NOTE: MINUTES
OBTAINED FROM TAPED RECORDING. RECORDER
MALFUNCTIONED DURING SESSION
ADVISORY
NEIGHBORHOOD COMMISSION 3-C
GOVERNMENT OF THE
(202) 232-2232 FAX:
232-2232
Regular Monthly
Meeting Minutes
I. CALL TO ORDER: Chair Nancy MacWood called to order Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3C
(ANC 3C’s) regular monthly meeting for NEED TIME. The meeting was held in the community room at the
Second District Police Station,
II. VERIFICATION OF
NOTICE: Chair MacWood
verified that the proper notice was published in the Northwest Current and
posted on the
III. ESTABLISHMENT
OF QUORUM: Chair MacWood
acknowledged that a quorum (at least five members of the commission) was
present.
IV. APPROVAL OF
AGENDA
Prior to approval of the
agenda, Chair MacWood asked if any community members
planned to introduce items not listed on the evening’s agenda during the
community forum. No one came forward and
the agenda was approved without objection.
V. DISCUSSION
a. Chair MacWood
introduced DC Historic Preservation Office (HPO) Deputy State Historic
Preservation Officer David Maloney, architectural historian for
Commissioner
MacDonald asked Mr. Maloney to provide his phone number. Mr. Maloney gave his number as 442-3841 and
his e-mail address as david.maloney@dc.gov.
Mr. Maloney stated that the new comment period expires on
Mr.
Maloney pointed out a few key areas of the regulations. First, they will give more notice on issues,
especially when designating new historic districts. Second, HPO cleaned up the landmark
designation portion of the regulations as it relates to ANCs. They also committed to increase their current
ten-day pending notice to fifteen days and increase their reliance on e-mail
notice where possible. Legally, they
must continue to mail notices, but they will send the notices via e-mail as a
timely supplement. HPO also clarified
and simplified the landmark designation criteria. They combined the discussion of the permit
process so that one can more easily see how a permit tracks through the entire
system. They added new sections
reflecting recently approved legislation, such as the historic housing tax
credit, demolition by neglect, and new condemnation and enforcement
procedures.
Chair
MacWood asked Mr. Maloney about why HPO didn’t adopt
the statutory language of 30 working days, not including Saturdays, Sundays,
and holidays. Mr. Maloney replied that a
number of attorneys asked HPO to use calendar days rather than working
days. Chair MacWood
asked why the attorneys’ request for more convenient language would trump statute
language. Mr. Maloney replied that HPO
is not ignoring statute language because the regulations clearly state that the
intention was to meet that 30 working-day period and that if there ever was a
discrepancy between 40 calendar days and 30 working days, the latter would
control. Maloney suggested that he speak
again with the attorneys to clarify their concern over the language and then
get back to the commission with a more specific answer.
Commissioner
MacDonald asked Mr. Maloney to clarify whether the consideration of renovations
to the rears of houses takes place across all historic districts or only in
specific areas. Mr. Maloney said that
the HPRB is legally obligated to review applications according to the current
Historic Preservation language, which is “any change in exterior
appearance.” Mr. Maloney pointed out
that inconsistencies might be due to the fact that some community
organizations, such as
Commissioner
MacDonald asked why some residents have reported that when their neighborhoods
were designated as historic districts, high officials promised that the rears
of their houses would never be considered.
Mr. Maloney replied that his office has an understanding that the
Woodley Park Community Association doesn’t want work on the rears of houses to
be considered, but that they are required by law to do so. Commissioner MacDonald said that she attended
the meetings held by HPO when
Commissioner
MacDonald said that the current president of the Woodley Park Community
Association has the files from those days to back up those statements by HPO officials. Mr. Maloney said that he was not aware of any
cases where the consideration of rear alterations has been a problem, since
they are typically handled at the staff level.
Mr. Maloney said that if the rear alterations were really causing a
problem in
Commissioner
Welsh asked Mr. Maloney to clarify the notice periods. Mr. Maloney said that the HPO currently gives
a 10-day notice that is mailed and e-mailed, and the DCRA also sends notices
that applications are being referred to the HPRB. Under the new regulations, they will extend
that to a 15-day notice. In addition,
the policy has always been that if an ANC requests a longer period to review an
application, the board will defer the case for the full 30 days allowed under
the statute.
Commissioner
Welsh stated that the ANC’s historic preservation committee has been concerned
that architects seem to be unaware that they must work with their clients to
get through the Cleveland Park ARC and the ANC.
He said that residents seem to not know that they are supposed to appear
before the ANC and the commissioners have suggested that there be some process
implemented so that ARC and the ANC coordinate.
Mr. Maloney said he would be happy to meet with Commissioner Welsh to
discuss the issue. He said that Ms. Paulus coordinates with ARC on a monthly basis and it would
be fine if ANC worked with ARC as long as there is some point of community
contact with the HPO. Chair MacWood said that there is already a system in place and
that she has contacted both Ms. Paulus and Mr. Dennee to inform them about ANC 3C’s procedures. Mr. Maloney replied that it is not HPO’s responsibility to tell residents to go to their ANCs, nor to give the ANCs a copy
of the application. The HPO encourages
all applicants to coordinate with their local community organizations, but with
the amount of work the office has, they cannot assume the obligation to ensure
that applicants meet with the ANCs and community
organizations. Chair MacWood
stated that the ANC is elected to represent the community and it is necessary
that applicants present their projects in that forum.
a. [HPRB application for
b. Chair MacWood
suggested that since the application is new construction and neighbor comments
are important, the architect and his client go directly to the HPRB for their
comments and that neighbors also attend the meeting. Chair MacWood moved
that ANC 3C not take a position on the new construction at this time, but urge
the HPRB to also not take a final stand at this board meeting, but rather
provide comments and allow the applicant to confer with neighbors regarding
their concerns. The applicant should
return to the ANC in January for additional discussion.
Community
members mentioned lack of notice to neighbors as a major problem and stated
that many would attend HPRB and ANC meetings if they had known about this
application. Chair MacWood
suggested that perhaps one neighbor be appointed to represent everyone at those
meetings on the general issues of concern.
Commissioner
Welsh asked the architect what the HPRB staff had indicated in their
report. He replied that the staff
supported the application and felt that it was compatible with the historic
district. There were some comments about
specific minor details that they felt could be dealt with at the staff level
and they recommended approval. Chair MacWood noted that the ARC also had no objection.
Commissioner
Welsh asked whether the architect had considered both the benefits of moving
the house back from the street and the cons of moving it closer to the
street. The architect responded that
there are pros and cons of both ideas and that its current location was, in his
estimation, the best overall.
Commissioner
Welsh asked how many of the mature trees would remain in the yard if the house
was built farther back. The architect
responded that all of them would remain except for a 24-inch oak. Commissioner Welsh asked how many trees would
be lost if the house was moved forward.
The architect responded that all five would be lost.
Chair
MacWood moved that the commission inform HPRB that
ANC 3C is not taking a position at this time, but that it urges HPRB to review
the project, provide comments to the applicant, consider the concerns expressed
to the ANC by neighbors, and to defer a decision. She also planned to inform HPRB that the ANC
has required the applicant to return in January 2004 for final vetting of the
application. Commissioner Welsh
seconded.
Chair
MacWood asked for any comments. The architect asked whether the ANC’s ruling
would require the HPRB to defer consideration.
Chair MacWood said that it would not, but that
HPRB would have to give the ANC’s request great weight. Given that the HPO staff
were present at the meeting, she suggested that the board would probably
be very accommodating to the ANC request.
Commissioner
MacDonald stated that she would support Chair MacWood’s
position since the house is located in her SMD, but that it appeared that the
architect had very few choices about what to do with the house to address
community concerns. She asked is it not
a factor of city life that neighbors may have a view into one another’s
houses? Chair MacWood
responded that she has attended several HPRB meetings where neighbors objected
to a particular design because it shadows their garden or looms over a portion
of their house. She stated that although
she was not prepared to make a recommendation, she would like to hear the HPRB’s thoughts on the matter. Commissioner Welsh agreed.
After
further discussion, Chair MacWood moved to approve
the resolution. Resolution 2003-037 was approved unanimously (8-0).
c.
Chair
MacWood moved onto consideration of the alcoholic
beverage tavern license application for a new lounge at the Kennedy Warren
Apartment Building, and a voluntary agreement negotiated by the tenants
association. She reminded attendees that
the application was considered at the November meeting. Since Commissioner Hahn could not attend the
December meeting, Commissioner MacDonald introduced the resolution on his
behalf.
Commissioner MacDonald stated that
she and Commissioner Hahn worked with the Kennedy Warren Residents Association
and building management to come to a voluntary agreement, but that no agreement
had been reached due to lack of access to residents.
Commissioner Hahn spoke via
telephone with representatives from the Alcoholic Beverage Commission Board and
asked if the deadline could be extended so that the residents could have more
time to consider the voluntary agreement.
Residents still had questions about the hours, noise level, and types of
musical instruments allowed. One of the
larger rooms would be reserved for such things as wedding receptions, so
residents are also concerned about parking availability.
Commissioner
Bartel asked whether there had been any meetings
since the November ANC meeting.
Commissioner MacDonald replied that there had been a three-hour meeting
with two representatives of the Residents Association, a few members of
management, B.F. Saul, and a handful of attorneys. She also stated that there had been a number
of e-mail exchanges as well.
Commissioner Welsh asked whether any of the issues had been resolved
during that meeting. Commissioner
MacDonald replied that the issues had been discussed, but not yet resolved, and
stated that her concern is that some people in the building may still be
unaware of the opportunity to voice their concerns. She further stated that the only way to allow
for additional time to notify residents was for the ANC to oppose the
application.
c.
Commissioner
Welsh introduced a resolution regarding zoning conditions to be
applied
to the
Resolution 2003-038 was passed by a vote of 5 –
2. Commissioner Bartel voted against the resolution because of the
enrollment cap.
d. Having ANCs
alongside other community organizations that have signed onto the bill
has more great weight and the council will take
more notice. Chair MacWood
asked
Commissioner
Hogan whether anyone besides those listed in the resolution had signed onto the
bill. Commissioner Hogan responded that there was a long list of organizations
supporting the bill including civic associations, but no ANCs
yet.
A community member stated that ANCs are supposed to advise the city council and that the
ANC should advise them to adopt the bill.
A number of commissioners pointed out that since the bill had not yet
been drafted, it would not be prudent to advise passage of a bill they had not
yet seen. The community member responded
that the commissioners should encourage support of the principle. Commissioner Welsh responded that the ANC
would need to see the bill first.
Chair
MacWood asked if Commissioner Hogan was aware of
anything that would mitigate using wind and solar power in the District at the
level described in the resolution.
Commissioner Hogan responded that the power would not need to be
generated in the District to be provided to the end-user. She said that it would most likely be in the
mountains of
Chair
MacWood asked if Commissioner Hogan was ready to
finalize the resolves. Commissioner
Hogan responded that she would like to encourage the council to adopt
legislation. Commissioner MacDonald
replied that the ANC would need to see the language of a bill first and that
perhaps they could consider a more specific resolution at that time. Commissioner Hogan agreed to reduce the
resolution language to encourage the council to promptly consider
legislation. Resolution 2003-039 was approved by a unanimous vote of 7 – 0.
e. Chair MacWood
introduced consideration of a resolution urging non-rush-hour left turns for
trucks and buses from
Chair
MacWood asked Commissioner Nord
if she would approve adding weekends to the resolution language. She said she would not. Mr. Espenscheid
pointed out that the Transportation Committee had already proposed the
resolution to only state non-rush-hour and that each added provision could
cause other problems. He urged the
commission to adopt the resolution as written and simply state non-rush-hour,
which implies Saturdays and Sundays as well.
Chair
MacWood asked if there were any additional matters
for discussion. Commissioner Hogan said
that she would like to see a left-turn light at
Chair
MacWood called the question. Resolution
2003-040 was passed by a vote of 6-0-1, with Commissioner Hogan abstaining.
VII. COMMUNITY
FORUM
a. Chair MacWood
asked if any community members would like to raise an issue during the
community forum. Dick Randall asked the
commission to admit for the record resident petitions for removal of the
b.
Commissioner Welsh handed out information on the D.C. Affordable Housing Trust Fund so that
commissioners could review it and consider a resolution to support it at the
January meeting.
VIII. OFFICERS
REPORTS
a. Chair MacWood
moved that the November minutes be tabled for the January meeting in the
absence of the secretary and the administrator.
There were no objections.
b. Chair MacWood
introduced a response letter to the auditor for consideration by the
commission. Chair MacWood
moved for adoption of the response letter.
Commissioner Bartel asked if the commission
was required to approve the letter.
Chair MacWood replied that the signatures of
the chair and treasurer would be sufficient, but that she felt it would be
appropriate for the commissioners to sign off that they read the audit and
agreed with the response. The motion was
approved unanimously.
c. Chair MacWood
asked if the treasurer had a report.
Commissioner Welsh reported that the fourth quarter information had been
sent to the accountant for his bookkeeping review. He also mentioned that the commission had not
recently received an allotment from D.C.
IX. COMMITTEE
REPORTS
a.
Commissioner Reeves reported that the Transportation Committee
met and that she called the D.C. Government call center to put in for the signs
they were requesting. Commissioner Nord thanked
Commissioner Reeves and co-chair Espenscheid for all
of their efforts at the last Transportation Committee meeting.
b.
Lars Hydle asked the commission to
consider a problem with completion of the repaving of the 2900 block of
Commissioner Hogan introduced the resolution urging DDOT
to expeditiously complete the road repaving.
Commissioner MacDonald seconded it.
After a short discussion, resolution
2003-041 was unanimously approved by a vote of 7 – 0.
d.
Commissioner Bartel reported on SMD 3C04, stating that the Cleveland
Park Citizens Association changed their meeting dates to Tuesday nights with a
rotating schedule of Tuesday nights and Saturday mornings.
e.
Commissioner
MacDonald commended Chair MacWood on her service
during 2003. The other commissioners
concurred.
X. ADJOURNMENT
Chair MacWood adjourned the
meeting at 10:55 without objection.