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Agency overview | |
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Formed | 1924 |
Jurisdiction | Federal government of the United States |
Headquarters | 401 9th Street NW, Suite 500 Washington, D.C. |
Employees | 35 |
Agency executives |
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Website | www.ncpc.gov |
The National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) is a U.S. government executive branch agency that provides planning guidance for Washington, D.C., and the surrounding National Capital Region. Through its planning policies and review of development proposals, the Commission seeks to protect and enhance the resources of the U.S. national capital. [1]
The 12-member commission includes three presidential appointees, of which one must be from Virginia and one from Maryland, the mayor of Washington, D.C., the chair of the Council of the District of Columbia, two mayoral appointees, and the chair of the House and Senate committees with review authority over the District. Other commission members include the heads of the three major land holding agencies, which are the Department of Defense, the Department of the Interior, and the General Services Administration. [2] The Commission is supported by a professional staff of planners, architects, urban designers, historic preservation officers, among others.
Congress established the "National Capital Park Commission" in 1924 to acquire parkland for the capital in order to preserve forests and natural scenery in and about Washington to prevent pollution of Rock Creek and the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers, and to provide for the comprehensive development of the nation's park system. Two years later, Congress renamed the agency the "National Capital Park and Planning Commission" and gave it the additional responsibility of comprehensive planning for the Washington region. Among its early members was Clarence C. Zantzinger, a Philadelphia architect. [3]
The 1952 National Capital Planning Act gave the commission its current name and the responsibility for preservation of important natural and historic sites in the area. [4]
The Home Rule Act of 1973 gave some of the Commission's local planning authority to the District of Columbia government. The Commission remains the planning authority for federally-owned land and buildings in the region. In addition, NCPC plays an advisory role to the District in certain land use decisions. [4]
NCPC operates under many laws and authorities that guide the agency's work. These include the National Capital Planning Act, Height of Buildings Act of 1910, Commemorative Works Act, District of Columbia Zoning Act, Foreign Missions Act, International Centers Act, NEPA, Home Rule Act, and the Capper-Crampton Act. [4]
NCPC principal responsibilities include: [5]
NCPC often works in partnership with other federal and District agencies such as the National Park Service, U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, District Office of Planning, and District Department of Transportation.
As part of its long-range planning responsibilities, NCPC produced a visionary blueprint for the nation's capital. The 1997 plan Extending the Legacy: Planning America's Capital for the 21st century redefines Washington's monumental core and encourages the location of new museums, memorials, and federal office buildings in all quadrants of the city. [11]
The Memorials and Museums Master Plan advances the vision for Washington's monumental core expressed in NCPC's Extending the Legacy. It identifies 100 potential sites for future museums and memorials and provides general guidelines, siting criteria, and implementation strategies. [12]
The Monumental Core Framework Plan: Connecting New Destinations with the National Mall received unanimous approval from the Commission during its April 2009 meeting. The plan, a joint product of NCPC and the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, aims to create vibrant and accessible destinations in the federal precincts surrounding the National Mall. It plans to reclaim Washington's waterfront, especially the Anacostia waterfront. [8]
CapitalSpace is the first comprehensive planning analysis of Washington's parks and open space in almost 40 years. The 2009 plan is a joint initiative of NCPC, the National Park Service and the District of Columbia. The six "big ideas" of the CapitalSpace plan includes linking Fort Circle Parks, improving playfields, enhancing center city parks, improving public schoolyards, enhancing natural areas and transforming small parks. [13]
The 2013 SW Ecodistrict Plan is a long range, comprehensive approach to transform a 110-acre, predominantly federal precinct into a well-connected, sustainable, mixed-use neighborhood, workplace, and cultural destination that links the National Mall and the Southwest Waterfront. [14]
The Pennsylvania Avenue Initiative is a multi-agency effort led by NCPC, the General Services Administration, the National Park Service, and the District of Columbia Government focused on concepts to redevelop the Avenue between the White House and U.S. Capitol into an inclusive place for people to gather, celebrate, and reconnect. [15]
Beyond Granite, funded by a major grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in 2021, is a two-year collaborative effort between NCPC, the Trust for the National Mall, and the National Park Service. It will result in 8-10 different temporary commemorative works to help increase diversity and representation and expand who gets to tell their stories in the nation's capital. [16]
NCPC was a founding member of Capitals Alliance, an international forum of planners and designers in capital cities around the world. [17]
NCPC hosts international delegations of planners, academia, and visitors to discuss the agency's work.
Commission meetings are open to the public. In addition, the public may comment on NCPC plans and activities.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly called Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with Maryland to its north and east. Washington, D.C., was named for George Washington, a Founding Father and the first president of the United States. The district is named for Columbia, the female personification of the nation.
The National Mall is a landscaped park near the downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institution, art galleries, cultural institutions, and various memorials, sculptures, and statues. It is administered by the National Park Service (NPS) of the United States Department of the Interior as part of the National Mall and Memorial Parks unit of the National Park System. The park receives approximately 24 million visitors each year.
The Arlington Memorial Bridge, often shortened to Memorial Bridge, is a Neoclassical masonry, steel, and stone arch bridge with a central bascule that crosses the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. First proposed in 1886, the bridge went unbuilt for decades thanks to political quarrels over whether the bridge should be a memorial, and to whom or what. Traffic problems associated with the dedication of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in November 1921 and the desire to build a bridge in time for the bicentennial of the birth of George Washington led to its construction in 1932.
Southwest is the southwestern quadrant of Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, and is located south of the National Mall and west of South Capitol Street. It is the smallest quadrant of the city, and contains a small number of named neighborhoods and districts, including Bellevue, Southwest Federal Center, the Southwest Waterfront, Buzzard Point, and the military installation known as Joint Base Anacostia–Bolling.
L'Enfant Plaza is a complex of four commercial buildings grouped around a large plaza in the Southwest section of Washington, D.C., United States. Immediately below the plaza and the buildings is La Promenade shopping mall.
Constitution Avenue is a major east–west street in the northwest and northeast quadrants of the city of Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was originally known as B Street, and its western section was greatly lengthened and widened between 1925 and 1933. It received its current name on February 26, 1931, though it was almost named Jefferson Avenue in honor of Thomas Jefferson.
Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site is a National Historic Site in the city of Washington, D.C. Established on September 30, 1965, the site is roughly bounded by Constitution Avenue, 15th Street NW, F Street NW, and 3rd Street NW. The historic district includes a number of culturally, aesthetically, and historically significant structures and places, including Pennsylvania Avenue NW from the White House to the United States Capitol, the Treasury Building, Freedom Plaza, Federal Triangle, Ford's Theatre, the Old Patent Office Building, the Old Pension Office Building, which now houses the National Building Museum, Judiciary Square, and the Peace Monument.
The National Capital Parks was a unit of the National Park System of the United States, now divided into multiple administrative units. It encompasses a variety of federally owned properties in and around the District of Columbia including memorials, monuments, parks, interiors of traffic circles and squares, triangles formed by irregular intersections, and other open spaces.
The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial is a United States presidential memorial in Washington, D.C. honoring Dwight David Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe during World War II and the 34th President of the United States.
The National World War I Memorial is a national memorial commemorating the service rendered by members of the United States Armed Forces in World War I. The 2015 National Defense Authorization Act authorized the World War I Centennial Commission to build the memorial in Pershing Park, located at 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C. The park, which has existed since 1981, also contains the John J. Pershing General of the Armies commemorative work. In January 2016, the design commission selected the submission "The Weight of Sacrifice", by a team consisting of Joseph Weishaar, Sabin Howard, Phoebe Lickwar, and GWWO Architects, as the winning design, which is expected to be completed by 2024.
The National Capital Memorial Advisory Commission is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for approving and siting memorials within Washington, D.C., and the D.C. metropolitan area. Previously known as the National Capital Memorial Advisory Committee, the agency was established by the Commemorative Works Act of 1986 and its name was changed to the National Capital Memorial Commission. The agency's name was changed again in 2003 to the National Capital Memorial Advisory Commission.
The McMillan Plan is a comprehensive planning document for the development of the monumental core and the park system of Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. It was written in 1902 by the Senate Park Commission. The commission is popularly known as the McMillan Commission after its chairman, Senator James McMillan of Michigan.
The Southwest Waterfront is a neighborhood in Southwest Washington, D.C. The Southwest quadrant is the smallest of Washington's four quadrants, and the Southwest Waterfront is one of only two residential neighborhoods in the quadrant; the other is Bellevue, which, being east of the Anacostia River, is frequently, if mistakenly, regarded as being in Southeast.
The Herbert C. Hoover Building is the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the United States Department of Commerce.
The Height of Buildings Act of 1910 was an Act of Congress passed by the 61st United States Congress on June 1, 1910 to limit the height of buildings in the District of Columbia, amending the Height of Buildings Act of 1899. The new height restriction law was more comprehensive than the previous law, and generally restricts building heights along residential streets to 90 feet (27 m), and along commercial corridors to the width of the right-of-way of the street or avenue on which a building fronts, or a maximum of 130 feet (40 m), whichever is shorter.
The James V. Forrestal Building is a low-rise Brutalist office building in Washington, D.C. Originally known as Federal Office Building 5, and nicknamed the Little Pentagon, the Forrestal Building was constructed between 1965 and 1969 to accommodate United States armed forces personnel. It is named after James Forrestal, the first United States Secretary of Defense. It became the headquarters of the United States Department of Energy after that agency's creation in 1977.
The Shipstead-Luce Act, is an American statute which extended the authority of the United States Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) as a statutory independent agency within the United States federal government and allowed it to regulate the height, exterior design, and construction of private and semi-public buildings in parts of the District of Columbia.
The Commemorative Works Act of 1986 (CWA) is a United States federal law which bars the construction of commemorative works near the National Mall and on federal land in the National Capital Area unless they are approved by the National Capital Memorial Advisory Commission (NCMAC). The law also establishes criteria a memorial must meet in order to be approved the NCMAC, and establishes a seven-year deadline by which construction must begin or the memorial loses its congressional authorization. As of April 2014, the law has been amended five times, most notably by the Commemorative Works Clarification and Revision Act of 2003.
The Peace Corps Commemorative is a proposed national commemorative work in Washington, D.C. honoring the historic founding of the Peace Corps and the enduring American ideals that motivated its founding and are expressed in Peace Corps service. The Peace Corps is a volunteer-sending program run by the United States government. Congress authorized the Peace Corps Commemorative in January 2014.
A United States postage stamp and the names of a number of recreational and cultural facilities, schools, streets and other facilities and institutions throughout the United States have commemorated Benjamin Banneker's documented and mythical accomplishments throughout the years since he lived (1731–1806). Among such memorializations of this free African American almanac author, surveyor, landowner and farmer who had knowledge of mathematics, astronomy and natural history was a biographical verse that Rita Dove, a future Poet Laureate of the United States, wrote in 1983 while on the faculty of Arizona State University.