Monthly Archives: December 2014

December 18 ANC 5A meeting wrapup

Posted by nextstoprp in ANC 5A

ANC 5A held its holiday celebration on December 18 with a few items on the agenda:

  • ANC 5A plans to draft a resolution opposing the selection of Bridges and Briya Public Charter School for the Mamie D. Lee school building.  ANC 5A sent a letter in support of a different school before the selection was announced. Commissioner Sandi Washington, in whose SMD the school sits, cited a few reasons for opposing the selection.  (1) The new school will serve 400 students.  The school also plans to partner with Mary’s Center to offer medical services. As a result, the commissioner believes there factors will be an increase in traffic and congestion.  (2) The operating hours for the new school will be 7:00 am – 10:00 pm because the school plans to offer nighttime GED classes. These hours raise public safety concerns for the commissioner. (3) It is unclear if Bridges and Briya plan to simply add on to the current school building or if they plan to tear down part or all of the building to build what Commissioner Washington says will be a five story building. In either case, the building will not look the same and the community expressed concern about how large the new building will be. (4) The school the ANC supported planned to serve special needs students, as Mamie D. Lee currently does. Bridges and Briya will not exclusively serve special needs students.
  • Commissioner Angel Alston announced that she received the PUD documents from Comstock to build an additional 47 townhomes in North Michigan Park near Capital Area Food Bank.
  • A board member of Potomac Lighthouse Public Charter School (4401 8th Street NE) reported on the management and personnel changes at the school.  He stated the changes resulted in the school going from a Tier 4 school to a Tier 2 school.

Mamie D. Lee School Building awarded to Bridges and Briya Public Charter School

Posted by nextstoprp in Education and tagged with ,

The Mayor’s Office issued a press release announcing that the Mamie D. Lee school building, located at 100 Gallatin Street NE, was awarded to Bridges and Briya Public Charter School. Mamie D. Lee, which serves special needs students, will close at the end of the 2014-2015 school year. The release provides a few details about the new school:

Bridges and Briya are partnering to offer a full spectrum of education programming from infant and toddler to adult programs. Bridges, which will serve 400 students at capacity, will provide a pre-Kindergarten and elementary school program with a focus on serving a high proportion of students with special needs in an inclusive environment. Briya will offer GED and vocational education for adults as well as infant and toddler programs for children of students attending Briya’s adult programs.  At capacity, Briya will serve 225 adults and 36 infants and toddlers.

Bridges and Briya will also partner with Mary’s Center, which will provide medical, dental and mental health services. Mary’s Center will be equipped to address early intervention for infants and toddlers and will offer athletic and wellness opportunities for community members.

Bridges and Briya presented their plans at an ANC 5A meeting in October.  During that meeting, a couple of commissioners expressed public safety concerns about operating a school beyond traditional school hours (as Bridges and Briya plan to do) because the immediate area around the school, including the paved path leading to Fort Totten metro station, is not well lit at night. ANC 5A ultimately decided to support the application of a different school.

Bridges and Briya plan to add on to the Mamie Lee school building. They anticipate being open for the 2015-2016 school year in their new home.

 

Home prices are up

Posted by nextstoprp in Uncategorized

DC Urbanturf has news on what we all know.  Home prices in the neighborhood are up. The site shows Riggs Park coming in at number 5 of the top 10 neighborhoods where median sales price rose the most.  The neighborhood saw an 18% increase, from $285,000 in 2013 to $336,500 in 2014.  On top of that, despite the large increase in inventory, average number of days on the market decreased from 41 to 25.

Events: Week of December 8

Posted by nextstoprp in Uncategorized

A few events of interest this week

December 8: Councilmember McDuffie is hosting a meeting on the Ward 5 industrial land transformation report at the Holiday Inn Express (1917 Bladensburg Road NE, near New York Avenue NE), 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm.

December 11: Councilmember McDuffie’s holiday party, Gallaudet University, Sorensen and Language Communication Center (800 Florida Avenue NE ), 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm

December 13: Brookland Middle School (12th Street and Michigan Avenue NE) ribbon cutting ceremony, 11:00 am with tours from 12:00 -12:30 pm

 

 

Ward 5 Heritage Guide Released

Posted by nextstoprp in Neighborhood Profile and tagged with

DC’s Office of Planning recently released the Ward 5 Heritage Guide, a 68-page guide chock full of information about the development of the ward and points of interest in various ward 5 neighborhoods. Construction of the Riggs Park subdivision began in 1952. The guide highlights how the Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education led to the departure of white families from ward 5 neighborhoods to neighborhoods west of Rock Creek Park.  That led the way for black families to move into these communities, including Riggs Park. (Sidenote: I recently met a family that moved into the neighborhood on Jefferson Street in 1954 and left in 1995).  The guide provides a fascinating look into how the ward developed over time from the 1800s to present day.

Metro news: Grocery pickup & bidders for development of long-term parking lot

Posted by nextstoprp in Fort Totten Metro Development and tagged with , ,

Catching up on news, starting with metro news

Grocery pickup at Fort Totten metro station

WMATA is negotiating an agreement with Giant’s online Peapod service to allow grocery pickup at three metro stations, including Fort Totten metro station. The six-month pilot project could start as early as spring 2015. There will be a minimum order of $60 and a $2.95 pickup fee. Customers will prepay online and choose a pick-up day of Monday, Wednesday, or Friday between 4:00 pm and 7:00 pm. The other two stations involved in the pilot project are Glenmont and Van Dorn Street. The project was initiated by Giant.

Initial bids received for development of long-term parking lot

In other metro news, after receiving an unsolicited offer to develop the long-term parking lot at Fort Totten metro station, WMATA re-released the RFP for joint development of the parking lot and received two “solid” initial proposals. Recall from this post that WMATA issued an RFP for joint development of the parking lot in November 2013 and received no proposals. At that time, WMATA stated it suspected the cost of replacing the parking lot was an obstacle and also that investors were probably waiting to see how planned development in the area would shape up. Accordingly, WMATA stated it planned to re-release the RFP in a year or two once Fort Totten Square and Art Place were further along. Now it appears that hunch was correct, as Art Place is well underway in construction and Fort Totten Square is expected to come online in spring 2015.

The RFP is largely the same with an emphasis on transit-oriented development. The development should promote safe, walkable, attractive communities with quality design and placemaking elements. As we stated in our post last year on the topic, let’s hope these initial proposals are more attractive than Aventine Fort Totten (and Rhode Island Row). WMATA plans to discuss the timeline and initial proposals in general terms at an ANC meeting, so stay tuned for that.