Eighth Community Meeting for the Two Street Land Use Plan - August 6, 2026
Eighth Community Meeting for the Two Street Land Use Plan
On August 6, 2026, the City of Alexandria held the eighth community meeting as part of the Two Street Land Use Plan. City planning staff presented updates on land use themes, building heights, housing affordability, mobility improvements, parks, and tree preservation. The meeting included a public comment period via Slido, where attendees submitted questions. No votes were taken. The plan is currently in a 30-day public review period, with the draft plan available on the city's website.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Several questions were submitted via Slido. Topics included interim uses along the corridor, parking requirements (including market demand and state legislation), bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure (specifically on Duke Street and King Street), tree planting and maintenance challenges, and the potential for a shared-use trail along one side of the corridor.
- Attendees also asked about the Eisenhower connector, signal timing at Telegraph Road and Duke Street, and the impact of proposed changes on driving times. Staff noted that the plan aims to maintain similar car volumes while improving safety and multimodal access.
Discussion Items
- Land Use & Housing: Staff presented land use themes including residential-commercial medium designations, opportunity areas for redevelopment, and recommendations to require 10% affordable housing in new residential developments above base zoning. The plan encourages housing diversity for different household sizes and life stages.
- Mobility: New street connections, bicycle/pedestrian facilities, and safety enhancements at key intersections were discussed. Street cross-sections were shown to accommodate cars, planting strips, and multiple modes. Staff highlighted study areas for intersection improvements.
- Parks & Open Space: The plan recommends publicly accessible open space in new development areas. Tree preservation and stormwater management were addressed. Staff noted that the city is working to improve tree survival rates through maintenance requirements for developers.
- Building Heights: Most new development will be limited to five stories, with taller buildings near transit nodes and city campus boundaries. Transition zones will buffer existing residential areas.
Key Outcomes
- No formal decisions or votes were made. The meeting served as a public update and feedback session.
- The draft plan is now in a 30-day public review period. Comments can be submitted via the city's website or through the interactive map.
- Staff will consider feedback on parking, bike lanes, tree planting, and connector streets before finalizing the plan.
- A follow-up meeting on specific signal technology and traffic details may be scheduled.
Meeting Transcript
All right. Hello everyone and thank you for joining. We're just about to get started, but I'm gonna give us maybe a minute or two to for folks to make it in from the transition to the webinar starting. So we should be getting started in mere seconds, I would say. Oh okay. All right. Um necessitan interpretation simultaneous. Seleccion in Spanish, seleccionen los tres puntitos, seleccion and interpretación, andas después de eso seleccionen espanol. Great. Alright. And we're off. So this is the eighth community meeting as part of the two street land use plan. We are very excited to have all of you here. Thank you for spending your evening with us. Um especially when it is so nice out. Um just to go over the agenda um before we get started. Some folks who are joining us who are new, and we just want to make sure that we're going to be able to do that. Um keep this uh quick so that we can fit another goal. Um next, that's feedback. Any questions? So to that end for the Q ⁇ A. Let's yet function screen. So I'm gonna start with a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of going. Oh I got ahead of myself. We do have a question. Slido.com Idachu, hashtag metakemchilachu. Some answers. And then your betam let us take no better rush image and marriage subsabay. So I see a fair amount of folks we have so far. I'll just give us a few more chinurunal. But also this isn't this is mostly for this meeting, it's not necessary. That let us in the day which is a very good thing. The response and so business with Grossariu China Michelle to Sukoch in every day retail bacho in Milhasab Karolina of course. We've heard a lot about traffic and mobility and safety. Jeff Diluenta. So again, just for just for everyone, I think I've probably met many of you. I'm Jeff Farn. So let's make them approachable, make sure to understand all. And so what we were doing tonight is and again. So land uses basically number three is a very good thing. But really saying what's on the graphic is what we're doing. This is saying is one area is retail areas, so that's the same thing. This is important because the question is that we're talking about the same thing. So there are two fire stations on the corridor, one of those on Paxton is going to be relocating as part of the former landmark. Really taking all of those concepts and let's make graphically was too much uh sort of high level because there's a lot there is a lot of information here. Um if you can sort of point out is uh there was a lot of conversation earlier about Zuita Dergual with what shown sort of the Mishnacho a Kaba where the what we're calling the plan boundary plan with being encouraged through affordable that sort of purple colors um uh sort of the lavender purple colours and uh that is sort of called out as residential commercial medium. Yeah, I I think it's important to also know we're trying to be flexible, you know, allows very commercial. We think most of the cata tendons are work or to be adaptable and resilient, given the changes that are gonna happen next 20 years. When ultimately the draft plan comes out, had a lot of discussion about small businesses. Um trying to keep a lot of the users.
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