Advisory Neighborhood Commission 1B
Government of the District of Columbia 2000 14TH Street N.W., Suite 100B Washington, DC 20009
Myla Moss, 1B01, Chairperson – Juan Lopez, 1B07, Vice Chairperson Lauren McKenzie, 1B09, Secretary – Alexandra Lewin-Zwerdling, 1B02, Treasurer Sedrick Muhammad, 1B03 – Deborah Thomas, 1B04 – Mary Streett, 1B05 – Charles Meisch, 1B06 Tony Norman, 1B10 – E. Gail Anderson Holness 1B11
April 27, 2012
Ms. Catherine Buell
Chair
Historic Preservation Board
D.C. Historic Preservation Office
1100 4th Street, S.W. Suite E650
Washington, DC 20024
Re: McMillan Park Reservoir Historic Landmark
Concept Design Review
Dear Ms. Buell and Members of the Board:
At its regularly scheduled meeting on April 5, 2012 (notice of which was properly given, and at which a quorum of nine of ten members was present) Advisory Neighborhood Commission 1B voted (8 yes, 0 no, 1 abstention) to oppose the conceptual design for the proposed development of the McMillan Park Reservoir Historic Landmark.
The bulk of the 92 acre McMillan Historic site is in Ward 1, ANC 1B. ANC 1B was a co-applicant for the landmark application for this historic site (1990). ANC 1B is directly impacted by the proposed development plans for this site.
The proposed concept plans for the site are inconsistent with the historic character and design of this site. They do not preserve the historic integrity of the designed landscape; historic integrity of individual resources and site resources.
The massive scale (2 million square feet of development), size (8-10 story buildings) and density of the project is incompatible with the site’s unique history, green open-space character and high degree of present historic integrity of the McMillan Plan.
The present design plans propose to demolish 90 percent of the historically built structural resources; landscape resources including historic vistas, green open park space and site resources. The plans do not incorporate options or mitigations for adaptive reuse or rehabilitation of the historical structural and site resources which is also inconsistent with the U.S. Secretary of Interior’s standard of historic preservation. We therefore urge the Historic Preservation Review Board to reject the proposed conceptual designs for this historic site.
ANC 1B has designated Commissioner Tony Norman to present the ANC’s position at the upcoming hearings.
Sincerely,
Myla Moss
Chairperson
Lauren McKenzie
Secretary
Bates Area Civic Association 