McMillan Site: Has Anything Happened in the Last Seven Months?
I try to keep up with my McMillan site news. But if I blogged about every twist regarding D.C.’s most famous, non-functioning water filtration system, the topic would be all-consuming.
If you’re new to the McMillan controversy, here’s a quickie review: The McMillan site is a 25-acre parcel of land located just west of North Capitol Street near Bloomingdale and Brookland. (See map below.)
Nearly a year ago (Dec. 2008), a team of developers led by EYA unveiled plans for a mixed-use community with housing, office, retail, and a few of those old towers—”silos” is the proper terminology—remaining at the site.*
Since then, a vocal group of neighbors has protested the lack of green space and general dearth of information coming from EYA about the land’s value, studies on traffic and transportation concerns, and storm drainage issues.
EYA hasn’t held a major meeting since February. (See “Saturday’s McMillan Meeting, All Hell Breaks Loose” for some more details on the tone of that gathering.)
But back in late September, Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas hosted a meeting with EYA and some of the consultants hired to study the site. Attendees found it less than enlightening, according to ANC Commissioner John Salatti.
“The councilmember seemed to go out of his way to say there’s no plan,” says Salatti. The meeting, billed as “a status report,” was anything but: “They were there to take questions and write down community concerns, ” says Salatti. “You’re saying there’s no plan. There’s no concrete information. What are we doing here?”
Salatti says he’s seen no environmental impact studies, but that EYA representative Aakash Thakkar said that the development team would like to submit a PUD plan to the Zoning Commission in mid 2010.
I just bring all this up, because there’s another McMillan meeting tonight…but this blog post has gone on for so long, I’ll just post about that in the next one.
*Some might say the first meeting was held during the previous Spring, when community members reviewed very general, un-detailed initial plans of the development.
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1:11 pm[...] Complex’s Ruth Samuelson wants to know what’s going on with McMillan site development. Answer: not [...]
11:12 am
Once again…Commissioner Salatti loves to stir up controversy where it doesn’t exist. EYA was selected via a public process. Several developers submitted proposals, EYA’s was accepted to work on McMillan. Now Mr. Salatti, because he is not a member of the citizen’s advisory group has join the minority of residents who prefer to see no development on this site. These parties believe that McMillan is a park….it is an abandoned industrial site…not a park. No residents have walked on that site for over 100 hundred years. Just because it is covered over by grass doesn’t make it a green space. Residents in the area of the site overwhelming want to see some multi use development on the site. But Commissioner Salatti along with the OurMcMillan group are introducing false, incorrect, misleading and economically unfeasible information to the public. It’s awful that for people personal political aspirations that the public is again going to end up with nothing on this site due to the crazy notions put in the public domain. Shameful…
8:27 pm
Response to “The Commiss” you should state your full name commissioner so the public will know who you are.
EYA was not selected by the city to develope the site and it was not a public process.
the McMillan site was never an industrial site. It was a water filteration site/park. It was designated a park by Willam Taft and it was designate a park by the US Congress. It was also designated to be used as a park/open space in the Comprehensive Plan for the last 30 years. The Plan was amendement to include mix use development including park/open space.
Residents have walked on the site and the Bloomingdale civic Association had picnics on the site in the 1980’s.