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Background on
GW's Mount Vernon Campus
The George Washington University’s Mount Vernon Campus is located in Northwest DC adjacent to the Foxhall and Palisades neighborhoods. It consists of approximately 23 acres bounded by W Street (north) and Whitehaven Parkway (south), Foxhall Road (east) and Berkeley Terrace (west).
The Campus was originally home to the Mount Vernon Seminary and later Mount Vernon College, which merged with GW in 1999. The Campus is now a fully integrated co-educational campus that complements GW’s Foggy Bottom Campus. The Mount Vernon Campus offers a unique living and learning community providing the benefits of a smaller “campus feel,” yet easily accessible to DC’s downtown environment and all that DC has to offer.
The Campus is home to undergraduate students -- largely freshmen and sophomores -- and offers a wide variety of academic and student life opportunities. The Women’s Leadership Program for first-year women students is based on the Mount Vernon Campus as a signature legacy of the Mount Vernon Seminary and College's commitment to women's education.
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GW's 2010 MOUNT VERNON CAMPUS PLAN: OVERVIEW
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Additional Zoning and regulatory filings are available here
2010 Mount Vernon Campus Plan Factsheet with
Ames Hall Renovation/Addition
Click Here
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Campus planning history
The first master plan for the Campus was developed in 1967 when it operated as Mount Vernon College. The plan was updated in 1986 and, after merging with GW in 1999, the University and its neighbors adopted a new campus plan which included expansion of residential, academic and athletic facilities as well as measures to mitigate light, noise and parking impacts.
2010 Mount Vernon Campus Plan
The University commenced a dialogue in 2009 with the surrounding community to develop a plan for the Mount Vernon Campus that incorporates GW's strategic goals with the issues and concerns of its neighbors. Based on this feedback, GW found the following issues to be at the core of the planning process:
- Future campus development and reallocation of currently proposed building uses;
- Balance of residential and academic space to enhance the living and learning community;
- Sustainable practices such as green building, storm water management, campus landscaping, open spaces;
- Improvements to public amenities and pedestrian pathways.
These principles guided the community-based planning process (detailed below) and resulted in a draft proposal that includes:
- Same amount of new development on campus as was approved in the existing campus plan
- Locating the majority of new development focused away from the residential neighborhoods
- Closing the W Street entrance except to emergency vehicles, removing the parking lot and landscaping that area
- Campus perimeter to benefit from relocated fencing to limit visual impact and new plantings, specifically along Foxhall Road
- No lighting of the soccer field
- Enhanced controls on tennis court lighting to minimize lighting when courts not in use
- Construction of 10’ wall on northern side of soccer field to assist in noise mitigation
- Mitigation of noise from mechanical units along Foxhall Road
- Increase in base student enrollment of the equivalent of 15% on a headcount basis and 10% on an FTE basis, on any given day
- Continued use of the Vern Express shuttle to transport students, faculty and staff between the Mount Vernon and Foggy Bottom campuses
- Physical enhancements to the Whitehaven entrance to the campus and surrounding streetscape
- GW commitment to achieve equivalent of certification under LEED NC for all new projects
- Comprehensive stormwater management system to be implemented with new campus developments
Community-Based Planning Process/Background Materials
The following summarizes the public meetings and events held as part of the 2010 Mount Vernon Campus Plan’s community-based planning process as well as public presentations given since the filing of GW's proposal in November 2009 with the DC Zoning Commission. Each meeting held during the planning process was advertised via a quarter-page advertisement in all four editions of the Current Newspapers and at several locations on this neighborhood website. GW also invited participation from various neighborhood groups, including Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3D, the Palisades Listserv, Foxhall Citizens Association, and GW’s own neighborhood listserv. Outreach within the GW community has included forums for students, faculty, staff, alumni and parents to ensure the proposed Campus Plan addresses both academic initiatives and operational concerns.
In late November 2009, the University filed both the 2010 Mount Vernon Campus Plan and a request for further processing approval of a change in use and addition to Ames Hall, as well as a request for relief from the roof structure requirements to accommodate the proposed addition. The University continued discussions with the community, Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3D, the DC Office of Planning and other District government agencies between filing and the March 25, 2010 public hearing. The DC Zoning Commission issued its order of approval on April 26, 2010 which was published in the DC Register on October 1, 2010.
- Issues Exhibit
- Identifies, categorizes & addresses issues raised by participants during the Community-Based Planning Process -- click here
- January 13, 2009 presentation to Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3D
Project consultants EE&K Architects, VIKA Capitol, EDAW Inc., and Wells + Assocciaties joined staff from GW’s Office of Real Estate to present a comprehensive overview of GW's 2010 Mount Vernon Campus Plan before the DC Zoning Commission.
- November 5, 2009 -- Community Meeting #8
Post Hall in the Academic Building on GW’s Mount Vernon Campus, 2100 Foxhall Road, N.W.
- 7:00 p.m. - Additional discussion of the draft 2010 Mount Vernon Campus Plan
- October 22, 2009 Community Meeting #7
Post Hall in the Academic Building (relocated from Webb Building) on GW’s Mount Vernon Campus, 2100 Foxhall Road, N.W.
- 7:00 p.m. – Quarterly Community Meeting & Pelham Project Update
- 7:30 p.m. - Presentation of the draft 2010 Mount Vernon Campus Plan
- 2009 September 10 Community Meeting #6
Project consultants EE&K Architects and Wells + Associates joined staff from GW's Office of Real Estate to discuss the topics of traffic and population counts as well as further review previously identified community issues.
- 2009 August 13 Community Meeting #5
Project consultants EE&K Architects, VIKA Capitol, and EDAW Inc. joined staff from GW’s Office of Real Estate to discuss community comments/concerns regarding landscaping, storm water management and sustainability and further discuss proposed locations of future campus development.
- 2009 July 9 Community Meeting #4
Project consultants EE&K Architects joined staff from GW’s Office of Real Estate to discuss community comments/concerns regarding Campus light and noise as well as discussions regarding locations of future campus development.
- 2009 June 11 Community Meeting #3
Project consultants EE&K Architects joined staff from GW’s Office of Real Estate to share draft place-based design principles regarding campus land use and initial discussions regarding locations of future campus development.
- 2009 May 7 Community Meeting #2
Project consultants (EE&K Architects, VIKA Capitol, and EDAW Inc.) joined staff from GW’s Office of Real Estate to work with members of the community in identifying key issues related to campus land use and development. The community feedback gathered from the discussion assisted in the development of place-based design principles presented to be discussed at the June 11, 2009 community meeting.
- 2009 April 20 Kick-Off Meeting #1
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