ANC 5A held its monthly public meeting on January 30, 2019. Five commissioners were present for a quorum: Frank Wilds (5A01); Emily Lucio (5A03); Ronnie Edwards (5A05); Sandi Washington (5A07); Gordon Fletcher (5A08).

Providence Health Services

Providence Health Services Flyer

Providence took up most of the discussion time. The long and short of it is that Providence Hospital is ending its emergency and acute care services on April 30, 2019, as has been widely discussed. What has been less discussed is that Providence intends to continue providing primary and outpatient behavorial health care, as noted in this press release from December 2018, through an entity called Providence Health Services (PHS). Primary care services include internal medicine, family medicine, and geriatric services. A pediatric clinic and outpatient behavorial health services are provided on the campus by separate entities and will continue operating. Carroll Manor Nursing and Rehabilitation center will also remain in operation on the campus. PHS representatives explained that PHS is a group of practitioners providing primary care services under the license of Providence Hospital. PHS would like to continue providing primary care services once the hospital closes, but in order to do so it needs its own certificate of need (or license) from DC’s Department of Health (DOH). PHS stated they receive the majority of their patients from Wards 1, 5, 6, 7, and 8, so they are visiting the ANCs in those wards to show DOH that it has done outreach to those communities to explain that it is seeking a certificate of need to continue providing services.

Providence Hospital and Providence Health Services are both owned by Ascension (one resident noted Providence should have brought a flow chart to show the corporate structure). The PHS representatives repeatedly stated that Ascension is committed to continue providing primary services via PHS. Commissioners and residents alike questioned why anyone should trust what Ascension says given the lack of candor and communication around the closure of services at Providence Hospital. Residents noted that Providence’s messaging about what services are closed and which ones will remain open has been lacking and inconsistent throughout this transition process. PHS committed to communicating with Commissioner Lucio (5A03), who represents the area in which the hospital is located, to keep residents informed about the transition.

(Aside: The day after the ANC meeting, Providence issued a news release stating it is seeking a certificate of need to provide urgent care services on the campus. Then a new banner explaining that primary care services will continue to be provided was prominently featured on the website, though the link to the content in that banner appears to be broken.)

Wesley Housing

Wesley Housing was back before the ANC to receive approval for its curb cut application that is pending with the District Department of Tranportation’s public space committee. As explained previously, Wesley Housing wants to move the existing curb cut on Rock Creek Church Road NW to Allison Street NW. The issue is that they applied for the curb cut at the same time that they applied for approval to replace the entire apartment building with a new one with more units, a separate planned unit development (PUD) process that will need to be approved by DC’s Zoning Commission. This project is also contingent on receiving financing from the District Department of Housing and Community Development. The developer will present on the proposed development at a later date, but anticipates that with all of the required regulatory processes, construction will not start until 2021.

Wesley Housing explained last night that they filed the curb cut and PUD applications concurrently on the advice of DDOT and that they do not plan to put in the desired curb cut before the new development is constructed. The developer wants the curb cut on Allison Street for the new project because they plan to build a below-grade garage, having the cut on Allison will enable them to build out a terrace overlooking Rock Creek Church, they do not want to back up traffic on Rock Creek Church, and Allison is a one-way street so it will be easier for vehicles to maneuver turns into and out of the driveway.

When commissioners continued to express that it makes no sense for the commission to consider a curb cut application separate and apart from the proposed development itself, Wesley Housing’s representative stated that ANCs should prepare themselves to see other developers file these types of concurrent applications because developers seem to think this approach could reduce the amount of time it takes projects to get approved.

The ANC again tabled a vote on the curb cut application stating it does not make sense for them to be considering items piecemeal for a project on which they have not been briefed and that might not be approved. The ANC plans to reach out to DDOT to figure out why DDOT thinks this makes sense. The ANC will once again consider a special meeting, tentatively scheduled for February 20, to discuss and possibly vote on the curb cut issue. A hearing on the curb cut application is scheduled for February 28.

South Dakota Avenue Pedestrian Safety Improvements

Riggs Park resident David Kosub presented on pedestrian safety improvements at South Dakota Avenue and Ingraham Street NE, for which residents are requesting the ANC’s support in the form of a resolution.

Mr. Kosub highlighted the problems pedestrians face (with video footage, apologies from Mr. Kosub for the brief curse word), outlined the actions residents have taken to date to address the issues, and encouraged the ANC to support a resolution to enhance pedestrian safety. (Mr. Kosub previously wrote about these issues on this blog here, here, and here). The specific community concerns that the resolution seeks to address include:

• Issue for public safety and well-being
• Should not fear crossing the street
• Vehicular traffic regularly fails to stop for pedestrians
• Inadequate signage on South Dakota for pedestrian crossings
• Unclear why the most appropriate path to the metro station (Ingraham) remains unsignalized
• Anxious issue will go unaddressed and become worse due to inaction

The draft resolution requests that the District Department of Transportation:

• Continue engaging with the Commission and residents to identify all hazardous locations for pedestrians along the South Dakota Ave corridor from Riggs Road to Galloway Street NE
• Install a traffic signal at the intersection of Ingraham Street NE with South Dakota Ave NE (as originally discussed in the Planned Unit Development for the Art Place at Fort Totten project reviewed by the District Department of Transportation, Case #06-10)
• Expedite remedies for the South Dakota Avenue NE intersections with Ingraham St NE and Jefferson St NE to improve pedestrian safety
• In the absence of a signalized intersection at Ingraham Street NE and South Dakota Ave NE, install static signage (including Pedestrian Crossing, Yield, Radar announcements, etc.) for pedestrian crossings with red flashing lights
• Improve lighting on the entire South Dakota Avenue NE Corridor from Riggs Road NE to Galloway Street NE, particularly at intersections so that drivers can see and stop for pedestrians waiting to use crosswalks
• Investigate the timing of signalization lights along the South Dakota Avenue NE corridor to identify a potential strategy to reduce speeding and red light running

(Disclosure: I had a hand in contributing to the resolution)

The resolution notes that these action items are consistent with the District’s Vision Zero goals as well as the neighborhood’s small area plan. Several residents spoke up in favor of the pressing need for ANC as well as Council support for getting these improvements done, as residents have been working to resolve these issues since November 2017.

Most of the commissioners acknowledged that crossing South Dakota Avenue is an issue and were generally supportive. Commissioner Wilds, who represents the area in which this is an issue, stated that having a traffic signal at Ingraham would delay motorists; he generally seemed confused about which streets lead directly to Fort Totten metro station; and he seemed to seriously dispute residents and commissioners alike that motorists speed down South Dakota Avenue. When it came time for the ANC to vote on the draft resolution, Commissioner Wilds abstained. When asked why he was abstaining, he stated that he had not been invited to the community brainstorming session held in December 2018. Mr. Kosub stated he invited Commissioner Wilds to that meeting in person and via email. The four other commissioners present–Commissioners Lucio (5A03), Edwards (5A05), Washington (5A07), and Fletcher (5A08)–all voted to support the sense of the draft resolution with the goal of finalizing a resolution for presentation to DDOT.

Miscellaneous

The commission agreed to work with a resident that requested the ANC to work with the Office of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions to correct the official record that discusses when the first commissioners were elected and who served when in the early years of the ANCs. The resident identified some errors in the record with respect to Ward 5 ANCs so he stated there are probably others and he believes it is important for the record to be accurate.

Representatives from Mundo Verde spoke briefly about the school and its continued desire to expand to a campus at 8th and Varnum NE. The school has presented several times before the commission.

Ward 5 Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie is holding a Ward 5 Budget Engagement Forum on February 13, 2019, at 6:30 pm at Luke C. Moore High School (1001 Monroe Street NE).

Councilmember McDuffie is working with the ANC to explore a liquor license moratorium for North Michigan Park. The ANC protested a liquor license for Pax Liquor, which is seeking to open a liquor store in North Michigan Park. A hearing on that liquor license application was held on January 16, 2019. Commissioner Edwards said he expects a decision within 60 days from the date of the hearing.

The ANC voted to seek bids for cameras for the ANC office that is located inside UDC-CC Backus. Commissioners believe someone is using supplies that belong to the ANC without authorization because the ANC’s copier broke and its supplies have been depleted.