McMillan site development: exchange between Vision McMillan Partners' Tania Jackson and Ward 4's Andrea Rosen (and Richard Layman)

This Email exchange is from the Historic Washington list at Yahoogroups, moderated by Mary Rowse:

From: rlaymandc@yahoo.com
To: HistoricWashington@yahoogroups.com
Date: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 04:33:15 -0800
Subject: [HistoricWashington] Re: WAMU MetroConnection McMillan Report

For what it's worth, "sentiment" arguments ("we're Washingtonians," etc.) don't go very far for me if they justify mediocrity.  I am not saying the McMillan Project is mediocre, just that too often in my experience in DC, mediocrity is justified using similar arguments.  (It's a form of fallacious argumentation besides.)

My problem with the "park" proposal is only that despite the smart growth folks talking about how great it is (e.g., the GGW blog entry, http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/20816/mcmillan-plans-show-expansive-new-recreation-spaces/), I think it could be better.

I think that the city shouldn't devolve full responsibility for planning such spaces to developers, that we need a robust framework for parks and recreation planning (the lack of a parks master plan doesn't help, and I hope the coming one will be decent--I have been pressing my concerns to the planning firm that got the contract, but I have deep concerns about the scope set by the city as deeply constraining the quality of the final product), and one committed to robust public engagement planning processes.

And yes, I remember the RFP process for this project that others seem to have conveniently erased from their memories, and I understand the constraints on the city's budget in terms of adding large "park" spaces, etc.

Richard Layman

From: create_communitas@yahoo.com
To: HistoricWashington@yahoogroups.com
Date: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 05:43:52 -0800
Subject: [HistoricWashington] Re: WAMU MetroConnection McMillan Report

We have held almost 200 meetings at this point, and been involved in planning and design with all of the surrounding neighborhoods. The plan for the site directly reflects all of the hard work and input of the communities that are around the site, and include the amenities and elements that are important to them. Work has been going on since long before 2012.  

Further, Nelson Byrd Wolz *is* a world-class designer of parks and has the awards and transformative designs to prove it.  All of the team members have the talent and awards to back up their work.

Finally, I believe in home-grown talent.  I think the many Washingtonians on the team like myself, who grew up loving the site and wanting to actually access it rather than watch it continue to deteriorate have plenty of talent, energy, drive and great ideas.  It's my hope that young people in DC get to see  projects conceived of and developed by those of us who are actually from here and love the city;  I think that's an important aspect of neighborhood development and *people* development.  

I invite everyone to participate in the ongoing public process.  Since our approval by HPRB, we have been referred to the Mayor's Agent and will be going before the Zoning Commission this spring.  

Tania Jackson

Neighborhood Outreach Coordinator

Vision McMillan Partners

and Resident of Ward 1

I have only been aware of the city’s efforts to develop McMillan Sands
Filtration Site and Park since 2012, so I cannot address the meetings that
an employee of VMP reports were held in 2006. But when we have a huge
public asset that has been recognized by the premier national and local
historic preservation bodies (National Register, National Trust for Historic
Preservation, National Park Service, National Association for Olmsted Parks,
D.C. Inventory of Historic Sites, The Committee of 100 on the Federal City,
The Cultural Landscape Foundation, D.C. Preservation League to name a few)
as historic, unique, and in need of preservation, the solution is not to invite
developers to compete to make it unrecognizable. Creating
a Rockville Town Centre on McMillan Park savages the irreplaceable.
The passion for McMillan so often expressed by VMP is no more than
the passion developers feel to exploit any 25-acre property for a significant profit.

VMP needs to step aside so that real visionaries—world-class designers--
may compete to devise creative, world-class solutions to the preservation and adaptive
re-use challenges and opportunities McMillan Park presents.

Andrea Rosen
Ward 4

Mon Jan 27, 2014 8:29 am (PST) . Posted by: create_communitasIt's not true that there wasn't a competitive process. Tony Norman keeps saying that despite the fact that he knows the opposite to be true.

In 2006, the National Capital Revitalization Corporation (NCRC) issued an RFQ to select a development partner for the McMillan site. The selection process spanned several months and included several community meetings and votes-- votes Mr. Norman participated in, and for which VMP had the support of Mr. Norman. The initial process was conducted by Mayor Fenty, signed off on by McMillan Advisory Group leader Mr. Norman, and later evaluated and held up by Mayor Gray.

The eventual five bidders were judged on their land development capabilities-- vertical development and financial capability. Community members attended tours of the vertical development projects evaluated for all five bidders. In July 2007, Vision McMillan Partners was selected from among the five bidders by NCRC because of their collective experience with complex development projects that present a number of overlapping priorities such as historic preservation and open space development.

Since being selected by a competitive process, VMP has continued to meet with the community-- via regular sessions with the MAG, on which Mr. Norman continues to sit, and several community-wide planning and input processes. As a direct result the project has grown and changed dramatically. It incorporates much of what the neighborhoods surrounding the site have asked for, including 12 acres of park and open space, a grocery store, small scale retail, employment opportunities, preservation of all of the above ground assets-- the washers, change houses and silos will all be preserved- and the preservation of two underground cells.

There are many varying viewpoints on this project, further complicated by the long lifespan of this project. As a result some of the history of the actual project gets muddied.

Tania Jackson
Neighborhood Outreach Coordinator
Vision McMillan Partners
Visit EnvisionMcMillan.Com for more information