neighborhood news
Our River: The Anacostia Fixing And Saving Kenilworth Park
L
ast November the National Park Service issued a document for public review and comment titled “Proposed Plan for Cleanup of the Kenilworth Park Landfill Site”. Comments are due by February 10. For those who might be confused, this is not the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, but 130 acres of land that has had various recreational uses in recent decades. It lies between the site of the old PEPCO powerplant and the Aquatic Gardens and its main entrance is an extension of Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue. It was the City’s main solid waste landfill from 1942 to 1970. After many years of study by the National Park Service, Congress has legislated to divide the property. The Park Service will keep the third of the acreage that lies south of Watts Branch and manage it as a natural area. It will turn the northern two-thirds over to the City to be managed as an active recreation area much as it has been used, but with the addition of new soil cover to better protect the users from remnants of the landfill. The southern area will provide for the Anacostia River Trail to pass along the water’s edge, replacing the current trail, which runs around the inland edge of the acreage and passes through residential neighborhoods. This proposal is Option 3 among five considered in the Proposed Plan. There are three major findings in the Proposed Plan. First, the areas to be under active recreational use (the
Entry Road into Kenilworth Park
20
E a s t o f t h e R i v er D C N e w s . c o m
Article and Photos by Bill Matuszeski
northern acreage to be turned over to the City) require a covering of new soils at least one foot deep with the top half of a quality to support grasses and other native groundcover. Second, the areas for natural and wildlife use (the southern acreage to be kept by the Park Service) can be supported with existing soil and water conditions. Finally, the site is not currently a significant on-going source of contaminants to AnAthletic Fields in the Park to be Improved acostia River water or sediments. If there are contaminated sediin the City’s hands, there may be interest in improving acments in the River near the property, they will be handled cess to the River for boating and fishing and even swimby the Anacostia River Sediment Project. ming. All those decisions lie in the future; the job of the The Park Service is in charge of the Proposed Plan and current Proposed Plan is to define and carry out the cleanthe clean-up activities, but once the restored portion of the up of the soils and any associated water issues. acreage is transferred to the City it gets more complicated. DC Parks and Recreation will manage the property, the City Department of Transportation has the lead on the Trail loA Plan 20 Years in the Making cation and construction, and the Department of Energy and The overall effort has been in motion for over 20 years. Environment covers any issues on or near the River. For exFrom 1998 to 2002 the Park Service reviewed historical ample, there may be interest in restoring wetland and other information and collected samples from the site. Further natural areas that preceded the use as a landfill. And once
Riverfront next to the Athletic Fields
