Stadium's Neighbors Fear Fan Inundation

Nationals President Stan Kasten has urged fans repeatedly to treat the ballpark as they would Fenway Park in Boston or Yankee Stadium in the Bronx: city stadiums best reached by public transportation.

But transportation planners expect only about half of the expected fans to take Metro, which has promised expanded service to the Navy Yard stop, the closest to the ballpark.

Planners' estimates for the number of cars headed to the ballpark for each game range from 5,000 to 9,000.

The D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission is obligated to provide 1,225 parking spaces, which will be in three garages attached to the ballpark that are under construction.

It is up to the Nationals to find the rest. Several lots in the area have been rezoned for parking, but team officials have not announced where they intend to put fans' cars. They have promised that anyone with a full or partial season ticket will be able to purchase parking nearby.

Not knowing the parking sites has left neighbors concerned that they can't predict which streets will be most congested or whether they will be satisfied with the team's plans.

D.C. Council member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) is asking for oversight hearings. He wants to ensure that residents are part of developing the traffic and parking plans that city experts, and especially the team, are working on.

"I don't know how much energy or time they are putting in . . . to communicating with the neighborhood," Wells said of the Nationals.

Gregory McCarthy, the Nationals' director for the ballpark district, said the team will prepare a traffic management plan that will include the final or nearly final details about all these issues.

"We're going to continue our dialogue with the neighborhood up to Opening Day and permanently thereafter," said McCarthy, who attended the meeting with neighbors.

Still, communication coordination has been an issue.

When the Nationals announced in October that all season ticket holders would be assured parking, the team also said that fans could park for free at RFK. That caught city officials off-guard. Although negotiations had been underway, the deal was not concluded -- and still isn't.

The sports commission's chief executive, Gregory O'Dell, said he expected no hitches would occur in completing the plan for RFK.

But how popular the free parking will be remains to be seen because it will require fans to ride buses to and from the ballpark. And residents said they are leery because they have yet to hear what route the buses will take.

As for keeping residents better apprised of traffic and parking planning, O'Dell said the sports commission was pledging to meet with neighbors at least once a month.

"We don't want the community feeling they're in the dark," he said.