Uhler Terrace in Alexandria

Cramped housing development approved.

There’s not a lot of room in Alexandria for new housing. Something was bound to fill the empty lot on a cul-de-sac at the end of Uhler Terrace in Del Ray. Despite concerns from some neighbors, the Planning Commission approved a single family dwelling for 105 Uhler Terrace.

“The criteria for substandard lot is that it doesn’t negatively affect property values,” said Susan Lavington. “It seems that that’s been made in a very subjective way in this case. This is not a cul-de-sac. If you’ve been to this street, it’s a tight, one lane with no space to get out. Now it’s going to be even tighter and more difficult to get out of the driveway. It will affect property value of my house. We feel like we have a gun to our head.”

Despite this, the Planning Commission agreed that in terms of potential developments on the site, the proposed single family dwelling was the best option.

“I can’t imagine that I could have come up with a better solution for this site than what they came up with,” said Commissioner David Brown. “This is as good a situation as you could hope for.”