Improving Zoning For Housing

Alexandria is in the midst of a housing crisis, which was born of racial exclusion and today contributes to our climate emergency. Crises demand bold action. Alexandrians present and future deserve robust reform that targets these problems' root causes.

How should city government strengthen Zoning for Housing?

1. Legalize small "garden-style" apartments and townhouses
2. Repeal parking mandates near transit
3. Allow more homes in enhanced transit areas

Why our grassroots members support these changes

Legalizing small "garden-style" apartments and townhouses

• Small multi-family buildings and townhomes are quintessential to Alexandria’s urban fabric. Old Town’s townhomes are iconic, and three-story garden apartments mix seamlessly into neighborhoods across the city. Alexandria should permit them by-right everywhere.
• These homes provide more affordable options, allowing our neighborhoods to thrive with diverse homes for diverse neighbors. Legalizing them citywide will provide opportunities to both renters and first-time buyers. Our first responders, teachers, public servants, restaurant employees, and childcare providers need homes they can afford in the community they serve - these options provide exactly that. 
• Modest market-rate homes like these allow people to move up the so-called "housing ladders," whether from older units into new ones or from an apartment or older home into a newer townhouse. This frees up desperately needed 'market affordable' homes for those who need them, slows rent growth, and allows Alexandrians to find the housing that works best for them across their lifespan.
• Our current laws make it illegal to build these homes in many places, including where they already exist! Zoning for Housing should make it legal to build our historic neighborhoods like Del Ray and Rosemont where they stand today and allow the beautiful heritage they embody to be emulated across our city.
• All of Alexandria's neighborhoods should share in the city's growth. Legalizing these human-scale homes will allow all of our neighborhoods to grow together instead of forcing most growth into just a few areas, and provide more affordable options across all of Alexandria.

Repealing parking mandates near transit

• Requiring all new housing to include off-street parking forces all residents to pay for car storage, even if they have no car! Mandated parking drives up construction costs, which gets passed on to us as higher rents and mortgage payments. There are car-free households in Alexandria - it should be legal to build homes for them!
• Staff recommended a study on removing parking minimums for affordable housing near rail. But cities across the country have already been far more bold, repealing parking minimums for all housing citywide, regardless of transit proximity. The latest to do so was our own state capital in Richmond, which doesn't even have the equivalent of Metro! There's no reason we need to study this to death instead of simply learning from other cities, or to limit it to rail stations when we've seen it work in cities without rail.
• We’re facing a climate crisis, and one of the city’s primary sources of greenhouse gas emissions is private vehicles.  Nobody is calling for a ban on cars or limits on parking (YIMBYs drive too!), but we also shouldn't be incentivizing people to drive instead of making more climate-friendly choices. Parking mandates do exactly that. 
• Parking will be built without government mandates because there is a basic demand for it - homebuilders know that lots of people drive! There's no need for the City to determine minimum parking levels.

Allowing more homes in enhanced transit areas

• Despite our housing and climate crisis, the City still strictly limits how many people are allowed to live near transit. Walksheds around many Metro stations and transitways are still zoned for low-density or industrial use instead of the dense, vibrant neighborhoods they could be if we allowed them to grow.  
• At many Metro stations, we've limited growth on "the right side of the tracks," permitting areas east and south of Metro to grow far more than those to the west and north. This is a clear case of exclusionary zoning. 
• These laws inflate housing costs in some of our most desirable and transit-accessible neighborhoods, forcing people who would love to ride Alexandria’s trains and buses to instead rely on a car to get around. We should open that opportunity up for more people.
• Zoning for Housing recommends that future area plans should take transit-oriented development into consideration, but does little to fix the problem now. If the city is serious about addressing the housing & climate crises, we cannot wait to take action.
• Parts of Northern Virginia, including some of Alexandria, are models for transit-oriented development! These areas have added thousands of homes, generate huge amounts of tax revenues to pay for more than their share of services, and encourage a sustainable lifestyle that is important for future generations. We should seize our opportunity to become a true leader in transit-oriented development.

How to implement these proposals

The aim of this section is to recommend concrete policy changes that allow Alexandria to achieve the goals laid out above. The details of the recommendations may shift as we continue to fine-tune them.

Legalize small apartments and townhouses citywide

• Add townhomes and multi-family as by-right uses in all residential zones.
• Adjust FAR, density, height, and lot restrictions as needed to legalize both townhouses and small multi-family buildings (up to 3 stories) in all residential zones.
• To ensure projects are feasible in our current economic environment, zoning regulations must reflect the needs of current economic conditions rather than those in place when existing townhouse and small apartment zones were created.
• Ensure that both types of buildings could be built today both where they already exist (Del Ray, Rosemont, Old Town, etc.) and in all other neighborhoods.

Repeal parking mandates near transit

• Staff recommended a future study on removing parking minimums for affordable housing within 1/2 mile of metro rail stations. This should be accelerated and expanded by:
  
  • Implementing reforms now;
  • Removing parking minimums for all housing;
  • Applying the policy with a 3/4 mile radius; and
  • Applying the policy to all high-capacity transit, including bus rapid transit (BRT).
    
    

Allow more homes in enhanced transit areas

• Allow residential uses by right in industrial zones.
• Adjust zoning and small area plans to allow for dense, walkable, transit-oriented neighborhoods that:
  
  • grow all around our transit stops, not just on one side of the tracks; and
  • surround not only rail but also bus rapid transit (BRT).

Want to get involved in Alexandria? Here are two easy steps: 

• Sign up for email updates. Be sure to include your ZIP code so we can send Alexandria-specific action alerts! 
• Check out upcoming opportunities for advocacy on Zoning for Housing, and RSVP to any that you can attend!
• Want to get more involved, or have a question? Send us a note at hello@yimbysofnova.org