ANC 2C Meeting Highlights

Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2C held the final meeting of its 2-year term tonight.

Douglas Development presented their plans for the New York Avenue project.  There were a few more renderings of the general massing, but not much more detail beyond that discussed at last month's MVSNA meeting.  The ANC voted to support the project before the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) later this month.  A few additional tidbits:

• They've worked out an arrangement by which they do not need to provide any residential on the site - the housing will be provided at St. Martin's in Eckington.  No zoning relief is needed.  
• The 600 Block of L Street will have some retail dispersed between loading docks and garage entryways.
• The Waffle Shop will relocate from Penn Quarter to the Mt. Vernon project.
• They project 18 months to get through the historic, zoning, and permitting process before breaking ground.  Highest priority is starting the Square 450 West parcel which will have the greatest concentration of retail.  It will take 2 years to construct each portion of the plan (after approvals).  The different parts of the project may be constructed concurrently or sequentially depending on the approval process, market, and financing.

...At about this time, some hoodlum was stealing the back tire off my bike chained up outside the Kennedy Recreation Center within sight of the crime camera at 7th and O, but back to our program....

The Commission supported a Planned Unit Development (PUD) application for 625 Rhode Island Avenue NW submitted by United House of Prayer.  The new four-story building will have 16 apartments, 50% affordable (80% AMI), 11 parking spaces, and green space along the property.

The Commission supported a request by the new owners of 1612 8th Street NW to urge HPRB to approve a third story addition to their house.  The owners purchased the building, which had been condemned after 30-years of neglect, under the assumption that HPRB had allowed such additions for other houses on the block.  Even though the addition is set back 25 feet and is not visible from the other side of the street, because it is next door to a 1-story unit, the addition can be partially seen from one vantage point down the block.  The HPRB staff has therefore refused to support the application.  The owners expressed their distress at the lack of HPRB standards that go through proper notice and comment, and their level of discretion and willingness to invent new requirements as they go along.

The Commission voted in opposition to an application to rezone property on the 1800 Block of New Jersey Avenue from residential to commercial so as to allow locating a corner store there.  Commissioner Chapple expressed the concern of neighbors that they did not want commercial establishments on a block that has always been residential.  Chairwoman Brooks expressed concern that she had not seen written letters from residents expressing opposition.  I suggested to Chairwoman Brooks that the burden of showing evidence supporting an application for a rezoning is on the applicant, who had not had any communication with the ANC, to show support for the relief, not on the residents to oppose it.  The Commission voted to oppose the application, but I believe the vote was not unanimous.

Finally, Commissioner Padro announced that the groundbreaking for the new Watha T. Daniel Library will be on December 9 at 10:45am.  The public is invited to attend.

The community's thanks goes to all of the ANC Commissioners who have worked for us over the past two years. 

Long live my stolen bike tire.  Seized in the name of community service.