VA Avenue Tunnel Update 7 DEC- DC Planning Commission twice rejects CSX proposal

[Mike McEleney]

Welcome to the December 7th edition of the VA Avenue Rail Tunnel update. I have had the opportunity to meet briefly with Councilman Wells and have asked him to meet with homeowners and residents concerned about the project. Please let me know if you would be interested in attending a meeting either here on the Hill or downtown.

 

Secondly, there are two public meetings at which the project will be discussed. ANC 6B is meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) at the Old Navy Hospital. I plan to reiterate the community's opposition to this project. Also the Lower 8th Street Visioning Project will hold two more sessions on December 15th. The last meetings showed intense community opposition to the project, unfortunately the minutes do not reflect the views expressed. Please attend either of the Dec 15th meetings and share your concerns with the Capitol Riverfront BID.

 

Finally, important new information from the DC Planning Commission. The Commission is updating the DC Comprehensive Plan, which is intended to guide all development projects and infrastructure improvements over the next 20 years. The last plan was prepared in 2006. The plan specifically endorses the policy of placing the Capitol Hill portion of the freeway into a tunnel along the rail corridor which most neighbors on Capitol Hill support. The DC comprehensive plan specifically states that any plan to expand the VA Avenue Tunnel must be done in coordination with placing the freeway underground. The CSX proposal has no provisions for making any reservation for the freeway, and would PRECLUDE ever burying the freeway because of the limited depth of the proposed project. To quote the Comprehensive Plan  "Such plans need to be carefully coordinated with ongoing plans by the District, as they may not be entirely consistent with the city’s plans to redesign the I-395 freeway and relocate the CSX line. http://planning.dc.gov/planning/frames.asp?doc=/planning/lib/planning/2006_revised_comp_plan/4_transportation.pdf

 

http://www.planning.dc.gov/planning/frames.asp?doc=/planning/lib/planning/2006_revised_comp_plan/15_capitolhill.pdf

 

DDOT has been working behind the scenes to get the CSX project included in the comprehensive plan. DDOT attempted to amend the 2009 Comprehensive Plan to endose the VA Avenue Project. The DC Planning Commission rightfully rejected this project (31) http://www.planning.dc.gov/planning/lib/planning/compplan_amendment/cpamendmentdraftrecommendations.pdf

 

Council hearings will be held on the new comprehensive plan early in 2010. Please continue to write your 6 DC council members (Chairman, 4 at large, and Mr. Wells, about your opposition to the proposed project and any attempt to include it in the DC Comprehensive Plan.

 

Council contact info:

 

Chairman Gray vg...@dccouncil.us

At-Large Michael Brown mbr...@dccouncil.us

At-Large Phil Mendelson pmend...@dccouncil.us

At-Large David Catania dcat...@dccouncil.us

At-Large Kwame Brown kbr...@dccouncil.us 

Councilman Wells (Ward 6- Capitol Hill and Riverfront) twe...@dccouncil.us 

 

Please continue to contact me if you have additional questions or information. All previous updates are archived at http://groups.google.com/group/csx-va-avenue-discussion

 

Mike

 

 

 

 

[Brian Huseman]

I would be willing to meet with Wells. Thanks!

Brian Huseman

Sent from my iPhone