By Sydney Kodama | skodama@alextimes.com
A plan to make it safer to walk to Naomi L. Brooks Elementary that relies, in part, on removing parking spaces along Russell Road in Alexandria’s Rosemont neighborhood has drawn concern from neighbors.
Council at its Saturday public hearing will consider three appeals from residents, two of which support a plan that would minimize the numbers of lost parking spaces in the Russell Road Safe Routes to School Improvements initiative.
Also at the public hearing, city staff will recommend for Council to approve a modified plan that takes into account concerns from the city’s Traffic and Parking Board, which has been the most aggressive in recommending the removal of parking spaces along Russell Road. While the modified plan results in a net loss of just seven parking spaces, it relies on the addition of parking spaces on nearby Johnston Place to offset the Russell Road losses, and some argue that the Johnston Place spots are a poor substitute.
Proposed improvements
The project area is on Russell Road from West Myrtle Street to West Maple Street, covering six intersections and Naomi L. Brooks Elementary School.
The project is part of the city- and nationwide Safe Routes to School “program that promotes walking and bicycling to school through infrastructure improvements” and more, according to the city’s website.
The city’s Complete Streets policy, adopted in 2014, also requires the city “to consider pedestrian, bicycle, and transit improvements in conjunction with street maintenance whenever possible,” according to a July staff report.
The Russell Road project area has had nine crashes since 2017, three of which resulted in injuries, according to the city’s project website.
All options considered for the project would include painted curb extensions, which extend the sidewalk into the parking lane for improved visibility; high-visibility crosswalks, including a new crosswalk at West Chapman Street and Russell Road; and improved ADA-compliant curb ramps, according to a July staff presentation.
All options except Option 1 would include median islands, which separate opposing traffic and provide pedestrians and cyclists with a place to stop while crossing the street.
All options under the project call for the removal of parking spaces to improve visibility at crosswalks and make way for painted curb extensions.
The highest occupancy of parking spaces observed by the city over the course of a study was “34% of the 122 available parking spaces,” according to the city’s project website.
The Traffic and Parking Board voted 5-2 in support of the plan’s “Option 2,” recommending that Transportation & Environmental Services Director Leah Riley remove a total of 20 parking spaces on Russell Road in a July 27 public hearing.
The Board also requested that city staff return with new parking options for Naomi Brooks staff.
The Board and Silas Sullivan, project manager, did not respond to interview requests by the Times’ publication deadline.
City staff had recommended that the Board instead adopt revised Option 1, which would have resulted in a net loss of two parking spaces.
Eleven public speakers at the July 27 hearing testified in support of Option 2, and two testified in support of city staff’s recommendation.
Riley then proposed “Alternative C,” which included new parking for teachers, in an Aug. 7 letter.
Alternative C brought the total parking spot removals down to 13 and added five parking spaces on Russell Road and six on Johnston Place behind Naomi Brooks, resulting in a net loss of two parking spaces. It added two loading and unloading spaces on Russell Road in front of Naomi Brooks, which were requested by the school for “parents and visitors needing short-term access,” according to Riley’s letter.
Three appeals were then filed in August against Alternative C, with at least 25 signatures from residents and property owners each. Any “traffic control device” established by Riley that has been reviewed by the Board at a public hearing can be appealed if the petition is signed by at least 25 city residents or property owners, according to city code.
“The city council shall then have the power to retain, remove, or change any control,” according to city code.
Meanwhile, the Board voted 4-3 at its Sept. 28 meeting to recommend Riley not proceed with the addition of the five parking spaces to Russell Road, the addition of the two loading zones on Russell Road and the addition of the six parking spaces on Johnston Place.
Riley wrote in an Oct. 2 letter that she would accept the Board’s recommendations on Russell Road, but would be proceeding with the parking spaces on Johnston Place.
She said the effectiveness of the loading zones would “depend on consistent compliance and active management,” adding that “during peak school arrival and dismissal periods, there is a potential for double-parking, extended vehicle dwell times, or use of the space for purposes other than loading and unloading.”
These changes resulted in “Modified Alternative C.”
Riley wrote in a statement to the Times that she considered “the Board’s feedback and input received through community engagement” in her decision to not include five additional parking spaces on Russell Road in Modified Alternative C.
Riley clarified to the Times that her concerns about the designated loading zone, including double parking, did not apply to these additional parking spaces.
“Regarding Saturday’s Council meeting, T&ES staff will present Modified Alternative C and be available to respond to Council questions and feedback,” Riley added.
Modified Alternative C would include four curb extensions and two median islands across the plan area’s six intersections. It would remove eight unrestricted parking spaces and five restricted parking spaces on Russell Road and add six unrestricted parking spaces on Johnston Place, resulting in a net loss of seven parking spaces.
Resident feedback
Megan Langley, Alexandria resident and Naomi Brooks teacher, filed one of the appeals with Missy Estabrook, former Alexandria City High School PTSA president.
Langley told the Times that she is taking in the project “from a standpoint of a city resident who happens to work at Brooks.”
The appeal expresses support for the revised Option 1, which would result in a net loss of two spaces while still including safety improvements like painted curb extensions.
An appeal filed by Alexandria residents Carrie Giddins Pergram and Nancy Lopez argued that the Russell Road project “process did not provide sufficient opportunity for meaningful community input.”
An appeal filed by Alexandria resident John Leary argued that Alternative C was “developed without the community process that produced Option 1.”
“[Riley] stated that the parking additions in Alternative C will return to the Board for consideration in September, but that the removals ‘will not be brought forth a second time,’” Leary’s appeal states. “Yet the removals in Alternative C do not match those the Board voted on July 27. … Parking removals that neither the Board nor the community ever vetted in their current form are thus being treated as final and beyond review.”
Langley told the Times that T&ES staff met with Brooks staff in June and revised Option 1 based on feedback from Brooks staff.
“[T&ES] definitely did their due diligence and met with a lot of people to put the time and work into finding the safest option that also works the best for the community,” Langley said.
She said the new parking spaces on Johnston Place are “a bit further away from the school” and she is concerned about “accessibility to the building” for staff, families and afterschool programming.
While circulating the appeal, Langley said she heard from residents that Option 1 “was not as invasive” and still prioritized safety for children going to school.
The Rosemont Civic Association also supported revised Option 1 in a Monday letter to Council.
Marta Schantz is a Rosemont resident and walks her kids to Naomi Brooks and Abracadabra, a nearby daycare and preschool. She said they join the Naomi Brooks “bike bus,” a group of kids that bike to school under adult supervision, on Fridays.
She told the Times that Option 2 would have allowed for one more median refuge, but she thought Riley “did a really thorough job working with her staff and understanding what’s going on in the community” and working with Naomi Brooks Principal Suzanne M. Hess, who wrote to the city in support of Alternative C.
The Alexandria Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee also supports Modified Alternative C and requests that the city include the third median refuge at West Maple Street in the new plan, according to its website.
Schantz said she always sees parking available when walking her kids to school and said that the focus should be on making Russell Road safer for kids.
“There’s been a lot of talk around parking, parking, parking, but to me, that’s kind of secondary,” she said. “I think that the focus is around the safe route to school, [including] median refuges that are being put in a couple of different intersections, so that when a kid is crossing the street, they’re able to pause halfway in case a car is going fast one way or the other.”
Jordan Eccles, Rosemont resident, typically walks with his two daughters to Naomi Brooks and Abracadabra, but also participates in the bike bus on Fridays, which his wife runs.
Eccles told the Times he’s “just a parent who wants to keep my daughter safe” and said the alternative that will be considered by Council “seems like a win for everybody.”
“It feels like there’s this sense of a zero-sum game of one advocacy group is fighting another advocacy group, and this … was shaping up [to feel like] teachers and parking advocates against parents and safety advocates,” he said. “But in this case, it really seems like it’s such a simple compromise.”
Construction for the project is expected to begin in spring 2027 as part of the repaving process, according to the city’s website.
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