ANC Wrap Up: Commission reaches resolution partially supporting MedStar renovations, discusses GUTS bus routes and Halloween crime

On Nov. 2, the Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC), representing Georgetown, Burleith, and Foxhall, held its monthly meeting in which it expressed general support for the renovations to the GU MedStar Hospital in a four-part resolution. The ANC also discussed new changes to GUTS bus routes and robberies that occurred on Halloween.

Part of of the resolution reached on Monday night describes how community representatives disagree with certain issues surrounding the hospital’s renovations, particularly that of a parking garage that will interrupt a proposed large green space by the hospital’s east side. The final three parts of the resolution, though, did not decrease the ANC’s general support of the renovations and recognized the need for improvements to the hospital.

“We urge that access to the underground garage should be moved elsewhere and not obtrude on what should be an uninterrupted lawn for pedestrians and students,” said ANC Chairman Ron Lewis. “We are hoping for a green space to rival that of Healy lawn, which we all enjoy.” 

Lewis noted that the ANC may bring its contention over the space before the Zoning Commission to argue for the preservation of the lawn and the movement of the entrance to an underground parking garage away from the lawn.

In response to the disagreement, Commissioner Reed Howard (SFS ‘17), one of two Georgetown students on the ANC, said, “I am grateful for the work the commission has put into creating more green space, because that is something students have been looking for.”

MedStar recently applied for a Certificate of Need (CON), a legal document allowing medical facilities to establish new facilities or introduce new services, from the District of Columbia State Health Planning and Development Agency. According to the MedStar Georgetown’s website, this certificate will allow the hospital “to move forward with a new $560 million state-of-the-art medical and surgical pavilion to be constructed next to the existing hospital.”

In addition to discussions over the space, community representatives and MedStar have agreed to a compromise surrounding traffic around the hospital. In return for the ANC’s support for the Certificate of Need, Lewis said, “MedStar [has agreed to] decrease current traffic by at least 5 percent and keep it decreased.”

The commission also notified the community of the upcoming changes to GUTS bus routes, mentioning that modifications were partly due to neighbors’ complaints that the buses slowed rush hour traffic.

“The changes have taken cooperation and imaginative planning. It’s good news, and it comes right out of the current GU Campus Plan, which called for this to happen,” said Lewis. The buses are to use only the Canal Road entrance and exit beginning Nov. 9.

Lieutenant Roland Hoyle of the Metro Police Department also gave an overview of the Halloween police report, focusing on four robberies around M Street and the surrounding blocks to which  Metro Police responded. He explained that, while no person has been arrested, it is suspected that 30 juveniles are responsible for the crimes throughout the early part of the night. As for the armed robbery reported, Hoyle said that there is a chance there was no actual gun present, although that was described by the victim.

Commissioner Kendyl Clausen (SFS ‘16), wrote in an email to the Voice, “The ANC continues to be a venue in which students of the university and its permanent neighbors collaborate to preserve the unique historic character of Georgetown and give a voice to concerns of local residents.”

Editor’s note: A previous version of this article was published with the headline, “ANC Wrap Up: Commission reaches resolution on MedStar renovations, discusses GUTS bus routes and Halloween crime.”