Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The Committee of the Whole of the Council of the District of Columbia, jointly with the Subcommittee on Local Business Development, held a public hearing on September 30, 2026, to receive testimony on the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Campus Master Plan, Small Area Plan, and related amendments to the District's Comprehensive Plan Future Land Use Map. The hearing was chaired by Council Chair Phil Mendelson and co-chaired by Councilmember Wendell Felder. Sixty-seven witnesses registered to testify, addressing a wide range of concerns including parking garages, energy generation, transportation, housing affordability, displacement, and recreational facilities. The record remained open until October 14, 2026.
I'm calling to order this hearing. This is a public hearing of the committee of the whole of the Council of the District of Columbia. I'm Phil Mendelssohn, Chair of the Council and Chair of the Committee of the Whole. Today is Wednesday, September 30th, 2026. The time is 1052 in the morning, and we are in room 412 of the John A. Wilson building. The subject of this hearing is legislation regarding the RFK stadium campus site. Specifically, I'm looking at the hearing notice of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Campus Redevelopment, the Robert F. Kennedy Campus Master Plan, Small Area Plan, Amendment to the Future Land Use Map of the District Elements of the Comprehensive Plan. And although I don't think this was mentioned explicitly in the hearing notice Bill 26-6, which was entitled the RFK Campus Small Area Plan Amendment Act. We had a hearing on that bill earlier in the year, but it's all related to the same thing, which is the RFK campus. The Robert F. Kennedy Campus Master Plan was initiated by the Office of Planning in February 2026. A draft was made public in June 30th, 2026. The uh there was a mayoral hearing held on August 1st, 2026, and the deadline for public comment in that process was August 14, 2026. The revised plan has been officially submitted to the council, and that is uh PR 26-810, entitled the Robert F. Kennedy Campus Master Plan Approval Resolution of 2026. Um, and uh has been submitted to the Council for its approval as a small area plan. The purpose of the small area plan is to provide a development framework and design guidelines for the redevelopment of the Robert F. Kennedy campus, consistent with the Robert F. Kennedy Campus Redevelopment Amendment Act for 2025, uh which was adopted by the council last year and is now known as DC Law 26-54. Once approved, the small area plan will provide supplemental guidance to the zoning commission and other district agencies in facilitating the development of the site. In addition to the draft master plan, a request to amend the future land use map of the district elements of the comprehensive plan was submitted by the mayor to the council on August 21st, 2026. That proposed amendment is consistent with the master plan as well as DC Law 26-54, which again is the RFK uh stadium legislation that we adopted that the council adopted last year. Um of this is available on the council's uh legislative information management system on the website, the council's website. Uh the purpose of today's hearing is to allow the public an opportunity to provide testimony to the council regarding the master plan and regarding the proposed amendment to the comprehensive plan pursuant to the Home Rule Act uh and the hearing notice sites the code uh title 1-204-23. Uh the record in this matter will be open for two weeks. That is directly will close at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, October 14th, 2026. What does that mean? Uh the council rules require that hearings have a hearing record, and so we have to have a cutoff date for that. As a political body, of course, we get comments right up to second reading, uh, which will be uh at some point later this fall. I want to emphasize that the elements of this hearing are um I would say first and foremost, uh the mayor's proposed amendment to the land use uh to land use map, future land use map, and second, the uh small area plan for the RFK campus, and third, although not explicitly noticed in the hearing notice for today, uh Bill 26-6, which also relates to uh proposed redevelopment of the RFK campus site. So I expect that we're gonna get lots of testimony on lots of issues, all of which I hope is related to the RFK campus. We have 67 witnesses. So we will try to move through this as quickly as we can. This hearing is a joint hearing, and it is being jointly held with the subcommittee on local business development, which is chaired by Councilmember Wendell Felder. Councilmember Felder, do you have any remarks? Uh well, good morning, everyone, and thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm excited to co-host today's joint public hearing on the RFK campus redevelopment, the RFK Master Plan, Small Area Plan, and the amendment of the future land use map of the district elements of the comprehensive plan. I'm Wendell Felder and I have the pleasure of serving as a Ward 7 Council member as well as the chair of the subcommittee on local business development. I want to thank and acknowledge all of the residents who are here in person and who are tuning in with us virtually. It is no secret that the redevelopment of the RFK campus is a major opportunity for the district and the land use decisions we make today need to align with the development we envision for the future. When we talk about a master plan, we are not simply talking about lines on a map or deciding where buildings, roads, parking garages, or open space to go. We are establishing the framework that will guide the future of our community for decades to come, which is why we have to get this right. As city leaders, we have a responsibility to make sure community input is more than a box we check during the planning process. Residents deserve to know that their voices were heard, their concerns were considered, and their input help shape the final plan.