The Alexandria city council voted 5-2 to approve the city’s controversial waterfront redevelopment plan Saturday night after a day-long public hearing in which supporters urged the council to take action on the much-debated proposal and opponents begged for delay.
The plan — which has been the center of a three-year, city-wide debate — calls for a mix of commercial and residential development, along with public access and parks along much of the Potomac waterfront. Opponents charged that the plan didn’t have enough green space and that the city didn’t need the hotels allowed by the plan. But city planners and supporters said the hotels were necessary to generate tax revenue to pay for waterfront upgrades.
The council added a few amendments to the plan Saturday night, including limiting the number of hotel rooms to 300, with no more than two hotels.
