Neighborhood Notes - Foxhall: 21 February 2001

BZA majority decision on GWU main campus sent a clear signal to the Zoning Commission who will be considering all future campus plans. BZA simply required GWU to freeze enrollment until their ability to house undergraduate students reached 70%, while also expanding the area covered by their campus plan.

A significant problem with the current planning regulations, for both applicants and surrounding communities, is that outside a traditional contiguous campus, building occupancy or construction by a University is now simply governed by land area zoning wherever that particular University might chooses to expand. There is no consideration of how usage, be it academic, administrative or recreational, fits in with approved plans for the main campus.

Fortunately regulatory language will be changing under an initiative by the Office of Planning, and so a key issue to test the adequacy of any new language will be just how it handles non-contiguous expansion. Rather than leaving this to just zoning specialists and lawyers, a public hearing will be scheduled as part of the overall process. Residents of the sixteen communities that abut academic institutions could then testify how any proposed regulatory language change would impact off-campus development, from their first-hand experience from the campus plans already approved under the present inadequate language.

For Foxhall, Palisades and Wesley Heights communities, an item to consider would be how to handle planning should GWU choose to purchase additional land, say across from its Mount Vernon campus, to meet residential requirements just imposed by BZA. The very thought of this would raise again the Foxhall Rd traffic congestion specter.

Commander Newsham will be FCCA’s guest speaker tonight at Hardy Rec. Center, 45th and Q St at 7:30 p.m., with traffic operations at Foxhall & Reservoir a key agenda item.

© Bob Andrew, Foxhall