DC Council Holds Hearing on Bruce Monroe Surplus and Disposition, Witnesses Largely Support Effort
Yesterday, the Council of the District of Columbia held a Joint Public Hearing of the Committee of the Whole and the Committee on Transportation & the Environment — with the agenda items being surplus and disposition approval resolutions for the South Dakota Avenue Riggs Road Excess Property, the Capitol Vista property, and the Bruce Monroe Property. The hearing began at 11:46 a.m. and lasted until 5:59 p.m., with 4 hours and 20 minutes of the hearing being consumed by testimony related to the Bruce Monroe surplus and disposition. The hearing was Chaired by Councilmember Mendelson, with Councilmembers Cheh and White present for much of the hearing and including representatives from Councilmembers Nadeau, Silverman, Bonds, and Grosso.
The record will close for those wishing to submit testimony at the close of business on December 5th. While the Council could vote on the Bruce Monroe Surplus and Disposition resolutions as early as December 6th, the date of the vote will likely be December 20th.
While there were few witnesses testifying for the first two properties, 24 witnesses signed up to testify on the surplus and disposition of the Bruce Monroe site, which would then be used as the build first site for the redevelopment of Park Morton. Among the witnesses were Kent Boese for ANC1A, Amanda Bonam for ANC1B, Chris Waldmann for the Park View United Neighborhood Coalition, and Darren Jones for the Pleasant Plans Civic Association. Overall 16 witnesses (69.45%) testified in support of the disposition of the Bruce Monroe site and using it for the Park Morton effort, 7 witnesses (30.43%) testified in opposition of the disposition, and 1 witness provided testimony that was neither for or against, but offered suggestions on how the overall process could be improved.
I’ve provided the video of the hearing below for those wishing to hear the testimony directly.
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Tags: Affordable housing, Development, Georgia Avenue corridor, Park Morton, Park View
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Park View, D.C. 
November 30, 2016 at 11:54 am
Thanks, Kent. I contact the committee the week before so I could testify, and I attended the hearing, but somehow my name didn’t get on the list. Had I been allowed to testify I would have been the 17th in support of the disposition.
I shared my written testimony with the Council.