{"id":126,"date":"2016-01-08T21:33:04","date_gmt":"2016-01-08T21:33:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/?p=126"},"modified":"2017-03-29T06:11:20","modified_gmt":"2017-03-29T06:11:20","slug":"citys-over-development-of-mcmillan-park-challenged-in-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/dc\/citywide\/126","title":{"rendered":"City\u2019s Over-Development of McMillan Park Challenged in Court"},"content":{"rendered":"
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
\nPress Contact: Amal Mimish, Save McMillan Action Coalition, 202-706-9408, savemcmillan@activist.one<\/h6>\n

\nCity\u2019s Over-Development of McMillan Park Challenged in Court<\/h2>\n

Plain Language of Development Rules at Question<\/em><\/h4>\n

Washington, D.C. — The battle over the McMillan development project is now in the DC Court of Appeals<\/a>, DC\u2019s highest judicial body. In a bold move, McMillan Park supporters have recently asked the Court to take summary action to overturn the DC Zoning Commission’s approval of the District\u2019s proposed mixed use development.\u00a0\u00a0 Park supporters say the Commission\u2019s decision, on its face, violates the District\u2019s Comprehensive Plan, the basic land-use law for the city.<\/p>\n

Specifically, Friends of McMillan Park (FOMP)<\/a> contends that granting the developer and the city\u2019s request for a \u201chigh-density\u201d zone to allow a \u201c115-foot-tall Health Care Facility\/Medical Office complex\u201d and over 2 million square feet of development is \u201cinconsistent\u201d with the Comprehensive Plan\u2019s plain language designating the McMillan property for \u201cmoderate density\u201d development.\u00a0 Moderate density is characterized as single-family homes, row houses, and some low and mid-rise apartments.<\/p>\n

The developers, Vision McMillan Partners (VMP)<\/a> argue, via their lawyers, Holland & Knight<\/a> (in this case, paid for by DC taxpayers), that the Comprehensive Plan is \u201cgenerally not binding\u201d and that, moreover, the door is open to any zoning district the Commission might use because the Plan says that \u201cother districts may apply\u201d in addition to moderate ones.\u00a0 The Deputy Mayor’s Office of Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) agrees with this interpretation and supports the proposed density.<\/p>\n

FOMP, however, points out that DC law sates emphatically and unequivocally that zoning \u201cshall not be inconsistent with the comprehensive plan for the national capital\u201d and that \u201cother districts\u201d means districts that are \u201csimilar to those specifically\u201d mentioned, i.e., only those consistent with the Comprehensive Plan\u2019s moderate density language.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is unconscionable for the Commission to have approved high-rise, dense commercial development for McMillan Park,\u201d said Jim Schulman a local Architect and advocate for adaptive reuse.\u00a0 \u201cIf allowed, this development will insert intensive and prosaic K Street-scale development into a low-rise, reviving residential neighborhood with inadequate transportation infrastructure. This could be DC’s Central Park or High Line, a major municipal amenity and tourism destination.\u00a0If allowed to stand, the zoning decision effectively renders the Comprehensive Plan moot.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

FOMP is asking the Court for summary reversal because the \u201cfacts are uncomplicated and undisputed\u201d and it is a \u201cclear-cut issue of law.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 If FOMP\u2019s motion is denied, the Court will continue to hear the cases through the normal process of filing briefs and hearing arguments.<\/p>\n

In addition to this challenge of the City’s plan at the Court of Appeals, McMillan supporters are still looking for a response from the Bowser administration to findings by the DC Auditor<\/a> that the McMillan project, \u201cwarrant[s] a new competitive process.\u201d<\/p>\n

The latest iteration of the McMillan project, a national and local landmark, is fraught with controversies, including:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n