McMillan Park Redevelopment Roadshow Comes to ANC1B

Anne L. Corbett, the project director of Envision McMillan, came before Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 1B/U Street on February 7 to brief about the proposed redevelopment of the McMillan Sand Filtration Site, also known as McMillan Park. The entire area is listed as a historic place by the National Park Service.

How it might look (photo credit below)

McMillan Sand Filtration Site is located in ANC5E/Bloomingdale. It was reported at the ANC1B meeting that ANC5E had approved the proposal on the stipulation that nearby ANCs also approved it. Another abutting ANC has already approved the proposal.  ANC1B abuts McMillan on McMillan's west side.

Development of the site will be part of a public-private partnership, Corbett said.

Two flyers given out by Envision McMillan at the meeting, plus Corbett's testimony, yield the following profile of the proposed McMillan development:

• 17,000 square foot community center with 25-meter-long pool
• 12 acres total of open public green space, including an 8-acre park on the south side of the development
• 50,000 square foot grocery
• 30,000 square foot of "neighborhood-serving retail", enough for "more than 10 retailers"
• 146 rowhouses
• "at least" 425 apartments

10% of the row houses, and 20% of the apartments, are designated as affordable housing, according to one flyer. A family of three would have to have an annual income of less than $77,400 to qualify for these units. The units will rent for less than $2000/month for two-bedroom apartments, less for smaller units. These numbers come D.C.'s Department of Housing and Community Development.

One of the flyers said: "all 24 historic buildings perserved". However, there was some discussion about the necessity of demolition on the site. It is possible this referred to demolition of things other than buildings. The ANC was told all demolition on a historic site must be approved by the Mayor's Agent in the D.C. Historic Preservation Office. 

Envision McMillan's redevelopment plans won provisional approval from D.C.'s Historic Preservation Review Board in October 2013. The most vigorous opponents to the plan are a group called Friends of McMillan Park.

The ANC did not vote on the proposal. It will probably be considered by the ANC's Design Review Committee, who will issue a recommendation to the full ANC for a later vote.

"This is an ongoing process," said Commissioner Tony Norman (district 10). "They will be back before this commission."

Norman's ANC district is the district that abuts the McMillan Site. 

See the location of McMillan Park on Google Maps here.

See a video about the development made by Envision McMillan on Vimeo here.

(Photo credit: from a flyer distributed by Envision McMillan at the February 7 ANC meeting.)

1309-1311 13th Street: Car Wash to 67-unit Luxury Condo

Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2F/Logan Circle revisited familiar territory on February 5 when yet another plan to develop a luxury apartment building brought neighbors out to make sure their interests were protected.

The Iowa apartment building is on the left

In this case, the property in question is 1309-1313 13th Street NW. These adjacent lots are currently occupied by a just-closed car wash and a Chinese carry-out. The Holladay Corporation plans a 67-unit, six-story apartment building on the site. According to the Holloday Corporation, the construction is "matter of right" -- meaning, the developers do not have to ask for any zoning variances or special exceptions, nor do they have to submit to review by D.C.'s Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB).

"This is why most people are here," ANC2F Chair Matt Raymond (district 07) told the standing-room-only audience at the Washington Plaza Hotel (10 Thomas Circle). Before the presentation by the Holladay Corporation, I counted 77 people. After the presentation and subsequent Q-and-A were finished, 35 people remained. Many had adjourned to the corridor just outside the meeting room to continue to pepper the presenters with questions and comments.

The Presentation

Senior Vice President Rita J. Bamberger and Vice President of Construction Stephen H. Weatherby led the presentation for the Holloday Corporation.

Bamberger said Holloday Corporation is a third-generation family-owned company. It has developed two other local residential buildings: The Matrix (1529 14th Street) and The Rutherford (1211 15th Street).

The building will have 27 parking spaces. This is within DC zoning regulations of one space for every three dwelling units for this category of property. 14 of these spaces would be underground, according to the presenters.

It will be entirely residential -- no retail on the first floor. The average size of the apartments will be 760 square feet. One bedroom apartments will be about 600 square feet. Two bedroom apartments will be between 900-1000 square feet. Of the 67 apartments, five will be "inclusionary", meaning, they will be built in order to meet D.C. rules about affordable housing. This is the minimum amount required by law, the presenters said. The rest of the units will be "market rate", i.e., more expensive.

The developers hope to break ground this summer and finish construction in 15-18 months. Construction will start at 7am and end by 5pm. There would be construction activity some Saturdays, but not on Sundays.

Q-and-A session

Many of the audience members were from the Iowa Condominium (1325 13th Street), which borders the planned new construction on the north. When construction is finished, many Iowa residents will look into their neighbors' windows over a narrow alley.

"The project will impact my semi-panoramic view," admitted one Iowa resident.

"How would you feel if you lived in The Iowa?" another asked.

The presenters explained the building would be 60 feet tall to the main roof line, topped by setback penthouses of 15 feet in height. Again, the developers are allowed this "by right", so there was not much the Iowa residents could do but complain, which they did. A few individuals presented themselves as local residents who were in favor of the proposed development, citing it as an improvement over a car wash and Chinese take-out. Public arguing between audience members resulted.

The presenters promised an email address and daytime phone numbers which residents could call in case of need. But Holloday Corporation pushed back against repeated Iowa resident demands for Weatherby's personal cell phone number or another number which would be answered by a live human 24/7.

Weatherby promised that Holloday Corporation would follow DC policy concerning rat abatement. They would place new bait boxes out weekly, he said.

Some residents were concerned their own properties would be damaged by vibrations and other side effects of construction. Weatherby promised an independently-conducted pre-construction site survey of adjoining properties, with photo documentation, to aid in possible later claims.

Another resident asked for an additional meeting or two with Iowa residents, but Holloday Corporation did not publicly commit themselves to further meetings.

See coverage of the same meeting by real estate blog Urban Turf here.

(Photo credit: Google Street View)

ANC2F Contingent Support for 1101 Rhode Island Avenue Development

A committee of Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2F/Logan Circle has endorsed a request for support by property developer CAS Riegler for a handful of zoning variances. But there are strings attached.

CAS Riegler is the developer of 1101 Rhode Island Avenue NW (see photo). Until recently, the property was the headquarters and service station for Diamond Cab. The proposed new building will have 38 apartments, 14 parking spaces, and space for retail on the ground floor.

The center and right-hand buildings will be torn down

The building's future neighbors are concerned about a variety of issues, including parking, building height, roof setback, and site density. The neighbors, CAS Riegler, and ANC2F's Community Development Committee (CDC) met the previous month to consider the same issues -- see the SALM blog post of September 30.

The strings attached

ANC2F endorsement is contingent on the successful negotiation of a memorandum of understanding (MOU). CAS Riegler was concerned about organizing negotiations, because the neighbors are not all members of an organized civic group, nor do they have a clear leader. CDC Committee Chair Walt Cain (district 02) said ANC Commissioner John Fanning (district 04) would be the principle point of contact for the negotiations.

The proposed new building is in Fanning's district. However, he was not at the meeting, probably because ANC2F's liquor licensing affairs committee was meeting at the same time at another venue. Fanning is the chair of the liquor licensing affairs committee.

What will the agreement cover?

"There are no limits except reason," said Commissioner Cain.

Normally, there are three actions an ANC can take about a zoning variance application. It can endorse the application, take no action, or protest the application. If the MOU is signed, the application to DC's Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA) will have ANC2F's endorsement. The MOU will become part of the BZA's decision and will be an enforceable contract.

If the MOU is not approved, the application will go forward as if the ANC decided to take no action. Cain did not offer circumstances under which the ANC might protest the zoning application.

The negotiations will have to be completed before CAS Riegler's December 3 BZA hearing date.

Can an agreement be reached?

The atmosphere of distrust between the two sides may make it very difficult to negotiate an agreement. The neighbors want a lot of changes which would reduce the income CAS Riegler could derive from the site. CAS Riegler did not give any indication it would consider changes from its present design.

There was little the two sides could agree on. There was much discussion of the exact meaning of the two phrases - "exceptional practical difficulties or exceptional and undue hardship" and "substantial detriment to the public good" - in DC's zoning code. How these words are interpreted will determine how easy or difficult it wlll be for CAS Riegler to get a zoning variance.

CAS Riegler said they had been forthcoming in sharing information with the future neighbors, including holding a town hall meeting at CAS Riegler offices the previous week. The neighbors responded that much of the important information had been sent to them only five hours before the Wednesday evening (October 23) meeting. This was too late for the neighbors to read, analyze, and prepare a coherent response, the neighbors indicated.

In an effort to refute neighbor claims about parking difficulty in the neighborhood, CAS Riegler had expert testimony by Jami Milanovitch of transportation consultants Wells and Associates. She had led an investigation into parking availability in the area. Although the parking spaces on some blocks were 100 percent occupied (or more, with illegal parking), Milanovitch said, other blocks were only 58 to 85 percent occupied on a weeknight evening and 66 percent occupied overnight.

The neighbors were extremely skeptical of this claim. In response to questioning, it was revealed that Milanovitch's figures were based on a single observation on a weekday evening, and another observation on a weekend evening. The neighbors (and some committee members) felt that these were too few observations to permit any sort of conclusion. Milanovitch responded she had used well-established standard procedure in the industry. Other neighbors said they had lived in the neighborhood for years and Milanovitch's figures were wrong.

The CDC's contingent endorsement was approved unanimously at the October 23 meeting. Unanimously-approved motions from the committee are often approved with little or no further discussion by ANC2F. The next meeting of ANC2F is scheduled for 7pm on November 6 at the Washington Plaza Hotel (10 Thomas Circle).

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)

ANC1B Committee Approves Third Story on 2241 12th Place

The Design Review Committee of Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 1B/U Street signed on to a proposed third floor for 2241 12th Place NW. The unanimous decision was made at the committee's regular monthly meeting, held on August 19 at the Thurgood Marshall Center (1816 12th Street).

2241 14th Place

The homeowner appeared before the committee and explained that, due to inexperience, he had approached the city bureaucracies in incorrect order. Instead of getting ANC approval for his expansion and then approaching the city's Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB), he had gone directly to the HPRB. It had given him the green light contingent on ANC approval.

According to testimony and drawings submitted to the committee in support of the application, the addition of the third floor will not be visible from the street in front of the building. 

The house modification requires HPRB approval because it falls within the boundaries of the U Street Historic District.

The facade of the addition will add six feet to the height of the building, and the highest point will be two feet above that. The facade of the third floor addition will be located more than 13 feet behind the facade of the first two floors. It will extend more than 28 feet to the rear of the property, flush with the existing back wall of the first two floors.

The recommendation of the committee will pass onto the full ANC for a vote. The next scheduled monthly meeting of the full ANC is Thursday, September 5, at the Reeves Center (14th and U Streets).

The house is located on the block between W Street and Florida Avenue.

Former Home of Washington Afro-American to be Renovated

The Design Review Committee of Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 1B/U Street soon will consider a renovation of a property that was the long-time home of the Washington Afro-American newspaper. Developers of the property came before the Design Review Committee at its regular monthly meeting on Monday, August 19, at the Thurgood Marshall Center (1816 12th Street NW).

Detail from plaque at the property

The property is actually two adjacent lots: 1101 S Street and 1800 11th Street, on the northwest corner of 11th and S at Vermont Street. It was the location of the Washington Afro-American's offices from 1937 until the late 1970's, according to information on a plaque on the side of the building and on the website of Cultural Tourism DC.

The property today

A scheduling mix-up resulted in the hearing on the property being postponed. On ANC1B's website prior to the meeting, it was announced that the committee would hear a petition about a property at 1501 11th Street, which is not located within the boundaries of ANC1B. This address turned out to be that of offices of the CAS Riegler, a property developer who is overseeing the project. When the nature of the confusion became clear, Design Review Committee Chair Tony Norman told the petitioners that they had to come back next month. The ANC needed to advertise the hearing properly, Norman said, so neighbors could attend the meeting if they wished.

Norman is also the ANC Commissioner from district 09 and the chair of ANC1B as a whole.

The property falls within the boundaries of the U Street Historic District. External renovations to houses in historic districts nearly always require approval from DC's Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) prior to starting work. Petitioners often seek ANC endorsement before approaching the HPRB.

Documents submitted to the Design Review Committee say the project will include a full renovation of both buildings. The proposal also says that the structural integrity of 1101 S Street will be improved, and the existing facade with be removed down to the original brick facade. There will be no additions to the existing buildings.

In addition, a presenter for the developer said that a large exterior staircase, which emerges from the property into public space on the sidewalk of 11th Street, will be removed.

1101 S Street is a residential unit.

A current occupant of the other building is the Upco Lock and Safe Service. This company has been in business since 1967.

The next meeting of the Design Review Committee is scheduled for Monday, September 23, at 6:30pm at the Thurgood Marshall Center.