Forest Hills Connection || News and Life in Our DC Neighborhood
Covering Forest Hills, Van Ness, North Cleveland Park and Wakefield
by Marlene Berlin In the decade since DC Water revealed plans to rehabilitate the aging sewers in the Soapstone Valley, the primary concern of neighbors and trail users has been the protection of the park’s trees. A recent update on the project makes it clear that DC Water has been listening. DC Water representatives told […]
Public meetings in the next couple of weeks will discuss some major projects of major import to Rock Creek and Soapstone Trail users and neighbors, and to Connecticut Avenue users and neighbors. All of these meetings will conducted virtually. March 16th – Soapstone Valley sewer rehabilitation The last time DC Water provided an update, we […]
Less than a month before a DC-ordered deadline for stormwater mitigation, ANC 3F sent the Van Ness Burger King franchise back to the drawing board. In exchange for a nine-year zoning variance that allows the continued use of the parking lot beyond the drive-thru, Potomac Foods Group agreed in 2018 to repave it with permeable […]
by Marlene Berlin Last Thursday’s heavy rain caused local waterways to overflow and led to dramatic water rescues across the region. Thankfully, no drivers were trapped on Broad Branch Road this time, but Rock Creek and tributary streams such as Broad Branch did flood local roadways. WTOP captured the dramatic power of the water on […]
by William J. Sittig Is it safe to swim or engage in other water recreational activities in Rock Creek and its tributaries? First of all, it is important to know that swimming is currently illegal in DC waters and has been since the 1970s. But, to assist in answering the question of whether or not […]
by Marlene Berlin The storms that rolled through the area late on Monday, July 6th and early the next morning produced quite a light show. They also pummeled the region with rain. Trees fell, thousands lost power, roads flooded and Metro suspended service between Van Ness and Dupont Circle as water poured into the Cleveland […]
They had the blueprint. Now they have the green light. DC Water announced on May 8th that the National Park Service has approved the District agency’s preferred plan for rehabilitating the century-old sanitary sewer pipes running through the Soapstone Creek valley. The creek lies east of Connecticut Avenue at Albemarle Street and is also part […]
by Marlene Berlin I slept fitfully Sunday night. Downpours interrupted my sleep at times. When I awoke the next morning, I had one thing on my mind: to get into Rock Creek Park and hike along the Black Horse Trail before people arrived. I had given up walking this trail because it has become so […]
Our last major update on the Soapstone Valley sewer rehab project was in early August, when the public comment period on the environmental assessment closed. DC Water’s plan to reline the existing 110-year-old pipes is now in the National Park Service’s hands, and its blessing will come via a finding of no significant impact, or […]
by Marlene Berlin While hiking the Soapstone Trail in mid-December, I noticed a weathered plaster cast of an angel. It was sitting atop one of the many manhole covers that mark the location of the 110-year-old sewage pipe that winds through and about Soapstone Creek. I wondered who had placed it there and welcomed the […]
