5th and Ridge Gets Facelift

Tomorrow night begins Rosh Hashanah so I guess I can say "Happy New Year!"

This afternoon, workers were busy removing the blacktop that falls onto the public space on the vacant lot at 1223 5th Street NW. Over the past week, Sunrise Academy, which has owned both the empty lot and the adjacent house, also reduced the height of the 6 foot fence on the 5th Street side of the property. When the work is complete, it will be a substantial improvement.

A big thanks goes to DCRA and HPRB.

Some quick background. Soon after Sunrise purchased the property in 2005, it dug up the vacant lot, which was then part of the sidewalk, and turned it into a gravel parking lot. It later black topped the lot and surrounded it with a fence. Renovations also began on the house at 1225 5th Street NW. Much of the work was done without permits and was illegal. The fence was too high for a historic district. The lot was not zoned for parking. The asphault went several feet into public space. It lacked drainage and landscaping. The plans never went through the neighborhood/ANC process, etc. DCRA hit Sunrise with several stop work orders. Meanwhile, we were told that Sunrise's contractor skipped town without fixing the situation. DCRA finally ordered Sunrise to remove the entire fence and blacktop within 10 days. Then, everything stopped.

Last week, I learned that DCRA had finally reached a settlement with Sunrise. Under its terms, Sunrise is to remove the asphault that protrudes into public space, landscape that area, remove at least one of the curb cuts on Ridge (possibly 2), restore the sidewalk, and lower the fence along 5th Street. As the photo shows, the work is moving forward quickly.

It remains to be seen what use Sunrise plans for the property, but this is long-awaited progress.