Affordable Housing

Escalating home prices and rent levels over the past five years have made Alexandria a significantly less affordable place to live, and this trend is likely to continue. The City must improve and increase its effort to provide affordable housing opportunities, both ownership and rental, to ensure that Alexandria retains its economic, racial and ethnic diversity and that Alexandria businesses are able to meet a reasonable portion of their labor needs with individuals who live in the City.

Emergency Preparedness

September 11, 2001, and events since then have made all too clear the exposure of local communities to potential terrorist actions, including chemical and biological actions. The City must continue to improve its emergency preparedness, the response capabilities of its public safety first responders and other personnel, and the security of public infrastructure, including buildings and information technology systems, and must better engage the community in the entire emergency preparedness and response effort.

Open Space

Development pressures continue to cause the gradual disappearance of large residential properties and other open spaces in the City. The Open Space Master Plan adopted in the spring of 2003 by City Council identifies a number of goals and actions for the City to undertake to enhance and expand Alexandria’s open space. The City must now identify strategies and, more importantly, begin to use available tools (such as zoning incentives, public/private partnerships, and creative applications of tax credits and conservation easements) that will add significant amounts of quality property to Alexandria’s open space inventory over the next decade.

Transportation Planning

Because of the City’s location, evolving urban character, and limited roadway infrastructure, vehicular traffic, in all its manifestations, is, and always will be, one of the most significant challenges facing the City. The ongoing Comprehensive Transportation Policy and Program project is designed to take on and address this challenge, by developing a new transportation master plan for the City (which will clearly define City policies in all areas of the transportation arena), as well as a program of traffic- and transit-related projects and actions to be undertaken during the next decade that will markedly advance the policies and goals of the master plan.

Physical Infrastructure

The physical infrastructure of the City - - e.g., roadways, sidewalks, storm and sanitary sewers, electrical, water, phone and water utilities, historic facilities, parks and public buildings - - are critical to the quality of life that residents, workers and visitors experience. While expanding the infrastructure through the construction of new facilities is important, maintaining the current infrastructure is critical, for both the current and future generations. The presently approved Capital Improvement Program for FY 2004-FY 2009, primarily due to two major projects (T.C. Williams and a new police facility), has stretched the City’s ability to fund new capital projects over the next six years. As a result, in the framing of a new six-year CIP during FY 2005 budget deliberations, and in future years as well, priority consideration must be given to needed repairs, upgrades and replacement of the City’s existing physical infrastructure.

Woodrow Wilson Bridge

Construction on the Wilson Bridge project over the past 18 months has largely been east of Royal Street. Over the next 36 months, considerably more construction will occur in the City, between Royal Street and Telegraph Road, that has the potential to impact many City residents. The City, teaming with the Woodrow Wilson Neighborhood Task Force, residential and business groups, and bridge project staff, must work to keep these impacts to the absolute minimum.

Eisenhower East Development

A master development plan for the Eisenhower East area was approved by Council in the spring of 2003. The dynamics of the marketplace, the types of uses desired for this area and the infrastructure needs of the area require that the City play a strong leadership role to ensure that both private and public actions in the area are consistent with the vision and principles in the adopted plan. Among the challenges are the phasing and financing of infrastructure, working with property owners to bring significant retail uses and amenities to the area, ensuring construction of open space and parks in concert with development, and establishing an ongoing property owners or business development entity that will assume a long term leadership role in the area.

Retail and Business Strategies

The City’s retail corridors must maintain their competitive edge and remain attractive to customers not only from the City, but the region as well. The City must adopt strategies and plans with specific governmental actions that will assist in achieving this. In the near future, City efforts will focus on developing strategies and plans for the Arlandria neighborhood and King Street, as well as a City-wide retail and business strategy.

Mount Vernon Neighborhood Planning

Neighborhoods adjacent to Mount Vernon Avenue, as well as businesses along the Avenue, have seen substantial change and progress over the past five years. But a byproduct of change of this nature are pressures for more and more, and potentially too much, change — i.e., for further change which, because of its quantity, quality or timing, ends up producing an environment that is neither desired nor desirable. The City’s ongoing neighborhood planning effort for Mount Vernon Avenue must address this by building a consensus among residents, business owners and property owners on the vision for the future of the Mount Vernon Avenue area, and developing means to retain the best of the existing businesses, to attract compatible new businesses, and to maintain the character and quality of adjacent neighborhoods.

Duncan Library Expansion

Expansion of the Duncan branch library, 2501 Commonwealth Avenue, is part of the currently approved Capital Improvement Program. This year, design plans and construction documents will be finalized and a construction contractor will be selected. Construction is expected to begin in June 2004 and completed in early 2005.

Health Department and Clubhouse Relocation

The City Health Department and the City’s Mental Health Clubhouse program are slated to relocate this year to the recently acquired building at 4480 King Street. The retrofit of this building needs to be completed for these relocations to occur. This involves the conversion of a general commercial office structure to a medical and mental health facility. Also, once the relocation of these two programs is completed, the City must adopt a redevelopment or re-use plan for the vacated Health Department facility on North St. Asaph Street, and for the vacated Clubhouse building on North Patrick Street.

Police Department Facilities

Construction of a new facility for the Police Department is included in the approved Capital Improvement Program, as is significant repair work on the current police facility. The City must now locate a suitable site for the new facility (a difficult task in light of the very few vacant parcels of the appropriate size and location) and then acquire it. In addition, during the next 12 months, structural plans for the first floor slab at the existing police facility must be finalized, a re-use plan for that building must be prepared, and all work on the facility must be coordinated with the very substantial Woodrow Wilson bridge construction work that will occur in the front parking lot of the facility until 2008.

T.C. Williams Construction

The estimated cost to construct the new T.C. Williams High School will not be finalized for several months, but there are concerns that the final figure may significantly exceed earlier projections of approximately $75 million. The City must remain firm in its commitment to provide a reasonable level of funding for a reasonably designed and equipped new T.C.

Redesign of City Web Site

For the past year, staff and consultants have been studying ways to improve the City’s web site, so that it is easier for visitors to navigate, and easier for staff to maintain and update. Final plans for an improved web site will be finalized this year, and the redesign of the new site will get underway.

Employee Health Insurance

The cost of providing health insurance for City employees and retirees continues to rise year after year. The City must explore ways of addressing these constantly rising costs in a fair and responsible manner, which may include all employees paying a portion of these costs, as well as looking at combining City and School employees into a joint contract and using increased purchasing power to leverage better cost containment.