(a) The Council finds that:
(1) The RFK Campus consists of approximately 180 acres of waterfront property located in the District within Reservation 343F, as shown on the transfer of jurisdiction plat recorded in the Surveyor's Office on February 5, 2025, on page 13 of subdivision book 223. The District has been unable to redevelop the site over the last decade due to federal restrictions on development at the site, and the site has remained vacant, blighted, and fallow. Over the course of the last decade, the District has worked to gain broader control of the site and to remove the federal development restrictions so that a new, multi-use future for the area could be realized.
(2) With bipartisan support from Congress, the President signed the D.C. Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Campus Revitalization Act, approved on January 6, 2025 (Pub. L. No. 118-274; 138 Stat. 3234), into law. Pursuant to this law, the National Park Service transferred administrative jurisdiction over the RFK Campus to the District. The Council approved the transfer of jurisdiction pursuant to the Transfer of Jurisdiction Over the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Campus Emergency Approval Resolution of 2025, effective February 4, 2025 (Res. 26-16; 72 DCR 1436).
(3) The District now has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to continue to revitalize the Anacostia Waterfront, catalyze growth, and develop a vibrant, mixed-use development featuring community sports, professional sports, public recreation, public park space, and cultural amenities. The development will provide the District with significant economic, cultural, social, and financial benefits.
(4) Since gaining administrative jurisdiction over the RFK Campus, the District government has undertaken a comprehensive public engagement process, considering the specific interests of communities near the RFK Campus, economic development opportunities, the capacity of the campus to generate jobs for District residents and opportunities for District businesses, park, open space, and recreational options, river access options, potential community amenities, opportunities to create new housing units, and environmental and historical factors, among other considerations, to determine the best uses for the site.
(5) Considering the public input received, the existing infrastructure of the campus, and the possibility of a catalytic investment in the District, it was determined that the construction and operation of a new first-class, state-of-the-art, sports stadium with supporting facilities, including parking, and infrastructure, for use by the Team and an adjacent Sportsplex would be of considerable public benefit to the District as the first stage of the redevelopment and revitalization of the entire campus.
(6) To ensure delivery of the Stadium, supporting facilities, and Sportsplex by 2030, a limited zoning exemption is necessary for portions of the RFK Campus.
(7) Planning for other residential and commercial development at the RFK Campus, in addition to other uses permitted by the transfer of jurisdiction and the Declaration of Covenants, will continue as the Stadium and Sportsplex projects move forward, and will inform the Comprehensive Plan rewrite (DC 2050).
(8) The District intends for the comprehensive redevelopment of the RFK Campus to create a vibrant, multi-use community and destination that will create new jobs, business opportunities, housing, community amenities, and neighborhood-serving retail and achieve the 5 Anacostia Waterfront Framework Plan themes of:
(A) A clean and active river;
(B) Gaining access to, along, and across the river;
(C) A great riverfront park system;
(D) A riverfront of distinct places and cultural destinations; and
(E) Building and sustaining strong waterfront neighborhoods.
(9) The District and Developer have entered into the Term Sheet for the development of the Stadium and supporting facilities and the redevelopment of a portion of the RFK Campus that sets forth the terms and conditions upon which the parties are willing to undertake the projects.
(10) The Team has made additional commitments regarding the redevelopment of the RFK Campus in a July 29, 2025, letter to the Council.
(11) The Team has committed to executing a Project Labor Agreement and Labor Peace Agreement for the construction of the Stadium Project and hotels on the Development Site.
(12) The construction, development, and revitalization of the RFK Campus and the public ownership of the Stadium, for use for athletic and entertainment events, is a municipal use that is in the interest of, and for the benefit of, District residents because such a publicly-owned Stadium will contribute to the social and economic well-being of District residents and significantly enhance economic development and employment opportunities in the District.
(13) To further that interest, it is appropriate for the District to take certain actions with respect to the redevelopment of the RFK Campus, as further set forth in this part .