WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court of Virginia seemed skeptical Thursday of new action in the long-running fight over the redevelopment of the Alexandria waterfront.
The court heard arguments — again — in a case brought by three Alexandria residents who have challenged the process used to approve the redevelopment plan. Earlier parts of the case led the city council to vote on the issue to gain a “supermajority” of six votes, and that and other action led some justices to ask whether the case as become “academic.”
The city is moving forward with waterfront redevelopment after years of debate, including an initial focus on flood mitigation and approval of some of the initial construction projects.
Roy Shannon, who represents the women suing the city, says the case is about a “right to be heard,” and told the court that the decision to deny an appeal to the Board of Zoning Appeals “shut us out of the legislative process.”
Chief Justice Donald Lemons suggested that even if the case is not moot, and the city made a mistake earlier in the process, he has trouble finding that the women who brought the case were harmed by the process.
A lawyer for the city says the women simply want to keep the waterfront plan from ever happening, and that if they had their way, all city council action would stop if any homeowner submitted some paperwork.
“My clients understand that the waterfront is going to be developed over the next decade, maybe 15 years, or two decades, and they want to know the process through which they can engage,” Shannon said following the arguments.
“People are going to keep on engaging the City Council as the waterfront is developed, and I think that the city can do a lot to try to establish the process,” he added.
