Res 06-21

ANC 3F RESOLUTION REQUESTING MORE TIME FOR THE COMMUNITY TO REVIEW AND COMMENT ON THE DRAFT DC COMPREHENSIVE PLAN

Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3F
North Cleveland Park, Forest Hills, & Tenleytown
4401-A Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Box 244
Washington, D.C.  20008-2322

WHEREAS, in June 2004, the Council of the District of Columbia endorsed a major revision of the District Elements of the Comprehensive Plan, originally enacted in 1984 and subsequently amended in 1985, 1989, 1994, and 1998; and

WHEREAS, the new Comprehensive Plan will affect the entire city, will guide the District’s land use decisions for the next twenty years, and will form the basis upon which the District’s Zoning Code will be rewritten; and

WHEREAS, although a number of Elements of the draft Comprehensive Plan have been released during the last three weeks, others, including the critical Future Land Use Map, are still not available; and

WHEREAS, the draft Comprehensive Plan is a complex document containing hundreds of pages of actions and policies that all interact, and whose impact cannot be assessed without careful review and correlation with the missing Future Land Use Map; and

WHEREAS, despite the incompleteness of the draft Comprehensive Plan, the DC Office of Planning is now rushing to submit it to the DC Council by the end of this month so that it can be approved before Mayor Williams leaves office at the end of the year; and

WHEREAS, although the Office of Planning introduced the draft Plan and the Rock Creek West Element, which relates to Ward 3, at a meeting at the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) on May 30, 2006, most members of the community have not been apprised of it or had a chance to review it; adding to the difficulty of reviewing it is the fact that its length and fragmentation into several different files makes it impossible for many in the community to download electronically; residents in our community have limited access to a hard copy because the Tenley-Friendship Library is closed; and

WHEREAS, in not mailing the Rock Creek West Area Element to ANC 3F and to other Ward 3 ANCs until June 1, 2006, but in setting June 23^rd as the deadline for comments, the Office of Planning has failed to give the ANCs at least 30 business days to review the draft, hold public meetings, and receive comments from the community, as required by DC Code 1-309.10 (b); and

WHEREAS, given the draft Plan’s complexity and length, it requires and deserves more time than even a month for residents, ANCs, and community organizations to review adequately once the Future Land Use Map is received; and

WHEREAS, errors and inconsistencies in the draft discovered at the meeting at UDC indicate that intensive review, revision, and resubmission of a new draft to the community are needed before the Plan is submitted to the DC Council; and

WHEREAS, an election for Mayor and Members of the DC Council will take place in November 2006, and a new Mayor and Council, responsible for implementation of this Comprehensive Plan will be sworn in January of 2007;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that ANC 3F, joining ANC 3C, ANC 3D, and ANC 3E:

Expresses its strong objection with regard to the timing allotted for review of the Comprehensive Plan of 2006, the Area Elements, and the companion maps, not all of which have been issued; and

Urges the Mayor, Members of Council and the Office of Planning to implement a new time frame to allow for (1) sufficient study and review of this draft Comprehensive Plan, Area Elements, and companion maps; (2) time for the Office of Planning to revise the draft to correct any inaccuracies and to address community input; (3) resubmission of the revised draft to the ANCs and community for review and comment; and (4) time to incorporate any new comments into a final revision before submitting it to the Council; and

Requests that the Mayor and Members of Council delay a vote on the Comprehensive Plan, Area Elements, and companion maps until after the new Mayor and Members of the DC Council have been sworn in January 2007; that adequate time is provided for them to fully review the draft; and, that the document put forward for a vote reflects the changes that have been requested.