Big GDS news

[Anonymous]

So your response is, we don't have room for a few more families of a lower income strata to share our good schools so everyone else should piss off. That is generous of you.

Like I said, a true leader would use these opportunities to maximize the needs in the city. It is true that there is a difference between affordable housing and a homeless facility. But wouldn't it be better to put the facility in a place where the residents have access to transportation and city services rather than wedging them into industrial areas or small lots with no amenities?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So your response is, we don't have room for a few more families of a lower income strata to share our good schools so everyone else should piss off. That is generous of you.

Like I said, a true leader would use these opportunities to maximize the needs in the city. It is true that there is a difference between affordable housing and a homeless facility. But wouldn't it be better to put the facility in a place where the residents have access to transportation and city services rather than wedging them into industrial areas or small lots with no amenities?

Many jurisdictions require developments above a certain size to contribute directly to a capital fund for building schools and services, so that developers essentially pay (at least in part) for the additional capacity required. But not DC.

[Anonymous]

What is your point? No zoning in ward 3? Let GDS determine Wilson enrollment/class size?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is your point? No zoning in ward 3? Let GDS determine Wilson enrollment/class size?

It would seem so. GDS reaps the profits while local students, at least those at DCPS, bear the costs of further overcrowded schools, ever larger classes, less classroom attention, stretched resources, etc.

[Anonymous]

That's just the right combination of words. What planet are they on?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don't suppose their Smartest Guy in the Room sense of entitlement has anything to do with that, do you?

Anonymous wrote:Ironically, they have run into an administration that for whatever reason, doesn't want to support THIS development proposal despite supporting just about every other density project in the city.

The GDS school head has a column in this week’s Northwest Current, that comes across as both pouty and cloying. He complains about the D.C. Planning Office’s opposition to the zoning map amendment that the school wants for the Maartens site, but then says that because GDS is “not a typical developer” it will not fight the Planning Office and instead will scale back the height of the project.

[Anonymous]

Maybe it's time to hire a new "Storyteller & Social Media Associate!" Does any other local private school have one? It doesn't really seem to be working for GDS.

[Anonymous]

I'm really sad about what is happening with GDS. It got out way over its skis with a parent/developer and now its going to have this complicated project hanging over its head while other schools in the area like Sidwell, Field and WIS have much more attractive opportunities to expand their campuses.

[Anonymous]

It seems that the local development, er "smart growth" lobby is in high dudgeon over the D.C. Office of Planning's refusal to support GDS' expansive PUD which would have violated the DC Comprehensive Plan.

http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/30398/tenleytown-wont-get-50-units-of-housing-and-a-park/

The most amusing revelation is that a supposed local community group called "Revive 3E," which has sprung up to support the GDS project, was organized by a current member of the GDS alumni board. This is known in lobbying parlance as an "Astroturf" group, an organization sponsored by an interested party to give the impression of grass roots support. Way to go, Team of Aces!

[Anonymous]

Most of the members on the Revive 3E (which is named after the local ANC area) Facebook page seem to be connected to GDS. If this was an effort to try to show community support, it's pretty pathetic.

[Anonymous]

NIMBYs gonna NIMBY.

It's a loss for the city and region when you chip away at new housing opportunities like this. But that's what you wanted, so congratulations.

[Anonymous]

Most of these new upscale buildings on Wisconsin Ave. are basically high end dorms for AU students whose wealthy parents pay their rent. They're hardly "workforce housing."

[Anonymous]

But people complain about students renting houses in the neighborhood, so wouldn't this be better?

[Anonymous]

Yes. gds should just cut a deal with AU and call them luxury dorm rooms with easy access to local high school kids

[Anonymous]

I don't oppose GDS buying and developing the Maartens site. But they did so with full knowledge of what zoning and the city's comprehensive plan specify there. Instead of building a project as a matter of right, they sought effectively to change the zoning to earn higher profits. That's their choice, but they shouldn't be surprised when the community that has relied on zoning protections pushes back and when the Office of Planning defends the comprehensive plan. GDS is moving in the right direction with its revised design.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm really sad about what is happening with GDS. It got out way over its skis with a parent/developer and now its going to have this complicated project hanging over its head while other schools in the area like Sidwell, Field and WIS have much more attractive opportunities to expand their campuses.

Sidwell Friends already has the zoning approvals it needs to expand and consolidate its campus, despite starting at least 18 months after GDS announced its projects. It's clear from Mr. Shaw's piece in the NW Current that GDS and its advisors seriously misjudged the reaction of city agencies and the community to the proposed campus/PUD-plex.