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ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Three separate groups of residents have appealed the city transportation director's Russell Road Safe Routes to School decision to the City Council, according to petitions released to The Alexandria Brief on Wednesday by City Clerk Gloria Sitton. Sitton said no hearing date has been set.
Two petitions were stamped received Aug. 18, one submitted by Carrie Giddins Pegram and Nancy Lopez and the other by Megan Carraghan Langley and Missy Santoro Estabrook. A third, from John Leary of the 400 block of Russell Road, was stamped Aug. 24, the deadline. Each carries more than the 25 signatures city code requires.
All three challenge Transportation and Environmental Services Director Leah Riley's Aug. 7 decision to implement "Alternative C," the design she selected after the Traffic and Parking Board voted 5-2 on July 27 for a deeper parking removal than city staff had recommended. All three argue the process did not allow for meaningful community input.
Beyond that, they diverge.
The Leary petition is the only one seeking specific relief. It asks the council to set aside Alternative C, direct the department to implement the original staff recommendation and require that future changes to parking or intersection design on Russell Road go back through the community process and the board before taking effect. It argues the parking removals in Alternative C do not match what the board voted on in July, saying they differ block by block and drop the 300 block entirely.
The Langley and Estabrook petition objects to the design, including the placement of the loading zone and the dimensions of the median refuge islands, and endorses the staff recommendation. The Pegram and Lopez petition is the broadest, listing nine decisions under appeal, among them the parking the city proposes to add.
The two petitions filed Aug. 18 arrived under near-identical cover letters.
The appeals put the design and the parking removals, elements the department has described as settled, before the council.
The Alexandria Brief has sent questions to the listed contacts on all three petitions, and has asked the department whether the Sept. 28 board vote on the parking additions still goes forward with appeals pending. Questions to the clerk's office about how the appeals will be docketed, whether three appeals on one decision are heard together and whether signatures are verified against city records are also outstanding.
This story will be updated.
If you signed one of the appeals, or you support the project and want to weigh in, get in touch at ryan@alexandriabrief.com.
Previously on Russell Road
- City seeks input on Russell Road parking changes near Naomi Brooks Elementary — June 2
- Traffic and Parking Board to weigh revised Russell Road safety plan Monday after community feedback reshaped proposal — July 22
- Traffic and Parking Board goes beyond staff plan, votes to remove 20 parking spaces on Russell Road — July 28
- T&ES director rejects both plans for Russell Road, proposes a third — Aug. 8
- Board's Russell Road vote will not take effect; appeal deadline moves to Aug. 24 — Aug. 11
- T&ES clarifies Russell Road parking numbers, process moving forward — Aug. 12
