https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/01/19/alexandria-zoning-housing-lawsuit-residents/

Alexandria residents sue city to preserve single-family-only zoning

An Alexandria civic group created last year to preserve the city’s single-family neighborhoods has moved its fight to court, suing local officials this week over a controversial vote that opened up those areas to duplexes and other small apartment buildings.

The lawsuit, filed in Alexandria Circuit Court this week, argues that the Northern Virginia city violated its charter as well as the Virginia Constitution by loosening zoning rules last year for its more suburban residential areas but failing to adequately study how those changes would the impact the real estate market or the city’s infrastructure.

The city’s plan, which allows for buildings with as many as four units on any residential lot, was approved unanimously in November by Alexandria City Council under a package of changes labeled “Zoning for Housing” effort. The end of single-family-only zoning drew the most attention — and the most intense debate.

In bid for more housing, Alexandria ends single-family-only zoning

While officials had cast the wide-ranging initiative as an effort to lower costs by adding more housing, the plaintiffs — including the Coalition for a Livable Alexandria and nine homeowners — allege in the lawsuit that the city failed to show how ending single-family zoning would result in less expensive housing options or boost diversity in some neighborhoods.

Roy Byrd, the chair of the Coalition for a Livable Alexandria, said the suit was “the first step in protecting the due process and property rights of all Alexandria residents against unlawful, discriminatory actions taken by the city of Alexandria."