Another example of an RFP (Request for Proposals) being inadequate, not a plan

At GGW, Eric Fidler has a post on the Walter Reed Hospital site, "What should DC do with Walter Reed?" which is being deaccessioned for the most part by the Federal Government (areas will be reserved on the site for some federal use and for embassies). Even though DC has retained a planning firm, Perkins + Will, to "plan" the city's portion of the site, there hasn't been a master planning process for the site in advance of releasing notice of availability. So according to the post, here is the list of what's been submitted:

Social Services:

* Help USA: 75 units of permanent supportive housing for chronically homeless veterans
* So Others Might Eat: 277 units of rental housing for the chronically homeless, the elderly, the mentally ill, veterans, and others requiring rehabilitation
* Transitional Housing Corporation: 120 units of mixed-income affordable and workforce housing, 110-120 units of affordable housing for the elderly, 3500-4000 sq. ft. of office space for the program
* Zenith Community Arts Foundation: housing for 20 artists over age 50, an art gallery, art classrooms, parks
* Concerned Citizens: housing for seniors
* Manna, Inc.: 30 units of affordable and workforce housing
* DC Dept. of Housing and Community Development & DC Dept. of Mental Health: Artist housing, homeless housing, student housing, Section 8 housing, market-rate rental housing, first-time homes, and senior housing
* Veterans and Military Family Life Progress: two-year transitional housing for veterans
* DC Dept. of Human Services: family shelter and permanent supportive housing
* Urban Matters/ Emory Beacon of Light: 146 units of permanent supportive housing for veterans, the chronically homeless and families and 209 units of workforce housing
* Veterans and Military Family Life Progress: (unknown)
* Ayeni International Inc.: job training and emergency, transitional, and permanent housing for homeless and low-income families.

Public Services:

* DC Fire and EMS: Relocating Engine 22 and building a community service unit.
* DDOT: Materials testing and research laboratory
* WMATA: garage for 100 - 250 buses

Education and Health:

* Building Hope: Charter school incubator facilities.
* Center City Public Charter Schools: New public charter school teaching pre-K through 8th grade
* Friendship Public Charter Schools: New public charter school teaching pre-K through 12th grade; 1,125 students, IB program.
* Latin America Montessori Bilingual: New public charter school teaching pre-K through 6th grade; 200 students.
* Washington Yu Ying Public Charter School: Relocation of existing school, expansion to teach pre-K through 12th grade; IB program.
* T & T Healthcare -(unknown)
* Howard University (and Howard University Hospital) - relocation of Howard University's existing hospital and medical schools.

I'm not sure how I feel about the Howard University proposal and why their current campus isn't enough, but it's an interesting idea as it gives them the opportunity to reshape and reposition their health and hospital program.

One great idea suggested in the comments, would be for the University of District of Columbia to move to the site, and develop a real campus rather than the brutal office complex it has on Connecticut Avenue. This would allow the University to reposition itself as well, as it works to develop a parallel and integrated higher education system with a community college, 4 year college, and graduate school components. Although a good point was made in the comment thread that the current location has Metrorail service, while the Walter Reed site does not (although streetcar service should be made available there).

That is the kind of idea that should be addressed via a master plan process, and one that likely will not ever come up or be considered when you have a grab bag process like the one that has been set up.

Last year, Roger Lewis wrote a column, "Southeast D.C. Project Asked Too Much of the Private Sector" in the Post about this problem, with regard to the Poplar Point project in Southeast DC. He writes:

Asking the private sector to plan and carry out the redevelopment of large, publicly owned tracts of land might seem like a good idea, but it can be the wrong idea. Sometimes cities themselves must do the work and shoulder the responsibility for planning new neighborhoods. ....

Several years ago, the National Park Service agreed to convey Poplar Point's federally owned riverfront parkland to the D.C. government. The District sponsored a competition to select a master plan and master developer that would finance front-end site development. The theory was that return on that investment would be generated through greatly increased value and the sale of developed parcels. ...

The company's withdrawal illuminates the fallacies of the District's Poplar Point strategy. Given the economic climate, the developer was asked to predict, promise and risk too much. It was unrealistic to demand a visionary program and plan whose feasibility was questionable from the outset and then expect the developer to provide all the financing. ...

But the city should not conduct another competition. It should prepare and adopt its own framework plan of streets, blocks, civic spaces, parks and key public facilities. This is the kind of plan for the city that Pierre L'Enfant created at the end of the 18th century, and it's a planning tradition that should continue.

Because it establishes the pattern and character of the public realm for generations, an urban framework plan must embody a long-term vision. It must incorporate design criteria and guidelines governing the form of development -- building mass and height, density and streetscape design -- and flexibly accommodate many land uses.

With such a plan, private and public investments can produce projects block by block, street by street, parcel by parcel. Inevitably, market and financial conditions, not preconceived schedules, determine the pace and type of development.

Maybe that is what will happen with the Walter Reed site, as DC has a planning firm to sift through what's been submitted.

But I don't think so.

These projects aren't changed once they are built. What you get is what you have forever.

With DC Government land sales, projects and redevelopment projects of a certain size, planning and zoning regulations should automatically trigger the requirement of a master plan process in advance of any release of "request for proposals" (maybe a "request for expression of interest" could be proffered, to help stoke ideas for the planning process).

It's not done that way now, and we are poorer for it.