City plans call for a low- to medium-density mixed-use development including housing, retail, office space, recreational facilities and open space. A community service facility — possibly housing a library, police station or recreation center – also is required. Plans specifically prohibit fast-food and drive-through restaurants.

The formal request for proposals — a document inviting developers to submit plans — is currently being worked out by the D.C. City Council Committee on Economic Development, chaired by Councilwoman Charlene Drew Jarvis, D-Ward 4.

The D.C government paid $9.3 million for the site in 1987, but the land has sat virtually untouched since then. More than 20 concrete towers used as bins and pump houses to filter drinking water for the District still stand on the site. Underground are pipes and 12-foot concrete vaults, some of which have deteriorated severely, according to council documents.

The unzoned site in Northwest Washington is bounded by North Capitol Street, Channing Street, First Street and Michigan Avenue. The property lies in Ward 5 and borders both Wards 1 and 4.

Previous plans for developing the site ground to a halt in 1991, when a neighborhood group called The McMillan Park Committee sued the city and had the site designated a historic landmark. That effectively discouraged interest in the site because of the cost involved in preserving the historic structures, some of which are underground, said Richard Monteilh, director of the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development. But Washington’s economic comeback has spurred new interest in the area, he said.

Neighborhood residents say they are still concerned about the impact of any new development on traffic flow and public safety.

"Traffic on North Capitol Street is already a problem," said neighborhood activist James Berry, chairman of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 5C, which has jurisdiction over the area. "The vibrations from traffic are so bad it is literally shaking the houses down. We don’t want some big congested plot that just exacerbates existing problems."

ANC 5C Commissioner Rick Sowell said local residents must have input into how much open space will be included in the development and about the type of community facilities there.

Once the largest slow filter water treatment plant in the country, the McMillan site filtered drinking water for D.C. residents from 1905 to 1981. The plant was abandoned in 1986, when the U.S. General Services Administration declared it surplus property. The D.C. government purchased the property the following year for $9.3 million. It took two more years before the city called for bids on the site. Following the 1991 lawsuit, the facility was designated a D.C. historic landmark and three months later the city canceled its previous request for proposals. Deposits submitted by two interested parties — the National African Methodist Episcopal Church and Horning Brothers Developers — were returned.

Until early this year, the landmark designation, combined with the city’s loss of population and general financial problems, quashed any interest in developing the site, Monteilh said. But several local and out-of-town groups have recently expressed interest in leasing and developing the site, he said. He declined to name the interested parties.

The D.C. government recently amended the city’s comprehensive plan to change the designation of the site from open space to moderate-density mixed uses.

A final version of the request for proposals must be approved by the Economic Development Committee and then by the full council. Once the request for proposals is issued, developers will have 45 to 120 days to submit plans, according to the committee.

Once a developer is selected for the site, the plans must be approved by the D.C. Historic Preservation Board, the D.C. Zoning Commission and the financial control board.

Copyright 1998, The Common Denominator