Soldiers Home plans

[from Mark Ewert]

This week I received a large document in the mail: "Armed Forces Retirement Home, Washington Draft Environmental Impact Statement May 2005" It proposes 4 plans for the development of most of the AFRH (Armed Forces Retirement Home) property. Then it gives projected impacts on humans, economics, the environment, infrastructures, services, etc.

It was sent to me because I attended the poorly-publicized and poorly-attended public scoping meeting and submitted one of the few comments given by someone other than a government official or a resident of the Home.

This is VERY important to our community. I urge you to find out as much as you can about the proposed plans and contribute to the dialogue. To the north, south, and east of the Home is non-residential property, so only the Petworth side has residents who can participate in the interest of neighborhood citizens and affect what is done.

To request information, contact:
Mr. Craig Wallwork, Project Manager
Armed Forces Retirement Home
3700 North Capitol Street, NW
Washington, DC 20011
[email protected]

Please pass this message on to listservs, officials, and private citizens who might be interested. Change is happening! We have a chance right now in helping to direct it.

Comments

[Lauri]

There is a subgroup of the United Neighborhood Coalition (South Petworth, North Columbia Heights) that has already met once on this issue. Seems like we should join forces. We are planning a follow up meeting for next week, date has not been set. I will post again when date, time, and location are firm.

[Erin]

I am going out of town this Wednesday, so I will miss the meeting, and thus won't be able to do much with my copy of the book. So if anyone wants to borrow it for a few weeks, I would love to lend it. Just let me know today or tomorrow.

Based on my scan of the document, residents in North Petworth may not be affected much because the development is sort of everywhere else. It would be great if we could even get some parkland out of this deal, but it seems like everything they are doing is geared toward raising funds to support the remaining operations of the Home.

[flower_dc]

[Here's a link for some background info about the Environmental Impact Statement for the Soldiers Home]

http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-IMPACT/2004/August/Day-18/i18896.htm

[Mark Ewert]

I will be out of town this week so will not be able to make any meeting.

The plans call for developing the whole tract, except for the veterans (clustered at the NE corner of the land), the historic area (around Lincoln's Cottage), and the golf course (which has the reservoir running under it).

We are talking up to 5,000,000 sq ft of residential and then even larger chunks of institutional and business development. I am shocked at the extent, and question whether they need to develop the western edge (Petworth side) of the property at all. They are building what amounts to a city within the city on the property - and where will all of the additional infrastructure come from?

The more people requesting the document from the source the better.

[st]

Seriously, any one- or two-line descriptions you can offer for the plans? Homeless shelter? Heliport? Cadmium mine? Wild game hunting preserve? Any hints would be appreciated.

[Ken Rubotzky]

I would like to attend a meeting about the Soldier's Home. I have asked for a copy of the EIS in the meantime. Would it be possible to start an area online to discuss elements of the Environmental Impact Statement in case some of us are busy during the assigned meeting time?

[Reyn]

Could we meet a little later in the week? Perhaps Tuesday or Thursday (I'm not available on Wednesday). I thought I'd try to get to the DC Planning Office on MOnday or Tuesday and find out everything I can from them --- unless any of you has already tried that and can say it's a waste of time? I'll also give Fenty's office a call and push a bit. By meeting a bit later in the week, I'd hopefully have a chance to gather at least some information from other sources, as well.

[mjbrox]

Lets set up a meeting on Monday at 8pm.

Where can we meet? If it is just a couple of people we can use my house.

[Bill]

Finally, a chance for a bit more clarity about plans for the Home. And hopefully a chance to have input. Might I suggest a small informal meeting about this? I know people are busy, but it could be useful for a handful of people to review the material to get a handle on the issue, and form sort of a nucleus of concerned residents moving forward. Thoughts? I'll certainly do what I can via the blog as well.

[AJS]

I too have never received a reply from Fenty's office on this subject. Usually he's very responsive.

[Reyn]

I'm also interested in taking a look at the plans. I sent a long e-mail to Fenty's office a couple weeks ago asking about the status of development plans for the Soldiers' Home, but I received no reply.

If people would like to contribute to cost, I'd be happy to take Mark or Erin's to a copy place and get a few more made.

[AJS]

I second Jason's comment. I've also requested a copy of the plans, but I wonder if you could share with us a summary of what the four plans look like. Thanks.

[Jason]

I wrote to the e-mail address you provided, Mark, and requested a copy. But can you (or Erin, or anyone who has already seen it) give us a brief idea of the 4 plans and the projected impacts that might be cause for concern?
Thank you for the news.

[Erin]

I also have a copy and I would be glad to loan it. It is a big book. -- no easy way to post it.

[Mark Ewert]

Sorry mjbrox, I got a large spiral bound book. No way to post it on line. And the AFRH has nothing about it posted on their website.

[mjbrox]

Can you please post what you got online?