National Mall Levee

Washington, DC

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the US Army Corp of Engineers conducted inspections of levees around the country in 2005 and the Potomac Park (aka National Mall) Levee failed.  As a result, FEMA planned to publish new Flood Insurance Rate Maps putting the entire Federal Triangle and redevelopment surrounding the National’s Stadium in a new flood plain, causing the Base Flood Elevation to be raised by 8’. The District’s height limits combined with the free fall of the banking industry in 2008 could have been disastrous for the city’s revitalization. 

Jay successfully negotiated a complex four-party agreement with three Federal bureaucracies that allowed for the stay of the maps by FEMA, the commitment of a redesign and funding by National Park Service and consultation by the Corps for a design to their standards with a new closure structure on 17th Street adjacent to the World War II Memorial and Washington Monument. 

His intervention and leadership saved the Federal government and private developers untold billions.