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Alexandria approves building on a lot with no street access

Alexandria approves building on a lot with no street access

Rule Changes Alexandria, VA local

The City Council approved the no-street-access lot permit on its Oct. 17 docket; the substandard-lot rule rewrite from the same night has no published outcome

October 17th, 2026: City Council hears Quaker Lane SUP on consent docket

Overview

Updated Oct 21

The City Council approved a special use permit for the lot with no street frontage at 108-110 North Quaker Lane at its Oct. 17 hearing. The hearing's action docket records that the council closed the public hearing and approved the Planning Commission's 7-0 recommendation.

The same docket included a zoning text amendment that would end the special permit requirement for most undersized lots, a rule the city describes as 50 years old. The city has not published the council's action on that item. Formal minutes, once approved, are the official record.

Why it matters

Alexandria just showed how it handles landlocked lots one at a time, while writing a rule to stop doing that.

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Key Indicators

7-0
Planning Commission vote
Commission recommended approval of SUP #2026-00035 on Oct. 6.
Approved
City Council action
The Oct. 17 action docket records that the council closed the public hearing and approved the commission's recommendation.

Voices

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People Involved

AS
Anne M. Smucker
Trustee and permit applicant
The City Council approved her special use permit for 108-110 North Quaker Lane on Oct. 17, following the Planning Commission's 7-0 recommendation.
 M. Catharine Puskar
M. Catharine Puskar
Land-use attorney for the applicant
Represented Smucker through the Oct. 17 City Council hearing, where the permit was approved on the commission's recommendation.

Organizations Involved

Alexandria Planning Commission
Alexandria Planning Commission
City advisory body
Recommended approval 7-0 on Oct. 6; the City Council approved the permit Oct. 17, per the hearing's action docket.

The appointed body that hears special use permits, subdivisions, and rezoning in Alexandria.
Alexandria Department of Planning and Zoning
Alexandria Department of Planning and Zoning
City department
Reviews applications and advises the commission

City staff who analyze special use permit requests and issue recommendations that shape commission votes.

Timeline

May 2026 October 2026

7 events Latest: October 17th, 2026 · 3 weeks ago
Tap a bar to jump to that date

  1. City Council hears Quaker Lane SUP on consent docket

    Latest Hearing

    The council's Oct. 17 hearing placed SUP #2026-00035 among the roll-call consent items, the block usually passed in one vote; the city has not separately reported the outcome.

  2. City Council approves Quaker Lane permit

    Decision

    The action docket for the Oct. 17 hearing records that the council closed the public hearing and approved the Planning Commission's 7-0 recommendation on SUP #2026-00035.

  3. Alexandria picked for Bloomberg housing initiative

    Policy

    The city was chosen for a Bloomberg Philanthropies program offering $450,000 to $750,000 to speed permits and double accessory dwelling units, a separate push that overlaps the substandard-lot rule changes.

  4. Planning Commission recommends approval

    Hearing

    Commission voted 7-0 to recommend approval of the special use permit for the non-frontage lot.

  5. Planning Commission recommends substandard-lot text amendment

    Policy

    The commission voted 7-0 to recommend ZTA #2026-00003, which would let owners build by right on most undersized lots without a special permit, a requirement the city describes as 50 years old.

  6. Agenda lists Quaker Lane permit

    Procedural

    Published agenda places SUP #2026-00035 for 108-110 North Quaker Lane on the Oct. 6 docket.

  7. Commission flags substandard-lot rules

    Policy

    Commissioners take up a separate lot-without-frontage SUP and a planned text amendment on substandard lots.

Scenarios

4

City Council Approves Special Use Permit

Deadline passed (Oct 17, 2026)

Discussed by: Commission's 7-0 recommendation; typical City Council deference to planning recommendations

After the commission's unanimous recommendation, the City Council is likely to approve the permit at its Oct. 17 hearing, possibly with conditions such as a recorded access easement or adjusted setbacks.

Historical Context

2 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

Established in English common law

Easement by necessity (common law)

When a landowner sells off a parcel that ends up with no road access, courts have long granted the buyer a right to cross a neighbor's land, an "easement by necessity," so the land is not unusable.

Then

Landlocked parcels became developable by crossing an adjacent owner's property.

Now

The doctrine underpins modern city rules that let non-frontage lots be built under public oversight.

Why this matters now

Alexandria's special use permit is the city's formal version of this: a way to make a lot with no street frontage buildable, decided in public rather than left to private agreement alone.

1800s–1900s

Paper-street abandonments (19th–20th century)

Many East Coast cities were platted with streets that were never built, leaving interior lots with no public access. Owners petitioned cities to vacate the unbuilt streets or grant access so the land could be used.

Then

Cities created formal processes, including street vacations and access permits, to resolve non-frontage parcels.

Now

Those processes became today's special use permits and lot-vacation hearings.

Why this matters now

The Quaker Lane case fits this tradition: a parcel with no street frontage needs a city action to become usable.

Sources

(11)
+5
City of Alexandria City of Alexandria Alexandria Brief City of Alexandria (via Public) DocketCity Alexandria Living Magazine City of Alexandria City of Alexandria The Zebra City of Alexandria City of Alexandria