Development
Gray administration holding up Reservation 13 for Redskins
Mayor Gray's office is stalling any progress on a plan to build a new mixed-use neighborhood that has widespread community support, because they'd rather turn over the land to the Washington Redskins for a practice facility that won't do anything for the community or DC.
Why would we possibly want this in DC? Photo by owillis on Flickr.
7 ANC commissioners met last night with Victor Hoskins, DC's Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development to discuss "Hill East," also known as Reservation 13. After a long process with thorough public participation, DC created a plan to build a "vibrant, mixed-use urban waterfront community" on 50 acres of the site.
Based on reports from ANC commissioner Brian Flahaven, it appears that vibrancy and tree-lined public streets are taking a back seat to large empty football field-sized spaces closed to the public:
The Mayor's Office is continuing to negotiate with Dan Snyder and the Washington Redskins to build a training facility at Reservation 13. Until the outcome of the negotiations is determined, any development plans for Reservation 13 remain on hold.It's possible to vaguely imagine a way that a practice facility could be part of a mixed-use neighborhood. For example, the Redskins could build practice fields and any necessary parking entirely underground, then put surface streets, parks, and buildings on top of them. Their offices could occupy a building with ground-floor retail that's open to the public.Commissioners strongly pushed back that the community must be involved in the decision about a training facility on the site and expressed frustration that the Mayor is not seeking feedback from residents. Deputy Mayor Hoskins said that his office is not involved in the negotiations. ...
The Deputy Mayor said his office should know whether the city will pursue a training facility or continue with the current development plans in 30 days. If plans for a training facility do not move forward, he said that the city would return to development plans approved by the community. ... The Deputy Mayor also said that any training facility proposal would have to be consistent with the zoning for the site. ...
All 9 Commissioners, representing Wards 6 & 7, agreed that Mayor Gray needs to come out to the community and explain how a potential training facility fits into the master development plan agreed to by residents.
Dan Snyder could build all of this entirely with his own money, in this very urban way. But does anyone seriously believe that is possible? This is the guy who tried to charge people just to walk into his stadium instead of paying huge parking fees. Would he actually want to design practice fields that fit into a good neighborhood landscape when he has a perfectly good, entirely private facility in Ashburn?
Maybe if the District built the whole thing and gave it to him for free, he'd accept the deal, but it would be a terrible bargain for taxpayers. If he paid money for it, why would he want to spend extra money just to essentially make the facility invisible and unobtrusive?
Certain city leaders seem to believe that bringing the Redskins to DC is worth virtually any cost simply for the civic pride involved in having an NFL team inside one's borders. We know Jack Evans has a massive blind spot for organized sports. He abhors spending government money on anything except sports facilities, where the sky's the limit. We know that Michael Brown doesn't know any better. We should expect better from Mayor Gray.
Correction: The original version of this article had a sentence about criticism of DMPED. However, since Hoskins said the negotiations are not coming from his office, this is not relevant. The sentence has been deleted.
 | David Alpert is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Greater Greater Washington and Greater Greater Education. He worked as a Product Manager for Google for six years and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He loves the area which is, in many ways, greater than those others, and wants to see it become even greater.   |
Comments
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by danmac on Feb 16, 2012 2:29 pm • link • report
Keep DC United!!
by mighty on Feb 16, 2012 2:32 pm • link • report
by Shipsa01 on Feb 16, 2012 2:33 pm • link • report
Now, one other point that you fail to make is that the Redskins conduct training camp, which is open to the public and draws decent crowds (several thousand per day for several weeks) at their facility and thus, if the facility were in DC, that would bring in people who presumably would spend some money here.
Not enough to justify this tilting at windmills by the council, but something none the less.
Two things that the DC government apparently doesn't realize:
1. The Redskins (ownership) are by all accounts perfectly happy with their practice facility in Ashburn and their stadium in Landover. They are making money hand over fist and are one of the most valuable sports franchises in the world. If the Redskins start winning again like they did in the 80's you could have the stadium on the moon and it would still sell out, and thousands would flock to training camp even if it were held in some far flung place like Dickinson College in PA.
2. Snyder has spent $0 on the current training facility. The Redskins are one of the only, if not the only team in the NFL without an indoor practice field. Most big-time college programs now have indoor fields, but the Redskins, if they have to practice indoors, go to the Dulles Sportsplex. So if Snyder isn't willing to spend to even get the current facility up to league (and college) minimums, why would he spend a cent moving the entire operation to DC?
by dcdriver on Feb 16, 2012 2:34 pm • link • report
One City!
by Geoffrey Hatchard on Feb 16, 2012 2:38 pm • link • report
And what's the reason they can't train on their already established playing field?
by cmc on Feb 16, 2012 2:43 pm • link • report
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/post/the-redskins-practice-bubble-from-the-air/2012/01/31/gIQA2ACUfQ_blog.html
by Alex B. on Feb 16, 2012 2:44 pm • link • report
by selxic on Feb 16, 2012 2:48 pm • link • report
It is also troubling that the Grey administration seems to be working with MR. Snyder outside the public eye. Why the secrecy? At a minimum any deals with Mr. Snyder should be out in the open.
by michael on Feb 16, 2012 2:48 pm • link • report
The plant hasn't been operated to generate electricity in several years, and when it did operate, it badly polluted the air and water around it. It will inevitably need to be re-used as something else. The site is adjacent to metro orange/blue line, and a special event station could be developed as part of it. It is also adjacent to DC-295, which provides better car access to the site, which is important for fans who like to tailgate.
It's even got a catchy name just begging to be formalized: The Powerplant.
For those of us that are ambivalent about Redskins football, the site itself needs massive environmental remediation, and a public contribution to fix up the site would actually be of long term benefit to District residents whether they care about football or not. Opening up the site for pedestrian activity would also be helpful in connecting some of Anacostia Trail network to interesting, athletically oriented destinations. The site could double as a good staging area for things like footraces, charity walk & rides, and all manner of non-football related activity.
The key thing is to leverage the interest and money available for football to get something the city needs anyway, re-use of a dirty plant and site remediation.
The city needs the potential real-estate taxable value in Hill-East more than football facilities at that location. This is not true of the PEPCO plant.
by will on Feb 16, 2012 2:51 pm • link • report
As "everywhere" he goes is Tampa and not Hill East, I think he's absolutely telling the truth above.
by Tim Krepp on Feb 16, 2012 2:53 pm • link • report
Keep up the good work!
by Ray on Feb 16, 2012 2:55 pm • link • report
However, when you look at the model of Tampa, there's three private fields surrounded by surface-level parking (http://g.co/maps/3s36z). Putting something like that in Resrvation 13 would be a disaster.
by Corey H. on Feb 16, 2012 2:58 pm • link • report
by selxic on Feb 16, 2012 2:59 pm • link • report
Of course, this also brings up the question as to why the Mayor is more concerned with bringing the Skins back than fixing environmental problems....
by Tim Krepp on Feb 16, 2012 3:01 pm • link • report
Hogwash, care to comment?
by barry on Feb 16, 2012 3:09 pm • link • report
In general, I'm fascinated by the few folks who talk as if Dan Snyder would even entertain the ideas being suggested for an urbanist/walkable/accessible practice facility. If there's anything that guy has shown it's that he does things his way or the highway, and he'll pitch a fit and ruin anything he has to in order to get his way. Not someone our city should be doing anything with, and there's no way he'd set up something that would help or benefit this city in any way. He benefits himself, and himself only.
by Joe on Feb 16, 2012 3:19 pm • link • report
by selxic on Feb 16, 2012 3:35 pm • link • report
by rg on Feb 16, 2012 3:38 pm • link • report
By the way, those air supported bubbles do very well in heavy snow and high winds...
by dcdriver on Feb 16, 2012 3:50 pm • link • report
that is according to an upper middle class white dude who lives in dupont. you cannot speak for the city or the neighborhood, david, as much as you would like to.
by Poofy on Feb 16, 2012 4:02 pm • link • report
by Shipsa01 on Feb 16, 2012 4:14 pm • link • report
Glad you like the concept. I was doing a little digging on GIS. If you include the DC owned trash transfer station to the North of PEPCO facility, the whole thing is approximately 88 acres, with the PEPCO facility on a single very large lot of about 80 acres. So even though it's controlled a heavyweight property owner, you'd only be dealing with them, not trying to assemble parcels. There are three electrical substations on the property, though I don't know if they are as critical to power distribution with the plant shuttered. PEPCO also seems to use the site for general operations (truck maintenance, storage yard, etc). There is a rail spur that goes directly to the site, no doubt for coal delivery, but also useful if you were to build a large steel stadium structure.
In addition to the existing orange & blue lines abutting the site at an above ground track, the future streetcar lines for Benning and for Minnesota are very close to the site. By 2020, this location will be exceedingly accessible by transit, car and bike trail.
You can see the side walls of the powerplant using Google Streetview from Anacostia Ave NE. It would be cool if they could be re-used in similar fashion to Camden Yards, even if only the west wall was kept.
The surrounding area is much more in need of economic revitalization than Hill East. Benning Rd adjacent to this property has a lot of forlorn looking businesses like taxi dispatchers and defunct night clubs, and Minnesota is constantly struggling to bring in higher value retail. Need I mention that this location is also in Ward 7...
by Will on Feb 16, 2012 4:23 pm • link • report
by jkc on Feb 16, 2012 4:26 pm • link • report
Please tell us: what will it do for the city?
It will anger young myopic twits?
"Kulturkampf: It's Not Just For Red State Yahoos Anymore"
by oboe on Feb 16, 2012 4:38 pm • link • report
NFL teams tend to be very security conscious when it comes to their closed practice sessions in terms of keeping the cameras away, so other teams won't find out what plays they practiced. An controlled, somewhat isolated facility in Ashburn provides that. Would a practice facility in DC provide protection from long range lenses in taller buildings up to a mile or 2 away?
The fundamental flaw in this apparent move by the Mayor is that this is Dan Snyder they are dealing with. He won't be interested in any deal unless he and the team get to keep almost all the money generated.
by AlanF on Feb 16, 2012 4:45 pm • link • report
by Kate W on Feb 16, 2012 4:48 pm • link • report
So the city is "holding up" Reservation 13 "talks" for 30 days until officials decide on whether the negotiations with Snyder bear fruit? Although I don't have a problem with at at all...it still sounds like an odd way of conducting city business.
Is this really the best information we're going to get until 30 days has expired? Still sounds odd.
If the antiRedskins crew like DAl et. al don't believe that Snyder will give up anything, then this really isn't a "negotiation" at all. Instead, it's a plan to simply gift the facility to Snyder. That, I would have a huge problem with.
I'm not opposed to the city negotiating with a potential "developer" before talking to residents. But this is still odd and I would hope more information is forthcoming before the 30 days are up.
Like next week.
by HogWash on Feb 16, 2012 4:48 pm • link • report
by Tim Krepp on Feb 16, 2012 5:06 pm • link • report
by George Preston Marshall on Feb 16, 2012 6:41 pm • link • report
This is such a terrific and innovative idea that I fear it doesn't have a chance in hell of being implemented. It's probably the only way that valuable waterfront property on the Anacostia River will ever be remediated into habitable use. That would be a huge win for DC and The Environment to get that site cleaned up.
by Falls Church on Feb 16, 2012 7:42 pm • link • report
by Amber on Feb 16, 2012 11:27 pm • link • report
@dcdriver: Are bubbles considered "permanent" structures? I didn't follow how they were able to build considering the flood plain in Ashburn. That was the reason the team got that land so easily, the offices were built where they were, and why they hadn't built for years.
by selxic on Feb 17, 2012 7:41 am • link • report
by Joe on Feb 17, 2012 8:08 am • link • report
The bubble at Redskins Park is on the other side of the building from the fields. It's not within the floodplain.
Also, I remember the rain storm that caused that flooding. You'll also remember that the grass fields there at Redskins Park were re-graded and have good drainage. The fields themselves did not flood.
by Alex B. on Feb 17, 2012 9:02 am • link • report
by selxic on Feb 17, 2012 9:31 am • link • report
by Shipsa01 on Feb 17, 2012 9:37 am • link • report
What I do have a problem jumping on a bandwagon based on scant information such as this. Everything about this story is odd/off and IMO meant to rouse a community that feeds on this stuff like the worst carnivore.
But I would much rather get more information about the gov't's secret negotiations with Snyder before I give Gray the smackdown.
For others, I understand that getting more information about the matter is second (likely 3rd) to protesting what Gray does. It's the Tea Party faction of the DC electorate.
by HogWash on Feb 17, 2012 10:06 am • link • report
by selxic on Feb 17, 2012 10:13 am • link • report
I'm all for more information, but a bunch of elected ANC commissioners just met with administration officials and got information. We're reporting what they said. I don't think it's fair to dismiss it because it doesn't match your intuitive explanations.
DCist asked the administration for comment and in their article said that officials just confirmed talks were going on but said nothing more. So this seems to be the best information we have. I'd love to have more details and if someone can get them, great.
by David Alpert on Feb 17, 2012 10:14 am • link • report
Right, except our concerns are rational, internally consistent, and completely ideologically opposite to the Teabagger agenda.
Other than that, though, it's the Tea Party redux.
:)
by oboe on Feb 17, 2012 10:18 am • link • report
by DJ Ren on Feb 17, 2012 10:30 am • link • report
by selxic on Feb 17, 2012 10:32 am • link • report
Because as a commenter, I don't think it's my job. If bloggers expected their community to research information (as a matter of practice) for them, then what's the point of running a blog.
If you read what I've said, I didn't dismiss the story. Instead, I said the secret negotiations were odd/off and questioned why the city would conduct business in this way. Yet, I still want MORE information about the negotiations itself and plainly stated that it should come sooner than the 30 days. *I suggested, like, next week*
I also suggested that Tommy St. Wells seems like the best person to reach out to for answers. Since I assumed you have him on speed dial, it's more than reasonable to think that you simply could have called him up and asked wth is going on with this. If anybody knows/or can find out, he can. You can do that much better than I.
BTW, I also don't think it's unreasonable to question your approach when you suggest that Jack Evans "abhors" spending money on anything but sports facilities. It's harsh, factually incorrect, and an unfair attack on his character.
by HogWash on Feb 17, 2012 10:38 am • link • report
Now come on, haven't you heard the Tea Party claim that they too are rational and consistent?
I mean who says, "I'm an irrational and inconsistent person."
:)
BTW, I'm giving a big ups to the cupcake shop on 8th Street in Barracks Row (at least I think it is). I've been there three x's and for the life of me, never remember it's name.
by HogWash on Feb 17, 2012 10:42 am • link • report
by Hill East Resident on Feb 17, 2012 10:48 am • link • report
by goldfish on Feb 17, 2012 10:51 am • link • report
After reading several GGW articles discussing redistricting (even the redistricting game) and how Res 13 was a sticking point for some and how Hill East would stay in W6, I would've never thought that Res 13 was now in W7. I assumed it was stuck in the netherworld.
But thanks again though!
by HogWash on Feb 17, 2012 11:08 am • link • report
@Oboe, wassup buddy? It's Friiiiiiiiiiiiday!
...and sunny and 50! Could be a good day for an extended lunch.
Now come on, haven't you heard the Tea Party claim that they too are rational and consistent?
Of course! But the guy who's locked up for thinking he's Napoleon believes himeself to be rational as well.
I mean who says, "I'm an irrational and inconsistent person."
We can test consistency and rationality. Most of the mainstream arguments your read on GGW pass those tests. "Correctness" is a separate issue.
To your second comment: In their efforts to build a private country club for a group of 50 or so sporting millionaires, and the billionaire who employs them, Gray, Evans, and the rest are going to keep Councilmartyr Wells as far out of the picture as possible. The only way to bring this ill-considered folly to life is by revealing it as a fait accompli once the ink's dry on the agreement.
by oboe on Feb 17, 2012 11:23 am • link • report
by Sharon Ambrose on Feb 17, 2012 2:39 pm • link • report
What do you think of looking at the Benning Rd. Coal Fired Power Station as an alternate location? The 80 acre site needs remediation anyway, and the surrounding neighborhood is much more likely to get an economic development boost from the Skins presence than would be the case at Res 13.
Covering part of the PEPCO site with a stadium or parking lot could actually help in sequestering the poisoned soil while the toxins break down over time.
by Will on Feb 17, 2012 3:50 pm • link • report
by Rich on Feb 17, 2012 6:26 pm • link • report
For training camp, yes. Pro teams often use colleges. For the season? No.
by Alex B. on Feb 17, 2012 6:38 pm • link • report
by George Bowser on Feb 17, 2012 6:48 pm • link • report
The Benning Road power plant site has terrific economic development potential, as well as serious remediation challenges. It is used only as a "back-up" power source and will almost certainly be shuttered near term. It could be a wonderful opportunity to provide a boost to the surrounding community. But not with a football stadium that would doubtless cost us a bundle. (I know well how these deals work having been heavily involved in the Nats park deal.-- which I still believe will proves to have been a good investment.) My preference would be for a mixed-use complex that would involve a research center built by one or several of our universities as a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) project. (PILOTS are a concept we have never seriously pursued.) Such a complex would be a great source of both entry level and professional jobs. Because the site is so large, it could also
accomodate both mixed income housing and local neighborhood small business opportunities, as well as parkland along the river. The proximity to a Metro Station makes it even more valuable. We need to be thoughtful stewards of the limited land mass over which we have so limited jurisdiction.
by Sharon Ambrose on Feb 17, 2012 11:20 pm • link • report
by The Civic Center on Feb 18, 2012 8:55 am • link • report
by Shipsa01 on Feb 18, 2012 5:55 pm • link • report
by Jon on Feb 19, 2012 2:43 pm • link • report
The plant is one of the few things in the District that consistently stinks as bad as the Skins.
by Mike S. on Feb 19, 2012 8:18 pm • link • report
by Jack Love on Feb 22, 2012 8:52 am • link • report
Incredible as it seems, the two of them actually are pursuing this really bad idea. It's not a rumor of a rumor.
And +1 Sharon Ambrose.
by Trulee Pist on Feb 27, 2012 2:26 am • link • report
by selxic on Feb 27, 2012 7:20 am • link • report
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