Help re-imagine the 11th St Dog Park!

For years, there has been tension between developing the 11th St Dog Park in Columbia Heights and keeping the dog park that is an anchor for the community. In 2019, the city looked to purchase the property from WMATA (the owner) to preserve the park for the community, with critics stating that this site is a prime location for affordable housing in a city that lacks it. But can all parties have their cake and eat it too?

The idea of adding affordable housing on this site starts with re-imagining what development can look like. A traditional development would look to maximize the square footage on the site per the DC zoning code. However, on this site it would result in not only the removal of the dog park, but also the reworking of a metro exhaust shaft that remains on site, adding expensive infrastructure costs to the city. This is untenable to residents in the neighborhood.

What if we could keep both housing and the dog park on the site by lifting the entire building off the ground?

This would result in a partially covered, community designed dog park at 60% of its original size that would be preserved and maintained forever. The developer would not maximize the footprint and would help finance the maintenance of the park, as well as contributing to the affordable housing goals of the city. The city would pay for a portion of the land to help with gap financing and the owner (WMATA) would not have to worry about re-locating the exhaust.  With sacrifice from all major parties, we end up with benefits that would not be able to take place otherwise - a possible win-win-win-win.

The project also looks to place agency back into the neighborhood's hands by creating a community investment fund and open design process for the dog park. 

The proposal shows one possibility for what the site could become. Some compromise is needed, the developer has to take less of a return and less than optimal square footage, the community needs to reduce the square footage of the dog park, and the city needs to provide gap financing to make the project work. However, the additional resources that are created far outweigh the sacrifice - a preserved enhanced dog park, deep affordable housing, 25 apartment units with a rooftop amenity, 615 sf of retail, a beautiful, energy generating building and community hub for years to come.

The proposal is located here: https://issuu.com/joeiwaskiw/docs/11th_st_dog_park

By no means is this intended to be final. The hope is that this can start a conversation that can lead to us re-thinking the site in a better way.

For clarity sake:

What you are signing for:

• A discussion and dialogue to open up on what the site could be. Can we be creative?
• Preservation of the dog park and adding affordable housing.

What you are not signing for:

• This exact solution to be implemented.
• Developer takeover.
• Dog park being removed.

Would you please consider signing today to start positive change to the neighborhood and the city beyond?  You can follow along on Instagram @joeiwaskiw.