Logan Circle ANC Endorses Zero Parking for 90-91 Blagden Alley

Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2F/Logan Circle has endorsed a request from the developers of 90-91 Blagden Alley NW that would allow construction of a 132-microunit residential development with no parking spaces. The decision took place at the November 5 regular monthly meeting of the ANC.

According to information on PropertyQuest, 90-91 Blagden Alley is zoned category C-2-A. Under current zoning regulations, there must be at least one parking space for each two dwelling units, or 66 spaces.

The vote concurred with the recommendation of ANC2F's Community Development Committee (CDC), made at its meeting of October 29, to support the request for zoning relief from the parking requirement -- see SALM blog post of November 4. The CDC's recommendation was also a split decision, 5 in favor, 2 against.

Four Commissioners voted for the endorsement, three against.

Commissioners voting for the no-parking option: John Fanning (district 04), Jim Lamare (05), Greg Melcher (06), and Matt Raymond (07). The planned development is in Melcher's ANC district.

Against the no-parking option

Commissioners voting against: Peter Lallas (01), Stephanie Dahle (03), and Kevin Keeley (08).

"We have to be incredibly vigilant about parking in our areas," Keeley said.

"A few things concern me about this," Dahle said.

Dahle pointed out that it would be very easy for the projected long-term temporary residents of the building to get a temporary street parking pass which would be good "for months on end"

Several audience members spoke against endorsing the request.

"I'm really opposed to letting people out of their parking agreement," one said.

Katherine Gordon, Commissioner-elect for ANC2F district 01, also spoke against zero parking.

Motion to remove car-free accommodations defeated

The developers had previously presented a list of benefits they plan to give to future tenants to encourage car-free living, including funding a new Capital Bikeshare station at a cost of $75,000 -- see SALM blog post of October 7. This list was included in the ANC2F motion to endorse this request for zoning relief. ANC2F Chair Raymond made a motion to strip this list of accommodations out of the motion to approve the zoning relief, and approve zoning relief without stipulation.

Raymond said he didn't like the precedent that requiring stipulations would set.

Raymond's motion went down to defeat, 6-1. Raymond was the only one to vote in favor.

An additional SALM blog post on this project also appeared on September 26.

The matter will next be considered by DC's Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA). The BZA postponed a hearing on the matter, originally scheduled for the same day as this ANC meeting, until December 2. The BZA hearing will start at 9:30am, at a BZA hearing room, Room 220 South, 441 4th Street (Judiciary Square metro).

See ANC2F's summary of the meeting where this discussion took place here.