Corridor Committee Meeting



The CNU-DC Corridor Committee will hold its first meeting on Tuesday, August, 9, from 12:00pm to 1:15pm, at 1244 C Street SE, near the Eastern Market Metro. This will be a lunch session, so please do not forget to bring your lunch.

The Corridor Committee was created based on the response from those people attending the CNU DC Good Design RULES event. Topics suggested by event participants included:

• WMATA's suburban approach to development

• Lessons learned from other suburban stations (Fruitvale in the BART system)
• Reaching out to the WMATA Board
• Resolution or Formal Recommendation from CNU DC

• Meet with WMATA about recommendations on how to encourage good urbanism at metro stations

• Work with WMATA to develop better Joint Development Solicitations
• WMATA needs to streamline development at metro stations

The purpose of the topics and the committee, is to develop a set of principles and best practices for TOD/Corridors in the DC region. Other issues are open for discussion. Please come and attend this committee meeting. We need your participation.

Please RSVP to

Thanks,
Geoffery Ferrell
Mary Madden
Lee Sobel
CNU-DC Committee Co-Chairs

Book Release: Choosing Our Community's Future

Smart Growth America has just released Choosing Our Community's Future, a resource designed specifically for regular citizens who want to make a positive contribution to shaping the growth and development of their neighborhoods, towns and regions. The guidebook will help readers make rational, compelling arguments against poorly conceived plans, but more importantly, it will help them paint a vision of what they do want.

"Why shouldn't the people have access to the same information as the professionals? The Citizen's Guide equips Americans to overcome the tyranny of expertise that can overwhelm a neighborhood. It will help developers, designers and neighbors find the productive path to mutual satisfaction."
-- John Norquist, former mayor of Milwaukee and CEO of the Congress for the New Urbanism

To see more on the guidebook and order copies, click on the book cover image.

Smart Growth America, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is a coalition of national, state and local organizations working to improve the ways we plan and build the towns, cities and metro areas we call home.

Good Design RULES: Workshop Notes



CNU DC's kick-off workshop, "Good Design RULES: Implementing Reality Check," was held on on Saturday, May 14, 2005.

The recent Reality Check visioning exercise on February 2, 2005 brought together over 300 regional leaders to envision alternative growth scenarios for our region, which will grow by 2 million more people and 1.6 million more jobs in just the next 20 years. Preliminary results showed a consensus for development near transit and existing transportation corridors, for mixed-use development, and for the protection of open space. How do we achieve this? That's where CNU DC comes in.

The workshop heard about the results of "Reality Check" and then discussed with local practitioners the design and implementation of transit-oriented development, green space, and corridor revitalization.

At CNU DC's workshop, local professionals shared their experience and lessons learned, and began to develop design guidelines that are relevant to our local context. The guidelines will be used to help local governments implement the results of "Reality Check" in projects and initiatives at the neighborhood and block scales.

Workshop Speakers

Sarah Lewis, President CNU DC
Jessica Millman, Vice President CNU DC
Stewart Schwartz, Director, Coalition for Smarter Growth
Cheryl Cort, Director, Washington Regional Network for Livable Communities
Maurice Walters, Torti Gallas
Dhiru Thadani, Ayers/Saint/Gross
Stephanie Bothwell, CNU DC Board Member
Julia Koster, NCPC
Paul Morris, Parsons Brinkerhoff
Lee Sobel, Board Member CNU DC
Karina Ricks, DC Office of Planning
Geoffrey Ferrell, Ferrell Madden Associates


Action Items for CNU DC

(Please note that some items have designated "leaders." For additional information on these activities, feel free to contact the leader directly.)

• CNU DC needs to hold a strategic planning session

• Where do we want the organization to go in 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 5 years, 10 years
• We need to develop a communications strategy

• Perhaps include a piece marketing the talent of CNU DC participants
• Identify leadership to develop and implement action strategy for each of the action items

• Take the findings of this workshop on the road to the following groups:

• Must gain the buy-in from elected officials

• WMATA has a suburban approach to development - this must change!

• We need lessons learned from other suburban stations (Fruitvale in the BART system)
• We must reach out to the WMATA Board (no control over land use)
• Talk to Governor Mark Warner

• Need to build community support (citizen education)

• Work with NCAPA to host planning salons dedicated to discussing how to implement the findings from Reality Check (PLUS dialogue sessions within our organization)

• Engage other like-minded groups (Smart Growthers) who may already have mobilized to enact policy changes - learn from and joint venture

• Resolution or Formal Recommendation from CNU DC

• To WMATA with recommendations on how to encourage good urbanism at metro stations

• WMATA needs to develop better Joint Development Solicitations
• WMATA needs to streamline development at metro stations

• CNU DC to encourage a one year planning process in Tysons Corner ( , and )

• First step is participation in the June 21st Visioning Session

• Speakers include: Jeff Speck, formerly with Duany Plater Zyberk; Rob Goodill, Torti Gallas; and Geoff Ferrell with Ferrell Madden Associates
• Develop a CNU DC strategy based on meeting outcomes

• Form committee to develop principles and best practices for TOD/Corridors and Green Infrastructure for CNU DC region. We need to develop a lexicon or typology for green infrastructure. For those who did not attend the workshop but would like to join the committees, please contact the organizer directly. We encourage you to sign up for these committees!

• TOD/Corridors (organizer: )

• Green Infrastructure (organizer: )

• CNU DC to host tours of good and bad, new and old urbanism

• Base closures - Fort Belvoir and Fort Meade redevelopment involvement (Stewart Schwartz and Jessica Millman)

• Whitehurst Freeway - develop support strategy for the removal and repair of urban fabric (Stephanie Bothwell)

• Security issues in urban settings (Eleanor Holmes-Norton legislation)

Coming Events

• Our next meeting will take place in Pasadena, CA during the CNU. Chapters will meet on June 9th from 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm. Sarah Lewis will send out additional information shortly.

• We will schedule a CNU DC meeting in late June or early July. The focus of this meeting will be to hear from the Green Infrastructure and TOD/Corridors Committees, report back from the Tysons Corner Visioning meeting, and provide updates on base closure activity. Other agenda items will be solicited.