CORRECTED: Kenyan McDuffie Said He Wanted to "Voice My Opposition" to McMillan Development, But He Didn't Mean It

CORRECTION: The Zoning Commission has added another hearing on McMillan on May 27 at 6:30pm. It will be held in Room 220 South at One Judiciary Square, 441 4th Street NW. Thanks to the anonymous commenter below for bringing this to my attention. 

At the last second-to-last in a series of hearings by the D.C. Office of Zoning May 13 about the development of the McMillan Sand Filtration Site (also known as McMillan Park), City Council Member Kenyan McDuffie (D-Ward Five) said he had come "to voice my opposition" to the Planned Unit Development (PUD) for the site as negotiated by Vision McMillan Partners and Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 5E/Bloomingdale. Then he praised the project. Under questioning, he confirmed he was not, in fact, opposed to the project.

Screenshot from Office of Zoning video

Later McDuffie said he meant to say "state my position" but misspoke.

Perhaps McDuffie's mind wasn't completely on the project because, as he said at the beginning of his statement, he had just come from City Council budget negotiations and was planning to return to them.

If any supporters felt they were witnessing a surprise change-of-heart, they were probably reassured by McDuffie's characterization of the McMillan Plan which followed:

It's a balanced plan. It's one that's been worked on for the last seven years by the development team, the city, and the community. The result, in my opinion, is a world-class project that achieves the objectives of the District, the comprehensive plan, and the community, including open space preservation, mixed income housing, jobs, an increased tax base, and the opening up of a wonderful historical asset for the city and all the residents of the District of Columbia.

McDuffie said the community had not been able to enjoy the McMillan site "for the 38-39 years I've been on this earth" and previously in his parents' and grandparents' time. The opening up of the site presented "a unique opportunity... to develop a large parcel with no displacement and tremendous workforce development". He continued:

Let me be clear: We need these jobs, we need the retail, we need the affordable housing in the District of Columbia. We need the park space for our families and our children.

He concluded by asking the Office of Zoning to approve the PUD.

Witnesses at an Office of Zoning hearing are subject to cross-examination. This allowed Silvia Pinkley, Chair of ANC5E, to ask: "You started out with saying you were in opposition to this project, do you realize that?"

McDuffie answered, "I did not realize that and if I said that I did not intend to say that."

McMillian Park is located in Council Member McDuffie's district.

The development of the site has drawn opposition from community groups, including Friends of McMillan Park and the McMillan Coalition for Sustainable Agriculture, who wish to see the site turned into a park and an urban aquaponic farm, respectively. The meeting at which McDuffie testified continued for several more hours, taking testimony from both sides. It was a continuation of an earlier contentious hearing about the project, reported here.

Council Member McDuffie's testimony can be seen here through the Office of Zoning's Video on Demand page, starting at time 1:01:55

McMillan Park Redevelopment Roadshow Comes to ANC1B

Anne L. Corbett, the project director of Envision McMillan, came before Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 1B/U Street on February 7 to brief about the proposed redevelopment of the McMillan Sand Filtration Site, also known as McMillan Park. The entire area is listed as a historic place by the National Park Service.

How it might look (photo credit below)

McMillan Sand Filtration Site is located in ANC5E/Bloomingdale. It was reported at the ANC1B meeting that ANC5E had approved the proposal on the stipulation that nearby ANCs also approved it. Another abutting ANC has already approved the proposal.  ANC1B abuts McMillan on McMillan's west side.

Development of the site will be part of a public-private partnership, Corbett said.

Two flyers given out by Envision McMillan at the meeting, plus Corbett's testimony, yield the following profile of the proposed McMillan development:

• 17,000 square foot community center with 25-meter-long pool
• 12 acres total of open public green space, including an 8-acre park on the south side of the development
• 50,000 square foot grocery
• 30,000 square foot of "neighborhood-serving retail", enough for "more than 10 retailers"
• 146 rowhouses
• "at least" 425 apartments

10% of the row houses, and 20% of the apartments, are designated as affordable housing, according to one flyer. A family of three would have to have an annual income of less than $77,400 to qualify for these units. The units will rent for less than $2000/month for two-bedroom apartments, less for smaller units. These numbers come D.C.'s Department of Housing and Community Development.

One of the flyers said: "all 24 historic buildings perserved". However, there was some discussion about the necessity of demolition on the site. It is possible this referred to demolition of things other than buildings. The ANC was told all demolition on a historic site must be approved by the Mayor's Agent in the D.C. Historic Preservation Office. 

Envision McMillan's redevelopment plans won provisional approval from D.C.'s Historic Preservation Review Board in October 2013. The most vigorous opponents to the plan are a group called Friends of McMillan Park.

The ANC did not vote on the proposal. It will probably be considered by the ANC's Design Review Committee, who will issue a recommendation to the full ANC for a later vote.

"This is an ongoing process," said Commissioner Tony Norman (district 10). "They will be back before this commission."

Norman's ANC district is the district that abuts the McMillan Site. 

See the location of McMillan Park on Google Maps here.

See a video about the development made by Envision McMillan on Vimeo here.

(Photo credit: from a flyer distributed by Envision McMillan at the February 7 ANC meeting.)