The Poplar Points

DCUnited.com has an extensive run down of the presentation Kevin Payne gave at the Ward 8 community meeting. Included in it is a forty-page PDF that, for the more cynical among us, is probably a bit saccharine in its "For the Children" approach, but is really a great piece of marketing. A few highlights:

• Page 15: Proposed capacity - 27,000
• Page 18: Note the fairly diverse fanbase depicted. This is the reality that I am happy DCU is not even bothering to mention, just envisioning as a foregone conclusion.
• Page 19: Community fields.
• Page 21: A hotel.
• Page 31: Diagram of the proposed site.

So what are the hurdles? They are not insignificant. As I see it, here's what remains to be done.

1. The land-swap. Poplar Point is owned by the Feds at the moment, and while the proposal is to swap land within DC to make it available for DC use, it has not been accomplished yet.
2. The sale for DC development. This looks okay so far, but is not a sure thing.
3. Environmental concerns. Even is the sale is approved, development can be a problem if the wetlands becomes a concern. Anti-development activists have been known to shamlessly exploit environmental concerns as a way of striking down or delaying development they don't like. It's been known to happen. They tried it when building the new Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring. The environmental study, which will come, may have a huge impact over the course of the debate. (What annoys me about this is that it trivializes the moments when there are legitimate environmental concerns, thus doing more harm to the environment than good.)

So, read the PDF, and hopefully you can see why I feel confident that DCU is handling this thing in exactly the proper way to move forward. Perhaps slowly, but surely.