Reply to Hearst Playground story in Current

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I was looking at Hearst Park the other day and believe that there could be a way to build a reasonably-sized pool with no impact to existing facilities.  Instead of putting it at the south end where the tennis courts are or alongside the field, build it at the north end of the field just at the bottom of the slope from the playground.  The field dimensions would not be affected, and there are no large, legacy trees in that parkt of the park.  It puts the pool closer to the playground, the Hearst park house and offstreet parking (presumably the school lot can be used in the summer).  It moves the pool about as far away from neighboring houses as possible, minimizing the visual impact of lights at night and in the winter.  This could be a win-win.[/quote]

It would impact the roots of the bog trees there, and much of that space actually belongs to DDOT, not DPR.[/quote]

The latest DC plan is to build an elevator tower down the slope from 37th St, near Rodman, to access the pool level 20 feet below.  That land belongs to DDOT -- but that's not a problem?[/quote]

The land that DDOT owns is not part of a lot, it's the unused part of the right-of-way for the street. Under DC law, if the right-of-way is not being used the adjoining landowner is allowed to improve it to provide access to his property. Otherwise it would be impossible to have driveways or walkways.[/quote]

But then the PP's comment about the alternative location down the slope from the park shelter doesn't make sense at all.[/quote]

Google Maps shows the property lines in the street map view. Try this: in map view, zoom in on 37th Street and right click on the property line and select "measure distance." Then click on the edge of the road. Switch to aerial view, and drag the marker you just put down to the edge of the sidewalk. That will show you the distance between the edge of the existing sidewalk and the property line, it's about 4 feet. DPR is allowed as a matter of right to build a walkway across that four feet to provide access to the property.

If you do the same technique in the northeast corner, you'll see that there is about  12 yards to the north of where the soccer field is marked to the property line, and about 20 yards to the east. [b]The land to the north is owned by DCPS [/b]and to the east is owned by DDOT.  The DDOT land could be used for an accessway -- walkway or driveway -- but it can't be used for a structure.[/quote]

I don't think that this is correct.  While Hearst School and some adjacent no doubt are DCPS assets, both ends of the upper playground are signed on the 37th St fence with the DPR logo as "Hearst Recreation Center."  And the Hearst shelter is also up the slope.  So clearly a substantial part of the land on the upper terrace belongs to DPR, not DCPS, although the school kids also use it.[/quote]

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