Monday, May 20, 2013
Public comment period on Georgetown non-motorized boathouse zone feasibility study closes May 24.
National Park Service (NPS) staff will offer a presentation and answer questions at a public meeting Wednesday on the recently released non-motorized boathouse zone feasibility study. The study released in April includes development scenarios where there is room for multiple rowing programs, including collegiate and high school teams, as well as proposals that leave the area relatively undeveloped. The lowest-density development would include just under 50,000 gross square feet in new buildings on either side of the Key Bridge along the Georgetown waterfront. The most dense would add about 117,000 gross square feet of new space for use by boating enthusiasts, local high schools, universities and others. Wednesday's meeting will consist of …
Saturday, April 20, 2013
NPS Georgetown non-motorized boathouse zone feasibility study is now open for public comment.
The National Park Service envisions a range of uses and densities in the potential future development of a non-motorized boathouse zone for the Georgetown waterfront that could include room for multiple rowing programs or leave the area relatively undeveloped. The lowest-density development would include just under 50,000 gross square feet in new buildings on either side of the Key Bridge along the Georgetown waterfront. The most dense would add about 117,000 gross square feet of new space for use by boating enthusiasts, local high schools, universities and others. NPS created three development scenarios (high, medium and low density) and looked at five sites along the study area (sites A through E), based on input from community meetings …
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
The National Park Service is seeking to create a new contract for a boathouse operation on the Georgetown waterfront.
The National Park Service (NPS) is moving forward with plans to create a new contract for a boat rental operation on the Georgetown waterfront as the agency explores recent allegations by current tenant Jack's Boathouse that NPS does not have jurisdiction over the property. "We believe that we have full jurisdiction of the Georgetown waterfront park," Jennifer Mummart, the acting NPS associate regional director for communications in the national capital region, told Patch. But Friday, Jack's owner Paul Simkin and his attorney Charles Camp told Patch they believe NPS no longer has jurisdiction over the Georgetown waterfront and that control actually should have reverted to the District government years ago. "We are looking into it," Mummart…
38.904073
-77.068998
Jack's Boathouse
3500 K St NW, Washington, DC
/articles/nps-responds-to-jack-s-boathouse-conflict
1260668
/locations/8654464
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
The National Park Service will not release its Feasibility Study to Implement a Non-motorized Boathouse Zone until Jack's boathouse lease issue is resolved.
Plans to release the National Park Service Feasibility Study to Implement a Non-motorized Boathouse Zone on the Georgetown waterfront are on hold as the agency resolves a lease conflict with Jack's Boathouse. NPS intended to release the study in mid-January and to hold a public meeting in February. NPS has explored various plans in the past 25 years for the stretch of waterfront land from 34th Street to about 1,200 feet upstream of the Key Bridge, having most recently re-initiated conversations in late 2011. "Recent events in study area related to Jack’s Boathouse have necessitated a delay in the release of the study. The NPS is working to resolve the situation at Jack’s Boathouse and release the NMBZ study as soon as possible," NPS said …
38.904073
-77.068998
Jack's Boathouse
3500 K St NW, Washington, DC
/articles/waterfront-boathouse-zone-plan-pending-jack-s-boathouse-resolution
1260668
/locations/8650155
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Conflicting claims on Georgetown waterfront property put future of boathouse in question.
Jack's Boathouse has anchored Georgetown’s western waterfront for decades. But whether it has the right to lease the land as it has for 40 years instead of entering into a competitive concession with the National Park Service (NPS) is the subject of a debate that could land both parties in court. And the boat rental company says it isn’t going down without a fight. On Friday, NPS issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for a contract to operate a boat rental operation at 3500 K Street — and it wants Jack’s Boathouse, which has operated a boat rental facility out of a red single-story wooden bungalow on the Georgetown waterfront since 1973, to compete for the contract. While NPS claims it took stewardship of the parcel in the late 1980s, …
Thursday, December 27, 2012
The Potomac River boat rental site was to lose its lease effective Jan. 31.
The National Park Service (NPS) has halted plans to evict Jack's Boathouse from its Potomac River lease on the Georgetown waterfront. Earlier this month Jack's owner Paul Simkin received a notice from NPS that his business had until Jan. 31 to vacate its location just east of the Key Bridge. "I can assure all those concerned that the boat house operation will continue into the future as it is an important public service," NPS Director Jon Jarvis said in a statement released to several media organizations. NPS is in the process of evaluating uses for a non-motorized boathouse zone for the waterfront area. In a statement sent to WTOP, Simkin wrote, "I am absolutely touched that on the Christmas holiday so many folks made time to email and …
38.904073
-77.068998
Jack's Boathouse
3500 K St NW, Washington, DC
/articles/jack-s-boathouse-gets-a-reprieve
1260668
/locations/8461867
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
NPS is seeking public input on the placement of potential boathouses along the Potomac River.
The National Park Service (NPS), already considering a boathouse zone along the Potomac in Washington, D.C., is now setting its sites on Arlington, VA too. Boathouses could one day spot the landscape on either side of the Key Bridge. Tuesday, NPS will hold a public scoping meeting on "proposed siting and construction of a public facility for non-motorized boats on the Virginia shoreline of the Potomac River," according to the project website. The meeting will be at Washington-Lee High School from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Congress tasked the NPS in 1998 with identifying sites in Arlington and in 2002 the agency published a feasibility study for the area. "The study examined building a facility, which included indoor storage space and floating …
38.904383
-77.06998
Potomac Boat Club
3530 Water St NW, Washington, DC
/articles/boathouse-eyed-for-potomac-river-virginia-shoreline
1259970
/locations/7470552
38.902612
-77.0611
Georgetown Waterfront Park
3100 K St NW, Washington, DC
/articles/boathouse-eyed-for-potomac-river-virginia-shoreline
1309953
/locations/7470553
Monday, March 5, 2012
The four-hour public workshop Saturday morning yielded a range of views for how the waterfront should be used.
Rowers, paddlers, swimmers, cyclists and others, some 85 people in total, came out Saturday morning to weigh in on the proposed non-motorized boathouse zone at the Georgetown Waterfront. The National Park Service organized the Mar. 3 event. After four hours of discussion, planning, questions and comments, the group generally agreed on a few items: Beyond those points, the group was conflicted over the location, size and number of facilities for collegiate, scholastic and other uses. The workshop broke the attendees into teams, which used a map of the proposed area to create their suggestions for how to use the space NPS is considering for development. Team Two, composed mostly of Georgetown University representatives, advocated for keeping…
Monday, February 13, 2012
The National Park Service has planned a public workshop for Mar. 3, place and time to be determined.
The National Park Service (NPS) has scheduled a four-hour, public workshop for Mar. 3 on the feasibility study for a non-motorized boathouse zone along the Potomac River in Georgetown. NPS has worked with key stakeholders since the initial announcement in December 2011 and will share findings from those meetings while considering public input at the March workshop. The study area runs from 34th Street to about 1,200 feet upstream of the Key Bridge. NPS first proposed a non-motorized boat zone for the area in 1986. Since that time several iterations and stages of the plan have advanced only to later stall. Georgetown University (GU) has previously designed a boathouse for the area and even went through the Environmental Assessment process …
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
The National Park Service non-motorized boathouse zone feasibility study for the Georgetown waterfront.
Nearly 100 people attended an informational meeting Tuesday on the National Park Service non-motorized boathouse zone feasibility study for the Georgetown waterfront. NPS has explored various plans in the past 25 years for the stretch of waterfront land from 34th Street to about 1,200 feet upstream of the Key Bridge. Kevin Brandt, the NPS superintendent for the C&O Canal historic park, told the crowd that he had been involved with various plans for the past 15 years. The goal of the newest iteration is to look at ways of "enhancing access to the river," he said. "Hopefully we can find a way forward" he added, unlike the previous efforts. Peter May, the NPS's associate regional director for lands, resources, and planning for the Capital …
Shaun Courtney
2:56 pm on Tuesday, May 21, 2013
I plan to stop by for the first 40 minutes or so of the meeting. Hopefully that's long enough to get enough details to inform my readers! -Shaun more ›