Metro Site Development Documents

This page contains document relevant to the EYA 2013 proposal. I have a page of largely dead links relevant to the 2007 proposal here.

Jeffrey Silverstone November 2013 Google Earth model of comparitive building size. Does not reflect the 5 foot growth of the building plans since then.


WMATA-EYA documents

Drawing from September 2014 EYA Community meeting. The building retains its increased height, but the loading dock returns to Eastern and a wheelchair ramp juts into the sidewalk. Newscast about Meeting

Meeting packet for 18 Jun 2014 Compact Hearing on proposed Changes to WMATA Facilities at Takoma Metro Station.  Video of that meeting.

In the May 14, 2014 Site Plan., the height of the building quietly grew 5 feet from Nov 1 2013.

Presentations from the July 16, 2013 community meeting

Posted July 8, 2013 by the WMATA Board's PPDRE Committee

Provided July 5, 2013 by Stan Wall, Director, Office of Real Estate and Station Planning, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority


Site Plan (1Mb)
A colorful Sept 2005 graphic (compliments of Seth Grimes) with a configuration of the 95 townhouses and a more compact "Village Green" than the 2005 proposal.

EYA site drawing of 24 October 2005 (1 Mb). Includes a "Village Green"


Zoning Regulations

 


Related Links:

Takoma Central District Plan
"The Takoma Central District Plan, completed in 2002, is the product of a community-driven planning process for the Takoma neighborhood commercial district of Washington, DC. The plan defines near-term and mid-term strategies for revitalization and articulates broad development goals, urban design guidelines and priority actions necessary to encourage and facilitate reinvestment in the district. The plan presents a unique opportunity for Takoma residents, businesses and institutions to join with their City government and development professionals to renew their community. The plan also provides a practical blueprint for a community-oriented, mixed use district - a place for commerce, for living, for fun." The Plan references the Transportation Study, below.
Takoma Transportation Study
"The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) and the City of Takoma Park conducted a study that evaluated transportation conditions in the Takoma area of Northwest Washington DC and adjacent Takoma Park, Maryland. This study was a continuation and an expansion of the transportation work conducted in conjunction with the development of the Takoma Central District Plan."  The attachments in this document are broken links see this scanned version for the attachments
Plan of the Metropolitan Branch (Bicycle) Trail.
The planned trail runs along Eastern.
National Capital Transportation Amendments Act of 2005 (Introduced in House) HR 3496
Bill amended by Van Hollen to require that: "(A) The Transit Authority has met with the Mayor and members of the Council of the City of Takoma Park, Maryland, and community representatives designated by the Mayor to discuss concerns related to the disposition of such property. (B) The Transit Authority has presented a development plan for the property which--(i) facilitates the movement of buses and other vehicular traffic, pedestrians, and bicycles to and from the Takoma Metrorail station, and provides sufficient bus bays so that the development of the property will not cause a direct increase in traffic, congestion, or pollution in neighborhoods surrounding the station; and (ii) preserves and enhances public green space on the property.
City of Takoma Park 3 hour video of the 11 October 2006 compact hearing , posted in Windows Media format.
DC-MD Neighbors for Takoma Transit
ANC4B Issues page
Contains a "Proposed Development at Takoma Metro Station" section including a Size comparison with next door apartments.
EYA Takoma Development marketing blog
Contains their handout for the ANC4B meeting and a promotional flyer.

My current view:

The current proposal gives us much of what we were asking for in 2007, but it is much more massive than envisioned. These are the items that I would require to get this passed:

  1. I look forward to seeing more details on promises to see the "village green" preserved. This should be built by EYA and turned over to DC after construction of this project.
  2. I would like to see the elevator tunnel cut through to the west, perhaps with a jog to avoid the elevator room.
  3. The Eastern Ave setback and trees from the 2007 plan should be preserved to provide for the Metropolitan Branch Trail and reduce the impact of the massive building.

My Opinion and Written Statement:

Seekers Church Written Statement for WMATA Takoma Station Compact Hearing of 18 Jun 2014 (Docket R14-01)

I represent Seekers Church, a DC church located across Carroll St. from the Takoma Station. We walk, bike, drive and take the subway to church. Last year, we hosted over 600 events throughout the week. We consider the station site to be a gateway between DC and MD, and the center of an integrated Takoma community.

Like us, WMATA recognizes the importance of biking. The notice for this meeting cites “the improvement of pedestrian and bicycle access to the Station”. The Takoma Station Access Analysis Technical Memorandum (the TM) of November 2013, notes that in that year, Takoma had the second-highest level of bike parking in the Metro system. This was before the recently installed and heavily used Ride-On station as well as the planned bike station for 105 bikes to be installed by WMATA later this year.

While all this bike parking is good, the EYA planned development does nothing to improve bicycle access to the station and these bike parking spaces. The Circulation Paths Analysis (Exhibit 4 of the handout for this meeting) omits bicycles. This is because the proposed building, by providing a narrow sidewalk along Eastern and a narrow path through the garage, blocks bikes from accessing the station from the North. We believe that the building must provide a zoning-compliant setback from Eastern in order to allow bicycle access. Furthermore, we believe that a design that requires trucks to back into the sidewalk and block it is a danger to bikers and pedestrians.

Furthermore, according to the TM, “The Metropolitan Branch Trail (MBT) is an 8-mile trail that runs from Union Station in the District of Columbia to Silver Spring in Maryland. Following the B&O Railroad and along the Red Line, the trail route connects to Takoma Station along the east using an on-street alignment along Cedar Street and Eastern Avenue. However, the MBT is being designed to have a portion of its alignment on the west side of the rail tracks.”

The proposed building blocks the Eastern alignment. According to the 2007 “Final Public Hearing Staff Report”, the 2007 EYA plan provided: an 11 foot shared use path, a 5 foot buffer, and 24 foot travel lanes to support the alignment. This 2014 EYA plan does none of this.

Furthermore, while the Western alignment runs a few feet away from the bicycle entrance to the station, this plan does nothing to allow western access to that entrance, or access between the proposed bike-friendly residences and the MBT western alignment. Even if a “jog” around the elevator room is required to save the cost of moving the machine room, this plan passes on an opportunity to finance opening up the bicycle entrance to the trail, as called for in DC’s Central District Plan. Furthermore, a through tunnel would provide handicap access to new residential development on the western side of the tracks, such as the 150 units planned for Spring Place. The Takoma station should promote bike traffic, not block it.

 

P.S.: Speaking for myself and not for the church, I was disappointed by the number of speakers at the meeting who neither live nor work in our neighborhood and work for groups sponsored by EYA or were brought in by them to speak on behalf of development. A quick Google search can identify them because many also testified for the EYA development of the McMillan Sand Filtration Site on North Capitol St. I hope they will identify such conflict of interests in their written testimony, free of the time constraints on verbal testimony.

Thank You
Jeffrey P. Silverstone

Seekers Church
276 Carroll St NW,
Washington, DC 20012