News

MVT Open Space Study Continues Positive Momentum

Friday February 9, 2018

In last month’s Triangle Times, we announced the launch of a planning effort to define and meet the neighborhood’s green and open space requirements, and create a strategy to preserve and add green, open and public-use spaces to our community. Here’s a quick progress update on our accomplishments since that message, what’s going to happen next, and how you can stay involved in this process

Stakeholder engagement was conducted over a two-week period in January, and took into consideration the perspective of a wide-range of stakeholders, including:

  • condominium boards and unit owners;
  • multifamily residential property owners and building managers;
  • faith-based community leaders; 
  • surrounding advisory neighborhood commissioners (ANCs); 
  • higher education administrators; 
  • commercial property owners and tenants; 
  • owners of properties adjacent to current or potential open space; and
  • respected long-time community influencers.

A Public Meeting and Planning Workshop (see here for workshop materials and event photos) was organized on Wednesday, January 31 at Mount Carmel Baptist Church and included the attendance of dozens of interested community members and partners including:

  • area residents and employees;
  • faith-based worshippers; 
  • higher education representatives; 
  • staff from neighboring Business Improvement Districts; and
  • federal and local officials from National Park Service, DC Office of Planning & the Metropolitan Police Department.

A progress update to ANC 6E (see here for meeting presentation) was provided on Tuesday, February 6 to outline key study information such as purpose and need, approach and methodology, timeline, and open space sites under consideration. The progress update also discussed next steps, including:

  • collating and analyzing feedback from the stakeholder meetings, community engagement and planning workshop;
  • making available the results of the analysis to the community; and
  • developing the Open Space Strategy & Recommendations plan based on community feedback.

Visit the project webpage for more information about the MVT Open Space study or sign-up for e-mail updates for project news direct to your inbox.