• By Stephen Staudigl
• December 08, 2017

NCPC Provides Comments on Potential Sites for the National Desert Storm War Memorial

Washington, DC–The National Desert Storm and Desert Shield War Memorial will honor those who served on active duty as members of the Armed Forces in support of Operation Desert Storm and Operation Desert Shield, an international effort led by the United States to liberate Kuwait. The National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) provided comments to the National Park Service, which submitted the project in collaboration with the National Desert Storm War Memorial Association, for review. The project will come back for preliminary and final approval.

The sponsor seeks a location that it is less than one-quarter acre in size and submitted three potential sites, including one new location, for Commission review. NCPC found that they all merited further study and requested that the applicant develop one or more alternative design concepts for each of the three sites. The sites are the terminus of Constitution Avenue near 23rd Street, NW (north of the Lincoln Memorial); Walt Whitman Park (located near the intersection of E and 19th Streets, NW); and the Belvedere along Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway (adjacent to the Potomac River, south of I-66). The memorial sponsor removed a site near the Memorial Circle by Arlington National Cemetery from further consideration.

The Commission found that the Constitution Avenue site has a strong thematic connection to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and has space for additional thematically related memorials or commemorative elements. The Walt Whitman Park site could also accommodate additional thematically related memorials. While not near other 20th Century war memorials, it is near locations such as the U.S Department of State and the U.S. Diplomacy Center, which are relevant to themes of international coordination and diplomacy. The Belvedere site would allow for a thematic connection to Arlington National Cemetery across the Potomac River.

The Commission also provided comments on a concept design for architectural lighting at the Francis Scott Key Memorial Bridge submitted by the District Department of Transportation. Plans call for lighting that would enhance the nighttime view of, and accentuate the unique architectural features of, the bridge that connects Georgetown and Rosslyn over the Potomac River.

Four concepts are under consideration that would utilize white lights: lighting the bridge’s large and small arches; lighting the large arches and piers; lighting the small arches and piers; and lighting the large and small arches, as well as the piers. Also included is a proposal to include color lighting in the fourth concept. Key Bridge, the oldest surviving road bridge that crosses the Potomac River, opened in 1923.

NCPC commented favorably on the project, noting that the lighting could enhance nighttime views of the bridge and that lighting both the large and small arches could successfully illuminate the bridge’s unique architectural features. The Commission discussed the impacts of color lighting, noting the need for a clear use program if this option is considered in the future.

The Commission also provided comments on concept plans submitted by the Department of the Army for a new eight-foot high fence at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall that would run roughly parallel to an existing historic wall, constructed in the mid-to-late 1800’s, that separates the base from Arlington National Cemetery. The anti-climb fence would run for two miles between Wright and Henderson Gates, and be located approximately 10 feet from the historic wall. The Commission found the proposed alignment unnecessarily rigid as it zigzagged around existing trees, and requested a revised fence alignment that navigates them more gracefully. Commissioners also requested additional analysis regarding the fence location design and further viewshed analysis.

The Commission then provided comments on plans by the District of Columbia Office of the Mayor for Planning and Economic Development to turn the former Franklin School, located at 925 13th Street, NW, into Planet Word, an experiential museum focused on linguistics, and a ground floor restaurant. As part of the conversion, the building’s exterior would be fully rehabilitated and a primary accessible entrance created at a new plaza off K Street, NW. NCPC noted its support for the project and requested additional design information and renderings for this entrance, and for an enclosure gate, new patio, and proposed entrance vestibule.

The Franklin School, designed by Adolf Cluss and opened in 1869, is on the National Register of Historic Places (1973). The Commission also requested that the applicant keep one of the building’s two main historic entrances facing Franklin Square. The building has been vacant since 2008.

Before adjourning, representatives from the General Services Administration (GSA) provided an update on the master plan for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) 670-acre campus at White Oak, Maryland. The plan will accommodate future growth and consolidate FDA operations. GSA is considering three alternatives and one no build alternative that could accommodated 7,250 new employees and an additional 1.6 million gross square feet of new development over the next 15 years. The three build alternatives do not differ significantly in program or proposed developable area, only planning and building massing. There are currently 10,987 employees at the facility. NCPC anticipates reviewing the project in spring 2018.

The staff recommendations are online. Concept design is the first stage of Commission review. After the Commission provides comments on a concept design, the project design advances, and returns for preliminary and final review.

Prior to reviewing the open session items, the Commission approved eight Consent Calendar items without presentation.

• Preliminary site and building plans for a new hangar facility at Joint Base Andrews, CampSprings, Maryland.
• Final comments on a master plan for the James J. Rowley Training Center, 9200 Powder Mill Road,Laurel, Maryland.
• Final site and building plans for the West Addition building project at the United States Department ofHomeland Security on the St. Elizabeths West Campus, 2703 Martin Luther King Jr Avenue, SE.
• Preliminary and final site and building plans for modifications and an addition to Building 58 at JointBase Myer–Henderson Hall, Southwest Washington, DC.
• Preliminary site and building plans for the relocation of a building at Joint Base Andrews, CampSprings, Maryland.
• Final site development plans for a new guard booth and fence augmentation at the United StatesDepartment of Homeland Security’s Nebraska Avenue Complex, 3801 Nebraska Avenue, NW.
• NCPC’s concurrence on development within a restricted area at Square 1194, Lot 15, 2715Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.
• Comments on a concept design to extend the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail Pedestrian Bridge to the NationalArboretum in Northeast, Washington, DC.