Politics & Government

Georgetown Campus Plan: A Timeline

The final hearing on the Georgetown Campus Plan is tonight at 6:30.

Is it Nov. 17 already? It seems like just the other day that opposing sides of the Georgetown community sat across the aisle from one another at the most recent meeting in June. Tonight marks what should be the final hearing of the Zoning Commission on the Georgetown University Campus Plan.

Patch has compiled a timeline of the past year of developments in the debate over Georgetown's current and future impact on the community.

To learn more about the key players mentioned below, .

Find out what's happening in Georgetownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Dec. 30, 2010: Georgetown submits its 2010 campus plan to the Zoning Commission.

Jan. 3, 2011: Council member Jack Evans releases a statement expressing his "disappointment" with the campus plan. "The most important issue to the neighborhood and the single issue not addressed by the plan, is relocating undergraduate students back to campus," he writes.

Find out what's happening in Georgetownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Jan. 20, 2011: at the Duke Ellington School. Officials from neighborhood organizations and from the university offer remarks and take questions about the campus plan.

Feb. 23, 2011: .

Feb. 28, 2011: .

April 14, 2011: The of testimony and questioning in its review of the GU Campus Plan. Georgetown officials present what they call a "modest" proposal. Officials, including President Jack DeGioia, and speak of the positive impact the institution has had on the community in its 222 year existence. GU attorney Maureen Dwyer to follow whatever decision Zoning issues.

May 5, 2011: The Office of Planning (OP) issues its report on the GU campus plan. The by calling for 100 percent housing for undergraduate students.

May 12, 2011: The Office of Planning (OP) testifies on its . OP's Deputy Director for Development Review & Historic Preservation, Jennifer Steingasser, faced intense questioning by Georgetown University's Dwyer. A group of nine students were each given three minutes to speak before the commission, an exception since the last day of school was Friday, May 13.

May 12, 2011: Council member Mary Cheh submits her testimony in opposition to the campus plan, largely because of issues with a proposed loop road that would impact constituents in Foxhall. She also supports the OP requirement to house undergraduate students on campus.

May 16, 2011: District Department of Transportation (DDOT) officials say the agency cannot support the current Georgetown University Campus Plan application primarily because the . The commission opts to delay any additional testimony and cross-examination until GU produces sufficient information for DDOT to make an appropriate evaluation.

Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners present their case in opposition to Georgetown University's campus plan. Commissioner Ron Lewis says, "there’s a big difference between the picture they try to paint and actual reality." GU .

May 16, 2011: Council member Vincent Orange about his opposition to the . Orange writes that the proposed plan and future expansion in university enrollment would "worsen the burdens" on the surrounding communities.

June 2, 2011: The Zoning Commission holds its fourth night of hearings on the Georgetown University Campus Plan with .

June 6, 2011: Community members to the Georgetown University Campus Plan. Neighbors speaking in opposition filled the roster on the final evening and then the University's attorney cross-examined citizens association representatives.

Dwyer pressed Burleith Citizens Association President Lenore Rubino on statements made in community newsletters that praised the University. Dwyer pressed both Rubino and the Citizen Association of Georgetown's Jennifer Altemus on the numbers the two citizen associations had used in their evidence and testimony, from numbers of reported 911 calls to dates for police incidents in videos.

June 20, 2011: The Zoning Commission unanimously supports a continuance on the hearing, scheduled originally for June 20 and now rescheduled for Nov. 17.  The hearing Monday would have addressed the supplemental report from DDOT on the transportation impacts of the University's 10-year campus plan. However, in its report dated June 14, that the data provided by GU was insufficient for the transportation agency to determine the impacts on traffic.

Zoning Commissioner Konrad Schlater is frustrated by the delay, but says he "hopes and expects" the University, government agencies and the community,  to "come close together" and work their own way through their differences.

September 2011: Georgetown University rolls out a series of new i in the surrounding neighborhood. Daily trash patrols, the M Street shuttle, additional sponsored police presence on weekends and a new landlord outreach program are all part of GU's efforts.

Sept. 16, 2011: Council member Phil Mendelson writes a letter to the Zoning Commission . Mendelson's reasons for opposing the plan include the 40 percent growth in University enrollment in the past decade and GU's failure to "adequately address and mitigate" the adverse impacts of those additional students, including the lack of housing.

Oct. 3, 2011: Mayor Gray attends Georgetown ANC meeting and .

"Some of the concerns that were expressed on behalf of the community by the advisory neighborhood commission, in my opinion, were well-grounded," said Gray. But, he added, "based on information that I have, it looks like there has been some positive movement and hopefully we’ll continue in that direction."

Oct. 21, 2011: GU submits its supplemental transportation plan for DDOT and Zoning Commission review.

Oct. 24, 2011: In an editorial in The Washington Post titled "It's D.C. vs. Georgetown in urban planning," the . The Post editorial team takes the neighbors and the District agencies that have sided with them to task for making "unrealistic" demands on one of the District's biggest employers. 

Nov. 8, 2011: The Georgetown Advisory Neighborhood Commission's prior to the upcoming Nov. 17 campus plan hearing. The ANC calls GU's recent efforts "grudging" and "small-scale."

Nov. 8, 2011: DDOT files its much-awaited report. Officials have "no objections" to Georgetown University's transportation impact study, but remain concerned about "adverse transportation impacts that need to be mitigated."

Nov. 17, 2011: The final scheduled hearing on the GU campus plan.


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