D.C. Mun. Regs. tit. 10-A, § 1513
1513.1 Public Reservation 13 lies on the eastern edge of the Hill East neighborhood on the west bank of the Anacostia River. For more than 150 years, the 67-acre site has been an isolated campus, separated from the neighborhood it adjoins and an obstacle between residents and the waterfront. Reservation 13 has contained public health facilities since 1846, when it became the location of the Washington Asylum—the District's hospital for indigent patients. In later years, it housed a smallpox hospital, quarantine station, and crematory. Some of the site's early buildings, such as Anne Archbold Hall, remain today. However, most of the buildings on the site were constructed in the 1930s and 1940s. The site became DC General Hospital in 1953; the hospital was closed in 2001, and later used as an emergency shelter but closed in 2018, as the District plans to construct smaller short-term housing facilities. The DC Central Detention Facility was built in 1976, replacing the old jail on the site that dated back to the 1870s.
1513.2 Reservation 13 presents itself today as a vast area of large, seemingly unrelated buildings associated only by their proximity and former use. Vast areas of the site are used for parking, and there are few areas where the natural beauty of the waterside setting can be appreciated. The site is not at all related to the low-scale row house neighborhood west of 19th Street, nor is it related to the nearby Metro station at Stadium-Armory. While the Department of Behavioral Health and the Court Supervisor and Offender Supervision Agency all use space on the site, many of the buildings are underused.
1513.3 A Master Plan for Reservation 13 was completed in 2002 and later adopted by the D.C. Council. It seeks to retain important civic uses, connect residential areas to the shoreline, and redevelop the site as an extension of the adjacent Hill East neighborhood. Since completion of the plan, transfer of the site from federal to local ownership, along with pre-zoning to reflect the uses envisioned by the Master Plan, have both been completed.
1513.4 The adopted Reservation 13 Master Plan retains the historic Anne Archbold Hall, DC Central Detention Facility, and other institutional uses, and it identifies approximately 40 acres for redevelopment. New facilities for health care and recreation are envisioned, along with new housing, offices, retail, and institutional uses. Key urban design features include extension of the Capitol Hill street grid into the site, new parks, and new access to the waterfront, including a great meadow overlooking the shoreline. Other notable elements of the plan include the extension of Massachusetts Avenue to the Anacostia River and a village square at the Stadium-Armory Metro station. The preliminary development program identifies the potential for 800 new housing units and over three million square feet of non-residential space, roughly doubling the total square footage of
buildings on the site. In May 2016, Phase 1 of the Hill East development received Design Review Approval, and the District selected a development partner. The buildings are under construction and near completion. Originally, this first phase was to include over 350 residential units, with 30 percent designated for affordable housing, and additional retail and green spaces. In fall 2019, it was announced that one of the residential buildings would be converted to permanent supportive housing for persons experiencing homelessness and require supportive services.
1513.5 Immediately north of Reservation 13 lies the RFK Stadium complex. RFK Stadium was built in 1961 at a particularly prominent location along the east-west axis that includes the U.S. Capitol, Washington Monument, and Lincoln Memorial. More than 100 acres of land around the stadium is used for surface parking and unimproved open space. The area is owned by the federal government and is currently under study by EventsDC to develop a Master Plan for future uses at this site. It was identified in the 1997 NCPC Legacy Plan as a possible location for major new memorials, recreation, and open space as well as possible private development.
1513.6 Policy CH-2.4.1: Redevelopment of Public Reservation 13 Redevelop Reservation 13 as a mixed-use neighborhood that combines housing, retail, office space, health care, civic, education, institutional, and recreational uses. This site could be a future potential opportunity for an anchor employer or institution. Established uses such as the DC Correctional Facility should be retained. Health care and institutional uses on the site should be reorganized to accommodate infill uses, improve the site's vitality and efficiency, and create an environment more conducive to pedestrian travel.
1513.7 Policy CH-2.4.2: Reservation 13 as an Extension of Hill East Connect the established Hill East neighborhood to the Anacostia waterfront by extending Massachusetts Avenue and the Capitol Hill street grid through Reservation 13 to new shoreline parks and open spaces. Massachusetts Avenue should be designed as a grand boulevard in the tradition of the L'Enfant Plan, and should terminate in a dramatic overlook above the Anacostia River.
1513.8 Policy CH-2.4.3: Reservation 13 Parkland Create new waterfront parklands and green spaces at Reservation 13, including a grand waterfront park designed for resilience to flooding and that includes, recreational trails along the waterfront, smaller neighborhood parks and open spaces within the site, and tree-lined pedestrian streets.
1513.9 Policy CH-2.4.4: Stadium-Armory Metro Station Capitalize on the Stadium-Armory Metro station in the design and development of Reservation 13. This should include development of a new neighborhood
center near 19th and C Streets SE that serves the unmet needs of the nearby community, as well as the development of moderate- to high-density housing on the Reservation 13 site.
Achieve a gradual progression in building heights on Reservation 13, with the lowest heights along 19th Street SE to buffer the adjacent low-scale row house neighborhoods. Taller buildings should be located along the Massachusetts Avenue extension and on the portions of the site where visual impacts can be minimized by slope and topography. Buildings should be designed to maximize waterfront views and vistas and minimize impacts on nearby residences.
Encourage active and better use of NPS lands around RFK Stadium, including park and trail improvements that connect Hill East to the Langston Golf Course and National Arboretum areas to the north. Explore the potential of transferring NPS land to the District where appropriate.
Implement the Hill East/Reservation 13 Master Plan, including the Massachusetts Avenue extension and the creation of new waterfront parks. Explore creating recreation spaces that include indoor walking/indoor track opportunities. Coordinate this study with EventsDC to determine if any of these recreational needs can be met through the development of the RFK Stadium site.
Work collaboratively with NCPC, EventsDC and adjacent Hill East and Kingman Park communities in planning the area between Benning Road and Reservation 13, including RFK Stadium, and in implementing these plans after they are completed.
SOURCE: District of Columbia Comprehensive Plan Act of 1984, effective April 10, 1984 (D.C. Law 5-76; 31 DCR 1049 (March 9, 1984)); as amended by District of Columbia Comprehensive Plan Act of 1984 Land Use Element Amendment Act of 1984, effective March 16, 1985 (D.C. Law 5-187; 32 DCR 873 (February 15, 1985)); as amended by District of Columbia Comprehensive Plan Amendments Act of 1989, effective May 23, 1990 (D.C. Law 8-129; 37 DCR 55 (January 5, 1990)); as amended by District of Columbia Comprehensive Plan Amendments Act of 1989 NCPC-Recommended Amendments, and Closing of Public Alleys in Square 669, S.O. 88-452, Act of 1990, effective May 23, 1990 (D.C. Law 8-132; 37 DCR 2213 (April 6, 1990)); as amended by District Government Land Use Temporary Amendment Act of 1994, effective October 1, 1994 (D.C. Law 10-190; 41 DCR 5360 (August 12, 1994)); as amended by Comprehensive Plan Amendments Act of 1994, effective October 6, 1994 (D.C. Law 10-193; 41 DCR 5536 (August 19, 1994)); as amended by District of Columbia Comprehensive Plan Act of 1984 Land Use Amendment Act of 1994, effective March 21, 1995 (D.C. Law 10-235; 42 DCR 30 (January 6, 1995)); as amended by Technical Amendments Act of 1996, effective April 18, 1996 (D.C. Law 11-110; 43 DCR 530 (February 9, 1996)); as amended by Second Technical Amendments Act of 1996, effective April 9, 1997 (D.C. Law 11-255; 44 DCR 1271 (March 7, 1997)); as amended by Comprehensive Plan Amendment Act of 1998, effective April 27, 1999
(D.C. Law 12-275; 46 DCR 1441 (February 19, 1999)); as amended by Technical Amendments Act of 1999, effective April 12, 2000 (D.C. Law 13-91; 47 DCR 520 (January 28, 2000)); as amended by Comprehensive Plan Amendment Act of 2006, effective March 8, 2007 (D.C. Law 16-300; 54 DCR 924 (February 2, 2007)); as amended by Technical Amendments Act of 2008, effective March 25, 2009 (D.C. Law 17-353; 56 DCR 1117 (February 6, 2009)); as amended by Comprehensive Plan Amendment Act of 2010, effective April 8, 2011 (D.C. Law 18-361; 58 DCR 908 (February 4, 2011)); as amended by Comprehensive Plan Amendment Act of 2021, effective August 21, 2021 (D.C. Law 24-20; 68 DCR 006918 (July 16, 2021)).