Rendering courtesy of City of Alexandria
Interim King Street Park
A groundbreaking is scheduled for March 17.
The Alexandria City Council Naming Committee is proposing a name for the new waterfront park -- and the name is Waterfront Park.
The interim park at the foot of King Street along the Potomac River and the current Waterfront Park to its south should be combined into a new, larger Waterfront Park, the committee is recommending. Their proposal goes before the Alexandria City Council on Saturday, Dec. 15 for a final vote.
The original Waterfront Small Area Plan included a new park at the foot of King Street tentatively and unofficially named "Fitzgerald Square." Construction on that park is nearing completion.
The new park joins the original King Street Park site with the sites of the former Old Dominion Boat Club building and parking lot, to create an interim park. The park was supposed to open in October, but record-setting rainfall throughout the summer and early fall pushed construction back.
When it fully opens, the interim park will feature an open plaza, a waterfront promenade, shade structures, and a modular space that can be used as an ice-skating rink in winter or concert amphitheater in summer. In the future, the park will close for a time to facilitate flood mitigation, and reopen as a permanent park.
The naming committee met in September, launched an online survey and took comments during a public hearing. At a November public hearing meeting, which about 70 residents attended, more people (10, plus those who made other name suggestions) spoke against the name Fitzgerald Square than spoke in favor of it (9). In addition, several local organizations and nonprofits submitted letters. (See the letters here.)
In the online survey, a significant number of people voted for some variation of Fitzgerald (Park, Square, etc.). In comments from survey takers, many people acknowledged that Col. John Fitzgerald was a slave owner, but they noted his historic connection to Alexandria and his role in the battle for American independence was important. (See the full survey results here.)
The name Waterfront Park came in a distant second on the online survey, and residents had a variety of other suggestions, as well.
Ultimately, according to City documents, "The (Naming Committee) members recognized that many in the community supported naming the park after Col. Fitzgerald but spoke to the difficulty of reconciling his extensive contributions to America and Alexandria with his ownership of enslaved persons. The members also recognized that most survey respondents preferred a variety of other names for the new park. After concluding that the new park should retain the name of its largest component area and should not be named after any individual, the Naming Committee voted unanimously to combine the interim King Street Park (1 & 2 King Street) and existing Waterfront Park (1A Prince Street) into one city park named Waterfront Park, effective immediately."
