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The City Council held oversight hearings on the Office of Planning yesterday. I testified as ANC 4B01 and submitted lengthy testimony. I also spoke. Here is the summary of the longer testimony, which is basically what I said during my "five minutes." Frances Phipps, the owner of the Cady Lee House, and a professional planner who has done several studies of Takoma D.C. and Takoma, Md., also spoke, as did Ruth Foster and Leonard Rubin.

ANCs and residents from the Brookland area and others around the city testified as well. We all told the City Council that we oppose the way the Office of Planning is running neighborhood planning and that we need changes to stop the secrecy at WMATA. There was also a story in yesterday's Washington Times. (Sorry, I can't figure out how to get it on the List Serve) about a new coalition of folks (including me) who want to fight WMATA and unfair Office of Planning tactics.

Chairman Cropp and Ward 4 City Council Member Adrian Fenty were present. Cropp has heard the WMATA issues before and seemed to support changes to require that WMATA reveal development information and hold hearings before selling land. (Of course, it's too late here.)

Here's the summary of the testimony (Sorry if it seems long, but you should see the one I submitted, and it's available to anyone who asks for it.)
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Testimony - Summary

Good afternoon. My name is Sara Green. I am the new Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner for 4B01. I am testifying as 4B01 and not on behalf of the entire commission.

First, I would like to thank our Ward 4 City Council Member, Adrian Fenty, for helping us improve community planning. We are grateful.

It is important to tell you that Takoma residents want revitalized retail and commercial activity near the Takoma Metro Station on 4th Street and on Carroll, and there are ways that new housing and new tax revenues can be generated.

But there is strong and growing concern about decisions being made by the Office of Planning (OP) and for the process used to approve those projects.

A year ago, many of us were outraged when we learned that the planning office supported the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's (WMATA) plan to put a major and dense new development -- 106 townhouses and a large parking garage -- at Takoma Metro. Both the planning office and WMATA reached their decision behind closed doors, without contacting any Takoma community organization, and without holding any public hearings.

That would have been enough to bring me here today. However, we are far from unique. I hear similar stories when I talk to residents in other communities, including Brookland, Petworth, and Fort Totten. This philosophy of pro-developer cheer leading, without informing affected neighborhoods or responding to their concerns, is being repeated again and again.

In Takoma, we called for a planning process for the area around the Metro Station. And the planning office agreed to do a Small Area Plan. A draft is expected within the next month. We have told been our small area plan is a model for what is to come. But, based on our experiences, I urge the City Council to look carefully at OP's new Neighborhood Planning Initiative.

You need to make certain that

1. OP does not support development without going to communities for their comment and the OP needs to tell communities about pending projects when it learns about them.

2. There is a clear and timely role for formal ANC and the City Council comment in the new Neighborhood Planning Initiative.

WMATA is a publicly-funded agency that needs to hold its own public hearings before it sells land for development. The Office of Planning knows much about WMATA's plans, but can't share information with the community. This is bad public policy and the city council needs to stop it.

In Takoma,

1. We need to see how the WMATA project will lead to genuine revitalization in Takoma's commercial areas. What we are hearing is "build it and other wonderful things will come" and that is not convincing. And the traffic information is sketchy and inadequate.

2. My constituents in 4B01 -- 113 residents in apartments and condominiums along Eastern Avenue -- are the most affected by the project. They face increased noise and pollution from bus and vehicle traffic and the new garage. They could also lose all or part of their green protective buffer. And a bike path would impact many of those same homes. But the Office of Planning did not notify these residents about the Small Area Plan meetings because tenants were not on their mailing list.

3. Many of the meetings were well attended. The overwhelming majority of participants repeatedly asked for alternatives that are much less dense and would produce far less traffic congestion and a larger park. But, despite repeated promises, those alternatives were not offered. And earlier surveys show that very few residents support the developer's project as proposed.

I thank you for listening to our concerns.

Sara Green, ANC 4B01

© 2001-2004 Mark Freedman