By Carla Branch and James Cullum
alexandrianews.org
The Seminary Hill Association is mad as hell and they fired a warning shot over City Council’s bow at Saturday’s public hearing. The issue is the parcels of land on which Seminary Towers Apartments sits and whether it should remain a part of the 1992 Seminary Hill/Strawberry Hill Small Area Plan or become a part of the new Beauregard Small Area Plan.
Jack Sullivan brought the Association’s resolution on the matter to Council. “Madam Clerk, please record my name today as Edward John Smith, the Captain of the Titanic as it slid toward the iceberg. Like Captain Smith, my neighbors and I see the disaster that is looming, the disaster that is BRAC. The monstrous construction that we see by day and the glaring lights that shine on us by night.
“We recognize the coming perils for Seminary Hill and adjacent neighborhoods. There’s not a single thing Seminary Hill can do about that. We’re sliding toward a catastrophic future and no one, including this Council, can help us,” Sullivan said.
Council can, however, stop the Department of Planning and Zoning from removing the Seminary Towers property from Seminary Hill’s small area plan. “I’ve appeared before you once before to ask that this be done and nothing has happened positive about it. As a result, the Seminary Hill Association, last week, unanimously passed a resolution that you have in front of you asking that the City manager heed our plea, derail this attempt at spot-zoning and return the parcel to Seminary Hill’s Small Area Plan,” Sullivan said. “Seminary Hill was never consulted when this travesty was perpetrated and we strongly object to it now. We know of no good reason why an area removed from a major interstate in the Beauregard Corridor should be included in that planning process. Moreover, the situation is such that any pronouncements in Alexandria about the transparency and sensitivity of the citizen input is put into jeopardy. All we ask is that the City respect the legitimacy and the legality of the existing area plan. If this resolution has no effect, you can be sure that you haven’t heard the last of this. Unfortunately, Captain Smith did not survive the Titanic. Seminary Hill will survive and we will be back,” he said.
Alexandria Vice Mayor Kerry Donley asked staff for an explanation. “I think what we probably need is rationale from the Planning Director on why these parcels were added to the Beauregard Small Area Plan,” he said.
City Manager Jim Hartmann said he would get back to Council. “We’ll also outline some of the past practice – you know – how this has evolved in small area planning. We’ll look at this carefully,” he said.