Court to Hear Cinder Bed Road Bus Lot Appeal

Virginia’s Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal made by a local homeowners association seeking to stop Metro from moving a bus lot from north Old Town Alexandria to Cinder Bed Road in Newington.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved the plan last year for the transit authority, or WMATA, to move the lot to Fairfax County. 

But the Newberry Station Homeowners Association said there was a violation of state conflict of interest laws, because two members of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors sit on WMATA’s board.

The HOA separately had concerns about "the burden that the facility would place on the already over-burdened roads that service the homeowners and business concerns in the neighborhood of the proposed facility."

Alexandria Mayor Bill Euille also sits on WMATA’s board.

The Fairfax County Circuit Court ruled in favor of the defendants — the Fairfax Board of Supervisors, WMATA and site developer Iskalo CBR of Williamsville, N.Y. Iskalo is being represented by McGuire Woods, a law firm based in Richmond. But the homeowners' group appealed the case.

The City of Alexandria has been eager to see the bus mart, owned and operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, leave the residential neighborhood surrounding its location on N. Royal Street.

The City of Alexandria is not part of the lawsuit.

“Alexandria does not have any real direct interest in [the case],” said Alexandria City Attorney Jim Banks. “We have not participated in the case at all.”

City of Alexandria official Mark Jinks told Patch last year that the city has been seeking to get the bus mart out of Old Town for “decades.”

The lot is in the midst of a residential area, at 600 N. Royal St.

However, residents who live near the proposed site in Fairfax County are concerned about bus traffic in the area.

The high court has not yet scheduled a date for the appeal.