ANC 5A held its monthly public meeting on February 23, 2022. All commissioners were present: Damion McDuffie (5A01); Charles Lockett (5A02); Emily Singer Lucio (5A03) – Secretary; Diego Rojas (5A04); Ronnie Edwards (5A05) – Chair; Derrick Holloway (5A06); Sandi Washington (5A07) – Treasurer; Gordon Fletcher (5A08) – Vice Chair.

This was another long meeting, ending well after 9:00 pm, so I am sure I am forgetting something.

ANC Business

The ABRA application for Trinity Grill was removed from the agenda.

Before moving to approve the ANC’s January 2022 meeting minutes, Chair Ronnie Edwards (5A04) moved to revise them to say that the ANC has never published an annual report due to circumstances beyond their control (including due to COVID), rather than saying the ANC has not produced one because it was not required. As we know, the annual report is required. Still unclear whether the ANC will publish one.

There is a North Capitol Street corridor study underway. The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) has asked ANCs to designate representatives for an advisory group. The ANC decided to designate Commissioner Sandi Washington (5A07).

Ward 5 Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie Report (Silas Grant, Senior Advisor)

The Council is wrapping up District agency performance oversight hearings. Budget hearings are coming up. See the schedule at https://dccouncil.us/2021-2022-performance-oversight-fy-2023-budget-schedules. Residents are encouraged to sign up to testify or to submit written testimony in support of budget requests.

Councilmember McDuffie is aware that the Ward 5 ANC redistricting task force website needs to be updated and that the task force needs to make progress towards drawing maps. The task force divided itself into subgroups to draw proposed maps for different ANC/SMDs within the ward. The task force previously received a question about whether the District’s open meeting laws apply to each subcommittee’s meetings. Mr. Grant said they received advice that the subgroup meetings are not subject to the open meeting requirements, so they do not have to be open to the public.

Someone raised a question about the recent resignation of Del McFadden, who headed up the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (ONSE). That office was created as a key component of the Neighborhood Engagement Achieves Results Act (NEAR Act), legislation drafted by Councilmember McDuffie. Mr. Grant said that Councilmember McDuffie has been clear that new leadership of ONSE will need to have an appreciation of the NEAR Act in its entirety.

National Park Service (Kym Elder and Nick Bartolomeo)

Brian Joyner is the new superintendent for Rock Creek Park for the National Park Service (NPS). He can be reached at bjoyner@nps.gov.

Kym Elder, Program Manager for the Civil War Defenses of Washington for NPS, said that NPS has been in contact with Councilmember McDuffie’s office and ANC 5A regarding the ordnance found in Fort Totten Park during construction of the pedestrian trail between Gallatin Street and Galloway Street NE. NPS sent them three reports on February 15, 2022. (Note: After the ANC meeting, Ms. Elder forwarded those reports to me. A document dated January 2018 outlines the community engagement that was done regarding testing of soil on the western side of the park where WMATA brought in fill dirt from Spring Valley to rehabilitate the parkland used by WMATA for staging during construction of the green line a few decades ago. A document dated April 2019 contains the preliminary testing results for that staging area. A document dated August 2021 is the soil study of the area on the eastern side of the park where the unexploded WWI ordnance was found during construction of the pedestrian trail).

Nick Bartolomeo, Chief of Resource Management for Rock Creek Park, said that the ordnance found during trail construction was empty. He said that testing found no evidence of any other unexploded ordnances nearby and found no contamination of the soil beyond that expected of parks in urban areas. (You can read the reports yourself). He said NPS will do more test kits and monitor the area. They had a meeting scheduled with Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, US Army Corps on Engineers, and WMATA on February 28, 2022. (Note: See my report of that meeting here).

Mr. Bartolomeo said they are fairly certain that there will not need to be a huge realignment of the pedestrian trail and that it will probably just need to shift slightly further east. But he also reiterated that the study is still ongoing and they are waiting for final results.

I asked (again) whether they are sure that they will not encounter similar issues (either with ordnances or interference with the green line tunnel) when a sidewalk is built on the south side of Galloway between South Dakota Avenue and 4th Street NE. Mr. Bartolomeo said they are pretty confident they will not have a problem and that again they have hired a contractor to continue to monitor the area. The good news is that he said that that sidewalk design project is starting up again (at least we now have acknowledgement that it has pretty much been sitting in a black hole for a while).

MPD Police Report (Derek Staten, citywide outreach coordinator)

Derek Staten represented the police department because all officers were assisting with coordination regarding the expected truck convoy in the area. No other updates provided.

DDOT Traffic Safety Investigation Process (Dalando Baker, DDOT Ward 5 Liaison)

DDOT was not on the agenda, but DDOT’s Ward 5 liaison Dalando Baker joined the meeting to present on the agency’s traffic safety investigation (TSI) process (previously known as traffic safety assessment). He shared a one page document summarizing the process. This took up a lot of time. A few highlights:

• Mr. Baker said when residents request a TSI, they should state what the safety concern is, not just what they want. For example, if residents know they want speed humps on their street, on the TSI form they should say the concern is speeding on local roads and not just put on the form that they want speed humps. Also, submitting photos of the issue with the service request is always helpful.
• DDOT policy is to evaluate traffic safety issues within 130 days. If DDOT determines that work is not warranted, DDOT will share findings about why work is not warranted. If work is warranted, DDOT will issue a notice of intent (NOI) to perform the work. Under DDOT’s policy, the work should be done in the next calendar quarter following completion of the investigation.
• Commissioner Gordon Fletcher (5A08) raised the longstanding issue of a blind resident having difficulty crossing South Dakota Avenue at 8th Street NE. In response, Mr. Baker said DDOT continues to work on the issue and that there probably is not a need to meet with the resident at that location. Mr. Baker said that DDOT had considered installing a hawk signal (similar to what is at South Dakota Avenue and Ingraham Street NE), but he said that residents near that area objected, so DDOT is looking at other ways to address the issue. (Note: At Commissioner McDuffie’s SMD meeting on February 15, 2022, Mr. Baker said the same thing about objection to a hawk signal from residents in that area. Sounded like there is some disagreement about what residents are actually objecting to).
• Commissioner Sandi Washington (5A07) said she wants to take up with the Council’s transportation committee that it is taking DDOT too long to investigate issues. Sometimes investigations take more than 130 days. It can take a lot more time once the investigation is complete to actually do any work that is warranted. Mr. Baker said that DDOT simply does not have the capacity to work faster.
• Commissioner Emily Singer Lucio (5A03) noted that sometimes DDOT will investigate an issue at a time of day when there is not a problem. For example, someone might say there’s a problem with speeding at morning rush hour and DDOT will come out after morning rush to investigate. DDOT will not observe the problem when it is occurring and then say there is not a problem and close the request. Mr. Baker noted that that is a legitimate concern and that he would take it back to the agency.
• Commissioner Lucio also asked for clarification about how requests for multiple blocks should be handled. For example, for requests for speed humps in a five-block area, she has alternately been told that she needs to submit requests for each block individually and that she needs to submit one single request for the entire area. Mr. Baker said she should request each one individually. In some cases, DDOT will combine requests to do a corridor study.
• Commissioner Diego Rojas (5A04) asked how decisions are made about expediting requests. Mr. Baker said there is not really an official policy about expediting requests. Certainly incidences involving fatalities or serious injuries will get attention immediately. And Mr. Baker said his job is to assist ANC commissioners and residents with their requests, to make sure they get addressed. (Note: This answer is consistent with the answer he gave when I asked the same question at Commissioner McDuffie’s SMD meeting on February 15).
• In response to a question about whether residents or commissioners need to resubmit unresolved requests that were submitted prior to DDOT’s new TSI process, Mr. Baker said that if the request is very old (say more than 6 months or a year old and it is not showing up on the TSI dashboard), then they should go ahead and submit a new one. But he said they should reach out to him for assistance because it might not be the case that DDOT will have to restart the 130 day clock.

In all, there were a lot of complaints from the commissioners and the commissioners really felt a way that DDOT Director Everett Lott never came out to an ANC meeting after telling them for months that he would. He eventually sent his deputy who was new to the job. I noted in the chat that the ANC could always send a letter to Director Lott with their outstanding, years-long requests (and also they could have submitted a letter for the recent performance oversight hearing). Commissioner Fletcher moved and the commission approved sending a letter with requests organized by SMD to Director Lott and to Councilmember Mary Cheh, who chairs the Council’s transportation committee. Chair Edwards said he wanted to get the letter out by March 3.

Ward 5 Mayor’s Office Report (Nokomis Hunter, Ward 5 MOCR)

DC’s indoor mask requirement ends March 1, 2022. Businesses can still require masks to be worn indoors, and masks will still be required at certain facilities, such as District government buildings, schools/daycares/libraries, congregate settings, public transit and rideshare, and healthcare settings.

The mayor’s office announced an MPD partnership with local and federal agencies and partners to provide year-round assistance to areas in DC experiencing the most violent crimes.

EYA Michigan Park Townhome Project – Historic Designation Application for the Josephites Seminary & Grounds

Jason Sereno, Vice President for Development at EYA, presented on the application for historic designation of the St. Joseph’s Seminary and grounds, in association with an approved planned unit development (PUD) for the Townhomes at Michigan Park (Zoning Commission case number 16-17). This is the townhome project currently under construction across from Providence Hospital. The first move-ins are expected at the end of this month. A condition of the PUD is for EYA to assist the Josephites with the historic preservation review process. Most of the seminary building was constructed in 1929. It is one of the many Catholic institutions that shaped the development of this part of Northeast DC. Mr. Sereno said that the building has historic signficance not just for its Georgian style, but also because it is an important work of the noted Maginnis firm. An historic preservation hearing is scheduled for April 28, 2022. The ANC voted to support the historic designation application, with Commissioner Charles Lockett (5A02) opposing.

With historic preservation, certain modifications to the seminary building and grounds can be made only with the approval of DC’s Historic Preservation Office. It leaves the grounds open for public access in perpetuity and ensures the building cannot be torn down for redevelopment in the future. There were some questions from a resident and Commissioner Lockett about the limits of historic designation. For example, if the Josephites decide they do not want the building anymore, can it be sold and converted into multifamily housing so long as the facade is preserved. Mr. Sereno said that while historic designation does not necessarily set the use for the building, the approved PUD sets the residential density for the entire site (the total area covering the townhomes, seminary building, and seminary grounds as I understand it), so trying to put more housing on the site would likely be an uphill climb. (Aside: The seminary building is already used for housing).

In response to a question, Mr. Sereno noted there are 10 below market rate homes (called inclusionary zoning or IZ units) in the development. EYA is going through the process now to market those homes, which will likely sell in the $200,000 to $300,000 price range. The IZ process (price of the homes, qualifications for buyers, etc.) is controlled by the District.

Finally, the playground (visible from the 12th Street side of the property) is almost ready. EYA needs to install an accessible swing and fencing around the playground. They expect that to be done in April.