BUILDER WINS NOD TO MOVE 1,500 TENANTS

ALEXANDRIA APPROVES RELOCATION PLAN FOR LOW-INCOME RESIDENTS

During one of the most hostile meetings recently held in Alexandria City Hall, the City Council yesterday heard the impassioned pleas of tenants, then reluctantly approved a developer's plan to displace 1,500 low- income residents.

Shouting "people over profits," 250 tenants and their advocates asked the council to reject Artery Organization's plan to remove tenants from Dominion Garden Apartments, a 416-unit complex in Arlandria.

Artery's plan for Dominion Garden is just one facet of the change facing Arlandria, the largely Hispanic community just south of Arlington. Several developers are beginning to upgrade many of the apartments there, sometimes doubling the rents, and as many as 5,000 low-income residents now face eviction.

Displaced Dominion Garden tenants would receive between $380 and $880 in financial assistance from the developer. The amount would be determined by the size of the apartment and the tenants' income. The elderly and handicapped would receive the larger payments.

However, Mitch Snyder, a spokesman for the homeless who is helping the tenants organize, said the city should not put "its stamp of approval" on the plan, saying it offers "nickels and dimes to people being thrown out of their homes."

Snyder said the one-time relocation payments would not be sufficient in an area where affordable housing has become as hard to find as "platinum and gold."

Theresa Campos, a seven-year resident of Dominion Garden, said she has been looking for a new home for two months. "Everyone wants me to pay more money, almost $1,000 a month," said the native Salvadoran. "They say I can only have three people in a two-bedroom. I have seven sons."

Dominion Garden residents pay an average monthly rent of $460 for a two-bedroom unit. With renovation, the rent would rise to $650 immediately, according to the developer.

The tenants' lawyer, Laura Macklin from Georgetown University Law Center's Public Institute for Representation, asked the council not to approve the relocation plan. She said approval would further discourage developers who might buy the property from Artery and who have expressed interest in maintaining Dominion Gardens as a residence for low-income tenants.

But Mayor James P. Moran Jr. said that prospects for a buy-out and a substantial lowering of proposed rents are remote. The mayor said Artery paid $30,000 for each of the 416 apartments, and to recover that cost, plus those from expensive improvements, any developer would have to raise rents beyond the reach of most of the present tenants.

After three hours of discussion, which often resembled a raucous sporting event as tenants interrupted speakers, chanted and clapped, council members said they believed that some kind of financial assistance was better than none and approved Artery's plan, but with a condition.

If the city can find funds to subsidize some tenants, the developer must allow those low-income residents to stay. If they do not, said the council, the whole relocation plan -- which includes a pledge from the developers that tenants violating overcrowding rules will be given more than 10 days to alleviate the problem -- will be scrapped.

Alexandria attorney Howard Middleton, who represented Artery at the meeting, said the developers were not prepared to agree to the council's provision yesterday.

Moran said city officials will begin looking for possible subsidy funding tomorrow.

Developers are not bound by law to offer relocation plans, but the vast majority agree to provide financial assistance to displaced residents to ensure a favorable working climate with the city.

In other action, the council approved a study that would limit to 50 feet the height of all new buildings along Duke Street from Longview Drive to Jordan Street. They scheduled the final vote on the issue, which business leaders oppose and residents support, for Nov. 25.

Articles appear as they were originally printed in The Washington Post and may not include subsequent corrections.