AHCA Comments on Crystal Plaza 1 Site Plan

• In general, no objection to the overall site plan, use, design, etc.
• We support the CCCA’s point of view, especially echoing that we never got clear justification, from our point of view, of why the Clark-Bell street width deviation was justified as a departure from the CCSP. As we get deep into the Pentagon City PDSP process, we would be concerned that such important details could be disregarded without clear reasoning in the future.
• The community benefits going to the library are appreciated, as well as the affordable units at River House, though we want to make sure that RH doesn’t become the default place for all affordable units on JBG projects here on. Preservation of the Underground is also important. However, we question whether the pedestrian plaza is truly an open space that should be counted to offset density. While it is certainly a nice space, and we appreciate JBG’s work on design changes through the site plan review process, pedestrian passageways should not be considered open space for the purposes of community benefits. This sets a bad precedent for future development, blurring the lines between important new open space asked for by the community, like parks, and pedestrian travel spaces between buildings that likely would have been incorporated without the density incentives. 
• In general, we also echo the CCCA’s concern as well that the county does not have a process to conduct outreach to people living in high rise apartments adjacent to development sites, who often are not connected to neighborhood sources of information, and it appears there was no outreach in this case to those nearby. 

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