Park View, D.C.

Both at the July 13th meeting of ANC1A and last night’s meeting of the Park Morton Steering Committee, LaToya Thomas or Dantes Partners presented where things currently are with the Park Morton redevelopment effort and to solicit feedback related to the PUD process and potential amenities. ANC1A will consider both PUD cases 16-11 and 16-12 in September.

In reviewing the current plan, it is worth noting that the layout for the Park Morton site has been revised in response to comments from the Office of Planning (OP) which was concerned primarily in the areas of extending the street grid, creating rear yards for rowhouses, and having houses face streets. Below is the plan revised to address OP’s concerns. Interestingly enough, the new configuration increases the number of housing units on the site by six (6) (see configuration as originally proposed in the PUD application here).

(Revised plan for Park Morton as of July 2016)

The discussion at the Park Morton Steering Committee meeting primarily centered around potential amenities that could result from the PUD applications. There are a number of amenities/community improvements that I would like to see incorporated into both sites. I’ll list a few of them below.

• Increase and expand Capital Bikeshare in the neighborhood (posted earlier here);
• The large building planned for the Georgia Avenue site will be 90′ tall with a green roof. I would like to see it constructed to meet LEED Pilot 55 so that it is a bird friendly building by avoiding bird strikes;
• The two parks provide naming opportunities. The new park at the Park Morton site could be named after Marie Whitfield — who in her life served as an ANC Commissioner, was President of the Park Morton Resident Council, a resident of Park Morton for over 30 years, and a staunch community activist who worked diligently to improve her community. Similarly, the park at Georgia Avenue and Columbia Road could be named in honor of Dr. Roscoe Conkling Brown, a former Park View resident, alumni of Howard University, and a pioneer in the area of dental health. Both sites could also include information boards with text and photos highlighting the accomplishments of each; and,
• In addition to incorporating new sidewalks and street trees where none currently exist, it would also be ideal if the existing and new streets that are part of the project could install historically compatible street lighting. In reviewing DDOT’s Streetlight Policy and Design Guidelines, the lighting that would be most compatible with the surrounding community would be the Washington Family of lighting, including teardrop fixtures when needed.

It also goes without saying that there will need to be a community process to program how the two park spaces are designed. As the ANCs and community groups work through the PUD process, I’m sure many more ideas will come forward.

This entry was posted on July 29, 2016 at 7:01 am and is filed under Development, Housing. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

Tags: Development, Georgia Avenue corridor, housing, Park Morton, Park View