The
Following resolution was adopted by a 5-2-0 show of hands vote by ANC 4B at its
June 27, 2011 regular public meeting:
“WHEREAS a new Walmart
store has been proposed for the Curtis Chevrolet site located at Square 2986, Georgia
and Missouri Avenues N.W.;
WHEREAS Foulger-Pratt (“Developer”) submitted a Large Tract Review
(LTR) application to the D.C. Office of Planning (OP) in March 2011.
WHEREAS
this LTR is for a completely different proposal from the previous LTR submitted
by Foulger-Pratt on December 1, 2008 and therefore
should be submitted as a new LTR and not as an
amendment to the previous one;
WHEREAS
this proposed development is located within the boundaries of Advisory
Neighborhood Commission 4B (the “Commission”) and will have major impacts on
the quality of life
of the neighborhoods
adjacent to it, especially, for example, the Florian Cooperative and nearby
single-family homes;
WHEREAS
according to the provisions of the District of Columbia Code: Division 1, Government
of District: Title 1 Government Organization, Chapter 3 Specified Governmental
Authority, Subchapter V. Advisory Neighborhood Commissions 1-309.10(a),
1-309.10(d)(3)(A), 1-309.10(d)(3)(B) and 1-309.10(d)(3)(C), it is therefore our
understanding that ANCs have “great weight” regarding planning and street
issues;
WHEREAS
the goals of the LTR regulations are to a) “minimize adverse environmental,
traffic and neighborhood impacts,” b) “avoid unnecessary public costs in terms
of new services or facilities required of city agencies,” and c) “carry out the
policies of the…Comprehensive Plan for the National Capital;” (See Title 10,
Chapter 23, Large Tract Review Procedures)
WHEREAS
the “Scope of Review” detailed in the LTR regulations requires that city agencies
consider a) “consistency with the laws in the District of Columbia, including
the Comprehensive Plan for the National Capital and regulations enacted
pursuant thereto,” b) “potential traffic, neighborhood and design impact” and
c) “quality of life and environmental impact” in assessing the LTR submission;
(See Title 10, Chapter 23, Large Tract Review Procedures)
WHEREAS
the Office of Planning (OP) extended the comment deadline to June 30 so that
ANC 4B could review DDOT’s revised comments, but ANC 4B has not officially
received these comments from DDOT nor from OP, and did not receive traffic
study data included in the appendix of the April 2011 DDOT comments.
WHEREAS,
ANC 4B should receive and review comments from the other agencies detailed in
the OP document, “Snapshot of the Large Tract Review Process,” before making a
decision, but did not. These agencies
are the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, the Department of Public
Works, Fire and Emergency Medical Services, the Metropolitan Police Department,
the Office of the Attorney General, the Department of the Environment, the
Water and Sewer Authority, and the Department of Housing and Community
Development.
WHEREAS
it is expected that approximately 61 acres of the Walter Reed Army Medical
Center will be redeveloped to serve city needs and, therefore, may generate
even more vehicular traffic;
WHEREAS
the DC Department of Transportation (DDOT) has found that the intersection at
Georgia and Missouri is a failed intersection, and the additional traffic
generated by the proposed Walmart would increase the
urgency to reconstruct the intersection in order to handle the significant
increase in traffic.
WHEREAS
the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s (WMATA) Metrobus service for that site runs primarily north and
south, and potential customers also live and travel from points east and west
of Square 2986;
WHEREAS
the “Complete Streets” concepts, which would accommodate biking, walking, public
transit and freight movement, are being promoted by the Council of Governments
for Washington DC, as well as for all other communities within its purview;
WHEREAS
the bulk, massing, landscape and detail of the proposed Walmart
building appears to be essentially a scaled-down version of Walmart’s
suburban and rural style stores and does not take into consideration the
history and character of the community;
WHEREAS
the old car barn, constructed in 1909 and originally used to service street
cars, is an important link marking the history of the development of the area;
WHEREAS
the Commission established a special committee to address the Walmart proposal, which included community residents,
businesses and planning professionals;
WHEREAS,
these reports are attached for review and consideration;
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that ANC 4B would not
support the Walmart LTR unless the recommendations
below are incorporated into the project.
However, due to our incomplete receipt of
traffic study information as well as the key DDOT report promised by OP by June
14 and from other crucial agencies specified in the OP document, “Snapshot of
the Large Tract Review Process,” we reserve the right to make additional
comments.
A. Community Involvement and Consultation Recommendations
For Community Benefits Agreement and Legislative and
Administrative Action
Walmart should sign a binding and enforceable
Community Benefits Agreement that will spell out its commitments with respect
to hiring and employment practices, workforce training, contracting,
transportation and traffic mitigation, environmentally sound building
practices, public safety, small business assistance, community input, and
financial support for on-going community programs. These recommendations are detailed throughout
this resolution.
Walmart and the Developer must agree to the
formation of a Community Advisory Committee composed of residents of the
neighborhoods immediately adjacent to the location of the development,
including residents of 4B04, the 4B04 Commissioner, the ANC 4B Chair or ANC
designees. 4B04 residents should make up
one third of the Committee. “Immediately
adjacent to” is defined as residents located within 1,000 feet of the
development. This Community Advisory
Committee shall have the following responsibilities if the store opens:
(a) Meet with Walmart
on a regular basis (at least once a month) before, during and after
construction of the project;
(b) Monitor construction activities and
advise Walmart on measures to mitigate negative impacts
of construction activities on neighborhood quality of life;
(c) Monitor impacts of traffic flow,
traffic congestion and advise Walmart, DDOT, MPD and
other relevant DC agencies on measures to mitigate adverse conditions;
(d) Monitor Walmart’s
compliance with any community benefits agreements entered into by Walmart with the District government and the community, and
advise appropriate agencies of any issues, problems or concerns;
(e) Monitor security management, site
management and maintenance and all other activities potentially impacting
neighborhood quality of life;
(f) Walmart shall
commit to provide to the Community Advisory Committee all documents and other
information necessary for the Committee to meet its responsibilities, to meet regularly
with the Committee, and to make Walmart management
personnel available for Committee consultations,meetings, and decisions.
B. Site Plan and Development Recommendations
1.
Walmart should provide a three-dimensional
model of the proposed store and neighboring buildings as depicted in the
published plans. This model should be
shown at community and government meetings and hearings and altered as plans
are revised. This would help residents and government officials visualize the
proposal and its impact on the community.
2. Foulger-Pratt
should create a phased development program for the site, constructing the
building in such a way as to allow for the addition of upper-story housing at a
later date, as both economic circumstances and demand warrant.
3. This will necessitate some redesign of the
building including the possibility of some increase in parking beyond that
required by the proposed retail use to service the addition of upper story
housing at some point in the future. (The truss-style roof of the streetcar
barn likely couldn’t be retained in a future redevelopment phase.)
4. Building the capacity for mixed use
development in the future may necessitate some DC Government financing to encourage
this preferred course of development on the site.
5.
The Commission recommends that the OP and the Deputy Mayor for Planning and
Economic Development discuss and finalize with the developers a commitment to
sign a 20-year or shorter lease term. This
is more commensurate with typical time frames for redeveloping similar
properties.
6.
Economic impact to the city of a single use vs. a mixed use project further
justifies a preference for a mixed use project at this site and further
supports a shorter lease term.
C.
Building Design Recommendations
1. Walmart should present
an architectural design that is compatible with and enhances the better
features of the historic architecture and character of the surrounding
community;
2. Walmart should present
a design which incorporates the existing structure of the car barn into the
architecture of a new building or buildings on that site in a highly visible
and identifiable way, such as building around it and featuring it in the
internal design of the building;
3. Walmart should
reorganize the design and operation of the store so that separate departments
of the store, such as the grocery department, prepared food counters (e.g.,
most Walmarts have a quick service food counter, with
tables and chairs), are placed with entrances on Georgia Avenue, thereby
punctuating the façade, providing more openings, and more reasons to walk along
the entire block of the Georgia Avenue frontage, and better connecting this
large scale building to the otherwise relatively small scale and punctuated
streetscape that currently defines Georgia Avenue.
4. The Missouri
Avenue elevation especially, but the Peabody Street elevation and street
parking as well, should be redesigned to better engage with the street in
keeping with urban design principles focused on creating great storefront,
walkable streets, and street experiences on the first floors of buildings in
urban commercial districts.
D. Transportation Demand Management
Recommendations
1.
Walmart should provide
a shuttle service between their store and the Georgia Avenue-Petworth Metro Station and the Ft. Totten Metro station, or
negotiate with WMATA, the Circulator, or a private bus company to do so.
2.
Walmart should offer
delivery services for all transactions totaling at least $50.
3.
Walmart should make
home delivery services a routine and standard part of their service offering in
urban/center city store locations, not just at the Georgia Avenue location, but
in all the stores in DC.
4.
Walmart should agree
to explore with DDOT setting up a shared
parking situation with the on-site customer parking spaces, perhaps through the
creation of a “transportation management district” to manage this and other
transportation demand management initiatives in both this and the Walter Reed
commercial nodes on Georgia Avenue.
5.
Walmart should provide
Metro Smartcards, transit and/or other transportation benefits to employees to
limit the number of trips employees make to the store by car.
6.
Foulger-Pratt and Walmart should sign an agreement with the Florian
Cooperative and other adjacent property owners.
7.
Walmart should agree
to not receive deliveries during morning (7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.) and evening
(3:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.) rush-hour traffic periods.
8.
The
LTR Transportation Study submitted by Walmart assumes
that all trucks making deliveries to the proposed store will travel south from
the Capital Beltway via New Hampshire Avenue, and then make a right turn onto Missouri
Avenue NW and another right turn into the site.
Walmart must explain (a) the reasons for its
assumption that there will never be any delivery trucks travelling on Georgia
Avenue and (b) assuming that some delivery vehicles may occasionally travel on
Georgia Avenue, Walmart must specify in writing what
route these trucks would take to avoid making a left turn into the site across
Missouri Avenue especially considering cases where Missouri Avenue traffic is
blocked on the Walmart street side or blocked on both
sides of the street due to snow, flood, police or traffic emergency, etc.
E. Traffic Circulation Recommendations
1. The Commission
supports the developer proposal to add six feet to the width of the street on
the south side of the 900 block of Peabody Street, along the entire length of
Lot 35.
2. Walmart should employ
security to monitor the parking lot and all other areas of the store. A weatherized booth should be incorporated as
part of the parking lot entrance to allow security personnel to monitor the lot
and the surrounding street. The
structure should include an automated system to alert prospective customers
attempting to park in the Walmart garage when the
parking lot is full.
3.
Install
a traffic diverter midway in the 900 block of Peabody Street, between the
“Curtis” section and the residential section of Square 2986 to ease customer
traffic into and out of the Walmart development
without imposing on the residential portion of the block and to eliminate
cut-through traffic on Peabody Street.
4.
Consider
adding angled parking by permit only to the eastern section of the 900 block of
Peabody Street, NW, the cost of which should be borne by the developer.
Eliminate public parking on the north side of the western section (i.e., west
of the diverter) of Peabody Street, NW, alongside the police station, to
provide parking spaces for the Fourth District police cars.
5.
Eliminate
public parking on the north side of the western section (i.e., west of the
diverter) of Peabody Street, NW, the cost of which should be borne by the
developer.
6.
Put
restrictions on through-traffic between Blair Road and Georgia Avenue, at least
for Peabody (if a diverter is not installed) and Quackenbos
Streets, and maybe Rittenhouse Street, with recurring enforcement efforts, to
limit the impact of the Walmart store in terms of
generating cut-through traffic on residents.
7. Walmart must develop a
traffic congestion mitigation plan that specifies the measures that will be
taken by Walmart to address congestion or backups in
their entrances and driveways that may occur from vehicle breakdowns,
accidents, or other causes.
F. Transportation Planning and Engineering
Recommendations
1. We believe that
despite DDOT’s recommendations, dated June 24, 2011, the intersection at
Georgia and Missouri needs to be reconstructed to meet the increased traffic
that this project will generate. Walmart, in consultation with DC government officials,
should pay for the cost to reconstruct the Georgia Avenue-Missouri Avenue
intersection to improve its geometry and capacity and to reduce
congestion. This will prove to be an
important investment to mitigate traffic congestion, revitalize Georgia Avenue
and Upper Northwest DC, and is an investment with a multi-decade impact.
2. The DC government
should present a clearer multi-modal access plan which will support a more
walkable, bike-able community, with special attention to comfortable pedestrian
walkways and safe bike lanes which connect to other bike lanes in the vicinity;
3. The DC government
should prioritize and commence the planning, design, and engineering for
streetcar service on Georgia Avenue, in order to reduce the negative traffic
impact that would otherwise occur. This
is an energy-efficient mode of transportation as there is currently limited
transit service in the corridor (bus only), north of New Hampshire Avenue to
Downtown Silver Spring and to the Silver Spring Metro Station.
4. The DC
government should make sure that current road construction projects along
Georgia Avenue incorporate streetcar tracks to support the development of the
streetcar service and to reduce the need for later and more costly
reconstruction.
5. The DC
government should allocate funds and commence planning for the creation of the Kennedy
Street to Walter Reed section of the Georgia Avenue Great Streets Master Plan.
G. Safety Recommendation
Walmart should be required to submit a safety
and security management plan including, and with special attention to the
store’s parking lot before a certificate of occupancy is issued for the
operation of the store. Special
considerations should be provided concerning special sales events and holiday
periods.
H. Neighborhood Economic Impact Recommendations
1. OP should
conduct a more detailed and complete analysis of the neighborhood economic
impact of a Walmart general merchandise/supermarket
combination store in Ward 4, as a legitimate interpretation of the provisions
of the LTR process concerning minimization of adverse neighborhood
impacts. If potentially negative impacts
cannot be expected to be reasonably mitigated, denial of the application in
whole or in part could potentially be justified.
2. As agreed to by Walmart
representatives in public meetings, Walmart should
agree in writing not to apply for or receive the tax benefits and incentives
available to supermarkets and grocery stores
in the District of Columbia.
3. A mitigation program should be created to
manage the entry of Walmart into the Georgia Avenue
corridor generally, and into the Missouri Avenue-Piney Branch Road commercial
district node specifically, which will limit potentially negative impacts on
retailers. This should be done, to the
extent possible, in a proactive manner through various commercial district
revitalization activities and should be funded by the developer and/or Walmart.
4.
Funds should be made available for technical assistance to merchants, façade
improvement projects, marketing, financial management, and other initiatives,
in advance of (and after) the opening of the Walmart
store, to better prepare retailers to face and address competition. (The Main Street commercial district
revitalization program, such as the program in Old Takoma, serving both DC and
Maryland, is one such model for this type of program.)
5.
A revitalization coordinator should be hired and paid for by Walmart/Foulger-Pratt for at
least a three year period to develop and manage this program in association
with merchants, residents, and other stakeholders. This person could be assigned to work as part
of the Deputy Mayor’s Office for Planning and Economic Development and/or OP or
related agencies.
6.
A master database of all commercial properties should be created, with data on lease terms, property size,
building condition, revenue potential/square footage and other relevant
information, for use in the execution of this program.
7.
A recruitment and development program to attract new businesses and new
development should be executed simultaneously with the development and
implementation of the technical assistance and support program for extant
businesses and properties.
8.
Part of the mitigation program should include the creation of promotional
materials for the Missouri Avenue to Piney Branch Road commercial node on
Georgia Avenue.
I. Community Benefits Recommendation
1.
The Commission recommends that “Community Benefits” be divided into the
following 4 sections:
a.
Mitigate
the impact of and design the physical structure and operations so that it is
safe, efficient, effective and “green” (i.e., environmentally sound),
especially regarding traffic and transportation, and public safety.
b.
Establish
and implement hiring and employment policies which ensure equitable treatment
and promotion based on merit, as well as make a special effort to train and
hire local contractors and employees, including those with conditions and
personal histories which generally make it difficult for them to find steady
work.
c.
Develop
technical assistance and training programs for local businesses surrounding
Square 2986 in cooperation with appropriate education and training institutions
in DC.
d.
Structure
a section of the Walmart Foundation to accept
applications for grants for the public benefit of DC residents. The applications must meet a set of
conditions to be determined, and applications would be accepted only after the
store is open for business.
e. The
Community Benefits Agreement, developed by the Community subcommittee, is
attached and is part of these recommendations.
J. Recommendations for Rectifying Gaps in
Planning and Zoning Regulations
1. DC should impose impact fees on new
development. The collection of such
monies is a fair and equitable way
to address the mitigation of project impacts and a viable source of income to
reimburse the District government for the cost of the new infrastructure and
services required by new development.
Area jurisdictions, Including Montgomery County, already do this
successfully.
2.
The LTR process does not adequately address the potentially negative economic
impact of projects generally. The LTR
process is also deficient because it is essentially advisory, without the
ability to directly mandate action or deny approval. These defects in the LTR process should be
addressed and the process made more robust.
3.
DC should create a new mandatory review process (“Large Retail Impact Review”)
to address the various economic and other impacts
of large scale retail projects in excess of 75,000 square feet.
4. The LTR regulations should be amended to
require that all residents, businesses, and property owners within 1,000 feet
of a property subject to an LTR receive written notification of the submission,
what the review includes, and the deadline for comment.
5.
Arguably, the Georgia Avenue site on Square 2986 does not currently have the
capacity to meet the demands of uses generating great numbers of automobile
trips, and therefore high traffic generating uses should not be located there
unless and until that condition is successfully addressed. Land use and
building use approval processes should include provisions for linking use
approvals to sites with the capacity to satisfy transportation demand to a
great extent through the use of already extant transportation
infrastructure. The “ABC” planning
process employed in the Netherlands is a model for how this could be done in
practice[1].
“