger, multifamily building or the first floor of a townhouse unit that contains the small business or office space. Live-work units would fit well into the historic fabric along Queen Street and add even more enlivening activity to its sidewalks.

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Live-work building examples in Emeryville, CA and Portland, OR.

SUSTAINABILITY AND GREEN DESIGN

A sustainable community is one that addresses the long-term economic health of the economy, the environment, and social equity, thus preserving the ability of future generations to live and flourish. Particularly in a redeveloping environment like the Braddock Metro neighborhood, it is critical that the City plan to guide growth and change, addressing all of these principles to create a community that is more environmentally responsible, more economically viable, and with a quality of life that attracts and retains residents well into the future. The result can be a rich combination of benefits: improved health, lower expenses for the average household, increased home ownership

opportunities, cleaner air, cost savings for the City, and many others.

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“Green” streets can reduce stormwater runoff problems in an urban area.

This Plan complements the sustainable aspects of the Vision for Alexandria 2015, produced by the City Council in 2004, which lays the groundwork for many of the sustainability policies now in place across Alexandria. Guiding principles have been established in order to create a more livable community for residents today and for generations to come and include detailed recommendations for creating walkable neighborhoods, providing a mix of land uses, providing a range of housing choices, providing new open spaces and street trees, and improving access to transit.

The City’s Vision contributes to an overall reduction of multiple environmental impacts caused by sprawl by encouraging redevelopment of previously developed sites within Alexandria’s traditional urban fabric. The chart below demonstrates the vast savings in energy consumption that urban communities such as Alexandria are able to achieve when compared to average suburban communities. When compared to suburban development, urban communities can achieve a 43% to 66% reduction in energy consumption per year. This reduction stays true even when suburban development incorporates green design and drivers use hybrid cars. This reduction grows primarily from urban communities’ pedestrian-oriented nature that reduces the need to drive and promotes compact multifamily and rowhouse development that is more energy efficient than large free-standing homes in suburban or rural areas.

From that perspective, the Braddock Metro neighborhood is an ideal candidate for redevelopment, given the density of the surrounding street grid (approximately 34 blocks per square mile); multiple opportunities for infill development or redevelopment of

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urban sites; and the neighborhood’s location within walking distance of a variety of diverse uses, including restaurants, schools, houses of worship, convenience stores, banks, police/fire stations, supermarkets, theaters, health clubs, medical offices, hair salons, hardware stores, and libraries.

On a smaller scale, traffic-calming measures and pedestrian-oriented urban design strategies—such as ground level entrances to buildings, crosswalks, and continuous sidewalks—contribute to the sustainability of the Braddock Metro neighborhood. Other urban design strategies, including transparency of ground-level storefronts, on-street parking, and street trees reinforce the Plan’s contribution to citywide sustainability efforts.

Sustainable design at the building level should also be encouraged through various environmental design certification systems that promote energy-efficient buildings and recycled material use for multiple scales of new construction. In 2000, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) developed the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Rating System in order to create a label as well as guidelines for design and decision-making, and to serve as an incentive for more environment-friendly design and construction of buildings. The certification levels vary, depending on the number of points earned under the different categories within the LEED rating system. These levels include, in order of magnitude: Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum.

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Another environmental design certification system, the EarthCraft House Virginia Program, a partnership between the Virginia Community Development Corporation and the Southface Energy Institute, became a statewide program in Virginia in 2005. Through a certification process for single family and multifamily projects, EarthCraft Virginia, aims to reduce utility bills and protect the environment.

The City of Alexandria strongly encourages both LEED certification

Alexandria’s Green and Sustainable Building Checklist

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The soon-to-be-completed Charles Houston Recreation Center is aiming for LEED Silver certification.

and the application of all the items on Alexandria’s Green and Sustainable Building Checklist to all new developments. This checklist reflects environmental sustainability tools that are particularly important to Alexandria, such as: recycling construction materials; creating green-roofs; providing permeable ground-cover materials; promoting public transportation; conserving and reusing water; and maximizing daylight within buildings. The City is working on the creation and implementation of a green building policy along with other related environmental efforts.

Many of the current development proposals within the Braddock Metro neighborhood are independently applying sustainable standards to their proposals. The Madison proposal for a 350-unit multi-family building is anticipated to have a green-roof. The proposed Northern Gateway development not only plans to incorporate green roofs, but it will also meet LEED standards. Graywater reuse for irrigation is also under discussion for this site. The potential redevelopment of the James Bland public housing site is anticipated to contain both Earthcraft certified townhome units and LEED certified multi-family buildings.

Additionally, the City’s General Services Department, which oversees the construction of publicly funded buildings, requires all new buildings, including the new Charles Houston Recreation Center, to obtain LEED Silver Certification.

The table on the following page illustrates the criteria for a sustainable community that are already met in the Braddock Metro neighborhood and those that could be further reinforced through recommendations made in this Plan.

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PRINCIPLE 2

Provide walkable neighborhoods that are secure and feel safe

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The Braddock Metro neighborhood can be a community where every resident feels safe and comfortable on foot 24 hours a day. The foundation for a walkable neighborhood has existed since the initial platting of the area in the 19th century. A network of relatively tight, 350 foot by 250 foot blocks separated mostly by two-lane streets promotes walking and is central to creating the neighborhood’s prevailing character and sense of place.

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Despite increases in automobile traffic in the Post-War years, pedestrian activity has greatly increased since Metro Rail was extended to the area. The walkable street network draws people out into the public realm and helps to build community and will be increasingly the case as the Plan’s recommended parks, plazas and retail destinations are gradually implemented in the future.

View of Fayette walking street from Pendleton looking north.

The funding strategies discussed in Chapter 10 will play a critical role in unlocking the ability to create a more walkable public realm: paying for extensive tree-planting and other streetscape improvements, new parks and plazas, and the ability to promote neighborhood-oriented retail. During the implementation process the community will continue to play a central role in working with the city to plan the details of greening streets, intersection improvements, and other critical aspects of creating a more walkable neighborhood.

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The visual axis of the Fayette “walking street” is the Washington Monument on the Mall.

WALKING STREETS

A drawback to Braddock Metro neighborhood grid, however, is the lack of hierarchy for various rights-of-way. The area contains arterials, collectors and local streets but other than the heavy Route 1 traffic imposed by Henry and Patrick Streets, most other streets have been built in a similar way: 38 feet of asphalt curb-to-curb, 14 foot sidewalks on each side, and homes built either to the property line or with small, landscaped setbacks.

The Plan proposes designating clearly defined “walking streets” to establish a sense of hierarchy within the existing grid and communicate to residents and visitors the best way to easily reach parks, new retail nodes and other destinations on foot. In fact, walking streets should be considered part of the larger public realm, along with the existing parks and the new ones proposed in this Plan (see Chapter 5). The Plan recom-

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Recommended setbacks and upper-floor step-backs on designated walking streets

mends designating the following as walking streets: • West (between Queen and Madison) • Fayette (between Queen and Route 1) • Madison (between West and Washington) • Wythe (between West and Washington)

Turning this quartet of walking streets—two running north-south and two running east-west—into an opti- mal walking environment will involve rethinking sidewalk design, landscap- ing, and the height and character of the buildings that line the streets. Incorpo- rating bicycle improvements on these streets should be considered as well. The design guidelines in this Plan es- tablish requirements for sidewalks and the adjacent building frontages. Gener- ally, these require: • wide sidewalks separated from the street in residential areas by planting strips or tree wells; • landscaped setbacks for all new buildings in residential areas; • regularly-spaced street trees and pedestrian-scale lighting; • bicycle enhancements through traffic-calming features; • intersection treatments, including curb bulb-outs and well-marked crosswalks at key intersections with busy cross streets such as Route 1; and • clearly defined areas for bus shelters.

Just as important as the design of side- walks along each walking street is the scale of the buildings that line these streets. The walking streets should be defined by multistory buildings (or open space) tall enough to create a sense of

enclosure without being out of scale to pedestrians. As such, the Plan rec- ommends that new buildings along the four walking streets incorporate “shoulders” that are capped at three sto- ries or 40 feet, with new buildings al- lowed to rise higher after stepping back some distance from the building front. On Fayette Street, north of Madison, shoulders are capped at four sto- ries or 50 to 60 feet. Shoulder heights on the public hous- ing blocks will be determined as part of the Braddock East process.

In general, these shoulder heights will create aspect ratios of at least 1:2, which is a comfortable range in an ur- ban environment and allows each block to feel like an outdoor room. To en- hance the appeal of the walking streets, the ground floor of any new or signifi- cantly renovated building must provide active uses such as stores or restaurants (where feasible) or residential entrances separated from the sidewalk by land- scaping and elevated a few feet above grade. Surface lots, parking garages, and blank walls compromise the quality of the walking street and are prohibited.

Examples of

Shoulder Buildings

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ADDITIONAL WALKING ROUTES

The Plan recommends studying the feasibility of a primary pedestrian connection parallel to Fayette Street connecting the Metro station with the Northern Gateway area through the Braddock Place development. This walking route could substitute for the poor quality existing pedestrian route along the service road adjacent to the Metro tracks. The new route will be further enhanced if the ground floors of the Braddock Place office buildings were more active and vibrant. The Plan also recommends that the City work with the community and the property owners to locate community-oriented uses, artist studio spaces and possibly subsidized retail in these currently vacant spaces.

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Potential walking route through Braddock Place

The recommended route takes pedestrians through the Braddock Place plaza area, past the fountain and circular drop-off area, and potentially between the Meridian apartment tower and the northernmost office building. To make this connection, a study must determine if the route could be made ADA-accessible, how pedestrians would move across the flow of drop-off traffic, and whether the property owner would support a public easement through an area that is currently blocked by a fence. Additionally, for this route to serve as a reasonable substitute for an extension of the Metro Linear Park pathway, space for bicycles must be found on the service road behind the Braddock Place office buildings. Cycling on the proposed walking route would likely lead to conflicts with pedestrians and should be discouraged.

Should a study show this route to be infeasible, improvement of the narrow four-foot sidewalk along the Metro embankment is warranted. Narrowing the adjacent service road from approximately 25´ to 22´ curb-to-curb between the Braddock Metro station and First Street should be studied although the necessary width of the service road will depend on the type of rolling stock used for the proposed Potomac Yard/Crystal City Transit Corridor, described in more detail in Chapter 8. Traffic volume and speed are low enough that the road surface should be a comfortable environment for cyclists. Adding “Share the road with bikes” signs and/or “sharrow” pavement markings will further contribute to a more bike-friendly street.

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Existing “sharrow” pavement markings on Pendleton Street

Walking Streets and Routes Diagram

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Existing service road behind Braddock Place looking toward Metro

As described in more detail in Chapter 8, this service road has been strongly recommended as the alignment for the Crystal City/Potomac Yard transit corridor by the community. The final alignment is contingent on right-of-way access and operational analysis, such as turning radii. If the walking route through Braddock Place proves infeasible, the Plan recommends that the Metro service road be studied to determine if it can be narrowed to accommodate a wider sidewalk, whether or not high-capacity transit is introduced at this location. Many options can be identified for the service road but one possibility is to bring the entire paved area to grade and to separate pedestrians from motorized traffic with bollards.

To enhance connectivity across the tracks and to encourage Metro use by Del Ray and Rosemont residents, the Plan recommends studying the feasibility of building a tunnel connection under the freight rail tracks from the Braddock Road station itself. A tunnel would provide a grand new station entry from the west, saving pedestrians walking time by eliminating the existing need to walk south to the Braddock Road underpass to reach the station. Any new

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A potential Del Ray/Rosemont entry to Braddock Road Metro Station (top) should connect to the area outside of the turnstiles (bottom).

access route should connect to the area of the station outside the turnstiles so that the tunnel can also accommodate people seeking to visit the Braddock Metro neighborhood and not ride the train. This access point will become especially important if the Metro-owned site in front of the station is redeveloped with businesses, housing, neighborhood-serving retail and/or open space.

INTERSECTION IMPROVEMENTS

Creating a more walkable neighborhood requires addressing pedestrian safety at intersections. Most intersections throughout the Braddock Metro neighborhood offer some level of traffic control—either traffic lights or four-

way stops—that do not detract from the walking environment. Three major intersections create uncomfortable or dangerous conditions for pedestrians trying to cross particular intersections. The Plan recommends a study to evaluate and propose improvements to the Route 1/Fayette Street, Route 1/First Street and the Braddock/Wythe/West intersections.

The Plan’s implementation phase will address the details of redesigning the intersections. Identifying clear goals now can set the stage for effective plans to improve pedestrian crossing conditions at each intersection. The overarching goal for each is to prioritize safety, accessibility, and comfort for pedestrians wishing to cross the street. All three intersections serve as a gateways to important nodes in the neighborhood. Improvements at the intersection of Route 1 and Fayette will help connect the NortEast and Braddock neighborhoods and provide important pedestrian access for NortEast residents who use Metro. Enhancements should include a new traffic signal, clearly marked crosswalks and, if space allows, a raised pedestrian refuge island between the two directions of vehicle travel on Route 1.

The Braddock/Wythe/West intersection serves a major pedestrian connection to the Braddock Road station for people walking from the east or the south. The intersection’s offset configuration favors the flow of vehicles at the expense of pedestrians. Free-right-turn lanes to and from Braddock Road create an unnecessarily wide intersection that encourages high-speed turns, forcing pedestrians to cross at unprotected crosswalks. The jog created by the offset street alignment makes crossing both Wythe and West streets on foot quite awkward: pedestrians can never predict where turning vehicles are coming from. To improve pedestrian safety, the Plan recommends that the City and WMATA conduct a thorough study of the intersection focusing on:

• improved pedestrian access and safety
• better traffic management
• enhanced accessibility for all modes

Reconfiguring these intersections will go a long way toward enhancing the walkability of the Braddock Metro neighborhood. In addition to the more dramatic enhancements described above, the City should provide any missing curb ramps, crosswalks or

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Existing conditions at the Braddock/West/ Wythe intersection

street lights at intersections throughout the neighborhood. Enhanced lighting at intersections and along blocks will dramatically improve residents’ sense of safety and comfort for walking after sundown. Likewise, on the multitude of blocks located on streets not designated as “walking streets,” funds should be prioritized to provide a minimum level of enhancement including street trees, pedestrian-scale sidewalk lighting, and bicycle facilities.

PRINCIPLE 3

Establish a series of community-serving, usable open spaces

5

The framework of “walking streets” called for in Chapter 4 will create a more pedestrian-friendly Braddock Metro neighborhood. Strong pedestrian connections will help people travel more easily on foot or by bicycle to important destinations within the community and link a new system of both small and large parks. In addition to serving destinations within the Braddock Metro neighborhood, the walking streets provide access to recreational opportunities in the vicinity such as the waterfront, the Mount Vernon Trail and Potomac Yard. A new public park in the heart of the neighborhood will become the center of a comprehensive system of small parks, a square, a recreation center, and other public-space resources located across the neighborhood.

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Green spaces full of trees and places to sit are vital to a healthy, urban community.

Connected by the walking streets, this neighborhood park system will both reinforce traditional character and provide places that draw people together, helping to create a stronger sense of community. The ability to create this effective park system depends on both capturing revenue from development projects and establishing a policy that counts only those park spaces that are truly visible and accessible towards developers’ public open space requirement. The community will continue to play a central role in working with the City to confirm the feasibility of the preferred Post Office site. An alternative location for a safe, well-designed, well-programmed and accessible park space is also possible.

NEIGHBORHOOD PARK

The Plan recommends creating a new neighborhood park at the intersection of at least two of the designated walking streets. This central location should be home to a park of at least one acre, either on a portion of the block

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The Post Office block is the recommended location for a public park.

bounded by Fayette, Wythe, Henry and Pendleton streets currently occupied by the Post Office and warehouse space, or on a portion of the block currently occupied by the Andrew Adkins public housing site. Of the two, the Post Office site is preferred. Both of these sites have strong potential to contribute significantly to the livability of the neighborhood. Both parcels:

• are large enough to accommodate a park of at least one acre;
• are highly visible, easily accessible on foot and by bicycle, and inviting to the larger community;
• include existing and proposed edge conditions—residential and retail, ideally—that can contribute to the

vitality of the open space;

• lie on property that will take some time to acquire but does not appear to be fatally flawed; and
• offer safety and visibility to public view.

The community clearly backs the Post Office site for a public park. A community vote during Work Session #2 solidified it as the community's top choice, with the Adkins block as a back-up location. The City, its consultants, and the larger community all recognize the potential difficulty of securing the Post Office site for a park. At the same time, the community acknowledges that re-creation of the public housing on the Adkins block may lie a decade or more in the future.

That difficulty has prompted a suggestion—not widely supported at this writing—to convert the privately-owned grassy space along Madison Street between Braddock Place Plaza and the Braddock Place townhouses into a one-acre public park. A park here would represent a tremendous amenity for immediately adjacent residents and

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A potential park on the post office block could become the neighborhood's central gathering space like Bryant Park in New York City.

Open Space Framework

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workers, but it does pose problems. The site’s high cost, given its existing zoning, and its isolation and lack of significant frontage on a public street make it a less desirable choice. Additionally, the Plan notes that the City’s Open Space Steering Committee previously evaluated this site and did not recommend it for acquisition. Despite these significant challenges, some community support for creation of a park at this site does exist, and such a conversion could likely happen much more quickly and at far less expense than would be the case for the two preferred locations. The Plan recommends keeping the Madison Street site as a candidate for a new park should conversion of the two preferred spaces prove unfeasible or unreasonably long-term. Also, recognizing that the property has existing building entitlements, the Plan recommends that the portion of this site closest to Madison Street could be set aside as a smaller park or plaza for public use when the property is developed.

METRO PLAZA

The Plan also recommends a well designed and active plaza space for the Metro site in conjunction with redevelopment. A Metro plaza will establish a second primary gathering space for the community, one that is more activated by retail and outdoor cafes then the potential park spaces at the Post Office, Adkins or Madison Street sites. Other pocket parks and plazas will also become available through the redevelopment of other parcels in the neighborhood. However, to count as publicly-accessible park space, they

must be clearly visible from a public street and not encapsulated within the center of the development project. The goal of this planning effort is to establish the legitimacy of the recommended park locations and set them within a larger context of other open space and streetscape improvements for the entire Braddock Metro neighborhood community. The Open Space Framework diagram (on the previous page) shows the locations of existing and proposed open spaces and the designated “walking streets” that connect them.

The implementation efforts subsequent to the Plan’s adoption will study the specific steps required to acquire any of the open spaces mentioned above. Also covered will be design and programming issues for the parks and plazas. The ultimate goal should be to create a range of activities that complement those offered at the Charles Houston Recreation Center and that draw people of all ages, races, and economic backgrounds to share the public space together and build a stronger sense of community.

PRINCIPLE 4

Encourage community-serving retail and services

6

The foundation of a successful public realm lies in the design of streets where pedestrians are the first priority, and in the strategic placement of parks to ensure that they are well-used and active. A third, and sometimes overlooked, element is retail space. While privately owned, retail space—including grocery stores, shops, cafés and restaurants—provides a quasi-public space because it is generally open and accessible to the public during business hours. Some retail establishments, especially coffee shops and cafés, provide “third places” between home and work to which people frequently go to socialize, write, or study, as much as to eat or drink. These places are important parts of the social life of a community and the Braddock Metro neighborhood currently has very few “third places.” When businesses are open later, they provide an additional level of vitality—and sense of safety—into the evening hours.

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Retail space in the Colecroft building

RETAIL NEEDS

Retail and restaurant uses fit equally into buildings new and old, helping to revive parts of the neighborhood where preservation is the higher priority, such as Queen Street, as well as where change is desired, such as at the Metro Site. The community and the city should work closely with WMATA to ensure an appropriate mix of businesses that benefit the neighborhood are recruited for the new Metro space including first-time entrepreneurs.

The Braddock Metro neighborhood currently includes less than 50,000 square feet of existing retail space, or what amounts to only two or three blocks of a retail main street like King Street. This small amount of retail shopping can be enhanced considering the neighborhood’s 3,000-plus households and over 1,000 employees. The primary and secondary retail “trade areas”—the core area from which customers are expected to come—are even larger, comprising over 4,000 and nearly 6,000 households, respectively. Though the size of the Braddock Metro neighborhood retail trade area is substantial, there are several challenges to retail in this area:

• Uneven quality of the neighborhood’s retail space. Some is of poor quality, with low ceilings, inconvenient elevations a few steps above grade, or a low-visibility location.
• Stores are scattered around the neighborhood and lack a focus area.
• The highest visibility streets—Henry and Patrick—are not comfortably suited to pedestrians because of high auto volume.
• Strong retail competition nearby—including Mt. Vernon Ave, Potomac Yard, King Street, and the Carlyle neighborhood—attracts a significant portion of the demand that originates within the neighborhood.
• Numerous full-service grocery stores (Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, and two Giant Foods) lie just beyond the neighborhood borders. Nearby, the community is also served by Harris Teeter, Shoppers and Safeway.

Despite these challenges, there is still latent demand for more retail space and restaurants within the neighborhood. The analysis by the Plan’s retail consultant suggests an unmet potential for 50,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space for the existing residents in the neighborhood. These numbers will

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Storefront retail along King Street

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Current ground-floor space in the Braddock Place office buildings could accommodate more retail tenants.

increase as new development brings thousands more people and hundreds of new jobs to the immediate area. These newcomers—many with disposable incomes and a desire to walk to nearby stores and restaurants—will be noticed by potential retailers. Over the last three years, median household income growth in the Braddock area has outpaced the national average and is now over $90,000. New development will accelerate this trend to the benefit of the goal of attracting community-serving retail and services to the neighborhood. Each new housing unit creates additional demand for approximately 10 square feet of retail space. The Plan estimates an additional 2,000 new units of housing over the next 20 years, creating additional demand for approximately 20,000 square feet of retail space. Every 1,000 square feet of new office space produces demand for 8 to 9 square feet of retail. The Plan estimates that an additional 560,000 square feet of office will be built over a 20-year period, creating demand for an additional 5,000 square feet of retail. Combining the demand from new development with the latent demand from existing residents and employees adds over 75,000 square feet of potential new retail space over a 20-year period.

RETAIL GUIDELINES

Even with this increased demand, it may be difficult for locally-owned businesses to locate in the neighborhood without assistance, especially within new buildings where the monthly lease rates will be far higher than older buildings. The value of having smaller independently owned, neighborhood-serving retail, cafes and restaurants (whose by very nature is typically locally-owned) cannot be underestimated. Therefore, the Plan recommends that $4–6 million of the funds generated through new development (see Chapter 10) be used to assist with the retention of existing neighborhood-oriented businesses and the recruitment of new ones. Qualifying businesses must comply with a specific set of criteria to be determined as part of the implementation phase of the Plan, and would need to demonstrate a viable business plan and financing. The Alexandria Economic Development Authority and other organizations can help develop assistance criteria as well as tools for recruitment.

Retail and restaurant space works best when it is concentrated, highly visible to passing motorists and pedestrians, and

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Storefronts with locally-owned, neighborhood-serving businesses, like these in Asheville, NC, should be encouraged in the Braddock Metro neighborhood.

easily accessible to parking, both curbside and in garages. Architectural qualities of any new the retail space itself are important and should include: floor to floor height of 15–20 feet, accessibility from a public sidewalk at grade, building depth of 45–80 feet and building bay width of 20–30 feet to offer the flexibility of housing smaller and large stores.

The Plan identifies four locations within the Braddock Metro neighborhood as logical places for retail clusters of 10,000–45,000 square feet. The greatest opportunity for a true neighborhood square of stores, restaurants and possibly small-scale entertainment uses exists with the potential redevelopment of the Metro site at the Braddock/West/Wythe intersection. Redevelopment of this site in conjunction with the Adkins block across the street holds the potential for retail along both sides of West Street between Wythe and Madison as well as retail that surrounds a public plaza in the center of the Metro block. A 35,000- to 40,000-square-foot cluster of new retail would bring additional customers to the retailers at Colecroft and possibly attract new retail activity to the vacant spaces along some of the ground floors of the Braddock Place office buildings. In addition, the City should work with the property owners (and the community) to help bring more active uses to Braddock Place including community uses like meeting rooms, exhibition areas or work space for artists, if retail uses do not materialize.

Three additional opportunities for retail clusters include the revitalized Queen Street corridor, the ground floor of new mixed-use buildings on the non-park portion of the Post Office site, and within replacement buildings on the Samuel Madden public housing site, in conjunction with the 23,000 square feet of retail space within the approved Madison project. The Samuel Madden site—given its size and visibility between Henry and Patrick streets—might succeed as a location for a full-service grocery store. While the prospect of a grocery store in the Braddock Metro neighborhood is highly speculative, this three-acre parcel is one of the few sites that could accommodate one. Without a significant anchor like a grocery store to draw additional stores, it is likely that retail along Henry Street will remain spotty and diffuse. Although some residents would like Henry to support retail along much of its length, the reality is that the volume and speed of traffic on the street discourage pedestrian use, diminishing the chances for neighborhood-serving retail in any significant quantities.

The community strongly favors the neighborhood-style, locally owned retail recommended for the Plan’s commercial squares. A master lease program is an ideal tool for achieving this desired retail, particularly at the proposed Metro plaza, as a master lease is well suited to publicly held property and a mixed use environ-

Retail, Views, and Gateways

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ment. The RFP issued by WMATA for the development of the Metro site should include a provision that a separate non-profit retail developer partner with the developer of the likely office building above, and that this developer work closely with the City to find quality businesses that support the overall goals of the Plan. The non- profit retail developer should be given a long term master lease substantially below market as part of the public benefits provided by the development. A retail master lease requirement for the buildings at Metro is one of the best ways for the City to help shape a vibrant neighborhood square, alive with neighborhood-serving stores and restaurants.

PRINCIPLE 5

Promote mixed-income housing and follow an inclusive process to deconcentrate public housing

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One of the landscaped courtyards in the James Bland housing site

PUBLIC HOUSING OFFERS A NEIGHBORHOOD OPPORTUNITY

A unique opportunity exists at the moment: nine blocks of aging public housing in the Braddock Metro neighborhood can be planned for redevelopment in a comprehensive manner as mixed-income residential communities. It is the interest of everyone – Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority (ARHA), the residents who live in public housing, the City of Alexandria and the larger community – to work together to create mixed-income housing to unite a diverse neighborhood, celebrate its history and build a future together. Examples of mixed-income housing programs in Alexandria and elsewhere have demonstrated the viability and desirability of mixed-income communities.

PUBLIC HOUSING SITES

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The opportunity for the Braddock Metro neighborhood to consider this new housing direction results from the increase in the local real estate market. The sharp increase in property values in close in neighborhoods near Metro creates the financial incentive for developers to work with ARHA and the City and will help subsidize the cost of building the new community. The increased desirability of the neighborhood also makes it one in which people who can afford market rate housing will choose to live in mixed-income housing because of its location.

To responsibly redevelop the public housing with mixed-income housing requires pursuing a full range of objectives. In the Braddock Metro neighborhood, mixed-income housing will be required to generate significant financial return to be reinvested into the redevelopment. A full range of housing types, open space, and community facilities will be necessary to accommodate the diversity of households who will live there. In addition, there needs to be a sufficient amount of housing to retain a sense of community for everyone at every income level. Redevelopment creates the opportunity for a new development pattern with heights, massing and urban design that is a good neighbor to its existing neighbors. These and additional factors will make the process of working together as challenging as any that ARHA and the City have engaged in to date. But it also brings with it the opportunity for great rewards.

Together, the City, ARHA, public housing residents, housing advocates and neighborhood representatives have already begun participating in the

Braddock East planning process to find specific methods of reaching the community’s goals for mixed-income housing in Braddock. That process will allow the stakeholders to agree on a development parameters and make it possible for ARHA to initiate the process of redevelopment.

EXISTING PUBLIC HOUSING

The Braddock Metro neighborhood contains more than 3,100 housing units – and more than 10% of them are public housing units owned and operated by the ARHA. About half of the neighborhood’s residences were built before World War II, and many are two- and three-story, stick-frame row houses, often with brick facades. As the value of the area’s housing has risen, the neighborhood has become less affordable for working-class families and elderly residents.

Some of the only viable housing left for lower-income families and seniors is within the neighborhood’s public housing complexes. While the remaining four ARHA-owned sites – Andrew Adkins, James Bland (including James Bland Addition), Samuel Madden Uptown and the Ramsey Homes – provide low cost housing for the Braddock neighborhood, they are more than 30 years old and some are more than 50 years old. This Plan recommends that the public housing on Andrew Adkins, James Bland (and Addition), Samuel Madden Uptown, and Ramsey Homes should be redeveloped and that the planning for them should be done comprehensively.

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Two- and three-story townhomes units at the Andrew Adkins public housing site.

REDEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Because of proximity to the Metro, Old Town, and the Parker-Gray Historic District, each of these four ARHA-owned sites is extremely valuable – and is a prime redevelopment opportunity. Each site and its potential for redevelopment is described below:

• James Bland. The 8.95-acre James Bland site comprises 194 housing units on five city blocks in an area bounded by North Patrick Street on the west, First Street on the north, North Columbus Street on the east, and Wythe Street on the south. Two of the site’s blocks lie just across the boundary of the Braddock Road Metro Small Area Plan within the NorthEast Small Area Plan. ARHA and a development group are preparing a conceptual plan that proposes to replace these two-story buildings, built in 1954 and 1959, with approximately 174 three-story townhouses and 140 multifamily

View of James Bland from Alfred Street

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units. At the drafting of this report, an application had been submitted to HUD in competition for a HOPE VI grant to help underwrite redevelopment of this site.

• Samuel Madden. The Samuel Madden site consists of 66 housing units located on two blocks along North Henry Street between Madison and First streets built in 1945. This 3.8-acre site lies at the point where Route 1 divides into a couplet of one-way streets, making it an important gateway location. Building on this gateway character, the Plan recommends increased

height in the center of the northern-most block. Future mixed-income residential development on this site could include three-story townhouses and five- and/or six-story multifamily buildings. Additionally, the highly visible location between the two Route 1 streets makes this a logical place to site a potential large retailer, such as a grocery store.

• Ramsey Homes. Ramsey Homes consists of 15 public housing units along the eastern side of North Patrick Street between Pendleton and Wythe streets. The quartet of two-story apartment buildings, built in 1942, could potentially be replaced by mixed-income townhouses or live-work units. The 0.65 acre site lies just to the south of the new Charles Houston Recreation Center and to the north and west of primarily two-story historic row houses.

• Andrew Adkins. The Adkins development consists of 90 housing

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View of Samuel Madden from Henry Street

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units on land that was originally two city blocks between North Fayette and West streets and between Wythe and Madison streets. These two- and three-story buildings, built in 1968, contain some of the largest public housing units in the city, including 32 four- and five-bedroom units. Located next to the Braddock Metro station, this 4.5-acre site is the most valuable of the ARHA sites in the neighborhood from a land use economics measure. Significant redevelopment has already taken place around the site in the form of the Braddock Place office and residential development across Madison Street; the recently approved Payne Street Condos project across Wythe Street; and the Braddock Lofts development to the east along Fayette. The Plan recommends combining the Adkins property with the single-family

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Alleyway off of Wythe St. at the Adkins project (top) and the Braddock Lofts development across Fayette St. (bottom).

house lots to the west in order to make the entire block available for redevelopment. The Plan also recommends dividing the site into two blocks by extending North Payne Street from Wythe Street to Madison Street to reestablish the more walkable grid system of neighborhood blocks.

Refashioning the Adkins site as a mixed-income community that blends public housing, market-rate, and affordable ownership units will necessitate additional height and density, to be determined as part of the Braddock East planning process. Because this new development will likely house significant numbers of children, generous play areas and green space should be considered as part of the redevelopment program.

Given the proximity to Metro, retail uses should be included in the buildings located on the east side of West Street.

Further planning for all of these sites, as well as additional coordination between the City and ARHA, will occur during the Braddock East planning process.

DECONCENTRATION

Public housing was first created during the 1930s to provide decent, safe, and sanitary low-cost housing. Over time different approaches have been taken and some public housing examples became concentrations of poverty, with social and economic isolation producing negative impacts for both public housing residents and the surrounding com-

munities. Since the 1990s, the national policy approach has been to remove social and economic pockets of poverty by deconcentrating public housing, scattering low-income housing throughout middle class communities and building mixed-income communities.

Locally, the City and the Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority (ARHA) have long endorsed deconcentration by scattering public housing throughout the City. They have also endorsed and successfully implemented mixed-income housing. The redevelopment of Quaker Hill and Chatham Square are examples.

Mixed-income housing produces physical, economic, and social benefits and is now deemed – on an international level – to be rational public policy and effective social and urban planning, making better communities for everyone. Mixed-income housing physically mixes

poor residents together with more affluent ones. Mixed-income housing also helps draw together citizens with different backgrounds and histories, creating a mixed, diverse neighborhood, instead of maintaining islands of poverty in the midst of growing wealth. When families of different income brackets live in the same development together, their children meet each other and play together without regard to income level. Adults in a mixed-income community are drawn into a shared sense of community as they work together to manage their housing and address issues of shared concern to residents.

The goal is to create communities large enough to include a strong social and support network, but within an overall mix of income levels. Including both workforce and affordable housing in the public housing redevelopment creates the greatest diversity and also presents new opportunities. Subsidized owner-

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The sidewalk along Pitt Street in front of the Chatham Square development

ship housing gives public housing residents an opportunity to improve their economic standing and remain in the neighborhood. It gives others who may have “middle class” incomes but who may not be able to afford market rate housing an opportunity to live in close in neighborhoods.

There are also practical reasons for transforming public housing into mixed-income housing. Public housing residents gain access to housing that is of sufficient quality to be competitive in the market place. Over time, mixed-income developments must be maintained and managed at a level of quality that remains competitive, and the presence of a significant number of affordable and market rate units provides financial resources to support maintenance and services that no public housing authority could afford. The significant investment that redevelopment unlocks should include funds for expanded human and social services, such as workforce readiness, to support public housing residents in moving from an exclusively low-income to a mixed-income environment. Public housing agencies, generally faced with extraordinarily tight budgets, gain access to funding to administer these expanded programs. Property owners within several blocks of transformed public housing sites benefit from significant increases in property values. Cities in turn benefit from the increased property taxes associated with rising real estate values. In many

cases renters in the surrounding community can gain access to newly created affordable ownership housing on the sites. Redevelopment also provides an opportunity to resolve longstanding urban design issues, such as transforming superblocks into blocks that fit into the larger neighborhood pattern.

It is the recommendation of this Plan that the redevelopment of the Braddock neighborhood public housing sites result in mixed-income housing developments and that the mix include public, workforce (rental and/or for sale), affordable (rental and/or for-sale), and market-rate housing. Mixed-income housing works best when there are ranges of incomes and ranges of housing opportunities that best reflect the diverse spectrum of residents in the city. The inclusion of workforce and affordable housing units in a mixed-income development is necessary to create a social and financial balance between the public housing and market rate units.

National Examples of

Mixed-Income Housing Projects

Tent City

Boston, Massachusetts In terms of materials and massing, Tent City responds to and makes a transition in scale from the 19th-century Victorian townhouses to the south to the large new buildings of Copley Place to the north. Housing, commercial spaces, and an interior landscaped courtyard are built over a two-level below-grade parking garage.

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The development is totally integrated in that no physical or visible distinctions link a dwelling unit's type, size, or location to the income, race, or ethnic background of its residents. The impetus for Tent City traces to 1965 and the clearance of century-old rowhouses to make way for a large-scale commercial development. Area residents opposed the demolition and insisted on a dramatically different program: affordable neighborhood housing. The residents organized a sit-in and pitched tents on the site (hence the development's name). They ultimately blocked the proposed development, but it took nearly 20 years to realize their goal of affordable neighborhood housing. Tent City offers an example of how a new mixed-income community can be designed to be aesthetically pleasing, financially sound, and beneficial to local residents. It also provides a model for how successful developments and community participation can change public policy. In addition to its multiple national and local awards for design excellence, Tent City received the 1994 United Nations World Habitat Award for outstanding housing in a developed country.

• • Area: 3 acres
• • Units: 269
• • Residential Density: 89 units/acre
• • Affordability breakdown: 1/4 low-income, 1/2 affordable, 1/4 market-rate
• • Parking Ratio: 0.7 spaces/unit (average)
• • Parking provided: 698 garage spaces
• • Architect: Goody Clancy (1985)
• • Developer: JMB/Urban Development Company (garage)

Chatham Square

Alexandria, Virginia

The Chatham Square mixed-income community is the result of more than a decade of public discussions regarding the redevelopment of the Samuel Madden (Downtown) Homes, a two-story 100-unit public housing complex that was originally built in 1940. In 2001, the City of Alexandria selected developers Eakin Youngentob & Associates (EYA) to redevelop the parcel with a mix of 52 replacement public housing units and 100 market-

rate townhomes. The remaining 48 public housing units were rebuilt on three separate sites within the city. Chatham Square’s most innovative quality is its seamless integration of the 52 public housing units with the 100 market-rate units. Due to the building configurations, which typically include four market-rate townhomes mirrored by six public-housing units on the reverse side, the different units types appear remarkably similar in nature. Rear alleys provide vehicular access to the shared, underground parking garage. Financing for the project came from the sale of the public housing site itself, low-income tax credits from the Commonwealth of Virginia, a $3.5-

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million dollars loan from a combination of the City and Housing Trust Fund (which has been repaid), as well as from a Federal Hope VI grant.

During community discussions about public housing issues, public housing and other neighborhood residents expressed some concern about the success of the Chatham Square project; some felt that the mix of different income levels within the same project has been successful, but others have noted some of the inherent frictions, including mixed parking and play areas for children.

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Hismen Hin-nu Terrace

Oakland, California The central theme of the Hismen Hin-nu Terrace development is the restoration of a main street with mixed-income housing above 18,000 square feet of active commercial space. The 92 low- and midrise townhouses and apartments are integrated with a childcare center, a series of semi-private courtyard spaces, a ground-floor market, and a community center. Artwork throughout the development enlivens the exterior spaces and represents the multi-ethnic mix of tenants.

• Area: 4.11 acres

• Units: 152 units

• Residential Density: 37 units/acre

• Affordability Breakdown: 66% market- rate housing, +34% public housing

• Architect: Lessard Group

• Developer: EYA Development

• Area: 1.46 acres

• Units: 92 units

• Residential density: 85 units/acre (mixed-use portion), 65 units/acre overall

• Affordability: 100% affordable (50- 60% AMI)

• Parking ratio: <1 space/unit

• Parking provided: 119 total spaces (89 residential)

• Architect: Pyatok

• Developer: The East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation

Parkside of Old Town (Cabrini Green, Phase IA) Chicago, Illinois Integral to redevelopment of the notorious Cabrini Green pubic housing site, a public process led by Goody Clancy included mediation among a broad range of constituencies-low-income residents, developers, city aldermen, an actively involved mayor, and assertive community groups. Goody Clancy’s consensus-based vision and planning framework won wide support and led to creation of a two-phase plan for more than 5,000 units of mixed-income housing on the Cabrini Green site. Both the plan and redevelopment guidelines establish a signature new neighborhood with a full spectrum of uses and incomes, a strong sense of place, and restored connections to surrounding neighborhoods that end years of physical and social isolation for the area. The two phases of the plan will create an extensive new public realm built on a new street grid and system of blocks designed to build a sense of community. Phase IA-which encompasses 760 new units-was partially funded through a HOPE VI grant, with limited additional funds from city and other public investment. The plan’s architectural guidelines draw on traditional Chicago block patterns and building styles, including row houses, walk-up one- and two-floor flats, and apartment buildings.

• Area: 19 acres (Phase IA)
• Units: 760 (Phase IA)
• Residential Density: 40 units/acre
• Affordability Breakdown: 30% low-income, 20% affordable, 50% market-rate
• Planning/Urban Design: Goody Clancy (2004)
• Developer: Kimball Hill, Holsten Real Estate, Cabrini Green LAC Community Development Corporation (2006-2010)

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Townhomes on Capitol Hill (Ellen Wilson Homes) Washington D.C. This successful mixed-income community serves as a connection and transition between higher-income and lower-income areas on either side, bringing stability and a new sense of pride to the surrounding community. Prior to redevelopment, a public housing development known as Ellen Wilson Homes occupied this 5.3-acre parcel in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. Built in 1941, the public housing units remained vacant from 1988, when residents were relocated during a

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• Area: 5 acres
• Units: 147
• Residential density: 29 units/acre
• Affordability breakdown: 91% low-income and affordable, 9% market-rate
• Architect: Weinstein Associates, Sorg & Associates
• Developer: Telesis (1996-2005)

failed redevelopment attempt, until 1993, when the units were demolished in a new revitalization effort made possible through a $25 million HOPE VI grant. A cooperative structure governed sale of the new townhomes to applicants ranging from 0% to 115 % of the area’s median income. The redevelopment also included 13 market-rate townhomes and a 6,000-square-foot community center.

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Langham Court Boston, Massachusetts Comfortably integrated into Boston’s historic South End, Langham Court’s 84 units (on a one-acre site) demonstrate how building densities can be raised to “smart growth” levels while matching the scale, massing, and rhythm of the surrounding neighborhood. Notable for a subtle transition from the public street to the private courtyard, the complex’s architecture and design make no distinctions among units earmarked for market-rate, middle-, and low-income residents.

• Area: 1 acre
• Units: 89
• Residential Density: 89 units/acre
• Affordability breakdown: 33% low-income, 33% affordable, 33% market-rate
• Parking ratio: 0.7 spaces/unit
• Parking provided: 51 garage spaces
• Planning/Urban Design: Goody Clancy (1990)
• Developer: Four Corners Development Corporation

CHALLENGES

Replacement Housing. Redeveloping public housing into mixed-income communities presents many challenges, including future housing for current residents; achieving a balance among the diverse needs for housing types; and financing the redevelopment. Although these are significant challenges, they are not insurmountable if planned well, as was shown in the recent Chatham Square development process.

Resolution 830, adopted by City Council in 1982, created a joint commitment between the City and ARHA to retain, at a minimum, 1,150 public or publicly-assisted housing units in Alexandria.

The Resolution establishes a one-for-one replacement approach for any lost public housing unit. Therefore, any redevelopment of the public housing units in the Braddock neighborhood will require the replacement of all existing public housing units either on-site or elsewhere in the City.

There are 365 public housing units today in the James Bland, Andrew Adkins, Ramsey Homes and Samuel Madden complexes. As part of the Glebe Park redevelopment plan, which is currently underway, it is anticipated that 44 units from the eventual redevelopment of James Bland will be relocated to Glebe Park and that another 16 Bland units will be relocated off-site. The Braddock East planning process will

HOUSING DEFINITIONS

Mixed-income and affordable housing strategies provide a range of different housing types to serve the needs of a mix of families at different income levels.

• Public housing units are owned and operated by a local housing authority (in this case ARHA) and are targeted to low- and very-low-income families. Resident families pay 30% of household income as rent, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provides the housing authority with subsidies to help it maintain these units and the developments in which they are located, although HUD subsidies are increasingly falling short of fully meeting ARHA's costs.
• Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Units are financed with funding awarded on a competitive basis from the Virginia Housing Development Authority and are income-restricted at a variety of levels.
• Workforce Housing Although not current city policy, the Affordable Housing Initiatives Work Group is likely to recommend that workforce units include both rental and ownership units targeted to renter households earning between 60% and 80% and owner households earning between 80% and 120% of the median income level in the area. HUD sets the median income level, the point at which half and area's incomes are lower and half are higher.
• Affordable for-sale housing are income-restricted units that may include price reductions, down payment assistance, and "silent second mortgages." These units are typically targeted to families at or below 80% of the median income level.
• Mixed-Income Development makes use of private and/or public sources to develop market rate and affordable housing that may include Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Units, Workforce Housing and market rate owner-occupied units and rentals.

The Affordable Housing Initiatives Work Group is currently working to modernize the City’s housing definitions, as well as its housing policies, including developer contributions for affordable housing.

provide and require further and more detailed discussion about a replacement strategy for Bland and the other redevelopment sites.

Relocation. Federal law mandates providing certain benefits to any families relocated from public housing, including replacement housing payments, moving cost assistance, and relocation counseling. A Resident-Relocation Plan, showing where the existing public housing residents will live, on both a temporary and permanent basis, must be thoroughly analyzed and completed before any redevelopment occurs.

Balancing Diverse Needs. Mixed-income housing creates diverse physical, social, and economic needs that impact the viability and sustainability of the development. The actual mix and type of housing – whether rental or ownership; market-rate, public housing, or affordable; family or senior – depends not only on market demand, but also on attracting a range of incomes and meeting the needs of the existing neighborhood. Too much housing of any one type could affect the desirability and marketability of the other housing types within the development. The neighborhood now is home to a broad demographic range: small households of singles, empty nesters, the elderly, young professionals, and families with children. Redevelopment of public housing will create a new community for a variety of residents, and amenities should recognize the diversity of the population, with playgrounds for children as well as passive green areas. All sites incorporate a mix of open space types, including tot lots, passive greens, plaza areas for sitting and community

events, and private backyards where appropriate. The public housing in particular should incorporate supportive social services that encourage and increase the financial independence of its residents. Easily accessible space should be set aside for community interaction, job training and other social programs. Varieties of architectural and building types are encouraged, but housing for different income levels should not be visibly different. The diverse needs of such a development require careful management of its facilities and grounds and homeowner and tenant associations that are attentive and sensitive to the needs of all its residents.

Financing. The process for winning federal funding for mixed-income and mixed-finance redevelopment projects is often highly competitive and requires formation of numerous financing and development partnerships. Potential and typical financing approaches include creative layering of multiple sources of funds, including:

• Low-Income Housing Tax Credits
• HOPE VI grants
• Tax-exempt bonds
• Municipal funds
• Federal Home Loan Bank Funds
• Public housing authority funds
• Developer contributions
• Local government loans, and
• Private support from non-profits or foundations.

NEXT STEPS

The Braddock East Planning Process

The Braddock Metro Neighborhood Plan is just the first step in developing a plan for redeveloping the public housing sites in the Braddock Metro neighborhood. More detailed planning has already started as part of the Braddock East planning process, which will create a planning framework for individual blocks, including unit mix, building heights and density, building types, site plan layout, open space, streetscape, and parking. As part of the process, deliberative consideration should be given to:

• the appropriate and financially feasible number of public housing units that will remain within the neighborhood.
• the appropriate mix of income levels within the new developments.
• the height and scale of new buildings so as to be compatible with existing adjacent neighborhoods.
• open space types, including tot lots, passive greens, plaza areas for sitting and community events, and private back yards where appropriate.
• policies and programs that will improve management and tenant organization.
• the creation of a CDD and guidelines for these sites.

CONCLUSION

The Braddock Metro Neighborhood Plan lays the foundation for redeveloping public housing, reshaping a significant portion of the neighborhood and presenting an unequaled opportunity for building a strong, diverse community. The Braddock East process will build on this foundation with a detailed plan for the future.

PRINCIPLE 6

Manage multimodal transportation, parking, and road infrastructure

8

The presence of the Metro station in the Braddock neighborhood makes future changes in travel behavior far more likely here, compared to other parts of the city. This presents distinct advantages for redevelopment to provide a more pedestrian-oriented design that minimizes the quantity of parking relative to other places. This chapter expands on the principle of a walkable neighborhood served by Metro and promotes a coordinated multimodal transportation system that considers vehicular traffic impacts and introduces concepts of transportation demand management (TDM), parking management, and system design that will provide greater transportation choice and more efficient, healthy, environmentally-friendly, and fiscally sound travel options.

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While Metrorail is the dominant form of transit in the neighborhood, buses play an important role in enhancing the community’s sense of mobility.

Managing transportation impacts is central to preserving the neighborhood’s quality of life and is also critical to responding to the growing community interest in alternatives to auto-dependency. With improved pedestrian access to Metro, better DASH service, and enforced TDM programs, the increase in traffic associated with new development will be minimized and will be considerably less than traffic increases related to ongoing growth throughout the region. Much of the traffic generated by new development in the Braddock Metro neighborhood will largely offset regionally-generated traffic. Route 1 is a regional arterial and, as such, operates at capacity at many times of the day. Regional traffic growth can be displaced to other routes and/or modes to reduce impact. Analysis later in this chapter will show that the net increase in traffic volume will be relatively minor and should not have a significant impact on any specific streets or intersections throughout the area.

In the implementation phase of the Plan, specific funding strategies for intersections, walking streets and other capital improvements will be provided through a combination of conventional roadway improvement sources and developer contributions. A critical element of the TDM program will be to set realistic parking requirements that avoid the cost of unnecessarily high numbers of below-grade parking spaces. For example, each $50,000 below-grade space not required will generate significant funds for public spaces and other community amenities—or can support a transit fund to provide expanded services in addition to Metro. The community will continue to play a central role in working with the city to work out the details of TDM and to manage the assessment of impacts. TDM measures should be adjusted and expanded to meet future challenges.

BACKGROUND

The Braddock Metro neighborhood features one of only four Metro stations in the City of Alexandria and for this reason residents and visitors enjoy easy access to the Washington region and better travel mode choices than in many other neighborhoods. Like many of the transit stations in the Washington region there has been an interest in developing around the station since it opened in the 1980s. Because the entire Braddock Metro neighborhood is within walking distance of the Metro Station, there is a unique opportunity for the neighborhood to direct its future to a more sustainable development framework using TDM strategies. A district-wide Transportation Management Plan (TMP) can coordinate and market transportation choices to the area and attract new options such as expanded car-sharing.

The Plan recognizes that while TDM can mitigate the local effects of increased traffic demands, the City will still need to monitor traffic to ensure that the local area is not unduly impacted by new development. Though the neighborhood benefits from a grid street pattern, the entry points are constrained to just a few locations such as the George Washington Parkway, Route 1, and Braddock Road. These are streets that serve as regional connectors to other parts of the Washington area and are increas-

ing in volume at rates from 0.5 to 3% per year. The traffic impact analysis in this chapter shows that the traffic resulting from new development is less than one-third as much as the growth in regional traffic on a particular road. As a result, the increases from new development will not be as pronounced within the Braddock Metro neighborhood. An additional benefit of the capacity constraints on streets is that a finite number of vehicles can enter the Braddock Metro neighborhood street network. Development internal to the Braddock Metro neighborhood will displace through trips with local trips to support neighborhood development, such as community-serving retail and services.

TRAFFIC IMPACT ASSOCIATED WITH FUTURE DEVELOPMENT

This Plan's anticipated 20-year buildout could include nearly 250 townhouse units, over 1,700 multifamily units, 560,000 additional square feet of office and hotel space, over 100,000 additional square feet of retail—approximately 3,000,000 square feet of new development overall. All of this development will take place within a half mile of the Braddock Road Metro station, or within less than a 15-minute walk. (For the purposes of traffic modeling, these numbers include potential estimated redevelopment of public housing sites, however the scope of these projects will be determined as part of the Braddock East Planning Process ).

Assessing the traffic impact of a 20-year buildout of the area requires understanding the mode choice of the many people new development will bring to the area—new residents, employees, or visitors. Mode choice includes single-occupant vehicle (SOV), transit, walking, biking, or carpooling.

Existing and Future Mode Shares

To conduct the traffic impact study, the consultants reviewed census data for the Braddock area and trip-generation totals collected for the Braddock Place Condominiums and Colecroft Station. These figures suggest that 50% of ex-

MODE SHARE: TRIPS ORIGINATING FROM OUTSIDE THE NEIGHBORHOOD TO JOBS IN BRADDOCK

TODAY (EXISTING AUTO MODE SHARE)

FUTURE (REDUCED AUTO MODE SHARE)

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MODE SHARE: TRIPS THAT ORIGINATE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

TODAY (EXISTING AUTO MODE SHARE)

FUTURE (REDUCED AUTO MODE SHARE)

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Source: WMATA and Kittleson Associates

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The Lloyd District TMA in Portland has made impressive studies in reducing employee and resident reliance on the automobile for commuting.

isting commute-to-work trips from the area take place by car (transportation engineers refer to this as a 50% “auto mode share”). The Plan sets a goal of reducing this percentage to approximately 42% with full implementation of TDM strategies, a figure similar to what the Ballston Metro area experiences today. For auto commute-to-work trips into the Braddock area, the Plan sets a goal of reducing the current figure of 70% to 40% for new employers. Other locales have achieved similar reductions (the Lloyd District in Portland, Oregon, is one example) by attracting transit-supportive employment to the station area.

A standard reference manual—Trip Generation, published by the Institute of Transportation Engineers or ITE—helps calculate the number of new trips that each land use generates under the 20-year buildout. Although the ITE manual helps to estimate the total number of trips generated, it does not distinguish among different modes of transportation for each trip. As a result, Table 1 on the next page shows the overall number of trips generated by each land use, but does not reflect the number of trips that involve Single Occupancy Vehicles (SOVs).

To determine the actual number of new SOV trips—that is, the direct impact on traffic volume on Route 1 and other streets in the Braddock Metro neighborhood—the consultants multiplied the peak-hour trips projected for the full build-out (between 1,952 and 2,347) by the percentage of commuters today who drive to work. (See Table 2 at top of page 72.) As noted, 70% of job-related trips into the area is by SOV; the other 30% involve Metro, bus, carpool, walking, or biking. Half of the trips by Braddock Metro neighborhood residents heading to jobs outside the study area take place in SOVs, and the other half involve the alternatives noted above. On residential-

TABLE 1: NEW TRIPS UNDER FULL BUILD-OUT (NO BREAKDOWN BY MODE)

related trips, residents of most other communities drive alone at somewhat lower levels—39%—and 61% use alternate modes (source: WMATA 2005 Development-related Ridership Survey). The goal of this Plan is to reduce the number of commuters who will drive alone to jobs within the Braddock Metro neighborhood and of Braddock residents who will drive to work outside the neighborhood.

The goal of reducing work-related trips that begin in the Braddock Metro neighborhood from 50% to 42% and reducing trips to the Braddock Metro neighborhood from 70% to 40% is attainable. It requires, however, aggressive implementation and enforcement of the proposed TDM measures, including such initiatives as creating more walkable streets, enhancing transit service, providing better bike accommodations, and discouraging auto use through parking management and transit incentives.

A trip-generation study conducted by Gorove/Slade Associates (Transit Use Near the Braddock Metro Station, February 3, 2006) provides statistical support for the feasibility of this goal. It found that during weekday

evening peak hours, only 19% of the trips estimated to be headed for Braddock Place Condominiums occurred as drive-alone auto trips (13 out of 70), and only 40% of trips destined for Col-ecroft Station occurred as drive-alone auto trips (35 out of 87 trips).

It is important to note that the City has a TDM program, known as Local Motion, that educates residents, businesses, commuters and visitors on the availability, benefits and use of alternative modes with the ultimate goal of shifting behavior away from drive-alone travel. The Plan recommends building on the existing successful TDM strategies and introducing new ones by creating an district-wide TMP in which all new development would participate and benefit.

Future Traffic Impacts

Table 2 on the next page shows the net new drive-alone auto traffic (not total trips, as before) that will be generated during the evening peak hour by new development within a 20-year period. The total at bottom represents additional drive-alone auto trips based on the current mode split, compared

TABLE 2: NEW DRIVE-ALONE CAR TRIPS UNDER FULL BUILD-OUT

1 Refinements were made to the development program since the January 7th work session which resulted in a decrease in the number of residential units and an increase in the square footage of office use. The net effect is an increase in the number of net new trips from 820 to 915 during the weekday p.m. peak hour.

Trip Distribution Patterns

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to the improved mode split that would come from implementation of the Plan's more aggressive TDM program.

Table 2 shows that with the TDM programs already operating in the Braddock area, future development is expected to generate approximately 1,255 p.m. peak new auto trips on the neighborhood's roads during the evening peak hour. The Plan's proposed TDM enhancements, however, would reduce that figure to 915 p.m. peak new auto trips. A majority of residential and office trips would be oriented along Route 1, with 30% from/to the north and 25% from/to the south. The remaining office and residential trips are generally expected to fall evenly, with approximately 15% each from/to the west on Braddock Road, to the north on Washington Street, and to the south on Washington Street. These additional trips are expected to create only a minor increase in the overall percentage of trips on a particular street, ranging from a 11% increase

• Please note that percent adds up to >100% because some of the streets are one-way. The sum of inbound and outbound trips separately will add up to 100%

on Braddock Road to a 4% increase on Washington Street. The chart on the facing page shows the relative increase in traffic volumes on most streets in the Braddock Metro neighborhood based on the 20-year development scenario and future implementation of the TDM programs recommended within the Plan.

Implications for Roadway Conditions

Increasing congestion along major through-streets will generate more cut-through traffic on local streets. The Plan recommends an evaluation of measures to discourage cut-through traffic and to manage the speed of traffic on local streets, including traffic-calming strategies that slow and/or divert traffic back to the system of collectors and arterial streets. Improvement is especially important on streets such as Fayette, designated as one of the Plan’s prime walking corridors and at the Braddock/West/Wythe intersection, where an awkward intersection configuration seems to give priority for vehicular movement over pedestrian access to the Metro station.

Field observations indicate that Route 1 congestion occurs in the weekday evening peak due to heavy traffic demand from three primary sources: the Eisenhower Valley to the west, Old Town to the east, and regional traffic from the north. These demands all converge in the vicinity of the intersection of Duke, South Patrick and South Henry Streets. Traffic from this bottleneck creates queuing on Route 1 almost to Pendleton and Wythe streets (at least one-half mile north). At the same time, a limited number of entry points constrains the amount of traffic that can enter the Braddock Metro neighborhood (Route 1 from the north and south, Braddock Road from the west, Washington Street from the north and south). These constraints control the amount of traffic that can enter and pass through the study area. These capacity controls mean that increases in

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traffic demand produce “peak spreading”—longer periods of peak congestion than are experienced today, but not a perceptible increase in the level of traffic congestion at a given time.

In addition, because the roadway system capacity is not planned to be expanded in the future, most new trips added as a result of new development in the Braddock Metro neighborhood will displace trips that are more regional in nature. Many of these regional trips do not require Route 1, and increasingly frequent queuing caused by more trips starting or ending in the Braddock Metro neighborhood will compel some drivers who now use Route 1 to use other routes. In other words, congestion levels will remain roughly the same, but the “peak” period may last a bit longer, and the proportion of local trips will increase as drivers making regional trips seek alternate routes.

In sum, this Plan recognizes that there will be a manageable increase in vehicular traffic in the future for streets in the Braddock Metro neighborhood and that congestion on Route 1 will continue. The development program for the area will increase traffic on Route 1 by approximately 10% over the 20 year buildout time frame, but this remains less than the 0.5% to 3% increase per year in background traffic resulting from regional growth without any new development in the Braddock Metro neighborhood. The Plan also recognizes the assets of the neighborhood including the Metro station and the gridded street pattern that is adequate and appropriate for future neighborhood development. Because the roadway network capacity is limited and is not planned to be expanded to provide additional vehicular capacity, new trips added as a result of new Braddock development should displace trips on the network from regional traffic (see graphic below). The proportion of local trips on the streets will grow and these local trips can be managed through existing and proposed transportation demand management strategies.

DISPLACEMENT OF REGIONAL TRIPS BY LOCAL TRAFFIC

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TRANSPORTATION DEMAND MANAGEMENT

Transportation demand management programs that encourage travel modes other than single occupancy vehicles will contribute in a significant way to creating a livable neighborhood. The Braddock Metro neighborhood is an ideal environment for introducing TDM programs beyond those already in use by the City that can help make the neighborhood a better place to live and work. The appropriate mix of

development in the neighborhood will reinforce the effectiveness of TDM by reducing demand for mobility on already congested streets.

TDM programs have two primary goals: promoting efficient use of transportation infrastructure by influencing when and how individuals choose to use it and providing viable travel options that maintain and/or expand accessibility to a multimodal transportation system. Providing choice is a crucial element in any TDM program.

The streetscape enhancements discussed in Chapter 4 represent one way to encourage Braddock residents to choose walking over driving when making a local trip. One of the direct results of new development in the area, including the redevelopment of public housing sites, will be the increased walkability of the streetscapes resulting from the Design Standards featured in this Plan as well as the creation of mixed-use development that will provide retail destinations and services within walking distance. Using development dollars for streetscapes allows the entire Braddock Metro neighborhood to benefit from an improved walking environment.

Many other strategies can discourage the use of automobiles for both local and regional trips. Easy access to the transit system through the neighborhood's two nearby stations, Metrobus, the DASH bus system and a network of bikeways make travel to Alexandria's other neighborhoods and regional destinations easily viable without automobile travel. Actively promoting use of Metro, walking, biking, and carpooling all contribute to an overall strategy for reducing dependence on automobiles.

TDM Strategies

Key elements in a TDM program are viable transportation alternatives—including transit, bicycle, and walking systems—as well as a managed parking supply. TDM programs available to residents and employees are designed to use these systems and encourage alternatives to driving alone. Some strategies have proved especially successful in multiple settings:

1. Car Sharing

Car sharing is the sharing of a vehicle located in the community, providing individuals the benefits of vehicle ownership without having to actually purchase and maintain a vehicle. Participants become members of the car share organization and can rent a vehicle for as much time or as little as a half an hour. According to a study of San Francisco's City CarShare program, nearly 30% of members reduced their household vehicle ownership and two-thirds avoided purchasing another car. The average car-share member drives 47% fewer miles annually after joining.

Car sharing is already available in Alexandria, and through the Carshare Alexandria! program city residents and businesses may be eligible for financial subsidies toward a first-time membership. Since becoming members of Carshare Alexandria!, 39% of survey respondents indicate a decrease in vehicle ownership and 76% of respondents agree that they use alternative

transportation more often. Zipcar vehicles are located at the Braddock Road Metro station. Additional opportunities for expanding the current program as redevelopment occurs in the Braddock should be explored.

2. Ride Sharing

A well-executed ridesharing program that provides information as well as incentives has the potential to reduce commute trips by 10% to 30%. Such programs also typically reduce up to 3.6% of regional vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and 8.3% of commuting VMT. Alexandria Rideshare maintains a secure online database that matches riders by commuting patterns and provides contact information. Several regional vanpool services are also available. Web networking sites also provide a ridesharing alternative at off-peak hours for members of online ridesharing networks.

3. Transit

The availability of high-quality transit in the Braddock Metro neighborhood represents the single most significant variable in the area’s ability to accommodate growth and investment without adding significant vehicular traffic. Rail transit station areas across the United States are attracting an increasing number of smaller households without children—an emerging trend that higher energy prices and greater highway congestion have only accelerated. Rail-station ridership studies of the Washington, D.C. region conducted in 2007 show a wide range of land-use densities within a quarter mile of stations. The choice of modes for access to these stations also varies. The station profiles—comparing development density near the station with station access by mode—appear in the table below.

Compared to other Metro Station neighborhoods, the Braddock Road station falls in the middle range for household density, with 5.9 households per acre (within a range of 4.3 to 11.8 for all stations), but in the lower end of the range for all stations for job density at 12.9 jobs per acre (the range for that category ran from 4.1 to 26.8). A significant portion of the station’s riders walk to/from the station or arrive/depart by bus. According to the 2007 study,

2007 WMATA COMPARISON OF METRO STATION RIDERSHIP AND DENSITY

Alexandria has the highest percentage of people accessing Metrorail by bus of any jurisdiction in the WMATA compact (includes Arlington and Fairfax Counties and Washington, D.C.). Alexandria’s bus mode of access is 48.5% in contrast to 23.4% for the entire region.

Metrorail ridership for the station is measurably lower than stations with similar or even lower household and job densities, suggesting strongly that density alone cannot explain differences in ridership. Travel behavior is also strongly determined by the type and nature of land uses that surround stations that can attract or generate trips. Ridership is also determined by quality of access to the station by different modes (pedestrian, bicycle, bus and drop offs).

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) and the Alexandria DASH system provide bus and rail transit service—both regional and local—in the study area. Transit services available include:

• Metrobus—Routes 10A (Huntington Towers/Pentagon) and 10B (Huntington Towers/Ballston) provide service between the Huntington Towers to the south and Pentagon City and Ballston Common to the north. Route 9E provides service to Crystal City and the Pentagon via Potomac Yard and Del Ray. Route 10E provides service to the Pentagon via Del Ray and Alexandria. These routes also provide connections to areas served by other Metrobus routes in the region between 5:00 a.m. and 12:00 a.m., with an average frequency of 30 minutes on weekdays.

• Metrorail—The Braddock Road station offers service on both the Yellow and Blue lines. Both lines provide service to central Washington, with the Blue Line continuing east to Capitol Heights and Largo, Maryland, and the Yellow Line continuing to the District’s northeast boundary. The southern section of the Blue line provides service to Franconia-Springfield via King Street and Van Dorn. The southern section of the Yellow line provides service to Huntington via King Street and Eisenhower Avenue. Both lines connect to every other Metro line, assuring that riders can reach any of Metro’s 75 stations with no more than one transfer. As at the Braddock Road station, Metrobus connections continue on from most Metrorail stations. WMATA has capacity to increase service frequency on the Yellow and Blue lines over time to accommodate anticipated growth in demand. Additionally, on some lines WMATA is deploying eight car trains at peak hours to provide additional capacity. An eight car train provides 33% more capacity over the conventional six car trains.

• DASH—DASH operates bus service every 20 minutes between 5:30 a.m. and 11:00 p.m. through the study area. The AT 2, AT 3, AT 4, and AT 5 lines stop within the study area, offering access to points south, west, northwest, and north, including Old Town, Potomac Yard, the West End, and North Ridge.

• Other Transit Services Proposed—In addition to Metrorail, Metrobus and DASH service, transit service to the Braddock Metro neighborhood

will soon be provided as part of the Crystal City/Potomac Yard Transit Corridor project. This transit route will offer express bus service on a mix of dedicated ROW, bus-only and mixed-traffic lanes. The transit route will operate along the Route 1 corridor between the Pentagon and the Braddock Road station and offer transit access to and from the areas between these two Metro stations that are spaced over three miles apart. In consideration of the full build-out of Potomac Yard the transit is projected to serve approximately 30,000 passengers daily in the area between the Crystal City and Braddock Metro stations. Many of these trips would otherwise operate as single occupant vehicles along the already congested Route 1 corridor. As to the portion of the alignment that is within the Braddock Metro neighborhood, the community has expressed a preference for the transit route to be located along the service road adjacent to the Metro Rail tracks and connecting with First Street at Route 1. The final transit alignment is contigent on right-of-way access to the service road and operational analysis, such as turning radii. Many in the community expressed opposition to bus rapid transit and any potential transit corridors in any location within the Braddock Metro neighborhood.

4. Pedestrian And Bike Facility Improvements

Providing a high-quality pedestrian and bicycling environment is essential to the success of any TDM program implemented in the area. Without safe and comfortable facilities for walking and biking, incentives to reduce driving are less likely to have much effect. The City of Alexandria recently completed a Transportation Master Plan that includes a Bicycle and Pedestrian Mobility Plan (Mobility Plan). The City completed a draft version of the Plan in November 2007, and the final version will replace the current Alexandria Bicycle Plan, adopted in 1998.

The Mobility Plan assesses crossing difficulty for pedestrians at crosswalks throughout Alexandria. Overall, crossing ease within the Braddock Metro neighborhood ranked fairly high, although several crosswalks received poor marks, primarily along Patrick Street, Henry Street, and Wythe Street. The draft mobility plan identifies the need for 645 new marked crosswalks in Alexandria, including several in the study area. In addition, the study identifies improvements needed in existing signals, curb ramps, and crosswalks to improve pedestrian friendliness.

Cameron, Pendleton Street, Payne Street and Braddock Road all carry an “on-street bikeway” designation in the Alexandria Bikeways map. New on-street bikeways are planned for Oronoco and Fayette Streets. No roadways within the study area, however, have on-street bicycle lanes, and the draft mobility plan calls for only a small portion of Braddock Road to receive marked lanes. The draft plan identifies several other facility improvements, including:

• Three new routes: bicycle boulevards along Fayette Street and Oronoco streets and an extension of the

current shared-use path along the east side of the Metro tracks north of Braddock Road station to the city limits

• The Plan identifies one east-west route, Wythe Street, for installation of shared-lane pavement markings (“sharrows”). These projects will create better bike routes for travel within the study area and better bicycle connections to destinations outside of the study area

Fayette Street is a good candidate for development of a bike boulevard because signed restrictions already prohibit through traffic during peak hours. Full “bike boulevard” treatment would include additional traffic-calming elements and/or traffic diverters to reduce traffic volume and speed, making a safer and more comfortable cycling environment.

The Mobility Plan underlines the importance of sufficient bike parking at key destinations, including transit stations, as a way of encouraging biking as a viable transportation mode. Field visits to Braddock Road station suggest high demand for bike parking there, with more than 75 bicycles parked during sunny, warm weather and many of the existing bike racks fully utilized. Additional bicycle parking—including covered, on-demand parking—at the station should be planned as growth in the study area continues. The provision of additional bicycle lockers at the Braddock Road station for long-term parking should be considered.

Finally, during the community process, some members of the public expressed the desire to make a handful of streets more pedestrian and bike friendly by converting them from one-way to two-way. The Plan recommends that Madison, Montgomery and Queen streets be evaluated by the City to determine if this conversion is feasible. Besides potentially improving the environment for pedestrians and bikes, the hope is that two-way streets are more beneficial for residential development along Madison and Montgomery and for retail space along Queen Street. The possibility of Montgomery Street as a transit route between the Braddock Metro station and other north-south routes should also be explored. Although this one-way street is currently used as a DASH route, the future redevelopment of the blocks along both sides of Montgomery Street create an opportunity to redesign it as both more pedestrian- and transit-friendly.

TDM Implementation

The Braddock Metro neighborhood offers substantial opportunities for TDM strategies to alter travel decisions in ways that benefit the neighborhood. Taking full advantage of these opportunities will mean designating an entity to lead the TDM effort, providing leadership, managing the program, being accountable to stakeholders, and tailoring the program to the area’s specific needs. Establishment of a district-wide Transportation Management Plan (TMP) may represent the best way to proceed.

A TMP is required in Alexandria for large-scale projects and is typically development-specific with individual TDM strategies. An effective TMP begins with an analysis of certain facts

and projections, including the nature of the development and intended use of the property; proximity of the project to public transit; availability of and accessibility to offsite parking spaces that could serve the project; number of employees and their likely places of origin; type and number of users of the proposed parking supply and their likely places of origin; projected number of vehicle trips the project will generate; and a description of the measures the developers intend to take to reduce a project’s traffic impact in the surrounding neighborhood.

Through its traffic impact assessment, the Braddock Metro Neighborhood Plan has consolidated much of the background work of individual TMPs. The Plan recommends a larger district-level TMP that sets up an institutional framework for TDM programs. This Plan recommends the establishment of a TMP coordinator who would build partnerships and oversee implementation of the TDM strategies recommended in this Plan. The City would remain active, however, requiring new development in the Braddock area to financially and programmatically participate in the district, serving as a liaison to other public agencies, and appropriately adjusting its own policies and codes to support traffic-management programs developed by the TMP.

The Braddock Road Metro station is an asset upon which future neighborhood development will be based. The TMP should have a primary focus on encouraging employer and residential use of the various transit services that operate from this station.

The details of the Braddock-wide TMP will be considered with plan implementation, but recommended activities include discounted transit fare programs, targeted shuttle bus service, car sharing programs, pedestrian and bicycle facility improvements, funding for bus shelters and transit service improvements, and others identified by the City, the district TMP coordinator and district participants. Critical to the success of the district is the development of benchmarks and evaluation of the effectiveness of existing and future TDM strategies with modifications where necessary to achieve the goals of the Plan.

Parking Management

Another role of the district-wide TMP could include the management of parking as it affects mode choice as well as land use patterns in the community. Managing parking encourages more efficient use of private, on-site parking facilities, making it possible to reduce the number of lots and garages needed to meet demand, and possibly to reduce actual driving.

One strategy to reduce vehicular traffic is to manage parking with appropriate parking pricing by removing hidden subsidies and making the cost of alternate transportation modes more competitive. Effective parking pricing strategies include:

• Charging motorists directly for parking.
• Offering comparable benefits for other travel modes, such as subsidies for transit users.
• Managing and pricing the most convenient parking spaces to favor priority users (i.e., customers rather

than employees in curb spaces in front of a business).

• Introducing variable rates (i.e., higher cost for long-term parking, lower rates for short-term parking).
• Eliminating discounts for long-term parking leases.
• Breaking out the cost of parking from rents and condo prices.

Parking is an essential component of automobile travel; without it, auto access to any land use is cut off. While many trips in urban areas such as the Braddock Metro neighborhood can be accomplished without the use of a car, private automobiles will play a substantial role in Alexandria’s transportation system for the foreseeable future. Consequently, parking management and thoughtful consideration of parking development for vehicles and bicycles will become keys to developing an effective transportation plan for the study area.

Braddock Road Parking Types

Public parking is limited to on-street spaces within the Braddock Metro neighborhood, and the City manages its on-street spaces in a variety of ways: by imposing time restrictions, by creating and enforcing permit districts, and by using parking meters. A March 2006 parking study conducted by HPE reported heavy use of on-street parking, even though the report recorded only one instance of an occupancy rate above 85%. Parking occupancy rates below 85% are typically considered satisfactory; when rates reach 85% or higher, finding a space becomes difficult, leading to driver frustration and unnecessary travel as motorists circle their target block in search of a spot.

All off-street parking in the study area is accessory parking, that is, it serves only an attached or adjacent land use. Surface lots are available for most commercial and industrial businesses in

EXISTING CITY PARKING REQUIREMENTS

the area, and off-street surface parking is available for some residential developments. The recent residential developments near Braddock Road station include underground parking.

Braddock Metro Neighborhood Parking Development

Most minimum parking requirements are meant to satisfy peak demand and build in the assumption that parking is always free. Yet all customers—regardless of whether they drive—end up covering the expenses of providing free parking, which are simply blended into the larger costs of developing or operating a property. This practice of “externalizing” costs—which can run as high as $50,000 per space for underground garages—raises the price of both goods and housing.

Minimum parking requirements can also have a profound effect on the built environment. A single parking space requires approximately 350 square feet, including the spaces’ share of common drive aisles. Therefore, parking requirements of 3 (or more) spaces per 1,000 square feet of built space consume more space for parking than for the actual land use.

An analysis of the City’s existing parking requirements found that the requirements are higher for single family, multifamily and townhouse residential and retail uses than those recommended by the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), Urban Land Institute (ULI) and SmartCode, the New Urbanist development code.

In addition, data for areas near transit where parking requirements are reduced shows that transit mode shares are significantly higher for residential and office uses. In other words, the closer a development is to Metro, the more people in that development will choose to travel by transit rather than car, recognizing that they may still own cars.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is 2005 Development-Related Ridership Survey Final Report confirms these numbers for development located at or near a station (for suburban sites inside the Beltway): the Metrorail mode share for office workers located at a station is 35% for both commute and mid-day trips, and 49% (43% rail and 6% bus) for residential development. The data clearly shows that Metro use dramatically increases in direct relationship to Metro proximity, and within that connection, Metro use is even higher for residential over office uses.

The City has previously reduced parking requirements in the King Street Metro Parking District and the Eisenhower East Small Area Plan due to the proximity to Metro Stations and extensive public transit service. The table on the prior page summarizes the parking ratios that the City of Alexandria currently requires.

The Plan encourages transit-oriented mixed-use development in part to encourage the use of transit, car sharing, bicycling and walking as viable alternatives to multiple vehicle ownership. However, the Plan recognizes that people who live near Metro stations often own a vehicle and makes

provisions in the proposed off-street parking requirements to address that reality. The Plan seeks to balance the community’s concerns about ensuring that new development provides suf- ficient off-street parking with the high level of existing and proposed future transit service in the area. The Plan also seeks to promote transit and other forms of transport so that people have choices when it comes to mobility that may, over time, reduce their reliance on the automobile.

Parking Management

Recommendations

The Plan recommends revising the current parking requirements for prop- erties located within 2,000 feet of the Braddock Metro station, measured in a straight line from the station entrance. This area should be established as a parking district with its own set of required parking ratios. The City has lowered parking requirements at both the King Street Metro Station and in Eisenhower East in order to encourage the use of transit. After a careful review of existing parking requirements in those locations and new developments at Carlyle and in the Braddock area, the Plan recommends that “right-sizing” parking requirements for new develop- ment projects in the Braddock Metro neighborhood become a priority. Re- ducing parking is especially important given that each underground parking space will cost approximately $50,000. A reduction in required parking, there- fore, can save hundreds of thousands of dollars in development costs, some of which can be redirected to help fund open space and street improvements. However, the right balance needs to

be found so that an overabundance of parking does not include more auto trips while an undercount could exacer- bate on-street parking problems.

The Plan seeks to balance the commu- nity’s concerns about not under-parking new development with the high level of existing and future transit service in the Braddock Metro neighborhood. It should be noted that much of the rede- velopment anticipated in this Plan over the next 20 years will occur on proper- ties north of the existing neighborhood, in areas in close proximity to the Metro station, buses, and Zipcars and between Route 1 and the Metrorail tracks.

The benefits of appropriate parking ratios include not over-parking develop- ments with excess parking that goes unused, encouraging non-automobile modes of travel which reduces the num- ber of vehicle trips and lessens traffic congestion, discouraging car owner- ship in general and multiple vehicle ownership in particular, and augments the walkability of the neighborhood.

The parking ratios indicated here shall be the allowable “by right” parking. Any increases or decreases from these ratios shall require approval of a special use permit, provided however that in the cases of fractional spaces, the park- ing requirement may be rounded up or down to the nearest whole number without requiring a special use permit.

Residential

New residents in the Braddock Metro neighborhood will pay a premium to live near a Metro station and are likely to use Metro for at least some of their

travel needs. While it is unlikely that there will be a high proportion of no-car households in the neighborhood, there will likely be many one-car households. A reduction in the parking requirement for smaller dwelling units will ensure that one-car households will not pay a premium for two parking spaces when they only need one. Multi-family buildings typically have fewer residents per dwelling unit than single-family housing (often because residents are less likely to have children), reducing the need for multiple car ownership – or in some cases – car ownership at all. Consequently, the Plan recommends reducing the minimum requirement for units with less than three bedrooms to 1.0 space per dwelling unit. The Plan recommends that units with three or more bedrooms have the same requirement as single-family houses: 1.5 spaces per dwelling unit. In addition, all residential development shall dedicate an additional 15% of the required parking supply for visitor parking, consistent with existing City practice. Limited reductions will be allowed to these parking requirements. A reduction of 5 spaces for each on-site car-sharing spot should be allowed, although this reduction may not exceed 20% of the total required spaces. Finally, in the event that a new development increases the net number of on-street parking spaces available, the increase in on-street spaces shall apply to the visitor parking or retail parking requirement in a mixed-use development.

Hotels

Similar to the ratios at the Eisenhower Avenue and King Street Metro Stations, the recommended parking ratio for a hotel use in the Braddock Metro neighborhood is 0.7 space per room, and one employee space per each 15 guest rooms. Hotels built near the Braddock Road Metro station are likely to attract business travelers drawn to the area by convenient access to Northern Virginia, Ronald Reagan National Airport, and Washington, DC.

Auxiliary uses in hotels such as restaurants and meeting spaces vary greatly and it is recommended that since the exact use of hotel space in the neighborhood is not known, that additional off-street parking for such uses will be determined at the time of development review.

Retail

To foster the Plan’s goal to secure community-serving retail and services, and to reflect the reduced parking demand created by transit service in the neighborhood, the Plan recommends that the minimum requirement be reduced to 3 spaces per 1,000 square feet of retail development. In addition, a full exemption shall be provided for the first 15,000 square feet of grocery stores and the first 1,200 square feet of all other retail and service uses. Similar exemptions in place in Arlington County have provided important community-serving retail and services near Metro stations.

Restaurants

To encourage small restaurants such as a coffee shop or deli that support local residents and workers, no parking is required for a restaurant with up to 60 seats. Restaurants with a greater number of seats should comply with the

standard City requirement of one space per four seats.

The Plan recommends retaining the existing City requirement of 1 space per every 4 restaurant seats, with an exemption, however, for the first 60 seats to allow a limited service restaurant such as a neighborhood coffee shop or deli that will have little parking impact. A similar exemption in Arlington County has succeeded in attracting small scale development near Metro stations.

Office

The Plan recommends no change from the existing parking requirement for 1.67 spaces per 1,000 square feet of office space with reductions of up to 30% based on transit, car-pool and van-pool subsidies. These standards are consistent with parking requirements in other locations in communities with high quality transit and are consistent with industry standards for transit oriented developments.

Additional recommendations include:

• Consider incentives and restrictions to encourage developers to plan carpool and car-sharing parking during the development process

• Require the provision of bicycle parking (both on and off-street), as described in the Bicycle and Pedestrian Mobility Plan

• Unbundle parking from multifamily residential development. Parking spaces should be sold or rented

• Provided however that in the cases of fractional spaces, the parking requirement may be rounded up or down to the nearest whole number without requiring SUP. ** In the event that new development increases the net number of on-street parking spaces available, the increase in on-street spaces shall apply to the visitor or retail parking requirement.

separately from residential units to lower the costs of housing for residents who choose not to own or rent a parking space. This concept can also be applied to commercial developments.

• Manage on-street parking more effectively. Evaluate existing on-street parking restrictions to determine if there are opportunities to better manage on-street parking spaces through adjustments to current restrictions.

CONCLUSION

The volume of vehicular traffic anticipated from 20 years of future development in the Braddock area can be expected to have a small but negligible effect on local traffic conditions. Local streets will experience increased demands but still operate acceptably. Route 1 will continue to bottleneck and experience further spreading of peak demands. A significant portion of the impact of new development could be counter-balanced should existing residents and employees within the Braddock area modify their travel choices, similar to the travel behavior expected for the tenants of new development.

TDM strategies offer a low-cost approach to maintaining community mobility and mitigating the effects of new development. Alexandria's current TDM toolbox has resulted in reductions in drive-alone trips and increases in Metro ridership. These successes could be expanded in the Braddock Metro neighborhood through the creation of a district-wide TMP managed by a coordinator who works directly with local residents and businesses to tailor programs and services to the area, establish benchmarks, evaluate programs and policies, and change them where needed over time to encourage a walkable and livable neighborhood.

PRINCIPLE 7

Achieve varying and transitional heights and scales

9

Community character and livability can be greatly enhanced when an appropriate strategy for the height and scale of future development projects is determined. Appropriate scale—achieved by considering both height and massing—is fundamental to finding the right balance between preservation and change where each are appropriate. The Plan attempts to do this by recommending maximum height and floor-area ratios (FAR) that will ensure transitions in scale between the two and three-story fabric of much of the Braddock Metro neighborhood and the predominant scale of existing development near the Metro station that reaches heights of 77 feet at Colecroft Station, 85 feet for most of the Braddock Place office buildings and 150 feet for the Meridian apartment tower. Finding the right height and massing—and adding design guidelines to ensure appropriate character and scale transitions—unlocks the ability to provide significant development-generated dollars to support community amenities. Throughout the community engagement process, the ability to derive development-generated dollars helped the community carefully consider the costs and benefits of the scale associated with new development, especially at the Metro and Adkins blocks. Final height and density recommendations for Adkins and the other public housing sites will be developed during the Braddock East planning process.

⬚ figure

Urban Design Diagram

URBAN DESIGN FRAMEWORK

The Urban Design Framework comprises a series of layers or systems that graphically articulate the ideas presented in this Plan and include the Character Areas diagram, the Urban Design Concept diagram, the Building Heights and Massing diagram and the Open Space Framework diagram (shown in Chapter 5).

Character Areas

The urban fabric of the Braddock Metro neighborhood is far from homogeneous. Within the study area, four distinct “character areas” (diagram at right) mark shifts in visual character and tone. Along with the location of the walking streets, the Plan’s recommendations for height and density reflect the existing scale and character of the four zones, taking into account places where scale and character are likely to change dramatically, such as at the Gateway Neighborhood Area at the north end of the Braddock Metro neighborhood. Descriptions follow of the four character areas, in which the height and scale of new development should take into account existing context.

Parker-Gray Neighborhood Area

• Defined by two- and three-story historic rowhouses with a handful of commercial buildings
• Contains multiple, low-rise public housing sites with significant green space
• Queen Street retail area with adjacent historic buildings of significance, such as the Elks Club building, the former theater, and several churches

Mid Neighborhood Area

• The transition zone from the Parker-Gray Historic District to the Braddock Road Metro station/west neighborhood
• Includes potential new park space to replace the Post Office block, creating a potential new neighborhood “center”
• New and proposed mixed-use buildings between Patrick and Henry streets that will improve pedestrian accessibility and activity along these high traffic corridors

West Neighborhood Area

• Mix of uses, with taller buildings close to the Metro station, although the existing lower buildings within the area require stepping taller buildings back from the sidewalk in some locations
• Given the presence of Metro, this area could be the primary shopping/dining area in the neighborhood
• Metro sits at a confluence of local streets where walking should be the primary emphasis, not vehicular traffic
• Heights should transition from lower in the Parker-Gray Historic District to higher in the west neighborhood

Gateway Neighborhood Area

• Provides an opportunity to introduce unique architectural treatment at northern end to form a major gateway into the neighborhood, and

to use more modern architecture to reflect the warehouse and industrial history of this area

• The design of new buildings along Fayette Street and Route 1 should respect the scale and character of the NorthEast neighborhood across Route 1 to the east
• Potential Fayette walking street terminates in a neighborhood park and bike path connection to Potomac Yard

Potential Redevelopment Sites within the Four Character Areas

⬚ figure

The Braddock Metro neighborhood’s four character areas

URBAN DESIGN CONCEPT

The Urban Design Concept diagram builds on the Character Areas and adds open space, streetscape and redevelopment components consistent with the characteristics of the four areas. The recommended location of the walking streets ties many of the ideas together. Besides providing ideal walking routes through the neighborhood, the walking streets also help to link the proposed park and plaza spaces with the sites where the most significant redevelopment is expected to occur. Also clearly highlighted are the proposed retail areas and their relationship to existing retail space in the Braddock Metro neighborhood.

The diagram communicates the sense of scale that will result after a number of redevelopment projects are completed in the neighborhood. While the three colored areas are meant to give an overall impression of height, this map is only conceptual. Specific maximum heights that are part of the Plan’s recommendations appear on the Building Heights and Massing diagram three pages ahead. Strategically, the recommended heights relate directly to the location of the walking streets with taller buildings clustering closer to the Metro station and especially at the Northern Gateway Area. Also shown is the community’s preferred route for the proposed Crystal City/Potomac Yard Transit Corridor project along with three “gateway” locations. The gateways are meant to create a sense of entry into the neighborhood for walkers, drivers, and cyclists at strategic locations, such as the south end of the Monroe Avenue Bridge, where Route 1 splits into Henry and Patrick streets, and where Braddock Road passes below the Metro tracks. Components that create gateways include architectural features on buildings such as tower-like elements, special landscaped areas, tree groupings, and locations for large-scale public art.

⬚ figure

Large-scale public art, like this example in Baltimore, could make for a unique gateway into the neighborhood.

Urban Design Concept

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BUILDING HEIGHT AND MASSING

The diagram on the facing page shows recommended maximum heights for sites within the Braddock Metro neighborhood that have redevelopment potential. Most of the blocks indicate heights that are the current maximum allowed by zoning, through the Special Use Permit (SUP) process. The only areas where the Plan recommends increases in maximum height are at the Northern Gateway and the Metro site. Heights for the Andrew Adkins public housing site will be determined as part of the Braddock East planning process. The increase in height at Metro and the Northern Gateway has been carefully considered in order to maintain the character of the

⬚ figure

Cross section view of a typical walking street highlighting the sidewalk and upper-level setbacks that create a more pedestrian scale for the public realm

designated walking streets and to provide appropriate transitions to the nearby historic fabric.

The Design Guidelines section in the Appendix recommends a building “shoulder” that would require a setback of approximately 12 feet before additional height is permitted above the 40–50-foot street wall façade. The maximum

recommended height along West, Wythe and Madison streets—three of the Plan’s “walking streets”—is 40 feet for the lower level of any building. This dimension forms the “shoulder” for any potential building and allows three stories of any single land use and most mixed-use combinations. The maximum recommended height along Fayette Street, the fourth “walking street,” is 40 feet south of Madison Street and 50–60 feet north of Madison Street. This increase reflects the different height and character of many of the buildings along Fayette Street north of Madison, such as the Meridian, which is 150 feet. In all cases, building heights may increase beyond this 40 or 60 foot limit if they provide the “shoulder” with a setback of at least 12 feet from the lower-level façades before adding additional height.

The parcel with the most significant increase in height and density is the Metro site. The maximum height allowed by current zoning is 50 feet. In order to facilitate a mixed-use development project on the property, the tunnel connection, plaza and other community-desired benefits, the Plan recommends raising the maximum height to 77 feet at the Metro site. This height is the same as at Colecroft Station, across Braddock Road to the south, and will complement the taller 85-foot buildings at Braddock Place immediately to the north of the Metro site. Maintaining these heights around the Metro station will establish this as the preferred locus of future development and discourage inappropriately large development at sites away from the Metro. A shoulder should be incorporated into any buildings along the north, east and south edges of the property.

Example images of buildings of different heights appear on the following pages.

Building Height and Massing

⬚ figure

CHAPTER 9 | PRINCIPLE 7 ■ 93

Building Height Examples 35–45 FEET

Analogs from Alexandria

⬚ figure Braddock Lofts

⬚ figure Chatham Square

⬚ figure Prescott

Analogs from elsewhere

⬚ figure Seattle, WA

⬚ figure Portland, OR

⬚ figure Hismen Hin-nu Terrace, Oakland, CA

Building Height Examples 55 FEET

Analogs from Alexandria

⬚ figure ⬚ figure Whole Foods (both photos)

Analogs from elsewhere

⬚ figure Edgewood, Atlanta, GA

⬚ figure Vancouver, BC

⬚ figure Chicago, IL

Building Height Examples 65–75 FEET

Analog from Alexandria ⬚ figure Colecroft Station

Analogs from elsewhere ⬚ figure Portland, OR ⬚ figure Portland, OR ⬚ figure Arlington, VA

Building Height Examples 90 FEET

Analogs from Alexandria ⬚ figure Braddock Place Condos ⬚ figure Duke Street Marriott

Analogs from elsewhere ⬚ figure Boston, MA ⬚ figure Atlanta, GA

Building Height Examples 120 FEET

Analog from Alexandria ⬚ figure Residential building in the Carlyle District

Analogs from elsewhere ⬚ figure Arlington, VA ⬚ figure Harbor East, Baltimore, MD

Amended 6/19/21, Ord. 5353

Development Sites

⬚ figure

1 Jaguar Site

2 Yates Warehouse Site

3 Water Tower and Adjacent Site

4 Tony's Auto Site

5 1261 Madison Site

6 Metro Site

7 Fayette Warehouses Site

8 Route 1 Triangle Site

9 Carpenter's Shelter Site

10 Madison Site

11 Henry Street – Site A

12 Henry Street – Site B

13 Post Office Site

Ord. 5353 14 A. 727 N West Street B. ARHA Andrew Adkins Site

15 James Bland and Bland Addition Public Housing Site

16 Samuel Madden Uptown Public Housing Site

17 Ramsey Homes Public Housing Site

The 20-year redevelopment scenario for the Braddock Metro neighborhood that includes potential building projects on 17 different sites as well as new parks and plazas, enhanced green streets and improved pedestrian/bike connections

96 Braddock Metro Neighborhood Plan | MARCH 2008

Development Table, as amended

Ord. 5162

Ord. 5312

NET TOTAL: 1,938,000 (total sf less existing development sf)

TOTAL INCREASE OVER CURRENT ALLOWABLE DEVELOMENT: 515,000 (total new sf less current allowable sf)

| PROPERTIES TO BE DETERMINED THROUGH BRADDOCK EAST PLANNING PROCESS⁽⁹⁾ | | | | | | | | | | | | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | 14 | Andrew Adkins Public Housing Site | West Neighborhood Area | 175,000⁽⁶⁾ | 4.02 | 148,000 | RB | 0.75 | 45 | 131,000 | 350,000 to 525,000 | TBD | TBD | | 14A | Braddock West | West Neighborhood Area: 1352-1362 Madison Street, 711-727 N. West Street, 1319-1329 Wythe Street | 41,398 | 0.95 | 11,606⁵ | RB | 0.75 | 45 | 31,049 | 124,194¹⁰ | Refer to BEMP | Refer to BEMP | | 14B | Andrew Adkins Public Housing Site | West Neighborhood Area | 133,602 | 3.07 | 98,000⁵ | RB | 0.75 | 45 | 100,202 | 225,806-400,806 | Refer to BEMP | Refer to BEMP | | 15 | James Bland and Bland Addition Public Housing Site | Parker-Gray Area | 370,000 | 8.49 | 166,000 | RB | 0.75 | 45 | 277,500 | 462,500 to 745,000 | TBD | TBD | | 16 | Samuel Madden Uptown Public Housing Site | Mid-Neighborhood Area | 150,000 | 3.44 | 64,000 | RB | 0.75 | 45 | 112,500 | 300,000 to 375,000 | TBD | TBD | | 17 | Ramsey Homes Public Housing Site | Parker-Gray Area | 28,000 | 0.64 | 14,000 | RB | 0.75 | 45 | 21,000 | 21,000 | TBD | TBD | | | TOTAL | | 723,000 | 16.59 | 392,000 | | | | 542,000 | 1,133,500 to 1,666,000 (total new sf) | | |

Ord. 5353

NET TOTAL: 741,500 to 1,274,000 (total sf less existing development sf)

TOTAL INCREASE OVER CURRENT ALLOWABLE DEVELOPMENT: 591,500 to 1,124,000 (total new sf less current allowable sf)

NOTES

1. Current Allowable Floor-Area-Ratio (FAR), Height and Allowable Development calculations based on SUP.
2. An overall FAR of 2.5 is shown, since the parcels are part of the overall Northern Gateway CDD Site along with the Jaguar development site
3. Conceptual analysis has shown that the current maximum FAR of 0.75 is not enough to allow for mixed-income housing redevelopment to occur on the public housing sites. A refined FAR recommendations will be developed during the Braddock East planning process.
4. Based on FAR of 3.0 and a 97,000 sf parcel size, net of circulation space for buses, taxis and other vehicles
5. According to Real Estate Assessment Information. Based on a 175,000 sf site area net of Payne Street extension.
6. 1.3 acre park proposed leaving 30,000 sf site area
7. Total modeled for traffic impact analysis, should development occur other than the park.
8. 282,838 Sf approved with DSUP.
9. Height and density of these sites will be determined during the Braddock East planning process. Numbers shown here are for the purpose of traffic impact analysis only.
10. Does not include bonus density above 3.0

Amended 10/13/18, Ord. 5162 Amended 11/14/20, Ord. 5312 Amended 6/19/21, Ord. 5353

Land Use, as amended

PROPERTIES TO BE DETERMINED THROUGH BRADDOCK EAST PLANNING PROCESS

| 14 | Andrew Adkins Public Housing Site | West Neighborhood Area | 175,000(3) | 4.02 | 148,000 | RB | CDD | TBD | TBD | | 14A | Braddock West | West Neighborhood Area: 1352-1362 Madison Street, 711-727 N. West Street, 1319-1329 Wythe Street | 41,398 3 | 0.95 | 11,606 | RB | OCH | Refer to BEMP | Refer to BEMP | | 14B | Andrew Adkins Public Housing Site | West Neighborhood Area | 133,602 3 | 3.07 | 98,000 | RB | CDD | Refer to BEMP | Refer to BEMP | | 15 | James Bland and Bland Addition Public Housing | Parker-Gray Area | 370,000 | 8.49 | 166,000 | RB | CDD | TBD | TBD | | 16 | Samuel Madden Uptown Public Housing Site | Mid-Neighborhood Area | 150,000 | 3.44 | 64,000 | RB | CDD | TBD | TBD | | 17 | Ramsey Homes Public Housing Site | Parker-Gray Area | 28,000 | 0.64 | 14,000 | RB | no change | TBD | TBD |

NOTES

1. As market conditions warrant
2. 1.3 acre park proposed leaving 30,000 sf site area
3. Based on a 175,000 sf site area net of Payne Street extention

Ord. 5162 Ord. 5312 Ord. 5353

Amended 10/13/18, Ord. 5162 Amended 11/14/20, Ord. 5312 Amended 6/19/21, Ord. 5353

KEY REDEVELOPMENT SITES

Metro Site EXISTING PARCEL

Existing Conditions The Braddock Metro site is home to a busy rail transit station, with both WMATA and DASH buses circulating through the site, and parking for transit users. The present site is accessible to vehicles, but pedestrian conditions on and around the site are poor, and the Braddock/Wythe/West intersection acts as a major impediment to pedestrian access from the south. A one-way bus loop and an unnecessarily high number of parking spaces occupy the majority of this very valuable site. Note: The designs on the following pages are illustrative only and are not intended to prescribe a specific site plan or building design. They are intended to show a conceptual alternative that complies with the height, density and public realm standards recommended in the Plan.

⬚ figure

⬚ figure Braddock Place seen from the Metro station platform

⬚ figure View from Wythe-West intersection

KEY REDEVELOPMENT SITES

Metro Site PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT SCENARIO

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Vision for the Metro site

A lively public plaza surrounded by ground-level retail and other active community-focused uses will lead pedestrians from West and Wythe streets to the station entrance on the western side of the plaza. Café tables, public art, and a new grand fountain bring constant motion to the plaza, and the plaza’s paving pattern crosses West Street to engage pedestrians coming from the heart of the neighborhood and to slow traffic along the street. Across West Street could be a 200 room hotel or office building with ground floor retail. A proposed pedestrian concourse connecting to the other side of the tracks would open direct access from both sides of the tracks, helping connect the Del Ray and Rosemont neighborhoods and future Potomac Yard residents to both Metro and the public plaza.

Recommendations for the site’s proposed office buildings (77 feet high) reflect and complement the height and scale of existing development around the site. These include the Colecroft

KEY REDEVELOPMENT SITES

Metro Site PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT SCENARIO

⬚ figure

⬚ figure

building at 77 feet and Braddock Place at 85 feet. It is important to note, however, that the Metro site is at a grade at least 10 feet lower than its neighbors, making its potential 77-foot height appear lower from certain vantage points. Building “shoulders” at the sidewalk that support taller, setback structures would provide a low-rise transition between taller elements proposed for the site and the pedestrian scale and lower-rise conditions prevalent throughout the neighborhood. The Plan encourages contemporary interpretations of Alexandria building characteristics and materials that are unique to the industrial heritage of the Braddock Metro neighborhood.

In the proposed development, bus circulation would shift from a one-way loop to a more efficient two-way busway with ten bays. The two office buildings could extend over a portion of the proposed bus-way, creating a sheltered waiting area. Additionally, a canopy on the western façade of the existing Metro embankment would help to protect transit riders from the elements. A limited number of parking spaces to the north of the site would accommodate parking for taxis, Zipcars, and disabled

Site cross-section along the edge of the Metro tracks showing relative building heights

KEY REDEVELOPMENT SITES

Metro Site PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT SCENARIO

users. A portion of the curb on West Street would be designated as a “kiss and ride” zone. On-site parking for the office building will be underground.

The Plan recommends the future designation of this site and the block referred to as the “Adkins site” as a Coordinated Development District (CDD) to ensure the urban design, high-quality architecture, and public amenities described in the Plan. CDD guidelines will be developed in the future, after the Braddock East planning process and after further discussion with WMATA.

Although the site is publicly owned by the regional transit authority, the City is allowing additional height and density as envisioned by this Plan in order to create substantial new land value, part of which would need to be channeled into public amenities (both on site and off site). Also, part of the public amenities funding would be allocated to creating and subsidizing the retail space to ensure the right mix and desired variety of retail uses are obtained.

The City has begun a study of the Braddock Road/West Street intersection to explore alternatives for correcting the flooding problem there. The study will provide the City with a better understanding of the solution and cost of any preferred alternative. The next phases consist of design work and bidding the project, followed by construction. The cost will likely be significant, and no funding has yet been allocated for the construction of the preferred alternative.

New development will not aggravate the existing situation at this intersection, because all new development is prohibited from increasing storm water runoff from the site. This is accomplished by detaining any additional runoff on the site until after the peak has occurred in the collection system. The City already requires development in this drainage shed to “over detain,” or hold more water on site than would normally be required, because of the existing problem at the Braddock Road/West Street intersection. In addition, redevelopment in this area will likely involve improvements in the existing storm sewer system in order to provide adequate outfall for the projects; such redevelopment will generally improve the overall storm water capacity.

Development projects located within the Braddock Metro area will be evaluated on an individual basis during the site-plan review process to determine if adequate storm water outfall is available. If not, additional capacity must be made available prior to issuance of a certificate of occupancy. Sanitary sewers for development projects in the Braddock Metro area will be connected to the Potomac Yard Trunk Sewer, which was built with significant excess capacity.

KEY REDEVELOPMENT SITES

Adkins Site EXISTING PARCEL

The Adkins block is formed by Madison, Fayette, Wythe and West streets. The 4.5 acre site consists of 90 units of public housing on the majority of the block. The townhouse-style units include 22 units of one and two bedrooms, 36 three-bedroom units, 23 four-bedroom units and 9 five-bedroom units and are currently occupied primarily by families with multiple children. These are some of the largest public housing units in Alexandria and, by City policy, each one must be replaced, either on-site or elsewhere, if and when the site is redeveloped.

At the west end of the block are 10 small, single-family homes, many built in the early 20th century. One lot in particular, near the corner of West and Wythe streets, has recently been remodeled. Note: The designs on the following pages are illustrative only and are not intended to prescribe a specific site plan or building design. They are intended to show a conceptual alternative that complies with the height, density and public realm standards recommended in the Plan.

⬚ figure

⬚ figure Some of the small single-family homes along Madison and West streets, across from the Metro station

⬚ figure Adkins view along Fayette Street

KEY REDEVELOPMENT SITES

Adkins Site

PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT SCENARIO

⬚ figure

KEY REDEVELOPMENT SITES

Adkins Site PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT SCENARIO

A Vision for the Adkins Block The Plan recommends bisection of the double block by an extension of the Payne Street right-of-way and the complete redevelopment of the entire block. Important to note, however, is that the homes along the west end of the block are privately owned and in most cases, owner-occupied. In order to develop the property as depicted in the proposed concept, an assemblage of the individual properties will be necessary. The City does not have plans to assemble the properties. The remaining portion of the block—over 3/4 of the land area—is owned and managed by ARHA.

The Plan envisions that the ARHA-owned site will be redeveloped with mixed-income housing at a high enough density to include public-housing. The intensification of the block and the total number of market-rate units depicted in the concept drawing should create enough profit to

⬚ figure Example image for the half-acre greenspace in the center of the Adkins Block

pay for approximately half of the cost for the public housing replacement units in today’s dollars. The other half is expected to come from state, federal and private sources. The site should be carefully planned and designed so as not to overwhelm the surrounding context. All four streets that surround the block are designated “walking streets” in the Plan and, as such, require new buildings along its edges to step back above the third floor. The resulting “shoulder” buildings will ensure a pedestrian-scale to the redevelopment that fits into the surrounding context of 3-4 story buildings. Within the central portion of the block, the residential buildings could be higher. The design of all buildings should emphasize a gradual increase in height from east to west with step-backs.

The Plan’s redevelopment scenario also includes on-site open space that would be privately owned but open to the public and accessible directly from the street. The green space in the center of the block is approximately 1/2 acre in size and could contain a play area, seating, walking paths and many trees. Redevelopment of the site should include green edges, with the buildings’ footprints set back at least 10 feet from Fayette and 30 feet from both Madison and Wythe streets. The latter dimension accommodates a

KEY REDEVELOPMENT SITES

Adkins Site PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT SCENARIO

wider planting area against the curb, a 10 foot sidewalk, and well landscaped gardens in front of the lower, 3-story portions of the buildings. The ground-floor units of these buildings should include porches and stoops so that the landscaped areas appear as small front yards to individual, rowhouse-scale units. All of this additional green space along Wythe and Madison is intended to further enhance the walking experience to the Metro station.

The Plan recommends replacing the single-family houses along West Street with a taller mixed-use building with 30-foot “shoulders” along Wythe, West and Madison streets. Along with the pair of 77-foot buildings recommended on the Metro site, this potential hotel or office building helps to frame the half

⬚ figure Illustrative view of future development along West Street across from the Metro station

acre plaza space in front of Metro. Like the other two buildings, ground-floor retail will enliven both West Street and the plaza space. The building would generate developer contributions that could be used for community amenities such as streetscape improvements or park space. Servicing and access to underground parking should come from an alley between the building and the mixed-income housing that may be developed on the Adkins public housing. site. The Plan recommends that mature trees on the Adkins site be retained where practicable.

The redevelopment of the Adkins block is, in many ways, the lynchpin of the Braddock Metro Neighborhood Plan. Located in the approximate center of the planning area, the recreation of the block has the potential to create a new gateway to the Metro station, provide hundreds of new housing units, a potential hotel and 16,000 square feet of neighborhood-serving retail space. It will also deconcentrate public housing and bring people of different income levels together.

The Plan recommends the future designation of this site, referred to as the “Adkins site,” as a Coordinated Development District (CDD) to ensure that the urban design, high quality architecture, and public amenities described in the Plan are achieved.

KEY REDEVELOPMENT SITES

Northern Gateway Site EXISTING PARCEL

The Northern Gateway site is comprised of the eight parcels including the seven acres owned by Jaguar Development, the half-acre water tower site including the adjacent office parcel, as well as the half-acre Yates warehouse site. As it exists today, the site is home to several warehouses, a vast amount of surface parking, a water tower, and a small office building/warehouse facility. Note: The designs on the following pages are illustrative only and are not intended to prescribe a specific site plan or building design. They are intended to show a conceptual alternative that complies with the height, density and public realm standards recommended in the Plan.

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⬚ figure Fayette Street view

⬚ figure Water tower view

⬚ figure Fayette Street where it meets Route 1

KEY REDEVELOPMENT SITES

Northern Gateway Site

PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT SCENARIO

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View of the potential development along Fayette Street, based on proposal from Jaguar Development Corp.

Vision for the Northern Gateway Site

The vision for the Northern Gateway Site includes a transformation of an underutilized warehouse district into a new vibrant community with a mix of uses including retail, office, hotel, and residential development. The proposed development marks an important gateway into the Braddock Metro neighborhood from the north along Route 1, or North Henry Street. The Plan recommends that the Northern Gateway site be considered a CDD area for rezoning purposes. The water tower and adjacent office parcel site have been included as part of the overall Northern Gateway recommendations in order to ensure a coordinated redevelopment of these sites as recommended in this Plan.

KEY REDEVELOPMENT SITES

Northern Gateway Site

PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT SCENARIO

Central to the proposed development is a one-acre public square containing an approximately 2/3-acre park space that, along with critical improvement of pedestrian connections across Route 1 (N. Henry Street), would help to form an important link between the proposed development and Powhatan Park, and the NortEast neighborhood.

Recommendations for the site’s proposed office and residential buildings (50-150 feet) reflect and complement the height and scale of existing development around the site, such as the 150-foot Meridian Tower to the south, as well as the anticipated height and scale of proposed development on the adjacent Route 1 Triangle site. Building “shoulders” at the sidewalk that support taller, set-back portions of the building should be provided, as needed, to create a low-rise transition between taller elements proposed for the site and the pedestrian scale and lower-rise conditions recommended along walking streets such as Fayette Street. The building shoulders will be further evaluated as part of the DSUP process.

POTENTIAL REVENUE GENERATED FOR PUBLIC AMENITIES

KEY REDEVELOPMENT SITES

Northern Gateway Site PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT SCENARIO

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Scenario 1—Yates Warehouse Site redeveloped separately

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Scenario 2—Consolidation of Yates Warehouse Site with Jaguar property

KEY REDEVELOPMENT SITES

Northern Gateway Site PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT SCENARIO

CDD Guidelines

1. USES Allowable uses within the CDD include office, residential and retail uses, as well as uses similar to and supportive of a mix of those uses, including a hotel. The locations of retail uses shall be consistent with the retail/gateways map in the Plan. Ground floor retail space that is neighborhood serving and pedestrian friendly shall be provided along street frontages, including Fayette Street.

2. HEIGHT Maximum heights are shown in the Height and Scale Chapter of the Plan. The final building heights will be further evaluated as part of the DSUP process.

3. DENSITY Maximum density shall be:

• 1.5 FAR
• 2.5 FAR with SUP approval

4. STREET GRID Streets shall be extended and created to complete a street grid consisting of four new blocks surrounded by publicly accessible streets. The blocks shall generally be 300 feet by 300 feet. Specifically, and at a minimum, Payne Street and Fayette Street shall be extended to the northernmost portion of proposed Gateway Landbay 3, and an east-west street shall be created to connect Route 1 to Payne Street, wrapping around the park site.

5. PARK AND OPEN SPACE A public park shall be centrally located in the Northern Gateway neighborhood with a minimum size of 2/3 acre. The majority of the park boundary shall have frontage on publicly accessible streets. A minimum of 38% of the site

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KEY REDEVELOPMENT SITES

Northern Gateway Site

PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT SCENARIO

shall be maintained as open space at ground level with permanent rooftop open spaces and terraces provided in residential buildings.

6. BUILDING DESIGN

A public park shall be centrally located in the Northern Gateway neighborhood with a minimum size of 2/3 acre. The majority of the park boundary shall have frontage on publicly accessible streets. A minimum of 38% of the site shall be maintained as open space at ground level with permanent rooftop open spaces and terraces provided in residential buildings.

7. PEDESTRIAN CONNECTIONS

The CDD shall enhance the pedestrian experience for residents, employees, and visitors to the neighborhood, with appropriate streetscape, sidewalk, lighting, and intersection amenities. In addition, the following specific improvements are required:

a. Pedestrian connection(s) across Route 1 shall be provided with intersection improvements. b. Pedestrian connection to Slaters Lane from the extension of Fayette Street shall be provided. c. Connections to the Potomac Heritage Trail to incorporate interpretive materials of the Heritage Trail shall be provided.

8. GATEWAY ELEMENT

The CDD property owners shall work with the adjacent Potomac Yard property owners to create a public green landscaped area that functions as a gateway element at the north end of the CDD area.

9. PARKING

All parking shall be underground and provided at the ratios shown in the Parking Management Recommendations section of Chapter 8. All streets shall include on-street parking except where the City of Alexandria determines such parking is unnecessary.

10. TRANSPORTATION

CDD property owners shall participate in a district-wide Transportation Management Plan (TMP) to include all future developments in the Braddock Metro Neighborhood, including but not limited to these redevelopment sites: James Bland, James Bland Addition, Samuel Madden/Uptown, Ramsey, Andrew Adkins, 1261 Madison, and the Metro site. This TMP shall be funded at an annual rate of $0.25/sq. ft of retail space and $200 for each residential unit and $0.11/sq. ft for office. The amount will increase annually by an amount equal to the rise in the U.S. Department of Labor's Consumer Price Index. The TMP shall be reviewed and updated as necessary with all

KEY REDEVELOPMENT SITES

Northern Gateway Site PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT SCENARIO

subsequent submissions to the City of Alexandria for development approval.

11. AFFORDABLE HOUSING The CDD is expected to make a significant contribution, in accordance with the policies or practices in effect at the time each project is approved, toward the preservation of affordable housing and the goal of a mixed-income community in the Braddock Metro neighborhood. Currently, a contribution is expected in the amount of at least $2 per gross square foot of residential development, $1.50 per gross square foot of commercial development and $4 per square foot on the additional square footage that is not bonus density or height density, plus 1/3 of any units made possible by bonus height or density, consistent with the conclusions of the Developer Housing Contribution Work Group Report of May 2005 and accepted by the City Council on June 14, 2005. If the City’s policy for housing contributions is updated in the future, then the later policy shall apply. This amount should be contributed at the time of development, with funds to assist with onsite affordable or workforce housing, the cost of redevelopment of public housing in the Braddock neighborhood, or financing scattered-site public housing if needed as replacement units for Braddock area public housing. An alternative is to preserve as affordable existing

private housing within a six-block radius of the CDD, or to preserve or create affordable or workforce housing in other parts of the city based on the City’s housing policies.

12. IMPLEMENTATION CONTRIBUTION The CDD is part of the Braddock Metro neighborhood and constitutes a significant proportion of the new development envisioned by this Plan. The Northern Gateway CDD is therefore expected to contribute to the public improvements throughout the neighborhood as a whole, including a new major park at the Post Office or alternate site; the improvement of Powhatan Park; enhanced streetscapes, and other public amenities.

CDD property owners shall participate in and make a fair-share monetary contribution to the Braddock Metro Neighborhood Streetscape Improvement Fund for pedestrian and streetscape improvements that could include interpretive signage and other improvements in and around the Parker-Gray Historic District.

Based on an analysis of the current proposal for the seven-acre Jaguar development, it is estimated that the Northern Gateway proposal will need to contribute approximately $1,000,000 to the parks and open space fund and

KEY REDEVELOPMENT SITES

Northern Gateway Site

PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT SCENARIO

$1,000,000 to streetscape funds. The final monetary contributions for each fund will be determined as part of the Implementation Advisory Group. In addition, the Plan recommends a monetary contribution of $250,000 for park improvements and maintenance. This analysis does not include other parcels in the Northern Gateway.

Implementation Strategy

10

Without a clear and credible strategy to implement the recommendations set forth in the Plan, this document is just another dusty report on a shelf.

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Community support will be crucial to ensure an effective implementation strategy.

An implementation strategy backed by a strong commitment on the part of the City is crucial to ensuring that the Plan’s objectives will be achieved. The implementation strategy must have solid support from the community, a significant level of transparency, and a clear roadmap regarding financing for public amenities in order to be credible, effective, and lasting. This chapter outlines the following five concrete steps that the City must take to ensure that all the time and effort put forth by the community, the City, and the consultant team will become a reality:

• Establish an Implementation Advisory Group (IAG)
• Create and adhere to a regular communications strategy with the community
• Establish an Interagency City Team for Braddock implementation
• Develop a detailed implementation plan
• Establish a clear formula for funding public amenities with revenue captured from new development

IMPLEMENTATION ADVISORY GROUP

This Plan represents a significant new step toward involving the community in managing implementation. While Alexandria has long embraced community-based planning, this Plan makes the community a partner with the City in implementation. The Plan provides a framework for the future, but many details will need to be worked out with the community following the Plan's adoption. Therefore, the Plan recommends establishing a Braddock Metro Neighborhood Plan Implementation Advisory Group (IAG) comprised of area residents, representatives from the Inner City Civic Association (ICCA), local business owners, public housing residents, and other committed community members who have been active in the planning effort to oversee implementation of the Plan.

The IAG will directly contribute to the Plan's long-term success through their significant participation in prioritizing the list of identified public amenities to promote improvement of the community, and making direct recommendations to the City about spending priorities and public project phasing. The Group's recommendations regarding funding priorities would then make their way through normal City decision-making channels, such as the preparation and consideration of the City's six-year capital improvement program.

The IAG will have the discretion to make certain design-related recommendations, such as determining the desired species of trees, streetscape and park programming, and the design and placement of historical interpretive signs or markers. It will have the ability to recommend specific criteria for types and locations of retail businesses to be recruited and supported with loans or other incentives. It will also review options for the Wythe/Braddock/West intersection. And to ensure that public amenities are provided, the group will work with City staff to monitor ongoing development. Finally, the IAG will be expected to contribute to the annual progress report made to Council and work with the City Manager to help earmark funds for amenities within the neighborhood.

COMMUNICATIONS

To maintain the support of the community, communication will be as important as the Plan itself. To keep the community informed about progress of

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Braddock Bulletin Newsletter

the Plan’s implementation, the City of Alexandria commits to:

• Using the Planning and Zoning Department website, e-News, the quarterly Braddock Bulletin and other means to keep neighbors informed about any breaking news or timely developments.
• Working with the community to help to write the detailed implementation plan subsequent to the adoption of this Plan.
• Writing an annual “Status of Implementation” report, beginning at the end of 2009, to highlight progress.

CITY'S INTERAGENCY BRADDOCK IMPLEMENTATION TEAM

One of the major obstacles to a successful 2006 Braddock planning process, as cited by the community, was a lack of cooperation and communication between City agencies. This Plan recommends the creation of an interdepartmental City staff team to meet regularly to ensure that implementation proceeds as planned. The City team will work with the IAG to coordinate recommendations and requests, and ensure that City departments communicate with the group.

The City Team will provide quarterly reports to the advisory group and citizens as well as an annual progress report docketed for Council, with all information regarding the process posted on the web and made public. This process will be a regular and public opportunity to show how the City is implementing the Plan. The purpose is to report to and get input from the community where appropriate, such as on priorities for the neighborhood or programming of the new park. Some technical or code issues cannot be open to debate, but they will also be reported to the public. This new process does raise staff resource issues, but is being proposed as part of the Plan.

FUNDING PUBLIC AMENITIES

Traditionally, most public amenities have been funded by the City through financing from the general fund. Some projects, especially those involving social services and education, are funded in part by the Commonwealth of Virginia while others—particularly large transportation projects—may be partially funded by the federal government. While many public improvement projects should continue using these traditional methods, the Plan takes into account the challenge the City will have in funding many of the recommended open space, public housing, streetscape, and public safety improvements.

Therefore this Plan takes advantage of a new approach to financing and implementation not available during previous rounds of planning—tapping into the neighborhood’s growing wealth and real estate values (stemming both from access to Metro and increased interest in living in close-in and walkable neighborhoods) to implement significant community improvements. The result will translate market support and community benefit dollars generated by new development into a new neighborhood retail square, amenities

such as walkable streets and a new neighborhood park, and take advantage of the underlying value of public housing sites to transform islands of public housing into mixed-income housing that is part of the larger community.

Private development projects after the Plan’s adoption will be expected to fund many of the improvements recommended in this Plan. Revenue from future development will be raised via developer contributions and city capital funds that could be financed by additional tax revenue created by new development projects.

The success of this funding scenario depends on future real estate market conditions and on the neighborhood residents’ acceptance of new development projects that will increase the pool of funds that can be used to pay for the public improvements identified in the Plan.

The public amenities described in earlier chapters include a new community park on one of three potential sites; streetscape enhancements on the four designated “walking streets” and elsewhere; improvements at a handful of intersections, most notably at Braddock, Wythe and West streets; and burial of utilities along selected blocks. A breakdown of the cost of these public amenities appears in the table on the next page and ranges from $19 million to $35 million. For parks, these figures include approximate costs for site acquisition and construction. These figures also include funds dedicated to recruiting and stabilizing locally-owned, neighborhood-oriented businesses as well as funds needed for the revitalization of businesses and enhancements

for existing buildings and sidewalks along Queen Street. The estimated cost of the neighborhood retail component of the Plan is $4 million to $6 million.

The cost estimates in this chapter are based on current 2008 dollars and reflect best practices from around the country. It is recognized that final costs will vary, therefore the Implementation Advisory Group will play an active role in prioritizing which public amenities are recommended to receive funding once final costs are determined.

CAPTURING REVENUE FROM NEW DEVELOPMENT

In order to build the place the community desires featuring the public improvements identified in the Plan, an assessment was made of the potential revenue that could be captured from new development and used to fund community improvements.

The rising demand for housing in urban areas like Alexandria increases values in the real estate market, which in turn creates the opportunity to seek greater public benefits from residential, office, retail, and mixed-use development. Research by the Brookings Institution indicates that offices, retail space, rental housing, and ownership housing in walkable, mixed-use environments all command significant premiums (30%–40%) over their suburban counterparts. This premium suggests that developers can derive substantial profits over the intermediate and long terms from any volume they are allowed to build beyond “as of right” levels permitted under current

zoning. Such calculations take into account requirements for below-grade parking, buried utilities, and landscaped setbacks and open space. Although residential markets may have plateaued nationally, long-term demographics and other trends lead some real-estate economists to predict that the kinds of premiums cited by Brookings will continue to support substantial increases in value for development in walkable, transit-oriented urban areas like the Braddock Metro neighborhood.

In a typical housing market, an extra 100,000 square feet of development (because it does not add to land costs and it takes advantage of some infrastructure costs) could readily add $7.5 million to $10 million to a developer's bottom line. It is fully reasonable for the City to request a significant portion of this increase as developer contributions for public benefits. This strategy will likely decrease the value of land proportional to the anticipated value of the contribution. This decrease may be advantageous, however, by slowing the rush of property purchases and development proposals by speculators immediately after the adoption of the Plan.

A real-estate economics firm analyzed the Plan's projected development program to determine the level of capital that could be raised within the Braddock Metro neighborhood over a 20-year period. The analysis included construction and property acquisition costs for multiple land uses and calculated a reasonable exaction that could be expected from these new projects. If, as expected, Alexandria's residential and commercial market remains strong, and developers remain confident that they can turn a profit on investments, the City could expect revenues generated through developer contributions to resemble these examples (All assume buried utilities on-site, site landscaping and underground parking):

• For an apartment building, sometimes the economics do not generate any additional revenue that could provide for off-site community benefits, but depending on circumstances, sometimes they may generate additional revenue.

COST RANGE OF RECOMMENDED PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS

• Based on calendar year 2008 dollars

• For market-rate townhouses, 18 units on an acre of land could generate $150,000 for public improvement projects.
• For mid- or high-rise condominium, a one-acre parcel developed at a 2.0 FAR could generate $1.5 million of capital for public improvement projects.
• For office building, a one-acre parcel developed at a 2.0 FAR could generate $1.6 million for public improvement projects.

The full, 20-year build-out recommended by the Plan and described in the table below, could generate $14–18 million in developer contributions toward public amenities. Development projects would range from the 770,000-square-foot Jaguar project to a 22,500-square-foot infill project on the parking lot across Henry Street from the Post Office.

The actual amount of developer contributions will be determined as part of the implementation plan process. The amount will be based on each development’s pro rata share per square foot of development of the total improvement and amenity package. Contribution rates may vary depending on such variables as the amount of open space or other improvements provided on-site and the degree of additional density requested.

In addition to revenue generated through development dollars, the consultant looked at the potential that increased tax revenues generated by new development could deliver for neighborhood improvements. The City could use these added tax revenues to finance capital projects. The value of the 20-year build-out is estimated at close to one billion dollars, which would generate approximately $8.7 million in additional property taxes. The Plan recommends for a 10-year period directing 20% of incremental tax revenues from future development and leveraging 20 years of projected revenues through either up-front City cash-capital or bond issuance to support public-amenity projects in the neighborhood. These property taxes could help pay for up to $19 million in capital projects. (An exception to this recommendation applies to redevelopment proposals for the Andrew Adkins and Samuel Madden public housing sites, where the assumption is that 100% of incremental tax revenue—along with the developer contributions—will be used to build replacement housing at an estimated $450,000 per unit, either nearby or at other sites, as determined during the Braddock East planning process.) Combined with the revenue generated by development contributions, the total pool of nearly $33–37 million at full build-out should be able to finance the projected cost of the recommended

REVENUE GENERATED THROUGH NEW DEVELOPMENT VS. COST OF PUBLIC AMENITIES

• Based on calendar year 2008 dollars

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public improvement projects. Financing these capital projects will need to fit within the framework of the City’s policies and practices in regard to capital budgeting and financing.

Under normal circumstances, it would take the City decades to fund such a list of neighborhood improvement projects through the general fund. The private-sector development projects spelled out in this Plan, however, could lead to the implementation of many of these public amenities far sooner. For this to occur, the market demand for living and working in transit-accessible urban neighborhoods must remain robust. All indications drawn from the last 20 years anticipate that such demand will remain and even increase in the foreseeable future, since gas prices and traffic congestion are expected to increase. Despite this, the Plan builds in some flexibility to allow for market fluctuations. For instance, the two planned buildings on the Metro site and the western-most development parcel on the Adkins block are slated for mixed-use zoning. Retail will be required on the ground floor, but the upper levels of these buildings could be office or hotel.

View of office or a hotel development on the Metro site viewed from Madison Street.

PLAN RECOMMENDATIONS BY CHAPTER

Principle 1—Create a sense of place with neighborhood identity, vitality, and diversity

• Take comprehensive steps to document, memorialize and celebrate the neighborhood’s history through such means as an oral history project, a walking tour/heritage trail, podcasts and interpretive markers/pavers. (p. 25–6)
• Develop a range of housing types at differing levels of affordability. (p. 27)
• Support qualifying existing retail businesses and recruit new retail businesses with dedicated funding, a portion of which should support Queen Street improvements. (p. 29)
• Study the feasibility of reconfiguring Queen Street for two-way traffic, especially between West and Patrick Streets. (p. 29)
• Encourage “live-work” uses, particularly in small-scale redevelopment of some properties along Queen Street and elsewhere in the neighborhood. (p. 29)
• Ensure that new construction complies with the City’s Green and Sustainable Building Checklist and strong preference for LEED certification. (p. 32)

Principle 2—Provide walkable neighborhoods that are secure and feel safe

• Designate the following streets as “walking streets.” (p. 37)

  West between Queen and Madison Fayette between Queen and Route 1 Madison between West and Washington Wythe between West and Washington

• Incorporate “building shoulders” along the four walking streets that are capped at three stories or 40 feet, with new buildings allowed to rise higher after stepping back some distance from the building front. (p. 37)
• Require active uses on the ground floor of any new or significantly renovated building, including retail, restaurants, or residential entrances. (p. 37)
• Prohibit surface lots, parking garages and blank walls that compromise the quality of the walking street. (p. 37)
• Study the feasibility of creating a primary pedestrian connection between the Metro station and the Northern Gateway through the Braddock Place development, to include a study of ADA accessibility. (p. 38)
• As an alternative, study the feasibility of a walking route along the road parallel to the Metro embankment, taking into account possible transit use as well as bicycle use. (p. 38–9)
• Work with the community and property owners to locate community oriented uses, artist studio spaces and possibly subsidized retail in the currently vacant spaces in Braddock Place. (p. 38)

• Study the feasibility of building a tunnel connection under the freight rail tracks to connect the area west of the tracks to the Metro station and the Braddock neighborhood. (p. 40)
• Conduct a study to evaluate and propose improvements to pedestrian safety, traffic management, and accessibility for all modes at the Route 1/Fayette Street, Route 1/First Street and the Braddock/Wythe/West intersections. (p. 41-2)
• Provide any missing curb ramps, crosswalks or street lights at intersections throughout the neighborhood. On blocks located on streets not designated as “walking streets,” funds should be prioritized to provide a minimum level of enhancement including street trees, pedestrian-scale sidewalk lighting, and bicycle facilities. (p. 42)

Principle 3—Establish a series of community-serving, usable open spaces

• Create a new one-acre public neighborhood park at the Post Office site or alternatively at the Andrew Adkins site, with the 1261 Madison site as a third alternative candidate should conversion of the two preferred spaces prove unfeasible or unreasonably long-term. The portion of the Madison site closest to the street should be set aside as a pocket park when it is developed. (p. 44-6)
• Create a well-designed and active plaza space on the Metro site in conjunction with redevelopment. (p. 46)

Principle 4—Encourage community-serving retail and services

• Retain existing neighborhood-oriented businesses and recruit new ones with $4-6 million in funds generated through new development. (p. 49)
• Ensure that new retail space complies with design guidelines set forth in Appendix B, page 144 and page 49.
• Concentrate retail in the four locations designated by the Plan as retail clusters of 10,000 to 45,000 square feet, to include: (p. 50)

  A neighborhood square of stores, restaurants, and possibly small-scale entertainment uses at the Metro site; Queen Street; The ground floor of new mixed-use building on the non-park portion of the Post Office site; and Within replacement buildings on the Samuel Madden public housing site, in conjunction with the 23,000 square feet of retail space within the approved Madison project.

• Require that the RFP issued for development of the Metro site include a provision for a non-profit retail developer partner and a long term master lease substantially below market as part of the public benefits provided by the developer. (p. 50-2)

Principle 5—Promote mixed-income housing and follow an inclusive process to deconcentrate public housing

• Comprehensively plan for the redevelopment of the public housing on the Andrew Adkins, James Bland (and Addition), Samuel Madden, and Ramsey Homes sites into mixed-income communities (p. 55)
• Combine the Adkins property with the single-family house lots to the west in order to make the entire block available for redevelopment, and divide the Adkins site into two blocks by extending North Payne Street from Wythe Street to Madison Street (p. 57)
• Create true mixed-income housing that includes public, workforce (rental and/or for sale), affordable (rental and/or for sale), and market-rate housing (p. 59)
• Create a detailed planning framework for public housing redevelopment through the Braddock East Plan with recommendations for unit mix, building types, site plan layout, building heights, density, open space, streetscape and parking. Establish a CDD and guidelines for these sites. (p. 65)

Principle 6—Manage multimodal transportation, parking and road infrastructure

• Evaluate measures to discourage cut-through traffic and manage the speed of traffic on local streets, including traffic-calming strategies that slow and/or divert traffic back to the system of collector and arterial streets. (p. 73)
• Evaluate Madison, Montgomery, and Queen Streets to determine feasibility of conversion from one- to two-way. (p. 79)
• Explore the possibility of Montgomery Street as a transit route between the Metro station and other north-south routes. (p. 79)
• Establish a district-wide transportation management plan (TMP) and a TMP Coordinator. (p. 79–80)
• Revise the current parking requirements for properties located within 2,000 feet of the Metro station, establishing this area as a parking district with its own set of required parking ratios. Parking ratio recommendations can be found on pages 83–85. (Summary table on p. 85)
• Prioritize “right-sizing” parking requirements for new development projects. (p. 83)
• Establish incentives and restrictions that encourage developers to plan carpool and car-sharing parking during the development process. (p. 85)
• Require the provision of bicycle parking (both on and off-street), as described in the Bicycle and Pedestrian Mobility Plan. (p. 85)
• Separate the cost of parking from multi-family residential development. (p. 85)
• Evaluate existing on-street parking restrictions and parking for existing residents. (p. 85)

Principle 7—Achieve varying and transitional heights and scales

• Ensure that the height and scale of new development reflects the existing scale and character of the four Character Areas and provides context appropriate transitions. (p. 88)
• Ensure that new development complies with the Plan’s overall urban design concept, including the recommended network of walking streets, open spaces, retail areas and building scale. (p.90–1)
• Allow for increased maximum allowable height only at the Northern Gateway CDD and the Metro site, as shown in the Development Table on page 97. Determine maximum heights for the Andrew Adkins public housing site in the Braddock East Plan. (p. 92)
• Require building “shoulders” with setbacks of at least 12 feet before additional height is permitted above a 40–50-foot street wall facade, especially along West, Wythe, and Madison streets (three of the Plan’s walking streets), and along the north, east and south edges of the Metro site. (p. 92)
• Ensure the urban design, high quality architecture, and public amenities described in the Plan by designating the Metro and Andrew Adkins sites as CDDs. This should occur after further discussion with WMATA and after the Braddock East planning process, respectively, with subsequent development of CDD guidelines. (p. 102)
• Bisect the double block within the Andrew Adkins public housing site by extending the Payne Street right-of-way when redeveloping the entire block. (p. 105)
• Replace the single-family houses along West Street at the Andrew Adkins site with a taller mixed-use building with 30 foot shoulders along Wythe, West and Madison Streets. (p. 106)
• Retain mature trees on the Andrew Adkins public housing site where practicable. (p. 106)
• Designate the Northern Gateway area, including the water tower site, adjacent parcel, and the Yates site, as the Northern Gateway Coordinated Development District (CDD) with CDD Guidelines as recommended on page 111–114. (p. 108)

Develop an implementation strategy backed by a strong commitment on the part of the City

• Establish a Braddock Metro Neighborhood Plan Implementation Advisory Group (IAG) comprised of area residents, representatives from the Inner City Civic Association (ICCA), local business owners, public housing residents, and other committed community members who have been active in the planning effort. The IAG will oversee implementation of the Plan, including prioritizing public amenities and providing recommendations on the programming of

public spaces, street tree types, wayfinding, criteria for retail, intersection improvements, etc. (p. 116)

• Create a communications strategy for informing the community about implementation progress using the P&Z website, eNews and the quarterly Braddock Bulletin newsletter. (p. 117)
• Produce an annual Status of Implementation report, beginning at the end of 2009. (p. 117)
• Create an interdepartmental City staff team to meet regularly and provide quarterly reports to the IAG, the community and City Council. (p. 117)
• Fund many of the pubic amenity improvements recommended in this Plan with revenue from future development via developer contributions and city capital funds that could be financed by additional tax revenue created by new development projects. (p. 118)
• Determine developer contributions for public amenities as part of the implementation plan process. The amount will be based on each development's pro rata share per square foot of development of the total improvement and amenity package. Contribution rates may vary depending on such variables as the amount of open space or other improvements provided on-site and the degree of additional density requested (p. 120)

APPENDIX A

Design Guidelines

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DESIGN GUIDELINES

Introduction

Exemplary urban design is fundamentally important to the success of the Plan and ensures that new development is compatible in this historic area. High quality urban design should pervade the entire public realm—streets, parks, plazas, transit facilities, as well as the design of building facades, ground-level uses and their interchange with the street, landscape areas, and building massing. Quality design of the public realm delivers benefits to individual places and the larger community in a variety of ways:

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Quality pedestrian environments help to increase a community's sense of vitality.

• A safe, inviting pedestrian and bicycle network helps sustain an accessible community, which in turn offers many significant benefits:

  • greater mobility, especially for those with limited access to automobiles, especially due to the presence of significant transit resources—the Metro station and existing and planned bus service;
  • reduced auto use, which mitigates locally-generated traffic, pollution and energy use impacts;
  • public health benefits from increased everyday exercise; and
  • greater presence of pedestrians on streets, which increases public safety, opportunities for informal interaction among residents, sense of vitality, and opportunities for pedestrian-oriented retail.

• Well-designed urban landscapes reinforce sense of place and identity through several means. They:

  • introduce consistent themes and special landmarks that make an impression on resident and visitor alike.
  • can highlight the Parker-Gray Historic District and other unique aspects of local culture.
  • extend the high level of urban design for which Alexandria is already well-known in neighborhoods like Old Town.

• Well-designed public spaces provide a myriad of public benefits:

  • Beautiful streets shaped by street trees, smaller-scale landscaping, and handsome buildings. As noted in the Alexandria Open Space Plan, streets themselves constitute a very significant form of open space, owing to the sheer area they cover, their composition as a network serving the whole city,

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Neighborhoods like Old Town and the area surrounding King Street are known for their high level of urban design.

and the significant plantings and recreational opportunities (including everyday walking and biking) they include. In fact, the Open Space Plan specifically defines Patrick, Henry and Wythe Streets as major thoroughfares that should be enhanced to become more pedestrian-friendly and attractive urban open spaces.

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Quality recreational resources promote community health, value and vitality.

Bike paths, parks and other recreational resources. The necessary framework for a balanced mix of well-located uses supporting neighborhood life, including pedestrian- and neighborhood-oriented retail, and a variety of housing types. Reduced energy use, pollution generation and heat gain, and other environmental benefits, particularly in comparison to communities with less landscaping and higher traffic generation.

• A high-quality public realm also benefits the privately-owned built realm by:

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Streetscape enhancements can add value to existing ground-floor retail along Braddock Road.

Protecting and increasing the value of existing properties. Adding value to new development, thereby providing incentive for high-quality new development where it supports community goals. Preserving valuable views and daylight access through regulation of building form.

• Perhaps most important, a high-quality public realm is the expressed desire and will of the community.

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Ground-level retail, seating, and landscaping all contribute to a high-quality public realm.

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APPENDIX A | DESIGN GUIDELINES ■ 129

The following design guidelines, applied to the entire Small Plan Area, aim to provide more specific direction on a number of issues already introduced in this document in more general terms.

A. Public Street Network

1. Street Character Types

Streets within the planning area should express a public realm character that falls within one of a limited number of defined street character types, as illustrated in the accompanying diagram. Traffic volume is just one of several factors used in classifying street charac-

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ter; building scale, extent of pedestrian facilities and volume, prevalent land uses and other factors also help define character. Defined character types consist of:

• A1: Principal walking streets. These include four streets— West, Fayette, Madison and Wythe—designated as priority pedestrian routes deserving special attention to pedestrian accessibility. These streets also present important public faces both to local residents and to others passing through the area to and from the Metro and other destinations. Accordingly, land use selection and quality of architecture and urban design are subject to high standards in these guidelines to ensure quality and distinction of character.

⬚ figure Fayette Street is proposed as a principle walking street.

• A2: Principal gateway streets. These include streets with the most significant vehicular (as well as pedestrian) connections to surrounding areas of Alexandria and the region. Patrick and Henry Streets (U.S. 1) are the most prominent among these, but Braddock Road, Queen and Cameron Streets also fall into this category as principal public faces of the planning area to passers-by. As with A1 streets, land use selection and quality of architec-

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Route 1 is a principal gateway street in the Braddock Metro neighborhood.

ture and urban design are subject to high standards in these guidelines to ensure quality and distinction of character.

• B: Typical residential streets. These include the majority of streets other than types A1 and A2. Their character is predominantly associated with residential development, although institutional and retail uses may occur in specific places. These also include the majority of streets within the Parker-Gray Historic District, and thus collectively should play an important role in reinforcing the presence of the district. Type B streets are subject to a somewhat looser set of guidelines than A1 and A2 streets in recognition of the practical and urban design value of greater architectural

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Oronoco Street is a typical residential street.

diversity and individual initiative by property owners on streets with less individual prominence.

• C: Service streets. These streets, few in number, primarily serve vehicular traffic needs and have more limited standards for building frontage and pedestrian accommodation. They include the drive between First Street and the Metro station, and the proposed service street between Fayette and Henry Streets aligned with or offset from Montgomery Street.

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This drive between First Street and the Metro Station primarily serves vehicular traffic needs.

2. Identity

The design of public realm elements should reinforce place identity of the overall planning area and its subdistricts.

• Hierarchy. Devise a hierarchy of identity that defines the overall planning area foremost, as well as subsidiary districts, corridors, and activity centers, most importantly the Parker-Gray Historic District. Identifying elements may include signage, banners, street furniture, tree species and placement pattern, building form and/or other consistent elements that offer opportunity for customization.
• Gateways. Landmark gateway elements offer special opportunities to define identity at a variety of levels. Gateway markers could take a variety of forms, from prominent buildings to stone pillars to more subtle changes in landscape such as change in street tree species or sidewalk paving. (See Retail, Views and Gateways diagram in Chapter 6)
• Public art, including publicly accessible art in private development, adds visual and cultural interest to the public realm, offering opportunities for community members to express individual and collective identity and help shape their own environment. Many everyday

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High-quality wayfinding signage at pedestrian scale is as important to pedestrians as road signage is to drivers.

items along sidewalks, in parks and other public areas—from pavers and fences to bus shelters and pedestrian bridges—offer possibilities for collaboration with artists. Public art cannot substitute for active ground-floor building uses that engage pedestrians, but it can serve as an important supplement. (See Open Space Framework diagram in Chapter 5)

Sculptures, fountains and other public art and publicly accessible art in private development are important elements in the public realm, providing neighborhood focal points and objects of interest, places to meet and gather, and accessibility to art that some people might not otherwise have. The plan-

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Many ubiquitous elements of streetscape present good opportunities to incorporate public art.

ning process took a comprehensive look at this important civic element to determine where art could best serve the neighborhood—celebrating its rich history and creating a sense of place in a coordinated manner.

In addition to the planned public art at the new Charles Houston Recreation Center, the plan designates six locations that will bring the community together and help contribute to the vibrant place envisioned by the plan and the community. Public art or publicly accessible art in these six key locations will provide a strong visual impact, and strengthen and create new gathering places in the neighborhood with the redevelopment of each location.

The Plan recommends incorporating art in the neighborhood in the following ways: (a) Preferred art locations include the redeveloped Metro Station site, the Northern Gateway neighborhood, Metro East (the current Andrew Adkins site), the Post Office site if transformed into public open space, and Samuel Madden Uptown and the Queen Street Retail Corridor. (b) The blocks anticipated to redevelop shall make a monetary contribution to the City for the commissioning, design, and creation of each piece of art; or provide on-site art, as determined by the City as part of the review process. (c) The Plan strongly encourages creation of art that reflects the rich industrial, railroad, and African American history of the neighborhood, and that local artisans be commissioned to create pubic art.

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Because the exact placement of the art is undefined, the plan recommends that, consistent with established City policy, art installed on public land be reviewed and approved by the Commission for the Arts. For art that may be installed on privately owned but publicly accessible land, the plan recommends that the community, developer, and City work together to identify the location and type of art to be installed. This approach has been successfully implemented in recent installations of publicly accessible art in private development projects.

3. Sidewalks

• Protect pedestrians from traffic. Provide at least a planting strip or tree wells (except along retail frontage or other active ground-level uses where planted areas should be discontinuous or omitted) and on-street parking wherever possible. In planting strips or tree wells, include street trees where width allows; in other areas, particularly along streets with higher traffic levels, planting strips should be 4 to 6 feet wide or

Enhanced Intersections

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Crossings at the targeted intersections identified above are priority locations for enhancements.

greater. Low-height planting materials can be utilized in areas with overhead utilities

• Make street crossings prominent, safe and convenient. Good crosswalks are highly visible to drivers, make accessible connections to sidewalks, have convenient signals where they occur, and provide median refuges where possible at especially broad streets. Many area crossings lack one or more of these basics. At the Metro Station site, explore installation of masonry pavers or similar enhanced surface materials and added width.

(1) Distinguish crosswalk from adjacent traffic paving. (2) At signaled intersections, provide pedestrian signals that display a numeric countdown of crossing time remaining and have audible indications of phase.

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Countdown crossing signals alert pedestrians to the remaining safe crossing time more effectively than simple flashing signals.

(3) Make each crosswalk at least as wide as the widest sidewalk approaching it. Provide accessible curb cuts linking crosswalks to sidewalks. (4) At intersections where crosswalks span more than four traffic lanes—the key instances occur on Henry Street north of First Street—provide if possible a median refuge at least 6 feet wide to the extent possible for pedestrians.

• Keep curb radii as tight as possible at street corners, preferably 15 feet where curbside parking occurs (with no bulb-out), and 25 feet where curbside parking does not occur and where bulb-outs do occur.

• Provide adequate width. All sidewalk areas for new development shall be a minimum of 14 feet from the curb to the face of the building. Where retail or other active uses are provided, wider sidewalks, (16 to 20 feet) are required, occupying a portion of the development parcel if necessary. A portion of the 14 feet may be landscaped for residential uses if compatible with the character of the street, but maintain a 6- to 8-foot minimum sidewalk width in these areas. All sidewalk and planter bed edges shall be flush with grade.

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Provide generous entrance and visual access between sidewalks and ground-floor uses to make walking more interesting and safe.

• Special Paving. Paving should maintain smooth surfaces, with level changes not exceeding ¼-inch. This standard facilitates ease and safety

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Running Bond pattern

of access by people in wheelchairs, by people with other mobility constraints or using child strollers, and by those on foot. Maintaining this standard with bricks requires care in installation and maintenance. All brick sidewalks shall be embedded in a concrete base. Special accent paving is permitted at all building entrances. More specific requirements per street character type:

(1) Fayette and Wythe streets should have exclusively city-standard brick with a running bond paving pattern.

(2) Other Type A1 and A2 streets should have fully concrete sidewalks with visual accents such as score lines. Sidewalks must conform to concrete and other City of Alexandria standards, and include “lamp black” color additive.

(3) Fully concrete sidewalks are acceptable on type B and C streets and can be visually accented where desired with score lines and/or masonry pavers. Sidewalks must conform to concrete and other City of Alexandria standards, and include “lamp black” color additive.

(4) Other sidewalk and crosswalk areas noted in the diagram on page 134 (West Street and Braddock Road at the Metro station; Patrick at Fayette; and Henry and Patrick at First, Madison and Wythe) indicate prominent areas of high pedestrian traffic that deserve special attention to pedestrian convenience, safety and investment in quality materials. In other areas, give priority to basic connectivity over special aesthetic treatments.

4. Curb Cuts

Minimize the number of curb cuts along streets with active sidewalks and higher levels of vehicular traffic. Locate curb cuts on type C streets or alleys whenever possible, and otherwise on type B streets to minimize their presence on type A1, A2 and retail overlay streets. Where curb cuts do occur, sidewalk paving according to street character type shall be continuous, level and flush across the width of the curb cut. At locations with limited sight lines between drivers and pedestrians, provide audible signals indicating approaching vehicles. Load-

ing areas are limited to C streets and off-street locations.

5. Trees and Landscaping

A continuous street tree canopy shall be provided wherever possible (street type C and alleys excepted) to serve multiple goals, including aesthetic appeal, pedestrian- and street-level scale, reduced solar heat gain, more comfortable microclimate, privacy and buffering between traffic, pedestrians and occupied buildings, and reduced stormwater flows.

• Ensure a continuous rhythm of street trees lining both sides of the street, generally 25-30 feet on center.
• Choose tree species that are native to the area, can tolerate drought, and contribute to street character. Consciously select species to reinforce general continuity of character along the length of streets, with contrasting species occurring

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Planting strips accommodate a variety of vegetation that help separate pedestrians from traffic, define the character of the overall street, enhance adjacent buildings and open space, and allow natural stormwater infiltration.

along different streets and/or at special locations such as public parks, plazas and retail areas.

• Where possible, plant trees in earth planting strips that are as long and continuous as possible to maximize stormwater infiltration, help trees thrive, and reduce stormwater flows.
• Where tree wells are provided, observe the following: (1) Tree wells shall be a minimum of 4 x 10 feet for new development. New development shall provide contiguous tree trenches to provide maximum soil area for roots to spread and water and air to penetrate. Landscape may be provided in primarily residential areas where compatible with the existing character of the street. Provide irrigation (captured from stormwater instead of municipal supply wherever possible) to ensure adequate water to establish and maintain trees. (2) Tree wells shall be flush with the sidewalk pavement and shall be planted with groundcover. Appropriate groundcover selections are ivy, pachysandra, periwinkles, liriope, and mondo grass; seasonal color may be added. (3) Tree well plantings shall be maintained by the adjoining property owner.

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Tree wells should have contiguous tree trenches to encourage root growth and access to water, be flush with pavement, and be planted with groundcover.

(4) Tree wells shall include tree grates within the retail focus areas if required by the City. Desired type to be O.T. Series grate by Urban Associates, Snohomish, Washington, or equivalent, as approved by the City of Alexandria.

6. Lighting

• Fixtures shall be single black Dominion Virginia Power colonial light fixtures with a standard black finish.
• All streetlights shall be placed to avoid conflict with street trees.
• Where located next to residential uses, streetlights should include house-side shields as needed to prevent lighting from directly entering residential windows.
• Use of fixtures that generate their own power from solar or wind sources is encouraged.

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Dominion Virginia Power colonial light fixtures

7. Street Furniture

Development shall provide street and on-site furniture and amenities for public use. Street furniture may include benches, bicycle racks, trash receptacles, and other forms of art where appropriate.

• Benches (1) Benches located on public streets shall be the Timberform Restoration Series manufactured by Columbia Cascade or similar as approved by the City of Alexandria. The exact bench type within the series may be selected by the property owner. (2) A minimum of two benches shall be provided in each block in appropriate locations based on the specific ground-floor use and the location of bus stops and public open space. (3) Bench seats shall be yellow cedar and the metal frames shall have a standard black, powdercoat finish.

• Bike racks (1) To encourage and facilitate biking as a means of transportation, bike racks shall be provided. (2) Bike racks should be placed in groups at convenient, safe, well-lit paved areas in the building or curb zone. (3) Bike racks shall also be provided in parking garages; and (4) Desired style: consult Transportation and Environmental Services Department staff.

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• Trash Receptacles (1) The trash receptacle to be used throughout the area is the Iron Site Bethesda Series Receptacle

⬚ figure (model SD-42) by Victor Stanley or equal as approved by the City of Alexandria. (2) Trash receptacles shall have a black, powdercoat finish. (3) Trash receptacles shall be generally located near the curb. (4) One trash receptacle shall be located at each intersection. (5) Two additional trash receptacles shall be located mid-block on streets with retail frontage.

• Bollards (1) Bollards may be used as traffic control and safety/protection devices. (2) Decorative bollards shall be used in high-visibility areas, where bollards are required and approved during site review. (3) Desired style: Princeton Embedded (direct burial) Cast Iron Bollard by Spring City Electrical Manufacturing Company, or approved equivalent; finished in black to match streetlight poles. Simple bollards may be used in less visible areas, such as building walls at service and parking

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⬚ figure entrances, that require protection from automobiles. Desired style: simple round concrete-filled metal post with a concrete cap, painted in one color to match the building architecture.

8. Public Information

Providing information to the public conveys the following benefits:

• Assisting wayfinding within the neighborhood to Metro and other key destinations. Signage should be provided along the principal walking streets enabling pedestrians to navigate to and from the Braddock Road Metro station, Old Town, King Street Metro Station, Charles Houston Recreation Center and other important destinations without use of a map. Good wayfinding information encourages walking, promotes safety, and welcomes those unfamiliar with the neighborhood.
• Reinforce identity as described above; tell stories of place—community history, culture, and values. Stories of place and identity reinforce the community's own sense of self and introduce it to newcomers. Because of the significant amount of social and

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Pedestrian-scale signage should explain local history and mark important walking routes or sites in the neighborhood.

physical change that has occurred and will occur in the Braddock Metro area, public historical information is especially needed to teach current and future generations about what isn't apparent to the eye.

• Announce community events through formal postings (i.e., temporary banners) and accommodation of informal postings on kiosks. Prominent designated kiosks for temporary postings serve as sources of ongoing information about events in the community. This not only provides basic useful information, but also a spontaneous window into the community’s vitality and identity. Kiosks also prevent posting of flyers in inappropriate places such as utility poles and trees.

All wayfinding signage should be coordinated with the citywide wayfinding initiative that will help direct visitors to tourist attractions, Metro stations and other major destinations.

B. Building Edge Conditions

1. Spatial Definition of Streets and Public Spaces

The forms of individual buildings should work collectively to define streets, parks, and other open spaces as spaces clearly bounded on two or more sides. This approach enables each building to contribute its intrinsic form and use to help shape the form and use of the larger neighborhood. The edges of public streets and parks should be defined by creating a clearly visible alignment of facades from building to building within use zones (see

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Consistent building edges flanking the street, together with street trees of consistent height and/or planting pattern, help define the street as a three-dimensional public space.

Transitions section below for locations where a change in land use may cause a change in façade orientation).

• Orient primary façade elements to be parallel to the street.
• At least 75% of a building’s façade length should meet a consistent setback or build-to line shared with adjacent buildings.
• Landscaped areas may intervene between buildings, but relationships from one building to the next should remain apparent.
• Occasional deep setbacks of buildings to create landscaped front courtyards, street corner plazas and similar open spaces can be appropriate, but only if they represent a distinct, isolated condition relative to a well-defined and predominant build-to line.

• Gateway sites and other locations of special prominence within the street network shall feature buildings and/ or public art of high architectural quality celebrating their landmark presence.

2. Scale and Proportion

Create a human-scaled setting at street level through careful proportioning of architectural massing, bays and details.

• Define a walkable street scale with appropriate and consistent building heights. Buildings along principal walking streets shall create a street edge at their lower floors that is tall enough to create an urban quality at ground level but not so tall as to make pedestrians feel they are in a “canyon” substantially out of scale with typical context buildings and street trees. Greater heights, where allowed by zoning, are permitted for portions of buildings that are set back from this street edge a sufficient dimension and at sufficient height above ground that they are perceived as only a secondary street edge subsidiary to that created at ground and initial floors. At the same time, heights less than two to three stories are discouraged as providing too little spatial street definition and too little continuity with taller context buildings. The Braddock Metro planning process involved substantial public input on appropriate street edge heights that resulted in broad endorsement of the following more specific design criteria. (1) Building façade planes at ground and any subsequent initial floors (referred to below

as “street edge facades”) along West, Fayette, Madison and Wythe streets shall not exceed three stories or 40 feet in height (exception: four stories or 50 to 60 feet in height is acceptable along portions of Fayette and Henry Streets. See Building Height and Massing Diagram in Chapter 9 for specific locations). (2) At the same time, street edge façades shall be at least 25 feet in height (one tall story plus parapet for a retail ground floor,

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or two stories for other uses) and are encouraged to measure at least half the width of the street (creating a street aspect ratio of at least 1:2, height:width).

(3) Greater heights, where allowed by zoning, are permitted for portions of buildings set back with a “shoulder” of approximately 12 feet from the street-edge façade. The shoulder can occur no less than 25 feet above street level. For a typical 66-foot-wide street, this translates into an increase of at least 25% in the distance between upper façades as compared to distance between street-edge façades (assuming maximum 15 foot setbacks of street edge façades). The upper floor setback offers several value-enhancing benefits beyond those for human scale at street level: (a) enhanced daylight access and sky sphere visibility to lower building floors and the ground plane; (b) more space for growth of street trees; and (c) potential for roof terraces at setback level that add to unit amenity and street character

• The unbroken horizontal length of any façade plane shall be minimized. Intervals of set-back or projected façade area may be used to permit longer building lengths. For larger projects and developments, consider composing facades as a series of smaller adjacent facades resembling separate buildings to reduce the perceived horizontal mass and scale.

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A series of facades resembling separate buildings helps reduce the perceived mass and scale of these building.

• Buildings shall incorporate elements of intermediate scale between human scale and that of the whole building. At minimum, this shall be accomplished through a “base/middle/top” compositional strategy that defines at least three zones from base to top of the building façade. Additional important intermediate-scale elements include bay windows extending through multiple floors, building wings, areas of consistent material, and other larger elements that are still subsidiary to the overall building form. Facades should include horizontal lines of expression (such as string courses, cornices and window alignments) that correspond to the height of adjacent context buildings.
• Buildings shall incorporate elements responding to human scale. Traditionally these have included windows

and doors and their associated bays; porches and stoops; fences along the sidewalk edge; and smaller façade details such as window shutters, flower boxes and traditional brick, clapboard and shingle dimensions.

• Building tops and other skyline elements that rise above the context buildings deserve special attention as prominent elements in the public realm. As the Braddock Metro neighborhood accommodates another period of growth and change, some of the new structures that make this level of development economically feasible will be higher than the fabric of the existing surroundings. This will mean the construction of new buildings that form part of the City skyline when seen from adjoining neighborhoods, or approaching the Braddock neighborhood on Metro or across the new Monroe Avenue Bridge.
• As these taller buildings take their place in the cityscape, their tops will begin to play an important role in redefining the character and scale of the area, both as seen from the streets immediately below, and as recognizable and memorable parts of

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Building elements that rise above the context of surrounding buildings should be treated as attractive landmarks.

the skyline as a whole. Building tops should be both designed as attractive landmarks with special forms and materials, and limited in scale so as not to appear bulky compared to context scale nor to block views excessively.

Special treatment of upper floors where a building meets the sky creates a sense of drama, helps to make a memorable place, aids in wayfinding, and conveys the message that the building was designed with care, keeping its relationship to its surroundings

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in mind. The Design Principles for the City of Alexandria require that new buildings be designed using the principles of base/middle/top; create scale transitions that are sensitive to the surrounding building fabric; and employ articulated tower tops to create an interesting skyline, allow views between buildings, and help sunshine to reach lower building levels and public open spaces. This strategy will help to reinforce and add to the vitality of the Braddock neighborhood, while taking advantage of the opportunities offered by transit-oriented development.

• Use of simple geometric shapes in plan and elevation is encouraged, to simplify perception of buildings and

APPENDIX A | DESIGN GUIDELINES ■ 143

help visually integrate them with built context.

• Utilize vertically-proportioned fenestration; use no strip/ribbon windows.

3. Pedestrian Engagement

Ground-floor building use and design should engage pedestrians. Retail, office and institutional uses all can and should provide a high level of engagement. In residential buildings, including multifamily buildings, ground-floor units shall include individual street entrances and yards wherever possible. Industrial and institutional buildings with frontage on public streets should locate any engaging uses—such as entrance doors and lobbies, accessory office space, and windows into actively used space—along as much of the public sidewalk as possible.

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A well designed retail facade should be at least 75% transparent and should incorporate awnings as these examples in Boston, MA do.

• For retail and other active ground-floor uses, provide transparent glazing for approximately 75% or more of façade area. At corner retail sites, ground-level storefront windows shall extend at least 20 feet along the side street, and both the architecture of the building and the storefront design should address and articulate the corner. The ground floors of all new buildings along street frontage designated for potential retail use should have a floor-to-floor height of at least 15 and no more than 20 feet to ensure the potential for quality retail space.

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Mixed-use buildings should include a high-degree of transparency at ground floor commercial uses and a distinctly different façade treatment on upper residential floors, typically expressing bay dimensions of rooms and dwelling units. Examples shown here are in Atlanta.

• Ground-level retail storefronts are encouraged to have exterior awnings that are coordinated with the design of the storefront and the overall building. Awnings should not overwhelm or obscure the architectural and decorative features of buildings. Awnings should not be backlit. In mixed-use buildings, differentiate expression of the ground level from that of floors above.
• The ground floor façade of live/work units should be composed of at least 50% transparent glazing. At residential uses, transparent glazing area shall be limited to 50% of facade area where “punched” windows predominate in adjacent context.
• Ground-floor façade area uninterrupted by glazing should

extend no more than 20 linear feet horizontally.

• Provide entrances to retail, office and other active ground level uses at least 100 feet along the sidewalk where possible. The primary pedestrian entrance should front directly along the sidewalk or corner and, wherever possible, shall provide the primary access to parking. In multiunit residential buildings provide individual entrances for ground-level units and prominent lobby entrances. Single-family dwellings should have a walk linking the front entrance to the sidewalk. Entries should be prominently expressed with canopies, awnings, bay windows, balconies or similar elements.

4. The “Green Edge:” Soft Public-Private Transitions

New development should create a compact “green edge” transition zone between residential buildings and the public sidewalk. The build-to line for residential buildings shall be located 6 to 15 feet back from the sidewalk to provide space for individual unit yards, plantings, fences, stoops and similar elements creating a privacy buffer between public space and private dwelling interiors. Ground-floor levels should be elevated at least one foot above sidewalk level where accessibility requirements allow.

5. Built Context Transitions

New buildings must make complementary transitions to context buildings of different height or use. Where a new building with commercial and/or

multifamily uses abuts a single-family or attached residence, the new building shall be sensitive in vertical and horizontal scale to existing residential structures.

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The new building must also incorporate a significant change or articulation in material or plane along the horizontal extent of walls facing the residential parcel. Where a new building is located closer to the street edge than an adjacent existing one, the portion of the new building façade that faces the setback of the existing building shall be designed to be consistent in its materials and architectural composition with the main building façade(s) facing public streets.

6. Materials

All new development must adhere to these material standards:

• Utilize high-quality building materials such as brick, stone, precast or metal. Locate heavier materials clos-

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This building makes a transition to an adjacent residential street by terminating in a smaller building mass that matches the scale of nearby houses.

This building incorporates high quality brick with heavier masonry materials at ground level.

er to the ground and highest-quality materials and details at pedestrian level.

• Utilize stone, metal or similar du- rable material for trim.
• Use materials to help express base, middle and top sections of build- ings.
• Balance glass and solid surfaces to create predominantly solid facades with windows placed within the wall. Glazing shall not exceed 50% of the overall façade where this pro- portion is typical of existing context (new retail components excluded).
• Use no reflective or darkly tinted glass.
• Integrate HVAC and mechanical equipment unobtrusively into the overall building design.

7. Additional Guidance for Specific

Building Types

• Civic (1) Civic buildings, such as major state and local government facilities, churches, auditoriums and museums, shall strive to embody the noblest aspirations of their time within the context of Alexandria’s distinguished monumental endowment. (2) Civic buildings shall stand out from all others by undisguised building mass, prominent lot placement, scale and importance of unique ornament. Civic buildings should not necessarily imitate the architectural scale of their built context; rather, it may be especially appropriate for them to stand out distinctly from the prevailing scale as community landmarks.

• Multifamily and townhouse residential. Units that do not have direct access from a public street are prohibited. Any unit side wall that abuts a public street shall include windows and other façade details in size and quantity matching the expression of the front entrance façade.

• Retail. Retail spaces shall be at least 60 feet deep and preferably closer to 80 feet deep and shall have a floor-to-floor height of at least 15 and no more than 20 feet to ensure potential for high-quality retail space. The design of signage, awnings, storefronts, window displays and other elements defining retail presence should reinforce local neighborhood character. To this end, prominent use of corporate logos is discouraged. Signage font, scale, material and other characteristics should primarily reflect cues from

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⬚ figure Retail signage should reinforce local character and identity.

the local setting – such as the architectural style of their own and adjacent buildings, themes established among local merchants, and public realm signage and public art reinforcing community identity – instead of conventional corporate signage and logo practice. Signage should be especially oriented to pedestrians, such as through use of signs suspended over the sidewalk.

• Office and Hotel. A high-quality design expression is encouraged for the anticipated new office and hotel buildings on the Braddock Metro site and facing it on the east side of West Street. Such an expression would help recognize and define the parcels and public spaces immediately adjoining the Metro station as a unique place within the Braddock Metro planning area. It would moreover emphasize its distinction from historic and other traditional architecture in the planning area and thus heighten the prominence of each style or era represented. The design shall embody contemporary interpretations of traditional Alexandria building motifs and shall embrace the relatively tall heights permitted in this area compared to context. At the same time, it is essential that buildings around the Metro station continue to exhibit the range of scales, scaled transitions to context, and other requirements of the Building Edge Conditions.
• Architectural Style. The Plan recommends the use of more modern architectural style in the northern part of the neighborhood to reflect the warehouse and industrial history of this area.

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APPENDIX B

Braddock Metro Neighborhood Plan process

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The intensive five month effort that resulted in the Braddock Metro Neighborhood Plan was the successful effort of dedicated City staff and a diverse but committed citizenry. It was assisted by a number of outside consultants. A review of the steps of the process is presented here in order to share and memorialize it.

NEIGHBORHOOD AND STAKEHOLDER INTERVIEWS

Over the summer of 2007, the consultant team interviewed more than 100 people from and involved in the Braddock Metro neighborhood. The purpose of the interviews was to identify key planning themes to address in the charrette and throughout the planning process, and to air community frustration over the nature of the previous planning process in the Braddock area.

In terms of process, the interviews brought to the surface significant issues of trust and communication arising from preparation of the 2006 Draft Plan. Many interviewees expressed frustration with the lengthiness of the process and lack of communication from the City and among city agencies. In general, participants believed that the City had failed to address public requests, suggestions, and questions about the Plan, leading to the perception that the 2006 Draft Plan did not represent a true response to public input.

As far as plan content, or planning themes, there were areas of both agreement and disagreement in the interviews. Almost every interviewee expressed a desire for a plan that would provide the Braddock Metro neighborhood with a strong sense of place. Key to this sense of community would be walkability; safe, well-lit streets; outward-focused buildings; streetscapes with areas for outdoor events, gatherings and celebrations; and beautiful settings free from heavy traffic and above-ground utilities and highlighted by attractive, inspiring architecture.

Opinion varied widely, however, on questions of density, scale, and massing for the area. Key concerns about density included creating set-backs and step-ups so that scale and mass would fit into existing neighborhoods; a desire to see building heights drop in locations farther away from the Metro station; loss of views from homes; traffic congestion and parking problems; and loss of open and green space. Many interviewees accepted the inevitability of trade-offs and compromises related to density and scale but wanted the Plan to bring in amenities and create a sense of place without overwhelming and devaluing the community.

Transportation emerged as another key concern. Many people believed that increased congestion would be inevitable, as the Braddock area becomes increasingly desirable, while others believed that new forms of mass transit could help to alleviate future congestion. Interviewees expressed a strong desire for the Plan to address bus traffic, the needs of pedestrians, parking, local street use, access to the Metro, and conditions on Patrick, Henry, and Washington streets.

Nearly every interviewee identified housing as a major issue needing attention, especially the neighborhood’s public housing. Some feared that the amount of public housing in the Braddock Metro neighborhood could deter potential new development and called for the Plan to reduce the concentration of public housing by distributing it more evenly throughout the city and to diversify housing sizes and types within the neighborhood.

Many other interviewees argued that public housing residents have made their homes in the area for generations, and that while they expected to see the neighborhood improve, they worried that rising property values, taxes, and maintenance and utility costs would force many residents to sell their homes and leave the neighborhood. Public housing residents themselves asserted the need for identifying a suitable relocation housing plan early in the process, and for providing new affordable units, replacement units with sufficient space for larger families, well-designed housing, and access to good public transportation. Some suggested housing improvements that included better coordination among ARHA and City agencies, improvements within and around public housing, use of revenue from new development to purchase properties in other parts of the city for relocated public housing residents, and providing workforce housing affordable to those making very low incomes.

Interviewees expressed near-unanimous interest in new community-serving amenities. Residents want their community to have a strong sense of place, and suggested that this be done by creating a vibrant community alive 16 hours a day, rather than a nine-to-five “roll up the sidewalks” area. The list of desired amenities included cafés and restaurants, shops, convenience stores, a grocery store, usable open spaces, and parks.

Respondents demonstrated great disagreement about the future development of the area around Braddock Road Metro Station. Options discussed included green space, a parking structure, a bus transfer station, and a mixed-use high-rise building. Some interviewees viewed the station site as the neighborhood’s greatest asset, while others viewed its impact as negative. This second group expressed concern that development and density would be shifted to the Metro station, imposing on the Braddock area in order to keep it out of neighboring communities, and that an increase in ridership would worsen traffic and undermine public safety.

Armed with input from the stakeholder interviews, planning staff and the consultant team embarked on a new Braddock Metro Neighborhood Plan process in the fall of 2007 with a focus on consistent, systematic public outreach and engagement, improved communication with the community and among City agencies, and a clear sense of the issues that would need to be tackled in the ensuing months. The process began with public education workshops in October 2007.

PUBLIC EDUCATION WORKSHOPS

More than 160 residents attended three educational workshops on October 16, 20, and 29, 2007, where regional and national experts shared current thinking about planning issues affecting the Braddock Metro neighborhood. The sessions introduced ideas and potential tools that could help the community and the City make decisions and trade-offs to facilitate a mutually supportable plan for the neighborhood. These sessions helped lay the foundation for a community planning meeting, or charrette, that took place on November 3 (described below), and represented important steps in the community process for preparing the Braddock Plan.

At the first workshop (October 16), staff and consultants explained and demonstrated development rights allowed by current zoning on typical blocks in the Braddock Metro neighborhood. They showed how resulting development might alter the neighborhood’s sense of place, walkability, and level of urban-design quality. In addition, a public policy/public housing redevelopment expert addressed public housing issues.

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David Dixon from Goody Clancy speaking during Public Education Workshop #2

The second public education workshop (October 20) began with a presentation on opportunities for neighborhood-enhancing retail development and the potential programming and tenant mix of development within the Braddock Metro neighborhood. This was followed by a presentation about the neighborhood’s history and the preservation issues it faces today. Finally, a leading national expert on the economics and feasibility of commercial and residential development discussed the market demand for different housing products—including multifamily apartments, condos, and townhouses—at the same time, addressing the potential economic benefits of residential development for the city.

This workshop included a bus and walking tour of the issue areas, key redevelopment parcels, and existing projects that had drawn both praise and criticism in the interviews. The consultants who had made presentations earlier in the day led the tour, during which they analyzed opportunities and challenges, discussed relevant case studies from other places, and fielded questions from participants.

During the third workshop (October 29), transportation experts discussed the basics of a complete transportation system, gave information about the Braddock transportation context and conditions, and talked about ways to mange transportation resources. They offered several specific recommendations for the Braddock Metro neighborhood, including enhancing the

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Participants were asked to complete a visual preference survey of photos they took of buildings, streetscapes, housing, and landscapes. They posted green dots on the five elements that they favored most within the neighborhood and red dots on the five elements that they favored least. Green spaces and edges that created a transition from buildings to sidewalks garnered positive votes, while blank walls and buildings built flush to the sidewalk without a green edge drew negative responses. The exception within this latter group involved buildings that contained retail, in which case having no transition to the sidewalk was generally accepted.

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Participants in the October 20 educational workshop toured existing projects and key redevelopment sites.

overall transportation system within the area; improving walkability; and integrating new high-capacity transit initiatives into the Braddock Plan.

COMMUNITY-WIDE CHARRETTE

The day-long community charrette on November 3 focused on development of a shared community vision—expressed as a set of guiding principles drawn up by the participants—that would inform the planning process. More than 75 people took part, engaging in a variety of activities designed to help shape the Braddock Metro Neighborhood Plan. Knowledge that participants had gained during the workshops informed the day’s work, as community stakeholders worked side by side with the City planning staff and consultants.

The low scale and distinctive character of historic blocks attracted unanimous support, but people split almost evenly in their opinions about the Monarch development currently under construction on Henry Street. Reaction to Colcroft was also mixed, with positive responses to the lower townhouse scale, and less positive reactions to the taller elements of the complex. At the Meridian, the pattern of dots suggested that large scale was not acceptable without better architectural and urban design guidelines. From this it could be concluded that better scale transitions would be needed between taller buildings and the historic blocks within the Braddock Metro Neighborhood.

Participants made evident their preference for active-use sites along Queen Street over sites with blank walls. Pairings of photos showing two buildings of similar architecture distinguished primarily by the amount of street-level activity around them elicited a clear

Some of the visual preference survey boards completed during the November 3 community charrette.

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preference for the active-building photo in each pair.

Participants then formed five groups of approximately 15 people each for more in-depth discussion led by charrette facilitators. They spent an hour weighing the objectives below, with the goal of determining which objectives accurately reflected the neighborhood’s thoughts and hopes; whether changes would be appropriate; and whether other objectives needed to be added to the list.

The small groups considered:

• preservation opportunities by completing an exercise in which

they ranked buildings and blocks by their significance for potential preservation: key “must saves,” sites whose preservation would be desirable, or properties that held little importance in their current form for the area and its residents.

• Participants analyzed the public realm by determining ideal places for streetscape enhancements, new open space, and new stores.
• Participants expressed preferences for block massing by using pre-cut foam blocks to discuss and agree on and to illustrate appropriate densities and building heights on potential development sites.

Each group created a physical representation of the planning principles, or objectives, on five base maps using marker, foam bocks, colored paper, and other materials. Within the five individual groups, several common questions, concerns, and themes emerged:

• Exploration of the term “livability” to see how it is defined elsewhere and to determine how the Braddock Metro neighborhood wants to define it.
• A desire to understand what is possible when negotiating with developers.
• Support for the idea of limiting the amount of retail development only to what is economically feasible.
• A desire for additional public green spaces.
• Support for preservation of the neighborhood’s historic structures, especially around Queen Street, particularly important to the cultural history of the Braddock Metro neighborhood.

Draft objectives as stated at the community-wide charrette:

• Sense of place/Neighborhood identity
• Community-serving open spaces
• Safe, walkable neighborhood
• De-concentration of public housing
• Community-serving retail
• Management of traffic and parking
• Appropriate height and scale

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At bottom, four of the five block-massing models created in small group sessions during the November 3 community charrette.

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Composite Urban Design Framework diagrams developed for Work Session #1.

• Recognition of a need for more information about various topics that affect the neighborhood and examples borrowed from other comparable cities.
• Identification of a need to address traffic issues; and
• Underlining of the importance of considering public housing residents during any discussions about public housing.

The group discussions provided the basis for the Plan's guiding principles, the planning process's goals, the urban design framework, and ultimately pointed the way to the neighborhood's future character.

PUBLIC WORK SESSIONS

• Work session #1—The Public Realm. The first of five post-charrette work sessions, held with the community on November 12, focused participants' efforts both on elements of livability within the public realm and on defining and activating a vibrant public realm. In addition to the public realm discussion, participants helped to finalize the principles (which appear on page 6) and reviewed the Composite Urban Design Framework diagrams, both of which

⬚ figure Small group discussion during Work Session #1

summarized the community’s ideas from the charrette (shown at top).

Using the composite diagrams as a starting point, participants discussed public-realm elements such as large open spaces, pocket parks and plazas, and sidewalk design, which should be defined and activated by building walls that define streets.

• Work session #2—Building Height and Open Space Options. The second community work session took place on November 29 and focused on building height and open space options. Detailed discussions examined elements that had drawn support from the majority of the groups during the community-wide charrette—such as enhancements along Fayette Street—as well as elements that received only partial support, such as open space on the 1261 Madison site.

Dividing into three smaller groups, participants used the urban design framework composites as underlays to help develop a single unified diagram showing final locations of potential new open spaces and streetscape enhancements.

Each of the three small groups voted on first and second choices for a major new park within the neighborhood, choosing among sites at 1261 Madison, the Metro station, the Post Office, and Andrew Adkins. Following the open-space deliberations, participants recorded preferences about building heights, using red dots to mark the places where they were concerned about height, and blue dots to indicate satisfaction with heights shown on the proposed Building Heights and Massing diagram. The photos on page 15 show the maps from each group following their discussions. Each group reported back to the full work session on its decisions and rationale.

OUTCOMES OF THE PARK OPTIONS EXERCISE

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⬚ figure Small group discussion sessions during Work Session #2.

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Work Session #2 break-out groups “voted” on proposed heights with red (negative view) and blue (positive view) dots.

A clear majority of participants favored greater height on the Jaguar property as well as building step-downs, or “shoulders,” along Fayette, Wythe, and Madison streets. People generally split evenly over height of up to 120’ feet on the Metro site. At Adkins, while people agreed about limiting building on the edges to 3 stories and allowing taller buildings in the center, there was no consensus about what the middle heights should be. Many expressed concern with the maximum 90’ proposed.

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Small group discussion and dots exercise during Work Session #3.

• Work session #3—Public Housing. On December 13, public work session #3 focused on public housing and exploring ways to take advantage of unique opportunities to create value; lessons learned from successful mixed-income housing initiatives in Alexandria, such as at Chatham Square and in comparable communities; and how HOPE VI and similar planning processes have brought communities together to plan for new development. Roy Priest from the Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority gave a summary presentation on the numbers and types of public housing units in the city, the percentage of those units that are currently within the Braddock Metro neighborhood, ARHA’s land holdings, ARHA programs, the demographics of public housing residents, and funding available to ARHA. Mr. Priest and others also discussed ARHA’s most recent mixed-income housing development, Chatham Square, and the successes and challenges of that redevelopment model.

Participants then broke into smaller discussion groups and were asked to determine what factors would most contribute to a successful, mixed-income community on the public housing sites in the Braddock Metro

neighborhood. Toward the end of the individual group discussions, participants voted on which three factors they felt were the highest priorities.

The previous evening, the planning team met with public housing residents to solicit their input and ideas on the Plan. Leading their list of comments was frustration with past processes—in which they felt planned for, rather than with—but this was balanced by excitement about the current planning process. Most residents felt a strong commitment to remaining in the community and pride in the neighborhood's history. The meeting showed some level of interest in a major new park, neighborhood retail, and more walkable streets. Finally, the residents expressed a desire for home ownership opportunities within the neighborhood. Their feelings were summarized and conveyed to the general public during work session the following night.

• Work session #4—Transportation. The fourth public work session took place on January 7, 2008, and focused on transportation priorities. The session began with a presentation on a traffic impact assessment prepared for the neighborhood and an overview of transportation demand management (TDM) programs.

Participants were shown the traffic impacts that the Braddock Metro neighborhood might experience as a result of the 20-year build-out

scenario presented in the Draft Plan, as well as on overview of TDM programs in cities similar to Alexandria that have effectively reduced single-occupancy automobile trips within target neighborhoods. Attendees weighed in on a range of transportation-related priorities: alignment of the southern end of the Crystal City/ Potomac Yard Transit Corridor; improved pedestrian crossing on Route 1; possible introduction of two-way traffic on streets such as Madison and Montgomery to enhance residential redevelopment and improve conditions for Queen Street retailers; redesign of the Braddock-Wythe-West streets intersection; and enhanced pedestrian access to Metro.

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Transportation Work Session #4

A majority of community members expressed a strong preference for the Transit Corridor to follow First Street and the service road running behind Braddock Place to reach the Metro station. Although many people expressed objections to the transit line's coming into the neighborhood, and a strong opposition to the possibility of a Route 1 alignment, most expressed a willingness to accept this alignment.

Other transportation improvements that the group agreed merited inclusion in transportation improvements for the neighborhood

were better managing cut-through traffic, improving DASH service, and providing marked bicycle lanes.

The work session stressed five key points:

Because of capacity constraints on Route 1 and elsewhere, any increased local traffic volume generated by new development actually helps displace regional traffic. Most residents will notice only a small difference between traffic conditions today and those in 10 to 20 years. Traffic impacts should not be the primary criterion when evaluating development projects. Transportation demand management (TDM) programs will make a difference and contribute—along with the other proposed amenities— to creation of a livable neighborhood and significant reduction of the number of automobile trips in the Braddock area. The City is committed to tracking traffic and parking impacts and ensuring that the programs are designed to reduce auto-oriented trips and encourage other modes.

• Work session #5—Where We Are Today. On January 24, participants reviewed the urban design framework, transportation,

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Faroll Hamer, director of the City’s Department of Planning & Zoning, addresses attendees during the final work session on January 24.

public housing, parking, walking streets, and retail elements of the Plan, along with the implementation strategies discussed during the previous four work sessions. This summary session also focused on identifying additional issues and strategies for consideration during preparation of the Draft Plan.

Participants reviewed a breakdown of the potential cost of public improvement projects and the funds that could be raised through redevelopment. The group then turned its attention to redevelopment scenarios for the Metro and Adkins sites. Participants expressed concern about the height of the two building proposed for the Metro site, despite enthusiasm for the centrally located plaza and its ring of stores and restaurants. Participants considered recommendations for appropriate parking requirements, an alternative alignment for the primary pedestrian-bike route north from the Braddock Road station, and a potential connection that would link the Rosemont and Del Ray neighborhoods to the station and the Braddock neighborhood.

Finally, in order to ensure that the time and effort put forth by the community and the City will become a reality, the Implementation Advisory Group will be created and work with an interagency City team to develop a detailed implementation plan. A communications strategy to provide regular updates to the community about the progress of implementation will also be created.