The Georgetown section of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal will be undergoing extensive renovations over the next few years to fix lingering issues under the Georgetown Business Improvement District’s 2028 Action Plan.

The historic site, which is located between M Street and K Street parallel to the waterfront, became a national park in 1971 and will celebrate its 200th anniversary in 2028. Significant portions of the waterway have fallen into disrepair after years of neglect.

To coincide with the anniversary, the 2028 Action Plan, a set of 75 action items to improve the Georgetown neighborhood, proposed by Georgetown business leaders and community members in 2013, focuses on repairing and beautifying the Georgetown section of the canal.
Future action will include a new dock near 34th Street, fixing Lock 3 of the canal, repaving the path that runs parallel to the canal and improving numerous safety features. A partnership between Georgetown BID, the National Parks Service and Georgetown Heritage, a nonprofit organization founded in 2014 to oversee the renewal of the C&O Canal, will pay for the improvements.

Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Bill Starrels, who represents Single Member District 5 in the Georgetown region, said he believes that the plan will create a drastically better environment in the canal area for residents, businesses and visitors.

“Quite frankly, the agenda we have in Georgetown is we want to make sure the people were able to appreciate and use that area,” he said. “It seems like something worth trying.”
Georgetown Heritage Director and BID Destination Manager Maggie Downing said the 34th Street dock will open by summer, having recently received approval from the Old Georgetown Board.

The dock will serve as a launching point for paddleboats, motorized boats and barges that could be used for educational tours.

Downing explained that the decision to build the dock as the first phase of the plan was made to generate more interest and capital for the rest of the project.

“We want to provide people more opportunities and reasons to come out and enjoy the C&O Canal,” she said. “[The dock] was selected in part because it was easier to do quickly than a lot of the other projects.”

Starrels added that the original location of the dock, located further east along the canal, had generated backlash from residents. After hearing complaints, the original design was changed to reflect their feedback and the dock was moved west.

“Initially there were some concerns about it,” he said. “It would be a little too intrusive in the heavy residential areas. [But] when they moved it a little further downstream, it placated people.”

After construction of the dock, Georgetown BID will hold a pilot program for other initiatives that are part of the 2028 Action Plan to gauge the general public’s interest.

“We’re thinking of having a pilot project,” Downing said. “What we’re doing right now are short-term solutions that we can enact as we begin to plan for the longer-term solutions.”

One focus outlined at a community meeting held by BID last Tuesday was the restoration of Lock 3, which is located near 30th Street and in danger of collapsing. BID CEO and President Joe Sternlieb said at the meeting that the damage from the overflow from a potential failure would be greater than the cost to proactively repair the lock.

The BID will also open a visitor center in the Georgetown Park complex this summer to help tourists navigate the area and explore the canal region. The center will be staffed entirely by volunteers.

Starrels said he wants to see how the community embraces opportunities the dock provides during the summer before following through on other plans.

“[We need to] get some more activity down by the canal, which overall will increase the activity on the business side of things,” he said. “[The canal] needs a lot of money for rehabbing the walls and other aspects of the locks which need work.”

Georgetown University, which has been involved with the entire 2028 Action Plan since the outset, has participated in brainstorming ideas to improve the atmosphere around the canal, though the university is not physically located along the canal. Assistant Director of Community Engagement Jamie Scott endorsed the renovations.

“[We] actively participated in discussions about plans for the C&O Canal and other ideas in the 2028 plan,” he said. “The university was very supportive of the Georgetown 2028 process.”

Starrels was appreciative of the community’s embrace of the improvements included in the 2028 Action Plan for the canal.

“I’m happy with how the neighbors and companies [over] that way liked the idea,” Starrels said. “It seemed like a very nice idea for the canal that will work very well.”