As of last week, the unofficial dog park at 11th and Park Road NW in Columbia Heights looked like its days were numbered. Now, it has a new leash on life.

“I’m more hopeful than I have been throughout this process that we will come to an agreement,” says Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau.

Metro owns the dusty patch at 1100 Park Road, which includes vent shafts for the Green and Yellow lines, and it put the land up for sale at the beginning of the year (along with a number of other properties). Since neighborhood residents first got wind of the possibility last summer, they have rallied to preserve the space as a dog park—which has been dubbed 11th & Bark—and the city committed first to paying $1.5 million, then as much as $2.15 million, to acquire the parcel.

But by last week, the 11th and Bark group put out an update that read: “We are losing the park.” The group claimed that Metro had chosen a developer whose plans for the site didn’t include a dog park. At the time, a Metro spokesperson confirmed to DCist that they were in negotiations with a prospective buyer.

The neighborhood-level debate largely moved on to where a new dog park could be placed, and a proposal to put it down the block (in a triangle park at the intersection of Park, New Hampshire, and Sherman roads) already generated controversy.

But now, Metro says it is inviting the city back to the table to purchase the nearly 7,400 square-foot plot.

General Manager Paul Wiedefeld said in a letter to Mayor Muriel Bowser on Tuesday that the transit agency will offer it to D.C. for the “fair market value” of $2.15 million.

“We have received inquiries from city officials and requests from many members of the community, along with Councilwoman Nadeau, that the District of Columbia be allowed to purchase and maintain the above-referenced property as a public dog park,” the letter reads, saying that WMATA is taking it off the market “in response to these requests.”

It’s unclear what changed since last week—given that those requests have been pouring in for months—and a spokesperson for the transit agency declined to comment.

The transit agency also removed a six-acre plot in College Park from the market, according to spokesperson Ian Jannetta. Residents and city officials who hoped to preserve the land as green space have been fighting the sale, claiming that it was mismanaged.

Nadeau says she was as surprised as anyone at Metro’s about-face (“maybe they’re just rethinking their strategy and their relationships with the jurisdictions that they serve,” she speculated) but was thrilled to get the letter.

“I’ve fought really hard to acquire this parcel, even after receiving criticism from constituents who feel like we should spend money other places. It’s been important to me to preserve the space for the community,” she says. “There isn’t a lot of green space, community space, in Columbia Heights, and I think we need every piece we can get.”

The news is also likely to reignite debate about the propriety of spending more than $2 million to acquire land for a dog park. Critics say that the money and land would be better used to address the city’s affordable housing crisis. Proponents point out that Ward 1 is already the densest in the city, with limited green space, and that any future use of the land would need to accommodate the large vents.

Either way, it’s still far from a done deal. But Nadeau says she’s optimistic now that they’ve gotten this far.

“The fact that WMATA has so publicly come back to the District government to say ‘We would like to negotiate with you’ is, in my mind, a very strong signal from WMATA, whereas a lot of the process along the way hasn’t been as public,” she says. “I really do think that this is a turning point.”

Previously:
Will Metro’s Land For Sale In Columbia Heights Go To The Dogs?

This story has been updated to include the removal of the property in Maryland from the market.