• By Stephen Staudugl
• September 04, 2020

NCPC Approves National Institutes of Health Master Plan Amendment

At its Thursday, September 3 online meeting, the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) approved an amendment to the final master plan for the 310-acre National Institutes of Health (NIH) campus located in Bethesda, Maryland. The amendment allows two new projects to be added to the plan previously approved by NCPC in 2016: a connected parking garage/utility vault (also reviewed today) and an addition to the Clinical Center Complex (which NCPC will review in the future).

First opened in 1938, the NIH campus currently has approximately 75 buildings and 21,40 personnel. The current master plan includes 28 projects that will carry it through 2033 when the campus population is anticipated to be 25,561 employees. Both new projects will benefit the Clinical Center Complex through expansion, new parking, and increased power generation.

The updated master plan is now aligned with the one (parking space): three (employee) ratio recommended in the Comprehensive Plan for the National Capital’s Transportation Element, which NIH seeks to meet over the next 13 years. NIH will reach the parking ratio goal by removing a planned garage, expanding its Transportation Demand Management program, better anticipating future employee growth, and adjusting the calculations it uses to determine the number of employees on the campus by considering all full-time campus employees including onsite contractors and others not previously calculated. This change is in response to recent updates to how the Transportation Element counts employees working on a campus or facility.

Commissioners recommended that NIH undertake a full update to the master plan based upon recent, previously unplanned projects submitted to NCPC for review. They also recommended that NIH restore the existing woodland character of the area around the Clinical Center Complex and the two new projects as much as possible through a thoughtful and robust landscape design.

Commissioners appreciated the work that NIH staff did to update the master plan and listen to and address prior Commission concerns about parking on the campus.

“Thank you to NIH staff for their work in inventorying, studying, and projecting NIH’s future needs for building and parking in the master plan,” stated NCPC Vice Chairman Thomas Gallas.

The Commission then approved preliminary site and building plans for a proposed parking garage/utility vault that would support the nearby Clinical Center Complex by providing parking for center patients, visitors, and employees, and electricity to power increased demand following expansion. The six-level garage would have space for 780 vehicles and replace existing parking located elsewhere on the campus.

The two story, 31,000 square feet utility vault would connect to the garage’s south side. While 137 trees would be removed for the project, 126 new ones would be planted, in addition to new shrubs and grasses. A green “living” screen would be located on the parking deck’s side facing a historic Convent building, which Commissioners thought could improve the visual impact of the large parking structure. Other suggestions to improve its appearance were adding public art and/or detailing to its exterior. A new underground fuel tank, with a green roof and pedestrian plaza would be located west of the utility vault.

In its preliminary approval (the project will come back for final review) NCPC noted that the project will significantly impact the area’s landscape and recommended that the replacement trees be a mix of native evergreen and deciduous shade trees similar to what exists today. Commissioners requested additional information about the proposed green screens in the final submission.

Before adjourning, Commissioners provided feedback to the General Services Administration on security plan modifications for a public gathering area located on a parking lot (Lot 9) outside the Jamie L. Whitten Federal Building, the U.S. Department of Agriculture headquarters situated on the National Mall. The site is currently a parking lot with 47 parking spaces that hosts a seasonal farmer’s market on Fridays. It is located on the Whitten Building’s east side at the corner of Independence Avenue and 12th Street, SW.

Plans call for the inclusion of the lot into a building-wide security plan that was previously approved in 2014 by NCPC as part of the National People’s Garden project. Current plans call for the use of bollards around the site (hidden from adjacent sidewalks by plants), the removal of 15 parking spaces, and extending the width of vegetation beds on the 12th Street, SW side from 3’-12’ feet.

Commissioners support providing amenities for federal employees and the public on federal land that also improves its setting. They found that the plan would improve the existing parking lot into something more attractive. They requested that the applicant examine the need for security elements on the site’s north side that is adjacent to National Park Service gardens on the National Mall, provide a detailed landscape plan at the next review phase, and examine removing all parking in the lot to provide a more attractive setting and additional event flexibility.

This month’s agenda included fifteen consent calendar items (no presentations were given):
1. Preliminary and final building plans for Lafayette Building AT&T Antenna Installations, 811 Vermont Avenue, NW. (8196)
2. Preliminary and final building plans for James V. Forrestal Building AT&T and T-Mobile Antenna Installations, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW. (8197)
3. Preliminary and final building plans for Herbert C. Hoover Building AT&T Antenna Installations, 1401 Constitution Avenue, NW. (8198)
4. Preliminary and final building plans for Stewart Lee Udall Building AT&T Antenna Installations, 1849 C Street, NW. (8199)
5. Preliminary and final building plans for Liberty Loan Federal Building AT&T Antenna Installations, 401 14th Street, SW. (8201)
6. Preliminary and final building plans for Wilbur Wright Federal Building AT&T Antenna Installations, 600 Independence Avenue, SW. (8202)
7. Preliminary and final building plans for Frances Perkins Federal Building AT&T and T-Mobile Antenna Installations, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW. (8203)
8. Preliminary and final building plans for Veteran Affairs Building T-Mobile Antenna Installations, 810 Vermont Avenue, NW. (8204)
9. Preliminary and final building plans for GSA Headquarters Building T-Mobile Antenna Installations, 1800 F Street, NW. (8205)
10. Preliminary and final building plans for Theodore Roosevelt Federal Building T-Mobile Antenna Installations, 1900 E Street, NW. (8206)
11. Preliminary and final building plans for Hubert H. Humphrey Building AT&T and T-Mobile Antenna Installations, 200 Independence Avenue, SW. (8200)
12. Final site and building plans for the George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center Building B, 4000 Arlington Boulevard, Arlington, Virginia. (8192)
13. Preliminary site and building plans for the National Institutes of Health Vaccine Research Center Laboratory Expansion, Building 40A North Tower, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Maryland. (8193)
14. Preliminary and final site and building plans for the National Institutes of Health Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias Temporary Facility, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Maryland. (8168)
15. Final site and building plans for the Joint Base Andrews Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron Training Facility, Camp Springs, Maryland. (8143)

The Executive Director approved eleven items under authority delegated by the Commission.
1. Preliminary and final building plans for accessibility improvements at the National Park Service’s National Capital Area Office, 1100 Ohio Drive, SW. (8189)
2. Final site and building plans for phase 1 of building envelope repairs at the Martin V.B. Bostetter, Jr. United States Courthouse, 200 South Washington Street, Alexandria, Virginia. (8190)
3. Final site and building plans for relocation of an aircraft hazardous cargo pad, taxiway, and explosive ordnance disposal range at Joint Base Andrews, Camp Springs, Maryland. (8112)
4. Approval of comments to the Council of the District of Columbia regarding a proposed street dedication application and approval of a Highway Plan elimination amendment in Square 5097 - S.O. 20-49332, Minnesota Avenue at Sheriff Road, NE. (8178)
5. Preliminary and final site development plans for renovation and park improvements to the Southwest Duck Pond, 500 I Street, SW. (8191)
6. Preliminary and final site development plans for the Carolina Park Playground, Macomb Street & Carolina Place, NW. (8208)
7. Preliminary site and building plans for revitalization of the Stead Park and Community Center, 1625 P Street, NW. (8209)
8. A report to the Zoning Commission of the District of Columbia for a text amendment to Subtitles B-G, I, J, & U, Alley Lot Regulations. (ZC 19-13)
9. A report to the Zoning Commission of the District of Columbia for a map amendment at Square 6070, 3703-3715 Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue, SE. (ZC 19-17)
10. A report to the Zoning Commission of the District of Columbia for text & map amendments to Subtitle K, Ch. 9, Square 2950, Lots 820-828, 1416 Aspen Street, NW, (ZC 19-24(19-24A)
11. A report to the Zoning Commission of the District of Columbia for a map amendment at Square 417, 1840 7th Street, NW (Square 417, Lots 53 and 54). (ZC 19-28)