Ask most Cameron Station residents about the asphalt plant on Courtney Avenue and you'll get the same answer: it's leaving, the city set a 2027 deadline back in 2019, case closed. What most people missed is that this June, the city's own planning staff recommended changing that deal. Not the company. Not some outside developer. The city's own staff report said a five-year extension, pushing the shutdown to 2032, was "reasonable."
It took a unanimous Planning Commission vote, a petition with 140 signatures, and residents standing up in a Council chamber for that recommendation to get overturned. That's the part of this story worth knowing if you live anywhere near Duke Street or the Van Dorn Metro corridor, because it shows how residents’ participation can help shape decisions about the future of the Duke Street and Van Dorn Metro corridor.
A Promise Made in 2019, Tested in 2026
Virginia Paving has produced asphalt at 5601 Courtney Avenue since 1960. In 2019, with the Eisenhower West Small Area Plan pointing toward office, residential, and retail uses for the corridor, City Council voted unanimously to invoke the sunset clause on the company's special use permit. The deadline: January 1, 2027. At the time, then-Councilmember Del Pepper wanted no ambiguity about it, telling the company, as ALXnow reported, she wanted it "chiseled in stone so we don't have to go through this a second time."
That second time came anyway. In April 2026, Virginia Paving filed an application requesting a five-year extension, pushing the deadline to January 1, 2032. The filing was revised in late May to disclose something that hadn't been public before: nearly the entire 11-acre property now sits inside a federally designated floodplain, a detail the company's attorney used to argue that redevelopment prospects were dim and that shutting down in 2027 would just leave a vacant industrial lot.
City staff's own report echoed that logic, calling a modest extension reasonable given financing conditions and the slower-than-expected pace of development in the area. That recommendation went to the Planning Commission, which rejected it 6-0.
What the Hearing Actually Revealed
As the Alexandria Brief reported, the public hearing landed on July 1, 2026, at the Del Pepper Community Resource Center, and it turned into more than a routine permit renewal. Mark Sullivan, a Cameron Station resident, told Council the city's assurance that the plant would be gone by January 2027 partly influenced his 2019 home purchase. Michael Hogan, a retired military officer who settled in the neighborhood about seven years ago, said he'd specifically researched the sunset clause before deciding to buy there.
As the Alexandria Brief reported, Hogan said:
"A couple of weeks ago I saw the notice saying here it is for re-voting and redoing. And it kind of shocked me. They've already agreed to this, so what's going on?"
That was Hogan's reaction, and it's worth sitting with, because it captures the gap between what residents believed was settled and what was quietly back on the table. An economist who spoke against the extension, Hernando Garzon, argued the city was giving up tax revenue and stalling broader redevelopment by letting the plant stay. A representative from Greenhill Capital, which owns 23 acres next door with approvals for nearly 900 units of mixed-use housing, told Council that every conversation with prospective investors comes back to the plant, calling it an eyesore that's kept capital on the sidelines. Greenhill said it had made two purchase offers on the Virginia Paving site through its attorney and never got a response.
Council voted 6-0-1, with Councilmember Canek Aguirre abstaining, to deny the extension and hold the line at 2027. Mayor Alyia Gaskins framed it as a test of whether the city would actually follow its own master plan. Vice Mayor Sarah Bagley said she'd asked the company during the hearing whether something short of five years, still enough to incentivize property improvements, might work, but didn't hear enough support from colleagues to bring it to a vote.
The Timeline, in One Place
| Date | What Happened |
|---|---|
| 1960 | Virginia Paving begins asphalt production at 5601 Courtney Avenue |
| 2019 | City Council sets a sunset date of Jan. 1, 2027, on the plant's special use permit |
| Nov. 2025–Jan. 2026 | Cameron Station Civic Association emails city planning staff asking for a status update on relocation plans; follows up after two months of silence |
| April–May 2026 | Virginia Paving files for a five-year extension to 2032, later disclosing floodplain designation |
| June 2026 | Planning Commission recommends denial, 6-0 |
| July 1, 2026 | City Council votes 6-0-1 to deny the extension and uphold the 2027 deadline |
| December 2026 | Virginia Paving's division manager says the plant will shut down entirely, ahead of the legal deadline |
What Actually Changes, and What Doesn't
Here's the part that's easy to miss in the relief of a vote finally going the neighborhood's way: closing the plant doesn't automatically transform the site. Virginia Paving still owns the 11 acres. Once asphalt production stops, the company keeps employees and trucks there while it figures out next steps, according to its attorney. And because the parcel is zoned by-right industrial, another medium-industrial use, think manufacturing, bottling, storage, could move in without any rezoning at all.
That's the piece of this story that matters most if you're trying to picture what Courtney Avenue looks like in 2027 versus 2032. The vote guarantees the asphalt plant stops operating. It doesn't guarantee housing, retail, or anything resembling what the Small Area Plan envisioned. That still requires a rezoning application, a buyer, and time, which is exactly why Greenhill Capital's stalled 900-unit project next door is worth watching. It's the closest real signal of how quickly this corridor could actually turn over once the plant is gone, since Greenhill has already been trying and failing to buy the land outright.
The financial picture shifts too. City staff estimated the site generates roughly $320,000 in annual real estate taxes, a figure staff expects to be cut in half once Virginia Paving moves out.
The Paper Trail Behind the Debate
Long before this summer's hearing, the Cameron Station Civic Association had been the one institution tracking this fight in detail. Its own account of the plant's history notes that it sits less than a football field from Samuel W. Tucker Elementary School, and that it had violated more than 22 local, state, and federal air and water pollution standards before the association's involvement, including a Clean Water Act violation in 2024.
As the Alexandria Times reported, Civic Association president Sunny Pietrafesa, who moved to Cameron Station in 2001, described the plant's earlier impact on daily life in blunt terms: taking her dog out at 5 a.m. and having her eyes sting from what she could smell in the air. She told the Alexandria Times she doesn't experience that anymore, but that the possible health research linking asphalt fumes to cancer risk is what kept residents firmly against another extension. Virginia Paving's division manager, David Horton, said the plant meets all state requirements and has performed well environmentally, and pointed to a hotline residents can use to report odors.
Not every voice in the neighborhood wanted the plant gone. Cameron Station resident Elliott Waters spoke in favor of extending the plant's operations, calling it an unrecognized asset in the community. Horton, for his part, pointed to the company's record of sponsoring stream cleanups, donating to First Night Alexandria, and helping construct Miracle Field, the accessible athletic field designed for athletes with special needs. That range of views is part of why the vote wasn't a formality. It was a genuine debate; Council denied the extension 6-0-1.
What to Watch From Here
If you live in Cameron Station or anywhere along the Van Dorn corridor, the next twelve months are where this story actually resolves. Watch for whether Virginia Paving files for rezoning on its own timeline, whether a buyer emerges now that the exit date is locked, and whether the December shutdown that the company's own manager described holds up before the legal January 1, 2027 deadline even arrives. The Civic Association's monitoring of this issue, including its follow-up emails to city planning staff, helped keep residents informed as the process unfolded. That kind of engagement is worth following as planning decisions shape the corridor.
If you're trying to make sense of what any of this means for property values, timelines, or what's worth watching next along Courtney Avenue and South Van Dorn Street, Derek Cole Properties tracks these West End changes closely and is always glad to talk through what they might mean for your specific corner of the neighborhood. Schedule a free consultation anytime.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
