The plans for NoMa’s first parks are finally in place. Now they just need some names.

The NoMa Parks Foundation is asking for the public’s helping in dubbing a 2.5-acre park on Harry Thomas Way and an 8,000-square-foot park at 3rd and L streets NE.

Anyone can submit ideas online for the next two weeks. The foundation will then narrow the suggestions down to four or five, which will be voted on by the community. From there, the names must be approved by the D.C. Council and signed by the mayor.

Getting public green space installed in NoMa has been in the works for more than five years. In the neighborhood’s original plan, public parks were non-existent, so the NoMa BID created an affiliate, the NoMa Parks Foundation, to exclusively focus on finding the land and money to build them.

Then-Mayor Vincent Gray committed $490,000 to jumpstart planning efforts in September of 2012. The following May, the D.C. Council approved $50 million earmarked in the city’s budget for NoMa parks and public spaces.

After finding land acquisition in the competitive neighborhood more challenging than they expected, the foundation acquired its first site, a lot at 3rd and L streets NE that was slated to become condos, in November of 2015. A few months later, the organization closed on two acres of land previously owned by Pepco for $14 million. Temporarily named “NoMa Green,” that site is bounded by Harry Thomas Way NE and the Metropolitan Branch Trail on the east, north of New York Avenue.

To get the creative juices going, a 20-page naming-guide document for NoMa Green gives some history: the site actually sits outside of L’Enfant’s original city boundaries and much of the surrounding area was part of Joseph Gales’ estate (his home was called Eckington Manor)

The finished park will feature open green space, a playground, an interactive fountain, a dog park, and connections to the Metropolitan Branch Trail. Construction is expected to start in 2018.

Meanwhile, work on the smaller site will start next week, and it is expected to conclude by the fall. Once finished, the green space, playground, and dog area will be owned by the city government and maintained by the Friends of NoMa Dogs.

The NoMa Park Foundation is taking name ideas for both sites until Aug. 25. Ideas can be submitted online here and here.

NoMa Green Naming Guidelines by Rachel Sadon on Scribd

Previously:
NoMa BID Aquires Its Second Park Site From Pepco
NoMa Aquires Land, Once Slated For Condos, To Build Its First Park
D.C. Plans on Investing $50 Million in NoMa Parks
NoMa Gets $490,000 From D.C. for New Parks