Community Weighs in on Walter Reed Redevelopment

• January 18th 2012

by Shilpi Paul

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Neighbors who live near Walter Reed met with DC agency staff for an open house last night to comment on various aspects of the Army medical center’s redevelopment plans.

The expansive plans on the boards feature 3.1 million square feet of development, including 90 townhomes, 1,864 multifamily units and more than 100 homes for homeless veterans. Retail is also in the works, including perhaps a Wegman’s, and the site will have two bilingual charter schools (one Spanish-English, one Chinese-English) and a Howard University ambulatory care center. The new development would also have a number of energy-efficient elements: green roofs, solar panels, cisterns, and a goal of being net-zero by 2030. There could also be some park-like areas and planners are considering building a streetcar to connect the development to a nearby Metro station.

At last night’s meeting, different stations were set up that highlighted features of the redevelopment, including transportation, sustainability, urban design, and one area that outlined the overall plan. At each of these stations, residents had the opportunity to talk to city staffers and leave comments.

Generally, residents were very interested in how the new development would be connected to the neighborhood. Transit questions came up often, as residents were concerned that the existing transportation infrastructure wouldn’t be able to handle the big retail plans. Reactions to the streetcar were mixed; some residents wanted the streetcar to extend up to Silver Spring, some didn’t want it at all. Several attendees wanted a bicycle route to connect with the development, and the overall feeling was that the design for the development should be urban, not suburban, feeling.

The comments and ideas from last night’s meeting will be taken into account when DC presents their Base Reuse plan to HUD in February and March. The hope is that the area will be rezoned by the winter of either 2012 or 2013, but complete redevelopment could take a couple decades.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.production.logicbrush.com/articles/blog/community_weighs_in_on_walter_reed_redevelopment/4940.