DC Council moves ahead with stadium deal, but could more changes still be to come?

Washington Commanders controlling owner Josh Harris from left holds up a signed helmet along with District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after an announcement about a new home for the NFL football group on the site of the old RFK Stadium Monday April at the National Press Club in Washington AP Photo Jacquelyn Martin AP Jacquelyn Martin Washington Commanders controlling owner Josh Harris from left holds up a signed helmet along with District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after an announcement about a new home for the NFL football group on the site of the old RFK Stadium Monday April at the National Press Club in Washington AP Photo Jacquelyn Martin AP Jacquelyn Martin On Friday the eight members of the D C Council cleared the billion RFK Stadium deal through a first vote For the vote to turn out the way it did several members who were on the fence about the measure had to be convinced to advance the agreement Related stories Commanders closer than ever to DC return after council passes RFK deal in st vote The Commanders new stadium would be complete by What about promised housing and retail What DC leaders say about Trump s call for Commanders to go back to former name Ward Council member Charles Allen was among those convinced to vote in favor of the deal He stated the deal solely wasn t good enough when the council first received it from the mayor but that it s since become a better deal We needed to reduce parking We needed to increase Metro We ve been able to knock out parking spots in a garage and put hundreds of millions that will go toward community transit improvements Allen announced Allen also noted selected additional environmental protections and the company promising to build under LEED Platinum guidelines got him to a yes We will now have I think the nation s preeminent environmental stadium Allen disclosed Among those who voted no was At-Large Council member Robert White who explained his main concern was the lack of strong housing protections outlined in the bill for residents As somebody who was elected to protect residents I can t be a part of voting for something that is going to hurt them because there are future promises that are not locked in White explained White wasn t alone in that sentiment and Allen commented his hope is selected more protections would be added before the second and final vote on Sept Another topic several members noted they would want to discuss before a second vote is whether stronger penalties for missing advancement deadlines for the mixed portions of the project should be in the statute Council Chairman Phil Mendelson pushed back at particular of those calls for stricter penalties They ve been good partners which is why all the discussion about what if they miss deadlines and what the penalties should be I think they want to be good corporate citizens Mendelson described WTOP Before the second vote the council could introduce more amendments but At-Large Council member Kenyan McDuffie noted it s unlikely there will be dramatic changes Anything that we do between first and second votes would likely be more of a tweak and not several huge change because I think we spent tremendous amount of time over the last several weeks getting to the point where we are the present day McDuffie disclosed on Friday The bill on its second vote will only need seven votes to pass Source