ANC2F Endorses $45,000 Benefits Package from Developer to Community Groups

At its regular monthly meeting last night (January 7), Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2F/Logan Circle endorsed a Planned Unit Development (PUD) package that would, if accepted by the DC government, allow a planned hotel-and-apartment complex at 9th and L Streets NW to go ahead. The package was passed by the ANC without audible objection.

The future site of the development

As part of the PUD package, the ANC implicitly endorses the design and zoning aspects of the project. In return for this, Quadrangle Development pledges to contribute $45,000 to three community groups, specifically:

• $5,000 to Thompson Elementary School (1200 L Street) to purchase "equipment"
• $20,000 to a community group dedicated to the maintenance of Samuel Gompers Park, located at intersection of 10th Street, L Street, and Massachusetts Avenue.
• $20,000 to a community group dedicated to the maintenance of 10th Street Park, located between L and M Streets.

Last November, ANC2F held a committee meeting in which community organizations asked for a total of $55,000 in benefits, and Quadrangle Development came back with a counter-offer of $15,000. The committee asked Quadrangle to come back to the committee's December meeting with a better offer (see SALM blog post of December 1, 2014, for more details). Quadrangle apparently did so, and the offer as presented to the full ANC was approved by the committee at its December meeting. The ANC's decision last night ratified the unanimous committee vote.

See explanations of the PUD process -- one by the U Street Neighborhood Association here and another by the blog Greater Greater Washington here.