Alexandria Could Undertake Major Zoning Reform

The city council for Alexandria, Virginia will vote today on whether to speed up the city’s rezoning process, which is designed to “make land use more equitable and inclusive” and create more affordable housing for the city’s residents. As Vernon Miles reports for Alexandria Now, The “Comprehensive Zoning for Housing and Housing for All Package” will advance regulatory changes that can increase housing production and address regulatory barriers and “remnants of terminology stemming from past discriminatory policy” that impede affordability and fair housing.

According to Miles, “The city has been tackling zoning issues piecemeal for years to make them more affordable, from the codification of more affordable zoning uses to trades of density for affordable housing units. The new package, however, is one of the ambitious “big picture” zoning plans from the city.”

The policy is explicitly aimed at removing legal provisions that perpetuate exclusion, creating more inclusive and equitable land use policies, and boosting the production of affordable and market rate housing in an increasingly unaffordable region.