About Friends of the Field

Friends of the Field, an alliance of Chevy Chase neighbors, families, and concerned citizens, cares about safety, environmental stewardship, and quality neighborhood life. We work for transparent due process, inclusiveness, and thoughtful use of precious green space.

WHY WE FORMED

We saw the need for representation of more than 290 neighbors who have serious concerns about Maret School's (Maret) proposal to develop a 5-acre sports complex in a residential (R-1-B) zoning district. Maret, based in Cleveland Park in Ward 3, has leased land for up to 50 years from the Episcopal Center for Children (ECC) in Ward 4, 3 1/2 miles away from their campus. Maret intends to level the sloped site and build regulation sized, artificial turf fields for their own use and also for leasing to other sports teams and leagues.

This would be an unprecedented intervention in terms of

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  • Broad Environmental Impacts at a time when DC is enacting the Climate Ready DC plan to increase resiliency in the face of climate change. This aligns with the mayor's charge to "make the District of Columbia the healthiest, greenest, most livable city for all District residents."
  • Intensity of Land Use due to its immediate adjacency to established residences and lack of physical, visual, or sound buffers.
  • Intensity of Daily Use with Maret's schedule to keep the fields in play almost every day of the year by its own use and leased use to others.
ECC field with trees and cloud

We’re a group of neighbors — your neighbors — in Chevy Chase DC who care about each other and the quality of life in our community.

We are Claudia, David, Nancy, Carol, Jon, Jane, Bruce, Jill, Thierry, Paul, and many, many others.

Join Us!
Use the form on the Contact page

or, email: friendsofthefield20015
@gmail.com
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WHAT WE ADVOCATE