Continuing a trend of the past several years, the Vienna Town Council voted 7-0 April 25 to vacate a 15-by-50-foot section of alleyway behind a property at 115 Wilmar Place, N.W.
Property owners Manish and Vanita Sharma will pay the town $10,057 for the alley section.
The Council in recent years has authorized disposal of sections of the 15-foot-wide public alley, which runs parallel between Ayr Hill Avenue, N.W., and Willmar Place, N.W., from Center Street, N., and Lawyers Road, N.W.
Viewers hired by the town in 2013 determined the town did not need to keep any piece of the alley and that vacating it would not inconvenience the public.
Council members over the years questioned whether the town was receiving fair value for the alley sections, which would enlarge homeowners’ parcels and potentially allow slightly more development to occur on those sites.
In May 2021, the Council adopted a new formula for determining the value of such alleyway sections on a per-square-foot basis. The new procedure is “straightforward and fair,” said Council member Ray Brill Jr.
“I’m glad we’re doing it this way,” added Council member Howard Springsteen.