Residents of Alexandria’s Beauregard corridor say they’re going to continue to fight for concessions from the city even though the City Council voted to approve a major redevelopment plan that some residents say doesn’t offer enough affordable housing for low-income tenants.
Dozens of speakers — both for and against the plan — packed the City Council’s hearing on the Beauregard Small Area Plan on Saturday, with protesters chanting slogans inside city hall and standing up in solidarity when speakers opposed to the plan addressed the council. But the plan passed, as six council members voted in favor of the redevelopment guidelines and one abstained.
Residents have expressed concerns about the plan’s provisions for affordable housing — which they worry are inadequate — and asked the council to delay the plan until it conducts a housing survey of the Beauregard area. The plan will displace some residents as it’s implemented over the next 30 years, and some locals are worried the neighborhood will become unaffordable after development is completed.
But Alexandria Mayor William Euille said there’s still time to “flesh things out” regarding affordable housing, transportation and open space in the area, even though the plan has already passed. He added that the council saw no reason to delay the plan and that the city believes the plan will create jobs and revitalize the West End.
Opponents of the plan say the city is cozying up to developers and not listening to residents worried about affordable housing options.
“They should be advocating and negotiating really hard with developers,” said Gabriel Rojo, executive director of Alexandria’s Tenants and Workers United, which is organizing Beauregard-area residents. “You get a strong response from the community because the community can see what’s going on here, and it’s wrong.”
Rojo says his group is still figuring out what to do next, now that the plan has passed, although it will continue to mobilize tenants in Beauregard and work to obtain more affordable housing units.
Euille said heavy opposition to development plans is just part of the process in Alexandria.
“We’re so transparent — unlike a lot of locations, where citizens often don’t have the opportunity to participate in these discussions,” he said. “We allow the discussions. We allow hundreds of meetings, work sessions, community meetings. While something initially out of the box may have a positiveness to it and some legs, after a while people can find holes in it.”
