Takoma DC Small Area Plan

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Testimony of Ruth Foster, Takoma resident, on February 20, 2001, at the DC City Council Office of Planning Oversight Hearings regarding concerns about the Takoma DC planning process.

Testimony
Office of Planning Oversight Hearings
District of Columbia City Council
February 20, 2001

Good afternoon. My name is Ruth Foster and I live at 6601 Piney Branch Road, N.W. Currently, I serve on the Takoma Small Area Plan Work Group. I have also been involved in Takoma community organizations since 1972.

In 1973, I was the co-chair of the environmental committee for Save Takoma, a group that was working to help plan the Takoma Metro Station. We were very concerned about a number of environmental impacts at the station, including buffering the existing apartments on Eastern Avenue from the fumes and the noise of the Metro Station parking lot.

The park on the other side of the station was placed there for community use and to improve the air quality around the station.

I think our concerns then are still relevant today. I understand that situations change over time and existing conditions need to be reassessed. Most people are not against development in the area around Takoma Station.

We do however, have a problem with the way the Office of Planning went along with last year's decision by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority to bypass the community and enter into secret negotiations with Eakin Youngentob Associates (EYA) for a joint development project at the Takoma Metro Station.

We found out about the project from a reporter in Maryland. The community objected so strongly that the Office of Planning agreed to do a Small Area Plan to determine the community's views on the development. From the beginning they promised to look objectively, with the community, at a no-development option and lower density options for the site. Those promises were not kept.

From the very beginning, it seemed that the Office of Planning and the consultants they hired were focused on getting the community to agree to support a project very similar to the one proposed at the outset by EYA. So, the meetings were very frustrating for those of us who kept asking for a more objective approach.

We were also frustrated and disappointed by the planning office's mailings and community notification. Some people were not notified at all and those were the people who live on Eastern Avenue who are the most affected by the proposed EYA development. Even work group members were not notified until the day before or the day of a meeting, in some cases.

WMATA is the most important landowner in our area. There is much that needs to be done today to make this site work for the community and provide for growth, but we are frustrated by WMATA's failure to answer questions and participate in the small area plan.

For example, many residents want another entrance to the station from the west side. And the existing entrance and overpass are blighted, ugly, and unappealing. Other stations have murals, landscaping and other amenities. We have repeatedly asked Metro how they intend to help us make this station more attractive and user-friendly for pedestrians, bus riders, automobiles, and a proposed bike path.

The configuration of the Metro site is a very important piece in the Small Area Plan. We need this information to determine if the proposed development will accommodate the expansion of the bus traffic ten years into the future and correct the bus circling patterns that now exist on the surrounding streets. There are many other safety issues that we are told cannot be answered at this time.

The language in the draft Small Area Plan we have seen so far promises that the answers to these questions will come later. And the planning office has said they cannot force WMATA to participate. That is ridiculous. Our city planners need to become aggressive advocates for the community. Instead they are siding with a large, taxpayer-funded agency that will not work with neighborhoods.

This is not the way the planning office should operate. It should work to improve neighborhoods with the help of the citizens and not dictate to citizens what development should take place in their areas.

Thank you for giving me an opportunity to speak.

Ruth Foster
6601 Piney Branch Road, N.W.