2026-10-14 - Committee on Human Services

Good morning. I am Matt Frumin, Ward 3 Councilmember and Chairperson of the Committee on Human Services. Today is October 14, 2026. We are meeting in Room 412 of the John A. Wilson Building and on the

Zoom virtual platform. The time is now 10.04 a.m. I am joined by my colleague, Ward 7 Councilmember Wendell Felder. Welcome, Wendell. Today we are conducting a public hearing on two measures, Bill

26-740, the Georgetown Boat House Surplus and Disposition Act of 2026, and Bill 26-720, the Fletcher-Johnson Surplus and Disposition Act of 2026. Bill 26-740, the Georgetown Boat House Surplus

Disposition Act of 2026, was introduced by Chairman Mendelsohn at the request of the Mayor on July 7, 2026 and referred sequentially to the Committee on Facilities and the Committee on Human Services

on July 14, 2026. The bill declares surplus and allows the Mayor to dispose of district property along the Potomac River at the end of Water Street Northwest. This parcel is known for tax purposes and

assessment purposes as Lots 805, 812 and 813 in Square 1179. The development was negotiated by DMPED and includes the transfer and sale of parcels along the Potomac River between Georgetown

University, the National Park Service and the district. The bill would provide Georgetown with the opportunity to construct a boat house for the Georgetown University crew team after the disposition

of district property that was acquired in the tri-party swap. In addition to the development of the boat house, there will be public access to the dock built with the boat house. Additionally, as a

result of the land swap, the district will now have jurisdiction of the land between the Georgetown Boat House and the Georgetown Waterfront Park with the intent to create additional community

amenities and expand the park. The legislation will expand non-motorized boating on the Potomac River and complete the development along the Potomac River in Georgetown. The second bill on the docket

is B26-720, the Fletcher-Johnson Surplus and Disposition Act of 2026. This legislation was introduced by Chairman Mendelson at the request of the mayor on July 7, 2026 and referred sequentially to the

Committee on Facilities and the Committee on Human Services on July 14, 2026. It declares surplus and allows the mayor to dispose of district property at 4650 Benning Road. This property, known as the

Fletcher-Johnson Campus, is designated for tax and assessment purposes as Lot 802 in square 5344. The campus formerly housed a middle school and has been in the surplus process for 18 years. The

community surrounding the school created a Fletcher-Johnson task force that includes local community groups and ANC 7E and that has advocated for the district to redevelop the Fletcher-Johnson site.

This legislation reflects DMPED's efforts to work with the task force and other stakeholders to ensure that the development reflects the needs of this community in Ward 7. The plan project would

deliver more than 800 units of housing, including either a memory care facility or senior living facility that will enable neighbors to age in place. The plan also includes a freestanding emergency

room, which would be the only emergency room in Ward 7. I look forward to hearing from witnesses today and their perspective on these two projects. I will now turn to Councilmember Wendell Felder for

opening remarks. Well, good morning, everyone, and obviously thank you, Chairman Feilman, for hosting today's public hearing on B26-720, the Fletcher-Johnson Surplus Declaration and Disposition

Improvement Act of 2026. This is a big day for Ward 7, and especially for our neighbors in the Marshall Heights community. The Fletcher-Johnson site represents so much to so many people. Perhaps it

was where you attended school as a child. Perhaps you taught there when it served as a swing space for H.D. Woodson. Or perhaps you joined your neighbors for a movie night on the field. Whatever

Fletcher-Johnson means to you, one thing is certain. This site connects us as a community, and today we have an opportunity to move one step closer to transforming this long vacant property into a

development that honors that history, reflects the community's vision, and delivers the neighborhood-serving amenities that Ward 7 residents deserve. For years, residents have asked the same question,

"What is going on with Fletcher-Johnson?" And I understand that question. This process has taken time. In fact, Fletcher-Johnson closed its doors in 2008, and the building has been vacant since 2011.

In 2019, the district issued a request for proposal to identify a development team and begin moving the community's vision forward. In December of 2020, a development team was selected. Since then,

the project has continued through additional planning, community engagement, and approval processes. So yes, it has taken some time to get here, but today we are here, and that is worth celebrating.

Today's hearing represents another important milestone in the process of moving Fletcher-Johnson towards redevelopment. As we advance through the surplus declaration and disposition process, we are

working to unlock the potential of one of the Ward's most significant development opportunities and bring this long-awaited vision closer to a reality. The proposed Fletcher-Johnson at the park

redevelopment site envisions a vibrant mixed-use community with more than 800 housing units, including townhomes, multifamily, rentals, and affordable senior housing. The broader redevelopment plan

also includes neighborhoods serving retail, green space for recreation and community activities, and space for community program. In addition, the district has announced plans for a freestanding

emergency room department on the campus, which would expand access to critical healthcare services for residents in Ward 7. Now, for me, this is truly a full circle moment. Before I had the honor of

serving as the Ward 7 Council Member or chairing the Subcommittee on Local Business Development for the Council, I had the pleasure of working in the Deputy Mayor's Office for Planning and Economic

Development, where I served as the project manager for this site, and this was my first project. During that time, I participated in community events, advisory neighborhood, commission meetings, and

community days where I had an opportunity to hear directly from residents about their hopes and aspirations for the site. I listened to those neighbors as they shared their ideas about what Fletcher-

Johnson could become and what they wanted to see for the future of their community. Those conversations have stayed with me, and now as the Council Member, I remain committed to help turning that

vision into a reality. I also will be remiss if I didn't take a moment to recognize the community leaders and advocates who also championed this project over the past years. First, I want to thank my

dear friend and my predecessor, Vincent C. Gray, as well as former ANC Commissioner Mary Jackson, Evan Allen, some community leaders, T.N. Tate, Ebony Rose Thompson. I see we have the current SMD

Commissioner for this site, Commissioner Dupey, and the Chair for ANC 7D, Keith Towery, St. Cucova, Aaron Rose Lane, and so many other neighbors who have championed for the redevelopment of this site.

And I will say that your advocacy, persistence, and belief in what this site could become have helped bring us to this moment. So with that, I want to thank you all again for being here, and I look

forward to listening to our both public and government witnesses. And with that, Mr. Chairman, the floor is yours. Wonderful. Thank you very much, Council Member Felder. Before we hear from public

witnesses, I would like to offer a note on logistics. I ask that all witnesses limit their testimony to their allotted time. The first representative to speak on behalf of an organization will have

five minutes. All other witnesses will have three minutes. If you're here to testify in person when your name is called, please take a seat at the table in front of me. And before you speak, please be

sure to you turn the microphone on in front of your seat. Also, some of the mechanics of this hearing, we're going to hear from witnesses on the Georgetown disposition first. We don't have any virtual

witnesses on the Georgetown matter, but we'll do that one first. Then we'll hear from the in-person witnesses on Fletcher Johnson and then the virtual witnesses on Fletcher Johnson. And I'll give the

instructions about virtual witnesses then. And then we will have the government witnesses on both projects. So with that, for our first panel, I will call up witnesses who are here to testify about

the Georgetown boathouse. Katie Button, Corey Peterson, David Abitabile. You can help me on the pronunciation. And before you go, I see that we have been joined by Ward 2 Council Member Brooke Pinto

and Council Member Pinto. Would you like to give an opening statement? Would you like to give it as you start your questioning, whatever you would prefer? Oh, well, thank you so much, Chairman Froman.

I'll be very brief. I'm just thrilled that today is here and I really appreciate you holding a hearing on this important land swap deal that has been many, many years in the making for the Georgetown

boathouse area. And I'm excited to see this project hopefully move forward as soon as possible. I think everybody in the community and who have been a part of this deal for many years are eager to get

going as am I. And so thank you for for holding this hearing today and looking forward to hearing from our witnesses. Wonderful. And with that, we will turn to our witnesses. I don't know which of you

is to go first. Mr. Peterson. Good morning, Council Member Freeman and members of the committee. My name is Corey Peterson and I serve as the associate vice president for community engagement and

local government affairs at Georgetown University. Thank you for the opportunity to testify in support of B26-0740, the Georgetown Boathouse Surplus Declaration and Disposition Approval Act of 2026. I

am joined by Katie Button, our associate vice president for federal relations and David Abbott, of Goulston and stores, our land use council who are available to answer questions. This legislation

would declare approximately 25,000 square feet along the Potomac River at the base of the Key Bridge as surplus and authorize its disposition to Georgetown University for the development of a

boathouse. It is an important step in implementing the tripartite agreement that Georgetown, the district and the National Park Service announced last year. Georgetown has worked for decades to

establish a permanent home for its rowing programs. And this project would provide that home for our men's and women's teams, which currently operate from Thompson's Boathouse while also creating new

opportunities for public access to the Potomac River. The public would be able to launch kayaks, canoes and paddle boards from the main dock when not in use by the university. A separate public

paddler dock would provide access to the water when our teams are using the main dock and relocating Georgetown's rowing programs would also free up space and boat storage at Thompson's for other

programs and users. The broader land agreement provides additional public benefits. The National Park Service would transfer jurisdiction over both the Georgetown Boathouse site known as site B and a

larger parcel east of Key Bridge known as site E to the district. Site E would support the district's planning for improved waterfront access and connections to the Capital Crescent Trail and

Georgetown Waterfront Park. Georgetown University would also donate its upriver parcel to the National Park Service for inclusion in the Chesapeake and on Ohio Canal National Historic Park. As part of

that transfer, Georgetown's existing access easement along the Capital Crescent Trail would be extinguished supporting uninterrupted public use of the trail. Community engagement has helped shape this

project from the very beginning. In response to feedback from ANC2E and other stakeholders, Georgetown expanded the public dock, agreed to secure offsite parking for coaches and develop plans for

bicycle parking and landscaping. The project has received unanimous support from ANC2E, ANC3D and the Georgetown Community Partnership. We've also worked closely with DDOT on plans for Water Street,

including a dedicated loading zone for rowing shells. The building has been designed with setbacks on its north and east sides to preserve access for maintenance of the Key Bridge and the Whitehurst

Freeway. And the area beneath the bridge would remain publicly owned with Georgetown's trailer storage authorized through an agreement with DDOT. The Boathouse would primarily serve Georgetown's

rowing programs with limited additional uses, including occasional university or civic board meetings. Private social gatherings would not be permitted. The project has received concept approval from

the Old Georgetown Board, the Commission of Fine Arts and the Public Space Committee, as well as the Necessary Zoning Approval. The National Capital Planning Commission has also approved the

Chancellor of Jurisdiction. This project is the result of years of collaboration among Georgetown University, the district, the National Park Service and our community partners. It will provide a

permanent home for Georgetown rowing while expanding public access to the Potomac, creating additional capacity at Thompson's Boathouse and supporting broader improvements to the Georgetown

waterfront. We respectfully urge the committee to advance B26-0740. Thank you for your consideration and we're pleased to answer any questions. Thank you very much. I will have a few questions and I

suspect that Councilmember Pinto will as well. My first question is, what feedback has Georgetown received from the community? I think you recited that. If you could speak to any opposition that you

are aware of, I think Georgetown is the oldest part of the city. And I'm not sure that there has ever been a time where all of the stakeholders in Georgetown have agreed about something. But if you

can speak to whether or not there is any opposition, where it comes from, if there is and when was the last time Georgetown agreed so unanimously about anything. Thank you. You're right. This has been

a relatively smooth process, especially over the 40 year span that we've been attempting to build the boathouse for our rowing programs. We're not aware of any opposition. We've had several

stakeholders independently submit testimony in support of the program. We've been talking to the bid, a group called the Georgetown Waterfront Access Coalition, the Potomac Boat Club, which is a

neighbor, the townhouse owner. There's a new hotel across the street. The canoe club is right down the street. And there hasn't been any opposition from any of those organizations. And again, we've

received some helpful feedback from ANC to E in the process. Wonderful. Will other schools have access to the boathouse? One dimension that I hear about is that Georgetown will vacate the Thompson's

boathouse, which will create capacity. But what will be the policy towards other schools using the boathouse? Yeah, so our vacating Thompson's will free up about a third of their capacity. We

currently use just about a third of the of the shell storage at Thompson's. Our boathouse meets the minimum needs of our program. So ideally, we'd have an even bigger boathouse. But there are space

constraints, as Corey mentioned, by the White House Freeway, the key bridge, the size of the lot. So we're just able to accommodate the use of our team. There are also NCAA restrictions around having

high school teams co located with high school teams, with college teams in a collegiately owned facility. So it's different from Thompson's in that respect. So we will not be able to share the

boathouse with high school teams. Again, more capacity will be at Thompson's. We will be offering learn to row programs during the summer for district youth and other folks. High school teams could

hypothetically use some of the summer months for camps or we could run camps that would include high school students. But in terms of sharing the facility, it will not be possible. So I'll just make a

plug on the learn to row programs. Two of my three children rowed on what was then Wilson pound for pound. They were incredible, but they were not the if you saw them, you wouldn't think they were

rowers. But we don't have rowing a crew in other high schools around the city. And so to the extent that you could be a force to encourage that and introduce students who don't have any familiarity

with the sport, that would be wonderful. Is that a part of your strategy? Yes, for sure. To increase access to the sport of rowing. I mean, that's just something we haven't been able to do as as, you

know, a renter at Thompson's with our own facility or our coaches and our students have been long wanting to do this. We've actually had philanthropic support as well from the Heinz Family Foundation

to do this kind of programming once we have our own boathouse. So it's absolutely in the plans. I'm glad to hear. What are the plans for public access to the bike trails and boathouses during the

construction of the boathouse? And right now there's a lot happening there and going to be. But how are you going to deal with that kind of access? Yeah, the bike trail should not be impacted. As you

noted, Water Street right now is is kind of a mess. The hotel construction is just finishing. D.C. Water is doing a massive project just on the other side of the aqueduct. I don't anticipate our

construction would cause any further disruption to the street. Our construction should wrap up around the same time that D.C. Water does. And we're both committed to, you know, getting Water Street

back up to it'll be an improved condition from even before this project started. So your construction doesn't have to wait until D.C. Water is done, but you'll finish it around the same time. From the

timeline they've given us, which has shifted slightly over the last couple of years, yes, we believe that we'll finish up around the same time sometime in 2030. Great. There are a couple of townhouses

right next to the property. Have you been in coordination with the owners about the construction and its impacts? We have. And do you have some sort of a construction plan or how have you gotten to a

place where you've been able to comfort them that a lot of construction right around them won't adversely affect them? Yeah, I mean, through the zoning approval, they did not have any comments or

concerns. We are in conversation with the nearest townhome owner about a tree that the base of the trees on their property, but it's currently leaning over the site. And it's it's likely considered it

is considered a hazardous tree by urban forestry. So we've mainly been in contact with the townhouse owner about how to safely remove that tree and protect their foundation, which is already damaged

by the tree in its current condition. So that's one of the big trees on the lot. There's another one, I think, on the other side of the lot that very big trees that a heritage tree and what's the plan

for it? No, there are no other heritage trees on the site. OK, how does the plan development account for potential flooding from the Potomac? That's a great question. And I do want to commend DOE for

being a great partner as we've approached this issue. The floodplain requirements have actually shifted in the design process. So we've designed the building essentially as two separate buildings. The

entire lower floor, which is shell storage, will be designed to be what's called wet flood proof. We'll assume that it will flood and there will be no components in the design that could be damaged by

flood. We'll do special protections for the elevator, which is required for ADA access. But we're designing it to flood. The floor will have a slight slope to it, you know, so the water can flow back

out to the river. We've talked a lot with the Potomac Boat Club, which is just two doors down and has similar issues and is a very similar design and how they've managed this process. And then the

second floor of the building will be a LEED certified kind of separate building on top of this wet flood proof lower floor. Thank you for that. So speaking about the river and construction, when

you're doing construction so close to the river, what kinds of things are you going to do to protect against runoff from the site into the river? Is there special requirements that you need to meet? I

can defer to our contractor, Consigli, who's just starting kind of the construction planning process. But again, we've worked closely with DOE and the Army Corps as we approach that. We'll probably

build the first section of the building from the street side and then we'll probably bring in a barge to help with the water side construction and dock construction. But again, we just hired our

contractor about a month ago. And so I'm going to sort of like the question about the townhouses where you've been in close communication with them. Two agencies are pretty important here, DOE and

D.DOT. Have DOE and D.DOT both signed off on all aspects of your planning? Yes, to the point to the point we're at now. So both D.DOT and DOE submitted supportive letters during the zoning process. We

received zoning approval this summer. And I just want to say they have been great partners. With D.DOT from the very beginning, when we when we had to see if we could fit a boathouse on this site,

it's a very constrained site. I know you've been there. You know, we worked with their need for a 15 foot setback from the overhang of the Whitehurst freeway on the north side and a 15 foot setback

from the overhang of the key bridge on the east side. And that shaped really the design and footprint of our building. D.DOT also worked with us, as Corey mentioned, to secure a spot under the key

bridge to store the trailers that we use to take our shells away. Regattas and also on the design of Water Street, which received public space committee approval in August. So do you have any any

approvals left with D.DOT, DOE and I'll mix this in any other steps that you need to take with NPS on the land swap or those boxes checked at this point? Dave, do you want to take this? Certainly. No,

we don't have any other entitlement approvals at this point. All that's left are permit approvals. So, you know, our final public space permit approval from D.DOT, but we've gotten concept approval

for the whole design. DOE will issue their various permit related approvals, but we have conceptually work through all the issues with them. And there's nothing left with respect to the park service

other than sort of completing the transaction pieces of it, completing the the donation of the upper parcel, signing the land disposition agreement. But they have done everything they needed to do to

facilitate the transfer of jurisdiction. OK, wonderful. What are the plans for public access to the dock? I hear the references that there will be public access to the dock. Will Georgetown be

overseeing and maintaining access for residents? How's that going to work? That sometimes there will be access. Sometimes there won't. What's the plan? Yeah, so the plan is about 75 percent of the

time. The main dock of the boathouse during daylight hours from about March to November. That main dock will be available to the public to launch canoes, kayaks, paddle boards. And when the team is

practicing typically in the early morning hours, as you know, we've built a separate 50 foot long public paddler launch that they can use. So 100 percent of the time there will be access to the

waterfront and about 75 percent of that will be from the very main dock. We're still working through whether, you know, folks will need to sign a waiver and how that will work exactly. But we've

committed to staffing it to the extent that's necessary. All right. Well, I am. Thank you very much for that. I am a little over. I'm going to have a few more questions, but I'm going to turn to

council member Felder, who's here for Fletcher Johnson. So he's going to hold his questions and council member Pinto. If you have any questions, thanks so much. And thank you, Corey and Katie and

everybody testifying in all of the incredible work on this project. I just wanted to ask about the timeline as we hopefully move this forward. What other steps are needed to to be complete after the

district completes this transfer to ensure that everything sticks to timeline and what would be the risk of not moving forward for those other steps? Yeah, thank you. So as you all know, the rest of

the council process will play out. And then the congressional review period, we are hoping to get our permit application in in December. After the congressional review period, the land disposition

agreement would be signed by the city, by the mayor, by Georgetown and by the National Park Service. We think permitting will take about a year and then we're hoping to start construction in early

2028 and construction should be between 18 to 24 months. OK. And if this does not move forward expeditiously, all of those different steps would be delayed. Correct. Our goal is very much hoping that

the city can move this through by the end of the calendar year. Great. And are there any other steps needed between the National Park Service and Georgetown University or this is the. Yeah, the three

steps are that the transfer of jurisdiction would occur where the Park Service transfers jurisdiction to the city and that should be able to occur in the coming months. Then the Park Service will

again sign the land disposition agreement with Georgetown and the mayor and we will formally donate our upriver parcel to the city. So those are kind of the major components unless I've missed

anything. No, that's correct. And on the transfer of jurisdiction, the National Capital Planning Commission has already approved it and the legislation has been submitted to the council under a

separate proposed resolution. So those are the only two pieces needed to advance that once the council has approved the resolution, we'd be able to record that transfer of jurisdiction. Wonderful.

Well, thank you so much. Congratulations almost for the incredible amount of work that's gone into this. Appreciate you all being here today. Thank you, Chairman. Thank you, Council Member Pinto. Just

a few more questions beyond the storage of the boats. What are the other intended uses of the boathouse? Will you have classrooms, offices for the university or will it just be a boathouse? Yeah, so

the lower floor is the bulk of the square footage of the building, and that is for storing seven rows high of shells. And then the upper floor will have locker rooms for our student athletes. We have

one of the largest crew programs in the country. There are only three other universities that have programs even approaching our size. And so there are two large locker rooms. There's a large multi-

purpose room that can be used for team meetings with the entire team. So we have about 130 or 140 athletes each year. They can also use herbs to work out in that room. Then there will be a smaller

kind of breakout classroom. Coaches often meet with, you know, like the women's eights together or so we do have this kind of breakout space, two small breakout rooms. But the majority of the second

floor is the locker rooms and the multi-purpose room. All right. Wonderful. So just I was there and I want to just make sure it's all clear in my mind and clear to others. So there is the parcel where

there is a kind of launch, a public access launch that is where the boathouse will be. Correct. That's a concessionaire of the National Park Service's Keybridge boats that currently operates there.

And then you go east to the other side of Keybridge. That is the land that you will be giving or N.P.S. will be giving to the city. N.P.S. will be transferring jurisdiction back to the city. The city

actually has ownership of that land here. And then I will ask the government witnesses what the intention is for that. And then there is the N.P.S. concessionaire. What becomes of the N.P.S.

concessionaire? Ultimately, they will move west of the Aqueduct Bridge, which is another N.P.S. controlled site called Site C. There may be a period of time and that's where the D.C. water work is

happening. So there may be a period of time when we're ready to start construction and that site is not available. And the city and the park service are working together to make a plan for that

concessionaire with the goal of not having any interruption and its availability to the public. But ultimately, that amenity, which many people treasure, will be there. Yes. It'll just be a little

further to the west. Correct. Great. And then do you have a plan to ensure CBE and first source requirements are met? Yes, we've already submitted signed CBE and first source agreements and we made it

clear with our contractor, Consigli, that that was part of the requirements. They've built several boathouses and they've had several projects with the CBE and first source requirements and are fully

prepared to meet those. All right. Well, thank you very much for your testimony. Councilmember Felder, any last minute questions? Oh, he's not there. So there's not. All right. Thank you very much for

your testimony. We'll move to the next. Thank you. I was so focused on you, I didn't even notice. OK, for our next panel, I will call up witnesses who are here to testify regarding Fletcher Johnson.

Sierra Mackey, public witness. Tien Tate, Ebony Rose Thompson, Sierra. All right. We will stop there and then we'll have the development team come up as a separate panel. Ms. Mackey, great to see you.

Whoever you want to go first can go. Thank you so much, Councilmember Froome. And it's great to see you here, Mr. Felder's team as well. Thank you all for the opportunity to provide testimony today.

My name is Sierra Mackey Hall. I am a native Washingtonian born and raised in the city, moved all around the city, lived, worked all around the city. And it is where my husband and I, who is also a

native Washingtonian, have decided to have our family. We lived in Ward 8 for the last close to almost a decade. And then we've lived over in Ward 7 for the last year. We are in Benning Ridge, which

is the neighborhood bordering Marshall Heights. And we're right behind the kip and which is also surrounded by some D.C. housing authority properties. So the first thing when we were looking for a

house was we need to be by a metro, we need to be by a community rec center. On a map, you see that we are by those amenities. But in actuality, there's not a lot of programming for the young people

in the community. Benning Ridge Community Center is actually managed by housing authorities, so it's not one that we can go to. And then the other ones, I have a long list here of what they offer in

terms of programming. But I think across the three rec centers that are a mile away from where we are, there's about three programs that are available for youth six and under. And so that's a concern

to me. We are driving to go to soccer, ballet, all these activities. And my daughter's five now, and she asked, why can't we walk places? And so I'm excited to hear about this Fletcher Johnson

development that's coming to the community. And since we got there, I've been reading the 400 pages that go behind Mendelsohn's email. I mean, my eyes were crossed. And I'm concerned about the some of

the things that the community asked for not being presented in this plan. One of my major concerns is really the location of this freestanding emergency department. It's right across the street from

Kip. If you ever driven down Benning Road, when Kip is about to be in session, you'll know there's a major bottleneck. And so that's one of my major concerns. The other concern that I have is they're

not being at least talked about. I've attended the meetings that I could about Fletcher Johnson. I don't see the arc that everyone was asking for in 2019 and their testimony. Everybody wanted award

seven arc. I just don't I don't see and I haven't heard any plans for that arc going into the development that it has been proposed. So I'm here because my daughter asked for somewhere to walk to in

the community. I'm here to make sure that I have a voice and making sure that shape. I know this has been decades long. I played basketball at H.D. Woodson when it was H.D. Woodson. But I would hate

to see a place that was built and meant for community to be turned into a freestanding emergency department, especially in the way that it's currently planned to be. Thank you for your testimony, Miss

Tate. Yes. Good morning, Councilmember Freeman, Councilmember Felder, Councilmember Pinto. Thank you for holding this hearing today. I'm T.N. Tate, the former A.N.C. commissioner and vice chair for

seven E, also the former chair for the Fletcher Johnson Community Task Force. So I'd like to begin my testimony today with a little story that started nearly 10 years ago, which was a fight for

Fletcher Johnson. And it began with the community demanding more than just another charter school for the first time in 2014. The fight for Ward 7 together, meaning that for once we too also agreed on

what we wanted for this site. Every A.N.C. chair, civic association leader from across the ward. What we knew was that the fourth largest parcel in the district would impact more than just one one

Ward 7 neighborhood. I can't move forward without saying thank you to Miss Mary Jackson, who started this fight. Sharon Shankman Brown, Keith Towery, Eben Allen, Karen Settles, Ambrose Lane, the late

Greg Rhett, our school board rep, Eben Rose Thompson, my former boss, Councilmember Vincent C. Gray, our current Councilmember Felder and all of the A.N.C. associations, Fletcher alumni and other

folks who helped to bring us here today. So today, aside from having the arc, much of what we fought for is actually reflected in this plan. We did ask for housing. We did ask for some type of health

care system. We did ask for retail and we did ask for community space. So I believe that a new park is a part of this plan, correct me if I'm wrong. So, however, we support this progress. However, as

the story continues to unfold, we must continue to ask questions. What good is progress if our existing residents and the 800 household to come like access to basic neighborhood amenities when it

comes to 30 percent affordable housing? Some folks are still asking affordable for home and affordable at what income level? Most importantly, we love our seniors. But can you imagine or we ask the

question, why we had another senior assisted living facility in the middle of an existing food and service desk desert without a written plan for access to essential amenities and wraparound services?

We know that the district is providing almost three million for this emergency health care facility. So why not also throw another three million in there to bring and attract a full service grocery

stores? One of the concerns that also has come up is the I believe there is it has been said that there's 80 parking spaces. And we wonder if that's going to be adequate for the emergency center and

the 800 households that are coming. Finally, the thousands of jobs that this project will create means nothing if our neighbors and our residents don't know how to access the opportunities that are

coming. We continue to wonder who will monitor first source compliance and force the community benefit agreements and hold developers and contractors accountable, particularly if this becomes an

alternative plan. So we've heard the news about the alternative plans. So as the story continues to unfold, we ask council for three more things. Clear written commitments, measurable accountability

and continued transparency throughout the development process. We ask that you develop a plan for seniors that include support services and access to basic and amenity and to make sure that this plan

is available for the public to view. We ask that you identify and maintain firm oversight over those who will be monitoring compliance and force in hiring requirements and show residents how they can

operate, how they can access these jobs, the job opportunities. We fought too hard and too long to leave these questions unanswered. We believe in this project and its potential to transform seven in

Ward seven. We will continue to push until we get it right. Let us not simply approve this development disposition, but let us ensure that we are delivering a community that our residents can afford,

thrive in and be proud to call home and have places to walk to. So, again, I thank you for your time and consideration. And that concludes my little story. Wonderful. Thank you for your testimony. I

see we have been joined by Ebony Rose Thompson. So, Ms. Thompson, if you want to join us, I'll give you a minute to get set up. Take your time. Good morning. My name is Ebony Rose Thompson. I

represent Ward seven on the State Board of Education. I will say when we started having conversations on this project, I was actually in a different role. I chaired AMC 7F, which is adjacent to 7E,

and that is the community I grew up in. If you wonder like why, as a State Board of Education representative, I care about this project and I have been following and supported this project. It's

because as a kid in Ward seven, I had a lot of different experiences and a lot of different opportunities and all of them did not revolve around school. Right. I got to do gymnastics, but I had to go

to UDC to do that. I should have stuck with it, but I took cello for a while. I had, of course, to go to Ward six to do that. I took ballet in Ward three. I tell you this because after all this time,

the years and years I've been in Ward seven, most of the things that matter for the success of children and families outside of schools do not exist in our ward. We are still the only ward without an

art space. Most wards have multiple. We have the opportunity to make sure this project goes beyond housing. It's one of the reasons that when we were having conversations with former mayor, then

Councilmember Gray, we pushed to not make it a school. Not because I'm anti-school. I, of course, love schools. I'm a State Board of Education person. It was because I have 10 high schools. I have

countless elementary schools. What I don't have as someone who lives and cares about Ward seven, I don't have one place I can go and buy a hammer and a nail. I don't have places where I go grocery

shopping. I don't go to the doctor in Ward seven. I can't go to a show, whether it be a movie or theater or anything in Ward seven. And so this project represents a huge opportunity for the Ward seven

community and the city as a whole. It is the fourth largest parcel of publicly owned land we have left. It sits walking distance from one of our busiest intersections in the city, Benning and East

Capital. It has the potential to be a transformative project. And so I very much appreciate community members like former Commissioner Tate, who have been following this project and are pushing not

just for its development, but it to realize its fullest potential. There is always a question when you do anything of opportunity cost. And so I don't think anyone is saying we don't want Fletcher

Johnson to develop. We very much do. It took a lot of work to get that project into the denpad portfolio in the first place. And we had to convince the city of a community vision that folks could get

behind. At the time, that was signed not only by the ANCs, but every single civic association in the ward. That is not easy to do. The reason it was doable, though, because it always feels impossible

until it's done, is because we had something not just to say we didn't want, we stood for what we did want and we knew could be possible in our community. And so I am here to ask that as we move

forward with thinking about the potential for Fletcher Johnson, that it follow the community vision, which did include not only housing, but it included our art space. It included retail. It included

opportunities to educate the community. And I think that is still very necessary today, all these years later. It's been, what, 10, 12 years, maybe since we've been having this conversation. And 10,

12 years is nothing when you think about this being a generational opportunity. So I thank you for the time to testify today, the grace for doing my best to get here in a timely fashion from Ward 7.

And I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you. All right, thank you. Thank you very much for your testimony. I don't know if you'll remember, Ebony Rose, but you reached out to me. I think it's 15

years ago when Fletcher Johnson first looked like it might become available. And I think it was early in your community outreach where you're trying to put together stakeholders to come up with a

vision. So and there's a theme cutting through here, I guess. And maybe you said, is it that you support what is proposed, but it's a it's a yes and what's proposed plus. And the and so the plus is an

art space and adequate retail space. When you think about that, because the developer will come up and we'll see what kinds of things are possible. But when you think about that, how many square

footage, how much in square footage are you thinking about? Or when there was a community vision, how much space was to be devoted to those kinds of functions? So Tien and I are trying to remember. I

think we were talking about something and I will acknowledge I do not speak in square foot. I am five foot two. And that's my measure for life, which is not a very large one. I think we were thinking

because a grocery store is only what, one hundred thousand square feet, fifty two hundred thousand square feet. Oh, I mean, that's a superstore, I think. I think so. Fifty thousand square feet. OK,

see, I told you I don't speak in square feet, so I think we were talking about for retail overall because we would want multiple retail opportunities. Somewhere between, again, 50 and 100 thousand

square feet for multiple retail opportunities, not one single thing. We are very supportive of their big health services on the site. We are very supportive of additional residences on the site. We

know we're in a housing crisis as a city. And when we think about our art space in particular, again, we're the only ward without our art space. We do need economic multipliers in our community and we

need opportunities for cultural enrichment. And so I don't believe we laid out exactly what kind of art space would be included. We had had some conversations around if it would be possible to partner

with like UDC, knowing UDC is land grant and couldn't move. But could we have something like a community college space that is adjacent that might run the art space, something we could do similar to

the arc. I have no idea how many square foot, how many square feet the art is. But not only do they host events, they have classes, but then they also have times where people purchase tickets and come

in and can have entertainment venues. And so we are thinking of it as a multi-use for the community, both so we like, yes, we love St. Luke's. I've always loved St. Luke's, I can't go to St. Luke's

and have events for the community, but we need more. And so I again don't speak in square feet, but I would say the arc is the best example of like when we think about our art space, whatever the

square footage is of that that we would want. I mean, the arc has grown over the it's it's now two buildings. OK, sorry, I mean, the original original building. OK, Miss Mackey, when you raised a

couple of different things, one, I think traffic patterns from the emergency facility, which we'll ask the developers about. And then also the idea that looking for something like the arc. So I guess

the same thing is what Miss Rose Thompson is talking about. Yes, very similar again, very late to this project. I know there are people who've been in this for decades. But when you think about the

arc, they also have Children's National at the arc. So that is a facility that my children go to for their pediatrician. There's dental services there. So it is a it's a it's a pediatrician's office

that that the community can utilize. This is a freestanding emergency department. So ambulances in and out all day impacts the ability to focus when you're in class. It's right across the street from

the school. And then on top of that, thank you again, Council Member Felder, I was able to walk in the community with them. And kind of have a preview discussion. But one of the things that I had

shared then was just the ability like the young man who was murdered on Minnesota Avenue last last week. He if he had been brought to this facility would have been stabilized and then still driven

across town all the way up town. He would not have been able to be actually patched up surgery saved at this proposed freestanding emergency department. So those are my concerns. It's impacting

learning. It's the traffic. And then what is it actually meeting the needs of the community when we have such high instances of gun violence? And and yeah, OK. And then maybe for each of you, there is

a park built into this proposal and it looks like around 30,000 square feet. Do you have a reaction to the proposed park? So for me, that's it looks like it's just a green space, which a green space

is not a park. It's not something that's for children, it may have benches, but again, I'll pass it there. Yeah, no, I would say we would have liked to have some sort of use that 30 feet to have some

sort of enclosed community center type of deal. Again, it looks like it's just going to be a park or green space. But a part of the original community vision was for if we couldn't get an arc was to

have a community center enclosed that would be attached to the development. Real quick, my concern about another green space is, you know, the kids love to congregate on a green space. So where are

they going to go? Sitting in the kids love like the Navy are congregate. Yeah, yeah, I say I just didn't hear the word. OK, and Miss Tate, you talked about parking, I mean, I think the 80 parking

spaces are those associated. Is it your understanding that there's only 80 parking spaces on the whole site? It's my understanding from the last meeting that was held at Marshall Heights, when folks

asked about parking, it was around 80. And I think some of that parking was going to be for the emergency facility, but there was no talk about what parking was going to look like for 800 units of

housing. OK, well, we will ask about that. You also raised the grocery store and your points about oversight throughout the process, requiring transparency. We will ask about those things. Those are

prerequisites to projects like this. I want to thank you each for your testimony. I'll turn to Councilmember Felder to see if you have any questions for this panel. Yes, thank you again, Mr. Chairman,

Miss Macias. It's a delight to see you again. I know that during your testimony, you mentioned the need for more recreational opportunities amongst the site. I would love to hear specifically what

recreational opportunities are you speaking of? Sure, I mean, I think that I again, I read all this, so I think the things that the community had already uplifted were the type of things I'm looking

for. The ballet class in our ward, the piano class, somebody else had testified to that. But more things that can be done just as activities like a sitar center or the arc where you have the

Washington Ballet coming in or performing arts coming in. So I'm open to different types of recreation, but just more options. No, thank you for that. And by any chance, have you had an opportunity to

attend the A&C meeting in which the developers presented on some of the opportunities that will come out of the RFK redevelopment? Yeah, yeah. So I think the RFK redevelopment is wonderful. I'm sorry,

Fletcher Johnson is going to say, sorry about that. Yeah, well, RFK is going to be a very wonderful redevelopment and have some great recreation opportunities. I was hoping some of those would spill

in over to Fletcher Johnson, but I have I attended the meeting that they held with Marshall Heights. I was virtual. I think some folks were in the room and I didn't hear a lot of conversation about

that particular piece. OK, this is more of a broader conversation than anyone can answer it. Obviously, the level of engagement looks differently, but I guess you've attended a number of meetings. Do

you feel as though the feedback that you presented to the developers have been incorporated into the project? Yes, as I stated during my testimony, I do believe that we have got most of what we what

we've asked for now. My biggest concern, again, is just ensuring that as the process moves along, it's still, you know, you still engage the community, you still keep the community informed. But we

dig up most of what we ask for, especially when it comes to the jobs. And we want to make sure that there's an agency or an arm that is going to make sure that translates into jobs for Benin Park and

Marshall Heights and Capital Field. So to answer your question, yes, I believe we did. We do have most of what we want. But again, we always want to aim for more. And when you say most of what we

want, what's missing? Well, as we said before, the art space. So if that green space of the park could have been if that 30,000 feet or so could have just been used as a community center where you

have different programs for young people. We did we we were on the fence about the senior housing. We raised a lot of questions because we just felt like there are group homes. There's a rise in.

There's all these different that area is sort of already saturated. And so when you think about dropping three hundred seniors into that area that is already saturated, it wasn't that we were like,

no, we don't want the seniors. We just wanted we just didn't think it would be a good idea to have yet another senior assisted living facility as a part of that. But now that it's here, we just want

to make sure that some type of onsite support services wraparound services will be available. Thank you for that. And you said the green space is it's not missing is there. I think you talked about

the need for community space from my record less recollection community space is available on the site. Have you had an opportunity to as this project moves through the surplus process and now we're

getting closer to construction? Have you had an opportunity to give that direct feedback to the development team about how can we be intentional with the way we reprogram that green space or

recreation space? That's designated for the site. So, no, the last meeting that I attended was held by Marshall. So I'll say yes and no. The last meeting I attended was at Marshall Heights. We mostly

raised concerned about the parking and the emergency room. But we also said that we will follow up with Marshall Heights opportunity and the developers to talk through some more things before we got

to the final stamp of approval. No, thank you for that. And I raised that question on a number of reasons, as I mentioned in my opening remarks as the former project manager. We had two routes to take

by the city. We could have issued a traditional RFP, which the city would have led that process would have determined what went there. But given that I'm a fourth generation Washingtonian with seven

through and through, I recognize the importance of having in our RFP process in which we collected community feedback and input. And many members were there and we wanted to make sure we were

intentional. We wanted to make sure that the community drove the vision. That's why I asked what was missing. In addition to that, I think you raised a good point, though, in terms of seniors. and

making sure there's not a... I want to thank all of you for your time and consideration of a specific type of housing. When we talk about the neighborhood serving amenities that we need, everyone at

this table can agree that we need a grocery store. Unfortunately, we can't get a grocery store if there is a specific type of housing that does not generate the revenue that is needed that will

attract to the market that we need to invest in this community. A question based on the 800 units that has been presented, do you think there's a right balance between senior housing, multifamily

housing, apartment buildings, etc? Yes, I do think that there's a balance. But again, what's common is common. And so you just want to make sure that you have support services available. Right. So you

don't want to. I mean, you can imagine just dropping a bus of seniors off in the middle of a place that's already saturated. So I think it's less about the balance of affordable housing. If you

remember from our RFP process, I think that was the biggest contention at that meeting was, well, what does affordable mean and how many units? So now that we're here, it's a good thing, but we want

to ensure that folks have the support services that are needed. Yes. And when we hear from the developers and Marshall Heights, I'll dive deeper into that. So please don't go anywhere. Yes, Ms.

Thompson. I mean, I would just add when that our RFP process happened, if I remember correctly, the DMP at the time actually asked for senior housing. And so the developer was responding to the

request of the city and there was a there was a preference for that from the city. That was not the preference of the community. Now, of course, you know, I know we all know that we love our seniors

and we really have a need for multifamily housing, multifamily, a family housing that has more than one bedroom. A lot of things are being built with one bedroom, two bedrooms, right, especially as we

have moved as a city toward more and more density. But people in our part of the city have families. They have kids. So there's a need for that. And to your point about the amenities and possibility

of retail, we do need a mix that goes beyond what the city is considering affordable, especially at the lowest levels. Most seniors are on a fixed income. And to Tien's point, we should absolutely

support and resource seniors. And we need folks who have a disposable income if we are going to support the retail you described so that it has to be a mix of how do we support our residents and how

do we have residents that can support the amenities and services that make our community a healthy, diverse and thriving community. Right, which I think at the time, there was a lot of conversations

about seniors leaving the city and not being able to age gracefully in place, which I'm a big champion for ensuring that our seniors stay here. So the conversation or the reason behind why the

district incorporated senior housing because at the time we talked about the importance of a senior village. And you see some of the work happening in the war with the senior, senior sites across the

ward that we push for with that being said, I think it's all about balance. And we want to make sure we get it right. I guess my question just a follow up question for you, Miss Thompson is in your

opinion, what does success look like at this site. So if I if I could wave a magic wand success would absolutely include art space, similar to the arc, not general recreation because that's something

we do not have as a ward. I think success does look like a balance in the housing, because we have an overall goal for our ward, as far as being able to attract certain amenities. I think success

looks like and I'm sorry I cannot remember Mackey Miss Mackey talking about health, healthcare services that stabilize our community and meet the needs I think success looks like all of those things.

And also so we can support reselling amenities. No, thank you for that. And the word I was looking for was senior villages, senior villages. I guess just a follow up question. And thanks Matt for

additional time. When we talk about balance, right when we talk about the direction in which the ward is going. There needs to be a balance across housing. And when we look at this site, it's a brand

new site. The market is changing, meaning there's pretty I'm pretty sure there's construction calls that hopefully doesn't call cause delay in this project we'll talk more about that in a second. I'm

just really mindful of their sense of being intentional and striking the right balance because when we talk about neighborhoods serving amenities and stimulating our local economy you talked about the

needs for jobs. You'll hear me talk more about the needs for opportunities for small and local businesses that all of that fits into our overall ecosystem so if we have a development or development

projects across the ward that isn't conducive to producing jobs or opportunities for local businesses or a signaling signaling to the private market that okay Ward 7 is the place to invest we just got

an anchor at RFK. So now I'm optimistic that more businesses will support or will invest in the war, but we need other projects to service anchors that shouldn't be only house or specific type of

housing we played our, we played our role and producing affordable housing across the city. So I just want to go on record saying there's a balance that needs to be struck, and I look forward to

continuing the conversation in the dialogue with each and every one of you around the table to figure out how could this project support the broader vision for the war. Furthermore, how can we make

sure that the community gets what it wants. So I thank you all for your testimony and I look forward to continue dialogue, Mr. Chairman. Thank you very much councilmember Felder, I think, I think

we're gonna move to the next panel thank you for your testimony. For our final in person panel, I will call up witnesses who are here to testify about Fletcher Johnson as well. Jason Barrett, Osama,

Soudi suit Saudi and has the drag. Wonderful. Great to see you when you're ready I don't know if you want one of you to go first you can go in the order that you choose. Chair from in one quick

question we have one of our partners that would be that was supposed to be in virtual mode Babatunde, is it possible for him to join 100%. Thank you. I see so we had you virtually, we will that

they're in place, but then we'll come to you after. Apologies. Okay. All right, well good morning. Chairperson from and members of the committee on human services. My name is Jason Barrett. I'm the

group vice president of the District of Columbia market for universal health services and I'm also the chief executive officer of the George Washington University hospital. I'm pleased to testify and

support of bill 26 dash seven to zero, the Fletcher Johnson surplus declaration and disposition approval act of 2026, UHS has had deep roots in the District of Columbia. In addition to the George

Washington University Hospital in war two we operate Cedar Hill regional medical center and Cedar Hill urgent care and Ward eight nationally UHS operates 37 freestanding emergency departments called

FEDs like the proposed FED at Fletcher Johnson, our first FED recently marked a decade in operation outside of the RFK campus Fletcher Johnson will be one of the largest development efforts in the

history of Ward seven, it will bring the long vacant 15.26 acre campus on Benning road southeast back to life with roughly 800 new homes, including 200 affordable units 45,000 square feet of

neighborhood retail, public green space, and a new state of the art FED UHS is investing over 25 million to build the FED. Ward seven needs emergency care closer to home in an emergency proximity to

high quality emergency department can be the difference between a good camp good outcome, and a tragic one, or seven has long been underserved from an emergency care standpoint, by way of illustration

from the Safeway at 322 40th Street northeast, the drive to the nearest hospital emergency department takes anywhere from 1455 minutes depending on traffic, the Fletcher Johnson FED will cut that to

as little as seven minutes. In 2023 Ward seven and eight generated 59889 EMS calls, or 31% 36% of the district's total word seven alone produce roughly 27,900 EMS calls for residents in need of

medical health, yet the residents of these two words, a full quarter of the district's population are served by just one emergency department east of the Anacostia River, the strain shows the district

meets its response time for high priority calls, only 57% of the time largely do extended travel times and slow ER turnaround times. In fact, the ambulance turnaround standard is just met 11.7% of the

time, and the district's average emergency room is 303 minutes the worst of the nation and nearly double the national median of 162 minutes. The Fletcher Johnson FED is expected to serve approximately

38,000 patients each year that added capacity will relieve overcrowding at Cedar Hill short waits and get ambulances back into faster service. This is a full service and emergency department, not an

urgent care, the FED will have 14 private exam rooms including dedicated rooms for trauma deliveries pediatric patients behavioral health patients and biohazard events, as well as two isolation rooms,

it will house x ray CT and ultra sound equipment and a full service laboratory, it will be open 24 hours a day 365 days a year, with an emergency medicine physician on site at all times and most, most

of the time five to six nurses, unlike an urgent care center the FED can stat stabilize life threatening conditions such as heart attacks, strokes, overdoses, gunshot and stab wounds and transfer

patients to a full service full service hospital when needed. And as federal law requires, it will treat every patient regardless of ability to pay under the land disposition and Development Act, a $3

million district grant will reimburse UHS for a portion of the 10 million in site infrastructure costs, the district would otherwise bear that 7030 split saves the district approximately 7 million.

Further, in the first year the FED is anticipated to produce over $400,000 in new tax revenue for the district. Finally, as required by the LDA UHS will comply with the district's first source and

certified Bennett business enterprise requirements during the construction of the FED. In short, this is a good deal for the district from any perspectives, both from a healthcare and a financial

perspective, as well as a community employment perspective. We appreciate the committee's urgency and prompt consideration of bill 26-720 as evidence by holding today's hearing, assuming the Council

approves the bill before the end of 2026. Our current assumption is that UHS will be construct begin construction in the second quarter of 2027 and open the FED in the second half of 2028. In closing,

Mr. Chairman UHS believes the Fletcher Johnson FED will bring long needed emergency health care services towards seven. We're thrilled to be expanding our footprint in the district as well as our

commitment east of the river community. On behalf of the entire UHS team, I respectfully urge the committee to approve bill 26-720. Thank you, and I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you very

much for your testimony. Who on your team wants to go first? Thank you. Good morning, Chairperson Freeman, Councilmember Felder, Councilmember Parker, members of the committee. I'm Usama Sawadi. I'm a

partner at Grappler-Nosawadi. We're a district-based, minority-owned, minority-led development firm. We lead the development team for the Fletcher Johnson community partners, alongside Foundation

Housing and our partners at Marshall Heights Community Development Organization, joined here this morning with Babatunde, their CEO. As has been said before, Fletcher Johnson is approximately a

15-acre parcel in the heart of Ward 7 that has sat empty since 2011. We are proposing what Ward 7 has asked for on one campus for every generation. Housing for seniors, families, homeownership, an

early childhood facility, health care, and a recreational park. And the stores and restaurants in this neighborhood has gone without for a long time. Let me first start with the retail. Because of

what we've heard most about, even during earlier testimony, in community meetings and ANC discussions around our benefits agreement and letters from Marshall Heights residents, the ask has been

consistent, and we've heard it again this morning. A place to buy food, a place to sit down, eat, neighborhood shops, an office space for the ANC and Ward 7 organizations. We did not guess as to

whether that could work. We commissioned a retail expert for one of the region's retail strategists to study the area. And their findings were this neighborhood supports approximately 45,000 square

feet of retail by the year 2033. Almost 90% of that is everyday high frequency spending from 31,000 households around the site and the 800 that this program that we're proposing will add. The

conclusion led with advice said lead with the food and beverage category, local authentic restaurant openings, and then onto the park and add everyday goods and services. Also, opportunities for

incubator that would showcase Ward 7 women in black owned businesses that would be getting opportunities in the final formation of the project. That is the program we're pursuing through this LDDA. A

grocer at the base of the first building, either parcel B or E, subject to, you know, negotiations with a would be retailer. A pharmacy, everyday services besides the emergency department that UHS

will be developing, front end restaurants and cafe, and under our, our CBA community benefits agreement, we would have space for local operators as well as offices for the ANC. Second, aging place, I

think it was another thing that we've even discussed here this morning. Ward 7 has the fastest growing senior population in the city. Until recently, no affordable assisted living existed at all. Our

firm was built the first two, the residents at Kenworth Park and the residents at Benning Metro, both within Ward 7. That's total over 300 units of assisted living homes operating within Ward 7,

licensed by DC Health and paid for through Medicaid. Fletcher Johnson is the next step. Ward 7 and 8 carry the highest instances of dementia and that burden district residents and seniors and families

have to choose between care that's exhausting at home or nursing homes that are far away from the community. Here we're proposing as we've discussed there in our site tour, the possibility for the

first dementia village in the district that would cater to folks with limited low income. For two years we've been working with partners to build that answer. The dementia village is closer to being

reality. We've held a symposium last year at one of our communities just that we brought in clinicians, researchers, and we held our first symposium last September of 2025 to discuss this very, this

very issue. We think we're closer in collaboration with district agencies to bring that to fruition. The policy roundtable earlier this year also contributed to that, and we think, you know, with

continued collaboration with DHCF, the Office of Medicaid and DC, we will bring that to reality. So Ward 7 will be a pilot for this particular program. The disposition agreement in front of you

carries this option. Obviously we've discussed that there is a mechanical system in there that will drive whether or not that comes to reality in a timing fashion. I won't get into that because that's

a little bit of nausea, but approving the bill as requested here would be our first step towards driving that outcome. None of this came to us alone, or we've done it alone. The program came to, as

Ms. Tate mentioned earlier, plenty of neighborhood support. The task force, the civic association, the RFP process, this has been really a labor of love from multiple parties that we've joined. We're

trying to reflect the community's needs and desires, not impose ours. And so we want to be in the community for the long drive, and so we respectfully ask that the committee report favorably on this

bill. And I'm glad to answer any questions upon your request. Thank you very much for your testimony. Good morning, Chairperson Fruman, Councilmember Felder, and Councilmember Parker. My name is

Babatunde Oloyade. I am the president and CEO of the Marshall Heights Community Development Organization. In 1979, Ward 7 residents founded MHCDO because they were tired of waiting for someone else to

invest in their neighborhoods. For over 47 years, MHCDO has focused on one thing, bringing economic development towards 7. To do it through health, education and wellness, small business development,

housing, real estate development, and workforce training. All to make Ward 7 the district's most welcoming, prospering, livable community for everyone. Our office is a short walk from the Fletcher-

Johnson site. This is MHCDO's neighborhood. I am here to ask you to support Bill 26720 favorably. For years, residents have told us what they need and wanted. They told the Marshall Heights Civic

Association, ANC 7E, and the district's own public process, the RRFP process. Let our seniors age in place. Give working families homes they can afford and a chance to own one. Bring health care east

of the river. Give the community green space it can use. Fletcher-Johnson answers every one of those requests. Affordable season, affordable senior housing, including the district's first memory care

community for low-income residents, family homes and home ownership, a freestanding emergency department developed by UHS, retail, green space, one site for every generation. I will be direct. MHCDO

is the development partner alongside Greg Cardona-Swati, and we have a stake in this project. That is exactly the point. For too long, development in Ward 7 has been done to us. Fletcher-Johnson will

be built with us. A Ward 7 organization will sit at the table, share in what gets built, and lead workforce training so the jobs on this site go to the people who live next to it. In addition, MHCDO

will support small businesses looking to bid on procurement and contracting opportunities at this site. This project earned its support. The team won ANC 7Es backing in 2020. It agreed on community

benefits that the ANC approved unanimously. The development team hosted a community meeting in August at MHCDO to provide updates, and in September the team walked the site with you, Chairperson

Froome. The district has committed more than $70 million to roads and infrastructure here, and that work is underway. The affordable housing is a commitment. The home ownership opportunity is a

commitment, not a hope. Everything is ready except one thing. This council's vote. The residents have done their part. The district has done its part. Now we ask you to do yours. Please report. Please

support Bill 26720 favorably. Ward 7 has waited long enough on this project. It's time to get it built. Thank you. Thank you. Sir, were you going to testify or are you here to answer questions? One of

them, thank you, Chair. Thank you, Chair Froome, members of the committee. Actually, it wasn't my plan originally to give comments. I think I was here for more support. But after listening to the site

so far, I think it's appropriate that I do put some comments on the record. My name is Hazy Gregg with a partner at Gregg. I don't know what it is. It's been mentioned before that this, not in its

namesake, but it's an actuality, it's a community-driven project. Since 2014, there's a member inside this room, not inside the room, that has been pushing to see some form of development that will be

accretive to the community. The RFP process started in 2019 was actually the basis of what our original proposal was. We looked at all those notes, all the boards, went back to 2014, went to the

surplus hearings, and that was the original proposal that we came to the community with. We're working with the Fletcher Johnson Task Force, with the ANC, Marchant Civic Association, community

members. We got feedback. They conducted a survey. We had ad hoc charrettes in terms of what the program would be at the ANC meetings. That was, as things do, you get the evolving sentiments, evolving

statements and feelings, priorities from the community. And that's what we landed at for the current development program and site plans. But I have to say that our approach has been for community-

driven placemaking. And that is for us to come, and not to say this is what should go inside here, based off of a market study, is to actually capture the existing cultural, spiritual, economic, and

human capital already existing inside of Marshall Heights and Benign Ridge and leverage that to a transformative development. I want to say this is community-driven. We'll continue to be community-

driven as long as we move forward and look for your support on this bill. Thank you very much for your testimony. I see we've been joined by Councilmember Parker. Councilmember Parker, if you'd like

to give an opening statement, you're welcome to. Thank you, Chairperson Froome. I will be brief. I'm interested in how do we maximize on the promises made towards seven residents. There has been a lot

of discussion of anchor investments and promises of housing. And I just would say, as the district is facing a housing crisis, I'm laser-focused on what commitments are we making to expand truly

affordable housing. Not just affordable housing, a name only, but truly affordable housing, and the amenities that I know residents east of the river have been asking for, namely grocery stores, and I

see that as part of your testimony. And so I do have some questions. I'm not sure now is the time, but I will wait for my time to ask. But housing and food access are two of the things that I'll be

paying close attention to. Thank you. Wonderful. I'd let you go in front of me, but I don't think I can let you go in front of Windell. So all right. I'm going to start on the health care piece. So,

Mr. Barrett, why did you decide to pursue a freestanding emergency department as opposed to an urgent care? We hear about needs for both in different places, but why a freestanding emergency

department? So as a provider, we operate both. And so the thinking there was as one, and we can show you the intensity of need, the impact on the safety net. But it's open. It's open 24/7, 365 days.

So we can deal with things like guns, gunshots, trauma, heart attack. It also plays in the broader strategy of what we're doing in the district. Obviously, we have George Washington University

Hospital, we have Cedar Hill, and now we're considering this FED. Well, I just came out of the Texas market. We did the same thing. We had four FEDs in the market, so it could decant the trauma

center. So that's very much in the thinking here. It's necessary access, but it does play a role in ensuring that we get patients to the right care setting at the right time. And what's your response

to the testimony that you will just stabilize certain patients, particularly in a gunshot setting, and then they would have to be transported long distances? Well, I mean, there are a number of items

that, you know, most gunshot wounds, if it really is to that level, it's going to find its way by EMS. They're going to take it directly to the trauma center. However, we do this in a number of

markets. We stabilize, and then we transfer. And in terms of the traffic, you know, there were some questions regarding ambulance traffic, and we have a deep appreciation for, you know, the school.

And by the way, we did talk to Shannon Hodge, who is the CEO of KIPP DC, and she had no objections to the project. She's in support of whatever is necessary to support the broader district. And then

in terms of what I'll call as rig traffic, on average, we had two inbound a day and about four to six outbound. I'm sorry, what was that you were referring to, rig traffic? Ambulance traffic. Yeah. I

was trying to impress you with the industry slang. But two to four coming in, four to six going out. And when they come into the community, the sirens and the lights are off. Two to four in what

period of time? During a day. A whole day. Yeah. So typically when you put a facility like this in, do you do some sort of a traffic study? Has any kind of traffic study been done? Yes. Related

specifically to the emergency department? We've worked with the developer, but we also know in terms of density and use case that there is a case for the services being provided there. OK. And and you

say that when the ambulance is approached, they will turn off their lights and sirens. Is there some sort of an agreement in place that at a certain radius around? But why would that be? How would

that be enforced? Well, because they're mindful in that type of neighborhood. I can't I don't know if it's a staining protocol, but we we had the same relationship with some of the FEDs we had in

Texas, because we are close to a residential outfit. And what I'm trying to get at, because people are talking about enforceability and accountability, is there some place where that might be written

down? I don't have a direct answer for that, but I can certainly not at this point. And you you do Cedar Hill and Georgetown Hospital. I think do you also do P.I.W. up in Ward three? UHS owns P.I.W.

you and it's our parent company, but it doesn't report through the acute division. That's a separate division of UHS, baby health division. I see. But the parent owns that. But you your regional

entity has the hospital, the two hospitals. Correct. OK, I mean, the P.I.W. is obviously been a pretty troubled place and so source of concern. You spoke a little bit about the schedule to get

started. What do you anticipate the schedule? Did you say when you would hope to open? So if this is approved in twenty twenty six, we think we can start construction first, second quarter of twenty

twenty seven. And then we have it slated to open the fourth quarter of twenty twenty eight. OK, all right, I'll stop there for right now on the on the grocery store. I don't want to steal anybody's

fire. But when I look at the two options, it looks like thirty three thousand square feet of retail or so in one of the options, fifty six thousand square feet of retail. And the other option, when

you think about a grocery store, what kind of square footage are you thinking about for? Will you be looking for an operator to fill? Yeah, great question. First of all, full service grocer that we

would see here would be the likes of what I call the smaller format full service, the leaders, the Trader Joe's, the moms organic. And they would they would range between twenty five to thirty

thousand square feet on the on the larger side. The fuller, the Safeway's and the Giants and all that, they tend to be a lot bigger and could be sustained there. But you could dedicate as much as

twenty five thousand square feet to a grocery store. That's correct. I will say, I mean, it's wrong, the distribution of grocery stores in the city. And we have a zillion of them in Ward three, which

is not right. But I only go to Lidl at this point. So Lidl is a great option. Let's put that out there. One of the things that folks raised was art space. And it sounds like that was part of a plan

that had been developed. And at some point along the way, that didn't get picked up. Can you speak to your ability to incorporate arts and education space in the envelope that you're working with and

why that fell off of the list of things that were going to be done? Great question. And I think my partner has mentioned it. So place making the way we see it as a process. It the way we have when we

work with the community through the iterations to discuss the plan, the community benefits agreement. How does it come about? We've put in placeholders for the would be there will be future charrettes

that will come about for the design of the park. That'll bring community input as things take shape as the G.S. is working through the infrastructure. But as a matter of ethos for our organization, we

really live the arts. I mean, we if you come visit one of our buildings, we typically work with local artists to produce original pieces and try to create living exhibits. But certainly as far as the

design of the park and creating an environment that caters to the arts, we see that coming certainly through future stress that will come through as we put together the building pieces for

construction. But the kind of dedicated art space like the the arc that's not in the mix at this point, is that correct? We are not closed off to it. Those types of things come about through certain

explorations that we certainly are open to as we go forward in programming the later phases. Right now, as the schedule goes, the first parcel, as we discussed there in the site tour will be building

B, which is the former school building. Certainly that would be the timing for that to move forward would not have a lot of runway to really make space for that kind of discussion unless there was a

program or provider that was ready to go. But certainly we're not closed off. The community says, hey, arc number two at Fletcher Johnson. It'd be a wide open discussion. But those those are not open

or close and shut. There are certainly opportunities that we can explore. So on the on the big building and that's the building where we have a fork in the road about which way you go in option A and

option B. Is that right? That is correct. And so the senior village, which sounds very intriguing to me, looks like it must take up more space than assisted living. But because there's 20,000 fewer

retail square feet available under that option, I'm assuming it takes up more space. But is that the case? A portion of the design process for that building would require. So that's so if you're doing

independent senior, which would be option B, those seniors tend to be more ambulatory, much more independent. So it's akin to multifamily housing. So design wise, it can really occupy more of the

higher floors and you can leave more of the ground plane available for other usage. When we talk about memory care, you want to maximize, you really want to maximize the lower levels for the amenity

spaces for the memory care. And the threshold level condition between public and nonpublic space becomes more of a consideration because of the particular use of what would be a dementia village or a

memory care community. But does that suggest, I hear you, now I understand why it has that impact on retail because it's the ground floor. But does it then free up space on other floors that might be

used for community amenities in a different way? Yeah. So it goes down to when you do a member. So if you do an independent senior, you can actually accommodate up to 300 apartments by zoning an

envelope and what have you. With memory care, certainly there is an operational limitation. You really wouldn't want to surpass about 150 to 160 apartments that we're suggesting because operational

quality controls that you'd have to put in. You couldn't really go for 300 apartments of memory care. Otherwise, the quality of care would precipitously drop. And therefore, the co-location of other

spaces, because if you think of memory care, you have to have an envelope that's secure. To a certain extent, you do not want to have elopement or wandering off risk. So that's not what I'll call a

public building that's easily traversed back and forth. So there's less opportunity for co-locating things, if that makes sense. All right. I'll come back to it. I've gone over. So let me turn to

Council Member Felder. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Picking up where you left off, Mr. Barrett, I'll start with you. Within your testimony, you mentioned that UHS has deep roots in the District of

Columbia. In addition to the George Washington University Hospital, Ward 2, you operate Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center in Cedar Hill Urgent Care and Ward 8, given the current state of Cedar Hill

and Ward 8. And knowing that you will manage this freestanding emergency facility, could you speak to what best practices have you learned from the Cedar Hill Regional Hospital? And as you look

forward to managing and operating a freestanding emergency room, how can you ensure to residents in Ward 7, how you let the same things that happen at this site won't happen at this site? Sure. Well,

I think primarily I would say a lesson learned is just speaking, frankly, we should have done a better job of community involvement at Cedar Hill. And but now we have leadership in place. We're very

active in playing. We want to be not only a provider in the community, we want to be a good citizen. So there's a lot of work that we're doing in that regard. Certainly the other lesson we learned

there is there is insufficient primary care. So one of the things we're doing in that market is we're going to be bringing more primary care to the market. And again, the way we're thinking about I

want to view these as a gaggle of distinct assets. They're not, you know, we are a system. And with the advent of this FED, it allows us to better manage the more tertiary cases at GW and also be the

community provider that the citizens of Ward 7 and 8 want at Cedar. No, thank you for that. And you talk about community involvement. How does that community involvement differ from the work that

Osama and Haziq are doing around the site? Do you guys work in collaboration? Okay, is there going to be a plan, a community engagement plan? There's a larger community engagement plan already

underway, but as it relates to creating more access points, certainly in vulnerable areas like Ward 7, we're going to be very active in enfranchising the community. You heard this from earlier

testimonies while I am keenly focused on ensuring that this project is delivered in a way that meets the community needs and bring the neighborhood serving amenities that residents in the ward

deserve. I'm equally focused on making sure that we create opportunities for small and local businesses and put folks back to work, especially as the district. Unfortunately, we're leading the country

in the unemployment rate. My question to you, you talked about the timeline for the construction of the freestanding emergency. Could you speak to what's the anticipated timeline to engage with small

businesses or any solicitation timeline in which they can roll their sleeves up and work on the construction? Well, I mean, again, if if we receive approval in calendar year 2026, we would look to

start construction in the first quarter of 2027. We anticipate that would be operational fourth quarter 2028. Certainly, you know, we have an obligation. We do this at Cedar. We would look to we

believe representation matters. We are we are bringing on residents to serve as employees at Cedar. We would do the same thing at the F.E.D. I mean, this is the kind of workforce you want. It's highly

educated. It's high wage. It's clean industry. So we think this is a win win, certainly in terms of our broader ambitions within the broader district, but also for the citizens of Ward 7. Thank you

for that, Osama or Hazeek. You talked about the robust community engagement process that you guys undertook to make sure that the project is reflected of the community's concern. My question to you,

based on those conversations, what would you say were the top three concerns from the community? I think the top one concern of community is to ensure the involvement and accountability of our team

and the involvement of the community. I think that's number one. Number two is the retail rate and to have amenities that, as stated before, residents here have to go get in their cars and get in the

train and travel for a lot of different retail and the city. They want to see that here, and the third, and there's a survey that we have this, but I believe one of the third higher ones are around

having community space, right? Particularly where community members, whether it be kids, whether it be adults, whether it be the ANC offices that have space where they can congregate and carve their

own. If that wasn't dedicated, police have some space that can be used on behalf of the community at the location. Thank you. And just a follow-up question, when was the last time that you guys have

gone to the community, gave an update on the project, and could you speak to what continued community engagement looked like? That was last month, I believe, was August, end of August, last community

meeting. It'll be ongoing, especially as we go forward with the disposition. If we go for this position, it'll be ongoing, at the start of the first at least with the ANC monthly meetings, and as a

team, we'll hold our own individual meetings with MACDO using their offices to host, at least quarterly. If not more than that, community meetings that have this. But then we're also going to have

those charrettes and those community input meetings that will come, you know, on a daily basis. And Babatunde, you talked about, during this process, how you won the community support. Could you speak

to if there's ever been a resolution passed by the ANC 7E Commission to support this project? Yes, there was a unanimous resolution passed in 2020 to support this project. So, yeah. If you could

indulge me for one more point, one of the things that MACDO is committed to doing, not just for this project, but for all projects in Ward 7, we're in the process of creating and launching a Ward 7

real estate project repository where residents can go and get up-to-date, as much as we can do, up-to-date information on the status of the project. So, if they have any questions or concerns, they

can come to MACDO to get that information. Thank you for that. I look forward to working with you on that. We talked a lot about community engagement. We talked a lot about what neighbors want to see.

So, we talked about the freestanding emergency room. Hypothetically speaking, if this approval from the Council on this disposition approval is delayed or does not happen, how would that impact the

project? Well, I mean, it would certainly delay the building of the FED. And then the question of, you know, we have, you know, your mark capital, we'd have to work certainly with the Department of

Health if there's going to have to be work as it relates to certifying the project. And I think, again, that the inadequacy of care available in that market, I mean, I think what we'll do is we'll

continue to find that, you know, people are not in a position where they have adequate care. And I think that, to me, as much as anything is a vital reason for approving the project. And let me be

unequivocally clear. We do not want that. Unfortunately, there's been a number of recent shootings and deaths in Ward 7. And I'm a firm believer that in the event we would have had an emergency

freestanding emergency room or some type of grander medical facility, then a number of those labs could have been saved. I will tell you that being on this council for the first or the last 18 months,

I'm proud to say that I felt very hard in the FY 2026 budget to get $32 million in the project and then in FY 2027, 14 million. And thanks to Matt, we work closely together to making sure the funds

stay there. With that being said, I know that in this environment, projects across the district are coming to the council to the mayor asking for additional funds. Could you speak to if any, if

there's any market concerns that could possibly delay the project or if you guys may have to come back to the city asking for additional resources. Councilmember fell thank you for that question. I

think if I may, I think Councilmember Parker mentioned that earlier and I think chair from and mentioned it as well. Current conditions right now are defined by uncertainty and uncertainty is never

good for for business, especially in a crisis where housing on affordability is a huge topic. Bring uncertainty is certainly a baseline. We've invested as record no sorority and Fletcher Johnson

community partners we've invested since 2021 in this project, both dollars, time, and commitment, the district through your leadership and the council leadership and investing in the infrastructure

that's already underway, the demolition the partial the motion of the building as we saw there in the tour, and the DS work that's ongoing. So that would delay the return on that investment to the

district, and certainly seeing that the overall environment spells slow movement to capital to come back. I think certainly a favorable outcome here with signal to the larger capital markets and the

larger markets at large that this is, you know, we're starting to trend in a positive direction to where we can attract capital, we can attract retailers. So certainty is a good thing you can't have

too much of it, in my opinion. So certainly, that would be my response to that. No, thank you for that and you know we heard the word affordability, and I feel like that word is just thrown out there.

How do you make sure that, well, obviously we're catering to the different income needs, the different populations, whether that is seniors whether that is young families that are expanding, whether

that is long term residents. How are you approaching this development on one hand, incorporating with the community needs which drives this balancing the market forces and ensuring that the

neighborhood serving amenities are developed in a way that it doesn't inadvertently disproportionately impact the broader community. Honestly, I mean, it's not a short answer but I'll do my best to

condense it, because the truth is, when when you curate, this is what this is it's a bit of a curation process. When I say we've been working on this particular project for several years. We've been

out to the retail conferences, every single year, to keep the larger retail markets are prized. We're going out to capital partners, keeping them updated so they understand timing, and we always get

the same question who's going to be the retailer so well until we have a certain schedule, and the key there is certain. You know, no needle, no grocer is going to say I'm ready to negotiate a lease

until you have certain timelines in place. Now, time is the greatest cost factor. When you have carry costs, they drive everything from hard cost construction costs in other words, your capital costs

when a lender looks at a deal or an investor looks at a deal and says, your timeline seems to be all over the place. It's difficult to forecast now when we talk about affordability. What are we

talking about, it's affordable to whom I think some community members have mentioned it affordability to a working family is different than affordability for a senior different than affordability for

for a young adult. And that's why we said this is in my opening remarks, I've mentioned that this is an intergenerational vision that tries to bring together the right slice for everybody and that

curation process is art. That's underpinned by underwriting and science. You have to have an Excel spreadsheet that ties everything to the T so that you can garner support from investors and lenders

and the larger market. Thank you for that, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Councilmember Parker. Thank you. I want to start first with the medical facility. Just zooming out, we're in a context where frankly

Cedar Hill is struggling, and we received a letter from the mayor where that we're infusing more money, there's going to be extended partnerships. And now we're being presented with the development of

a standalone emergency facility, not to say we shouldn't do that. But how do we reconcile those two things that Cedar Hill is struggling, and I think it's premature to say it's stabilized. And yet

we're going to bring online a standalone emergency facility. Well, I would look at a few ways. I would look at, you know, standing up a greenfield hospital, which is what Cedar was, it's usually 18 to

24 month window. And then there were some other circumstances, but fundamentally the issue at Cedar, there hasn't been a, there isn't the network that feeds it. So part of what we're doing is

developing a medical community that's going to take longer. And I would have viewed the FED as a discrete offering, but now it builds into again the system's strategy. We want to create access points.

And again, right here, right place, right time. So the FED allows us to do that because again, when you go to the hospital, we want to make sure that if it's truly an acute need, you're not going to

have somebody who is not as severe taking up a hallway, taking up a bed. And connected to that point, what I believe more residents need is connection to primary care and less so emergency care. We

want fewer residents in emergency rooms and more residents connected to long-term sustained primary care. So again, pushback. Why an emergency room and not an urgent care or a primary care facility or

a behavioral health facility given the crisis that is brewing east of the river? Well, and again, I think you're aware we do, we, UHS is the largest provider of behavioral health in the country. We

have PIWIS, we're cousins, let me put it that way. But as it relates to, I think again, in the system strategy, which I outlined for you, but we're of the, you know, because of the 24/7 nature of the

FED, we believe it's a more vital, it's a more necessary offering than an urgent care. Okay. One more question here, and I do have other questions. So it's my read that the agreement for the

standalone emergency facility is separate from the rest of the development deal. Is that correct? There are two separate agreements. I believe that to be the case. So they're running on parallel

tracks. And it's my understanding that the emergency facility comes first. Is that accurate? Yeah. So what happens if the standalone emergency facility runs into similar challenges that we're seeing

at Cedar Hill among them are staffing challenges that we can't get people that want to work there. Then what happens to the rest of the development deal? Well, again, I would just frame this, we've,

there's always, you know, the black swan event that you can't account for. No one's going to take it. Well, we do run 37 of these throughout the country in markets that don't have the density that we

have here in the, in the district. We've, there's been a lot of thought, you know, a lot of focus on ensuring that there is the density and the demand. We feel very comfortable in our ability to staff

it. And again, staff it with residents who live in the community, but we also feel very comfortable out executing. And we've done this, you know, in many markets. So I feel very comfortable. Sorry,

I'm just noticing the clock. But is there a world that if we run into a snag, things don't roll out how we anticipate with this emergency facility that could further stall the rest of the development?

I can't, I can't speak for the development. I don't envision that, but. Yeah. Councilman Parker, I mean, I, there is a, there's the leaky leaves of why there are two separate agreements. That's one,

one, one note. But in terms of the, the synergies that from what we heard from the community in that black swan event, I mean, I don't believe we're going to be depending on the, the FED being

complete for us to commence our work for housing it. Now we have a vested interest in its success because it's part of one collective campus, but we certainly don't see a co-dependence on one plus

two, that by the time they get out of the ground, we're hopefully went on well on our way on getting the first parcel capitalized and designed and ready for construction. But certainly our vested

interest in seeing a successful Fletcher Johnson as a whole. I got you. And I just will name while I am skeptical of the need of a standalone emergency facility, I'm not closed off to it. There's one

coming toward five. And I think the closer we can get people to care, that's a good thing. But again, I just repeat residents need more sustained primary care versus emergency care. I think it's and

we're doing both. Okay. Again, we're, we're facing a reality though, I think we should be clear at where Cedar Hill is struggling. And so if Cedar Hill was off to the races and flying high, I think it

would be a different conversation. It's still to be determined if we're able to stabilize that facility, and we're being asked to authorize the creation of another facility with similar partners, but

I want to move on just for the sake of time. For the development team, how do we ensure that the proposed development delivers a grocery store and food and retail and restaurants, as I see is one of

the things that residents are saying more than anything, they are hoping this project delivers. So, great question Councilmember. If I may just go one other thing I wanted to mention in terms of just

the healthcare piece. There is also ongoing conversations with UHS, because as I think Doug mentioned, there are opportunities for additional primary care and secondary care on the campus that would

be commercial space, or certainly we've we've structured the conversation that would enable that to occur to bring additional providers to the campus but that's what we're not putting down on paper

but certainly that's something that just takes that synergy out and I just wanted to mention that for the record. In terms of guarantees, I don't sign a lot of guarantees in life because we believe

that if you do the right pieces. Whereas, before we came before you we spent the last five years going consistently to the right places where retail cultivation takes place. That includes

conversations with industry experts, conferences, to be able to announce the upcoming availability of space, and knowing that we've studied the market, we understand there is demand, there is

purchasing power, there is years of frustration of residents having to cross into Virginia. Again, just being mindful of time. So, I'm hearing you say there's no guarantees and I think that's fair.

There's no guarantees that you can deliver anything, but more than what we are already doing. So, the government is already working to attract secure grocery stores east of the river and we've been

largely unsuccessful. What are we going to do different to ensure that this is not yet another example of that? Yeah, what past experience does your development team have to say, here's our success in

these markets that lead us to believe we can deliver this. Yeah, I mean I think I think the key indicator here is what's different about Fletcher Johnson not unique throughout the city but certainly

in Ward 7, where you have a way development comes in waves, and certainly the wave of development from RFK has knock on positive effects overall on the ward, but looking at a Fletcher Johnson as a

unique parcel. It's a dense enough opportunity where you can tell you know most retailers want to know what's what's called in the trade beds and heads. In this case, if you show them that you've got

critical density that's existing because 800 units is not enough to support a grocer by itself but the 32,000 purchasers that are already in the community. So, in my last minute, what experience does

the development team or what can you point to to say, here's our strategy that we know works to attract and retain a grocery store that we believe almost certainly will be able to deliver here. I mean

it's so so when you look at examples throughout the city including in our first iteration as an organization in Columbia Heights over 75,000 square feet of retail. Again, it's density beds and heads

again Columbia Heights is different than Ward 7. This is economic development from the ground up. Right. And so you have to apply the same fundamental principles that you can apply in Columbia Heights

before all that retail was there and show the retailers that you've got the quality of execution. And the certainty of execution, because if you show a retailer, here's the space, here are the numbers

for food and beverage for all the categories, if you if you build here, you will have residents that will patron you and that's that those are the same fundamentals that we've applied previously and

we look to apply here. Okay, I'm gonna give chairperson for a minute some time back because I won't have time for my other questions. I mean, if you wanted just to go for a couple more minutes, you're

welcome. Oh, great. Yes, I have more questions. Okay, okay. Look at that. I love it. Just to be clear in that Columbia Heights example, was that that did that include a grocery store? It was a much

greater mix of retailers. Now it actually has a grocer many years later, but it did not it did not include a grocer initially, but it had smaller format retails. Okay, I would just say in Ward five,

the what was once referred to as the McMillan development, I know the pain that goes into trying to attract and retain a grocer. And not to say Ward five is like Ward seven or McMillan is like

Fletcher Johnson, but it has to be more than we just want a grocer to come because I don't think they're just going to come. And what it would be helpful to see or hear is here's our plan, our

sustained strategic plan and incentives to make sure we get someone there. But I do want to move on. How will the development team ensure that the affordable housing options for this site actually

meet the needs of current Ward seven residents? Yeah, great, great question. So, I mean, conversations with Councilmember Felder and many community members, affordability has become at one point,

there was a phase where everything was let's do in housing production trust fund all affordable buildings. And I think that genre has become challenging, even for community members from conversations

we've had. So designing what we call intergenerational mixed income community where you're trying to drive success by saying, where is the demand? We've run a study as well for we already are in a

neighborhood. We've delivered three hundred units of a specific typology of housing, mainly affordable assisted living. And we have other other projects pipeline. So the notion here is being

intentional about what goes where at what time and what can you finance when that's what we're leading assisted living component. I think that's a nice part of this deal. Just quickly, can you remind

me the specs of affordability? Like what are the numbers? So we have pursuant to 10 801, there will be 30 percent AMI apartments, primarily an option A will be will be in the impartial B for for the

memory care. And then the balance of the buildings will have will meet the requirement through 50 percent AMI requirements. And then the rest currently the rest will be unrestricted, so to speak. But

currently market is at 80, but 30 percent just to simplify, 30 percent of all the housing will be affordable to 30 percent and 50 percent of AMI. Got it. Got it. OK, I'm going to be mindful of time. I

just have two more questions, if that's OK. But one of the things I caught at the tail end of testimony was a need for larger size units. This is something we also hear in Ward 5 in certain

communities. What are the specs there in terms of the size of bedrooms provided in the housing development portion? So the good news, starting from the top, the typologies, we have for sale townhomes

that will be obviously well designed for families, even intergenerational families in terms of the senior housing, it'll run the spectrum for memory care. Typically, those are going to be studios to

one bedrooms because you're having signal occupancy residents for the family out for the age restricted non memory care. Those are primarily, again, will be potentially for studios and one bedrooms

because the most you're going to have is a couple. But for family housing, we'll look to obviously design a mix that will include family housing, two bedrooms and three bedrooms within those within

those typologies. The idea here is we want to have not only a spectrum of age, but a spectrum of size of resident, meaning both the young adult that's just getting their career started, as well as the

families with young children that could have either. I'm assuming the townhomes for ownership will have the two and three bedrooms. Correct, the apartments will as well, we will have studio rooms and

potential for two. But if the family apartment, the multifamily non age restricted, we'll have the options for two and three bedroom apartments as well for rentals. OK, I think, again, that's

something to look at. One of the things, if I'm a parent with three kids, that's five individuals. If we're renting in this development, even a one bedroom or even a two bedroom becomes challenging.

And there is a need for that type of diversity. Last question, I have many more, but I'll just ask one more. Let's focus on timeline. So it's this site has been vacant. As Councilmember Felder alluded

to, there has been a lot of ups and downs, backs and forth. And we're all excited for there to be movement. But what I think many are concerned about is how do we make sure this is done right and

actually serves the residents there, not folks that will move to the site, but actually residents that can benefit that are in Ward 7 today. Can you just walk me through the major timelines? Because I

continue to be concerned that even with the best of intentions, we may find ourselves in a similar place where maybe part of the project is delivered. So walk me through the major timelines as relates

to the two parcels. Yes. And I believe Doug touched on the parcel A, which will be the freestanding emergency department. Which I think I heard. Quarter four, two thousand twenty seven. Twenty eight

in terms. I'm sorry. Quarter four, two thousand twenty eight. Yeah. Got it. So our anticipation with an approved LDDA from council signed by the executive, we will commence our work with Department of

Health Care Finance to finalize the program for the memory care. That's what Sheriff Freeman had mentioned. We have two options, two tracks. Ideally, we believe track A is going to meet the

requirements of that intergenerational the best way. That depends on collaboration with the HCF to get the Medicaid program modified and to provide the memory care program to take off. We believe that

can run co-concurrent with our pre-development activities. So parcel B, where the existing school will be the first one to come out of the ground. We're anticipating the first closing to be in twenty

eight right about the time. The FED will be delivering. Hopefully we're on track to close and start construction. And the best way I could say it is once once you start that that first piece, think of

it as you finish one and you're starting pre-development on the next one or two years. And that's the target. So let's say quarter four, two thousand twenty eight is when you expect the first part of

the development to commence or be delivered. Construction to commence. To commence. And then when do we expect it to be delivered? Each of the buildings are roughly going to be about an eighteen to

twenty four month construction period. So now we're looking at twenty thirty before you get the first and then in the best case scenario. Last question, when do you anticipate this full site being

delivered? Best case scenario in a conservative scenario, we're looking at, I mean, DLD will provide for a full ten years to get all all sites started. So if you think about it from today, it'll be

about twelve years if everything runs at its maximally. That's a really long time. That is. But certainly that is not our goal. Our goal is to certainly work towards acceleration of that would

capital, you know, proper capitalization. But certainly the expectations on the LDA will provide for that. OK, thank you, Chairperson, for the extra time. Thank you, Council Member Parker. So I want

to I want to break it down a little bit more on the theme that Council Member Parker was talking about. So the legislative documents state that development will build approximately eight hundred

residential units. Can you provide a firm number on how many units will be built and how many units will be in each of the different phases? And on the phase that's parcel B, which has two different

options, if you could give me the numbers on those. So I anticipated that once I provided myself a little cheat sheet on my phone. So I'm not Snapchatting or anything. I'm just reading off the program

because I don't have it all committed to memory. So under option A, we will be looking at approximately and I'm not caveating with approximately. That's just because we haven't designed the buildings

yet. We were looking at approximately 157 apartments in parcel B, 158 apartments in parcel E, 327 apartments in parcel F, 133 apartments in parcel G, in addition to the 25 townhomes in option B, where

the memory care or the dementia village is not what occupies building. I mean, parcel B, we're looking at parcel B occupied or providing approximately 300 apartments, parcel E remaining. And the rest

of the parcels will remain the same difference is really in parcel and parcel B and F. So parcel E will be 158 apartments, parcel F will be 184 apartments, parcel G will be 133 apartments and the

townhome count will remain the same. And I should highlight that the townhome count may increase depending on, as we discussed on the site tour, what happens with the communications tower. There could

be additional additional density available there for townhomes. OK, so 300 and 158, 458, 189, 647, 133, 680, 780, and then the 25 gets you to 805. The other option, option A, it's 157 instead of the

300. So that gets you closer, gets you under in the 600. Is that right? Because the difference in the two schemes, parcel F will end up having in parcel and in option A, parcel F will have 327

apartments in it. So the density that we were not able to achieve in parcel A, I mean, in parcel B will shift to parcel F. Ah, and you'll build a bigger building there? Correct. Ah, I see. OK, and so

then the 157 units that go in the option A on parcel B, how many square footage of development possibility is there in parcel B and how much of it will be consumed by the 157 units in the senior

village? Great question. So there's two parts to that answer. One part is what is the current building's capacity? Right now, as you know, it's very deep. It was a school building. So you'd have to

carve out courtyards out of it, so to speak, to make it. So in the case of the memory care, we foresee a de minimis addition being added to the building, both vertically and horizontally. The memory

care community will be roughly at that unit count. We're roughly about 130,000 square feet. By contrast, when you're looking at a 300 unit independent senior building, that's well over 260,000 square

feet of density that could be derived by combining both the existing density existing in the building in addition to a maximization of the zoning envelope that is provided. OK, so and some of the

difference there, how big is the building today? So because they chopped off the front end or the piece that faces the street, it's usable square feet by my best recollection, and this I don't have on

a note. It's approximately one hundred and seventy five thousand, you know, usable square feet, but by usable, what's usable for a school building without windows becomes different. And we have not

finished analyzing that vis-a-vis how residential units would potentially sit, but we'd feel comfortable that you can derive about one hundred and thirty thousand square feet roughly from the existing

show as usable density for a residential building. And how big is the contemplated addition in order to accommodate option A and how big is the addition to accommodate option B? Great question. As of

our current analysis, we think there is approximately an additional partial story that would go on the existing building to accommodate option A vis-a-vis option B for parcel B. There will be

approximately three to four stories added to the building to create the density needed for those three hundred apartments. And then the additional density on option F, if we go with option B, how much

more density is that? That is approximately about one hundred and twenty apartments that could be added. And that's so the option B baseline for a partial F is smaller, but certainly depending on

market demand, when we get to parts left, there could be an opportunity to increase that density. And so it's interesting because option A and option B, when I think about it, I just think about the

difference in service delivery, but it actually has ramifications for the whole site. That's certainly correct. And in option A, in theory, there could be the capacity to add in order to accommodate

some of the other requests, not ground floor requests, because you want the ground floor, but other requests from the community if you were to add more to that building. And then there's a dimension

of finance ability. Chair Furman, today, in terms of when you talk about the two options, we believe what a Medicaid program, there is a greater possibility for financing that type of housing in the

current timeline that we're talking about vis-a-vis conventional, what I call conventional multi-family or senior housing that is currently a whole lot more support will be needed for that, because

that's certainly the environment is not. That's part of the reason why we designed option A as the go-to. I hear you on that. And I do think this is likely to continue to be iterative because the

council will do what the council will do, but then we will have a new mayor and you will have to go to closing with, I think, that new mayor. And so we'll see where that all goes. What I'm trying to

figure out is what sort of flexibility might there be down the line to do additional things that people in the community might ask for. And what I'm hearing is that physically it could be done,

financially could it be done. Yeah, iterative is the right term. Flexibility is absolutely because, I mean, for every its inputs and outputs to the extent that there is a greater demand from the

community and the incoming council and executive, we are going to remain flexible to work with both all stakeholders. If there is a way to, you know, derive or meet greater needs, we are wide open to

it. OK, and then and then also on option A, I will be curious to continue to explore how much more favorable that financing is because I mean, that option A strikes me as exciting. We don't have

anything like this. It's worked really well in different places. The idea that we would pilot a thing that had been developed in Europe, I believe, and very successful in Europe in Ward 7 is exciting

to me. But if it if it also helped on the financing and helped increase the flexibility to do other things, that would make it that much more exciting. Councilmember Parker asked about unit sizes. At

some point, I think it would be useful to get a listing in each building of what unit sizes you're anticipating. Certainly, I mean, what I reference is what is the concept and what we're desiring in

terms of underwriting. Those are really a factor of design when we get to the actual final designs of the building and the concurrent market studies, because every time we're going to go design a

multifamily building, we're going to go back out to market Corey for what what we believe can be absorbed because you don't deliver what you think should be is in demand. You query the market and say,

how many three bedrooms do we need? You figure out how to design them. How many two bedrooms do we need? You add them and so on and so forth. So that's a long way of saying we don't have I mean, I can

provide you what we believe are conceptual mix of units and we're happy to provide that. OK, maybe it's even just the number of units that you're contemplating campus wide at each different level, at

each different level of affordability, whether it be 30 percent, 50 percent or market, which you make the valid point that market in this environment is 80 percent ami. So I hear you on them. Of the

affordable units, it's going to be 241 affordable units, which gets you over the 30 percent. Are the hundred and fifty six units in the senior village all 30 percent affordable because they're

Medicaid funded? Is that where you check the box on 30 percent affordability in that scenario? Every every participant in Medicaid has is by federal statute will be 30 percent of ami or less, 300

percent of the SSI level. So, yes, that is that that is that is true. So a hundred and fifty six in scenario a hundred and fifty six units will be 30 percent ami and then there would be eighty five

more units spread throughout the the campus that would be 50 percent am. That is absolutely correct. OK, with that, I too went over, but I'll turn it back to council member Felder. Thank you, Mr.

Chairman. Babatunde, I'll start with you. Could you speak to the role that Marshall Heights play in this development from? Well, from the beginning, it was a community led effort. I can say that in

2020, I was part of the Fletcher Johnson task force serving as treasurer representing MHCDO. And then as we progress through this process, MHCDO has played a role throughout within community

engagement, making sure that we as an organization, but also the community is kept abreast of the developments along this project. And do you guys have a role in workforce development? Yes, we do. So

with all of the projects that we are a partner in, we we take a lead role in both workforce development training and small business development. So we run two programs concurrently workforce

development training. This this for this particular site and actually for all of our sites, it'll be focused on construction. And so we we hold multiple cohorts in terms of learning construction, best

practices, you get a certificate, you get the OSHA training, you get CPR training and there's fall prevention. So you get the the three main trainings that allow a resident and individual to seek

employment at a construction site. That's on the workforce development side. On the small business side, what we do is we we work with local small businesses, primarily Ward 7 and Ward 8 businesses to

help them make sure that they're in compliance. And we also host bid opportunities. So once we start to move through the process on the construction side, we will have an open house where we will

invite local construction companies and GCs to come in and basically bid on the work. Right. And then we will walk them through what that process looks like, because we want to make sure that both on

the workforce side and the small business side, that those opportunities are well advertised to the community. Thank you for that. I asked Mr. Byrne earlier about the anticipated timeline for the

solicitation for CBEs. My question to you, Baba, is how are you working in collaboration to make sure that our residents are job ready as opportunities become available on this project? Yeah, that's a

very good point. One of the things that we have learned at MHCDO is that we cannot wait for that opportunity to get announced. So we're actually doing our programming now so that people are prepared

so that when those opportunities do come about, they don't have to say, well, I don't have my OSHA 10 or I don't have my CPR training so I can't participate. We're getting people ready now. And then

it's just a matter of us collaborating with UHS and figuring out what their timeline is so that we can make those job opportunities available. Thank you for that. And with this project, there's other

projects across the ward that you've worked on. Could you walk me through the process in which, hey, there's a project that you guys are awarded. Construction is about to start. I'm a resident. I'm

looking for a job. I come to MHCDO. What happens? Between looking for a job to working on the site. So the first thing is that we have an intake process. So it's one thing to recognize that you want a

job or you want a job, but then there's other piece where we do an assessment to see if you are job ready. And then we have two tracks. There's job readiness training, which will entail working on

some of the software skills to make sure that you're successful once you do have the job. And then there's the workforce development training, which is the second track, which actually gives you the

skills, the certifications that you need to actually do the job. Thank you. Osama, Councilmember Parker talked about the timeline and you say there that there would take 12 years to finish the project

in this totality. Why so long? That was in response to what is the most conservative timeline that the LDA would provide for knowing that you would start the first site and then you would go

consecutively two years apart. And in fact, are again that the townhomes will fill in at their due time. That is not certainly what we're aiming to do because you're factoring the LDA provides time

for a in 10 years. Real estate cycles go in five to six years. We anticipate that there would be contingency timing in there for a downturn to resurface. We may we may be in for building B and E and

we know our aim is to really try to capitalize them as quick as humanly possible. And certainly there is a case to be made here with fresh energy coming into the council and to the Wilson building to

say there could be a pathway to go much faster. But certainly the provision my response was to what is the most conservative path that the LDA provides for that enables contingencies for financing and

slowdowns. Thank you for that. As you know, from working with me, I think word seven, we've waited for too long. We've seen a number of development projects stall for a plethora of reasons under my

watch that won't happen. With that being said, could you speak to you gave the conservative number. Could you speak to best case? What is your anticipated timeline? And then how can the council

support your efforts to make sure that the project is sped up responsibly, sped up one hundred percent. So I would say that first of all, your efforts council member Felder are already helping that

the fact that there is infrastructure funding that's in place. That's enabling the roadway network and the utilities to go in that provides a great level certainty for us to get to get start on this

option. They certainly getting support from the council as we work with sister agencies to get the member program going. That will certainly be part of the momentum building to to tell you our goal

would be to certainly beat that by many, many years. Ideally, there is a case to be made with greater level support from the district in terms of creating that certainty we keep referring to. This

could move significantly quicker. And if I'm if I'm being candid, I think certainly there could be a timeline that would within the next six to seven years. You can see rapid transformation of the

full site, not maybe full completion, but it could be the vast majority. But that's that's pushing for continuation of the support that we've had from you from the council and from the executive

coming in. I certainly don't get younger as these projects take longer. So we're certainly looking for for momentum building and maintaining that momentum because these will call multi phase master

plan development communities. It's about building that momentum and maintaining it. And you've seen across the city, certain ones, if you want to build that momentum slowly, methodically, and then

capture it and then write it until to the finish line. And I think Ward seven has what would your leadership. And I'm not I'm not trying to over represent it. The chips are stacked in favor of Ward

seven right now. And I think we should be anticipating the best outcome, not the most conservative one. You're absolutely right, because it's one of seven's time with that by one Sunday, I want to

follow back on something. So I drove past the site, it looked like it's bordered or restricted from public. Correct me if I'm wrong, there's no work happening on the site right now. And maybe that's

in Osama. I believe DGS has already started working on the site with the demolition and doing some of the infrastructure work. When we went on the tour, we saw a couple of trucks pull up dumping dirt.

So so there's some work going on at the site. And I certainly don't speak for DGS, but I do know that they're currently working on the grading for parcel a that is the priority work that DGS is

currently pursuing copy. I will be interested to know how many Ward seven residents are working on the site or how many opportunities have been made for small businesses in Ward seven. So you guys can

get that information from me that will be helpful. Some of you talked about grading work now, I know due to the topography of the site in the past, there were conversations about, you know, potential

infrastructure work. Has there been any challenges today pertaining to the work that's going on to support the infrastructure of the development? So we've studied the site extensively, even back when

during your tenure at that, but we I feel like we've characterized the the qualities of the site and the challenges of the site pretty accurately at this point. I believe, again, not speaking for DGS,

I know they're they're leading the path on the design of the roadways and the infrastructure and from our engagement with them. It seems like we've got it pretty much all in the control. Thank you for

that. And just my final question to Mr. Barrett. I know we talked about the freestanding emergency room and the conversation about the freestanding emergency room versus the urgent care, which to your

point, it's not an either or, it's a both. My question to you, I've read somewhere where UHS is required to invest 75 million in east of the river ambulatory facilities. Is this freestanding

emergency? It's part of it's a part of the part of the investment way. Well, thank you. Well, thank you all. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. Councilmember Felder, Councilmember Parker. Thank you. I

promise I'm not going to take all the time. It's my going back to the emergency facility. It was my understanding their original deal or agreement included urgent care. What led to the shift to an

emergency facility? We have an urgent care in Ward 8 and then this was this is part of the investment. So there wasn't there. We're doing both. But it's my understanding on this site there was going

to be an urgent care. And now the proposal is I'm just trying to better understand why the change and some would say an emergency room would also cost the district more in terms of reimbursements and

others. Do you have an estimate of the cost differential if this were a urgent care versus an emergency room for the district? No, I do not. I can get that for you if you could. I think that would be

helpful for this committee to consider. And again, I'm all for health facilities, but we want residents in a sustained primary care. I wanted to come back. I thought Chairperson Freeman asked a very

interesting question around the two options. And I just want to make sure I'm tracking and then I'm done. So option A includes this memory care facility. There is about 800 units, if I'm not mistaken,

correct. But both options in their totality are proposing a sum total of 800 units of housing. OK. And then option A is the one hundred and fifty seven dementia care units, which will be a 30 percent.

It's Medicaid eligible senior residents. That's correct. What is the 30 percent AMI distribution and option B? It would be per parcel where each each parcel would have a requirement for both 30

percent and 50 percent for each pad. Would it still would it still amount to one hundred and fifty seven units? It would still total two hundred forty one units of 30 and 50 percent AMI as required.

But in terms of 30 percent AMI and option B, what is the count? It would be I do not want to misspeak. So give me one second. I'm going to look at my handy dandy numbers here. So we would have a total

of it would have a higher count of 30 percent in option A than we would have in option B. OK. So again, what would be the count in option B? Oh, option B would be 59 units of 30 percent AMI. Fifty

nine. And I'm assuming that would not be senior exclusive. It would be spread across the different. But anyone at 30 percent AMI, whereas in option A, you get more, but it's senior exclusive Medicaid

eligible resident. Correct. OK. And then I'm assuming whatever that difference is, let's say one hundred and ninety or so other units in option B would be at 50 percent AMI. That's correct. Got it.

The square fertile for retail is larger in option B, as I understand it. So we're looking at 56 or so thousand square feet. Where are we with parking in option B? Great question. I think I tried to

anticipate that one as well. I think between the two options, they're not a greater. There's not a huge variance. Option A has a total program to four hundred and forty one parking spaces. Option B

has a total estimated 428 parking spaces. OK, got it. And then final question, assuming this all goes through, I think you have three years to commence, which would allow for that Q4 of 2028 timeline

that you're talking about. Yeah, the schedule performance has a maximum timeline for commencing the last parcel within within the 10 years. But I believe that's one note I did leave in my bag. I

believe our first closing schedule in the schedule performance in 2028, which is a timeline that I've cited for you. OK, well, thank you. I just will end by saying this is an important development. I

plan to defer to the what I hear from Ward 7 residents. What I have heard is that they really want food access and retail and affordable housing. And so, again, as you deliver that follow up

information to the committee, I'll be looking at that. And in terms of the medical facility, count me as skeptical. I'm not closed off to it. But I think it would be important for this committee to

consider the cost to the district if this was a behavioral health or urgent care facility versus an emergency facility. And what might be the consequences to the overall development itself. So with

that chairperson for me, I want to say thank you. Thank you very much, Council Member Parker. I hope not to use my full 10 minutes, but I could come close to it. So there was the reference to UHS

needing to spend 75 million on ambulatory infrastructure on east of the river. Where does that requirement come from? I believe it's in the operating agreement between us and the city. The operating

agreement relating to Cedar Hill. So so that's interesting. So the idea is even when Cedar Hill was established, the idea that there needed to be additional ambulatory capacity. OK, we'll continue to

look into that. OK, the the what remains of the middle school, because as you said, the front of it has been cut off. Will that stay or will you be tearing that down entirely? The G.S. has completed a

gut demolition. Essentially, what's left is the structural frame and the exterior walls by and large at this point. Our expectation is we will maintain the structural frame and the balance will be

adaptive reuse. Will you take down the exterior walls and just keep the structural frame or will you use the? That is our expectation, I mean, the exterior walls are not not load bearing. I mean, it's

a concrete frame building. And that's the expected that that's what we're definitely we put a new new facade on. Exactly. Pain Cemetery, which used to be on the site, how will it be acknowledged and

have all of the bodies that had been interred there been removed? And this is an important site. How are you going to deal with that important historic site? Yeah, so first on the commemoration, we've

committed to the community that we will walk together to design a memorial piece for the site to commemorate the pain cemetery and the deceased family members that are were previously interred in that

and those hollow grounds. As far as the studies, we had conducted our own studies in our initial due diligence and DGS and their subsequent studies and work with the historic preservation office and

the DC archaeologist to the best of my knowledge have concluded that there are no remains left on the site at this point. OK, on the park, I think on the site map, it shows it is 30,000 square feet. I

refer to it in that way. What what kinds of amenities do you anticipate, including somebody had said, will it just be greenspace? Would it just be a place that that kids might congregate? What kinds

of things are you anticipating, including and how will you make final decisions about what goes on that 30,000 square feet? So division similar to the retail strategy, we did not want to come with our

ideas for what the community should have. Rather, we, as my partner has a question from the initial RFP response, we went through the my RFP documents and tried to listen and figure out what the

community was looking for and tune into the evolution. Because as things as I mentioned during our tour, there are certainly requests for well over 100000 square feet of retail, which which three

discussions of the community we've described. Hey, that would be equivalent to a mall and certainly right now, by all measures, the demand would not be there to support that level of density as it

pertains to the park. We certainly I will say unequivocally, if it's a green patch of grass, it will be a total failure. The programming for the park would be an iterative process through the stress

with the community and the vision for what we're trying to see is that we call it Fletcher Johnson at the park. So the park is central to the design of this master plan community with the notion that

it will be a multimodal space that would include if I, you know, one of my partners calls it. We want to have the I don't think it's appropriate for a council hearing, but the best for a park you can

have, including water features, the opportunity for for music, live music to be played. So the notion is you want it to be an activated site, not a congregation space for you. So we've had a theme in

these hearings is whose park is it, who's going to build it, where does the money come from and who's going to maintain it? And we had in Hill East, we had a change in how that arrangement was done.

What's the plan here? Is the funding for the development of the park going to be an obligation of you or is it going to be a DPR obligation? It has been obligated inside of the current funding that

was provided for the infrastructure. So the short answer is the district will build it in collaboration with DPR and we have negotiated taking over the maintenance of the part of the park after a

portion of after the site is viable. So part of it is this going to be the way DPR does a new park that they will conduct the process of community engagement about what kinds of things will be there?

There will be an additional stakeholder in that conversation. And then it'll be on you to maintain it for how long will it be your obligation to maintain? I will have to go back and look, I do not

have it committed to memory, but I believe we take over for the duration of our ownership. So there was a reference to an ANC resolution and it was in 2020. Is that the last ANC resolution on this

topic? That was the first that was the first one we first were awarded or pre-award. That was the first support resolution, but there had been several resolutions, including the one that supported the

ratification of the CBA, the Community Benefits Agreement. But that's how back at date, the very first resolution of support came in in 2020. I'm curious about the most recent one. Do you know what

the most recent one was? Because 2020 felt stale to me for the funding. I believe it was I'll have to get you the exact date, but I believe if I'm not mistaken, it was in 2023. That's my recollection,

but I'll have to for 2424 is the most recent that you're aware. OK, we'll look at that to what extent in the maybe you've talked about this, but it's been a lot of community engagement. What has

changed in terms of responding to requests from the community? Part of it. I hear you on the retail like everybody wants a lot of retail, but if it can't be supported, then you have a lot of empty

spaces. And struggling small businesses that you need to calibrate. So you've ratcheted back, although if the request was 50 to 100, it's that you went low end as opposed to high end under under

option B. But what are things that you've done where the community said, please do X or Y or Z? And you guys have moved to implement that one of those things around the community space and supporting

community businesses. We have committed to giving discounts to local businesses, Ward seven in D.C. Businesses at the commercial space that are coming on for a certain period of time. Also in regards

to the partnership with M.A. CDO, we came inside there and turn the workforce development and economic support for businesses. It was important for us to have that as part of the team, not as an

external partnership, but actually have ownership and decision making inside of our team. All right. Thank you. As I said, like the first time I heard about this, it's well over 10 years ago. And it

does feel like the community has been pretty deeply engaged in different forms for an extended period of time. What's the plan once? Should this legislation pass and you move forward? What's the plan

for the task force? Will you keep it up and running and as a consulting group? Where how do you plan to approach community engagement going forward? I think the task force, that was a different

organization that we have no control over. The Frederick Johnson task force. But I think that Baba Tuna can speak more into the ongoing efforts. So with all of our projects, we we have an open neural

policy, right? So residents come to our offices all the time to ask about certain projects, even projects that aren't our projects. And so we we tend we intend to maintain that open door policy. As I

mentioned earlier, we'll have a repository of all the Ward seven projects and where residents can come in and give input and also get a status update on where these particular projects are, where they

are in that development process. All right. Wonderful. Well, I am going to make it under my 10 minutes. Councilmember Felder, do you have more questions? Yes, I'm sorry. You know, I'll be honest, I

only plan to go one round, but, Mr. Chairman, I appreciate these questions. This is a very important subject and we want to make sure we provide as much clarity and understanding as possible to

residents. There's been a lot of conversations, Osama, about the housing right and how Ward seven is a food desert and et cetera. My question to you is, based on your experience, what will be the

fastest way to get retail at the Fletcher Johnson site? What is it is it geared towards marketing or is it geared towards the housing composition? I think it's so a comprehensive vision with

partnerships spelled out in capital letters with the city, but the council and the executive gives we've had, I mean, I'm not liberty to disclose them, but we've been in constant discussions. I won't

call them negotiations because there's nothing to negotiate yet. But engaging would be anchors has been a constant conversation as we talk about other projects that we have with around the region.

Certainly post this this council vote that would give one additional check in the right box for getting that first anchor. And this is momentum building. So the speed the speed to market is a factor

of having a vision that we've now tested a couple of times and people are responding positively. Retailers are seeing the vision. They've seen the numbers. And I think Chair Freeman mentioned it

earlier. We did. We're not in the business of telling people what should work for them. I mean, we'll ask and then we'll look at the market studies and see what the numbers bear. And in this case, we

think there is a there's certainly a great vision that folks are coalescing around and seeing that certainty build up will drive momentum forward. All right. And just a follow up question. Sure. The

housing breakdown, the way it's currently structured in your opinion, do you think that is conducive to attracting grocers once the retail space is built out? Yes, 100 percent. OK, cool. All right.

Mr. Burns, there's been questions about the freestanding emergency room. My question to you is, will primary care services be offered at the freestanding emergency room? It's not currently

contemplated there, but we are going to be being primary care towards seven. OK, OK. I only ask that because as mentioned, this is not an either or this is an and situation. And what I don't want us

to miss doing this public hearing is the fact that Ward seven needs extensive health care access. Furthermore, given that primary care services will be brought to the ward, it's important to note that

this is a step in the right direction. And the freestanding emergency room could offer some of the same services that urgent care will offer. My question to you is, I'm not an expert in this space.

Have you had a conversation with the deputy mayor for health and human services, Mr. Turner? And about the difference between the freestanding emergency room compared to the urgent care? And if so,

how were those conversations? We haven't discussed either. Or I mean, this project was under flight when I when I came in, but I would also point out we're acutely aware of the vast lifespan

difference between Ward seven and eight, Ward two. Right. Sixteen years difference in lifespan. And that's a function of access points. It's a function of care being in the community. You took the

words out of my mouth. So given Ward seven is not a war three or five from the standpoint, unfortunately, we have more incidents that requires emergency care. And we unfortunately, folks have to drive

outside of the ward to have access to health care facilities that can ultimately save their lives. And when we when for me, it's a no brainer for me. But I think it's important that we really talk

about what was the decision making to lead to a emergency room versus the traditional urgent care. So this is very helpful. Now, we talked about the freestanding emergency room. We talked about the

neighborhood serving amenities. We talked about the housing composition. We talked about the topography of the site. But what I have not heard us talk about is the community benefits agreement. So,

Babatunde, I don't know if you are best suited suited to talk about the CBA and how you talk about partnerships and how some with developments. There's actually community benefits, additional

community benefits outside of the actual development project. So I don't have the full CBA at the top of my head. I think the ANC chair, Natasha Doopi, may be in a better position to answer that

question. But Marshall Heights is definitely supportive of the CBA and will do everything within its power to make sure that the CBA is executed in the fullest sense of the spirit. Okay, thank you.

And my last question, I don't want to hop on this, but I'm a firm believer that we need a health care network from our ambulatory facilities to our clinics, to our urgent cares, to our emergency

rooms. The last time Ward 7 had a hospital was when I was born, which was 90. DC General closed down. With that being said, it's a long awaited amenity. Mr. Byrd, could you speak to what are the

advantages of an emergency room versus a urgent care? So yes, so the freestanding ER is same code as an acute facility. So it's 24/7, 365. It's staffed by an emergency medicine physician versus an

urgent care. You might have an extent of a physician assistant or ARNP or primary care physician. You're not usually open seven days a week. We operate a number of these in other markets. They only

run Monday through Friday, nine to five. So again, in the availability, remember the stress that this, it's documented in the literature we submitted, the stress it puts on rescue in terms of having

sizable delays where the ambulance is out of circulation, if you will, because of the lengthy transport. So we view that as the number one reason. And there's this underlying belief, because if we put

in urgent care, they still wouldn't go to the ER. They still go to the ER. We see a number of Ward 7 and 8 patients at GW today in our ER. And Bob, I was looking at you. I didn't mean to ask you the

CBA question. Osama, I know that obviously the CBA is between the development team and the community. Could you just remind neighbors who may be tuning in? And I see some commissioners who worked on

it in the room presently. But could you speak to some of the additional community benefits agreements that have come out of conversations with neighbors that may not be reflected in the actual

development project? Yeah, certainly. I can give you a high level summary of the major points. Obviously, not part of the CBA, but notwithstanding CBA, we have both a first source agreement that we've

already executed, as well as a CBA agreement with both the SLBD and the OES respectively. But there is extensive engagement that we stipulated that would include what I've mentioned in terms of surets

during design. There is the construction phase jobs that would, and part of the partnership with MHCDO, Martial Arts Community Development Organization, to provide not only meeting, because the OES

and DSLBD only look for us to deal with city residents at large. But the goal here is to not discriminate against anybody, but certainly prioritize the neighborhood, prioritize Ward 7 residents as

best we can. There's also the permanent jobs component that we believe will be derived out of the operations phase of the different amenities, retail and the vertical operations of the housing

components. We've got the contracting opportunities that we provided both during the construction phase where subcontractors from the Ward would have access to those contracts, as well as workforce

development. And then Muperon-Hazik mentioned it where we're providing affordable rental space for local business owners during operation. There's also stipulated some cash contributions to local

community organizations. There is obviously the housing that we've committed to here. There's the programming maintenance of the park space, access to the ANC office space that we would be delivering

to provide to the ANC to occupy. And I believe that brings me to, yeah, that was the last, that's a very high level summary of what the CBA stipulated. And what year would neighbors be able to tap

into the CBA additional benefits? Certainly there is a timeline that I don't have available to me, but I'm certainly happy to come back to you with the exact details, the contribution, obviously the

spaces that we're providing, Muperon-Hazik, if you have them available, if you can jump in. Yeah, I was going to say that for each of those mentioned that they run on different tracks because some of

them starting from the construction and the workforce development starts immediately, and Baba Tuna is already working on that. And others had to come inside as stabilization of certain projects and

cash contributions start in delivery of those commercial spaces. So they're on different timelines. And then my final question, we talked about the development itself. We talked about jobs, but do you

have the numbers on how many permanent or temporary jobs this development is projected to produce over its lifespan? Yeah, I do not have my notes on the exact numbers that I can provide to you, but I

can tell you that during the construction phase, I believe, and again, this is a cumulative number because this thing will be phased. I believe there will be a total of about 2,500 construction phase

jobs. For permanent jobs, it's going to vary by option because option A is going to actually have, believe it or not, a higher concentration because the memory care, the dementia village will have an

operating staff of well over 100. And so that's going to drive it. It's not orders of magnitude, but it's going to be a little higher concentration of permanent jobs in there. But I'm happy to provide

you a tabulation of it. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you very much. Thank you to this panel. I think there's nobody else here and we're done with our questions. So we're going to call up our next

panel, but thank you for your testimony and your work. Thank you. Thank you. And then Natasha Dupie. I apologize, Commissioner Dupie. You were listed among the virtual witnesses, so I didn't call you

as an in-person witness. And then you got to hear all of that other testimony. I am, while you're getting settled, going to call up our virtual witnesses. So but first, is there anybody else here who

would like to testify before we call up our virtual witnesses? All right. Wonderful. I will now call our virtual witnesses to join this panel. For each witness, I will call your name and a member of

my staff will make you a panelist. If you wish to appear on video, you must click the button in the toolbar at the bottom of your screen that looks like a video camera. Please remain muted until it is

your turn to testify. When it's your turn to testify, please unmute yourself. After the panel's testimony, I and other council members may ask a round of questions. So please stay on Zoom, muted until

I call your name again. For any technical difficulties, you can send a message to the host, which is labeled as Committee on Human Services, and my team will follow up with you. Additionally, if you

are having trouble gaining access to the Zoom and you have pre-registered, you can reach my team at [email protected], and they will try to resolve your issue. So now, turning to our virtual

witnesses, Patricia Stamper, Vic Conclaves, Michael Campbell, and we had Batunde in person. Natasha is here in person. Is there anybody else? Virtual? Wonderful. Okay. Commissioner Dupie, when you're

ready. Mike, all right, I'm projecting. No, you clearly project. Okay, but for those online in the record, I got you. We'll start again. Encore. Good afternoon, everyone. Chairman Fruman,

Councilmember Felder, thank you for having me today. I'm Natasha Dupie. I serve as Chair of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 7E and Commissioner for Single Member District 7E04, which encompasses the

Fletcher-Johnson campus. I appreciate the opportunity to testify in support of B-260720, the Fletcher-Johnson Disposition Approval Act of 2026. I have a little story time for you. As a fifth

generation Washingtonian, my family has had strong ties, not only to our city, but to the Marshall Heights community. I traveled with my great great aunt Virginia from my family home on Eastern Avenue

to the Fletcher Johnson campus on many times for community activations. My granny attended church on 51st Street and says she remembers playing in the grass between C Street and Drake Place as a young

girl and of course frequent in the shrimp boat for seafood. Prior to my three terms as Commissioner in ANC 7E, I was first employed as a teen hire at the DC Public Library in our neighborhood and I

worked there from high school through college. What stands out as I reference these memories with my family traveling throughout Marshall Heights, we have a vibrant community. I like to make sure that

we are confirming and affirming the assets of our neighborhood as we think of Ward 7 and of Marshall Heights. During that time, which was nearly 20 years ago, as I walked to work in the neighborhood

to the library, I know, I noted and I know now that we need programming and services and spaces that are prime for redevelopment. That included Capital Gateway, the Crawford Landing, and of course

Fletcher Johnson. Like many of the sites that I've referenced, NC 7E has spent nearly two decades of engaging residents, civic leaders, and district agencies on the future of Fletcher. This history

has involved many rounds of stakeholders, cadences for meetings, the meetings before the meeting of the meeting after the meeting, and phases of projects to track. We will provide a high-level

overview of our engagements, both in the actions, but also the character of the engagements as they concern Fletcher Johnson. Note that in the midst of these engagements, the ANC 7E has also been

tracking multiple projects and agency efforts that are adjacent to the development site. As noted, folks have discussed transportation issues along Benning Road, particularly between East Capital

Street and Southern Avenue. We actually had a meeting on that last night with DDOT, as well as WMATA. We've also discussed the modernization of J.C. Nall Elementary School, again, adjacent to the

site. With these projects, we affirm that community engagement and placemaking are going to be ongoing processes. Our commission has passed multiple resolutions affirming our support for this project.

The most recent one was October of 2025. That was the amended community benefits agreement. Our support is rooted not only in the merits of the project, housing, yes, health facilities, yes,

recreation and retail use, but also in the ways that the development team has consistently shown up for our community. Grad Cardona SWOTI, the Marshall Heights Community Development Organization and

their partners, does not merely treat community engagement as a procedural requirement. They treat it as a responsibility. I personally witnessed partners and their staff invest time, energy and

resources and activities that strengthen the fabric of our neighborhood from cleanups and small business fairs to holiday celebrations, documents, shredding events, food giveaways, et cetera. Their

approach to the formal public process has also been equally strong. Ahead of ANC meetings and community discussions, members of their team have joined me to knock doors, share information, answer

questions and help residents understand what to expect during meetings. During our public ANC meetings, as well as convenings with the Fletcher-Johnson Task Force and other community engagements, the

development team has been patient, accessible and transparent about the history of the site, the phases of redevelopment and the implications of each decision. That level of communication builds trust

and the trust is essential for successful redevelopment. I want to highlight that this redevelopment is aligned to our community priorities. We supported the certificate of need for the UHS

development of the freestanding emergency department. We also moved to support the zoning commission with a map amendment to support this development as well. That was in 2024. All right. We believe

that effective development is more than just transforming a parcel of land. It's about how the development team engages the people who live around it, whether they listen, whether they collaborate or

whether they treat residents as partners, as opposed to obstacles. We see that with this current development team and for that reason, ANC 7E strongly urges council to advance this act. Our community

deserves the redevelopment process to advance without delay and this legislation moves us towards that future. Thank you for your time. Thank you very much for your testimony. Vic Goncalves. Vic, when

you're ready, maybe we'll give Vic a moment. Keith Hassan-Powery when you're ready. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Keith Hassan-Powery. I'm the former chair of the Marshall Heights Civic

Association, and also the past chair of the Fletcher Johnson Task Force. I'm going to echo a lot of the things that Commissioner Doopi said regarding working with the developer. You know, part of

being a community advocacy, leading the community advocacy for it. We didn't always see eye to eye, but a lot of times we were able to sit down and try to get on the same page. Fortunately, there were

some things that we really wanted as a community, which we stated by doing a community survey, which we had over 400 responses that laid out this vision for what we wanted to see there at Fletcher

Johnson. I know a lot of those elements did not come to fruition, but the developer and the ANC did their best to try to accommodate some of the requests that we had. Some of the concerns that I still

heard here in the community, which I just want to state for the record, that I hope that as you move forward in this next phase of the development, you guys could work on and continue to increase.

It's just communication regarding what's happening with the project. To this day, many people that live in the surrounding area of Fletcher Johnson are unaware of what's happening. The current format

right now is only quarterly meetings that take place to kind of give updates to the community. And although they see progress taking place, many residents are still, they still have a lot of questions

about what's happening exactly. They don't understand that some of the things that we envision in that community vision that we built together with the community, not just the exercise we did in the

2020s, but what we've been talking about for years in that community won't come to be. So it will be very helpful that as this is disposed out of the government that there is solid communication, not

just with the ANC as the ANC commissioner myself. I understand how easy it is to work directly with an entity to get the information out, but I think that sometimes as commissioners, you know, we get

so caught up with life and work and everything else that we may not have the time or opportunity to make sure that everybody is going along in that journey with us. So, I do hope that as we move to

that next phase that more outreach happens, not just with the commissioners that are elected, but with the entirety of the community in the Marshall Heights neighborhood. I want to say I fully support

this, this has been a dream come true we've been working hard to make sure that when this property was properly disposed of, so we can actually get this development that we're 70s, and although it's

not quite everything that the community envisioned, I think that this is the right movement to continue the momentum, so we can continue to see great things happen in Ward seven. I just want to thank

our Council Member Felder for being a key part of this effort, and Commissioner DePee and ANC 70, the Marshall Heights Civic Association and four members of the task force. Thank you. Thank you. And

Vic, when you're ready. Thank you. Sorry for the delay. Good afternoon. I'm Trimperson Freeman. My name is Vic. I'm a strategic communications and community engagement specialist at Mikasa Inc. Mikasa

is a long standing nonprofit dedicated to sustaining diverse neighborhoods and providing affordable housing and technical assistance to low income DC residents. We own and manage more than 250 units

of affordable rental housing, and we provide technical assistance and development consulting to 10 limited equity coops. I want to talk about the Fletcher Johnson disposition and the ways that we

think it's failing to maximize the benefits to the community. I'm speaking for Mikasa, but I'm also representing one of our clients, the Ben E group cooperative, whose members could not take time off

work to be here today. The cooperative is located at the intersection of Benning Road and East Street southeast directly across the street from the Fletcher Johnson site. The Benning group cooperative

is a 29 unit resident owned property made up of primarily black residents and lifelong Washingtonians, the cooperatives board, and most of the members have lived in the building for decades, and lived

in Ward seven for all of their lives. Most households in the building are very to extremely low income. The residents are very motivated and committed to affordable homeownership, but they have

inherited an old building with a lot of deferred maintenance. They have done their best to maintain the property, but they need a renovation. DHTD knows Benning coop well, they've awarded them

acquisition funds through the first right to purchase program in 2018. And they've applied for renovation funding through the housing production trust fund three times. The most recent application was

for $13 million to support adding 15 new PSH units. Alternatively, to just renovate the existing property, they would need less than $3 million drops in the bucket compared to the subsidies in this

deal. The Fletcher Johnson deal will deliver approximately 800 units of rental housing. The cooperative is very excited about this new investment in the community, and they hope to be able to be part

of the economic development in the neighborhood. They're concerned, however, that if they don't modernize quickly, they won't be able to attract residents when there's hundreds of newly constructed

units directly across the street from them. Being able to modernize and add new units would mean that more district residents already in the neighborhood would be able to take advantage of the

amenities being invested in with the steel, including the park, new businesses, and health services. The cooperative has seen the community change for the better, and they're excited about what the

future brings, but they also want to be a part of the positive change by providing affordable homeownership options and supportive services. Shallon Woodin, the president of the cooperative, feels

like the city is leaving behind the residents that are already living in the neighborhood, while rewarding developers with millions of subsidies. Additionally, there are many ways in which this deal

fails to maximize public goods for private profits. The proposed structure for the development has significant operational drawbacks for the district. By leasing the land for only $1 a year, the

district is effectively forfeiting the fair market value of prime real estate of 15 acres. Compounding this loss, if my understanding of the deal is correct, there's over $73 million in direct

infrastructure expenditures and additional subsidies. This heavy public investment yields uncertain long term financial returns for the district, while the developers of the property will be able to

make profits for 99 years, at least. Furthermore, the transaction heavily advantages private developers at the expense of community benefits. The project is only providing the bare minimum requirement

of affordable housing of 30% of the units. Of these, as we've heard today, the mass majority will be studios, and it's possible that the vast majority will be senior housing. This ignores the large

demand that there is for family sized units at 30% AM, AMI. Additionally, the affordability covenant has a critical loophole. It states that the agency can relinquish the affordability covenant at any

time. We know that the city can do better. We have participated in and seen other dispositions that have resulted in properties that are 100% affordable. We have seen that the district dispositions

can additionally be a source of revenue when the cost of the land is properly valued for what it's worth. And we have seen how investments in limited equity cooperatives provide long term stability

for families to remain rooted in their communities. I hope that the council seriously questions the cost of benefits that is provided to taxpayers in the local neighborhood. And I hope that in the

coming years, the council and the agency will continue to invest in preserving small affordable multifamily properties while continuing to build much needed larger complexes like what is proposed at

this site. Thank you for the opportunity to testify, and I'm happy to answer questions. Thank you very much for your testimony. We will, we will be looking into some of the economics and levels of the

subsidies in when we talk with the government witnesses shortly, and I will ask about this reservation to be able to relinquish the covenant to make sure we fully understand that. In terms of the

building, the nearby building that worries about the impact of 800 units coming because of the condition of that of their building. I do hear you I do think that one of the things that we really need

to put weight on is supporting our existing buildings and doing renovations, so that they can stay to 21st century standards. I think it's a yes and though I do think that we need more capacity, but

we also can't lose capacity as a practical matter as buildings deteriorate and the economics don't support the kind of maintenance that needs to be done. I think, I hope that in the coming year, that

is a focus for the council and the new administration on how we can support that in, in terms of the ANC commissioners commissioner towery when you said, and see commissioners, you can't all be on

them to be communicating with the public. I too was an ANC commissioner for six and a half years and cannot believe in my wife even more so cannot believe how much time it took from my life for no

pay. There's only a limit to there has to be a limit to what rests on your shoulders as important a role as, as you play. Mr. P, the, so the most recent resolution was 2025 it related to the community

benefits package, but you reiterated the ANC support today where you authorize sometimes the ANC commissioners come before us and they say, I'm testifying on my own behalf, not on behalf of the ANC,

did you, are you authorized by the ANC to to reflect that ongoing support. Yes, I am the spokesperson of ANC 70 chair. And I'm speaking in alignment with all of the resolutions we have. So you heard

people talk about grocery store, and then it becomes becomes a question of delivering on the grocery store and the kind of envelope that's being talked about seems like more like a 15 to 25,000 square

foot grocery store. Does that check the box for you and for the ANC if you were to gather grocery store on that scale. Yeah, I think we had several conversations around the size of a grocery store. I

know we had someone speak earlier of Matt speaking the size of square foot I feel like I'm becoming a princess general contractor. I think part of the understanding is the type of retailer, I think

our neighbors have desired something that has household recognition so you spoke of the leaders and the Aldi and what are the boutique grocers. I know some of our folks want to try to Joe's. Okay,

right so we can talk about the different types of retailer. I think folks are have had different, not only appetites but I think reservations when it's a retailer that might be smaller have a one off

store in terms of sustainability. And so again, I think, yes, the size of retail checks the box I think the question is, and who is going to be the retailer who's going to be managing it, and if

they're going to be there for more than one or two years. Okay, and then under the different scenarios under there could be 33,000 square feet of retail total and then another scenario 56,000 square

feet so let's just say it under scenario a if it's 33,000 square feet of retail and 17,000 of it is for the grocery store is 16,000. As the remainder, enough to check the box for your needs. I think

the four letter word and word seven is more, it's always more. I think the, the charrettes portion of what could be possible for the use of that space has been something that's been reverberating with

us primarily one. Sometimes we've talked of an eight hour working hour use of space, given that we'll have the 24 hour operating fed, possible, the thought of what are we using the space for could be

imagined or expanded. Some folks have talked about commercial kitchen space right folks have talked about other uses that might go beyond maybe a nine to five or a banker's hour as the retail space.

Again, we've talked about cottage vending license if folks want to move from making things in their homes to making them in a space. They might not need the retail space for traditional hours for

hours is there a way for which we can hear from community members who are entrepreneurs or aspiring how they could best use that space. All right, one of the things that we heard was the art space

something that felt like the arc. That's a thing that fell off the list. Do you share the view that was expressed that if it could be added on that it would be important to try to add it on. I think

the. I think the commitment to share the values or the spirit of what community members want should be held. I think the partnership with DPR and the space. Again, there's, there's merit to see what

could happen in that space as well. We need to restrict the use to solely arts. Okay. I've been very active in the senior space and think, you know, like the fact that there will be a heavy senior

dimension here. We had a young mom come forward looking for what are the things for her kids, to the extent we want to see something intergenerational. If there were things that have not explicitly

been addressed yet, it feels to me like it could be things focused on kids. I don't know how you are obviously much closer to it. How do you think that this development can deliver for nearby

families, including with public amenities? No, I that's why I agree with this space of can we still leave room for imagination in the discussion, for example, intergenerational programming. I know

there was discussion of practice facilities for sports teams possibly or, you know, there's so many different ways that folks can think, how do we activate on the space to the developers point

earlier. We're being very speculative about what could be there when we don't have a final number on the space because we haven't moved forward with this process and then the funding confirmation to

say, what is the final amount of space? And so I think the intergenerational program, for sure, the arc was brought up as a an exemplar of what could be possible. I see four walls in the arc, right?

Every room has four walls. The question is, are we able to put on a production there? Is the play there? Is there a dance studio? All of these things are happening within how we relegate that space,

that square footage. And so I think to say we only want one type of programming does not match what I'm hearing from neighbors, right? We have different desires from the stakeholders there in terms of

activating on the space. I think recreation is a part of that. I think entertainment is a part of that and not just ROK, we love ROK too. But the other aspects of community members or rotating groups

coming to perform. And so I think to whatever extent we can continue to have space for imagination on how that build out could happen. I think the neighbors still want that. OK, that covers the

questions I have. Thank you very much for your testimony, Council Member Felder. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ms. Conclays, I will start with you. Within your testimony, you mentioned that based on your

observation, this project is on the bare minimum as it relates to affordable housing. Why do you feel that way? So my understanding is that based on the zoning amendment that they were seeking, 30

percent is the amount of affordability that they would have to have. I think I'm a little biased because MiCASA, our properties are 100 percent affordable, but I do think that with such a large

project at 800 units, a bigger percentage could be affordable. And the numbers would still work out, especially given how much retail space there's going to be, how much other space there's going to

be that's generating revenue. I think just knowing how development works with that many units, the market rate units can be subsidizing the affordable units without the additional need for government

subsidy to make those affordable. So I think there could be a bigger percentage of affordability for sure. And when you say you were referring to the zoning, I think it's important to note that this

project, based on the previous panel, they mentioned 10801, which is the affordable housing code that basically breaks down the requirement to meet the affordable housing needs at various levels on

certain projects. My follow up question was, have you had an opportunity to go to any meetings to speak directly with the developers or what do you hear from residents who live within a specific

community about the need for affordable housing? I haven't been able to attend any of those meetings, but members of the Benny Cooperative have attended the meetings over the years, obviously, like

folks have said it's been a long process. I think we know that there's a need for deeply affordable housing across the city, but especially in neighborhoods and Ward 7, where incomes are much lower

than in other parts of the city. The need for affordable units is high in general. And I think, yeah, go ahead. And how do you mention that in your testimony that you've seen disposition, surplus or

disposition processes that have led to there being 100% of affordable housing with a specific development. Could you speak to what are some of those projects? Do you have any examples of that? One

example is the 10Q project, which is at Q Street, Florida, and North Capital that Mi Casa was awarded the site disposition and we're building 29 units fully affordable. There will be community space,

art space, and all of the units are family sized units. So, obviously, that's like much smaller scale. That's just the most recent example I can think of. I think there's also another example that we

worked on Georgia Avenue, which was similar 100% affordable was the result of the disposition. Well, I asked that question because obviously those projects are in different wards, different household

incomes. And when we talk about Ward 7, and it's no secret, I think we've played out fair share in affordable housing. And we want to be balanced. I think for me, it will be helpful. How do you, based

on what you heard, how do you then meet the need to address the food desert by attracting a grocer or neighborhood serving amenities to the site in the event that 100% of the units were affordable?

Everybody needs to eat. I think that argument doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I understand from a business standpoint that grocery stores want to see people with higher incomes who will be able to

spend more money, but everybody needs to eat and that having higher income residents shouldn't be what determines whether or not a neighborhood is able to have food access. Yeah, I mean, I'm not

saying that that's the case at all. But what I am saying with any business, they come to a community based on disposable income access and public safety, etc. With that being said, if this project is,

I'm concerned that if we don't strike the right balance, then we're not going to meet those fundamental principles to attract the retailers. And I will tell you, given that Ward 7 has the most

affordable homes, whether it's public housing, whether senior facilities, whether it's group homes, we know what exists. And despite all of that, we haven't gotten there right as a city to be able to

attract the grocer. So I was just curious to hear your thoughts on, by going 100% affordable, how that will meet the goal of attracting the grocery stores that we talked about or the additional

neighborhood serving amenities. So your perspective is, is appreciated. And I thank you. I want to go to Commissioner Doopee. Commissioner Doopee, I appreciate all the work that you have done on this

project. I would love to hear from you. Like, why do you support this project? And as the commissioner that represents the whole area based on it being a specific SMD, what are some of the things

you're hearing from neighbors about the site? Are there excitement? Is it concerns? What would you say? I think, first and foremost, it's very personal to me. A year ago this time, I needed emergency

medical response in my home in Marshall Heights. And I was transported to Ward 5. I almost died in this process. And if I could have taken a four minute ambulance ride, the fire station is two blocks

from my house. I had an ambulance as an ambulance. Whatever system could come came the time when I see that there are 58,000 other emergency calls from Ward 7, for which there is a grave need. I was

one of those folks and I am grateful to be alive. And I know that outcomes could change based on time. And so I am motivated to bring forward development with momentum, without haste, so that we can

have as many neighbors get the care that they need at the right time. And so that's a part of this piece. The other piece is, I'm an auntie now. It's my new favorite happy thing. I've been a dog

auntie. We've got the dog park on Texas Avenue, but now I'm an auntie of a human. And as I think about Roman's future, as a sixth generation Washingtonian, he lives up the street in Marshall Heights.

And I want to make sure that there's something that my family can walk to, like my neighbors talked about, and that we can do something. And so we've seen Fort DuPont Ice Arena. I trained there as a

kid. We've seen that go through its stages of redevelopment. We see our parks and rec, our library. I worked at our library. If I'm continuing to stay in the district, which I am, my family is

committed, we want to make sure that our neighborhoods are vibrant, not just because the neighbors who decide to stay, we love each other. We share sugar. We want to make sure that there's something

we can do. We don't have to shop in Maryland. We don't have to entertain in Maryland. We can spend our dollars in the district. And so also as a family of entrepreneurs, there is a desire to say, hey,

is there a commercial space that I can have where I can live, work and play, but I'm managing as an employer in the district. So those are things that motivate me. And I know our neighbors have asked

what's going on with Fletcher Johnson, and I can hear the voices. Okay. I want there to be proof of concept. And so I'm excited to see that happen. Thank you for that. Commissioner Tarry, you

mentioned that you are supportive of this site. And while you appreciate some of the things that the community asked for are included in the site, but you want to see more. What are some of those

things you're referencing as it relates to the more? You know, and this goes back to, you know, even well before me getting this work done with the site, right? A lot of people in the community wanted

to see an activated art space, and not necessarily something that's behind four walls, but a park. I don't know if a lot of people know this, but the Marshall Heights Bison, but one of our national

champion people at football teams, they actually practiced there on that site. They practiced there for years. And a lot of people use a lot of those, the graph, a lot of the fields there on the site.

So seeing a place where we can activate, have art space, have a place where the community can come out and participate. Fast casual restaurants we talked about at one point. We're so excited about the

senior amenities that will come, as well as the home ownership opportunities and, I'm sorry, I'm trying to make sure I'm not going over time. But, you know, there, there's a lot of things that we

would like to see an addition but I do want to make sure that I talked about having like the art space something that's nice to come out how commission two pages that have her family come out being

able to do something nice. The urgent care that is going to be there is great the grocery store is great. The fast casual restaurant or restaurant so people can sit down and eat and enjoy the

community in which they're in. Those are things we'd like to see. And Councilmember I do also want to say I really like how you're trying to find that balance between, yes we want to make sure that

people can afford this, but we also want to make sure that we have what's required to get the amenities that the community has been desperately asking for, for many years so thank you for trying to

figure out what that balance is. No, I appreciate that and I asked what else would you like to see because based on what has been communicated today, it seems like the project is most certainly headed

in that right direction. Commissioner do pee alluded to this, leaving a small room for imagination and nothing that I heard today goes against what's being proposed, and with any development project

based on the market, based on community desire. There's always room for improvement. So I just want to put that out there. My last question, Commissioner Hassan, I know you're a commissioner and seven

be in Commissioner do pee is a commissioner and seven e, and every Commissioner has the ability to weigh in on projects across the world. I know some commissioners are territory, and these went need

in a four time agency commissioner myself in the past life I was my question to you Commissioner Terry, you talked about the lack of communication. When was the last time you reached out to

Commissioner to pee, or the seven e commission just to get updates on the project, because when I'm hearing from the community that the development team is present. They're accessible. They're not

accessible you have Bob its own day and its capacity with ma CDO. I'm trying to figure out how can we reconcile this lack of communication dispute. Sure. I think when, when the Fletcher Johnson Task

Force was in existence, and we actually, you know, we're having meetings monthly and make an open to the public, people had a chance to hear what was happening. When the Fletcher Johnson Task Force

did not receive a new person to chair it, and the communication stop between the ANC and the task force, it created a void created a big gap of communications. If, as you recall, Councilmember, we

have events up there Fletcher Johnson, it was a privilege to work with the developer as they funded some of those events. We still have updates, every, every other week through the March heights of

civic association newsletter, as well as trying to figure out exactly things that the community can do to activate the space before it was getting done. Just in all honesty I just think there was just

a breakdown of communications at some point between the commission, the community at large, and what the task force used to do the task force did a really great job of bridging that gap of

communications and making sure that if people have questions they can have it. The current chair of the March right civic association. As I understand it, you know he has not had the opportunity to

have a conversation directly with the developer as the typical response is, where we're working with the ANC, so any communication that we are providing or giving is coming directly through the ANC.

So it's just, it's just a little bit of different dynamic. I don't no longer live in Marsh Heights anymore I still on my property there. I still try to stay aware what's happening in the community and

I occasionally attend a meeting every now and then when I can, you know, it's just one of the things that we're missing now just having that direct information. I think it's possible to definitely

continue and talk directly to the commissioners because they're great they're going to push resolutions everything, but I don't think it hurts to also extend communications to like entities like the

civic associations in the neighborhood, who are, you know, with the people and making sure that people are receiving the information as best as they can, outside of just the ANC 7B meetings, I mean,

ANC 7E meetings. No, this is helpful. I would just close with this. I know, during my time with within the community. The task force was dissolved and voted on by the ANC to dissolve it, given that

there seemed to be duplicative services and they wanted to make sure that there was a direct streamline of communication. I do think that with anything, it's about improving coordination and

communication and I think it's elected officials or the 7E been the elected body that, you know, it's important to maintain a line of communication. Commissioner Hassan, if I can be hopeful in any

way, shape or form just making sure the information flows fluently through the community. I'm here, and I appreciate that council members, I think, honestly, if somebody could dedicate time to come to

the Marsh Heights Civic Association meeting to also provide updates there. I think that will be a great way to make sure that people are hearing exactly what's happening. And thank you so much for all

your work on this. Thank you very much. Thank you to all the members of the panel. I think we're going to move to our government witnesses. I will observe that given that the prevailing market rents

in this area are 80% AMI, that in another place, this project might be considered 100% affordable. So if we can call our government witnesses to the table. Okay, we are now joined by Latrina Owens,

Director of Real Estate at DMPAD. And can the other people who have joined at the table state their names. Sure. Ben Stutz Chief of Staff. Caven Gada, Director for Hallease District. Walker, Director

of Chief Initiatives. Wonderful. And I'm not sure if all of you will be giving testimony or they're not giving testimony, but I brought a bench to answer questions. I really appreciate that. The

reason that I asked for everyone's name was, it is the practice of this committee to place our government witnesses under oath. Director Owens and the others at the table. Could you raise your right

hand. Do you swear or affirm under penalty of law that the testimony you are about to provide to the Committee on Human Services is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Yes. Thank

you. You may begin your testimony. Okay. Good afternoon, Chairperson Freeman, as well as members of staff of the Committee on Facilities. My name is Latrina Owens and I serve as the Director of Real

Estate within the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development. I am here to testify in support of Bill 26-0720, the Fletcher Johnson Surplus Declaration and Disposition Approval

Act of 2026 and Bill 26-0740, Georgetown Vote House Surplus Declaration and Disposition Approval Act of 2026. Two projects that have been many years in the making, and we are truly excited to see this

day. First, I want to thank you for holding this hearing in advance of the development of this long underutilized site. I'm talking about Fletcher Johnson first, so let's start there. This long

underutilized site, I would also like to acknowledge the invaluable contributions of the community, particularly the past and present members of ANC 7E, as well as the residents of Marshall Heights,

Benning Ridge, Capital View, and all of Ward 7. Approval of the Fletcher Johnson Surplus Declaration and Disposition Approval Act of 2026 is a necessary step to generate approximately 800 units of

rental and for sale housing, including 241 units of affordable housing, 157 of which will be affordable senior assisted living, approximately 33,500 square feet of leasable neighborhood serving

commercial space, and 20,000 square feet of public park area, and an estimated 441 parking spaces. Most importantly, this project will deliver vital health care access for residents east of the river

through a freestanding emergency department and the potential to serve up to 56,000 annual visitors. The bill would declare the district on real property located at 4650 Benning Road southeast known

as tax and known for tax and assessment purposes as lot 802 and square 5344 to surplus and authorize the mayor's disposition of the property with this proximity to Benning Park, the Benning Park

Community Center, Kip DC, Benning Campus, and the Marshall Heights and Benning, Dorothy I height libraries. The Fletcher Johnson property can serve as an anchor to the Ward 7 community. The property

boasts excellent multimodal transportation access and synergizes with the district's recent investment at the RFK Stadium site, which is less than three miles away. Following a competitive process,

which included community engagement to hear the priorities of a and C seven E in the surrounding communities. Dim pad selected the development teams of Fletcher Johnson community partners, LLC and

district hospital partners LP to transform this site for the benefit of all stakeholders. Since 2021, then paid and development team have participated in 12 community meetings and events, including

farewell to Fletcher and Fletcher Johnson day to share plans for the site and to hear directly from local stakeholders. Throughout that engagement, the community's priorities have remained consistent

and makes use development that brings new housing retail creates beautiful and accessible public spaces and honors the sites rich cultural history. Above all residents have emphasized the importance

of moving the project forward and putting the property back into productive use after sitting vacant since 2011 and being underutilized for many years before that the passage of this bill will realize

and expand upon the residents vision with the addition of a freestanding emergency department facility that will improve health outcomes for the surrounding neighborhoods and the entirety of Ward 7.

The district is building a stronger, more connected system of health care east of the river, one designed to improve health outcomes and support healthier families and Ward 7 and 8 from expanding

urgent expanded urgent care services in the opening of Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center in 2025. Each investment is helping to close a long standing gap of access to quality health care. The

addition of the freestanding emergency department represents the next critical piece of that system, providing residents with another point of access to timely, high quality emergency care closer to

home. With 14 universal treatment rooms and the potential to serve up to 56,000 patients annually, the freestanding emergency department will help strengthen the continuum of care available to

district residents east of the river. Together, these investments are both about more than a new health care facility. They are about creating a coordinated network of care that can lead to earlier

intervention, better health outcomes, healthier families, and a stronger community. Additionally, the project is expected to create more than 500 construction jobs and over 100 full-time positions

within the next five years, bringing new employment opportunities to the community. The developers have agreed to comply with the district's first source requirements and are committed to actively

recruiting, training, and awarding contracts to CBEs and SBEs. A community benefits agreement has been executed between ANC 7E and Fletcher Johnson Community Partners, which provides additional

commitments specifically for Ward 7 residents, including opportunities for employment, homeownership, and affordable retail space. Approval of this bill will mark a significant milestone in advancing

the long-awaited redevelopment of the Fletcher Johnson site. Like St. Elizabeth's East, McMillan Reservoir, and Walter Reed, Fletcher Johnson has the potential to serve as an anchor development that

brings new housing, amenities, investment, and economic opportunity to the surrounding community. With the passage of this bill, the district will move forward with a vibrant, walkable, mixed-use

community featuring retail space, a health care facility, 800 rental and four-cell homes, and a public park. The transformation of this property will unlock its unrealized potential and create new

economic opportunities for residents east of the river. It reflects years of community collaboration and a shared commitment to finally put this long, underutilized site back to productive use. Given

that this property has remained vacant, and I would say more than 15 years because I worked on Fletcher Johnson in 2009, I respectfully ask the committee to move this bill forward in order to deliver

these opportunities to Ward 7. I am joined by Kate Ingotta and also Ben Studs, our Chief of Staff, to answer questions about this project. I will now move forward to Georgetown Boat House. Approval of

the Georgetown Boat House Surplus Declaration and Disposition Approval Act of 2026 represents the completion of a decades-long effort to increase waterfront access on the Potomac River. Before I

discuss the bill, I would like to also acknowledge the pivotal collaboration of Georgetown University and the National Park Service, without their participation, this bill would not be before you

today. I would also like to acknowledge the stakeholders whose input has shaped this transaction over the past two decades, including ANC2E, ANC3D, the Georgetown Community Partnership, and the

Georgetown Business Improvement District, the Potomac River Access Coalition, and Georgetown Heritage. Shaped by decades of work, collaboration, and navigation through complex regulatory process,

DMPED is proud to have negotiated a tri-party agreement for this transfer and sale of three parcels along the Potomac River between Georgetown University, the National Park Service, and the district.

Under the terms of the agreement, Georgetown University will donate a parcel of land along the Potomac River to the National Park Service to be added to the boundary of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal

National Historic Park, which includes an easement along the Capitol Crescent Trail, allowing the uninterrupted use of the trail by the public. In turn, the National Park Service will transfer

administrative jurisdiction of two parcels at the base of the Key Bridge to the district. The site to the west of the bridge will then be transformed, transferred to Georgetown University for

construction of a boathouse with a public paddler float dock. The university is committed to provide public access to the paddler craft both on the dedicated public access dock and on the primary dock

when not in use by the university. The district will maintain jurisdiction over prime waterfront property to the east of Key Bridge. While there are no final plans for the use of this parcel,

ownership will enable the district to leverage this land for improved public access to the Potomac River to support the use of Capitol Crescent Trail and connect to the Georgetown Waterfront Park. The

project also builds on a long history of rowing along the Georgetown waterfront. Georgetown University's rowing tradition dates back to 1876, with students constructing the university's first

boathouse along the Potomac River in 1877. Nearly 150 years later, this project continues that historic connection to the river while creating greater opportunities for public access and recreation.

Approval of this bill will realize a decade long vision for improved year round public access to the Potomac River, and it will enable the expansion of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historic

Park. These Hallmark features of the district's landscape and beautiful natural amenities improves accessibility while both serving residents and attracting visitors. Thank you for your time and

consideration and I'm joined by Jill Stucker, the project executive to answer questions about this project. Thank you for your testimony. I'm going to begin with questions on the Georgetown boathouse

surplus in disposition and then follow with questions on Fletcher Johnson. So are there any remaining remediations or improvements that the district must complete before Georgetown can start

construction? The regulatory reviews are underway right now. As Georgetown mentioned in their testimony, they've just recently hired their general contractor, so those processes are underway. The good

news with this project is that the National Park Service undertook an environmental assessment that was concluded in 2017 that addressed many of the matters for the environmental considerations as

well as transportation on the site. But are there things that we need to pay for to get done or is it just a question of getting through the approval process? Yes, there's no funds that the city will

expend to deliver the boathouse parcel. Okay, and then I think we heard about the timeline of construction, but tell me, remind me, what's your expectation about when shovels will start hitting dirt

on the boathouse? We're expecting late 2028. It's the current start of construction. The term she provides for the December of 2030, for start of construction, given market conditions, to give a

little bit of flexibility. But we're in active communication with Georgetown through their design development. They've done a lot of things at risk. We've gone through the zoning commission, seek out

approval. We've gotten approval, concept approval from OGB as well as the CFA. So they've really advanced, we've advanced this project to today so they can commence construction as soon as possible. I

think there was a conversation before, so I mean some of that goes to how the physical building's going to look, but then there's also the environmental stuff and whatever's required from DOE and

maybe from federal regulators. And I think the testimony earlier was that on a concept basis, things had been approved, but there is yet a formal basis. What are those permits that will be required? I

understand that you feel good about the fact that they should come through, but what are they and what should we be watching for? To ensure that we're comprehensive, could we get back to you following

this hearing with a list of permits that would be required? I don't want to misstate the permits that would be required for this project. Okay, so we talked about this a little with Georgetown, the

plans for the Key Bridge Boat House, which is a beloved amenity. I think Georgetown said the city was going to be looking at, in the event that they start construction before the DC Water Project is

completed, then there would not be a way for the Key Bridge Boat House to relocate. How likely is that and what kinds of steps are you taking now to try to come up with a way to avoid a disruption in

that amenity? It's very important for us to maintain the continuity of that operation, of that concessionaire. So given DC Water's current work that takes up Site C, which is where they would

ultimately go, we're in discussions with the Park Service now where Site E, which is the site that the city would ultimately retain, would be a temporary location for Key Bridge Boats during DC

Water's construction. So that was where I was going to go next, with Site E, which I think Mizzone said, we don't have a specific plan. When we toured it, it's a pretty big site, but with all kinds of

overgrowth and a grade down to the river, it seems like a fair amount of remedial work would need to be done there in order to do whatever it is you eventually plan, and frankly, to temporarily house

the Key Bridge Boat House. What's the plan for remediation of that site to make it ready to either for its permanent use or temporary site for the boat house? I think for the temporary use, we would

definitely have to assess the site to see what type of remediation would have to be done if it's necessary to relocate Key Bridge to the site. But for the more permanent site, I think once we get this

executed and get the property in 2027, then we'll look forward from the economic development strategy to see what the long term plan is for that site. I hear you. I would encourage you to look at what

might be necessary for the relocation sooner rather than later. DC Water, I think Georgetown said, right now the schedule is in line, but the DC Water schedule has a tendency to move and it doesn't

move up, it moves out. And so the likelihood of relocation strikes me as pretty high. So I'd encourage you to start that work. We'll take a look at that. And then in terms of the long term plan, what

sort of process are you thinking about about coming up with a plan for parcel E? Is there an internal process that's happening now? Will there be community engagement on it? How do you see the city

moving there? I think we'll look more around January 2027 to see how we want to move forward with that process. Say it one more time. In 2027? Yeah. Again, I think that's appropriate. I think getting

started sooner rather than later makes a lot of sense. In your conversations with DDOT about the project, did they have any changes that were required for maintenance access to Key Bridge? It's really

about access to the infrastructure. So there's a 15-foot setback from both the Key Bridge as well as Whitehurst Freeway for DDOT to gain access to both of those important pieces of infrastructure in

the city. And that required that the Georgetown Boat House be constructed obviously 15 feet away from that area. So it's a matter of design for Georgetown. They need to ensure that if DDOT does indeed

need to maintain the site, they can continue their operations. And also DDOT understands that their work will be to serve that specific purpose, but also still try to make sure that the Boat House can

still maintain its normal operations. It's a very tight site, very constrained. It will require close coordination in that event. I think I understand that on one side, that that might be where

trailers are temporary, trailers to haul the shells will be stored in that 15-foot buffer. Is that right? No. The shells will be stored under the Key Bridge. I see. So not in the 15-foot buffer. So

Georgetown testified that this is relatively small, not leaving room for much else besides this. And to what extent, I guess, the 15-foot buffer, is that one of the constraints that led to it needing

to be as small as it is, needing for it to be just a Georgetown facility? No. I think the reason why it came about was Georgetown's unique position of having the property upstream and their long-

standing commitment to have one. I think George Town's architects have done an amazing job ensuring that the ultimate George Town boathouse will be in line with the remainder of the boathouse across

the George Town waterfront. I think we have universal expressions of support so I think I'm going to move off of that in the interest of time. Is the project from the district's perspective fully

funded or is there something that we need to do in 2027 in next year's budget in order to fund it? We have two complementary pieces of legislation, the transfer of jurisdiction and the street closing

that are part of this transaction so if all three get approved we'll have the necessary approvals to get final approval through CFA and OGB and then start to prepare the permit set. I guess, but in

terms of parcel E, is there any funding for parcel E at this point? So I guess we don't know at this point but I guess since we're going to advance and sort of look at what would need to be done to

remediate the site, we'll have to see if there'll be a request for funding to do any type of advanced remediation. But to the extent that there would be a request for funding it would be about that.

Correct. And how does the project anticipate meeting CBE and first source requirements? The developers, George Town has signed a CBE and first source agreement so that was part of the legislative

package and it's been executed by George Town already. All right. Mr. Stucker, I'm going to move to Fletcher Johnson. Thank you very much. So the Fletcher Johnson campus has quite a bit of

infrastructure work that the district is responsible for. Can you lay out the remaining improvements and the timeline for them and what agencies will be responsible for the improvements? I think the D

dots there, DGS is there. I don't know. Can you give us a sense of what's yet to be done and who's to do list its own? Sure. For the record, my name is Kaidan Gada. I'm the director for Hallease. So

the district scope for Fletcher Johnson infrastructure includes partial demolition of the school, hazmat on the school building, including all the site grading. And they're also going to be building a

couple of new streets, including 46th Street, a portion of 46th Street. We're going to be improving the Benning Road and 46th intersection. We're going to be doing the Fletcher Johnson Street and

site. We're also going to be doing the St. Louis, a portion of St. Louis Street, which is not there at this point. It's non existent. And we've also going to be improving the intersection of the new

Fletcher Johnson Street and C Street. So all those are part of the public improvements that's in our scope for the district and it's also budgeted for. And all are fully funded in the budget. And then

the last thing that include in that in that scope is also the 30,000 square feet anywhere between 25 to 30,000 square feet of public park. >> And what is the budget for all of the infrastructure work

that's happening on the site? >> So based on the current design for the public infrastructure work, DGS's budget estimate is around $73.6 million and that has been budgeted. >> But will it all be done

by DGS or will DDOT be building the streets? >> So DGS is going to be doing the streets and then we will hand over the streets upon completion and then we're going to come in front of the council with

the street opening legislation at some point once the designs have been approved by DDOT. >> So all the infrastructure will be paid for through DGS and it's around $73 million. When I was on the site,

I think I recall seeing a large telephone antenna on the property. Will that stay on the property or what's going to happen with that? >> In the interim, I think the plan is to have it on the site.

It's an active cell phone tower, which has been used by MPDs and as well as other phone services like Verizon. So it's an active service tower that has been used by district facilities. >> I think

there will have to be a discussion with the DGS team and MPD team as to how we can relocate it at a later date but at this point it hasn't occurred. >> Okay. So we talked about infrastructure zoning

approvals. What zoning approvals may be required? >> The zoning approval has already been done but I will let Kate and if you want to just say what needed to happen in that. >> The zoning, as Latina

pointed out, we have a new zoning that is MU-8B, which has been approved for the site. And at this point, it's a matter of right development so there is no additional zoning requirement for the site.

>> And the different permutations that we heard, option A, where one building is taller and option B, where another building is taller, they fit within the envelope of the approved zoning. >> That is

correct. >> Okay. And sounds like everything is fully funded. There isn't something that we need to do in the next budget on this, although the park is the park fully funded? >> The park is fully

funded. That is included in the $72.5 million that Kate just referenced. >> So is there anything left that we're supposed to do? >> No. >> And what about the magnitude of the subsidy provided here?

How much subsidy to the development itself is the city providing? >> We do not have a request from the developer for a district subsidy at this time. Right now the district is funding the roadway

infrastructure. And again, as Kate and pointed out, the hazmat or the abatement of the Fletcher Johnson School. And that's sort of like the path that we're going for all the campus projects. The

district has funded the roadway infrastructure. >> So to the extent that there's a subsidy, it's providing the land at a low cost? >> Correct. For the covenants that the district requires around

affordability and some of the other things that the district requires in development. So yes, but no additional subsidy request as stated by one of our early panelists. >> No pipeline of vouchers, no

housing production trust fund application at this point? >> I think at this point they haven't made a request, but they do anticipate using 4% tax credits. They might be coming in for DCHFA bonds

because it's affordable housing. So they're going to be using 4%. And they are going to basically look at any of the district funding with respect to senior housing if there's anything available

there. But they haven't kind of fully formalized those financing plans as of yet. >> Okay, so we may yet see a request for subsidy in addition to the low cost provision of the land. There was

testimony about a provision that said that the agency had the right to relinquish its covenant of affordability. Can you speak to that? >> I'm sorry. I'm not aware of that. So I'll check with our

legal counsel, but I'm not aware of -- yeah. >> I think that testimony, the previous testifier might have been mistaken. There is no such covenant. The developer is going to be required to do an

affordable housing covenant at the time of closing. And that is for the life of the ground lease. The entire 99 years of the ground lease, they would be required to do that affordable housing. So

there's no additional covenant that allows any loopholes. >> Okay. And it will be a 99-year covenant. >> Correct. And we're doing this disposition under 10801, which is a requirement of the district

law. >> Okay. And on the park, DPR is going to build the park. The developer is going to maintain the park for a period of time or forever. >> So DGS is going to construct the park in coordination

with DPR because it has to be constructed to DPR standards. So they'll maintain it for a matter of about 25 years as stated in the agreement. But -- and I know we had this conversation during Hill

least about the 25 years. But after talking to our OCFO, it's because of the capital bonds that are being utilized to construct it, has a 25-year period according to our -- to the OCFO. >> I'm sorry.

Say that one more time. >> So the capital bonds that are being utilized to construct -- for construction of the parks or on this project has a 25-year maximum period according to the OCFO. So that's

why it's for a period of 25 years. It runs with the bond allocation. >> The maintenance obligation runs for the bond -- >> For the bond allocation. Correct. >> And then DPR would take over maintenance

at that point. >> Correct. >> Projecting out what the cost will be in 25 years, I think I will not ask you to do that. So this has taken a long time. And I mean, it's nobody's fault. Lots of people

have tried for a long time. And here we are. We're very close. >> But could you discuss the timeline for the RFP and the selection process for the developers at Fletcher Johnson? How many responses

did you receive? And were you at the time pursuing a freestanding emergency department? >> So I'll let Kaitan respond to the timeframe. >> Give me a second. So the original RFP was issued in 2019, and

we only received one bid or one response on that. That was from the current development team that we are working with right now. But eventually they were selected. So there was an extensive community

engagement process after the RFP was issued, and they were selected in December 2020. And since then, we've been working with them and the community on trying to basically come up with a development

program that works on that site. >> And there was only one bid? Do you have -- I mean, this happens. And sometimes it happens because you have a very challenging site, and nobody -- and people say --

>> That is correct. >> So do you have a theory about why there was only one bid in this case? >> I don't know the theory, but I can give you, as you pointed out, I think the site is significantly

challenged because of the existing school building, which is pretty -- it's right in the middle of it. So that's one. It's a 15-acre site. It lacks any public infrastructure or access points. So to

develop that site without any internal roads, it's challenged again. Additionally, it's on a 70-foot hill, which is pretty challenging to build on without grading it significantly. And then lastly, as

you pointed out, there is a cell tower and incomplete roads surrounding it. So access is definitely a big issue for that site. >> And then -- >> And, yes, and forgot the last one. It used to be a

historical cemetery location at one point as well. Clearly, we don't have anything. We've kind of done the archaeological cemetery, and we found nothing on that site that's been removed. But there

were significant challenges on the site, needless to say. >> And then one of the -- a lot of the conversation today has been about the freestanding emergency department. Was that part of the plan

coming out of the box in the RFP, or did that come later in the process? >> I'll let Ben Stutz respond to that. >> Good afternoon, Chairman. So my current position is Chief of Staff at DMPED, but

previously I was the Director of Hospital Development and oversaw the implementation of Cedar Hill and the corresponding agreement. So the history behind the UHS choosing the Fletcher-Johnson site for

an FED was actually part of a larger history of their desire to find a site that was centrally located in Ward 7 that could feasibly be built for a facility like the FED. After exhaustive searching,

they did approach the district to assist with searching for potential sites. And we did engage them in multiple potential locations and partnerships around sites that were already in development or

pre-development where we were looking for anchor tenants or, you know, an infusion of investment. And so this was the second such location that was considered, and eventually decided that the

partnership between the existing developer and UHS would make sense here. >> And talk to me, the idea that UHS had an obligation to spend $75 million doing emergency -- building emergency facilities

east of the river was news to me. And so that comes out of your negotiations at Cedar Hill? >> Yeah. >> And how much are they -- they're spending $23 million here, I think. Is that right? >> Sending

between 25 and 30, give or take. But to your initial question, yes. The council's approval of the agreement with Universal Health Services to operate the new hospital east of the river included a

requirement that they invest $75 million in healthcare infrastructure east of the river within 10 years of signing that agreement. It also specified that that investment take the form of at least one

brick and mortar facility in Ward 8 and one brick and mortar facility in Ward 7. And furthermore, the agreement enumerates that UHS has the choice of what type of facility to open in both of those

wards, either an urgent care and/or medical mall and/or ambulatory facility. And so to date, there's a separate tracking of the $75 million that has been invested east of the river, which is

prescribed in the agreement. And that includes the Ward 8 Urgent Care Facility, which was approximately $3 million. It includes $17 million that UHS put into Cedar Hill to build a bigger facility than

initially envisioned, plus this 30, 25 to $30 million, plus they will need to find the remainder in some shape or form in accordance with what the agreement says. And that isn't a thing that came in

your negotiations. That was a council-imposed condition at the approval stage. Correct. That was the entire agreement with UHS was a stand-alone bill that prescribed all of the agreement to deal terms

of the district's agreement with UHS. And I could look it up, but what year did that bill pass? I'm thinking about my age and my kid. It passed in August of 2020. Okay. Yeah. All right, very helpful.

And so the tally that you gave, it sounded like they're up to about $50 million, but there would be about $25 million left to do inside of the 10 years by 2030. Give or take, yes. And the agreement

enumerates what other types of healthcare infrastructure they can invest, but the bare minimum that the district required to -- Ms. Owen's comment was at least one facility in each ward, and that was

intentional to build a network of care east of the river, rather than just having the new hospital be on its own. Yeah, super useful. I'm glad that this came up. The one -- I was going to ask about

community engagement, but there's been a lot of testimony about community engagement. I imagine you were a partner in all of that community engagement that has happened to date. You heard the call for

ongoing community engagement, and I think that I heard that loud and clear. I hope the developer did, and you did as well. The grocery store, high on the list of amenities people wanted, there's an

aspiration to do it, and hopefully that that can happen. There's a conversation about the art space and something like the ARC, and this abused me. But if the emergency care facility wasn't part of

the original plan, but it came to the scene because Fletcher Johnson makes a ton of sense for -- could make a ton of sense. I'm seeing the neighbor who's worried about traffic across the street, who's

a close old friend of my daughter, so I don't want to -- but from just a placement, it looks like a good place. It feels like it could have displaced a different amenity like an art space because

there's only so much space there, so disabuse me of that. Truly, I'm not sure what was originally planned for that space. I don't think at the time the FED came on the scene very early, so it wouldn't

have been time to displace. I don't know if there was a consideration for art space in the original proposal. I know it was something that the community said in the testimony today that they did want

to see, but I'm not sure if it was encompassed in the original proposal from the developer. Yeah, and I would only add that the proposal at Fletcher has always included a healthcare component, which

has been a focus, and so when we were looking for potential locations to co-locate the new FED, we felt that this was also a good match given the community's interest in healthcare services. Okay, the

different scenarios, it's interesting. Option A has 156, 157, 30 percent AMI units, and option B has 59, 30 percent AMI units, and either of the options with the mix with 50 get you to 241, which is

just over 30 percent, which is the requirement of 1081. I mean, you heard me. If market rents are 80 percent in some parts of the city, this would be considered a fully affordable project. Can you use

memory care units under 1081 to meet the 30 percent requirement? So they're actually residential units with wraparound memory care services. So they are residential units, so yes, they do meet 10801.

They're telling you the use of them, which are memory care, and I guess historically, in communities of color. These facilities have not -- you know, specialized facilities have been out of reach for

families, so you determine who's going to stay at home or who's going to watch the person, or they go into a nursing home. So at least when they're in a specialized environment, we know that they're

getting the medical care that's necessary, and life is prolonged because they have, you know, support services necessary for, you know, for their loss of memory. I hear you. I mean, I was asking a

technical legal question. So, yes, so it's residential with support services, so it does meet 10801. And it's frankly 100 percent affordable, so at 30 percent of AMI. Right, and I will say, I mean, I

think the idea of trying this new model, which has been successful in other places, to address an issue that is of growing urgency and that is the most acute east of the river, I'm excited by that,

but just wanted to make sure that we'd dotted our I's and crossed our T's. When will DDOT complete the design and funding for the new street grid? What's the timeline for getting that all done? So,

DDS is the one doing it, as I said. DDS is doing the infrastructure for the district. So, we are in process of designing it right now. We are at 65 percent design stage, and we, as of yesterday, we

received approval from DDOT on 65 percent design. So, we're going to proceed once we, from that, stay on. So, yeah. And one of the witnesses talked about wanting to have a place they could walk with

their kids, and it's a tricky site. I mean, and facing Benning Road, there's a slope there at Benning Road. Is there a contemplation of a staircase or some way to access the site where you wouldn't

have to come in the driveway that goes where the emergency vehicles will be going? Is there a pedestrian method to get into the site and to the park without as much interface with cars? So, the roads

are being designed per DDOT standards, so they have certain grades. So, the site is going to be heavily graded to meet the district's public road access phase. And all the new public infrastructure

that we are putting in is going to have adequate sidewalks and appropriate grades. So, we are not going to meet any stairs. I think it's a gentle stop. And we are going to be creating new roads,

internal roads, that will lead up to the park as well, connected by an alleyway. So, that's, again, that's all for the slopes that are in accordance with DDOT standards. But I guess my question is--

Oh, sorry. Just to add, so the entrance to the FED and the actual development will be different. So, there will be a special entrance for ambulance services right at the FED, but you would enter the

development a different way than you would the emergency care facility. Feet away or yards away? Are they right next to each other? They just happen to be-- They're next to each other, but I think the

slopes allow for both access, like separate access of both the parcels, all the parcels. What I was wondering about is over on the Benning Roadside, just a pedestrian as opposed to a road entrance, is

there any contemplation of that? Is that a possibility? I haven't seen the final designs, but we'll look at that and see what feedback we get from DDOT. And then a different thing that I heard, and I

think we talked about on the tour, was bus access. And what kinds of things are happening? I mean, 800 new units going to have more bus use, the placement of the bus stops. How are you thinking about

maximizing public transit? So, you and I did have that conversation on the tour. Once the design is completed, we will engage WMATA, because WMATA does determine where the bus stops will go, but we'll

engage WMATA to see if they think that there needs to be a stop on the one street, I think, at St. Louis, to be constructed. And to add to that, there is already an existing bus stop right on the

Benning, in front of the FED site. No, and I do recall that we talked about it, but I just thought I would bring it out on the record. All right. With that, that concludes my questions. So, this

concludes today's public roundtable. For those who are watching, if you plan on submitting written testimony for the record, please do so by uploading it to the Council's online hearing management

system before the record closes at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, October 28, 2026. The time is now 2.30 p.m., and this roundtable is adjourned.