Politics & Government

Neighbors Lobby for Park Land, Low Density at GSA Site

The West Heating Plant borders Rock Creek Park and the C&O Canal

Neighbors are lobbying the General Services Administration to place restrictions on the auction of the West Heating Plant in order to protect adjoining park lands and to prevent the new owner from building any new structures.

The West Heating Plant is a federally owned property at 29th and K Streets NW adjacent to Rock Creek Park and the C&O Canal. It is scheduled for auction this fall.

"It could be a true disaster for Georgetown," said Steve Crimmins, a neighboring property owner.

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His fear is that the auction winner will want to recoup the costs of being the highest bidder by maximizing the development of the site. Crimmins said the existing 13-story structure is already a monolith and any additional development would severely impact quality of life for neighboring residents.

"If we do nothing, this will be put at auction without any restriction at all," said Crimmins.

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Friends of the Georgetown Waterfront Park spoke at the Advisory Neighborhood Commission meeting Monday, advocating for park land and historic protections for portions of the C&O Canal that they believe are incorrectly being included in the auction site.

The group wants portions of the property to remain as park land and to limit development to the footprint of the existing building. An adjoining piece of land with fuel tanks would ideally become a park above ground with below ground parking, explained Bob vom Eigen.

, "The use in any subsequent redevelopment will be essentially whatever the local planning and zoning authorities determine what it should be used for. Typically our sales are as is, where is."

That idea "seems to us to be very disturbing," said vom Eigen at the ANC meeting Monday.

A congressional subcommittee held a 90-minute hearing "Sitting on Our Assets: The Georgetown Heating Plant" on-site in June in Georgetown. Members of Congress wagged fingers at the GSA for not moving quickly or efficiently enough to sell excess or under-utilized federal properties, like the West Heating Plant.

Since the plant was decommissioned in 2000, it has cost the government an estimated $3.5 million to maintain. The GSA declared the property surplus last November.

"This is the biggest deal going on in our community right now," said ANC Commissioner Tom Birch.

Birch advocated for community groups to go to the Office of Planning together to let the zoning authority know about their hopes and concerns about the site.

"For us to wait any longer creates a situation where all bets are off," he said.


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