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Buzzard Point Park Environmental Assessment
National Capital Parks - East » Buzzard Point Park Environmental Assessment » Document List
Buzzard Point Park is well on its way to becoming an enjoyable and unique community waterfront park. During 2018's Year of the Anacostia, we are celebrating the Anacostia River watershed, its history, the progress to the health of the river and the exciting things happening on its banks, like Buzzard Point Park. The National Park Service (NPS) envisions Buzzard Point Park as a place where everyone can go to relax and enjoy the Anacostia River.
We started the process to reimagine the park in the summer of 2016 and with your help, have created a vision for the new recreational opportunities and improvements to the Park. Following a public planning and information session (held on July 14, 2016), a 30-day public comment period ending on August 15, 2016, as well as a stakeholder meeting (held on September 26, 2016), the NPS introduced the following two preliminary concepts for the Buzzard Point Park improvements at a public scoping meeting held on December 13, 2016:
Concept 1 transforms the park into a linear waterfront and gateway park serving as the entrance to the Buzzard Point neighborhood. Proposed features include a continuation of the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail (ART) (designed as a multi-use trail with access for bikers and pedestrians alike) and a pedestrian-only promenade. The ART and pedestrian-only promenade would be separated by landscape features such as grass dunes and open lawn areas. The shoreline includes a terraced ledge to provide uninterrupted access to the water's edge.
Concept 2 retains all the same park design features as Concept 1 (i.e., continuation of the ART, a separate pedestrian-only promenade, grass dunes, etc.), but places a portion of the ART on an elevated structure out in the river. By elevating the ART over the water, a unique park experience is created, with the potential to become a new D.C. attraction. Along the elevated trail, overlooks have been incorporated to take advantage of city and river views.
From December 2016 through January 2017, we received many helpful comments and suggestions during a 45-day comment period that helped us finalize the design concepts. In May 2017, the NPS published the Buzzard Point Park Development Concept Plan, which presented two concept designs for the park that included access and use of the ART. A copy of the DCP, which includes comment reports on both public meetings, and other related documents is available through links on this site.
In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, the NPS is now preparing an Environmental Assessment (EA) to evaluate potential environmental impacts of the planned improvements at Buzzard Point Park. Based on the extensive feedback we received and preliminary analysis, the NPS has decided to further evaluate the potential environmental impacts of Concept 1 in the EA.
This process will evaluate the current landscape of the area and determine the environmental impacts associated with the implementation of Concept 1. Therefore, Concept 1 will be further designed to a level appropriate to evaluate in the EA; a "No-Action" alternative would also be considered in the EA. It is anticipated that the EA will be available for public comment in early Fall 2018. There will be an additional public meeting in early Fall 2018 to provide an opportunity for the public to comment on the EA.
Chief of Planning
202-619-7474
We started the process to reimagine the park in the summer of 2016 and with your help, have created a vision for the new recreational opportunities and improvements to the Park. Following a public planning and information session (held on July 14, 2016), a 30-day public comment period ending on August 15, 2016, as well as a stakeholder meeting (held on September 26, 2016), the NPS introduced the following two preliminary concepts for the Buzzard Point Park improvements at a public scoping meeting held on December 13, 2016:
Concept 1 transforms the park into a linear waterfront and gateway park serving as the entrance to the Buzzard Point neighborhood. Proposed features include a continuation of the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail (ART) (designed as a multi-use trail with access for bikers and pedestrians alike) and a pedestrian-only promenade. The ART and pedestrian-only promenade would be separated by landscape features such as grass dunes and open lawn areas. The shoreline includes a terraced ledge to provide uninterrupted access to the water's edge.
Concept 2 retains all the same park design features as Concept 1 (i.e., continuation of the ART, a separate pedestrian-only promenade, grass dunes, etc.), but places a portion of the ART on an elevated structure out in the river. By elevating the ART over the water, a unique park experience is created, with the potential to become a new D.C. attraction. Along the elevated trail, overlooks have been incorporated to take advantage of city and river views.
From December 2016 through January 2017, we received many helpful comments and suggestions during a 45-day comment period that helped us finalize the design concepts. In May 2017, the NPS published the Buzzard Point Park Development Concept Plan, which presented two concept designs for the park that included access and use of the ART. A copy of the DCP, which includes comment reports on both public meetings, and other related documents is available through links on this site.
In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, the NPS is now preparing an Environmental Assessment (EA) to evaluate potential environmental impacts of the planned improvements at Buzzard Point Park. Based on the extensive feedback we received and preliminary analysis, the NPS has decided to further evaluate the potential environmental impacts of Concept 1 in the EA.
This process will evaluate the current landscape of the area and determine the environmental impacts associated with the implementation of Concept 1. Therefore, Concept 1 will be further designed to a level appropriate to evaluate in the EA; a "No-Action" alternative would also be considered in the EA. It is anticipated that the EA will be available for public comment in early Fall 2018. There will be an additional public meeting in early Fall 2018 to provide an opportunity for the public to comment on the EA.
Contact Information
Tammy StidhamChief of Planning
202-619-7474