Category Archives: ANC

October 2, 2012 · 10:00 am

ANC Round Up: Demolition By Neglect

 

The ANC met for its October session last night. Here are some of the bigger items they discussed:

Demolition By Neglect Reaches it Inevitable Conclusion

The agenda was marked by a solemn item. The new owner of 3324 Dent Place has filed a raze request with the city. Such requests are rare in Georgetown, and even more rarely granted.

The house in question can be seen above in slightly better days. It is a wood frame house and likely dates from the mid 1800s. It can be seen in this old map from 1903. Even as late as then, that block of Dent was home to only a couple of other houses (also, it was called S St., not Dent).

The house’s more recent history was retold by Chairman Ron Lewis last night. In 1978, the owner of the house requested a raze permit. The Old Georgetown Board denied it. For whatever reason (perhaps out of spite) the house was left to rot for decades. As the neighbors complained last night, the property became a fetid eyesore attracting vermin and mosquitoes. One resident complained that when she lived there 15 years ago, she couldn’t believe the house was in such poor shape. And she mentioned that when she returned to the neighborhood after living abroad all those years, she was shocked to see it had only gotten worse.

Up to a little over a year ago this was a classic case of demolition by neglect. This is the situation whereby an owner of a historically protected building allows the building to fall into such disrepair that the city will be forced to grant a raze permit. The proper response to such a tactic is to jack up the property taxes and deny a raze permit. Unfortunately, in this situation Mother Nature had her say. During Hurricane Irene a large silver maple fell squarely on the house. It is now unsalvageable.

Ron Lewis recognized the difficulty of the situation. Allowing a homeowner to tear down a century-and-a-half year old house is irrevocable. But the neighbors who had lived with the eyesore for too long. It is a shame that such a historic structure cannot be saved, but a raze permit must be issued.

Lewis added a clause to the motion supporting the raze permit that requested that the new owner of the building not be permitted to use this raze as an opportunity to build a much larger house. It’s a small gesture in the face of a bad situation all around. Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under ANC

Tagged as , ,

September 25, 2012 · 10:00 am

ANC Preview: I Saw the Sign Edition

Next Monday, the ANC will meet for its October session. Here are some of the interesting topics they’ll discuss:

Sign Regulations:

The DC government recently proposed a raft of regulations that would govern signage throughout the District, including Georgetown.

As it stands now, all signs in Georgetown (except temporary ones) are subject to review and approval by the Old Georgetown Board. And that’s going to continue to be the case. However, the proposed rules set forth some governing rules, including a short list of prohibited types of signs in Georgetown. Those include billboards, flashing neon signs, and “electrical” signs (among others). It’s unlikely that the OGB would ever approve such signs, but if these rules are adopted, then it will become even less likely.

Of course the rules are useless without enforcement, and there’s nothing in the proposed rules that would necessarily lead to more enforcement (in fact, by enacting new rules that apply city-wide, the regulations would only spread enforcement thinner). So what effect they would have is anyone’s guess.

The ANC will be discussing these rules at the meeting. They will most likely focus on some ambiguities in the proposed rules (like where the jurisdiction of the OGB and the DC Historical Preservation office overlap).

3000 Block of R St.

On the agenda are the Hurt Home project and the Jackson Art Center, both on the 3000 block of R St. (GM’s old haunt). GM has no clue what is going to be discussed in relation to these buildings. The construction for the Hurt Home Condos (now dubbed “The Montrose”) appears to be going ahead full-steam. But seeing a construction site show up on an ANC agenda isn’t so odd. What’s odd is the inclusion of the Jackson Art Center. This collection of artist studios is housed in an old public elementary school, a school still owned by the District.

When the city was going through the disposition process for the Hurt Home, GM heard some grumblings from some affiliated with the Jackson Art Center that maybe this would lead the city to turn the school into condos too once the art center’s lease was up in a few years. Is this why it’s on the agenda? GM has no idea, we’ll see.

Update: A reader pointed out to GM that he misread the agenda. The Hurt Home isn’t actually on the agenda. The agenda lists the address of 3050 R St., which is the Hurt Home, not the Jackson School, but that’s probably a mistake. So it looks like just the Jackson School is on the agenda.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under ANC

Tagged as

September 5, 2012 · 10:00 am

ANC Round Up: Back to Business Edition

The ANC met for its September session last night. This session is always pretty long and tedious, mostly because it follows a month hiatus for the commission, which produces a larger than average back log of discussion items. And this month was no exception.

Crime

As normal, Lieutenant  Hedgecock gave a presentation on public safety towards the beginning of the meeting. For what it’s worth (and GM doesn’t put a ton of worth into this) the crime stats for Georgetown and Burleith are down year-to-date 2012 versus year-to-date 2011. For instance, there were 26 robberies up to this point in 2011, there have been only 22 in 2012. Similarly, aggravated assaults are down from 15 to 8 and burglaries down 79 to 62. Thefts–always by far the largest single category of crime–were up from 372 to 410. So Georgetown is safer? Maybe. With numbers as smaller as these, it doesn’t take much for a large percentage swing in either direction. Hopefully, they genuinely reflect a positive trend, but GM fears it’s mostly just statistical noise.

Transportation

Ron Lewis announced that the G2 will finally restore west-of-Wisconsin service after the O & P St. construction is done. Specifically, it will return after the ribbon-cutting which will occur September 18th at 10 AM, by P and 36th.

Old Washingtonian Gas Station

The old Washingtonian Gas station at Q and Wisconsin has been closed since the spring of 2011 when it went up in rather alarming flames. The spot has remained an eyesore pretty much ever since. The owners, however, are finally taking steps to fix the property up.

While GM–who moved around the corner–would love to see the property brought to use as something other than a gas station, last night the owner confirmed that it will in fact return to its prior use. Rolan Joun announced that work should begin within a couple months and the station should be reopened by early next year. He also announced that it will be a Shell station now. GM has previously confirmed that Bobby Gonzales, who ran the auto service shop there before the fire, is not planning on returning to Georgetown (although he still provides pick-up service).

Holiday Decorations

While the barbecue briquettes of Labor Day are barely cold, the BID is already thinking ahead to the holidays. They came before the ANC last night to present some plans for their holiday decorations. They will include the normal baskets that they attach to the light poles. But this year they will add these yellow, Christmas tree-shaped sculptures to the top of the poles along M St. Commissioner Tom Birch complimented the designs but then added a bit of a critical request that next year they consider not using trees that look like Swiss cheese.

The more interesting aspect to the BID’s plans are that they will install a string of lights across the intersection of M and Wisconsin, including a bright star pattern hanging in the center. The BID actually used to do this, but has since 2000. For a quaint old place, Georgetown sure doesn’t get in the holiday decorating spirit as much as it should. Hopefully this will jump start a bit more holiday cheer.

The Mall

Scott Nelson of Vornado was on hand to continue to reveal very little about his organization’s plans for the Georgetown Park mall. He continued to refuse to divulge the names of the possible tenants (GM hears that T.J. Maxx is a leading candidate), but he did confirm the fact that the general approach for the redesign is to allow each store to have an M St. presence. In other words, it won’t really be a mall anymore.

One piece of genuine news is that they hope to have construction completed in 10 to 12 months. The stores may take longer to customize their space, but he also noted that some of the stores may start their own build-out as early as the first quarter of 2013.

1 Comment

Filed under ANC

Tagged as , , ,

August 15, 2012 · 10:00 am

ANC Picture Not So Clear After All

In July, GM speculated that the make-up of the ANC was pretty clear and that there were not going to be many changes. With 6 of the 8 commissioners running unopposed, it still seems likely that there will be little change. But the full lineup remains cloudy after one of candidates for the two student seats failed to make the ballot.

Craig Cassey Jr. had picked up an petition to run for the SMD 4 seat currently held by Jake Sticka. But he apparently didn’t turn in a completed petition by the August 8th deadline. GM reached out to Cassey and he verified that he is going to wage a write-in campaign.

There are a lot of challenges facing students interested in running for ANC. The first is apparent here. They had to be here in DC for their first summer–due to the two year commitment, only rising Sophomores can run– and locate 15 25 people who are also there in the summer and who have changed their registration to their Georgetown address. SMD 4 at least has the benefit of encompassing the Jesuit residence, so someone running for that seat has more potential petition signers. SMD 8 candidates aren’t so lucky. Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under ANC

Tagged as

July 31, 2012 · 10:00 am

ANC Makeup to Remain Pretty Much the Same

ANC candidates have until August 8th to turn in petitions to appear on the ballot this November. While that’s still a week away, the likely candidates for Georgetown’s ANC are already clear, and they should be pretty familiar. Every non-student commissioner is running again unopposed. And the two new student commissioners are also set to run unopposed.

So for the record: Ed Solomon, Ron Lewis, Jeff Jones, Bill Starrells, Charlie Eason, and Tom Birch are all running again. Barring some late entrant, the two new student commissioners will be Craig Cassey Jr. and Peter Prindiville.

While GM  doesn’t agree with every stance each existing commissioner takes (some even less than others), they’re a generally good group. That said, for the sake of democracy, it would probably be a good thing if we actually had a contested election every once in a while.

Oh, and this will be the third straight term where all the commissioners are white men.

1 Comment

Filed under ANC

Tagged as

July 12, 2012 · 10:00 am

ANC Race Starting to Shape Up

Yesterday, the Board of Elections released the final maps for ANC redistricting. The ANC2E one is the same as that decided upon by Tom Birch last fall as depicted above.

The map has a few small changes to the old map and one significant change. The small ones include making SMDs 2, 3, and 5 a bit bigger. And the big change is the brand new SMD 8 on the eastern edge of GU campus. (If you want to rehash the fight that produced this map, read this).

Starting on June 15, candidates have been able to pick up nominating petitions. They have until August 8th to collect 25 signatures of residents of their district. So far, sitting commissioners Ron Lewis and Bill Starrels have already picked up their petitions. GM suspects most if not all the rest of the non-student commissioners will go again next year. Continue reading →

3 Comments

Filed under ANC

Tagged as ,

July 3, 2012 · 10:00 am

ANC Round Up: West Heating Plant Edition

Last night the ANC met for its July session, the last call for the summer. With a “vanilla” agenda, as one commissioner called it, the night held few surprises.

West Heating Plant

GM has covered this multiple times before, but if you’re just catching up, here’s a primer: Way back in the 40s, the federal government took land at the confluence of the C & O Canal and Rock Creek from the National Park Service and built a large heating plant on the property. The plant was used to provide building heat to the federal government’s properties on the west side of downtown (primarily the State department). It burned coal for a heat source.

The plant was converted to natural gas at some point and then about ten years ago it was shut down for good. Since then it has sat unused. GSA is finally in the process of selling the property.

The neighbors of the property are nervous about this. They want the south half of the property returned to its previous use as park land. (And some would like the plant itself torn down, but they acknowledge that that is an unlikely outcome). To do so they initially suggested that GSA could either give the property back to NPS or sell the property with restrictions on the use of the south half of the property. GSA doesn’t want to do that. They just want to sell it as soon as possible for the highest price, and that was even before Congressional Republicans started making political hay over the ten years the property sat unused.

So the neighbor’s attention shifted to the city. The property is currently unzoned. If the Office of Planning zones the south half of the property as parkland, then that’s how it would get used. Fait accompli.

They key is that the zoning would have to be in place before the auction. If it’s not, then some very deep pockets will be emptying large portions of those pockets to purchase the property. Once they have the property, they will spend even more to make sure they receive the most lenient zoning category.

So to prevent this from coming to pass, the Friends of the Georgetown Waterfront Park, CAG (disclosure: GM is CAG’s secretary), and now the ANC have formally asked OP to act fast to zone the property in a way to restore and preserve the public’s access to this historic site. Continue reading →

3 Comments

Filed under ANC

Tagged as ,

June 27, 2012 · 10:00 am

ANC Preview: Last Call for Summer Edition

The ANC will meet for its July session next Monday. This is the last meeting before September, which probably makes it a tad longer as more project try to get through (and it definitely makes the September session interminable as two month’s worth of projects are reviewed).

The agenda has some typical projects but one jumps out at GM as potentially interesting. And it’s the West Heating Plant. This landmark property is being sold by GSA. The nearby neighbors want, at the very least, for the currently unbuilt property to remain unbuilt. GSA just wants to unload the property at a good price. And a sub-committee-worth of Congressmen want the same. These are not necessarily compatible desires. Since the auction is supposed to happen this summer, this issue will likely come to a head soon.

GM’s not sure whether the ANC will take a position on the matter. The hope among the neighbors is that either GSA or the city will take steps before the auction to ensure that the open space remain open. This could be either from GSA setting terms to the auction (somewhat unlikely) or the city zoning the property with restrictive zoning (somewhat more likely). Suffice to say a lot of developers are considering spending a lot of money to get the property in their hands. Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under ANC

Tagged as

June 5, 2012 · 10:00 am

ANC Round Up: Little Ado About Something

Last night the ANC met for its June session. Whereas many meetings the ancient art of turning molehills into mountains is practiced, this meeting was downright understated.

On top of the list of items that probably could have justified a bit more discussion was the Georgetown campus plan. Last month it was announced that Georgetown and the civic groups entered mediation to see if they can resolve the dispute without leaving it up to the Zoning Commission to decide.

As reported, the talks have been going really well and there is an expectation that a resolution may be at hand. But the sides apparently need just a little more time. So they’re asking the Zoning Commission for another week, which request most certainly will be granted.

Ron Lewis stated that the ANC will host a special meeting just of the topic of the agreement before the (likely) new filing date of June 19th.

What are the details of a likely deal? Lewis wasn’t talking. He joked that after announcing the extension request he would open up the floor to any questions that he would quickly evade. University reps were there too, and they’re equally mum. Through his role as Secretary of CAG, GM knows what’s being discussed. But he’s sworn to secrecy so he ain’t talking either. So stay tuned! Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under ANC

May 30, 2012 · 10:00 am

ANC Preview: Hyde Gym Edition

The ANC will meet next Monday for its June session. It will take place at its normal place and time: Visitation at 6:00 pm.

Two potentially interesting items are near the top of the agenda, both relating to schools.

First, the ANC will discuss the plans to add a new addition to Hyde-Addison. Right now, the kids take most of their gym classes on the playground. The kids really enjoy this, but when the weather is too cold or wet to go outside, they only have a hallway in which to play.

Plans have been gestating for a while in the school to add a new building to the complex to finally provide a gym. The most likely plan would call for the new building to be built where the parking lot is now. Parking would be moved underground.

GM has learned that there’s actually money in place for this project and it could be underway relatively soon. Anyone who has seen the beautiful additions to schools like Janney and Stoddert has reason to be hopeful that the Hyde addition would be a wonderful addition to the school and drive up local interest even more.

On the other end of the school spectrum, the ANC will also be giving an update on the GU campus plan. As they announced a while back, the ANC and other parties to the Zoning Hearing are in mediation right now trying to come up with a negotiated settlement. GM doubts the ANC will have any earth-shattering announcement, but you may be able to read the tea leaves.

Here is the rest of the agenda: Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under ANC

Tagged as ,