Sewage Plant Likely to Trump High-Rise in Alexandria

By Kirstin Downey
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 7, 2008

A fierce battle is underway over a 10.6-acre parcel of land near the tony Carlyle area in Alexandria.

The owner, Charles Hooff, a descendant of a city pioneer from the mid-1700s, wants to build a high-end high-rise on the land. He envisions a landmark office complex, with windows overlooking Hooffs Run, a creek named for his family, which once farmed nearby.

The cash-strapped city, struggling with sagging revenue and rising costs, has wanted the site redeveloped into an architecturally distinguished office building that could serve as a steady source of tax revenue. In 2003, after two years of negotiations with property owners, the city created a master plan for the area, dubbed South Carlyle, that would have allowed Hooff to build a 10- to 15-story office building on the site and a residential tower.

Now a third party, the Alexandria Sanitation Authority, has entered the picture. Authority officials said they need the land to expand sewage treatment facilities, and the authority's board of directors has filed a petition of eminent domain to compel Hooff to sell it to them.

The authority, which operates independently of the city, said it needs the land to meet new environmental standards. In 2005, the Virginia Department of Environmental Regulation began requiring sewage plants to reduce emissions of nitrogen, which causes algae blooms and oxygen-deprived "dead zones" in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.

So, instead of a glamorous new high-rise, Alexandria will probably get a bigger sewage plant, with enough capacity to serve fast-growing Fairfax County. Yes, Fairfax County. About 60 percent of the plant's capacity provides sewage services to Fairfax households.

At stake are millions of dollars in potential tax revenue and the future of a prime piece of real estate, one of the first land tracts that motorists see after crossing the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. If the sanitation authority is not allowed to expand, however, the plant could fall out of compliance with environmental standards, triggering a freeze on new sewer hookups, which could stall development.

On Tuesday, the Alexandria Planning Commission unanimously approved the sewer authority's request to rezone the land to allow a sewage-treatment facility. On March 15, the City Council will review the request and decide whether to permit the authority to build a plant expansion there instead of the first-class office building that city officials want.

The dispute involves five parcels that make up two blocks, bounded by Hooffs Run Drive to the west and Holland Lane to the east. They are owned by Hooff Fagelson Tract LLC, which includes descendants from four families, including the Hooffs and the Fagelsons.

The two blocks are adjacent to the sanitary authority's 33-acre wastewater treatment plant, which was built in the 1950s. It serves about 350,000 households.

The authority has been negotiating privately with Hooff and the other owners for nearly three years. Jonathan Rak, an attorney for the sanitation authority, said Hooff is dragging his feet. The authority has offered him $30 million, but he is holding out for more, Rak said.

"He's trying to get the most he possibly can for the property," he said.

Hooff said he is willing to sell the land to the authority but doesn't like being forced to do so. He said he was offered more money for the land, $42.5 million, by private developers who would have built the kind of project he had in mind, but he said they walked away when they realized that the authority would take the land.

"They're putting a pistol to my head," he said.

Hooff, whose ancestors first came to Alexandria to build Conestoga wagons to transport Gen. Edward Braddock's troops to the French and Indian Wars, said he is being treated unfairly by the city where his family has lived for centuries. He said he believes sanitation authority officials are using their power to deprive him of the value of his inheritance.

"There's mischief going on," he said. He added that he is worried that sanitation authority officials will have trouble getting financing through the municipal bond market, which has been hurt by the mortgage meltdown. "I don't think they have the money," Hooff said.

Rak said the sanitation authority will be able to apply to the Virginia Resources Authority to fund the purchase and capital improvements.

"We believe we will be able to raise this money," he said.

Rak said sewer customers will be hurt if Hooff demands too much money.

"If we pay more, it gets passed on to customers," he said.

Hooff said taxpayers will be hurt if a sewage treatment plant is built on the site, because the city will lose what he estimates would be $5 million in annual tax revenue.

City officials, meanwhile, also are cringing at the prospect of forgoing the tax revenue, even as they recognize that the plant needs to be expanded and brought into compliance with the new environmental standards.

"Why should Alexandria give up tax revenue to support Fairfax's economic development?" asked City Council member Rob Krupicka (D). "Now it's possible that instead of a high-end class A office building, we will have a sanitation plant."