| | | Near Northeast commission (ANC 6C) again wades into Union Station 'air rights' issue | | April 16, 2010 |  | | | Staff Writer | | This story originally incorrectly stated that the commission supported a Historic Preservation Review Board application for 514 3rd St. NE. The owner is seeking to add a basement entrance. The commission has taken no vote on the application. The Voice regrets the error.
At the commission’s April 14 meeting:
• the commission voted to support several key Office of Planning amendments to the city’s Comprehensive Plan that are related to the upcoming proposal to build a massive mixed-use development over Union Station’s tracks. The controversial amendments, which historic preservation advocates oppose, would describe the benefits of developing the “air rights” over the tracks. They would also eliminate a provision that requires any building being constructed over the tracks to be measured from 1st or 2nd streets NE.
In conjunction with the proposals, the Office of Planning is seeking to designate a new Union Station North zone that would allow the height of the project, which Akridge is planning to build, to be measured from the H Street Bridge.
But the D.C. Council must first agree to the changes in the Comprehensive Plan.
The neighborhood commissioners agreed to the clarification of the city’s interest in air rights, but chair Karen Wirt voted against eliminating the provision that requires the buildings be measured from the grade level of 1st or 2nd streets.
Most residents who spoke at the meeting said they also opposed the changes because they would allow the Union Station project to rise too high.
In response, commissioner Anne Phelps and Ryan Velasco urged residents not to assume the amendments would necessarily mean the Union Station development would rise 130 feet above the H Street Bridge, but simply that it would not have to be measured from 1st or 2nd streets.
Several commissioners have emphasized the economic benefits of the development, which would front on dilapidated H Street, and the project’s goal of linking the east and west ends of the city.
The commission’s planning and zoning committee, chaired by resident Rob Amos, voted to support the amendments.
• the commission unanimously voted to support the May 16 Capitol Hill Classic Race, the May 8 National Police Week 5K, the May 1 Avon Walk for Breast Cancer and the May 23 Bike D.C. event.
Several commissioners, however, noted the abundance of fundraising events that block sidewalks and/or streets during May and other months.
“Isn’t there some other way to raise funds?” commissioner Tom Hamilton asked a representative of the National Police Week race. The representative said the organization had never considered other fundraising options.
A representative of the 31st annual Capitol Hill Classic, which benefits the Capitol Hill Cluster School, said this year’s 10K race will be the last because expenses for police to block the road have risen too high. The representative said costs have increased 400 percent during the last five years.
• the commission listened to a representative from the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development discuss the parking lot that was installed at 5th and I streets NW six months ago. The city, which plans eventually to sell the land to Donohoe Development, leased a portion of the property to a parking lot manager without consulting residents.
A meeting of the Mount Vernon Square Neighborhood Association last week included a discussion of the parking lot, which reportedly became heated when representatives of the deputy mayor said they could not explain the decision to construct a parking lot.
City officials have said the decision was made by former deputy mayor (now city administrator) Neil Albert, not current deputy mayor Valerie Santos.
“To me, the update should have been before you dropped a parking lot on it. There’s a lot of misunderstanding around this issue,” commissioner Keith Silver said at the commission’s meeting Wednesday night.
The deputy mayor’s office has promised to attend further community meetings to discuss what to do with the space when the parking lot management company’s lease is up in 14 months.
• the commission unanimously voted to support a Board of Zoning Adjustment application from 612 A St. NE. The owner is seeking permission to build an accessory garage. | | | | | Log in to comment on this article |
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