302-304 M Street: Historic Preservation Holding Firm on Pop-ups

DC's Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) seems to be holding the line on residential pop-ups. For a least the second time in less than a month, ANCs have heard cases of proposed extra floors on historic homes. The proposed pop-ups on a single-family homes in a historic districts have been vetoed by the HPRB. In both cases, the homeowners decided to build the additional living space on the rear of the property, which triggered need for zoning relief for lot occupancy and other reasons.

302 and 304 M Street NW

At its regular monthly meeting June 3, Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 6E/Shaw heard the case of two adjoining lots on M Street near the corner of New Jersey Avenue.

302 M Street is an empty row house. 304 M Street is a vacant lot. The two lots have the same owner. The owner proposes to renovate the existing house at 302 M Street and build a new house at 304. To do any significant work at either address, the owner must seek permission from the HPRB because the property is located in the Mount Vernon Square Historic District.

The original vision by architect Will Teass of Tektonics Architecture DC called for a third story to be added to 302 M Street, so it could be used as a two-unit dwelling.

Eric Daniel of the firm Griffin, Murphy, Moldenhauer, & Wiggins LLP told ANC6E that "in response to HPRB" the plans had been changed. 302 M Street will now have an addition in back, not on top of, the existing house.

As a result, the owner sought variance relief from DC's Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA) in three areas. The additional rear structure adds to the overall footprint on the property. Combined, they will take up 70% of the property. Maximum allowed under current zoning regulations is 60%. In addition, the rear yard will be set back 10.3 feet from the property edge -- zoning calls for 15 feet. The additional of a rear structure would also create a closed courtyard which will not meet zoning requirements.

ANC6E Commissioner Rachelle Nigro (district 04) said the applicants "did a very nice job of outreach" to the community. The property is in her ANC district.

ANC6E voted unanimously to endorse zoning relief for 302-304 M Street NW.

A similar case occurred in Dupont Circle recently when HPRB told the owners of one of the oldest houses in the neighborhood to add living space behind their historic property, rather than on top of it -- see SALM blog post of May 30.

Documents related to this zoning case can be seen by going to the Case Search Tool of the DC Office of Zoning and entering case number 18782 in the search bar.

Online records indicate the 302 M Street was sold in March 2014 for 650,000. Another web site shows that, at some point, the two lots together were on sale for $1.25 million.

See a 2010 post from the blog DCmud about a Tektonics Architecture project in downtown DC here.

ANC6E videos its meetings in their entirety and posts them on its YouTube channel. You can view the short discussion of this matter on video 00051, starting at time 2:15.

1315 T Street Renovation Passes ANC1B on Third Try

The third time was the charm for the owner of 1315 T Street as Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 1B/U Street finally expressed support for his proposed renovation. The renovation was approved at ANC1B's October 3 meeting.

An August 29 SALM blog post detailed the initial endorsement of the renovation by ANC1B's Design Review Committee. The renovation's two unsuccessful attempts (in spite of the Design Review Committee's recommendation) to get full ANC approval were the subject of a September 11 SALM blog post.

1315 T Street

Since the September 11 ANC meeting, the 1315 T Street renovation was reviewed and approved by DC's Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB), reported architect Will Teass of Tektonics Architecture. The proposal was now slightly revised due to HPRB adjustments. These included an adjustment to the height of the proposed roof of the third-story addition to the house.

Still, ANC support was sought for the proposal's second approval process -- this one scheduled for October 22 at the Board of Zoning Adjustments (BZA).

As requested by the ANC at its September meeting, the architect and owner did extensive outreach with the "Wallach Place Neighborhood Association", which was characterized as "not necessarily a formal group".

Commissioner Ricardo Reinoso (district 05) thanked the presenters for their extra effort.

Commissioner Zahra Jilani (district 12) noted that, after the consultation, the project had "even more letters of support". She said the additional letters were "really a waste of paper".

1315 T Street is in Jilani's ANC district.

The project received unanimous approval from the seven ANC1B Commissioners present at the meeting. Five Commissioners were absent.

1315 T Street Expansion Backed by ANC1B Committee

The residents of 1315 T Street NW have received approval from the Design Review Committee of Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 1B/U Street in connection with the proposed renovation and expansion of their row house at 1315 T Street NW. The approval was unanimous, with one abstention.

1315 T Street is the blue building, center

A representative of the residents appeared before the Design Review Committee of ANC 1B at its monthly meeting, held on August 19th at the Thurgood Marshall Center (1816 12th Street). Documents submitted to the board say the renovation will remove an existing third-floor addition and construct a new one. A roof deck will be added, and the basement enlarged.

The new addition will not be visible from the street, the representative said.

The project at 1315 T Street will require zoning relief from DC's Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA) for several reasons. First, after the renovation, the whole structure will cover 70% of the property. The limit under current rule is 60% for this zoning category. Secondly, an existing open court behind the building is non-compliant with zoning regulations. The regulations say such a court should be 10 feet wide; this court is 3.7 feet wide at its narrowest point.

A public hearing on the renovation is scheduled at the BZA (441 4th Street) for Tuesday, 22 October.

It will also require a building permit from the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB), because the building is within the boundaries of the U Street Historic District. The residents and their architect are filing a request for conceptual review with the HPRB.

An ANC's recommendations legally have influence, but are not binding, before both the BZA and the HPRB.

The residents of 1315 T Street have a letter of no objection from the abutting neighbor to the east. They have letters of support from two neighbors to the rear of the property. At the hearing, the residents' representative said that the abutting neighbor to the west, a landlord with renters, had been informed, but had not responded.

The architect for the project is Will Teass of Tektonics Architecture.

The committee's recommendation will probably come up for approval at the next meeting of the full ANC, scheduled for Thursday, September 5, at 7pm, at the Reeves Center (14th and U Street)