Last month, GM reported that the Office of the Deputy Mayor of Economic Development had planned a community meeting for June 9th to discuss the sale and conversion to condos of the historic Hurt Home at 3050 R St.
At least two things have changed about this meeting. The first is the location. Rather than being hosted in the even more historic Renwick Chapel, the meeting will be held in the Jelleff Gym. The second change is a bit more nebulous. At this week’s ANC meeting, Ron Lewis announced that due to a change in the city’s policies, before a property can be identified as surplus by the city a public meeting must be held to determine whether there is any practical public use for the property.
This struck GM as rather odd, since he heard the property had already been sold to the Argos Group. But it appears that the deal wasn’t finished in time to avoid complying with the new requirements of the District’s new Public Land Surplus Standards Amendment Act of 2009 (this is the policy that Ron Lewis was referencing at the meeting). Under this new law, which became effective in March, the city must follow a string of new procedures before it can declare a property surplus. One of those steps is holding a public hearing to solicit public comment on the project. Continue reading
The Georgetown Metropolitan 
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