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Concerned Marylander on December 11, 2018 at 5:01 am

I don't want to comment on the merits of any particular plan or use for the RFK site. I do want to remind everyone that the reason for locating the parking lots+stadium on that location in the first place was in part due to the location of the Anacostia flood plain.

Here's the relevant map, from FEMA. Note that the flood level for a 100-year flood would submerge precisely the parking lots. Any proposed (re)use of that space had better be prepared to be submerged. A stadium with parking lots makes some sense; playing fields with minimal infrastructure on them do too. In addition to the risk to whatever you actually put there, if it's something that occupies a large part of the volume (like a building) or could sit in the way of flood flow (like a building), there's a risk to everything else along the river as well, as the development there could raise flood levels and put more locations at risk of flooding elsewhere along the Anacostia.

A commenter above suggested that using the space for mixed residential/commercial development would be as simple as changing the rules. That statement is literally true, but misses the (good) reason why those rules were adopted in the first place.

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