Land for a Dollar

Posted By Si Kailian, 03/03/09 9:13 AM

Why did DC Government give Bible Way Church a whole bunch of land for a dollar? This is the question for today. Lately there has been a lot of chatter regarding the vacant lot at 4th & L on our blog here and the MVTriangle blog. You know, the lot with the homeless trailers & the sometimes handy mattresses where the "ladies" have done business for eons...and now apparently a trash transfer point? Oh yes, and feeding spot for McKenna's wagon to the mounting displeasure of the people who live on the block. Neighbors have been banging out ideas for parks & such and I was recently reminded that we (mvsna) did pass a motion to contact the Deputy Mayor's office regarding this blank spot. So we started digging and what we found out was unexpected:

DC Council passed a resolution to sell the lot(s) to Bible Way Church in 1996. Nine years later in 2005, DC Gov (Office of Property Management) sold the lot(s) to Golden Rule Inc.(c/o Bible Way) for One Dollar. According to the deed (which includes land on the east side of 395 as well), a condition of the sale was that Golden Rule had to develop the property accoring to the "Plan." Well we are still trying to find out what the "Plan" is because nobody seems to know who owns what, of course. The last round of DC Gov. homeless trailers appeared in 2006, well after the 2005 sale. I can only guess that it might include more nursing home facility ala the current Golden Rule building? Or maybe a neighbor who has been around longer can shed some light? Should there be some sort of time limit to develop this "Plan"?? It has been 4 years since the sale. Golden Rule is paying vacant property tax on part of the 4th & L lot (its split into 2 lots) and the total balance is 100k.

At any rate I'm sorry to say this puts a major damper on ideas and plans for a park, dog park, housing, market site, or any other useful thing, And with the land controlled on both sides of 395 by the church, the intriguing possibility of the restoration of L Street seems very remote. Will post more info as becomes available and I hope ANC 6C might be able to look into this matter.

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Comments

Below is a box.net link for scanned document the MVT CID shared with me regarding property ownership along these segments of Fourth Street NW. The map represents a good deal land is Bible Way. Lots of it is tucked behind other lots rather than having 4th or K frontage. But it does not attribute Bible Way to the parcels we are talking about. However, I've yet to cross reference the Square/Lots in your document with those in this document.

http://www.box.net/shared/oyq2mjc32u

Posted By Paul / At 3/3/09 10:04 AM

its Sq 0525 lots 0837 (7294sq ft) & 0842(3375 sq ft)(and helpfully the lots changed a few times.)sq 0525 encompasses a weirdly shaped area which includes the very top of 395, & both sides. on the west side, the area in question, sq 0525 is the north triangular section -really 2 stacked triangles - and then square 0526 is south of that blank section where L street should be...although only a proper plat map would tell us for sure how everything aligned. I pulled up the crappy one on DCGIS and it looks like an eraser was taken to that entire section! Also fyi, the east side of 395 - the grassy knoll that serves as overflow bibleway parking, which was part of this deal (sq 0525 lot 0841) is a 28,000 sq ft lot with a 505k tax balance. And then you are right, bible way does have another 24,929sq ft lot on sq 0526. the tax balance on that one is a whopping 1.9 MILLION. what is going on??!

Posted By Si Kailian / At 3/3/09 12:20 PM

so, is that The Bible Way trash trasfer site behind the green fence?

Posted By richard / At 3/5/09 4:50 AM

What a sad mess that is. I'd really like for us to look into this further re: the timeframe to develop the land.

Can we do some research, contact someone with the city and bring this to the attention of the ANC. I'd like to know what could be done (if anything), especially since we have interest from residents in the neighborhood to make this into useable, public space.

Can I help? If anyone has suggestions as to where I can lend a hand, please let me know?

John Thompson

Posted By John Thompson / At 3/5/09 8:36 AM

Si - where on DCGIS did you find the map?

Posted By Paul / At 3/5/09 7:29 PM

I'll bring it up to the ANC 6C Commissioners and see what can be done about the property.

Posted By RobA / At 3/5/09 8:13 PM

this is to serve whomever is responsible for the trash tranfer station that you're now taking public space(the street)with your orange dumpster dropped in the middle of the street. how you get away with these violations is beyond me. pehaps it is your grand sense of entitlement. MPD, DPW should be called and you should be ticketed for these blatent violations. but with our passive DC government you will get away with it for along time until someone gets in your face about it.

Posted By richard r / At 3/16/09 8:48 AM

well, well well...i discovered who's responsible for the trash transfer site at 4th and L and is ISN'T A CHURCH. Ladies and Gentlemen it is the responsibilty of the Mt Vernon BID. yes, our dear BID is responsible for the trash transfer site that your investment at CityVista overlooks. what SHOCKS me is that we had to learn this information by observing who comes and goes out of there and drops the trash. dont cha think the MVBid would have fessed up? the arrogance offends me.

Posted By richard / At 3/24/09 11:30 AM

attention BID of mount vernon:
last night i 8 pm i drove to CityVista Safeway. thanks to you i dont feel save walking there. it was raining. i notice a couple of men going to the bathroom near the big sign that you posted. obviously people who cant read or dont care ignore such stuff. thanks for nothing BID of mount vernon.
ps. could you please install lights and dont blame the MPD for your trash transfer station problems.

Posted By richard r / At 3/28/09 7:35 AM

The trash transfer facility at 4th and L is not the property of the Mount Vernon Triangle CID, but that of the Downtown DC BID. This is not new, and has been there for about three years, but no none noticed until recently. We are working with the Downtown DC BID, our partner that helped launch our organization, to find a better location for this facility.

Posted By Bill McLeod / At 4/1/09 7:21 AM

Thanks MVT Bill!

Posted By Si Kailian / At 4/1/09 9:26 AM

ah i never said it was new. i wanted to know who's responsible for it

Posted By richard r. / At 4/1/09 10:57 AM

Well, you have a rather abrasive way of asking who's responsible...

Posted By Paul / At 4/1/09 12:39 PM

it's the internet dear, dont take it personally

Posted By richard r. / At 4/1/09 12:40 PM