Category: Testimony & Letters

Testimony: Comments on the Draft RFK Campus Master Plan, DC

Testimony: Comments on the Draft RFK Campus Master Plan, DC

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

August 14, 2026

Ms. Anita Cozart, Director, DC Office of Planning

Via: OP.RFKMasterPlan@dc.gov

RE: Comment on RFK Campus Master Plan – Public Comment Draft

Dear Director Cozart:

Please accept these comments on the housing and mobility components of the draft RFK Campus Master Plan on behalf of the Coalition for Smarter Growth (CSG). CSG advocates for walkable, bikeable, inclusive, transit-oriented communities as the most sustainable and equitable way for the Washington, DC region to grow and provide opportunities for all. 

In summary:

  1. Affordable Housing – CSG reiterates our support for and expectation that all the housing and affordable housing requirements are met, phased together as the redevelopment plan builds out. 
  2. Gold Line and Transit Center – CSG is concerned that the Gold Line and Transit Center are not given sufficient priority, based on low funding commitments and lack of specificity for location and design in the draft Campus Master Plan. We urge clear commitments to: A) funding final design, construction and operations of the Gold Line BRT service to Union station, and B) the Transit Center’s location, design and buildout, which is the essential platform for attracting and efficiently boarding riders for the Gold Line. The goal should be to make this a transit-first stadium, where motor vehicle parking and private vehicles are minimized and sustainable modes of access maximized. 

We endorse the comments of the RFK Stadium Coalition, which represents residents and stakeholders working to ensure the RFK redevelopment delivers lasting public good through equitable development, environmental stewardship, affordable housing, and fiscal responsibility. We also endorse WABA’s helpful comments on the draft plan. 

Below are CSG’s detailed comments on housing and mobility.

  1. Affordable housing

CSG supports the overall commitment to 6,500 new homes, of which 30% will be affordable at 30% and 60% median family income. The income targeting should be explicitly stated in the plan, which is a requirement in B26-0288 – Robert F. Kennedy Campus Redevelopment Act of 2025.

CSG supports the plan’s phasing commitment for affordable units, that “To ensure the construction of affordable units keeps pace with market-rate units, the provision of affordable units should be phased so that no less than 30 percent of residential units built at any time are affordable, and the zoning for the campus should ensure compliance with this requirement.” We expect these commitments to be met. 

  1. Transportation for a transit-first stadium

Planned Stadium-Armory Metro station upgrades are critical 

We commend the DC and WMATA commitments to upgrades to double the capacity of Stadium-Armory Metro station for $300 million. We appreciate that these Stadium-Armory Metro Station improvements will include elevators, escalators, stairs, mezzanines, and an expanded north entrance. These improvements will help distribute crowds for orderly, efficient, and safe station operations. These upgrades will be crucial to the success of the stadium as well as improved service for existing residents and future development. 

Gold Line Bus Rapid Transit (BRT): DC government must commit to funding final design, construction and operations

We strongly support the planning and full implementation of the Gold Line BRT line as a central component of the transportation strategy which relies on transit to provide the largest mode of access. The Gold Line BRT is needed to provide a fast, reliable, high-capacity connection to the Red Line at Union Station in Phase 1. This is to be center-running, dedicated bus lanes on H Street/Benning Road NE to deliver capacity, convenient, and competitive travel time to Union Station for transfers to the Red Line, Amtrak, MARC, and VRE. The Gold Line-Union Station connection would reduce pressure on Stadium-Armory Metro station, served by the Orange/Blue/Silver lines, and replace and improve on the discontinued DC Streetcar.

We commend DC’s $5 million allocation for the 30% Gold Line design. However, deeply concerning is that no funds are identified for the final design, construction, or operations of the Gold Line. DC must identify and program all necessary funding by spring of 2027 to be ready for opening day in 2030. 

Transit Center: show the site and bus priority lanes, and articulate the DC government and Master Plan commitment to implementing it

We are greatly concerned about the vagueness of commitment to the Transit Center in this land use master plan. The Transit Center is essential to attracting and efficiently boarding post-game riders on the Gold Line. 

Per the draft Master Plan:

WMATA’s RFK Campus/Kingman Park Transit Improvements Study recommends a Campus Transit Center station to be located in or near Kingman Commons. The station will have access to dedicated bus lanes and other priority infrastructure that link RFK to Union Station. (Final location and design of bike and bus transit facilities will be determined through future feasibility and engineering studies.) (page 59)

The Transit Center must be shown as a specific site and design concept in the Campus Master Plan. The plan must clearly commit to the Transit Center and the street design with bus priority lanes connecting to Benning Road to ensure high-performance BRT that achieves the needed ridership and reliability. This Master Plan should state that the DC government and this Master Plan are wholly committed to the Transit Center — not just mention that WMATA has made recommendations for a transit station.

Other Mobility Recommendations

Vehicle Parking

This stadium should be a transit-first stadium. This means giving priority to the modes used by the largest share of fans to access games — via Metrorail and Metrobus, along with bicycling, and walking. Motor vehicle parking should be limited. The Master Plan should minimize surface parking as much as possible, make the pause on a third parking garage permanent, and focus on improving access to the area by improved transit, bicycle networks, bicycle parking, and an enhanced walk environment. 

Curbside management for for-hire vehicles

Taxis and for-hire vehicles should be managed to protect the priority movements of buses, bicycles, and pedestrians. Since we fully expect some visitors to use this mode, we should have a plan in place to manage their access and impacts. 

Bike network

We agree with the analysis and recommendations that WABA has provided. Bicycling has great potential to supplement transit access to the stadium if the Master Plan can provide high-quality bicycle facilities including protected bike lanes, convenient bike routes, and convenient, secure, high-capacity parking. The District must create safe cycling connections to areas surrounding the RFK Campus in time for the expected 2030 stadium opening. The District must provide fully protected bikeways across the Anacostia River along Pennsylvania Ave SE, East Capitol St, and Benning Road NE, as shown in the RFK Campus Context Plan, with fully protected bikeways extending into Wards 7 and 8 along those major arterials. Bike share and bike parking are essential, including bikeshare docking stations and bike-valet for events.

Serving a neighborhood

While much of the planning is focused on the stadium and what happens when an event occurs, the District needs to ensure that the existing and new neighborhood can function at all times. For example, significant amounts of bus service will need to operate in the new mixed-use districts every day with or without a game. This bus service needs to be able to get through all day, every day. Similarly, bicycle and walk access should be supported every day.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment. 

Sincerely,

Cheryl Cort

DC & Prince George’s Policy Director

Streamline development review in Prince George’s – reduce uncertainty & excessive process, oppose LDR 153-2026 (Maryland)

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

July 30, 2026

Prince George’s County Planning Board, M-NCPPC

1616 McCormick Drive, Largo MD  Via: pgcpb@mncppc.org

RE: Oppose LDR 153-2026, reduce uncertainty & excessive process

Dear members of the Board:

The Coalition for Smarter Growth (CSG), advocates for walkable, bikeable, inclusive, transit-oriented communities as the most sustainable and equitable way for the Washington, DC region to grow and provide opportunities for all. We also support and work closely with RISE Prince George’s, a group of county residents and allies advocating for policies and practices that build shared, sustainable prosperity in Prince George’s County by creating safe, walkable, inclusive and transit-oriented communities. 

On behalf of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, we urge the Planning Board to work with Planning Department staff and County Council members to create better development streamlining procedures instead of supporting this LDR. This LDR lacks legal soundness and misses key issues in improving the county’s development review process. 

Prince George’s development review process is out of step with best practices. This harms the county by discouraging competitive, quality developers from wanting to take a chance on the county. It short changes community members who want to see planning turn into quality homes, and mixed use places.  

The zoning rewrite was supposed to remove procedural burdens. The key goals of zoning rewrite were to streamline and create predictability. It was supposed to provide clear input from the public at the outset. The new zoning rules require a pre-application meeting with the community which is designed to get stakeholders’ feedback at the beginning of the process — before the development team had invested in costly plans and advanced designs. Before this requirement, the community often found out about a project in their area with a Planning Board hearing notice.

As part of the modernization of the zoning regulations — the zoning rewrite set a clear baseline that could be reviewed administratively. The code was made more regulatory, providing more detailed, form-based standards. 

The new zoning code would streamline review with increased public engagement on the front end, followed by administrative, matter-of-right review that did not require additional steps of discretionary or political-level review on the back end. However, the administrative unpredictability was retained through “election to review” or “call up” by the County Council. This meant zoning regulations were more detailed but all the procedural uncertainties remained. This is not the improvement and streamlining we had hoped for. 

Far more development review could be done administratively. Detailed Site Plans (DSPs) are often a poor use of everyone’s time. The staff report for LDR 153-2026 recommends exempting single-family detached and three family dwellings from DSP review, citing the negligible value added after a subdivision review, which addresses all the major impacts and requirements. Two-family dwellings could also be grouped with townhouse dwellings and the DSP threshold increased. 

Most importantly, retaining the District Council election to review an application or “call up” — stands out as a major impediment to predictability for the review process. The public engagement is on the front side of planning and individual projects. Call up generates uncertainty on the back end that takes applicable laws, zoning regulations, and master plan recommendations into a political realm. If the county cannot catch up to other jurisdictions by eliminating call up, it should at least set new parameters around it to limit the downsides of this approach.

Thank you for your consideration. 

Sincerely,

Cheryl Cort

DC & Prince George’s Policy Director

Support for the B26-0684 – Autonomous Vehicle Deployment Authorization Amendment Act of 2026 (DC)

Support for the B26-0684 – Autonomous Vehicle Deployment Authorization Amendment Act of 2026 (DC)

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

July 2, 2026

The Honorable Charles Allen

Chair, Committee on Transportation and the Environment, Council of the District of Columbia

1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW,Washington, DC 20004

Re: Support for the B26-0684 – Autonomous Vehicle Deployment Authorization Amendment Act of 2026 

Chair Allen and Committee Members:

Our organization advocates for walkable, bikeable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities as the most sustainable and equitable way for the Washington, DC region to grow and provide opportunities for all. We have been working in the District of Columbia for 29 years. 

The Coalition for Smarter Growth (CSG) supports Chair Allen’s bill, B26-0684, in particular its important provisions for: 

  • Reporting operations and safety data, including VMT and zero-passenger miles
  • Vehicle miles traveled tax
  • Supporting public transit 
  • Serving all wards
  • User interface for individuals with disabilities

CSG believes that autonomous vehicles (AVs) have the potential to improve roadway safety and provide an additional transportation option to persons without a car or unable to drive (especially in areas with limited transit options), and that AVs also have the potential to degrade our cities and towns by adding more traffic, car dependency, and control of public streets and curbspace by unaccountable private companies. Council Member Allen’s bill seeks to address these issues.

The District of Columbia must manage AVs to support adopted District policy that prioritizes people over vehicles. 

Specifically, DC’s transportation plan, MoveDC, has these policies: 

  • Policy H: Design and manage public space and the space along the roadway to be people-focused, promoting livability and public health by improving accessibility, sustainability, safety, and placemaking.
  • Policy I: Permit and program social, cultural, commercial, and flexible use of public space to improve the quality of life for current and future residents.
  • Policy Q: Promote partnerships and programs such as travel demand management to achieve 75% non-auto mode commute trips by 2032.
  • Policy R: Adapt policies to ensure equitable service, privacy protections, and data driven decision making as technology and new transportation services arise.

Multiple studies have concluded that unregulated AVs would have major impacts on traffic volumes. 

A recent academic synthesis of 26 studies found that shared AV adoption would increase total city traffic volumes by 5.3%, measured in vehicle miles traveled (VMT). This increase is enough to jam up key intersections and busy urban corridors. A 2020 DC scenario study of AV proliferation in the District of Columbia, likewise found that VMT and congestion would rise significantly without strong policy measures like congestion pricing.

AV legislation must discourage excess traffic, support transit, help travelers with disabilities, and ensure accountability and transparency by AV companies

We ask, in particular, that the following critical provisions of bill B26-0684 be incorporated in a new permitting system for shared or personal autonomous vehicles in the District:

  • Reporting operations and safety data, including VMT and zero-passenger miles
  • Vehicle miles traveled tax
  • Supporting public transit 
  • Serving all wards
  • User interface for individuals with disabilities

Thank you for your consideration. We urge the committee to recommend the bill to the full Council. 

Sincerely,

Cheryl Cort

DC & Prince George’s Policy Director

Comments: Support for Missing Middle Housing Study (Prince George’s County)

Posted on by Elena Sorokina

We wish to express our enthusiasm for the county’s innovative missing middle study to address the housing needs of a range of residents. This effort will investigate how to broaden housing options to ensure Prince George’s is a great place to grow up, enjoy young adulthood, raise a family, and age in the community.

Testimony at DPR oversight hearing in support of Chevy Chase DC library redevelopment with increased affordable housing (DC)

Testimony at DPR oversight hearing in support of Chevy Chase DC library redevelopment with increased affordable housing (DC)

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

We are pleased to express our support for the capital funds for a new Chevy Chase recreation center, along with a new library, civic and outdoor recreation space, and affordable, mixed-income homes at the Chevy Chase Civic Core site.

Letter: COG must prepare a strong Mid-Course Review of the region’s 2030 Climate Plan (Regional)

Letter: COG must prepare a strong Mid-Course Review of the region’s 2030 Climate Plan (Regional)

Posted on by Elena Sorokina

As we get closer to 2030 and a critical milestone year for preventing disastrous climate change, it is critical that COG’s Mid-Course Review of the region’s 2030 Climate and Energy Action Plan (2030 CEAP) provide a clear and accountable progress update for officials and the public.