Highlights from the January 29th ANC 5A public meeting:

Miscellaneous items

• The commission elected the same slate of officers.
• The commission is looking for an office assistant available to work around 20 hours per week.  Direct inquiries and leads to your commissioner.
• Ward 5 Councilmember McDuffie said that the Ward 5 Industrial Land Transformation report is still under review, but he hopes that the task force can have that out to the public in the next couple of months.
• Art Place at Fort Totten:  The Cafritz team will likely have to file for a PUD extension.
• Path between Gallatin & Galloway Street NE:  Expect notice of a meeting for SMD 5A08 regarding the National Park Service environment study.
• Hotel:  Developers presented on a new Marriott brand hotel proposed for a site at Michigan Avenue NE and Irving Street NE.  A parking lot currently sits at this site.  The area was part of ANC 5C prior to revision of the ANC boundaries.  Now it is in ANC 5A.  The developers believe the area, with several hospitals and universities, will be well-served by a hotel and they plan to provide discounted community rates on rooms and hotel facilities.  They also emphasized the importance of hiring from the community.
• McMillan Sand Filtration Site:  The commission plans to draft a resolution in support of ANC 5E’s resolution on the first phase of the McMillan project.

Zoning

The ANC plans to draft a resolution requesting more time to review the zoning update.  The Ward 5 hearing on the zoning update is 9:00 am on Saturday, February 8, 2014, at Dunbar High School.  The Ward 4 hearing is at 6:00 pm on Tuesday, February 11, 2014, at Wilson High School.  The Office of Zoning will accept written testimony after today’s deadline for written submission, but might not have time to review it before scheduled hearings.  Individuals can also testify in person.  Early sign up is encouraged since testimony will take place on a first come, first serve basis.  Instructions and more information are available on Zoning’s site.

Lamond Riggs Library

The ANC plans to draft a resolution requesting the full modernization and renovation of Lamond Riggs Library at its current location.  Recall that the Cafritz project potentially includes a new, state-of-the art neighborhood library in a later phase of the development.  However, since there is no indication of when the project will actually break ground on the first phase, the ANC believes it does not make sense to make the update of the library contingent on the Cafritz project.  Recall from this post that the FY 2014 budget included zero funding for renovating the library, but there is proposed funding for FY 2015 & 2016.  The budget summary noted that DC’s chief librarian was in communication with the Cafritz team about the libary.  We look forward to seeing the resolution the commission draws up at a future meeting.    

WMATA Joint Development for Fort Totten Metro Station

Stan Wall, WMATA’s real estate development director, presented on WMATA’s joint soliciation for proposed development of the park-and-ride lot (west parcel) at Fort Totten metro station.  As mentioned in previous posts, WMATA anticipates that this project will be all or primarily residential, with possibly a very small retail component.  Below is a 4 pager that was distributed at the meeting showing conceptual designs of circulation pattern, massing, potential development concepts, and a timeline for the project.  A developer can propose a concept not shown as long as it meets the requirements in the solicitation. 

Mr. Wall said that WMATA’s chief concerns with this project are that it enhance the community and have good placemaking and design elements.  He noted that Aventine Fort Totten (and even Rhode Island Row), while transit-oriented in the sense that they abut a metro station, are not so great in terms of looking like they fit, enhancing the community, or having good placemaking elements.  In addition, with this project, they hope to add more eyes to the street around First Place NE, thereby making it safer for those accessing the station from west of the tracks. 

WMATA plans to hold community meetings after proposals have been submitted.  They plan to have boards for each proposal so that residents can say which elements of each they like.  That way, WMATA can work with the developer they ultimately select to incorporate certain things the community found favorable even if those elements were not originally in the proposal.  

Submissions are due March 7, 2014.  The total time for selection of a developer and negotiating an agreement is expected to be one year.  If the project needs to go through the planned unit development (PUD) process (for example if the developer wants to do something not currently permitted under zoning laws), then expect additional time.  All told, the project is expected to be completed in the 2017-2018 timeframe. 

For those interested in learning more about the project before the community forums begin, it’s worth taking a look at the 13 pages from the solicitation pertaining just to Fort Totten station: Full WMATA Fort Totten Development Section (source:  WMATA Joint Development Solicition November 2013 (pdf)).