Developing the Anacostia River

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Developing the Anacostia River

• Nina Albert
• Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and
  Economic Development
• Government of the District of Columbia

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Washington, DC

• Confluence of Potomac and Anacostia Rivers
• 68 square miles
• 40 federally owned land
• 25 of land is east of the river
• City dichotomies
• Community
• Political controls
• Geography

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The Anacostia River

• Contaminated water and soils
• Deteriorated infrastructure
• Incomplete and unimproved parks
• Isolated destinations
• Economically neglected neighborhoods

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District Goals

• Tax revenue increases
• Job creation, particularly for residents of Wards
  7 and 8
• Business creation
• Catalytic effects
• Housing opportunities
• Environmental clean up of river
• Recreational opportunities for Wards 7 and 8
• Improving connectivity within DC and to DC

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Creation of a Waterfront Plan

• Addresses 2,800 acres along waterfront
• Recaptures 900 acres for productive use
• Redefines Washington as a world-class
• waterfront city

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5 Themes for the AWI
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Implementation Challenges

• Cross jurisdictional and agency coordination
• Federal/local coordination
• WASA/local coordination for replacement of CSO
• Maryland/DC coordination for point-sources of
  contamination
• Financial implementation due to limits on debt
  cap and timing of expenditure needs
• Relationship with developers
• Community expectations

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Coordination Challenges
Federally Owned or Controlled Land in AWI
Trust Military District Owned or Controlled Land
National Mall
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Lessons Learned

• Early buy-in from stakeholders
• MOU should be designed to overcome changes in
  administration
• Within local jurisdiction, need dedicated staff
  to focus on and follow up with issues
• Regular meetings required to keep momentum and
  focus on progress

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Financing Challenges

• Cost estimates (2006)
• Environment 2 billion
• Transportation 4 billion
• Parks 250 million
• Cultural destinations 100 million
• Neighborhoods 600 million
• Timing mismatch between when funds are needed and
  when funds are available
• ROI over 30 years is marginal (3-6) the return
  is underestimated
• Measuring the environmental returns is difficult
• Determining timing of returns is difficult
• Have not factored in savings resulting from job
  creation
• Caution regarding early private developer
  involvement and dilution of land value

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Timing of Use of Funds
Did not include costs of private costs of
development
Try to time revenue generators as strategically
as possible
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Timing of investments
DC cannot assume debt level greater than 17 of
revenues
Prioritized use of TIF and PILOT bonds
REVENUES
DEBT
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Public Private Partnerships

• DC Dispositions
• Lease greater than 20 years
• Sale of property
• Southwest Waterfront (20 acres)
• Hill East (50 acres)
• Poplar Point (40 acres)

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Project Requirements

• AWI Requirements

• Districts Goals

• 30 affordable housing
• 35 contracting with CBEs CBE equity
  participation and CBE development
• First Source hiring
• (51 from DC 20 from Ward 8)
• Green building requirements
• Build according to the citys plans

• Achieve the AWI requirements
• Create high quality development
• Program the site as to maximize future revenues
• Developer to pay for as much of the
  infrastructure as is economically feasible
• District to receive as much in payment as possible

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Lessons Learned

• Public sector to increase value to greatest
  extent possible without private assistance
• Rezoning
• Infrastructure
• Environmental remediation
• Think carefully about public mandates/requirements
  and how they impact land value
• Affordable housing strategy (difficult for
  developers)
• Local hiring (partnership with public-private
  required) workforce intermediary
• Recreational/park integration (easy for
  developers)
• If properties of high interest for developers,
  think about maximizing land value to subsidize
  other initiatives along the waterfront

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Managing Public Expectations

• Communities will want it all SCOPE AND TIMING
• Provide leadership to balance their expectations
  against financial realities
• Establish the policy goals and advertise clearly
  (will help in recruiting the right developers)
• Planning process occurs at three levels
• Framework Plan
• Small Area Plans
• Individual PUD approvals
• Pace the projects establish timelines explain
  process and challenges
• Give community tasks for them to deliver, work on

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Nina AlbertOffice of the Deputy Mayor for
Planning and Economic DevelopmentGovernment of
the District of Columbia