CARR
OLIVER CARR COMPANY
SENDER'S DIRECT DIAL NUMBER: 202-301-3062
December 23, 2002
Mr. Joe Cook
Chief of Land Resources Program, NCR
National Park Service
1100 Ohio Drive SW, Room 220
Washington, DC 20242
Re: Proposed Land Exchange
National Park Service/Casey Mansion Foundation
Dear Mr. Cook:
Mrs. Casey and I have had the opportunity to reflect
upon and discuss the public response to the land exchange between the
Casey Mansion Foundation and the National Park Service (NPS) and I am
writing to provide our reaction and proposed final modification to our
agreement. We feel strongly that the NPS property adjacent to the
Foundation property should be cleared of the exotic vegetation that is
killing the trees and has taken over the property and that a second means
of access to the Foundation property is an important security issue. There
is no more logical or practical location for a second access point than
the intersection with Whitehaven Parkway that is soon to be improved with
a traffic light, and the fact that neither NPS, the trail clubs or any
other local community groups have shown an interest in this property for
54 years is one of the reasons we stepped forward.
In light of the current difficulty in the public
response, we would like to male one last attempt to cause the exchange to
succeed. Following is our proposal:
The fact that the acreage that is subject to the exchange was originally a
part of the Foundation property, was never intended to be park but road
extension and is essentially derelict have engendered little apparent
support and opposition as you are aware. Under the circumstances, we
propose to eliminate the "no development" portion of the
proposed exchange reducing the NPS portion of the exchange to just over
two acres.
We will drop the Georgetown Waterfront houses as our proposed exchange
property and change to using the Carter Woodson house and one or two
properties from the Shiloh Baptist Church. The Georgetown property has
caused only confusion and opposition from the anti-boathouse people. The
Carter Woodson house is a National Register property that the City wants
preserved as are important landmark of Black History. Helping to preserve
this property, helping preserve an important row of Federal townhouses in
Shaw and helping the Shiloh Baptist Church will produce a more tangible
benefit to the City at large.
It is agreed that to the extent the land area is reduced that is
received by the Foundation, the agreed upon appraised value will be
reduced on a direct square foot basis. No greater value will be assigned
to that portion of the property exchanged than that retained.
The deletion of the trail will be maintained, but the other provisions
of the Second Amendment to the Exchange Agreement will be deleted. The
adjacent property owner has objected to the trail out of concern for her
property and the non-exchanged portion of the property is more
appropriately accessed from Glover Archibald Park. The portion of the
property that we are no longer proposing to acquire is the one for which
the most concern has been raised; so, since this property is to be
retained, NPS can conduct any further studies on its own property it
wishes to.
The Park Service agrees to keep to the present schedule; to publish the
amended plan as proposed herein at the end of the 30 day public response
process on January 3rd; to submit the revised the EIS to NCPC on January
3rd, so that the NCPC hearing will be held on February 6th.
This process has been long and the reaction from the community, which
previously had no interest in thus land, seems inappropriate. We would
like to conclude this exchange with the changes we have proposed herein
and move forward with the mansion project expeditiously. If we cannot do
this, then I believe Mrs. Casey will rethink the entire project, as the
spirit of her generosity will clearly not have been met in the reception
we have been given. If you accept this proposal, we will enter into the
necessary contract amendment during the week of January 6.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Richard W. Carr
Cc: Mrs. Betty Casey |
