Wales Alley is the one-way street located perpendicular to S. Union Street and Strand Street next to the restaurant Virtue Feed & Grain. The restaurant has used a portion of the alley for outdoor dining for years but last May, the City temporarily closed the alley through the end of 2021 to allow Virtue Feed & Grain to expand their outdoor dining in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now, the City is considering closing Wales Alley to vehicular traffic permanently, allowing Virtue Feed & Grain to apply for a license to continue to use the alley for outdoor dining while also making the alley safer for pedestrians enjoying the waterfront.
Various groups have written letters of support to City Council on behalf supporting the closure, including the Alexandria Waterfront Commission, Old Town Business Association and the owners of Virtue Feed & Grain.
“Wales Alley has come a long way, and exemplifies what we should be doing to make our alleys attractive, inviting, and accessible,” Old Town Business Association said in their letter.
The Planning Commission also voted unanimously in support of the closure at their meeting on March 2.
“We have come along way the fact that we can have a vote on a questions like this without any public comment or anything to the contrary. I remember back when Ms. Lyle and I were on the Waterfront Commission together about 10 years ago, we had a spirited debate about the extension of Wales Alley…remembering how contentious Wales Alley was at one point in our city. … I think this is kind of the culmination of that, by being able to have Wales Alley be an open pedestrian space with dining on part of it and an open walkway on others,” said Planning Commission Chair, Nathan Macek.
If the ordinance passes at City Council’s meeting on March 13, it could set a precedent for something similar to occur in the 100 block of King Street. Discussions on whether Lower King Street should be made into a seasonal pedestrian-only zone have been going on for years. The block has been closed on an interim basis during COVID-19, to allow restaurants to have more outdoor dining and ease pedestrian crowding along the waterfront. A pilot program to consider making the pedestrian zone more permanent was temporarily suspended by the pandemic.
Unlike for Wales Alley, the King Street Place project has faced some criticism from business owners and raised concerns over safety and expense of the pilot program, prior to the pandemic.
