The private Maret School has proposed building a baseball and multi-sports complex both for their own use and to be leased to other sports teams and leagues. LIKELY IMPACTS include:
NOISE during Daylight Hours - The maximum allowable sound level in this zoning district is 60 dB. Sports activities regularly exceed this limit. Maret plans LOTS of activity for the proposed fields.
REMOVAL OF TREES AND NATURAL VEGETATION - The Maret proposal would remove trees, dramatically reshape the site, and attempt to relocate “healthy” heritage trees. In place of natural grass and soil, Maret proposes 3.7 acres of artificial turf, with additional hardscape for parking (50 cars) and circulation, and with some perimeter (not yet specified) planted vegetation as a visual and sound buffer.
EXTENSIVE EXCAVATION AND REGRADING - This is a sloping site, with an elevation difference of approximately 35 feet from west to the east. To flatten the 3.7 acre area for the sports complex would require extensive cut and fill excavation. This would likely mean multiple TALL retaining walls at both the cut and fill sites.
FENCING AND NETTING - Tall perimeter fencing and netting are proposed for the entire site, at or near property lines, for visual screening and to prevent balls escaping. The exact location and extent of these have not been disclosed, but similar installations elsewhere reach a height of 25 feet or more.
TRAFFIC AND PARKING - Although Maret proposes to create 50 parking spaces on site, this would not meet the parking needs of all participants, parents, and spectators during practices and events. Maret and others’ use of the site would likely overwhelm our community streets with traffic and parked cars, with serious consequences for safety, especially for the many young children living here.
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT - Maret has proposed a “rain garden” ringing the proposed parking area, and an early concept showed a large “bio-retention” feature in the southeast corner of the site, twice the size of a nearby house. The details of how exactly these stormwater management features would work have not been disclosed. Would they be retention and/or detention structures and/or sand filters? There are unanswered questions about capacity and effectiveness, about health and safety concerns, and about particulates, pollutants, seepage, mosquitoes, and other pests.
VISUAL AND PHYSICAL IMPACT - Quality of life in our community would be seriously compromised by the scale and intense use of Maret’s projected multi-sports complex. The impact of removing the wooded landscape; the excavation required to level the site; the installation of acres of plastic turf; the intrusive retaining walls, fencing, and netting required to secure the proposed facility; and accompanying noise generated by the intense use are not appropriate for an established residential neighborhood. Any relief from current R-1-B residential zoning status must be required to “be in harmony with the general purpose and intent of the zoning regulations and zoning maps” and […] not tend to affect adversely the use of the neighboring properties.” [DC Municipal Regulations, Zoning, Special Exceptions,11-X901.2(b)]
