The City of Alexandria is considering the sale of the property at the corner of Powhatan Street and Slaters Lane. This property is special because it forms the Gateway into our neighborhood. The present proposal, a mini-strip mall in its present rendition, is ill suited and not compatible with our neighborhood. Once built, we will have to live with it for years to come.

Slaters Lane is destined for many changes. The introduction of one way street, and the Potomac Yard development will provide considerable opportunity for development. The new traffic patterns alone suggest a prudent and cautious approach in order to ensure that we do not preclude any future development. Furthermore, the development will set the tone for the future of Slaters Lane and the proposed building is a set back for the vision of Alexandria as being an urban environment.

We request a deferral the issue until a review of the area for the kind of redevelopment that is best suited for the city, the developers and the neighborhood is undertaken.

Gateway
The Property at the corner of Powhatan Street and Slaters Lane serves as the Northern Gateway to the Northeast. We therefore ask that the City give careful consideration to ensure that the development fits in with the fabric of the neighborhood which, to a great extent, consists of residential units 50 years or older. The neighborhood has also been greatly enhanced by quality development exemplified by the Physician Assistant's Building, which serves as our southern gateway landmark along with Alexandria Gateway.

The Northeast Citizens' Association has developed a traffic management project for which the City has spent $150,000 to date. The project will result in protecting the residents from speeding traffic, beautifying Powhatan Street and it creates the opportunity for a quality gateway to our community at the corner Powhatan Street and Slaters Lane. We want to ensure that the quality of the Alexandria Marketplace will be commensurate.

We ask that architecture and building materials be a condition of the contract of sale with the City.

The developer has proposed a mini-strip mall that architecturally is more appropriate in a suburban setting. The building has an artificial facade with a parking lot, dumpsters and loading bay facing Powhatan Street. In deliberations with the developer, the neighborhood has expressed a desire for a building that is compatible with the neighborhood and is pedestrian friendly. Mr. Fairchild has expressed his desire to work with us on this matter and he originally hired the architects who had designed the Physicians Assistants Building. We believed the designs were going in the right direction, when suddenly a new architectural firm was hired and new plans were proposed. We find the new direction unacceptable.

We would like to see real architecture and not facade.
No parking lot, dumpster and loading bay should face Powhatan Street.

Traffic Circulation
The location has one major road; Slaters Lane and two minor ones, Portner and Bernard Street. There is no direct access to Powhatan. The site plan contains an exit at the intersection of Bernard and Powhatan. The intersection was designed to only accommodate residential and not the traffic of the mall heading South. This problem is exacerbated with the advent of the one-way pair loop on Slaters Lane. Traffic on Slaters Lane will only be able to travel east. Cars wanting to travel west will use the exit in the intersection Of Powhatan and Bernard.

We request that there be no exit from the property at onto Bernard Street.