City Council delays Parker-Gray townhouses over the barbershop they would replace

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — City Council on Saturday put off a decision on five townhouses proposed for North Patrick Street in Parker-Gray, after Councilman John Taylor Chapman argued the project would take out a barbershop and a storefront in one of the few blocks in the neighborhood where small commercial businesses remain.

The vote to defer until the October public hearing was 5-2. Mayor Alyia Gaskins and Vice Mayor Sarah Bagley voted no.

The project at 724, 726 and 728 N. Patrick St. would demolish two mid-20th century buildings and build five four-story townhouses with garages and a shared open space. One of the buildings, at 728 N. Patrick St., houses Another Level Hair Studio & Barbershop. The site is zoned CSL, commercial service low, and staff's presentation described the surrounding Parker-Gray blocks as a mixed-use neighborhood of residential, commercial and recreation uses.

Staff recommended approval and the Planning Commission endorsed it 6-0. The project went through three community meetings: a Board of Architectural Review concept hearing, an applicant-hosted meeting and a Planning and Zoning virtual meeting. It would contribute $54,119 to the Housing Trust Fund and add wider sidewalks, street trees and an enhanced bus stop. Chapman pulled it from the consent agenda.

"If you ask any Black man where are you going to get your haircut, that's one of the few places in the city that you have that," Chapman said.

He said the issue was larger than one business. A second storefront on the site had housed a community store, he said, and the block sits across from Charles Houston Recreation Center in a part of Parker-Gray where the city spent years creating commercial space out of former warehouses.

"I think we have done different things in different parts of our city," Chapman said. "In Old Town, we usually reuse buildings, new paint, new interior, whatever they are. That's the ethos of Old Town." Approving the project, he said, would not fly in Old Town or several other neighborhoods.

Duncan W. Blair, the attorney representing the applicant, said the townhouses would reinforce the residential character of North Patrick Street and serve as a transition from the 75-foot Samuel Madden redevelopment going up across the street. He said the property behind the site, facing North Henry Street, is owned by an investment corporation and will likely come in for development at some point.

What the city can and cannot require

Planning and Zoning Director Paul Stoddard told council the special use permit before them covered only the cluster layout. Townhouses are already permitted on the lot, he said, and the applicant is not asking for bonus density, meaning the buildings could be demolished and replaced without council approval.

The city has set up coordination calls with the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership to help the businesses find space nearby, Stoddard said.

Bagley pressed that point. The businesses are renters, she noted, not owners, and a denial would not preserve them.

"A denial potentially of this — and I share the concerns that have been expressed about the loss of these particular businesses — but I'm trying to highlight a higher-level problem, which is the limitations sometimes of planning and zoning," she said. She asked what tools the city has beyond zoning, and whether it is adequately funding small business retention through AEDP.

Gaskins asked staff what the Braddock Metro Neighborhood Plan calls for in neighborhood-serving retail. Planning staff said the 2008 plan seeks a mix of small neighborhood-serving retail but did not identify this site for development, and that the city has learned since then that retail does not work in every location. At 701 N. Henry St., staff said, the compromise was a retail-ready space that could convert later.

"We're a city of fixed space and fixed boundaries," Gaskins said. "The more things we've approved, the different things we've worked to build, there become limited additional future opportunities to meet some of these goals."

A motion to deny, then a motion to wait

Chapman first moved to deny the permit. Asked by Gaskins to state the rationale for the record, he withdrew the motion instead, saying a colleague had raised another option.

He then moved to defer to October, to see whether the property owner would discuss a design blending the residential project with some commercial space.

Blair said he does not represent the property owner and could not speak for him, but that the owner would likely be willing to talk. He said the applicant has spent a year and a half on the project and made a substantial investment in it. He also said a 50-foot height limit makes ground-floor retail difficult, since retail needs roughly 17 to 20 feet of ceiling height once mechanical systems are accounted for.

"Other than that, there could be a by-right project," Blair said. "That's not a threat, it's a statement."

A city attorney told council that depending on the scope of any changes, the project could have to return to the Planning Commission.

The pattern book question

The discussion turned twice to whether the city should encourage townhouses designed so their ground floors could convert to commercial use later. Gaskins said it was at least the third time the idea had come up, most recently on an Eisenhower project in June, and asked staff for direction.

Stoddard said the message was received.

Part of what has made Old Town successful, he said, is that its buildings were designed to change use over time. "As building science has evolved, more often we see people building single-purpose buildings, and that's working against part of what's made Old Town so successful and be so resilient over its history."

Melissa Kuhn, the only member of the public to speak on the item, backed Chapman. She said she had walked the neighborhood the night before and concluded the block of Madison Street between Henry and Patrick is the only place left in Braddock with reused space for small businesses.

"And that barbershop has been there forever," she said.

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Ryan Belmore is an Alexandria journalist, neighbor, and the founder and publisher of The Alexandria Brief. Send tips and feedback to ryan@alexandriabrief.com.