Alexandria, VA, Says Goodbye to Exclusionary Zoning
Old Town is the pride of Alexandria, VA, but it’d be illegal to replicate under modern exclusionary zoning. (Source: Wikimedia Commons/APK.)
Barely an hour into Wednesday, November 29, 2023, one of the country’s earliest settled cities eliminated single-family zoning. Alexandria, Virginia, joins cities like Minneapolis, Walla Walla, and Arlington in the move to open up opportunities for a diversity of housing needs.
“The question we’re facing as a Council, and as a city, is whether we’re willing to commit the effort and resources to make Alexandria an inclusive city — one where low and middle-income families and seniors aren’t driven out by skyrocketing housing costs — or if we will continue down a path of exclusivity, where only those among us who have the most are able to remain,” said Council member Kirk McPike during the late-night vote. “My values, driven by my own life experience and my faith, demand the former.”
Eliminating single-family zoning was part of a broader package of reforms deliberated by Alexandria’s city council known as the Zoning for Housing/Housing for All initiative. While most council members welcomed the reforms, lawns across the city have been littered with “anti-zoning” signs for months in anticipation of the vote. Some residents assumed that by eliminating the codes that restrict what can be built how and where, the city would lose its charm.
Others point out, however, that the pride of the city, Old Town, would not be able to exist within the restrictive zoning that has defined Alexandria for the last half-century. Originally laid out in 1749, Old Town follows a grid pattern and is beloved for its multi-story brick buildings housing a mixture of commercial uses as well as medium-, low-, and high-density residential opportunities. By contrast, the majority of Alexandria is zoned exclusively for low-density, single-family residential housing. In fact, it’d be illegal to replicate Old Town in most of Alexandria under the current zoning regime.
Alexandria’s zoning map. (Click here to view.)
Furthermore, the city’s single-family zoning carries with it a legacy of marginalization. “It’s a new way to keep us ‘over there’ and them ‘over here.'” said Loren DePina, who, as part of her advocacy work, serves on the Community Advisory Board, adding: “Alexandria is more segregated today than it was 50 years ago. You have to build homes that are accessible to people.”
Zoning for Housing/Housing for All can’t undo decades of exclusionary policy, nor—as the city’s mayor put it—will it fix the city’s housing problems, but it’s a necessary first step.
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Asia (pronounced “ah-sha”) Mieleszko serves as a Staff Writer for Strong Towns. A dilettante urbanist since adolescence, she's excited to convert a lifetime of ad-hoc volunteerism into a career. Her unconventional background includes directing a Ukrainian folk choir, pioneering synaesthetic performances, photographing festivals, designing websites, teaching, and ghostwriting. She can be found wherever Wi-Fi is reliable, typically along Amtrak's Northeast Corridor.