One of the first major pandemic-related decisions council will consider this month is how to spend $13.9 million in federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act funding.

The money is from the second batch of CARES Act funding that the Commonwealth of Virginia has allocated to Alexandria. Council decided in May to spend the first tranche of $13.9 million on the city’s COVID-19 response costs, Alexandria Health Department staffing, food security, rental assistance and small business grants.

“I think you’ll see a similar focus for those dollars for the second round but maybe some variation,” Wilson said. “Some things have changed, some things have evolved and so we’ll be sorting through how to get those funds out into the community as quickly as possible. That’ll be job number one.”

Despite financial aid from the CARES Act, the pandemic had a major impact on the city economy. COVID-19 struck in the midst of the fis- cal year 2021 budget cycle, forcing City Manager Mark Jinks and council to reassess spending priorities.

“We’re all in this holding pattern,” Councilor Amy Jackson said. “It’s like, OK, who’s up next? What project is up next? What project is a priority over something that we really want but we don’t need it right now? What do we need? We need money for the people who aren’t able to pay their rent and need shelter. We need money to go to ALIVE!”

COVID-19’s blow to the FY2021 budget and unknown impacts on the FY2022 budget will likely influence many of council’s decisions this fall.

Another nationwide happening likely to impact council’s decision-making is the movement for social equity and racial justice that emerged in the aftermath of George Floyd’s killing. Floyd, a Black man, was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis on May 25.

In response to the incident and nationwide protests that followed, City Council voted on June 11 to establish a community police review board to oversee the Alexandria Police Department. Jinks will present a proposal to establish the board at the legislative session on Sept. 8.

In addition to ironing out the details of the review board, several councilors said they want to reassess the city’s policies around policing this fall.

“I think we have an opportunity as we go forward, to reduce the number of situations where we’re sending police to scenes to deal with things that could more effectively dealt with by other city agencies,” Wilson said.

“After hours and on the weekends, we send police to deal with noise violations,” Wilson continued. “We send police to deal with a quality of life impact on restaurants and things like that, and … you don’t need an armed police officer to deal with a lot of those disputes, so I think we’re going to have a conversation around the appropriate way to deploy police as well as what other city agencies we can get involved in the conversation.”

Aside from COVID-19 and social justice-related issues, council has a host of land-use, zoning and other topics on the radar this fall.

Several major DSUP applications will come before council for approval this month, including plans for the new Douglas MacArthur Elementary School and the first academic buildings on the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus.

The community engagement and planning phases of the MacArthur rebuild have been in the works for almost a year. If the plans are approved, demolition of the existing building will likely begin this month, Jackson said.

“MacArthur is one of our first major school projects in a long time, so I think that’s a big deal for the community,” Vice Mayor Elizabeth Bennett-Parker said.

As for Virginia Tech, approval of the first new buildings is also a major step. Architectural renderings of the buildings, filed with the city in April, feature a design centered on the principals of sustainability, health and wellness, green and social spaces, accessibility, connectivity, flexibility and integrated technology, according to Virginia Tech.

As the Innovation Campus takes shape and Potomac Yard evolves and develops, Councilor Canek Aguirre said he wants to make sure that the new development doesn’t push out existing residents.

“The Arlandria small area plan, there is some continued movement on that, and I think that’s go- ing to be very important while we’re talking about the impact of Amazon and Virginia Tech and equity in the city, and how current residents can still benefit from the incoming economic development that’s going to occur,” Aguirre said.

In addition to specific DSUPs, SUPs and projects that council will consider, the group plans to make changes to some of the city’s larger policy and zoning regulations.

One specific zoning change council will consider is whether to increase floor area ratio at school sites.

“There are a bunch of schools that don’t meet their current zoning today, [and] there’s a whole bunch of other schools that if you do any expansion whatsoever, they’re going to have to be rezoned,” Wilson said. “So what this is doing is, this is basically saying OK, every school we do work on is going to have to be bigger, so this provides a modest increase in floor area ratio for our school sites as we go forward.”

Jackson said she wants to hear from the community before she makes a decision about the FAR regulations.

Dockets for council’s Sept. 8 legislative meeting and Sept. 12 public hearing have not yet been released. For more information, go to alexandriava.gov/council.