A Metro stop in Georgetown is one step closer to reality after the Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E passed a unanimous vote in favor of accelerated planning and funding for the stop Monday.
According to ANC 2E Commissioner Ron Lewis, the WMATA originally intended to complete construction of the metro stop post 2040, however, the recommendation put forth by the commission will push the timeline forward considerably, aiming for completion within the next fifteen years..
“It’s a huge construction project, but we’re asking them to have it in place by 2028,” Lewis said.
 The accelerated timeline for a metro stop in Georgetown has garnered the support of the Citizens Association of Georgetown, the Georgetown Business Improvement District and the Georgetown Business Association, as well as Georgetown University. The CAG and the Georgetown BID wrote a joint letter to the WMATA last month in support of the new Georgetown metro stop.
The ANC is the last of the major Georgetown organizations to support the proposal, Lewis said.
The proposed metro stop is part of the BID’s “Georgetown 2028” plan, which aims to strengthen Georgetown’s commercial district without negatively impacting residential life.
Joe Sternlieb, Chief Executive Officer of the BID, believes that the construction of a Metro stop would allow Georgetown’s local economy to remain competitive with other burgeoning neighborhoods within the District.
“We need to think about what share of those folks we want to attract to come and what portion of those folks are we going to get here by way other than a single occupancy vehicle,” Sternlieb said.
This is not the first time that the Georgetown community has explored the possibility of a Metro stop. According to Lewis, a stop was not built in the 1970s because business owners were afraid that construction would harm their revenue stream.
“It would have been three years of utter disruption,” Lewis said. “You can argue whether that was a short-sided view or not.”