ANC 3F has a punch list for DC Water.
The ANC’s Parks and Watersheds Committee has developed a list of remaining small projects to be done before the Soapstone Valley sewer relining project is completed. Commissioner Mitchell Baer will present for consideration at tonight’s ANC meeting a resolution with this list.
The six items include trail maintenance, tree replanting and the installation of a fence at the top of the stone cascade, just down the trail from the Albemarle trailhead.
While this might look like the top of a stone staircase, it’s intended to convey stormwater only, and is hazardous for hikers. ANC 3F’s Parks and Watersheds Committee would like to see a fence take the place of the caution tape.
“I hope that this will be a common list for DC Water and the community to use as the project is wrapping up,” Baer told Forest Hills Connection.
The below resolution is an addition to the draft agenda, which we previously posted here. The virtual meeting will begin at 7 p.m., and you can connect here.
RESOLUTION REGARDING DISPOSITION OF REMAINING WORK INSIDE ROCK CREEK PARK WITHIN SOAPSTONE VALLEY FOR DC WATER MAIN AND TRUNK SEWER LINES RELINING PROJECT
Whereas, DC Water has been performing operations relining the main and connecting trunk sewer lines within the Soapstone Valley since March 2022, and
Whereas, DC Water has completed all relining work except for a 300-foot section of sewer pipe from a manhole at the intersection of Albemarle Street and 32nd Street, NW to a manhole located behind the Park Van Ness apartment building, considered outside Rock Creek Park, and
Whereas, DC Water is completing replanting and trail reconstruction activities on land administered by the National Park Service and the DC Department of Transportation from Broad Branch Road along Audubon Terrace to Albemarle Street, and
Whereas, this remaining work consists of replanting trees, the reconstruction of Soapstone Trail from the Albemarle Street trailhead past the rock cascade to the western terminus Audubon Terrace and from the eastern terminus of Audubon Terrace to Broad Branch Rd, and then decommissioning the temporary roadways within the valley.
Be it resolved that ANC 3F directs DC Water to address the following aspects of the Soapstone
Valley project before completion of the project:
1. Trails on the DDOT paper roadway between Albemarle Street and Broad Branch Road will be returned to their pre-project condition with firm surfaces mixed with gravel or stones. Rolling grade dips will be installed along the trail from the eastern end of Audubon Terrace to the Linnean Outfall. DC Water will seek and follow the advice of Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC) and NPS volunteer and staff guidance.
2. Dead or dying trees are replaced during the Fall, 2024.
3. Repair of the wooden culvert discharging water from the Hillwood property, located 100 yards from the Broad Branch trailhead will be filled with gravel and stepping stone(s).
4. Fall planting of appropriate vegetation around the upslope area of the trail at the culvert at the rock cascade. Until this planting is completed, appropriate shielding of this area will be done with branches. DC Water will seek and follow the advice of PATC and NPS volunteer and staff guidance.
5. Installation of a fence and appropriate vegetation at the top of the rock cascade in Site 1.
6. Removal of [straw] along the trail from the Albemarle trailhead, re-sloping of the trail, and incorporation of gravel or stones onto the trail. DC Water will seek and follow the advice of PATC and NPS volunteers and staff guidance.
ANC 3F approved/did not approve this resolution at its meeting on June 18, 2023, which was properly noticed and at which a quorum was present, by a vote of XX in favor, XX opposed, and XX abstaining.
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Marjorie Share says
Thank you Marlene / Forest Hills Connection and Commissioner Baer for being on top of this. I would like to suggest the following with regard to planting and trail reconstruction bullet points:,
a) It is important to request to see the planting and reconstruction plan. We asked for that years ago and never received it. . Having a plan is essential because only then can we share ideas and hold DC Water accountable. This request should be woven into the Resolution. As part of this, a key question is: What will the area facing Albemarle look like–wiill there be an overlook, better signage?
b) #2 in the list notes “dead or dying trees are replaced during the Fall 2024. I suggest noting a clear process for identification and replacement of trees. Some newly planted trees are already dead or dying. Who is watering them, especially during these continuous days of high heat and little rain? Why have they been using large equipment vehicles on the trail near Albemarle to plant the trees, which causes increased disturbance.?As the FHC noted, there is a newly toppled tree.
c) #5 Identify and discuss what type of fence for the top of the cascade–height, style and material.
d) We do not want just a return to “pre-project conditions” as noted in #1. We were promised an improved trail that is accessible and sustainable without problem areas.
Green Eyeshades says
Two days after the monthly meeting of ANC3F, where he discussed housing, Ward 3 Councilmember Matt Frumin invited constituents to watch the June 20 roundtable about confirmation of acting-director Sharon Kershbaum as the permanent director of DDOT. The roundtable was hosted by DC Council’s Committee on Transportation & Environment, which posted this index to Ms. Kershbaum’s written testimony, the DDOT slides she presented and other details:
https://lims.dccouncil.gov/Hearings/hearings/424
The actual hearing video is here:
https://dc.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=8924
The formal title of the roundtable was “PR25-0723 – Director of the District Department of Transportation Sharon Kershbaum Confirmation Resolution of 2024,” and the proposed resolution (“PR”) to confirm her appointment is here:
https://lims.dccouncil.gov/Legislation/PR25-0723
Ms. Kershbaum’s testimony begins at time stamp 05:03:00, after public witnesses, including several ANC commissioners (including at least two from ANC3F), testified for the first four hours and 37 minutes.
Committee chair Charles Allen began his questioning of Ms. Kershbaum by reciting the history of rising roadway fatalities in the District since 2012, including record-high fatalities in 2023 and again this year. Then, from about time stamp 05:19:05 to time stamp 05:19:42, the chair asked Ms. Kershbaum “What does Vision Zero mean to you?”
In response, Ms. Kershbaum testified, in part, by explaining that 96% of roadway crashes are caused by human error, and roadway engineering is among several causes for the remaining four percent (start at time stamp 05:21:00.)
But then she testified “Vision Zero and traffic fatalities is a key measure but it is not necessarily the best measure to show the impact of our work.” (Time stamp 05:21:58 to 05:22:07.) I had to stop listening to her testimony at that point.