On February 28, 2018, ANC 5A held its monthly public meeting.

Commissioners present: Frank Wilds (5A01); Keisha Cofield-Lynch (5A03); Isaiah Burroughs (5A04); Ronnie Edwards (5A05); A. Jamaal Lampkin (5A06); Sandi Washington (5A07); Gordon-Andrew Fletcher (5A08).

ANC 5A Treasurer Sandi Washington (5A07) presented the financial report. The ANC has a balance of approximately $33,424.

Ward 5 Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie

Ward 5 Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie was a special guest at the meeting. He let residents know that the council will receive the mayor’s budget on March 21. After that, the council will hold budget oversight hearings.

The council received the amendments to the Framework element of DC’s Comprehensive Plan in January. Council Chair Phil Mendelson will hold a hearing on the amendments on March 20. Councilmember McDuffie said he would like the Comp Plan to emphasize affordability and that he does not want to see residents displaced. He mentioned a bill he introduced that is now law that requires 20% affordable housing (<50% median family income) in projects developed from the disposition of public land (30% affordability if located within half mile of metro station). He is also responsible for a law that requires that for DC government funded multifamily projects, the District must use the DC median income rather than the DC metro area median family income for affordability guidelines. DC’s median income is much lower than the median income for the metro area, approximately $75,000 versus $110,000.

DC Board of Ethics & Government Accountability

The general counsel and the director of DC’s Board of Ethics and Government Accountability provided an overview of the District agency, which governs the conduct of DC’s 33,000 employees. The board can impose fines of up to $5,000 per violation. Individuals can file complaints with BEGA. See BEGA’s presentation here: BEGA Presentation (pdf)

Lamond-Riggs Library

Robert Oliver, President of the Lamond-Riggs Library Friends, presented results of the survey the group distributed last year regarding the rebuilding of the Lamond-Riggs Library. The group received nearly 200 responses. The highest response rate was from Lamond-Riggs and North Michigan Park residents. DC Public Library will conduct its own survey and public engagement after a design team is selected. See LRLF’s entire survey results here: LRLF Survey Results (pdf).

Although the library sits in the SMD of Commissioner Frank Wilds (5A01), the commissioners decided that Commissioner Gordon Fletcher (5A08) will be the ANC’s representative on the library’s rebuilding advisory committee.

Marriott (Michigan Avenue & Irving Street NE)

See presentation with timeline and benefits here: Marriott ANC 5A Presentation February 2018 (pdf)

Recall that the Marriott Hotel development team now plans to apply for a zoning map amendment to build mixed-use moderate-density commercial and medium-density residential by right, rather than pursue a PUD as originally envisioned. Although the developer is no longer pursuing a PUD, it said it will honor the benefits negotiated under the original PUD agreement. The developer anticipates having its zoning map amendment hearing in April, hotel construction beginning in first quarter 2019, and hotel opening in 2021.

The issue of whether the team can build residential on the site has still not been resolved. The ground lease for the site (which sits on federal property) permits hotel and “other compatible uses” at the site. The development team is working with District officials and Congresswoman Eleanore Holmes Norton’s office to ask GSA to reconsider the agency’s interpretation that residential development is not a compatible use with a hotel. See this post for previous discussion of that issue.

ANC 5A Chair Ronnie Edwards (5A05) said the ANC will hold a special meeting before its scheduled March meeting in order to have DDOT discuss traffic impacts considering other development being planned, such as the anticipated Armed Forces Retirement Home development project. The Marriott development team is proposing to reconfigure the Irving Street/Michigan Avenue intersection to a more standard T-intersection. DDOT also wants to add bike lanes to Irving. These efforts are intended to slow down speeding traffic and make the area more pedestrian-friendly.

Armed Forces Retirement Home

The Armed Forces Retirement Home is trying once again to develop roughly 80 acres of its property. Developer interest is said to be very strong. AFRH will hold an industry forum regarding a solicitation for proposals on March 19.

ANC 5A Website

Commissioner Fletcher and Commissioner Isaiah Burroughs (5A04) are making final updates to ANC 5A’s new website – http://www.dcanc5a.org. They still need to upload the correct ANC 5A map and the ANC’s resolutions to the site. If you have any suggested changes, let them know.

NEAR Act Implementation

Katie Beckman-Gotrich once again asked the ANC for a resolution to support full implementation of the NEAR Act. Ward 5 MOCR Lionell Gaines provided a handout on the status of the Act’s implementation. See NEAR Act Implementation (pdf)

Mayor’s Report

Mr. Gaines asked residents to continue advocating for preservation of DCTAG funding. He also provided Mayor Bowser’s three-year accountability report.

Miscellaneous

National Park Service has let ANC 5A know that preliminary results from testing conducted in Fort Totten Park show no hazardous conditions or contaminants. Recall NPS decided to do this testing after belatedly learning that Metro used soil from Spring Valley, a superfund site, to remediate the parkland after using the property for staging during green line construction.

UDC is requesting additional funding from District government. According to UDC, its funding accounts for 1.1% of DC’s budget, whereas colleges in Maryland and Virginia receive a larger percentage of state funding, 4.5% and 3.3% respectively. UDC is conducting forums to promote its equal funding campaign. The next forum will be on April 2, 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm.

The DC Attorney General’s office was listed on the agenda, but they did not show. This meeting was held at Trinity University, so it is not clear if representatives from the office went to ANC 5A’s usual meeting location at UDC-CC Backus by mistake.

The next ANC 5A meeting will be on March 28 at Carroll Manor, Providence Hospital, 1150 Varnum Street NE.