A Community-based Vision for RFK
CRYSP evolved from a need for more sports fields for youth (and adult) recreational leagues. Just as political and business leaders saw opportunity in the open space along the river, local sports organizations in need of more green space looked to RFK for its potential. “We got together and we just started looking around the neighborhood, the Hill. Where are there spaces? Vacant lots?” explained Mike Godec, president of CRYSP and a leader at Sports on the Hill. With input from leaders from other sports organizations like Capitol Futbol Club and Capitol Hill Little League and civic groups, the idea for a new sports field complex--modeled after Arlington’s Long Bridge Park built on a former brownfield along the Potomac River--came into being. The proposal calls for four multiuse fields to include a baseball diamond and corresponding bathroom and other necessary facilities built on top of the existing parking lots to ideally avoid environmental hazards that may or may not exist below the asphalt of RFK. The project also calls for green features to help reduce surface runoff into the Anacostia River and a permanent open-air structure for the weekend farmers market that would feature solar panels, which would help power the site. Newly-elected Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner for ANC 7D01 and CRYSP officer Bob Coomber said when CRYSP first started one of its goals was to create a positive vision for the future of a small section of the RFK parking lots that abut Kingman Park, the neighborhood he now represents. Kingman Park residents have a long and vocal history of pushing back against many of the plans for the site--like American Le Mans Series sports car racing--but Coomber said he wanted to take that energy and put it towards advocating for something beneficial. Coomber said the idea was to “introduce a positive vision so that whatever came was not imposed upon us, but instead we got out there and
said ‘This is what we want’.” CRYSP also sees a role for the playing fields to benefit the entire city. Coomber said families in the city want safe places for their kids to run around and play--especially given the negligible backyards that accompany the city’s dense family housing stock. CRYSP estimates construction would run between $25 and $30 million, some of which would need to come from the District government and some of which could come from private entities. “Providing space for kids to play isn’t the responsibility solely of Sports on the Hill or Capitol Hill Little League or the Capitol Futbol Club. It’s the responsibility of government leaders. If you don’t do that these families are going to leave,” said Godec.
Forrester, manager for communications and marketing at Events DC. Another option for CRYSP comes on the heels of the recently approved new D.C. United stadium at Buzzard Point in southwest D.C. The soccer team will still need practice fields and, without access to RFK once its lease is up, locker rooms and other facilities. CRYSP sees an opportunity to secure at least some funding for the new park and playing fields through the upcoming Community Benefits Agreement D.C. United will create with the District government as part of the new stadium deal. What about the return of professional football to a new stadium in D.C.? CRYSP would take away some of the surface parking, but the organization argues there would still be
While powerful interests eye the 80 acres of parking lots and the crumbling Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium for everything from NFL games to the summer Olympics, the nearby community waits (and waits and waits).
Where CRYSP and Everything Else Intersect
“It’s a good idea regardless of what happens,” said Godec about CRYSP in relation to proposals like a new football stadium or the 2024 Olympics. CRYSP has had conversations with the team behind the Olympic bid about how the community park could work with future plans. It is even possible were D.C. to win the Olympic bid that the CRYSP fields could be built for community use well in advance of the games and then utilized during the games as practice fields for Olympic athletes. “Usually when you do the Olympics, the legacy to the community of the Olympics comes after the Olympics are over. Why not have a legacy that comes 10 years before?” suggested Godec. The B&D study currently underway takes into account the Olympic bid, according to Ashley
significant parking remaining and that an urban stadium would draw many attendees via Metro. CRYSP estimates there would be parking sufficient for a stadium or event of 50,000 people--more if the new stadium added structure parking. “There’s nothing that Events D.C. does that they couldn’t still do if CRYSP were there,” said Coomber. CRYSP is ready to co-exist or stand on its own, come what may.
Political Will
CRYSP is aware of the challenge of convincing city leaders they should support anything other than the status quo at RFK. Coomber said one “major barrier” is to change the mindset of those who think, “What’s the point of spending a lot of money on anything when we’re just trying to get the football team back in 10 years?” Newly-sworn-in Ward 6 Councilman Charles Allen said he hopes to “champion” CRYSP as he begins
his time on the District Council. “There’s no question that it is a poor use of space--and that’s being generous,” said Allen about the sea of parking lots at RFK. “Everybody sees that.” The challenge is convincing some of his colleagues and other leaders in the city that the CRYSP proposal can truly co-exist as the group believes it can. “I want to make this a priority of the council, but it’s going to take pushing and pulling from a lot of different directions to make this happen,” said Allen, acknowledging the complicated nature of the District’s lease for the land and other interests in the site.
What’s Next?
The winning U.S. Olympic bid could be announced anytime through the end of January. The winning bid for the games would be announced in September 2017. D.C. United will begin playing at its new stadium in 2017, according to current estimates. By then the team will have determined what to do about its current practice fields and where it will be practicing moving forward. Dan Snyder has a lease for his football franchise in Maryland through 2026. Though he has indicated he is already looking for a new home, there’s no telling when that decision will come down. For CRYSP the course is clear: convince city leaders that new playing fields will not hinder whatever may come at RFK--the Olympics or a new football stadium or something else--but would enhance future development and benefit the city as a whole. Shaun Courtney is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of District Source, a D.C. real estate and neighborhood news blog, co-founded and supported by Lindsay Reishman Real Estate. Shaun has been a local reporter in D.C. since 2009 and has called the city home since 2002. She currently lives in Kingman Park. Read more from District Source. u
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