Coalition says law firm offered fee deal as group seeks funds for zoning appeal
Group says it has raised $12,000 toward $45,000 goal
The law firm representing plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging Alexandria’s elimination of single-family zoning has offered to forgive nearly half of its outstanding fees if the remaining balance is paid by mid-December, according to the Coalition for a Livable Alexandria.
In an email to supporters Wednesday, the coalition said Dunn, Craig & Francuzenko will forgive $41,000 of what the group described as $86,000 in outstanding legal fees if $45,000 is paid by Dec. 15. The offer would allow the plaintiffs to file an appeal “with a clean financial slate,” the coalition said.
The coalition said it has raised $12,000 in pledged donations since its original fundraising email on Tuesday.
The group claims total litigation expenses have reached $252,000 over nearly two years of legal proceedings, though its 2024 annual report showed approximately $87,000 in legal fees paid that year. The coalition did not respond to a request for comment.
The law firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Judge H. Thomas Padrick Jr. ruled in the city’s favor on Nov. 12, granting the city’s motion for summary judgment in the lawsuit. Court records show the city submitted a draft order on Nov. 17, but the final order has not yet been entered. Under Virginia law, the plaintiffs will have 30 days from the entry of the final order to file a notice of appeal.
The coalition, which organized opposition to the city’s Zoning for Housing initiative, was dismissed from the lawsuit in August 2024 after a judge ruled it lacked standing because it does not own property in the city. The fundraising effort is on behalf of the four remaining individual plaintiffs: Phylius Burks, David Rainey, Joshua Carias Porto and John E. Craig.
Rainey also serves on the coalition’s board of directors, according to its 2024 annual report.
The Zoning for Housing initiative, passed unanimously by City Council in November 2023, allows construction of duplexes and buildings with up to four units in neighborhoods previously restricted to single-family homes. The changes also reduced parking requirements.
City officials have said the initiative addresses housing affordability and reverses generational impacts of discriminatory housing policies. Opponents have argued it would increase density, strain infrastructure and fail to create affordable housing.
The coalition also criticized the city’s legal expenses in its fundraising appeal, saying “the city has yet to reveal the legal fees, funded by taxpayers, that were paid to McGuireWoods LLP.”
The city had spent more than $196,000 on legal fees to McGuireWoods as of late February, according to a Freedom of Information Act request obtained by the Alexandria Times.
