At a “ground breaking” ceremony yesterday the Mayor said: “Today’s groundbreaking is the culmination of nearly 30 years of work to ensure the McMillan redevelopment will best serve the residents of Ward 5”

Alas it may require a bit more than 30 years… WAMU reports:

“In its ruling, the a three-judge panel found that the Zoning Commission did not adequately justify its decision to allow the proposed development at McMillan to exceed zoning limits for the site in the city’s Comprehensive Plan.

But the court’s ruling wasn’t a total win for the Friends of McMillan Park. In the ruling, the court’s judges found that high-density development could be permitted on the site, despite it being zoned for lower levels of density.”

Updates. No, no more updates for a while. I have McMillan fatigue. Updates when something concrete, no pun intended, happens one way or the other. In the meantime:

Ed. Note: You can read about the ongoing “McMillan Park” Lawsuit here.

From a press release:

“Today, Mayor Muriel Bowser, Ward 5 Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie, and Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) Brian Kenner broke ground on the McMillan Sand Filtration Site, a 25-acre development located at North Capitol Street and Michigan Avenue, NW in Ward 5. The transformative project is expected to create 6,200 jobs and 134 units of affordable housing and produce $1.2 billion in economic activity over 30 years. The groundbreaking represents the first activity at the site in nearly three decades.

“Today’s groundbreaking is the culmination of nearly 30 years of work to ensure the McMillan redevelopment will best serve the residents of Ward 5,” said Mayor Muriel Bowser. “When I took office, I committed to moving big projects forward so DC communities can benefit from the District’s growth and development. McMillan is proof of my administration’s unwavering commitment to getting more residents on pathways to the middle class by creating employment opportunities and affordable housing.”

The $720-million redevelopment of McMillan is the product of a successful community-driven process led by Mayor Bowser. Throughout the planning process and the selection of the development team, the District and its partners convened over 200 workshops and community forums, ensuring residents had a voice in shaping the vision of their neighborhood. Vision McMillan Partners (VMP) will redevelop the site, which will feature: 12 acres of public, open and green space; an eight-acre park; a 17,000 square-foot community center with a pool; a full-service grocery store; restaurants and retail; 655 units of housing (134 affordable); and over one million square-feet of healthcare facility space. All 24 historic buildings and two underground cells will be preserved. Read More

From a press release:

“Mayor Bowser and Deputy Mayor Brian Kenner invite you to the groundbreaking ceremony for McMillan Sand Filtration Site, a project delivering jobs, housing for all income levels, neighborhood-serving retail, a large public park, health care facilities and more.

When: Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016, 11 a.m.
Where: McMillan Sand Filtration Site (North Capitol Street and Michigan Ave, NW)

Please note this is an outdoor event. Enter the ceremony site from North Capitol Street NW just before the intersection of Michigan Ave NW.”

Michigan and North Capitol Street, NW

Jamelle Bouie tweeted last week:

“I support that message, btw. McMillan is literally just a sand wasteland. Let’s turn it into something useful.”

You can read about some opposition here and see some renderings here.

For those curious about how (some of) Mcmillan looks today: Read More

From MPD:

“Detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department are investigating the death of a person whose body was discovered on Saturday, September 10, 2016, in the 2500 block of First Street, Northwest.

At approximately 7:33 pm, members of the Third District were called to the McMillan Reservoir where they located an unconscious, unidentified black male submerged underwater. No signs of life or obvious cause of death were observed. The body was transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for an autopsy.

Anyone with information about this case is asked to call the police at 202-727-9099. Additionally, anonymous information may be submitted to the department’s TEXT TIP LINE by text messaging 50411.”

A reader inquires:

“Having read the news about a body found in the water at the reservoir and not finding any “advisory” on the DC Water web site or the news outlets, can you kindly address the topic so that it may generate information for the general public please. Ultimately i would like to know the extent to which i would need to go in terms of substituting bottled water ie making pasta, coffee etc which fall outside of my bottled water consumption usage. While they mentioned later in the day that the process was being diverted elsewhere, there was no mention of if the existing water in the pipes posed a risk etc.”

DC Water explains:

“There is no impact to the drinking water distributed in the district. McMillan is one of the two water treatment facilities operated by the Army Corps of Engineers Washington Aqueduct. In response to the discovery, the Aqueduct shutdown the McMillan plant while the reservoir was disinfected as a precaution. During that time, customers got their water from the Dalecarlia Treatment Plant. The McMillan plant has since been returned to service.

It is important to point out that the reservoir stores untreated water prior to the treatment process. It is filtered and disinfected after it leaves the reservoir. DC Water is confident the Aqueduct has taken the necessary precautions and the incident is not a threat to our customers’ water supply or health.”

Photo by PoPville flickr user John M

Big Bloomingdale news from the Bloomingdale blog – Harris Teeter Signs Letter of Intent at McMillan – thanks to a reader for passing on:

“Our listserv had some news about McMillan today. It’s nonbinding, and who knows how long it will end up being before anything really happens at McMillan, but an exciting development nonetheless.”

Formal announcement expected summer/fall of 2016 – stay tuned!

“Dear PoPville,

I’m new to the Bloomingdale neighborhood, and am trying to figure out how to run near the MacMillan Reservoir. I passed by it once in the car and it looked like you could run right along the water, but then when I went back to try it (from First St. NW) I got stuck in a maze of fences and parking lots. Do you know if it’s only accessible from the North (Hobart Pl/Michigan Ave)? Can you help?”

Hmm from Bloomingdale – I’d go to Bryant and head west to 4th Street then go north passing Howard University and it’ll turn to 5th Street and you’ll see the view in the photo above. I’m not sure if you can do a full lap around the water thought – isn’t part of the road closed by security? Anyone else have a good route to run around here?

Thanks to DF for sending:

“Right now, There is a cool bald eagle flying around McMillan reservoir.”