DC for Reasonable Development, Chris Otten, 202 810 2768
[updated March 23; see bottom]
McMillan Supporters Face Avalanche of Developer Submissions Days Before Hearing; Zoning Commission Meets Tonight To Decide on Request for Deferment and “Due Process”
Tonight, Monday, March 20, the Zoning Commission intends to decide on the request of Friends of McMillan Park for more time to review and respond to the more than 15 exhibits and 300 pages submitted to the record by VMP and the Mayor just last week regarding the rehearing of McMillan Park.
The Zoning Commission’s approval of the privatization and demolition of the nationally landmarked site at North Capitol Street and Michigan Avenue NW was vacated wholly by the DC Court of Appeals in December 2016.
On March 13th and 14th, the development team called Vision McMillan Partners, along with the Mayor, submitted more than three hundred pages of documents for the Zoning Commission and public to consider as it regards the future of McMillan Park (see Zoning Commission Case No. 13-14).
“We want due process,” says Jerome Peloquin, Ward 5 resident. “Putting all of the other breakdowns in ethical behavior about McMillan Park aside for a moment, how about we follow the basic administrative concept of a fair and just development review of all materials by all parties before hearings are had.”
There hasn’t been a hearing or information from the development team put on the record in about three years and the Secretary of the Zoning Commission is not allowing any other information on the record from anyone besides the development team and the Mayor.
In a typical zoning review, documents consisting of this volume of new information would be available for all parties more than a month before any hearings.
UPDATE
On March 20, the Commission voted to deny the request to defer the hearing. So the developer gets to submit 300 pages into the record electronically, but the public is closed out from submitting anything.
Residents and various groups submitted a letter to Karl Racine asking him to intervene. McMillan_GROUP_letter_Racine_Mar23_2017
March 23 — The McMillan Park case will be reheard this Thursday, March 23, 2017, at 6:30pm at the Zoning Office, 441 4th Street, NW, Suite 200 South.
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