Neighborhood Watch: Bloomingdale and the McMillan Sand Filtration Site
The Issue: Plans for the McMillan Sand Filtration site were unveiled back in December. As City Paper reported, developers Vision McMillan Partners want retail, over 1.000 units of housing, 400,000 square feet of office space, and 8 acres of green. But don't be fooled into thinking that its all done and dusted...it hasn't been up before the Zoning Commission or the Preservation Review Board. And ANC 5C commissioner John Salatti is reopening the debate about the proposals in a series of community meetings. Are people happy with the plan as it stands?
Super content: Local resident Peter Pawlowski says rack up the density and bring in the amenities: "I strongly support the development at the site.... They're taking something which has no use and no value, and creating something of value for the community."
Slight reservations: 5C commissioner John Salatti's prime concern is the increased traffic: "DDOT says some of our intersections are failing now. How are we going to deal with all the extra traffic? We need hard information."
Outraged: Local resident Mehdi Mansouri says: "They are cramming a mini city into a small place without looking at any of the side effects.... It is a purely profit orientated project. It's a beautiful structure. It's so unique. Why don't we convert it to an underground mall and make it a tourist attration?"
Local resident Brian Oliver questions the criteria for historicity: "What really irks me is when people claim that it's a historic site—it's a water-filtration site! So it was the first of it's kind. But if it was the first trash site of its kind would it also be a historic site?! It's an eye sore!"
Next step: The next meeting is set for Wednesday September 9 at St. George's Episcopal Church, 2nd and U st.
12:30 am
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10:47 pm
This so called community meeting was an attempt to circumvent the public process of selecting a developer and providing community input to develop the best plan It seems Commisioner Salatti and his selected special interest groups have their own thoughts in mind about what should happen and choose to hold neighborhood meetings without all parties included and by having professors with fantasy projects stir up emotions without commitment or means. EYA has been selected from the various proposal that were submitted upon the city public request process. Commisioners should be focused on getting the best community input to the selected developer instead of trying to delay the entire project by re-introducing conflicting plans...plans without a developer, without funding, without DC support.
Commisioner Salatti needs to understand he only represents a SMD near the site and not the entire community and understand his place in the process. These so called community meetings are his way of attempting to derail the process for some power struggle...might just be the stage for a council run against Thomas!