Environmental Nonprofit Urges Mayor to Move Forward with Waterfront Vote

American Clean Skies, a nonprofit that released a vision for in North Old Town when the power plant closes, has told Mayor Euille that City Council should not delay a vote on the waterfront plan to immediately determine how best to treat the GenOn site.

On Dec. 15, the mayor wrote a letter to American Clean Skies Foundation CEO Gregory Staple outlining the current timetable regarding the GenOn site. Mayor Euille said in the letter to Staple that he noticed Clean Skies’ help-wanted ads calling for staff to work on the land use planning process at the GenOn site. Those ads spurred some concern in the community, according to Euille.

“I wanted to take the opportunity to bring you up to speed on the likely planning timetable so you can coordinate that with your plans,” Euille wrote in the letter obtained by Patch. “It is the city’s understanding that GenOn plans to continue to keep the plant operational, safe and in compliance with regulatory requirements until October of 2012.”

The mayor added that it’s the city’s understanding that PEPCO retained and utilizes subservice rights beneath the land that is the subject of the GenOn ground lease where the transmission lines are currently located.

PEPCO has told the city that it doesn’t intend to move its substation operations or those transmission lines from the Potomac River Generating Station site. There must be negotiations between GenOn and PEPCO to determine how to separate the two facilities while keeping the transmission infrastructure operational, the mayor explained.

“As a result of this situation, the community based planning for the site that is anticipated will not likely start until 2013 at the earliest,” the mayor said. "Accordingly, we think it’s premature for the city or for Clean Skies to engage the community before then.”

Staples sought to assure Euille in a Jan. 16 letter that Clean Skies “has no wish to mislead anyone regarding the current status of its PRG proposal…It has always seemed to us that a site-specific planning process should be conducted” after the city resolves the main terms of the waterfront plan.

“While we understand that some portions of the community wish to delay the city’s adoption of any waterfront plan until the PRGS parcel can be included, we do not think that is necessary to ensure that key features of the PRG plan (including, notably, the riverfront parks and community access) are preserved.”

In separate news, the Seminary Hill Association is urging City Council not to vote on the plan until the GenOn site can be included in the waterfront plan. The Old Town Civic Association is urging that council vote against the plan for multiple reasons.