Nearly 300 residents and designers assembled on a rainy Friday night to begin the creation of a Community-Based Plan for the Columbia Heights Metro Station Area. The participation was a true representation of the diversity of Columbia Heights, with the Latino/Hispanic, Vietnamese, Black and White as well as youth and senior populations were well represented.

As guest speaker, Richard Monteilh - the new director of the DC Department of Housing and Community Development - set the tone for the weekend when he said "dream big, don't hold us to a standard that you think is possible, but one that is as high as you can imagine." The charette was held on Friday evening November 14 and continued all day Saturday November 15.

A grassroots effort to create a master plan with design guidelines for the upper portion of 14th Street NW is now underway. The project is sponsored by the Development Corporation of Columbia Heights (DCCH) and the DC Department of Housing and Community Development. The Washington Architectural Foundation (WAF) and the Chapter's Urban Design Committee are providing technical assistance, with financial and technical support from the Enterprise Foundation and DC LISC (the Local Initiatives Support Corporation).

The workshops were conceived as a first step in a continuing project intended to ensure local input into the planning and development process. During the two days of the charette, teams of participants identified key elements of their community, noting those that are not working and those that are, and the changes they would like to see in their neighborhood.

Each group was facilitated by teams of three comprised of community leaders and design professionals. The groups built on the needs of the community to produce development scenarios and design objectives. Residents' proposals included the following:

• Development should serve residents' needs first and then tourists and other out of area visitors second.

• Community-oriented retail and services should be given priority.

• Land use and location decisions should be designed to keep the streetscape lively both day and night.

• The ground level facades on 14th Street should be predominantly retail oriented with restaurants and other lively, walk-in uses unbroken by curb cuts; larger retail establishments should occupy a minimum of street frontage.

• A rich pedestrian oriented streetscape, well-shaded with controlled vending is desired.

• Parking should not be located on the surface; it should be underground and/or hidden behind small-scale street fronts.

• Strip malls with parking in front should be prohibited.

• Some form of Plaza, square or green should be developed as a central feature, potentially by the metro entrances.

• A police substation and Post Office are desired, as well as an economically sound supermarket with quality products.

• New facades should be architecturally compatible with older ones.

• Traffic should be studied and the street pattern adjusted to improve the flow and make the area more pedestrian friendly.

• Care should be taken to blend higher densities near 14th Street with the small scale residential buildings which predominate in the community.

• Existing zoning heights and densities should be maintained. (This may really refer to the height of existing structures, not the code.)

• Traffic should be studied and the street pattern adjusted to improve the flow.

• Some attractive "city wide" drawing feature should be considered and planned. It might have an international ambiance.

• The Tivoli should be restored and used as a multiuse facility.

• The demolition of existing structures should be carefully controlled. Parcel 27 might be a candidate for acceptable demolition.

• Renovating boarded up housing should take priority over constructing new multistory housing.

The results of the workshop will be used by the design task force to produce a master plan that will be presented back to the community for further input, and finally to the Redevelopment Land Agency for adoption as design guidelines.

"The presence of Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA) Board members on Friday and Saturday attests to the genuine commitment of this agency to a community-based plan," said Julienne Nelson, WAF Executive Vice President.

Special thanks to the project's steering committee: Geof Griffis, representing DCCH; Madeline Petty, Executive Director of the Enterprise Foundation and WAF Board member; Oramenta Fleming Newsome, Executive Director of DC LISC; Kent Cooper, representing the Chapter's Urban Design Committe; Jim Thackaberry of DHCD. Thanks also to Richard Monteihl, DHCD Director, and Robert Moore, DCCH president.