Dear John:
The Commission of Fine Arts appreciate the opportunity to visit the Georgetown Waterfront with you, other NPS staff and consultants regarding current plans for establishing a new park. These designs were first presented to the Commission at our 20 October 2003 meeting. At that time we deferred action pending a visit to the site.
Despite the heavy rain and late hour, their enthusiasm for this undertaking remains undampened. The basic plan is sound, and we urge you to move forward with the refinement of the details as soon as practicable.
As you know, when we were first presented with this project, we expressed some reservations about the relative complexity of certain features, in particular, the all-important termination of the vista from Wisconsin Avenue. While we still urge simplification along the water's edge at Wisconsin Avenue, specifically the removal of the fountain feature, which seem to unnecessarily burden the waterfront project, we want to stress our strong endorsement that this long-delayed and much needed improvement move forward. The industrial elements that blighted this important part of the Potomac River's edge were removed some thirty years ago, and the land has remained unimproved for far too long.
We are confident that with the continuance of the well-constructed public process you have been following, you will develop a positive consensus among all the interested groups, and that a design at a level of the Park Service's standard of excellence can ve achieved for this extraordinary site.
Sincerely,
/s/ David M. Childs
Chairman
John Parsons
Lands, Resources and Planning
National Park Service
National Capital Region
1100 Ohio Drive, SW
Washington, DC 20242