Old Colony Motel And Conference Center Issue Summary The Old Colony Motel and Conference application: * Requests that the Old Colony Motel and Conference Center be DEMOLISHED. * Submits a proposal to construct THREE Office buildings on the site. * The developers are asking for a special use permit to make the building size 66% LARGER THAN ALLOWED BY RIGHT in the present zoning. They are asking an FAR of 2.5-FAR of 1.5 is presently permitted on this site. (FAR-Floor Area Ratio). * This proposed development is called PARKWAY CENTER. It is to be built at the gateway to Alexandria, just as the GW Memorial Parkway enters the north end of Alexandria. *The buildings will be built to the property line of the GW Parkway and First Street. Building #1 measures 280 feet wide by 105 feet deep Building #2 measures 270 feet wide by 160 feet deep Building #3 measures 235 feet wide by 169 feet deep  -- To understand and compare the size of these three buildings, it is useful to know that the typical Old Town block frontage on King Street measures 240 feet. -- The City Staff report to the Board of Architectural Review points out "That there are no 18th or 19th century precedents in Old Town for a building complex this large."

BACKGROUND: The Old Colony Motor Lodge was designed to resemble well known Virginia sites. The registration building was modeled after the 1782 Benjamin Waller House in restored Williamsburg. The seprentine wall is said to duplicate the serpentine brick walls designed by Thomas Jefferson at the University of Virginia. The swimming pool gazebo is a copy of the Gunpowder Magazine on the Green at Colonial Williamsburg. -- In 1929 the City of Alexandria entered into an agreement with the Federal Government. The City agreed to "restrict the said street to residential and business development of such character and of such types of buildings as will be in keeping with the the following-dignity, purpose and memorial character of said highway". Article VI of the agreement states: "The City hereby agrees that it will enact any and all ordinances, and to any and all things necessary to carry into effect this agreement, and that it will enact no ordinance nor take any other action which will be in conflict herewith or contrary to the purpose and intent hereof". This is a significant parcel of land. It is the Gateway to Alexandria. This is a land use and an historic issue that should not be considered a tax base issue. The value of our Historic District is very high. Febraury 4, 1999 Further info 836-4218 Ellen Pickering

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