RED BUTTONS DOMINATE AT DC ZONING COMMISSION

Wearing red buttons that read:  “Oppose the AU Plan” dozens of residents of American University’s surrounding neighborhoods packed the DC Zoning Commission Hearing Room for the third time on July 14th to express their dissatisfaction with AU’s proposed 2011 Ten Year  Campus Expansion Plan.

Zoning Commission Chair Anthony Hood, commenting that everywhere he looked all he saw were folks wearing red buttons, wondered aloud why so many people were so opposed to the Plan.

Cross examining the AU presenters and the Office of Planning recommendations on the plan, representatives from Spring Valley, Wesley Heights, Westover Place and the Tenley Campus Neighbors and Tenley Neighbors Association, as well as ANC3D Chairman Tom Smith all made quite clear that the campus plan proposed by American University would impose severe objectionable impacts on the adjacent communities and should not be approved as filed.

These include a huge increase in the number of students overwhelming existing low-density neighborhoods, growing traffic gridlock with no detailed plans for dealing with it, insufficient parking moving onto neighborhood streets, no long term “Green Space” and noise and air pollution resulting from putting high-density development into the middle of low density areas without sufficient buffer zones.

Tom Smith, Chairman of ANC3D, within which American University is located, elicited during his questioning of the Office of Planning that although AU has claimed to be in conversation with the neighbors for a little over two years about their objections, very little in the plan had changed.  This resulted in the Office of Planning suggesting a facilitator to help the process but this proved unsuccessful.

The hearings will resume in September after an August recess.

“Hate Gridlock” Message Loud and Clear at Ward Circle

Some 75 determined neighbors walked around Ward Circle at the intersections of Massachusetts and Nebraska Avenues during morning rush hour, horns blared and the issue of traffic gridlock caused by American University’s planned expansion took center stage.

American University’s traffic study, submitted to the Office of Zoning in conjunction with its 2011 Proposed Campus Expansion Plan claims that expansion would have little or no impact on traffic at the Circle and along Nebraska Ave.  Judging by the honking of the motorists, this was not the case today.

Wearing buttons reading “Stop the AU Plan”  and with signs opposing the expansion sprouting from the circle, the coalition of groups from the neighborhoods surrounding AU wanted to demonstrate first hand that the AU Expansion Plan will indeed increase gridlock.  

Some of the neighbors held signs that read “Honk if You Hate Gridlock.” They urged rejection of the  AU Expansion Plan because of the severe traffic problems and potential pedestrian safety issues involved.

“If the  Zoning Commission allows AU’s Expansion Plan to go through it could potentially back up traffic from Connecticut Ave. to Canal Road on a daily basis” said Mary Ellen Fehrmann, a leader of the coalition.  “Add in the double whammy of the Department of Homeland Security increasing its workforce by about 1800 and you have traffic gridlock nightmare.”

Ward Circle is one of the busiest crossroads in the city and, according to the Rockcreek West II Livability Study, has the highest accident rate in the city.  The neighbors worry that this will get worse.

AU’s plan to build dormitories for some 600 students on the Nebraska Ave parking lot will add multiple pedestrian crossings at Ward Circle and Nebraska Ave., including many mid-block.  Their solution is to ask DDOT to install another traffic light midblock, which in turn, will back up more vehicles trying to get to the intersection.

Massachusetts Avenue carries almost 21,000 cars every weekday and Nebraska carries 24,500 not counting heavy pedestrian and bicycle traffic in the intersection.  Emergency vehicles already have a hard time getting through, according to many who live in the area.  This worries Tony Cafoncelli, a retired physician who lives at Westover Place.  “If the traffic situation worsens, it could endanger the lives of residents and students alike,” he says.  Other concerns he has are the increased air pollution, air toxins, greenhouse gasses and noise pollution deriving from worsening gridlock.  “All of these affect not only the quality of life for people in the area, but the quality of health as well,” says Cafoncelli.

More  information:

Neighborhood Organizations:

        www.stopAU.org

        www.nlcnorthwestdc.org

American University Campus Plan:

Home page:  http://www.american.edu/finance/fas/Campus-Plan.cfm       

AU Neighbors Thank Kwame Brown for Support

Meeting at the Foxhall Community Room Monday night, a coalition of neighborhood groups and associations, united in their opposition to American University’s Campus Expansion plan, voted to extend their thanks to City Council Chair Kwame Brown for his strong support of their position.

They also extended thanks for his April 7th letter to Anthony Hood, Chairman of the DC Zoning Commission, emphasizing the taxpaying residents’ concerns about the many objectionable conditions which would result from the Expansion Plan.  Chairman Brown urged the Zoning Commission to NOT consider the American University Campus plan until the residents had been seriously heard and taken into account in the plan.

Chairman Brown himself paid a visit to Westover Place on March 30, 2011 and met with representatives from Tenleytown Neighbors, Tenley Campus Neighbors, Wesley Heights Civic Association, Tenleytown Historical Society, Foxhall and Westover Place Homeowners Association.  He saw for himself how placing 770 students in several five storey dormitories on AU’s current Nebraska Avenue parking lot, just 40 feet away from the backs of existing homes, would greatly impact the taxpaying residents of those homes.

Arriving at the meeting late due to gridlock on Massachusetts Avenue, Chairman Brown also got to experience firsthand one of the major concerns of the neighbors -- increasing pedestrian and vehicular traffic feeding into Ward Circle, already a choke point to north-south Massachusetts traffic and east-west Nebraska Avenue traffic.  The AU plans for development on both Nebraska and Tenley Circle will effectively encapsulate Nebraska Avenue.  This will make Nebraska the main road through their campus, and virtually a pedestrian walkway during certain times of the day as hundreds of students cross over and back from the proposed dorms and food establishments, including those AU has allowed into commercial space on New Mexico Avenue.

Other objectionable conditions cited by the residents included density, crime, parking and quality of life issues.

Said David Fehrmann of Westover Place, one of those who met with Chairman Brown: “Over the past 18 months we have met with the DC Office of Planning, the Department of Transportation, the local ANC, Ward 3 Representative Mary Cheh, the candidates running for the Council-At-Large seat and with AU.  The urgent concerns of the neighbors have been expressed at multiple joint meetings.  So far AU has turned a deaf ear.  Maybe this will help them to listen and act upon those concerns.”

COMMUTER NIGHTMARE LOOMS FOR VIRGINIA, MARYLAND AND DC RESIDENTS

*     Ward Circle, at the busy commuter intersection of Nebraska and Massachusetts Avenues, ALREADY has the highest accident rate in DC, according to the Rock Creek West II Livability Study (DDOT).
*     AU’s Overreaching Expansion Plan to ingest Nebraska Ave, in the context of expansion plans of Homeland Security ( an estimated additional 1800 workers and cars) and Wesley Seminary along Massachusetts on each side of the circle, will create traffic havoc throughout the region.
*      Massachusetts Avenue carries almost 21,000 commuter and resident cars every weekday. Nebraska averages almost 25,000.  That’s not counting pedestrian and bicycle traffic at the intersection.
*      What’s going to happen when AU’s expansion plan to house a minimum number of 770 students on its Nebraska Ave parking lot, engulfs Nebraska and makes it the main road through their campus? Where’s all this traffic going to go?  Answer:  nowhere fast.
*      Lifesaving emergency equipment already faces the challenges of getting through.  This will only get worse if these plans are approved, endangering the lives of residents, federal workers and students alike.
*      AU’s plan to impose meeting halls, campus book stores and student food establishments (replacing a much needed neighborhood food market) along New Mexico Ave will lead to even more foot traffic.   
*     The worsening gridlock ensures increased air pollution, air toxins, greenhouse gasses,
and noise pollution.  Parking will become more of a problem for both those who live in the community and those who drive. What is already an intolerable situation for residents and commuters alike will become a nightmare.

*     It’s vital to stop AU from ingesting essential commuter and resident thoroughfares into their own campus expansion!

SO WHAT CAN I DO?

Write Mayor Vince Gray at 1350 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Suite 316, Washington DC  20004 or go to dc.gov, click on Ask the Mayor and e-mail him.  Maryland and Virginia residents should contact Gov.Martin O’Malley or Gov. Bob McDonnell.  Tell them you’re opposed to the AU expansion plan.

For more information on the issue of AU expansion, and other things you can do to help, visit Neighbors for a Livable Community.  NLC is a coalition of community groups in the Spring Valley, Wesley Heights and Tenleytown areas.