Tell the City Council to STOP PARCVIEW II.

Dear Mayor Wilson, Vice Mayor Jackson and City Councilmembers,

I join my neighbors in opposing the rezoning of ParcView Apartments at 5380 Holmes Run Parkway from RC to RMF to facilitate the construction of two more high-rise buildings on this small lot.

The effort to rezone this lot is SPOT ZONING at its worst.  City Code clearly states that the RMF zone can only be used when affordable housing will actually be lost.  Since the current ParcView building will not be demolished in this project, the RMF zone cannot be used to add two more high-rise buildings to ParcView’s lot. 

Crowding three high-rise buildings onto ParcView’s small lot will create an apartment complex of wall-to-wall concrete with few, if any, amenities for the lower-income people that will be squeezed into these buildings.  Furthermore, the construction of these two high-rise buildings will require the driving of heavy piles, jackhammering and dump trucks almost daily for close to two years, sending loud noise and vibrations throughout the neighborhood.  We must not unleash the destabilizing effects of this pile driving on the many buildings in the neighborhood that are over 45 years old.  I don’t want a Surfside building collapse to happen here in Alexandria!

I understand the desire of the City to have more affordable housing in Alexandria.  This project, however, is disastrous and outright dangerous to my neighborhood.  I strongly oppose the construction of ParcView II.

Sincerely,