Special Public Hearing Meeting
Saturday, September 7, 1996 - - 9:30 am

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Mayor Donley gave a brief overview of actions taken to date pertaining to this item.

Dennis Hardy, 27A East Howell Avenue, spoke regarding a lock alternative; a copy of Mr. Hardy's statement is on file in the office of the City Clerk and Clerk of Council, marked Exhibit No. 11 of this item;

Andrew Blair, 801 North Fairfax Street, representing the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce, stated that the "no build" option is unaccpetable, whateer option is chosen, it should provide full access to Alexandria's marine and commercial traffic, and because the bridge has less than eight years of safe life remaining, strongly advocated moving the replacement project forward and avoiding any further delays; a copy of Mr. Blair's statement is on file in the office of the City Clerk and Clerk of Council, marked Exhibit No. 12 of this item;

Alyson Austin, 1120 Valley Drive, spoke in support of 70-foot-high twin-drawbridge option with a minimum of ten lanes that include the appropriate interchanges;

John H. Sullivan, 4300 North Ivanhoe Place, endorsed the design of the bridge that has been put forward by Representative Moran with a high priority placed on the notion that maybe we will not need tolls;

Philip C. Brooks, 3908 Colonel Ellis Avenue, chair, representing Historic Alexandria Resources Commission, endorsed the Moran plan and was opposed to the high bridge option; he indicated the Commission was originally in support of all tunnel and noted that the alternative of an eight-lane tunnel has not been analyzed by the Coordinating Committee and suggested that the analysis be made;
Ellen Pickering, 103 Roberts Lane, read statement of Taylor Run Citizen Association; a copy of which is on file in the office of the City Clerk and Clerk of Council, marked Exhibit No. 13 of this item; and speaking for herself stated that the Moran proposal should be studied, supported a southern crossing, suggested that the NOW, THEREFORE, clause should state that the Alexandria City Council endorses an 8-lane, plus 2 merge lanes, suggested in paragraph (8) on page 7, that after all efforts are made in the bridge design to avoid the taking of residences, the entire redevelopment of replacement housing plan be implemented, and she also stated that if Mayor Donley stands alone on the Coordinating Committee, that he please submit a minority report;

Kirk Fedder, 113 Maple Street, spoke to the Moran proposal and stated that specific definition width parameters need to be included in the resolution, and include in the final resolution a requirement that the Moran proposal should include the use of the current bridge footprint, and if at all possible, be constrained by Hunting Towers Building 1200;

Robert Leavitt, 929 South Columbus Street, spoke in support of the Moran proposal; a copy of Mr. Leavitt's statement is on file in the office of the City Clerk and Clerk of Council, marked Exhibit No. 14 of this item;

Dean Amel, 4th Street, Arlington, VA, representing the Virginia Chapter of Sierra Club, spoke against a 12-lane bridge, the crossing should include no more than 8 lanes for motor vehicle traffic and, at least initially, should not include HOV lanes, and the crossing should follow as closely as possible the alignment of the current bridge;

Julie Crenshaw, 816 Queen Street, spoke against a 12-lane bridge, and in support of an 8-lane bridge, and the City should offer some proactive solutions to solve the transportation problem;

Joe Shumard, 809 Oronoco Street, supported the position of the Chamber of Commerce, and indicated that a transportation plan is needed for our region;

Anne Haynes, 310 North Royal Street, chair, Parks and Recreation Commission, expressed confidence in the process, spoke against the high bridge, and stated that the new crossing should have a bicycle/pedestrian crossing and a rail crossing;

John Belshe', 600 South Royal Street, representing Friends of Jones Point, spoke against both Alternatives 3A and 4A, requested that Council's comments, along with those of Alexandria citizen organizations and individuals, must continue to point out why those proposals are wrong and should be rejected, and they must be formally submitted to the FHWA; suggested that there be more assistance from boards and commissions, i.e., Board of Architectural Review, Beautification Commission, and Waterfront Commission, and an extension of time to comment as suggested by the Environmental Policy Commission be requested; and requested that measures be taken to put Congressman Moran's proposal on the par with those of the others for compliance for the National Environmental Policy Act;

Council Member Rich suggested that the request for an extension of time be incorporated in the proposed resolution;

John Swearingen, 919 South Lee Street, representing the All Alexandria Alliance, spoke against the 12-lane options, supported the Moran proposal with one objection, that is paragraph (10) does not contain adequate noise mitigation, the quickest solution is to add one lane in each direction to the existing bridge, and the southern crossing should be part of the resolution;

William Lynch, 815 South Lee Street, representing Yates Gardens and southeast section of Old Town Civic Associations, spoke against the 12-lane alternatives, stated that the Moran proposal is headed in the right direction, would like to see a little bit more about what the width of that proposal is going to be, the fewer lanes the better, and the Woodrow Wilson Bridge should be out of the Interstate System;

Hollis Wickman, 822 Green Street, representing Old Town/Hunting Creek Civic Association, spoke against the 12-lane options and the enlargement of the Route 1 Interchange, spoke in support of the Moran proposal and draft resolution; suggested in paragraph (13) that Church Street be closed and carry it forward to Route 1; in paragraph (10) noise mitigation issues language could be strengthened for neighborhoods that would be directly impacted so as to minimize the noise and visual impacts of the Interchange on adjacent residential properties and to insure that the quality of life improves over the existing conditions in the neighborhoods; modifications to the Route 1 Interchange, that there be no expansion of the Route 1 footprint; and suggested that Council be sensitive to HOV lanes;

Sarita Schotta, 104 Prince Street, spoke against 12-lane bridge and in support of an 8-lane limit;

Jonas Neihardt, 725 South Pitt Street, endorsed the Moran proposal, requested at top of page 6 that a maximum width in feet be added to the resolution, and none or very minimal expansions in the interchanges, maximum height of 70 feet, and no HOV be explicitly mentioned;

Council referred the suggestion of limit on the width to Director of Transportation and Environmental Services O'Kane to look at it from an engineering perspective and to report back to Council with a recommendation on Tuesday;

Ben J. Brown, 806 South Lee Street, representing the All Tunnel Alliance, spoke against 12-lanes, and in support of the Moran proposal, if the tunnel is not feasible;

Congressman James P. Moran spoke to his proposal; a copy of Congressman Moran's statement is on file in the office of the City Clerk and Clerk of Council, marked Exhibit No. 15, of this item;

Members of City Council participated in a dialogue with Congressman Moran;

Phillip Bradbury, 1250 South Washington Street, spoke against the high bridge, supported the Moran proposal, should be cost constrained, 8 lanes, keep the interchange footprint in tact, requested on page 6 of the resolution, in the NOW, THEREFORE clause strike "ten-lane"; and in the second BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, paragraph (2), strike "that at least initially";

Robert Carr, 1200 South Washington Street, opposed to high bridge, expressed concern of loss of homes and also indicated that new bridge should be built so that it has less impact on Jones Point Park and so as not to attract birds; he spoke to the process and to the misinformation given by the design center;

John Chapman Gager spoke on this item;

Robert T. Jordan, 2121 Jamieson Avenue, #120G, spoke in support of the Moran proposal;

Ann Mazor, 417 Wilkes Street, spoke in support of a southern crossing;

Brigitte Guhstadt, 709 South Pitt Street, spoke against the 12-lane bridge, originally supported the all tunnel, now supports the Moran proposal; concerned about the partial destruction of Hunting Towers as well as Jones Point Park;

H. Stewart Dunn, Jr., 418 South Lee Street, representing the Historic Alexandria Foundation, preferred 8-lanes, supported the Moran plan and the draft proposal, and stressed preservation of historical heritage, and suggested exploration of what can be done in ways of litigation;

Robert L. Montague, 207 Prince Street, chair, Alexandria Historical Restoration and Preservation Commission, spoke against the 12-lane high bridge, should divert truck traffic to the American Legion Bridge, possible use of tolls, need southern crossing, and could live with an 8-lane bridge or tunnel; and

Lillie Finklea, 1210 Franklin Street, representing the Southwest Quadrant Civic Association, spoke in support of the Moran proposal, should tear the existing bridge down once other is completed, and do everything possible to save Hunting Towers.

Members of Council participated in the discussion and thanked all of the citizens for coming to the public hearing to express their views.
Councilman Euille stated for the record that he feels that the Federal Government should bear the brunt of this and pay for it in its totality, and he cannot support anything regarding tolls.)

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Beverly I. Jett, CMC City Clerk