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.