ANC 6C p&z Update
First the FANTASTIC news that Mandu is coming to the space next to Kushi in City Vista!!! This means KOREAN BBQ in the hood!! (Mandu has a current restaurant at 18th & S) Ok now that I've finished my happy dance, the meat n potatoes...
The Stuearts are coming soon so they promise. The committee voted to support their zoning appeal which was hugely confusing but in a nutshell they want to build: a 400 unit residential building on the 400 block of NY Ave/L and a commercial/retail building on the 500 block of NY/K. the appeal has to do with transferring residential sq footage and the confusing nature of the zoning code, bonus densities and all sorts of crazy things that made even me (who normally geeks out to this stuff) utterly cross eyed. check out Rob's explanation from the meeting announcement post below, he does a much better job. Anyhoo if they dont get their way, they will "re-examine the project" which could very well mean parking lot for all eternity. They arent seeking to do 100% office so thats really good that they are embracing mixing it up. No concepts as of yet.
One of the committee members gave em some hell for their crappy nonexistant snow removal for all of their properties during the blizzards. I also tried to convey that it was also the issues with weeds, trash, hookers etc plus the semi recent murder on their property that the neighborhood has a problem with. And of course the long history of silence from them which we would like to change. So I asked them to come visit us in April or May which they were amenable to, and we look forward to dialog with this major Triangle landowner.
also got a look at NPR's new building on North Capitol, It looks pretty neat but imho teeters on brutalism. Its hard to tell but it could be really neat. They are also toying with the idea of putting a giant light saber or flagpole or somebig red stick thing on the corner of L. Will be interesting to see what that turns out to be.
The committee also discussed some things pertaining to the new comprehensive plan but I had to bug out 20 min into that. I do have to say that Rob Amos is doing an absolutely fantastic job chairing this committee! They are a very knowlegable bunch and he leads them in a well and even tempered manner. y'all should check out this meeting on occasion, very interesting content.
Thank you Si for the kind words. Can I convince you to be my campaign manager in the fall?
Last night's meeting was at times confusing and contentious. I think that everyone's head was spinning as we tried to get a handle on the legal issues surrounding Steuart's appeal. In the end, we seemed to all agree that we want to see more residential in the Mount Vernon area - and the Steuart project gives us more residential (if they win their appeal). NPR has been before us twice now and each time the building gets better and more exciting. Sure it may ba a bit "brutalist" but they have to work with the existing historical [former] C&P Telephone building and within what HPRB allows them to do with the new building design. I like how they are opening up the entry corner even more than before (which was a concern at the first meeting) and I'm anxious to see what the "marker" will actually be for that corner (Si termed it a light saber - which is just one of 15 different ideas floating around they said last night).
The larger issue we dealt with last night was the Union Station Air Rights project and the requested changes in the Zoning Plan for that mixed-use development. The Office of Planning has met with us three times already over the past several months and will be back again in April. We've had a lot of questions and gotten a lot of answers - but this is a large project that we need to look at carefully and make sure that we get a development that meets the needs of the ANC and the city.
Everyone is welcome to our ANC 6C Planning Committee meetings and the Full ANC 6C Commission meetings. A lot of work goes into making the ANC a productive part of the community - stop by and see how we do it.
Posted By RobA / At 3/4/10 3:33 PM
