Mayor Gray Dedicates $490,000 for Parks in NoMa

Photo by PoPville flickr user Barflydc

From the NoMa BID:

Mayor Vincent Gray has dedicated $490,000 for the design and development of NoMa parks, to be handled through the DC Office of Planning. The NoMa Business Improvement District announced the exciting news at Wednesday’s community meeting, where neighborhood stakeholders and residents were gathered to provide input on the NoMa Parks Plan.

The NoMa BID has been working since last winter on a strategic parks plan with design firm AECOM, and the planning effort has involved continuous coordination with District public agencies, including Office of Planning and the Department of Transportation.

“The NoMa BID has used a lot of its own funds and spent a considerable amount on creating strategies and plans for NoMa parks,” said NoMa BID Chairman Bruce Baschuk. Wednesday’s meeting was an important milestone in the parks planning process, and enabled neighborhood residents to give their input into the proposed uses, design and programming of potential park spaces and green spaces in NoMa. The greater NoMa neighborhood is in dire need of such public spaces; with 45,000 office workers and 3,500 residential units completed or under construction, that need grows more imperative eachyear.

The BID will use these funds for design, and eventually hopes to purchase land and then build a network of parks in NoMa. Reprogramming these funds through the Office of Planning will enable the parks planning team to further assess neighborhood sites that have been identified for future parks, according to the Mayor’s letter.