Yesterday, I joined with 11 fellow ANC commissioners to invite Mayor Vince Gray to attend a community meeting to share an update on the status of development proposals for Reservation 13, the 67 acre site of the former DC General Hospital. The text of our invitation letter is below. I plan to follow up with the Mayor’s Office after the holidays to schedule a date and time for the meeting.
December 20, 2011
The Honorable Vincent C. Gray
Mayor
District of Columbia
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 316
Washington, DC 20004
Dear Mayor Gray,
As ANC commissioners representing Single Member Districts adjacent to or near Reservation 13, we invite you to attend a community meeting to share your vision for the future development of the 67-acre site. We also invite Victor Hoskins, Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, to join you in providing an update on the status of development proposals for the site.
For more than a decade, residents in our neighborhoods have worked tirelessly to see the Hill East Waterfront Development at Reservation 13 become a reality. This master development plan, widely supported in our neighborhoods, envisions a mixed-use retail and residential project that extends neighborhood streets to the Anacostia River.
Unfortunately, due to the economy and other factors, these development plans have stalled. Instead, Reservation 13 consists of crumbling infrastructure and dilapidated buildings. The site has become a social services hub for the entire District of Columbia. While our neighborhoods have had to deal with the negative consequences that come with concentrating so many services and people in one small area, the District of Columbia continues to lose out on revenue that could be generated by developing the site.
Recently, you’ve indicated an interest in using a portion of the site for a Washington Redskins training facility. Your constituents in our neighborhoods would like to learn more about this idea and how such a facility would fit into the master development plan. Your participation in a community meeting would help residents get a better sense of your vision for the site.
Brian Flahaven, commissioner for ANC 6B09, will follow up with your staff to find a date and time that works best for you, ideally in January 2012. We also hope to hold the meeting on the site, perhaps at St. Coletta of Greater Washington, 1901 Independence Avenue SE.
Reservation 13 is one of the last large, underutilized, undeveloped parcels of land with Metro access left in the District of Columbia. We are committed to working with you to support future development at Reservation 13 that increases the quality of life in our neighborhoods, our wards and the entire city.
Thank you for your consideration of our invitation.
Sincerely,
Nicholas Alberti, Commissioner, ANC 6A04
Francis Campbell, Commissioner, ANC 6B10
Sheila Carson-Carr, Commissioner, ANC 7A01
Jared Critchfield, Commissioner, ANC 6B06
Brian Flahaven, Commissioner, ANC 6B09
Neil Glick, Commissioner, ANC 6B08
Carol Green, Commissioner, ANC 6B07
David Holmes, Commissioner, ANC 6A03
Villareal Johnson, Commissioner, ANC 7A07
Brian Pate, Commissioner, ANC 6B05
Lia Veneendaal-Selck, Commissioner, ANC 6A08
Lisa White, Commissioner, ANC 7D01
cc:
Yvette Alexander, Councilmember, Ward 7
Tommy Wells, Councilmember, Ward 6
Brian Flahaven 
[…] ANCs ask for Mayor to do something on Reservation 13. [Flahaven] […]
Put the FBI there. It’s right by a Metro stop, and keeps the FBI and its thousands of employees in Washington, rather than sending it to some far-flung suburb.
I don’t know any details about the FBI’s faciity needs, but my first reaction to this idea is positive, as long as the site still included the mixed use development called for in the master plan (e.g., housing, retail/restaurants, and recreation). Having a major federal office building there could help jump start retail, including restaurants and cafes. And it seems like having the FBI there would have a chilling effect on crime — which, as someone who lives less than a block from the site, I would appreciate. (Not that they would be involved with local policing, but I wouldn’t think criminals would feel like hanging out near a bunch of FBI agents.)
It seems like it also might be a good choice for the FBI. There are few places in DC with better transportation access — right by two Metro lines, and very close to freeways going to MD and VA.
[…] the Hill East Task Force report, I provided the commission an update on the pending invitation to Mayor Gray to speak at a community meeting on the status of Reservation 13. I’m working […]
[…] late December, 12 ANC commissioners representing districts adjacent to or near Reservation 13 invited Mayor Vince Gray to attend a community meeting to provide an update on proposed development plans […]