City Council members on Tuesday will have an opportunity to ask questions about three controversial stream restoration projects in Alexandria after Council Member John Taylor Chapman and Vice Mayor Elizabeth Bennett-Parker requested the session.
Projects around Lucky Run, Strawberry Run and Taylor Run are all meant to reduce pollution flowing into the Chesapeake Bay and bring stability to the streams, but residents and environmentalists have protested heavily against using the City of Alexandria's preferred approach, called Natural Channel Design. Local environmentalists, including the city's own Environmental Policy Commission, believe using this method to control pollution could do more harm than good.
In addition, City of Alexandria Natural Resource Manager Rod Simmons said he has numerous concerns about the project, including questioning whether the project is truly necessary and whether the resulting pollution reduction will justify the financial and environmental costs.
In an April 12 letter to city council and city staff, residents Russell Bailey, Carter Flemming, Jeremy Flachs and Rawles Jones wrote that "the City does not need to reconstruct Taylor Run (or Strawberry Run) to meet its Chesapeake Bay pollution reduction obligations. Moreover, the City will not need to spend more money than is currently budgeted to fulfill those obligations. We therefore ask the Council to direct that the Taylor Run reconstruction project not proceed, and that $2 million of the funds budgeted for the project be reallocated to a tree planting program to be developed by the City arborist, and that the remainder be reallocated for nutrient credit purchases and/or stormwater or Taylor Run maintenance projects."
City Council members will hear a lengthy presentation Tuesday evening from city staff that assesses alternatives and essentially comes to the conclusion that the project should proceed as designed — other options add risk, incur additional expenses or cause further delays that could result in additional expenses. (See the slides from Tuesday evening's presentation here.)
City of Alexandria
The conclusions from an expected April 27 presentation on three stream restoration projects in Alexandria.
In addition, city officials received an analysis by Wetland Studies and Solutions, Inc., a company operated by Davey Tree, that argues against the concerns outlined by Alexandria's Environmental Policy Commission and others. (See the complete memo here.) The memo also ultimately concludes that the project should proceed, though it does acknowledge that the initial disturbance to the area will be significant.
The memo's conclusion reads:
"The proposed natural channel design approach put forward by the City’s design team more fully addresses system-wide instability in order to achieve a more permanent solution. Unlike the wood-based stabilization, the proposed NCD approach acknowledges the inherent conflict with existing infrastructure and best aligns with the need to protect the adjacent sanitary line. This approach requires greater disturbance for initial implementation, but coupled with heavy native plantings, affords a strategy that drives the highest level of achievement when considering the full range of project goals."
For more on this project, see:
- Environmental Policy Commission Advises Against Taylor Run 'Restoration' Project
- Wilson, Silberberg Differ on Stream Restoration Plans
- Concern Grows Over City Plan for Taylor Run
City of Alexandria
The current condition of Taylor Run (top) compared to a rendering of a proposed stream restoration project.
