1801 4th Street: "We're Mimicking the Town House That Was There"

A committee of Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 1B/U Street gave conditional endorsement to zoning variances that will allow construction of a two-family row house on an empty lot at 1801 4th Street NW in LeDroit Park. The endorsement came at a meeting of ANC1B's Design Review Committee on June 16.

1801 4th Street (vacant lot center)

This is one of several recent cases where design modifications by DC's Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) to planned renovation or construction have triggered the need for zoning variances -- see SALM blog posts for June 12 and May 30, 2014.

The lot in question was formerly the parking lot of Frazier's Funeral Home, which was located in an abutting property to the south. Frazier's Funeral Home closed in 2008. Developer Thomas Swarm bought the property. He developed the Funeral Home building (the brick building on the left in the photo) first -- it is now a residential building.

Both this project and the previous renovation had to get HPRB endorsement because the properties are located in the LeDroit Park Historic District.

Historic Preservation calls the shots

Before the lot was parking, a row house was there. HPRB has said the new construction had to be as close as possible to the long-gone building.

"This is their design," Swarm said at the meeting. "This is their direction."

HPRB required that the new row house be set back ten feet from the front property line, just like its neighbors.

"We're mimicking the town house that was there," Swarm said.

Since the entire living space of the building will be pushed back, the rear yard will be much smaller (4 feet 10 inches) than required by zoning (20 feet). In addition, the lot coverage (61.9%) will be slightly bigger than allowed by zoning (60%). The width of side yard of the building will not meet zoning requirement (3 feet vs. 10 feet).

In addition to the need for zoning variances, HPRB-led design has also created another small problem. The planned front staircase for the building will protrude slightly into public space, i.e., the front sidewalk. If this design is implemented as written, Swarm would also have to go to the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) and seek a permit to use public space.

Tempers flare

The request seemed to be fairly routine. However, the discussion got a little heated during a digression about Swarm's trip through the DC property development maze. Committee member Tony Norman asked if Swarm had been to ANC1B before his HPRB approval. Swarm said he had been to the ANC last year. Norman said he didn't remember Swarm's visit.

Norman could have stimulated his memory by reading the SALM blog post of November 4, 2013, which was about the previous appearance of Swarm before Norman and the committee. At that time, Norman was chair of the committee, as well as chair of ANC1B as a whole. (He has since lost his position as chair and resigned from his commissionership.)

Norman said Swarm should have appeared before the committee before seeking HPRB approval. There was further discussion of whether Swarm had navigated the DC various government bodies in the correct order.

"I'm doing everything by the book," Swarm said.

He got a little angry.

"This is so dysfunctional," he said. "This is just like DC."

At this point, Swarm's attorney, Leila Batties of Holland & Knight, stepped in and gently redirected the conversation back to the immediate problem.

The committee voted unanimously to recommend to the full ANC that the zoning variances be endorsed as presented, with the caveat that the front stairs should not protrude into public space "if at all possible". 

The matter will probably be considered at the next meeting of the full ANC, scheduled to take place on July 10, 2014, at the Reeves Center (14th and U Streets). ANC1B usually holds their monthly meetings on the first Thursday of the month, but is postponing July's meeting due to the Independence Day holiday.

The application is scheduled for consideration by the Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA) on July 15. Documents in the case can be seen at the BZA's Interactive Zoning Information System by entering case number 18796 into the search bar.

1628 11th Street: 33 New Residential Units, 21 Parking Spaces

The current home of the offices of the National Alliance of Postal and Federal Employees (NAPFE) at 1628 11th Street NW (between Q and R Streets) will be future location of 33 apartments and 21 parking spaces. It will also require a handful of zoning reliefs. This is according to information presented to the Community Development Committee of Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2F/Logan Circle at its September 25 meeting.

1628 11th Street is a quarter-acre parcel

The 28,000-square-foot building was reportedly purchased this summer from NAPFE by Fortis, a DC-based real estate investment company, for $5.5 million.

Representatives of Holland and Knight appeared before ANC2F to make a presentation and request ANC support for an application for zoning relief before DC's Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA).

They also detailed how the structure will be renovated and enlarged to change it from office space to living space.

How many, how much, how big

Two additional floors of apartments will be added on the top of the building, the presenters said, bringing the total number of planned apartments to 33. This is a decrease from a previously-reported plan for "35 to 40 multi-family units".

During a period of questions from committee members, the presenters said it was not yet decided if the units would be rental or condo. Soon after, in response to a follow-up question from Commissioner John Fanning (district 04), the presenters said that the units would "cost $400,000 to start".

The units are planned to be 600 to 1700 square feet in size.

Car elevator: going down?

One unusual feature is a planned car elevator which residents will have to use to access the 21 parking spaces. Car elevators are found much less frequently in DC than in other major American cities, presenters and commissioners agreed.
This is because DC zoning normally requires cars to be accessible at all times. However, presenters said, they were requesting an exception because a ramp down from street level to the underground parking would "adversely impact housing".

Members of the committee asked about the possibility that a car elevator would make an excessive amount of noise and would require a human operator. Although the presenters did not have information about the amount of noise a newly-manufactured car elevator might make, they reassured the committee "this is not going to be an old lift". The current models use hydraulic lifts, they said, and are operated with a key fob, so there will be no need for a human attendant.

A relief will also be sought for setback requirements for two roof structures that will contact mechanical equipment. The structures will be 18 feet 6 inches tall, but according to currently zoning regulations only 13 feet would be allowed. The resulting structure would be visible from 11th Street, the presenters said, but "you'd have to be on the playground [across the street] to see it."

Although the roof structure does not comply with the setback requirement, the entire renovated building as planned will not require zoning relief for height.

No members of the community raised objections or asked any questions of the developers at the meeting.

The committee voted unanimously to recommend the full ANC support all the zoning variances requested. The request may be considered by the full ANC at its next meeting, scheduled to take place on Wednesday, October 2, at 6:30pm at the Washington Plaza Hotel (10 Thomas Circle).