Spotted in the Wild: Historic Preservation Placarding

The first example -- that I have seen -- of public placarding of a pending historic preservation case has appeared on a house at 1518 8th Street NW in Shaw.

The placard (see photo left) gives the case number, the applicant name, and a very brief description (five words, in this case) of the project.

DC's Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) announced in March that a one-year "trial run" of the placarding requirement would begin at the end of April -- see SALM blog post of March 28. At that time, an HPRB representative said the placards would resemble the orange placards required on properties that were getting a hearing before DC's Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA).

However, there are some differences. BZA placards give the scheduled date and time of the hearing where the property will be discussed. HPRB's placard states that "[t]his project may be scheduled for an upcoming public hearing", without giving an indication of when that might be.

BZA placards also show more detail concerning the nature of the zoning-related request.

For those interested in further information, the placard has a shortened URL (tinyurl.com/887zoy8). This URL, the placard says, will allow the viewer to know the name and contact information of the person assigned to this case, and information about upcoming public meetings. This URL leads to HPRB's home page. There are no instructions on HPRB's home page that might allow a lay person to easily figure out who is the person assigned to this case, or to find out if, or when, the case will be the subject of a public hearing.

The placard also says project plans are not available on line. Interested parties must phone or write, or come down to the office during regular business hours.

1518 8th Street is located in the Shaw Historic District. It is also located in district 01 of Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 6E/Shaw. ANC6E has a meeting scheduled for tonight, Tuesday, September 2. Zoning relief for several nearby properties is on the agenda for tonight, but the historic preservation request for this property is not on the agenda for tonight's meeting.

Publicly-available information shows that 1518 8th Street was built in 1900 and was sold for $890,000 in November 2012.