By Jonathan O`Connell, Published: July 15
The
green color of the stickers should surprise no one.
Green
space has been a point of contention between neighbors and developers of the
McMillan Sand Filtration Plant since 2000 when the city began considering it
for reuse.
Backers
of the project donned green stickers at the Historic Preservation Review Board
July 12, but opponents of the plan are the ones who keep returning to the issue
of open parkland.
The
25-acre site, located south of Washington Hospital Center between North Capitol
and First streets Northwest, became the city`s first water cleansing system in
1909, but was abandoned by 1988 and has since been decaying and fenced off from
the public.
Eyeing
development, District officials selected a team led by town home builder EYA
and Jair Lynch in 2007. In the five-year push for approval, they have attended
more than 50 community meetings, added new partners (developer Trammell Crow,
planning firm EE&K, landscape architects Nelson Byrd Woltz) and scrapped
plans deemed too onerous by neighbors.
Recently
the team, called Vision McMillan Partners, hired a new project director, Anne
Corbett, from the arts group Cultural Development Corp. Lynch said hiring
Corbett ``would help us breathe new life into this gem.``
The
team`s newest plan calls for town homes on the southern end of the site, a park
in the middle and apartments, a grocery store, other shops and offices at the
northern end, across the street from the hospital. Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D)
has been a strong backer, proposing $48.1 million in capital funds over four
years.
But
residents have repeatedly and consistently asked for more park space than what
the developers propose. Police officers have been called to escort city
officials to sometimes contentious meetings on the project. And former council
member Harry Thomas Jr., a strong backer of the developers, admitted to
stealing $353,000 in taxpayer funds and was sent to federal prison.
``There
is not one community organization that supports this present plan,`` Tony
Norman, amember of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 1B, told the board. His
ANC, west of the site, unanimously voted to oppose the plan.
A
commissioner from ANC 5C, Hugh Youngblood, asked the panel ``to persuade the
current administration to reexamine a terribly misguided decision`` to develop
a place Frederick L. Olmsted helped design.
At
the Historic Preservation Review Board meeting, which will be continued to
accommodate a long line of witnesses, some opponents introduced slides of their
own plans, which would include low-rise housing, more public space and an ``urban
beach.``
The
disagreements put the developers in a difficult spot because the site already
represents ``one of the most challenging sites imaginable to both preserve and
adapt for current use,`` according to an HPRB staff report. A network of 20
concrete cells lie below grade, connected to the surface by more than 2,000
manhole covers. Built with un-reinforced concrete, the cells cannot support new
buildings above or be replaced by a new foundation.
Twice
in recent years some cells have collapsed, according to the team`s engineering
consultant, Kirk Mettam. ``It`s a very dangerous situation,`` he said.
Vision
McMillan plans to preserve all of the site`s above-ground regulatory houses and
sand storage houses, re-using most of them and saving one in its original
state. The team said it also hopes to reconstruct a statue fountain originally
on site that has been dismantled.
In
the meeting last week, the team showcased the plan`s park space, saying the
plan amounted to 34 percent open space (some of it private), 44 percent
buildings and 22 percent walkways and connections.
Matthew
J. Bell, EE&K principal, said the central park was the size of almost five
football fields. ``The master plan in 2012 really begins with preservation,``
he said.
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