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Sent: Friday, November 1, 2013 1:45 PM
Subject: PRESS RELEASE: HPRB Rejects Community Plea for World-Class McMillan Development
Friends of McMillan Park
For Release: November 1, 2013
Contact: Erin Fairbanks, erinwhite@yahoo.com, 240-506-6777
HPRB Rejects Community Plea for World-Class McMillan Development
The District’s Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) yesterday found that the Gray Administration’s proposal for development of McMillan Park would "result in substantial demolition . . . and therefore [is] inconsistent with the purposes of the Historic Landmark and Historic District Protection Act.” Nevertheless, the HPRB praised the Administration’s suburban office park master plan and concept designs, rejecting pleas from Friends of McMillan Park (FOM) and the community at large, backed up by thousands of petition signatures, to save McMillan from the wrecking ball and turn it into a world-class destination. Because of the amount of destruction envisioned in the Mayor’s plan, the HPRB was legally required to reject the plan and forward it for further reviews, including coming back to HPRB for final approval. Such reviews (both Federal and local) could potentially stop the District’s efforts in its tracks.
FOM objects to Mayor Gray's development plan because it would demolish a significant amount of the historical above- and below-ground structures that define the landmark Olmsted park's historic character. Opponents of the plan also contend that it would be too big and too dense and therefore would exacerbate traffic congestion in the region, and that the proposed designs are completely incompatible with both the McMillan Park Reservoir Historic District and the surrounding neighborhoods.
Instead of the Administration's development plan, FOM wants the Mayor to open the project to an international design competition that will yield creative ideas for preservation and adaptive re-use of McMillan Park's historic underground caverns, reduce the density of development on the Park's surface, and transform the site into a world-class destination like the High Line in New York or Gas Works Park in Seattle.
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