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Community Working Group Meeting Minutes
4:00 p.m., July 16, 1998
Natcher Conference Center, Room D
Draft
Ms. Hedetniemi welcomed attendees and members,
and introduced the following presenters:
Mr. Ashok K. Anand, Office of Research Services,
Construction and Center Drive Access
Ms. Stella Serras-Fiotes, NIH Master Planner, Impact on the NIH Master
Plan of the CRC Footprint
Mr. Paul Gilbo, BaseTen, Incorporated, Demonstration and Discussion of OCL
Web Site
HANDOUTS:
Agenda
Draft Minutes, June 1998 CCWG Meeting
Campus Map showing Phase 1-A and 1-B of Center Drive Relocation Project
1998 Science in the Cinema Schedule
July 1998 R&W Newsletter
NIH Free Outdoor Film Festival Schedule
PRESENTATIONS:
Construction and Center Drive Access: Mr.
Ashok K. Anand, Office of Research Services
Mr. Anand's presentation focused on the
construction to relocate Center Drive as part of the Clinical Research
Center construction. He explained that Center Drive is to be elevated and
moved to the north, and that a new 24" sewer line also is being
installed. The majority of the construction to realign Center Drive will
take place in August and September. During construction, Center Drive will
remain open but the traffic pattern will change. Between Wilson Drive and
Memorial Drive, one lane of westbound traffic will remain open. Eastbound
traffic will be detoured at Memorial Drive. Westbound bus routes will
remain the same, and eastbound bus routes (the J1, J2, J3, and #34
Ride-On) will stop at Building 10, exit the campus onto Cedar Lane, turn
back into the campus at Wilson Drive, stop at Building 31 and Building 1,
and then proceed to the metro. The bus stops at Building 10 will not be
affected by the Center Drive construction.
Mr. Randy Schools inquired about road closures on
Saturdays, stating that he had occasionally experienced Memorial Drive
being closed on Saturdays and wondered about the effect of such a closure
on the re-routing of eastbound Center Drive traffic. Mr. Anand indicated
that any Saturday road closure is an isolated occurrence and no closures
are planned during the time of the Memorial Drive detour.
Mr. Anand also stated that the change in traffic
pattern would affect people driving from Old Georgetown Road to Route 355,
and that a large electronic sign would be installed in front of Building
10 to alert community residents about the detour. He also mentioned that
the entrance to the visitor's parking lot facing Building 31 would be
moved from Center Drive to Memorial Drive.
Impact on the NIH Master Plan of the CRC
Footprint: Ms. Stella Serras-Fiotes, NIH Master Planner
CCWG Chairperson, Ms. Janyce Hedetniemi,
introduced Ms. Serras-Fiotes by reporting to CCWG members that the revised
CRC footprint is requiring more acreage than originally anticipated. This
increase has an impact on several proposals contained in the NIH Master
Plan, and NIH is working to plan the best repositioning of the affected
projects. Ms. Serras-Fiotes stated that the affected projects include 1) a
day care center site, 2) the area for an adult guest house, 3) the
relocation of the NIH fire department, and 4) a multi-level parking
facility. She also reported that a new, small electric substation will be
built on the northwest side of the campus in order to provide adequate
electricity to the CRC, the new vaccine research facility, and Building 50
through the year 2010. After examining various options in conjunction with
Pepco, including the expansion and upgrading of an existing substation
that would cause major disruption on campus, it appears that the most
feasible plan is the construction of a small substation. This construction
will further impact the Master Plan projects mentioned above.
The Office of Research Services is developing an
amendment to the NIH Master Plan, and Ms. Serras-Fiotes noted that the
fire station relocation plans are on hold until the amendment is
developed. Two ORS staff members stated that of 13 different options
considered, only two hold promise of a satisfactory resolution of the
projects affected by the CRC footprint.
Option one would place the multi-level parking
garage where the parking lot at the northwest corner of the campus now is.
The adult guest house would be located near the Convent, and the new fire
department would be built in back of Building 10 and the day care center
would be on the northwest side of the new CRC, on the other side of the
newly aligned Center Drive.
Option two would locate the adult guest house in
the same place as proposed in option one, a location that is easily
accessible and is close to the Convent, another residential facility.
Also, as in the option one, the day care center would be located by the
current West Drive (and on the future loop road, making pick up and drop
off convenient). The parking facility behind Building 10 (southwest
corner) could be larger than in option one, with up to 11 stories (some
above ground and some below ground) and between 1,200 and 1,300 spaces.
The fire department would be located in the northwest corner of the campus
at the current site of the outdoor paved parking area.
Mr. Jim Ward, CCWG representative from Ayrlawn,
asked if the parking structure in option one would extend into the buffer
zone and Ms. Serras-Fiotes replied that it would not. This is because 1)
NIH will conduct a tree inventory in an effort to conserve as many trees
as possible, and 2) NIH will need to conduct a topographic survey to
determine what options fit best into the topography, both visually and in
terms of constructability. Ms. Hedetniemi stated that the current paved
area is partially in the buffer zone. She also mentioned that in the
future, all buffer zone parking is due to disappear according to the
Master Plan.
Ms. Ginny Miller, CCWG Co-chairperson, remarked
that NIH may receive complaints from community residents if the fire
station is located close to the perimeter of the campus. However, in terms
of noise from the fire department, it was noted that the fire house will
have no outside alarm and no sirens will sound when trucks go out. It was
also noted that the NIH fire station sometimes works with community fire
stations, so access to a main road is a plus in those cases. Ms.
Hedetniemi also noted that the consensus is that the tree impact would be
less if the fire station, not the multi-level parking garage, were placed
in the northwest corner of the campus. The tree inventory will confirm
whether this is correct. In addition, NIH fire department personnel have
indicated that they would like the station to be as close to the
residential part of NIH as possible; therefore, the northwest corner
location is quite suitable. In addition, a new fire house is sorely
needed. Mr. Anthony Clifford of the Office of Research Services explained
that NIH has no real fire station; the trucks currently are housed under
sheds. This is not an ideal situation especially in cold weather when
frost forms on the windows.
Because the storm water pond will displace
current parking, a new garage also is mandatory. Ms. Hedetniemi noted that
placing the parking facility near Building 10 may be preferable to placing
it in the northwest corner, because it would be easier for employees to
walk to Building 10 and would cut down on traffic on the northwest side of
the campus.
At the close of this discussion, Mr. Schools
remarked on the need for additional residential facilities on campus
(citing the fact that some summer interns were unable to find housing this
summer and had to return home) but noted that the adult guest house will
need to be built with voluntary funds.
OCL Web Site Demonstration, Mr. Paul
Gilbo and Mr. Robert Gilbo, BaseTen, Inc.
The prototype OCL Web site was demonstrated to
the group, and many useful comments and suggestions were made. In no order
of priority, these comments and suggestions include the following:
- The site is easy to navigate, using both
button or text navigation.
- Some buttons should be renamed to more clearly
identify to the user what information the button leads to.
- Add a map of the NIH campus (or add a link to
ORS' map).
- Include a separate button for "selected
links."
- Add schedule of future meetings.
- Add future agenda items.
- Add a button to the front page for coming
events/breaking news that would include recent actions by the CCWG.
- Add an explanation/mission statement of what
the CCWG is (for the typical community user).
- Change the name of the CCWG button to be more
informative to the community user.(1)
Mr. Steve Kornblatt, CCWG representative from
Edgewood-Glenwood, asked what the purpose of the site is, and Ms.
Hedetniemi replied that is it to serve as one of OCL's links to the
community. This sparked discussion of how to make the site more user
friendly to the average community user, who is unlikely to be familiar
with some of the acronyms and terms used on the site. Mr. Kornblatt also
suggested letting people comment on the site while it is in development as
a way of getting feedback from community users.
The next step in site development will be to
reassess the current site in light of the many suggestions received at the
meeting and to investigate ways of obtaining community feedback/input
about the site in order to make it easily accessible by and useful to
community members and other non-NIH users.
ACTION ITEMS:
Reassess Web site to incorporate specific
suggestions made above and take steps to ensure that site meets the needs
of the community users.
NEXT MEETING:
The next meeting of the Community Liaison Council
(formerly CCWG) will be Thursday, September 17 at 4:00 p.m. in Natcher
Conference Center.
Attendees:
Janyce Hedetniemi, Director, OCL, NIH
Barbara McDonald, Community Specialist, OCL, NIH
Ashok K. Anand, Office of Research Services
Jeanne Billings, Wisconsin Condominium Association
Anthony Clifford, Office of Research Services
Ned Daly, Boston Properties
Robyn Des Roches, Edgewood-Glenwood Citizens Association
Tom Eichbaum, KCF/SHG
Paul Gilbo, BaseTen, Inc.
Robert Gilbo, BaseTen, Inc.
Morton Goldman, Luxmanor Citizens Association
Jeanne Goldstein, Chevy Chase Valley Citizens Association
Stuart Knoop, Oudens + Knoop
Stephen Kornblatt, Edgewood-Glenwood Citizens Association
C. Kosmela, KCF/SHG
Ginny Miller, CCWG Co-Chair, Wyngate Citizens Association
Frank O'Rourke, Whitehall Condominium
Randy Schools, R&W, Inc.
Stella Serras-Fiotes, Division of Engineering Services, NIH
Jim Ward, Ayrlawn Citizens Association
(1) This point led to a discussion of changing the name of the CCWG: Ms.
Hedetniemi charged the group to come up with a different, more easily
understood name. The name "Community Liaison Council" was
favored by the group.
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