Agenda for Dec. 15th Community Meetings

Following is the Agenda for the third set of Community-wide Input Meetings that we will be on December 15th, 2009. Those people that attended the second round of meetings on November 17th will be interested in attending again as the conversation around a vision for Lower 8th Street will progress to looking at best practices and build out scenarios and what we hope will be a lively Q & A. We encourage you to tell interested colleagues and friends to attend as well.

For those that were unable to attend the second round of meetings, we will bring you up to speed by summarizing the key inputs right off the top of the upcoming meetings. You may also download the Minutes and Presentations from the first and second rounds of meetings right here from the DOWNLOAD section on the right hand side of this blog.

Lower 8th Street Vision Process
3rd Community Meeting
December 15, 2009 – 8:30 a.m. or 7:00 p.m.
The People's Church
535 8th Street, SE

AGENDA

I. Welcome & Introductions

II. Summary of 2nd Round of Community Meetings
A. What did we hear?
B. Issues & Impediments
C. Opportunities

III. Best Practices and Build Out Scenarios
A. Regional Examples
B. Mixed Use Projects

IV. Richard Lake - Roadside Development
A. What Makes a Successful Mixed-Use Project
B. Tenleytown Project
C. O Street Market Project

V. Wayne Dickson - Blake Real Estate
A. A Grocery Store as a Neighborhood Anchor - Fundamentals
B. Community Process/Partnership to bring Whole Foods to P Street
C. Resulting Spin-Off Development

VI. Community Center Example - THE ARC
A. The Need for a Community Center
B. Process/Partnerships to Create THE ARC
C. User Groups and Programs

VII. Conceptual Use Relationships

VIII. Questions & Answers

November 17th Community-wide Input Meetings

The second set of 4 Community Meetings for the Lower 8th St, SE Visioning Process was held on November 17th at The Peoples' Church, 535 8th Street, SE. About 75 people attended the morning and evening meetings where they heard a recap of the October meeting, learned about the Existing Conditions/Allowed Development by Right and Future Form Determinants including the CSX Virginia Avenue Tunnel and Streetcar Plan, then discussed the Community Vision, summarizing needs and opportunities, before moving on to an interactive Q&A.

Community Meeting Minutes are available here.
See the Presentation here.

Please post any comments here or email us at lower8thvision@gmail.com. Your questions, concerns and suggestions will be reviewed by the Advisory Group.

Please stay tuned for an upcoming post that outlines our agenda for the next set of Community-wide Input Meetings scheduled for December 15, 2009. The next meeting will focus on best practice examples and build-out scenarios.

Agenda for Nov 17th Community-wide Input Meetings

Following is the Agenda for the second set of Community-wide Input Meetings that we will be holding on November 17th, 2009. Those people that attended the first round of meetings on October 20th will be interested in attending again as the conversation around a vision for Lower 8th Street will progress to reviewing Existing Conditions/Proposed Development by Right and Future Form Determinants before moving on to a Summary of Needs and Opportunities for a Community Vision of the area and what we hope will be a lively Q & A. We encourage you to tell interested colleagues and friends to attend as well.

For those that were unable to attend the first round of meetings, we will bring you up to speed by summarizing the key inputs and learnings right off the top of the upcoming meetings. You may also download the Minutes and Presentations from the first round of meetings right here from the DOWNLOAD section on the right hand side of this blog.

Lower 8th Street Vision Process
2nd Community Meeting
November 17, 2009 – 8:30 a.m. or 7:00 p.m.
The People's Church
535 8th Street, SE


AGENDA

I. Welcome & Introductions

II. Summary of 1st Round of Community Meetings
A. Vision for Area – what did we hear?
B. Issues & Impediments
C. Future Form Determinants
D. Opportunities

III. Existing Conditions/Allowed Development by Right
A. SQ 906: Miles Glass Site
B. SQ 929: 801 Virginia Avenue, SE – the Admiral
C. SQ 907: Blue Castle
D. SQ 930: Quizno’s, Port Café, etc.
E. SQ 952: Virginia Avenue Park
F. SQ 952S: 901 M Street, SE – Domino’s, other retail bays
G. SQ 976: Former Exxon site
H. Development Totals for Study Area

IV. Future Form Determinants
A. CSX Virginia Avenue Tunnel Project
B. Marine Barracks Campus Master Plan
C. Proposed Street Car Lines

V. Community Vision – Summary of Needs & Opportunities
A. Housing
B. Neighborhood Support Retail
C. Restaurants
D. Hotel & Meeting Facilities
E. Office Space
F. Parks, Street Trees & Connecting Sidewalks
G. Underpass Connectivity & Treatment

VI. Questions & Answers

Oct 20th, 2009 Community-wide Input Meetings

The first two of eight Community-wide input meetings for the Lower 8th St. SE Visioning Process was held on October 20th at The Peoples' Church, 535 8th Street, SE. Over 75 people total attended the morning and evening sessions where they heard presentations that provided an Overview of the Vision Process, Historical Narrative and Summary of Existing Conditions, then moved on to a discussion of how we could Move Beyond the Status Quo and finished up with an interactive Q & A.

Community Meeting minutes are available here.
See the historical presentation by the Weinstein Group here.
View the Lower 8th Street Visioning Process presentation here.

Please post any comments here or email us at Lower8thVision@gmail.com. Your questions, concerns and suggestions will be reviewed by the Advisory Group.

Please stay tuned for an upcoming post that outlines our agenda for the next set of Community-wide input meetings scheduled for November 17, 2009.

Advisory Committee

At the time that the Capitol Riverfront BID decided to fund and initiate this series of community-wide meetings for the purposes described in the earlier Visioning Process Overview post, a commitment was made to ensure deep and extensive stakeholder/community involvement in the process. In order to accomplish this, other community organizations and constituency representatives were asked to participate in an advisory committee. The Advisory Committee serves as the primary community group to interact with the stakeholders, community and appropriate officials involved in the decision process regarding use of the area.

The role of the Advisory Committee will be:

• to identify important issues that the community feels need to be addressed in the project;
• to help promote public involvement;
• to assist in the planning, facilitation and debriefing of community input meetings;
• to monitor the process's overall progress and schedule.

The Advisory Committee is chaired by Michael Stevens of the Capitol Riverfront BID. The following is a list of the Advisory Committee members and their affiliated organizations. This roster will stay posted on the right hand side of this blog for future reference:e

• Beth Purcell, Capitol Hill Restoration Society
• Capt. Lisa Lawrence, Marine Barracks
• Charles Allen, Ward 6 Councilmember Wells
• David Brainerd, Madison Marquette
• David Perry, Barracks Row Main Street
• Gary Peterson, Capitol Hill Restoration Society
• Jamie Henson, DDOT (Ex Officio)
• John Imparato, Navy Yard
• Topher Cushman, CHAMPS - Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce  
• Julia Christian, CHAMPS - Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce  
• Kirsten Oldenburg, ANC 6B
• Leon Kafele, ICP
• Lt. Col. Carl Henger, Marine Barracks
• Maj. Peter Dahl, Marine Barracks
• Melissa Bird, Office of Planning (Ex Officio)
• Michael Durso, DMPED (Ex Officio)
• Michael Stevens, Capitol Riverfront BID
• TJ Oleksiak, Resident

Visioning Process Overview

The Lower 8th Street SE Visioning Process Advisory Committee is coordinating a vision process with property owners and other community stakeholders along the Lower 8th Street, SE corridor. This process will be an attempt to gain consensus on a vision for the area and to address issues of height, density, mix of uses, parking and access, as well as what should be the character of a redesigned Virginia Avenue Park as an amenity or community benefit for the Capitol Riverfront neighborhood and Capitol Hill. If consensus can be reached on the vision, it could serve as the basis for asking the Office of Planning to develop a small area neighborhood plan that could then be used as justification for any agreed upon zoning or density changes.

The public will be offered a number of opportunities to participate in the visioning process that include:

• Participate in the Community-wide Input Meetings in October, November, December and January 2010. Check back here soon for exact dates and details.
  
• Speak with a member of the Advisory Committee (see roster on right side of blog).
• Provide us your comments using this blog or feel free to share your ideas and concerns or provide feedback by emailing us at Lower8thVision@gmail.com. Your comments, questions or concerns will be reviewed by the Advisory Group.