Stronghold resident Kirby Vining: "The McMillan development bride is dead, but the wedding is still on"

This message from Stronghold resident Kirby Vining appeared in DC Watch's The Mail dated 11-06-2013:
 

 
The McMillan Development Bride Is Dead, But the Wedding Is Still On
Kirby Vining, nulliparaacnestis@gmail.com  
 

                  

Press reports in circulation following the controversial Halloween HPRB hearing on the proposed development of McMillan Park are skewed in favor of the spin which Vision McMillan Partners (VMP), the Mayor’s chosen design team) has put on the HPRB decision. After hearing the VMP presentation, followed by about thirty pieces of public testimony, all but a couple vociferously denouncing the proposed destruction of McMillan Park, the HPRB voted, unanimously, to approve the HPO Staff Report without comment or change. While VMP is spreading the word that the HPRB approved their plan, it is not noting that the recommendations of the HPO, approved by the HPRB, contain this pesky detail (recommendation one from the HPO Staff Report): "Find that the proposal will result in substantial demolition, as defined in the preservation regulations, and therefore inconsistent with the purposes of the Historic Landmark and Historic District Protection Act. . . ."

                                                                                                            

What this means is that the HPRB rejected the VMP plans as too destructive of this Historic Landmark — which is what the HPRB does: enforce the Historic Preservation Act. As the HPRB rejected the VMP plan, VMP can and probably will appeal to the Mayor’s Agent, who will listen to any "special merit" the project has which VMP and DMPED will argue should force the Mayor’s Agent to overrule the HPRB condemnation of the project. The Mayor’s Agent grudgingly allowed "special merit" to the DC Water project to destroy two of the McMillan sand filtration cells because of the help this work would be in preventing the catastrophic flooding of Bloomingdale homes, but he made one condition: DC Water is to return those two cells to the exact external form they have right now. How will he react to this request to demolish the surface and the rest of the cells?

                            

At the same time that the Mayor’s Agent will be evaluating this "guilty as charged" sentence for destruction of a historic landmark, the case will be presented to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, a presidential board established to enforce the Preservation Act regarding federal properties. This is relevant in the McMillan case because the 1987 deed transferring the property from the Army Corps of Engineers to the District contains a historic preservation covenant binding the District to do just this, in the event that the State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO, HPRB in our case) and any proposed developer fail to reach agreement on the preservation side of things. That has happened.

                        

So while VMP suggests that the wedding is still on, the bride is about to undergo an autopsy by two renowned pathologists. Should be a lovely Reception.