Norton Urges NPS to Expedite Shepherd Park Land Transfer for St. Elizabeths DHS Campus and Shepherd Parkway Improvements

WASHINGTON, D.C.—As the pace picks up for construction of the next phase of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) consolidation at St. Elizabeths West Campus in Ward 8, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) has sent a letter to National Park Service (NPS) Director Jonathan Jarvis urging his agency to quickly begin the process of transferring eight acres of Shepherd Parkway to the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). The fiscal year 2015 omnibus appropriations bill included $144 million for GSA to make specific infrastructure improvements at St. Elizabeths, including a new access road to support federal employee traffic into St. Elizabeths. The access road will be parallel to I-295 and connect Firth Sterling Avenue with Malcolm X Avenue and South Capitol Street. GSA will also provide improvements to the long-neglected Shepherd Parkway, including construction of a protected trail and bike path. GSA needs access to the eight acres of Shepherd's Parkway by April 15, 2015, in order to begin prepping the site for construction of the access road.

"We are very pleased that by April 15, GSA could begin work on eight acres of Shepherd Parkway in time for the construction season to avoid further delays of DHS construction," Norton said. "In addition to the access road, GSA will also build a protected trail and bike path, the first improvements to Shepherd Parkway in memory. The trail and bike path are exactly what the community asked for at our Capital Parks East Town Hall last October, which was attended by NPS officials. Without the GSA roadwork to rehabilitate this section of Shepherd Parkway, the community would be stuck with perhaps the most neglected NPS park in the country. Shepherd Parkway has been so abandoned that trucking companies have used it as a dump for trash and other unsightly garbage. Shockingly, even human remains were recently found in the park by GSA surveyors. The DHS consolidation, of course, is the largest federal project in the nation and will significantly benefit our city's economic health. An additional bonus for D.C. and Ward 8 will be the improvements in Shepherd Parkway."

Below is the full text of the letter:

Jonathan B. Jarvis
Director
National Park Service
1849 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20240

Dear Director Jarvis:

I write to make sure that the National Park Service (NPS) understands and is compliant with the fiscal year 2015 omnibus appropriations bill (omnibus), which included $144 million for the General Services Administration (GSA) to make specific infrastructure improvements to support increased federal employee traffic into the St. Elizabeths West Campus for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) consolidated headquarters. As you know, the GSA and DHS are in the midst of construction of a new DHS consolidated headquarters on the St. Elizabeths West Campus in the District of Columbia. Congress as a direct result of 9/11, when security agencies were scattered across the region, has acted because complete consolidation of DHS will save billions in costs for current leases, provide additional funds for the GSA Federal Buildings Fund, and, most important, allow DHS to more effectively and efficiently execute its security missions in a unified consolidation on the St. Elizabeths West Campus. GSA completed the Coast Guard Headquarters on-time and on-budget in 2013, but the costs to the federal government have substantially grown because of delays in congressional funding until now.

As a result of fiscal year 2014 funding, GSA has already started construction on the Center Building, which will house the DHS Secretary and at least 700 employees and is slated for completion by mid-2017. In order for the Secretary and his administration to be assigned to St. Elizabeths and for the headquarters to come in compliance with the Transportation Management Plan for the campus, GSA must complete construction of a new I-295/ Malcolm X Avenue Interchange. Because construction must begin this summer, NPS must allow GSA access to Shepherd Parkway immediately and begin the process of transferring the eight acres of Shepherd Parkway to GSA needed to create an access road to St. Elizabeths West Campus. GSA is required by the omnibus to build the new access road parallel to I-295 connecting Firth Sterling Avenue with Malcolm X Avenue and South Capitol Street.

However, in addition to building the road, GSA will also build a protected trail and bike path complete with lighting. NPS, up until now, has seriously neglected Shepherd Parkway and has effectively turned it into a dump. I appreciate that NPS participated in my town hall in October on the NPS parks east of the Anacostia River, where residents informed me that Shepherd Parkway was used for dumping old tires, trash, and other items. Even more alarming, GSA recently sent surveyors to the site, who found human remains. Residents have done their own clean-up of the site, and they have scheduled cleanups throughout the spring. Residents have gone so far as to request that NPS, at a minimum, install exclusion posts so that trucks can no longer backup to Shepherd Parkway and dump trash and debris.

The new interchange will prevent trucks from dumping tires and trash. In addition, a new bike path and trail will be constructed that will allow residents, DHS employees, and others to safely traverse the area. These long-delayed improvements to Shepherd's Parkway will more than compensate NPS for the eight acres now used as a dump for trash and worse.

GSA needs access to the eight acres of Shepherd's Parkway by April 15, 2015, so that it can begin boring holes in preparation for taking the next step in the process in awarding the contract for construction of the I-295/Malcolm X Avenue Interchange. GSA's congressionally approved prospectus is clear that the $144 million appropriated in fiscal year 2015 was for construction of the interchange in Shepherd Parkway, and considering the timelines in the new congressionally approved master plan, we ask that NPS act immediately to transfer the necessary land to move forward. I ask that this request be given full and fair consideration consistent with applicable laws, rules, and regulations.

Sincerely,

Eleanor Holmes Norton