PRESS ALERT: Save McMillan Action Coalition, smac.dc@gmail.com
Administrative “Railroading” of McMillan Park Court Reversal Paid For by DC TaxPayers; Mayor and DC Planning Officials Submit 17 Exhibits with 300 Pages 10 Days Before March 23 Hearing
Washington, DC — On March 13, 2017, more than fifteen exhibits consisting of more than three hundred pages of reports, narrative, and argument were published on the record by the Applicant in the McMillan Park zoning case, a case vacated by the DC Court of Appeals back in December. www.savemcmillan.org/legal
In typical development zoning review the vast bulk of submissions by the Applicant would be available at least several weeks before any hearings.
The Applicant looking to privatize and demolish the historically landmarked McMillan Park site is a consortium of many of DC’s favored developer teams (known as Vision McMillan Partners) with the direct help of the Deputy Mayors Office for Planning and Economic Development.
Friends of McMillan Park, a group of DC residents seeking to protect the historic park and who want a design competition to develop a reasonable alternative to the Mayor’s proposed McMillan Town Center, immediately filed a request to defer the hearing so their counsel can review and prepare for the hearing on now set for March 23.
On March 16, 2016, DC for Reasonable Development filed a motion in support of the Friends’ request for deferment, filed a motion in support of the Friends’ request for deferment, but the Secretary of the DC Zoning Commission said she would not bring the filing to the Commission.
In an email to the Secretary, Chris Otten, co-faciltator with DC for Reasonable Development, described this whole situation as a form of administrative “railroading.” Secretary Sharon Schellin, later said she was “acting at the direction of the Chairman of the Commission [Anthony Hood].” See Email Chain
The Zoning Commission held a closed door gathering back in January where they decided they would deal with the Court decision vacating their decision to destroy McMillan Park. https://twitter.com/dc4reality/status/823669538344628226
The Commission decided they will use a “limited-scope” hearing of the McMillan Park case on March 23, 2017. Rehearing Notice
[breaking] The Zoning Commission says they will review the request for deferment from the Friends of McMillan Park on Monday, March 20. March 20 ZC Notice
The Zoning Commission Case for McMillan Park is ZC Case No. 13-14.
Because of the prescribed connection with the city, it is the taxpayers footing the bill for the lawyers, experts, and paid consultants pushing for zoning entitlements to construct high-rise medical office spaces and more then 600 luxury housing units at McMillan Park.
“This violates the due process clauses of the US Constitution, 5th and 14th amendments, among other unethical breakdowns being perpetrated here,” said Daniel Wolkoff with McMillan Coalition for Sustainable Agriculture. “The no-bid contracting wired to the Mayor and Council’s favorite developers, the hiring of the Fontaine PR company with our tax money to pull off a public disinformation campaign, the ignorance of our historic preservation covenants at this nationally landmarked site, the list goes on and on. It’s criminal.”
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