News

Hi all,

Please take a little time to take the survey we handed out at the Buildings Open House on April 27th.

CLICK HERE FOR THE SURVEY!

We look forward to hearing back from everyone and will keep you apprised of the survey results.

Thanks!

Tania Jackson

Neighborhood Outreach Coordinator

On April 27th VMP hosted an Open House meeting at St. George’s Episcopal Church in Bloomingdale.  Attendees got the first look at buildings planned for the site.

In addition to the renderings for the South Service Court’s Community Center, there were pictures of the townhouses that EYA plans to build

• Townhouse Handout Page One
• Townhouse Handout Page Two

Attendees got a look at the Shalom Baranes designed medical office buildings, and the multifamily planned to go over the grocery store space.

Perhaps the biggest news, however, was that Harris Teeter will be coming to the site as the premium grocer onsite.

At the meeting, participants could circulate around and provide feedback that was recorded in its entirety on big pads.  We will be putting up the information we garned from these notes shortly.

Finally, attendees completed a survey designed to get feedback on their thoughts about the current plans for the site.

Of the 47 people who attended, we got 33 surveys back:

• 97% – all but one respondent said YES they wanted the site redeveloped and opened for public use;
• Overall satisfaction with the plans — 3.82 (1 was low, 5 was high)
• What they like most (respondents could pick up to three):
• Design of park  14/33 or 42%
• Size of park  11/33 or 33%
• Grocery store 11/33 or 33%
• Community center 7/33 or 21%
• Also mentioned healthcare, trees and water features
• Top concerns (told to pick 3)
• Traffic Management 21/33 or 63%
• Historic Preservation  14/33 or 42%
• Nothing happening 11/33 or 33%
• Building heights 7/33 or 21%
• Stormwater Management,  including DC Water 7/33 or 21%
• Design of Park 5/33 or 15%
• Size of Park 3/33 or 10%
• Community Center 3/33 or 10%
• Also mentioned: affordable housing, density and parking
• Retail preferences other than grocery (told to pick 3):
• Local neighborhood restaurant 24/33 or 72%
• Coffee shop 17/33 or 52%
• Fitness/gym 11/33 or 33%
• Sandwich/Quality Sit down Restaurant 9/33 or 30%
• Pharmacy 8/33 or 24%
• Pop up/food trucks 6/33 or 18%
• Dry cleaner 2/33 or 6%
• Barber/salon 1/33 or 3%
• Also mentioned arts/creative, bars, hardware/garden & doggie daycare

We are creating a Survey Monkey version to make available online to neighborhood residents.  We look forward to hearing from more of you!

Next Steps:  VMP and site architects will be attending the ANC 5E and ANC 5A meetings in May and June.  We will also return to ANC 1B’s Design Committee, as well.

As always, please feel free to email me or call me with questions, concerns or comments.

Tania B. Jackson

Neighborhood Outreach Coordinator

Hello All,

Yesterday the Historic Preservation Review Board met and began their review of our revised Master Plan for the McMillan Sand Filtration Site.  We presented the new site plan:

2013-02-14 Park South siteplan

Also, some new images of the site, so that you can get a good idea of what the place will look like, for example– this is a view down Half Street, NW, which will serve as the north side entry portal to the central park:

We also provided this view of the South Service Court from North Capitol Street looking west, with “floating” silos and a partial view of the recreation center:

After hearing the new plan from VMP, the board listened to testimony from community members.  The presentation and testimony took the full amount of time the project had been allotted on the HPRB agenda.  The project has been continued to their next meeting, at which the board will provide their feedback.

We were happy to see how many people came out to provide their input, and also happy to see how many people took the time to write letters expressing their viewpoints.

Tania Jackson

Neighborhood Outreach Coordinator

Hello Everyone—

It’s been a long time since we’ve updated you on the progress of our plan for the McMillan Sand Filtration Site. We were presented a major challenge when asked to accommodate DC Water’s plan to use the site to help mitigate the flooding in Bloomingdale. So we sharpened our pencils and went to work. What we’ve planned addresses community concerns, HPRB feedback and accommodates DC Water. We are very proud to share this plan.

The major change involves setting aside the entire lower third of the site for a public park and amenities — 6.25 acres of green space plus 1.8 acres in the preserved South Service Court. A pond designed to help manage storm water recalls the creek bed beneath the site. The site still features a full-service community center with the amenities the community has requested—a pool, fitness center, classrooms, meeting space and catering kitchen.

In order to provide expanded green space, we have condensed the footprint of the development in the project—there are fewer residential units than originally planned and the site over all has lost about 10% of its square footage.

We’ve taken care in the details: the Olmstead Walk, defined by a double row of thornless Hawthorne trees, will bloom pink in the spring, turn a striking red in the fall, and have red berries in the winter. The park has amenities for all ages, places to play games and places to have a quiet picnic. You’ll be able to go the First Street side of park and from the preserved elevation, you’ll be able to look out across the adjacent reservoir, to Howard’s Campus or down toward the Mall—a view you’re currently denied by the fence on the site.

VMP has submitted this revised Masterplan to HPRB and expects to present it on April 4, 2013.  This plan reflects a labor of love—our respect for the landmark, our desire to provide amenities the community deserves, our pride in serving the Clean Rivers Project while creating 3,000 permanent jobs in the healthcare sector.
We’re very excited to have this culmination of the hard work of Bloomingdale, Stronghold, Eckington, Edgewood, Bates Area and LeDroit Park neighbors come together.

In addition to the upcoming hearing on April 4th, there will also be a rollout of the buildings planned for the site on April 27th, at a community-wide meeting. We have not secured the location yet, but will let you know as soon as we do.

Thank you for your input and work on this plan.

Tania Jackson

Neighborhood Outreach Coordinator

HPRB Follow Up

Yesterday VMP returned to the Historic Preservation Review Board, formally presenting our Design Guidelines (rules we created to govern how the components get designed) and the current evolution of the site’s Master Plan (retooling the park system with a stronger sense of the site’s history).

On hand to present the new park system was Warren Byrd, who walked the board through his drawings and talked about opportunities to develop water capture systems, restore the Olmsted Walk and create new ways for visitors to experience the history of the site. Emily Eig shared her recommendations for the preservation approach given the criteria in the landmark application focuses on the engineering function and its association with Senator McMillan and the city beautiful movement.

The meeting concluded with comments from each of the board, who aren’t actually tasked with voting on the masterplan. They emphasized that their interest is in the memorialization of site especially the plinth even as doing so conflicts with good urban design principles or community preferences. “I don’t know how you do that…,” one member lamented. They did acknowledge the useful tool of ANC 5C’s resolution, which carefully documents key historic issues, the community process and the expectations the neighborhood has as the plan goes forward. They lauded the clear hard work and continued effort on addressing the complexity of the project, but asked about ways to increase the sense of the plinth, and actually talking about importance of McMillan as a separate entity as opposed to one needing to be integrated into the surrounding community context. Because of their interest in its history and unique position, the comments in many ways ran contrary to what VMP has heard from other DC agencies AND community stakeholders on all sides — most especially the principle of integration into the city fabric. AS examples, removing the Channing Street berm and increasing permeability by restoring street connections.

VMP and its design team will weigh these comments as we further develop the plan and its components. We look to share a further refined Central Park and Community Center along with building designs in the coming months.

Tania Jackson
Neighborhood Outreach Coordinator

Gearing up for Next Steps: HPRB Sept. 27

Thanks to all the community members who came out last week for the DC Council’s McMillan Roundtable to speak about McMillan redevelopment plans.  As you know, this is one of the many beginning steps in the approval process, and we are gearing up for the Land Development Agreement Hearing and Zoning Commission later this fall.

This Thursday, the Historic Preservation Review Board will be having a continuation of their hearing from earlier in the summer.  The Board will formally comment on the McMillan draft master plans and design guidelines, after hearing more information from the Vision McMillan Partners.

On Thursday there will be no opportunity for public comment, but community members are always welcome to come sit in and listen.  If you would like to attend the hearing, it will start at 9:00 AM in Room 220-South, 441 4^th Street NW. You can also watch online if you can’t attend. Click here to watch the live video.

We look forward to continuing dialogue with the community to help preserve and activate this wonderful place.

See you on Thursday!

Cheers,

Anne Corbett
Project Director
ENVISION McMILLAN

Economic Development Roundtable & City Paper Coverage

Hello! There’s even more in McMillan News:

On September 19^th Councilmember Michael Brown, who chairs the Economic Development Committee, held a roundtable discussion on the McMillan Sand Filtration Site.  Ward Five Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie joined him for the entirety of the hearing, and staffers for other councilmembers were on hand to hear testimony from the Vision McMillan Partners, neighborhood residents, ANCs, civic associations and area organizations.

On September 20^th, the City Paper covered the roundtable and gave a McMillan Update.  Taking over the Housing Complex blog, Aaron Weiner quotes Councilmember Brown who said, “I am extremely serious about getting past the rhetoric, the half-truths and frankly some of the deliberate false information that some chose to put out instead of having honest discussion.”    The article also garnered an interesting collection of comments… knowing the actual players involved, I think it’s safe to say that there are some playful masqueraders weighing in.

Finally, on September 21^st, Housing Complex followed up with a quick look into what it would take to expand the park space across 1^st Street to the west and into the site controlled by the Army Corps of Engineers, where the original McMillan Park existed.

ANC 5C Votes to Support the plan for McMillan

On Monday night Advisory Neighborhood Commission 5C held a Special Meeting at St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church, and voted to support the Vision McMillan plan for redevelopment of the site.

Councilmembers Kenyan McDuffie (D-Ward 5) and Michael Brown (I-At Large) were both present and spoke about the site.  Councilmember McDuffie expressed support for the current plan citing his work as a former MAG member and the jobs that will be generated by development.  Councilmember Brown, who chairs the committee on Economic Development, urged residents to attend his planned roundtable on the site.

Project Director Anne Corbett presented the new site plan, which adds another acre of green space, expanding the view down North Capitol and restoring the Olmstead Walk along the eastern side of the site.  The central park now expands to take on a “T” shape, and retains the 170-foot height, with a center section that essentially takes the lid off of a cell, exposing the columnar structure and creating space for an amphitheater that will sit among the “ruins” of the filter bed.

Anne also shared the three recreation center sites options presented to the MAG, and described the team’s plan to exceed DDOE’s storm water management requirements and follow the EPA standard for 100% capture of rainfall on the site.

The ANC voted to support the master plan with a detailed resolution that includes the history of their involvement with the site, the promises made by VMP and the intent to continue to work with VMP to shape the details of the design and implementation plan.

Community Center Concepts Shared

This past Saturday VMP shared its proposed concept for the community center at McMillan. Playing on the history of water filling the underground chambers, EEK has sketched a facility centered around a pool housed in one of the preserved filtration cells.

Light would stream through the manholes and windows along the exposed sides of the cell into both a fitness center and a 20M pool. A glass walled multipurpose room would be perched above the cell with dramatic views across the new Central Park to the east and the federal reservoir to the west.

Locating the facility in the cell will maximize its accessibility as well as leverage the preservation funds, thereby maximizing the facility’s size within the existing District budget for the project.

What do you think of the concept?

Community Meeting July 28

Vision McMillan Partnership invites you to join us at our next community meeting this coming Saturday. We plan to address the four key community concerns we hear about the most: Storm Water Management, Transportation, Preservation/Open Space and a Community Recreation Center. We will provide our strategies for addressing these issues and take your questions and comments.

Community Meeting
Saturday, July 28th
10 am – 12 noon
St George’s Episcopal Church
160 U Street NW

You may have received a flyer that said we’d present Buildings/Architecture — we’ve postponed that agenda until the Fall. I apologize for any confusion or inconvenience.

Cheers,
Anne Corbett
Project Director
ENVISION MCMILLAN