Fellow residents,

Last week was busy for your board members. Among others from Seminary Hill, your immediate past president Carter Flemming, former president Nancy Jennings, current vice president Frank Putzu, and I all appeared at the city council public hearings. The four of us spoke in opposition to "Zoning for Housing" proposals as currently drafted and bundled. Some other SHA residents spoke in favor.

Carter spoke in her role as chair of the Alexandria Federation of Civic Associations. Frank and Nan spoke as residents, and I spoke on behalf of Seminary Hill Association. You can read the comments I made which were approved by the SHA board (further down). Board member Bill Goff also attended.

The most controversial proposed "Zoning for Housing" changes are to (1) eliminate single-family home zones, and (2) reduce parking minimums throughout the city for all types of neighborhoods, including townhouses and apartments. For Seminary Hill, both proposals promise to have dire consequences. Imagine the house next door being torn down and replaced with a 4-unit apartment building with only two parking spaces. 

Know that there are still two more opportunities for opponents of "Zoning for Housing" to voice their concern:

The Coalition For A Livable Alexandria (CLA)will be in attendance at tomorrow's traditional Turkey Trot road race, which begins at 9 am. The race starts and ends at George Washington Middle School. All the politicos will be there, so come on out. Bring and wave your yard sign or stand with someone who has one. 

Then CLA will be holding a Rally this Saturday 11/25 from 2:00-4:00 pm at Market Square in front of City Hall. Please join CLA's volunteers and other residents from all over the city to demonstrate your opposition to the "Zoning for Housing" provisions.

We have heard from so many of you who oppose the city's proposals. Only one SHA resident has contacted the board to voice their support. A few others, including former board member Jim Durham, spoke out in favor at the public hearing. If you feel the way they do, we want to hear from you. Please send me an email at bill.rossello2@PROTECTED. 

Below are the official SHA comments on Zoning for Housing delivered by the SHA president at the city council public hearing this past Saturday 11/18:

Members of council and City Manager Parajon. I’m Bill Rossello and I serve as the president of Seminary Hill Association, which represents about 20 distinct neighborhoods in Central Alexandria and the West End. If our board or our membership (which, by the way, includes all of our residents) were evenly split on this issue, I would not be speaking before you today. We are not.

We stand with the Alexandria Federation of Civic Associations in opposition to the Zoning For Housing proposals as currently drafted and bundled. Like AFCA, we support extending the timing of the final city council vote until after the 2024 City Council elections so that the city has ample time to arrive at true community consensus.

Our board has a number of specific concerns. One in 5 of SHA’s 2,000 units is a townhouse, including those at Fairlington Towne. For those residents, we are concerned about possible changes to setbacks, FAR and height allowances. And based on what happened with the Blake on Beauregard, we are concerned about 6-story apartment buildings putting their townhomes in shadows.

One in 6 SHA units is an apartment, including those at Braddock Lee and the Fields on Quaker Lane. For those residents, we are concerned that they will continue to be priced out of the rental market, and we don’t see how ZFH will lead to reduced rents for them.

About 60% of SHA units are single family. For those residents, we are concerned that homes next door will be leveled and small apartment buildings constructed, taking away the choice they made to live in a single-family neighborhood. According to the city’s own consultant’s report, small homes on small lots would be the prime targets for apartment buildings replacing some of those homes.

We have plenty of homes like that. For example, N. Early Street between West Braddock and Menokin near King. Some of the homes there are just 900 square feet and all sit on small lots.

Then there is Varsity Park, a very diverse neighborhood, including black, white, Hispanic, Asian and gay families, located across from Hammond Middle School.

And then there is the Woods Ave neighborhood. Its modest homes were originally purchased by the black families displaced by the city in order to build TC Williams High School. Woods Ave has had a seat on our board for decades. Today, it is still mostly a middle-class black single-family home neighborhood where original owners and some of their descendants still live.

Our board fears that all three of these neighborhoods will be targets for redevelopment.

And for all of our residents, we are concerned for their ability to park their cars on the street in front of their home.

So, we urge council to more fully explore the consequences of these proposals on all types of housing prior to voting on them.

Now, I want to address loud critics of civic and homeowner associations, including ours. While our roles may vary by civic group, generally we all advocate for – and promote the well-being of – our neighborhoods, sometimes on issues that elected officials are too busy to deal with in an at large city. It’s the job of the volunteers on association boards to take the pulse of the residents and speak out on their behalf. When we come before you to speak, it’s generally because we are representing the views of the overwhelming majority of members – what could only be discerned to be the consensus view.

But like you on city council, we will never have every resident feeling like we have represented their individual view. As for those who feel like we have not, I urge them to reach out to me or our other board members on this issue or any other.

Finally, we have heard from those in other areas of town who want all neighborhoods to be like theirs. But that’s not what our residents want. They like their neighborhood, be it an apartment building, a townhouse complex or a single-family neighborhood. We who live in Seminary Hill made a different neighborhood choice. Please, don’t pass these proposals as currently drafted and take that choice away from us. [end]

By the time the hearings ended, 166 people had spoken. 64 in favor and 102 opposed to "Zoning for Housing." Of the 64 in favor, 30 are known activists, while there were only 7 activists who spoke in opposition. So, all told, the hearings proved to be a major repudiation of the city's proposals. 

Don't forget, your board meets the second Thursday of each month from now until June. Join us by Zoom on 12/14 at our next meeting. I will send out the link after Thanksgiving.

Until then, your board hopes you and your families have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Bill Rossello, President, Seminary Hill Association, Inc.