The D.C. Zoning commission met April 14 for the first of three hearings on Georgetown University’s campus plan. Georgetown administrators sat before the commissioners and made their case for the 2010-2020 outline. With their lawyer and architect, John DeGioia, university president, James O’Donnell, provost, and Todd Olson, dean of students, testified to the main points of “the modest and reasonable plan.” Acknowledging the opposition of residents to the university’s proposals of increased graduate student enrollment and on-campus road construction, DeGioia argued that the university had gone “more than halfway to meet neighbors.” (Visit Georgetowner.com to read past articles for more details.)
The zoning commission includes Anthony Hood, chairman, Konrad Schlater, Greg Selfridge, Peter May and Michael Turnbull.
In the room were neighborhood leaders as well as Georgetown students.
Commissioners offered some preliminary comments and questions. Asking about the percentage of students living on campus (79 percent), May said he did not like the sound of “a voluntary cap” on enrollments, which seemed to be “not setting a good tone for discussion.” Turnbull asked about how far or how long it would take to walk the campus north to south. Schlater was curious about such strong opposition to the plans by residents. DeGioia replied, “We are in the finest residential neighborhood.” Schlater requested the 10-year data on disorderly conduct by students.
The next hearing—with residents’ testimony—will be May 12, at 6:30 p.m. Third hearing is on May 16.
