BOARD OF DIRECTORS Officers: Judy Scott Feldman, Ph.D. Chair August 14, 2013 W. Kent Cooper, FAIA Vice Chair To Executive Director Marcel Acosta and NCPC Commissioners: George H.F. Oberlander, AICP Vice Chair The National Coalition to Save Our Mall has learned that the National Capital Joseph D. West, Esq. Planning Commission may review once again the Eisenhower Memorial design Treasurer concept at its September 12th Commission meeting. We would like to remind the Lisa Benton-Short, Ph.D. staff and Commissioners that the House Natural Resources Committee is considering Secretary legislation directing the Eisenhower Commission to stop action on the current design, and is considering removing funding for the project. The Coalition believes M.J. “Jay” Brodie, FAIA Director that NCPC should not take any action on the Memorial proposal until Congress has resolved this potential legislation. Charles I. Cassell, FAIA Director Furthermore, the Coalition continues to have concerns that the Section 106 and Ellen Goldstein Director NEPA process seems to be moving ahead without serious attention to the Commemorative Works Act as it pertains to protection of the L'Enfant Plan of George Idelson Director Washington: David H. Marlin, Esq. Director • The Commemorative Works Act states its purpose is to protect the L'Enfant and McMillan Plans for Washington. Arthur Cotton Moore, FAIA Director • The design guidelines prepared by NCPC and other government agencies some years ago (2006?) are not consistent with the L'Enfant Plan: they call 3rd CENTURY MALL for a 50 foot cartway when in fact the L'Enfant Plan calls for 160 foot ADVISORS avenues. Henry Arnold • NPS and NCPC relied upon the National Register of Historic Places Landscape Architect documents for identifying the qualities of the L'Enfant Plan. But that Gordon Binder “nomination” has been acknowledged to be inadequate. No decisions should Senior Fellow World Wildlife Fund be based on that outdated document. • The NPS was required in the Programmatic Agreement for the African Louis Kriser Kriser Enterprises, LLP American Museum to revise the L'Enfant Plan nomination. The current nomination makes no mention of Maryland Avenue's crucial importance to Frank Mankiewicz Hill & Knowlton the design geometry and symbolism of the L'Enfant Plan. We believe the revised nomination should correct that deficiency. Thus the revision is Amy Meyer Co-chair, People for A Golden crucial to any NCPC review, and for the Section 106 and NEPA process. Gate National Recreation Area Attached are two letters from 2012 that make clear the seriousness with • Kay Murphy which members of Congress as well as NPS leadership take the inadequacies Nonprofit Administration of the National Register nomination for the L’Enfant Plan and the need for William K. Reilly accurate data for planning purposes. Former Administrator, EPA • NPS states in the 2012 letter that it is 2 years into a 3 year process of rewrite. Robert E. Simon, Jr. That process should now be completed, or will soon be completed. The new Founder, Reston, Va. nomination should be taken as the new official authority on the L'Enfant Plan. • The new, revised nomination should be the touchstone in evaluating National Coalition to Save Our Mall P. O. Box 4709 Rockville, MD 20849 301-340-3938 [email protected] www.savethemall.org compliance with the Commemorative Works Act. • Usually in its Executive Director’s Recommendations NCPC staff cite the CWA only with respect to the moratorium on new memorials. We urge NCPC to apply the purpose of CWA -- protection of Washington’s historic plans -- to its evaluation. • The new nomination should be a crucial source for evaluating the Memorial design compliance with historic preservation, environmental, and other laws. The Coalition has made these points concerning the importance of following the historic L’Enfant and McMillan Plans in designing the Eisenhower Memorial in comments to NPS, NCPC, and in letters in The Washington Post and The New York Times. We believe our comments have been ignored or dismissed. Articles and editorials in both papers instead present any opposition to the Memorial design as a matter of style -- classicists vs. modernists -- or opposition by family members. We have been sorely disappointed at the public silence from any federal or DC agency regarding their responsibility to support the historic plans of Washington, DC. The memorial design given concept approval last month by the Commission of Fine Arts does not appear to recognize the L'Enfant concept for Maryland Avenue. We believe that decision was wrong; Fine Art’s response is basically a political rather than a planning decision. We believe that a planning response is called for here. The NCPC is required to follow historic preservation process. It is premature to take any action because the National Park Service is in the process of rewriting the National Register of Historic Places nomination for the L'Enfant Plan, as described above and in the two attached letters from Congress and the NPS. The rewrite should be completed and presented for public review of its documentation, findings, and interpretations of the significance of the Eisenhower Memorial site in the L’Enfant and McMillan Plans. That rewrite should be considered a crucial part of any NCPC action since it may affect the impact of the Memorial on historic resources at this particular location on Maryland Avenue. Sincerely, Judy Scott Feldman, Ph.D. Chair and President Attachment includes 2 letters: one from Congress, the other from NPS National Coalition to Save Our Mall P. O. Box 4709 Rockville, MD 20849 301-340-3938 [email protected] www.savethemall.org Thank you for your efforts in coordinating the review of the Eisenhower Memorial. Several years ago I was involved with the site selection effort and have been following the project with great interest. I have worked previously with the NCPC staff on the Memorials and Museums Master Plan and have been involved with Washington area urban design efforts for many years, including the World War II memorial. I would like to comment on the proposed design of the Eisenhower Memorial. While I am a proponent of the efforts to locate the memorial at this site, I do not support the memorial design that has been presented. Overall the design concept as it has evolved has not reached a level of prominence that would be fitting for the Eisenhower presidency or the site upon which it is proposed. The design elements in my opinion are incidental and the huge concrete columns and screens are completely out of scale and character with their urban setting. As I have witnessed the memorial concept and its alternatives develop, I am not impressed with the outcome of any. The unfortunate insistence of the current designers upon using the enormous billboard-style metal screens and their highway-scaled column supports result in visual conflicts with the monumental and historic context of this site. Surely there needs to be new direction to this important project. I hope that we can depend upon the guidance of the National Capital Planning Commission and the National Park Service to steer the course of this memorial design in a direction that will complement the accomplishments and memory of this American President while respecting the context of this commanding L’Enfant inspired urban site. Rod Mercer, FASLA, RLA Planning and Urban Design Lead URS Planning Architecture Engineering 2020 K Street NW, Suite 300 Washington DC 20006 [email protected] Direct: 202.772.0605 Cell: 202.549.4219 Main: 202.872.0277 www.urs.com I would like to thank the Commission for its ongoing efforts in coordinating the review of the Eisenhower Memorial. Having been involved with the site selection effort and having worked with the NCPC staff on the Memorials and Museums Master Plan, I have closely followed the development of the present design. I would like to support the NCPC findings today on the proposed design of the Eisenhower Memorial. While I am a proponent of the efforts to locate the memorial at this site, I do not support the memorial design that has been presented. Overall the design concept has not reached a level of prominence and character that would be fitting for the Eisenhower presidency or the site upon which it is proposed. The design elements in my opinion are incidental and the large perimeter features are out of scale with their urban setting. As the memorial concept has developed, the billboard-scaled metal screens and their highway-scaled columns result in significant visual conflicts with the monumental and historic context of this site. As the NCPC findings suggest, there needs to be new design direction to this important project. We look to the National Capital Planning Commission, the Eisenhower Memorial Commission, and all related federal review agencies to steer the course of this memorial design in a direction that will complement the accomplishments and memory of this American President while respecting the context of this commanding L’Enfant inspired urban site. Thank you for your consideration of these remarks. Rodney P. Mercer, FASLA, RLA Washington DC Commissioners March 27, 2014 National Capital Planning Commission 401 9th Street NW Washington, DC 20004 Re: Eisenhower Memorial American Bird Conservancy (ABC) applauds the Eisenhower Memorial Commission for their successful efforts to make the design of the Eisenhower Memorial friendly to birds. Man-made structures kill over half a billion birds each year in the U.S. alone, birds of intrinsic, cultural and economic significance. However, there are many simple ways to make any structure less threatening. Birds migrating at night in spring and fall are attracted by light from buildings into the built environment where they can be injured by glass, wires and other dangers.