December 28, 2009
The National Park Service has released the Draft National Mall Plan and Environmental Impact Statement (NMP DEIS). See the Press Release below.
This document will be available for public comment beginning December 18th through March 18, 2010.
As readers of the National Coalition to Save Our Mall email UPDATES will recall, the Park Service began work on this Mall Plan in fall 2006. Since then, there have been a number of public consultation meetings and open house presentations of various aspects of the Plan. To review some of that history, and read comments submitted by the Coalition to the Park Service and other nonprofits over the last three years, visit our UPDATES in the Archives section of our website http://www.savethemall.org/news/, and in particular
http://www.savethemall.org/updates/20061116.html
http://www.savethemall.org/updates/20070917.html
http://www.savethemall.org/updates/20090601.html
In coming weeks we will be reviewing the Park Service planning documents and updating readers on the contents of the EIS and our comments on it.
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Draft National Mall Plan Environmental Impact Statement Release
Released for Public Comment
Bill Line, nationalmallplan@nps.gov
The National Park Service has issued the Draft National Mall Plan and Environmental Impact Statementfor a 90-day public comment period.
The National Mall belongs to all of us - it symbolizes our nation and its values to the world. The draft plan addresses critical issues facing some of the most important and historic civic spaces in our nation and proposes ways to improve the health and beauty of the National Mall, its ability to welcome citizens and guests, and its ability to host national celebrations and demonstrations. Please note there will be no changes in the way the First Amendment demonstrations are permitted - hosting them is and always will be an essential purpose of the National Mall.
The draft plan is a fairly lengthy document (600 pages) because it analyzes and compares five (5) alternatives. There is a companion photo album on the CD and the planning website at www.nps.gov/nationalmallplan serves as a reminder about locations and existing conditions. The draft plan begins with a guide and short summary. It will be especially important to consider the preferred alternative, which has been refined and modified as a result of public, agency, consulting party and professional comments since it was presented in our spring 2009 newsletter 4. In addition, we have provided several one-page fact sheets for preferred alternative actions related to topics of interest. Fact sheet topics (see bulleted list below) can be found at http://www.nps.gov/nationalmallplan/History.html:
- Major action visions
- Sustainability
- Resource improvement
- The civic stage (hosting national celebrations and First Amendment demonstrations)
- Visitor experience
The draft plan can be reviewed at www.nps.gov/nationalmallplan and there you will find a link to the comment site. Commenting online is the most efficient and cost-effective method of participating. If you represent an organization please provide that information.
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