Next Stop Neighbors: Jamal Gray with Meow Wolf

Posted by nextstoprp in Cafritz Art Place at Fort Totten

By David Kosub (Contributor)

Weird. Yes. Sci-Fi novel come to life. Check. DIY. Thumps up. Space and time traveling. Naturally. Coming to Riggs Park. Woot woot. That’s right, the immersive art collective Meow Wolf is revving up and getting ready to meet us. In this edition of Next Stop Neighbors, we’ll get to know the man who is tasked with the job.

Jamal Gray is Meow Wolf’s liaison with the artists in DC and the community here. Our conversation weaves in and out from his Aquatic Gardening Roots in the District, the history of Meow Wolf, his philosophy to be “neighborhoodly,” social impacts, his artistic flare, and a full body slam for good measure. LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!

Click here to listen to the conversation (running time: 19 minutes – we just kept going and going)

Jamal Gray with David Kosub

Background on Next Stop Neighbors:

Welcome to Next Stop Neighbors where we get an opportunity to hear the voices behind the faces and places in Lamond-Riggs and the surrounding communities. Through this podcast series, you will meet some friendly neighbors and hear their perspectives on the community through civil, casual conversations. From the small business owner who just opened up, to the non-profit organization trying to make a difference, to the community leader describing their vision for the neighborhood, and the resident around the corner who has lived here for 50 years, we all have a story to tell. We welcome recommendations and, better yet, your own 10-minute interviews too!

Can’t get enough Next Stop Neighbors? Check out these past conversations for more:

Robert “The Library Guy” Oliver (October 2019)
Soon-to-Be Moms and Soon-to-Be Dads (September 2019)
Explore! Children’s Museum (August 2019)
Troka Insurance (July 2019)
Ms. V and Culture Coffee Too (July 2019)
Bertie Backus Urban Food Hub (June 2019)
LRCA Forward Team (April 2019)
Ramdass Pharmacy (March 2019

REMINDER-November 19: Lamond-Riggs Library Design Community Meeting

Posted by nextstoprp in Lamond Riggs Library

Lamond-Riggs Library Community Meeting: Design of the New Library
November 19, 2019
7:00 PM
Lamond-Riggs Library
5401 South Dakota Avenue NE

Join your friends and neighbors for the next meeting about the new Lamond-Riggs Library. The design team will share the latest designs and gather your feedback. Learn more about the project at dclibrary.org/newlamondriggs.

Chick-fil-A: Renderings, Drive-Thru, & Delivery Kitchen Pilots

Posted by nextstoprp in Chick-fil-A, Neighborhood Development

I finally got my hands on renderings for the Chick-fil-A planned to replace the KFC/Taco Bell at 220 Riggs Road NE, courtesy of ANC Commissioner Alison Brooks (4B08). Also, a neighbor sent me a Reuters article entitled, “U.S. restaurants remove dining rooms to speed off-site food frenzy.” It describes the use of so-called “dark kitchens” and the real estate and labor cost savings that result from providing service only via drive-thru or pickup windows for mobile orders:

The newest Chopt Creative Salad Co location, which opened Tuesday in New York, is unlike any of the chain’s other 61 sites. It has no cash registers or tables for customers.

Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A Inc has similar sites in Nashville and Louisville, where customers order and prepay online with the option for delivery or pickup.

Chick-fil-A is also trying something different, opening three pilot “delivery kitchens” this year – in Chicago, Los Angeles and near San Francisco. The latter is run by delivery platform DoorDash Inc.

At those sites, the chicken chain shares kitchens with other restaurants to prepare food for delivery only.

Off-premise digital orders are a major growth area for fast-food and fast-casual chains. More are turning to these so-called dark, virtual or ghost kitchens, which can also save labor and real estate costs.

“U.S. restaurants remove dining rooms to speed off-site food frenzy” by Hilary Russ, available at https://www.reuters.com/article/us-fastfood-kitchens-idUSKBN1XP1A1

Unclear if that is what is going on for the location planned for this neighborhood, which will be drive-thru only with a walk-up window. But as I mentioned before, 2,600 square feet is more than enough space to have interior seating, so surely the decision not to include interior seating is a business cost decision, not one based on “room.” And if that space is not being used for interior seating, then what is it being used for. Plenty of businesses have figured out how to streamline mobile order and pickup while also providing standard in-person ordering and dining. This is a by-right project, but ANC 4B should find out exactly what Chick-fil-A is planning for this location.

Edit: Media also report on Chick-fil-A’s recent change in charitable donation priorities.

Exterior View
Exterior View
Exterior Elevations (North & South)
Exterior Elevation (East & West)

More thoughts on Chick-fil-A

Posted by nextstoprp in Chick-fil-A, Neighborhood Development

Blog contributor David Kosub did a nice job of explaining why swapping fast-food for fast-food at a major intersection in the neighborhood represents not much of an opportunity in this post. Here are my thoughts on Chick-fil-A that I originally started composing as a way too long comment to his post.

1. Make community engagement useful. Chick-fil-A representatives are scheduled to attend ANC 4B’s meeting on November 25. I hope they bring at least a basic one-pager/fact sheet with an overview of the project, the process, timeline for when certain steps of the process will take place, construction plans, and answers to questions already asked by residents that can be posted on 4B’s website so that everyone is on the same page. This is basic community engagement and even though this is a by-right project, Chick-fil-A should want to be a good neighbor and there should still be a basic level of engagement.

2. Make the public space permit process useful. We have been told that the only public comment process required for this project is DDOT’s public space permit process. ANC 4B will have an opportunity to comment on Chick-fil-A’s application once that is submitted. I really hope DDOT and the development team have some fantastic ideas about how to manage accessing this corner location. As David mentioned in his post, I do think there is also an opportunity to make this space as attractive as possible for that corner, especially if Chick-fil-A is going to be leasing this space for many years. The existing KFC building is not an eyesore to me, but if the Chick-fil-A team is going to knock down two buildings (one of which is an eyesore) and put up an entirely new one, might as well make this corner as visually appealing as possible. For example, they could do a lot with native landscaping to deal with stormwater runoff. How they design the outdoor seating and the exterior of the building, having adequate trash receptacles, placement and containment of their dumpster, all those are things that I hope they are prepared to address. And I do hope The Parks Main Street will present some ideas to Chick-fil-A for this part of the process.

3. Provide traffic mitigation measures. At the Lamond-Riggs Citizens Association (LRCA) meeting on November 4, the Chick-Fil-A representatives noted that there will be a dual lane for ordering, which they say will allow the location to accommodate more cars on the lot and minimize the number of cars in the street. But I am guessing there will still be lots of cars idling in the street. We know that Chick-fil-A is just very popular and people are completely willing to wait in long drive-thru lines for their food (no judgment, just fact). A traffic study still needs to be done, but I would like to know what other mitigation measures they will take, such as utilizing traffic control officers if that becomes necessary or staff to walk the lines to speed up the order process.

4. Have interior seating. They could not answer the question of how much of the buildable lot (the KFC plus the former Dakota Liquor building next door) they are using for the building itself. As noted, the new building will be approximately 2,600 square feet, which is a fairly decent size for an operation that is not planned to have interior seating. I am not sure how big the current KFC is, but I am really curious about why they say there is no room for interior seating. For comparison the Five Guys at Fort Totten Square, which does have interior seating, is roughly 2,200 square feet. I suspect the decision has more to do with staffing decisions and construction and business financing than “room,” but that is just speculation on my part. I do think having a little bit of interior seating would be better and make this a more walkable location, especially if they really do keep the number of parking spaces minimal at nine or less. I am curious how many public restrooms there will be. To me, what would be even better is if they built a location like the one in downtown Silver Spring. Of course I have to acknowledge that there are large parking garages in downtown Silver Spring for people to park, which we do not have in this neighborhood. And of course they are attracted to this location precisely because it already has a drive-thru so they do not have to jump through hoops to put one in. Still, parking and interior seating do not have to go hand-in-hand and this location should have interior seating.

5. Support the community and support local. The Chick-fil-A representatives are likely aware of the reputation of its owners, who support anti-LGBTQ causes. The representatives made a point of noting that while Chick-fil-A corporate is responsible for leasing, purchasing equipment, and building out each restaurant, each Chick-fil-A has its own operator who is responsible for hiring and who decides what kinds of groups to support. This distinction between the corporate owner and the franchise operator is a point that has been made before in response to protest. This distinction of course might not matter to some, but if Chick-fil-A does get this location off the ground, people should not be shy in recommending how this location can support community groups.

6. This could be a good opportunity for the neighborhood, maybe. Objectively speaking, Chick-fil-A is probably a higher quality fast food restaurant than KFC/Taco Bell (don’t @ me). When you look at the Vibrant Retail Streets Initiative that was done for this neigborhood in 2015, Streetsense and DC’s Office of Planning stated that for a neighborhood like this one with a few long-term businesses and an untested retail market with a slew of new development on the way, the goal should be to continually seek to upgrade retail options to get to the retail that we really desire (see Part I: Market Analysis; Part II: Retail Attraction; Part III: Start at Step One). For example, a Subway may become a Panera Bread (just an example for the Subway lovers out there). So from that perspective, having a Chick-fil-A replace a KFC/Taco Bell would be moving in the direction of “better” for the neighborhood, especially if the Chick-fil-A has interior seating, and might be a good way of proving the market for more desirable retailers.

That said, as an aside, I am a little curious what other retailers, particularly food and beverage retailers, have approached or been approached by this particular property owner (and others in the neighborhood). I know that this is not the first time Chick-fil-A has shown interest in this particular location, so when I hear things like XYZ retailer is not interested in the neighborhood or the other myriad excuses for not having a sit-down restaurant, I do suspect something else is going on, like seeking a lease rate that is kind of ridiculous. I believe The Parks Main Street is working on a strategy for retail attraction so that it is not done haphazardly and residents do not feel like things are just being dropped on the neighborhood with no regard to impact because they are by-right projects (like a 117,000 square Walmart or a planned Chick-fil-A drive-thru with no interior seating at a major intersection).

These are just my thoughts on how we can help the ANC help us try to maximize what little opportunity may exist as we go through this process. I do hope people will provide constructive feedback to ANC 4B as we move forward.

Fast Food for Fast Food – Not Much of an Opportunity for Riggs Park

Posted by nextstoprp in Chick-fil-A, Neighborhood Development and tagged with

By David Kosub (Contributor)

At the November Lamond-Riggs Citizens Association (LRCA) meeting and as we first read about here, we learned that Chick-fil-A will likely be replacing the KFC-Taco Bell at the corner of 3rd Street NE and Riggs Road NE. The 23-minute audio from the meeting is available here (apologies for the poor sound quality).

Representatives from Chick-fil-A informed us they seek to create a 2,600 square foot facility at 220 Riggs Rd NE, with a drive-through and pedestrian walk-up order option. There may be nine or ten parking spaces, bike racks, and outside seating, but no indoor seating due to a claim of insufficient room available.

If there is one thing this community seems to agree on, it is the desire and need for quality sit-down restaurant options in the neighborhood. Though fast food joints can barely be considered a restaurant in my book, it is disheartening that we would lose one that currently has indoor seating for one that does not. It is also unclear how often patrons would opt for outdoor seating, especially in times of inclement weather.

As I stated at the meeting, I believe replacing fast food with fast food is not much of an opportunity for this neighborhood. In the 2009 Area Development Plan for the South Dakota Avenue NE and Riggs Road NE corridor, it refers to the existing KFC-Taco Bell as an “opportunity site” for future development. Opportunities exist, as the plan notes, to have future development set back from the street allowing for a visually strong corner to be created with aesthetically unified, pedestrian-friendly, street-facing retail. Furthermore, as the plan goes on to say, future development should  consider accommodating aesthetic “landmark elements,” such as public art, open space, and vegetation, to “truly create a sense of place and assist with reestablishing the intersection as the heart of the neighborhood.” Call me a cynic, but somehow having another fast food option at this busy intersection does not rise to the Area Development Plan’s aspirations.

Naturally, traffic was a touch point at the meeting. The developers are proposing replacing some existing curb cuts to help with traffic on Riggs Road and on 3rd Street, allowing one way in and one way out of the site. Their traffic engineers are studying traffic patterns and also recognized the issues with illegal U-turns on Riggs Road and on 3rd Street and with Walmart drivers exiting onto 3rd Street. When completed, they will share findings with the Distrist Department of Transportation Public Space Committee. Proximity to metro was mentioned as a positive, but I assume that the vast amount of patrons will be driving, not taking metro to come here from some other part of the city for their waffle fry fix.

The complete process including DDOT agency review, ANC4B presentation, community engagement, and public comment is expected to take nine months. Of note, a hearing with the Board of Zoning Adjustment is not needed as this is a by-right project, which involves simply replacing one fast food restaurant with another. There is a chance the Chick-fil-A representatives will be present at the November or December LRCA Development Task Force meeting, but the chairs of that committee (one of whom is the LRCA president) have not shared any specific details yet.

Beyond the discussion at the meeting, a 2019 retail market analysis encouraged The Parks Main Street (on whose Board I serve) to continue attracting new small local businesses to enliven Riggs Park. It also reinforced the notion that “there is un-tapped demand for sit-down restaurants…and available space for arts, flex, and community uses.”

As this fast food location evolves from one chain to another, I hope the developers will be willing to work with The Parks Main Street in designing a visually appealing streetscape (if such a thing is doable for a drive-through fast food joint) that both beautifies the neighborhood and is one that current and future residents can enjoy. If done well, perhaps this may incentivize an actual locally-based sit-down restaurant to set up shop in Riggs Park too.

All this said, and putting the values and politics of Chick-fil-A corporate owners aside for the moment, I will remain open to hearing what the developers have to say. We should also continue making our voices heard to ensure the community’s concerns are addressed as this process moves forward.

November 13: ANC 5A Public Meeting

Posted by nextstoprp in ANC 5A

Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, the monthly ANC 5A meeting is being held on November 13.

ANC 5A Monthly Public Meeting
November 13, 2019
6:45 pm
UDC-CC Backus
5171 South Dakota Avenue NE
Agenda items:
(1) Rocketship Charter School
(2) ANC 5A FY2020 proposed budget. The proposed budget is available for review on the ANC 5A website https://www.anc5a.org under the “Meeting Minutes and Resources” tab

November 16: Hellbender Brewery 5th Anniversary

Posted by nextstoprp in Uncategorized

By David Kosub (Contributor)

On Saturday, November 16, 2019, Hellbender Brewery will celebrate its fifth anniversary. Here is a link to get tickets. Some more details:

Price: $15 (receive custom anniversary pint glass and first beer) – not too shabby  

Beers: Releasing 5 barrel aged beers, including the official anniversary beer: Imperial Honey Farmhouse ale made with local wildflower honey (from the owner’s father’s bee hives – well as a vegan, I’ll try the other four I guess) 😊

Food: Timber Pizza and Smoke and Ember BBQ – um, I love food trucks

Free Spirits: One Eight Distilling and Sangfroid Distilling from noon-3p – um, I love free spirits

Music: DJ Tokyo Lovehandles from on top of the brewhouse all day – um, I guess I love Lovehandles too

Games: Cornhole and giant jenga set up in the brewhouse – never a dull moment

Perhaps we should have a Thirsty Third Thursday neighborhood gathering to help celebrate, but instead of Thursday, it’d be Saturday . . . .

Prost!

Culture Coffee Too 2nd Anniversary Exhibition, Craft Show & DMV Black Restaurant Week

Posted by nextstoprp in Fort Totten Square

This week is DMV Black Restaurant Week. A number of restaurants in the DC area are offering discounts, including our own local coffee shop Culture Coffee Too, located at 300 Riggs Road NE. Check out the shop for special promotions.

This November marks Culture Coffee Too’s second anniversary. Stop by the Second Anniversary Exhibition on Friday, November 8, 6:00 pm-8:00 pm.

Culture Coffee Too
Second Anniversary Exhibition: Disruptors in Color
Opening Reception
November 8, 2019
6:00 pm-9:00 pm
300 Riggs Road NE

Culture Coffee Too Second Anniversary Exhibition November 8

On Saturday, November 9, check out CCT’s Craft Show. Find crafts, jewelry, sweets, and more

Culture Coffee Too Craft Show
November 9, 2019
10:00 am-3:00 pm
300 Riggs Road NE

Culture Coffee Too Craft Show
Culture Coffee Too Craft Show November 9, 2019

Meow Wolf Community Meeting Recap

Posted by nextstoprp in Cafritz Art Place at Fort Totten

On October 24, 2019, Meow Wolf, a Santa Fe-based arts and entertainment group, held a community meeting about its plans to open a new location here in the neighborhood in Riggs Park. Meow Wolf is planning locations in Denver and Las Vegas as well.

The meeting served as the company’s introduction to the community. It is challenging to articulate what exactly Meow Wolf is. Danika Padilla, Senior Director of Social Impact, started off by sharing the company’s origin story. It was started by a group of friends in 2008 as an artist collective who just wanted to make weird, interesting, immersive art, and that is what they offer. For example, for one exhibit, an artist who uses a wheelchair designed a space with low ceilings so that people could engage with the space from the perspective of someone in a wheelchair.

Since 2017, it has been a certified B-corporation, a certification for businesses that want to do social good. It is not a nonprofit organization. They describe their business as one with a triple bottom line focused on financial, social, and environmental well-being. Their website has a lot of information about their philanthropy, artist engagement, DIY Fund, and community support.

Han Sayles, Director of Artist Collaboration, spoke a bit about the artist engagement piece and how the company wants to know how it can serve the DC area artist landscape. They are very interested in providing a space for local artists to share their work and be paid fair compensation for their work.

They were also there to listen and find out how they can be a good neighbor. They have hired a local DC artist and resident, Jamal Gray, to serve as a community outreach liaison. They posed several questions to get the conversation started, listed below in no particular order:

  1. In what ways can Meow Wolf support artists?
  2. What inspires you about your community?
  3. What is important to know about the community?
  4. What do you enjoy doing for fun in your community?
  5. How can Meow Wolf be a good neighbor?
  6. What advice would you give to foster inclusivity and accessibility for local residents?
  7. Are there local resources or groups that Meow Wolf should be aware of?
  8. What are the challenges for new businesses coming into the area?
  9. What else would you like Meow Wolf to know?

There were actually two sessions in the same evening; information presented at each was the same. I only attended the second session, so I am only sharing observations from that session. Besides providing feedback on these questions, audience members raised questions about a variety of topics. It was apparent that some people did not realize that Meow Wolf will be part of a much larger development, Art Place at Fort Totten. People asked what other retailers will be part of the development, stating their desire not to have chains. Meow Wolf has no control over that, but did state they have asked the Cafritz Foundation, which is developing the project, to prioritize local retailers. One resident raised a point about making the space environmentally green, considering the number of trees that will be cut down for the development itself. Meow Wolf talked about wanting to have a compost system. They also noted that in Santa Fe, 70% of the visitors are tourists, so for DC they really want to think about ways to incentivize using public transit to access the site.

There was a protracted discussion about gentrification and how some believe this project will be a gentrifying force in the community (gentrification being undefined). Meow Wolf noted that they prize community engagement, showing up and listenting to the unique needs of the community. To that end, they plan to have a community advisory group for the DC location just as they do for their other locations.

They are really interested in finding out how they can be helpful in the local DC area artist landscape. For example in Denver, with the community advisory group, Meow Wolf set a goal that 40% of the artists involved in that location be local artists, and they said they have reached that goal. The artists in the room asked about the boundaries of what is considered a local artist, to which Meow Wolf responded they are definitely looking at Baltimore and Richmond area artists for the DC location. The artist engagement page has a link for people to submit their portfolios if they are interested in being part of a launch event or showing in the space. Some had very specific questions about whether there would be space for music performances or live fire shows. Likely yes to the first question, not sure about the second.

On a personal note, as Art Place starts to build out arts-focused programming in the next phase, I think it would be really awesome for these organizations to provide an opportunity for young people to really explore. While I do believe everything is not for everybody and one thing cannot be all things to everyone, I do not think we should automatically discount certain spaces as off-limits or “not for us” for any particular group of people, whether that be seniors, youth, or people of color, especially if there is an opportunity to engage early on with the creators of the space. Building out a junior staff program for young people or even a work-study program for people of all ages would be really great for the neighborhood. The idea is to expose youth not just to the arts in terms of creating art, but also the many possible careers supporting the arts, such as teaching, fundraising, marketing, and program development. Meow Wolf noted in response to a question that the DC location will provide about 100 jobs, not just for artists but for positions that will support the building and maintenance of exhibits and programming. I also think arts programming provides a really great opportunity of fostering intergenerational interaction. The notion that all artists are young and that the space will only appeal to millenials is not accurate to me. Just my view.

I think the bottom line is that with opening still a few years away in 2022, Meow Wolf is really interested in hearing how immediate community members see this space being part of the community. At 75,000 square feet, it is going to be a big space. If you are interested in providing feedback to the questions listed above or about anything else, email DC@MeowWolf.com.

Walmart Wants to Sell Beer & Wine

Posted by nextstoprp in Fort Totten Square

The Walmart located at 310 Riggs Road NE is trying for a second time to get a license to sell beer and wine. The placard notifying the public of the store’s application for a Class B license with tasting permit was posted on October 25, 2019. The protest period ends December 9, 2019.

Recall from this post, we started going through this exercise last year. The ANC commissioner at that time held community meetings and ultimately decided to pursue a protest with the goal of getting a voluntary settlement agreement with the store. Walmart still needed to resolve a legal question about a regulatory provision requiring evidence of a certain amount of renovations at the store. It appears Walmart requested an advisory opinion on the matter from the Board, which it received in October 2018. Now that all of that is cleared up, Walmart is back to try again. There is now a different commissioner for that area, ANC Commissioner LaRoya Huff (4B09). It is unclear if the ANC will again pursue a protest in order to obtain a settlement agreement.

When I served as president of the Lamond-Riggs Citizens Association (LRCA), I registered the organization with ABRA so that it would have its own standing and not necessarily have to rely on the ANC in ABRA license matters. So theoretically, LRCA could seek its own settlement agreement with the store if the organization meets certain requirements. Unclear if LRCA leadership plans to do anything. This issue might be discussed at LRCA’s meeting on November 4.

If you care about this issue, feel free to reach out to Commissioner Huff to let her know your views.

Rocketship Riggs Park Campus Approved

Posted by nextstoprp in Education

As expected, on October 28, 2019, the DC Public Charter School Board (DCPCSB) voted to approve Rocketship’s application to amend its charter to open a third campus serving grades preK3-5 at 5450 3rd Street NE near Fort Totten metro station (off Kennedy Street NE). I wrote about the proposal here, here, and here.The Board’s full public meeting record can be viewed here. The amendment to the charter agreement is here. According to DCPCSB, 14 comments were submitted in support and 3 in opposition prior to close of the comment period and a public hearing on September 16. DCPCSB noted ANC 5A requested additional time to submit comments before DCPCSB’s vote, but as we know, the full ANC did not get around to voting on the application despite the many meetings on the topic, so the ANC did not submit additional comments for the record. ANC Commissioner Gordon Fletcher (5A08), in whose single member district the school will sit, submitted a letter in support in his capacity as commissioner of ANC 5A08. That letter was included with Rocketship’s application. I expect the ANC will work with Rocketship to address concerns as the school progresses towards opening.

When DCPCSB approved Rocketship’s original charter application to open up to eight campuses in DC, it set a number of conditions in order for the school to open new campuses. One of the conditions is that each existing campus must be Tier 1 with a minimum Performance Management Framework (PMF) score of 65. Rocketship currently has two campuses open in DC. According to Rocketship’s submission, Rocketship Legacy Prep, which began operations in Ward 7 in the 2017-2018 school year, is Tier 1 with a 94.6% PMF. Rocketship Rise Academy, which began operations in Ward 8 in the 2016-2017 school year, is Tier 2 with a 62.4% PMF. I suppose that is close enough to meeting the PMF condition for the Board’s purpose. At the request of the Board, the school submitted for the record a summary of its market analysis in response to two letters in opposition questioning the school’s analysis regarding need for another charter elementary school in Ward 5. The Board noted some concerns with Rocketship’s long-term financial stability and therefore will monitor the school’s financials as the third campus progresses.

On October 29, the day after the Board’s vote, Fox 5 DC reported disturbing news that apparently leadership at Rocketship Rise Academy waited until October 29 (the same day the news story was published) to notify parents about an attempted kidnapping that occurred at the school on October 11. According to the news report, in a letter to parents, Rocketship acknowledged they should have notified parents earlier. Apparently, the incident occurred during the school’s aftercare program, which is operated by Springboard Education. Staff from Rocketship and Springboard were able to stop the individual from taking the children out of the school. An investigation is ongoing. This appears to involve the same Springboard contractor that operated many before care and aftercare programs in DCPS and several charter schools until earlier this year when it made headlines following allegations that a Springboard employee inappropriately touched and kissed a student and an investigation revealed that Springboard could not show that all of its employees completed a background check. While DCPS and some charter schools terminated their contract with Springboard following that news, it appears Rocketship did not. I imagine this incident will make Rocketship reconsider its contract with Springboard and also how it will make sure students are safe at all Rocketship campuses.

The new campus in Riggs Park will open in two phases. A construction trailer has already been set up at the site, and construction workers are present to begin interior renovation of the north building. Renovation of that building is supposed to be completed in time for students to attend the school in the 2020-2021 school year. As previously noted, Rocketship plans to sublease part of the campus to a middle school, the Social Justice Charter School, contingent on demand for Rocketship seats.

Site of Rocketship’s planned third campus at 5450 3rd Street NE

Chick-fil-A for KFC?

Posted by nextstoprp in Chick-fil-A, Neighborhood Development
Google map image of KFC/Taco Bell at Riggs Road and 3rd Street NE

Chick-fil-A is apparently interested in opening a location in Riggs Park. The plan is to demo the KFC/Taco Bell located at 220 Riggs Road NE plus the former Dakota Liquor property next door to the KFC at 5510 3rd Street NE and reorient a new building on the site with a drive-thru. The developer attended the single member district meeting of ANC Commissioner Alison Brooks (4B08) earlier this month and provided renderings. (I have not received a copy of the renderings just yet). The developer will also apparently attend the Lamond-Riggs Citizens Association (LRCA) meeting on November 4. No notice has been given about that meeting just yet, but my understanding is that the developer will be there, so if you are interested in learning more, you can attend Monday’s LRCA meeting at 7:00 pm at LaSalle-Backus Education Campus (501 Riggs Road NE).

Chick-fil-A is known for having drive-thrus that are a bit of a cluster, so hopefully they will work with DDOT on a foolproof plan for not backing up traffic on either Riggs Road, 3rd Street, or 2nd Street. Drivers have long engaged in hijinks, such as illegal U-turns, to enter the KFC drive-thru on 3rd Street. Walmart visitors also exit onto 3rd Street, adding to the traffic on that narrow road. And 3rd Street and 2nd Street form kind of a gnarly intersection just north of this location that residents have long asked DDOT to do something about because that intersection does not make sense for either motorists or pedestrians.

Google map satellite view of 2nd Street NE/3rd Street NE intersection

A CubeSmart opened at 5600 2nd Street NE within the past year. We know even more development is coming to that small corridor, as earlier this year in March, the Zoning Commission voted to approve a map amendment request for the properties located at 5642, 5648, and 5650 3rd Street NE to change the zoning designation for those properties to mixed-use. See this post for that story. No word just yet on the intended uses for those properties, but a Chick-fil-A at the corner of Riggs Road and 3rd Street NE will definitely change the game for this part of the community.

November 19: Lamond-Riggs Library Design Community Meeting

Posted by nextstoprp in Lamond Riggs Library

SAVE THE DATE

Lamond-Riggs Library Community Meeting: Design of the New Library
November 19, 2019
7:00 PM
Lamond-Riggs Library
5401 South Dakota Avenue NE

Join your friends and neighbors for the next meeting about the new Lamond-Riggs Library. The design team will share the latest designs and gather your feedback. Learn more about the project at dclibrary.org/newlamondriggs.


Housing Affordability Goals & Comprehensive Plan Updates

Posted by nextstoprp in ANC 4B, ANC 5A, Neighborhood Development

HOUSING AFFORDABILITY GOALS

On October 15, 2019, Mayor Muriel Bowser released her administration’s Housing Equity Report with housing affordability goals by planning area. The District’s eight planning areas are contained in the District’s Comprehensive Plan (Comp Plan). Just as this neighborhood sits in two wards, this neighborhood also sits in two planning areas–Upper Northeast and Rock Creek East. Most of the news focused on the mayor’s desire to add more affordable housing west of Rock Creek Park, but this neighborhood’s planning areas fall in the top four areas for housing production goals, 1,500 units for Rock Creek East and 1,350 units for Upper Northeast. Based on what is in the pipeline already though, the number of new housing units that our planning areas must produce–340 for Rock Creek East and 190 for Upper Northeast–is fairly low compared to what other areas must produce in order to meet the administration’s goals. The report explains the methodology used to get to the goals for each planning area on page 10. The report is a fairly high level report just to start the conversation. For updates, visit housing.dc.gov.

PROPOSED COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATES

On October 15, the mayor and the Office of Planning (OP) also released proposed amendments to the Comp Plan. The DC Council recently approved the Framework element of the Comp Plan, which took over two years to get through the public process. OP has produced a number of helpful summaries of each element of the Comp Plan and a review tip guide. I strongly encourage people to at least look at the updates for our neighborhood’s planning areas, again those are Upper Northeast and Rock Creek East. The summary for Upper Northeast is here and the summary for Rock Creek East is here. It is not clear when the Council will hold a hearing on the rest of the proposed amendments to the plan.

OP is holding public meetings on the proposed updates. Ward 4’s is on November 19 at 6:00 pm at Roosevelt High School (4400 Iowa Avenue NW) and Ward 5’s is on November 23 at 10:00 am at Luke C. Moore High School (1001 Monroe Street NE). OP recommends that residents work with their ANC commissioners so that the ANC can incorporate feedback into an ANC resolution. OP will respond to feeback received from ANC resolutions. Send your comments to your ANC by December 20. Some residents are already asking OP to extend the comment period (including some at the last ANC 5A meeting), but so far there is no indication that the comment period will be extended.

OP’s suggestions for ANC review:

  • Review Area Elements and sections of the Generalized Policy Map (GPM) and Future Land Use Map (FLUM) that correspond with the ANC’s Planning Area
  • Review Citywide Element Summaries
  • Consider dividing up review across ANC or with ANC’s land use or zoning committee
  • Attend Ward meeting to hear feedback from your constituents.
  • OP will share with ANCs a summary of feedback received during the Ward meetings
  • Upload ANC Resolutions by January 31 onto the ANC portal at resolutions.anc.dc.gov

Riggs Road/South Dakota Avenue Area Development Plan Implementation

One nice thing about the proposed updates to each of our planning areas is the very clear priority on implementing elements of the Riggs Road and South Dakota Avenue Area Development Plan, our neighborhood’s area development plan (sometimes referred to as our small area plan). This is important. The plan was approved by the DC Council in 2009. The most recent implementation report is from 2016. You can see there is still lots to be done, which makes sense given the amount of development we anticipate in the next two to three years. One big achievement we did get is the startup of a Main Street for the corridor. That has already yielded big dividends in the less than one year that it has officially been operating. There are other pieces of the area development plan independent of development that could use some attention though, especially regarding the neighborhood’s open spaces.

The disadvantage in this neighborhood’s stratification between two planning area is evident in the updates to the Comp Plan. It seems as if OP cannot figure out what to call this area neighborhood (understandable). That aside, the update to the Upper Northeast Element (pages 36-38) mentions the area development plan in addressing what it calls the Fort Totten metro station area, but the actual policy recommendations in the area development plan are included only in the Rock Creek East Element update (pages 40-42). I suppose this was done to avoid duplication, but I am not sure it makes sense. It is not clear why only some of the policy recommendations from the area development plan made it into the Comp Plan update, so I would recommend that all of them be incorporated. The Upper Northeast Element update also adds “high-density” housing, office, and retail uses for the Fort Totten station metro area (p. 37), which is not consistent at all with the area development plan or the proposed future land use map or generalized policy map. In addition, I would also recommend highlighting the recommendations in the moveDC plan for our neighborhood, which were developed in 2014 after the area development plan was created, and which I wrote about in this post.

I do recommend that residents become familiar with the area development plan. You can read the executive summary here and the recommendations here. When I served as president of Lamond-Riggs Citizens Association (LRCA) from summer 2017 to summer 2019, I always referenced the plan whenever we submitted comments regarding any development project in the neighborhood. When budget season rolled around, we would use that plan to advocate for targeted dollars for this neighborhood. Each year, we should be advocating for our elected officials (ANCs, Council, and mayor) to support funding to implement elements of the plan. This is one area where I think the Main Street can be especially useful. Elected officials come and go, but having a consistent entity dedicated to improving the corridor naturally lends itself to making sure the area development plan stays at the top of everyone’s agenda.

Implementation of the area development plan is one clear item that we can have our ANCs address in a resolution, highlighting particular areas of the plan that still need to be addressed.

Ward 5 Works Industrial Land Transformation Study

OP also recommends priority in implementing recommendations of the Ward 5 Works Industrial Land Transformation Study. I wrote about that study in this post. As noted in that post, our neighborhood is more of a footnote in the report, but all areas of the city will be well-served by District officials actually taking steps to really address municipal planning, particularly for especially burdensome municipal functions. And certain recommendations for other areas of city could be useful for the land abutting the tracks in our neck of the woods from Fort Totten to Takoma. Given the focus on gaining statehood, it is really critical that District officials figure out how to house and carry out municipal functions in the District.

PROPOSED MAP AMENDMENTS

The Comp Plan has two maps, a Generalized Policy Map (GPM) and a Future Land Use Designation Map (FLUM). You can see the proposed GPM here. It is missing the Main Street for the South Dakota Avenue/Riggs Road Corridor. (maybe there needs to be an official designation, not sure). You can see the proposed FLUM here. The FLUM is not a zoning map; it provides an understanding of how development decisions should be made. The FLUM has been the subject of much debate particularly in the litigation that has challenged a number of development projects across the District. For this neighborhood, the proposed FLUM is pretty much consistent with what is contained in the area development plan. A few amendments to highlight below.

McDonald’s & Faith United Church of Christ

The Office of Planning is recommending approval of change in the FLUM for the McDonald’s property on South Dakota Avenue and Delafield Street NE (Square 3786, Lots 1 and 801) from low density commercial to moderate density commercial (see p. 78 responding to submission 2081). This change was requested by Holland & Knight, which represents the owner of the McDonald’s. The owner has been a frequent visitor to ANC 5A about this change, which is the only reason I am mentioning this here. Just down the street from the McDonald’s, Faith United Church had requested a change in the zoning designation for its property from low density residential/commercial to medium density residential/commercial. OP is not recommending approval of that change (see p. 62 responding to submission 1066). Faith United has tried more than once to build affordable housing, particularly for seniors, on their three-acre parcel of land. These efforts have been rebuffed by North Michigan Park residents over traffic and parking concerns. I have heard several long-time North Michigan Park residents laud the fact that there are no apartment buildings in that neighborhood. It is an interesting thing to be proud of (as opposed to being fine with having a new drive-thru in that area), particularly as there is this discussion about affordable housing. Anyways, perhaps OP’s rejection of the change to the FLUM for the church’s parcel will stop the church from trying to add multifamily housing to its property for a long time. We will see.

1st Place NE & Riggs Road NE

Moving north, OP is recommending change in the FLUM for the western side of 1st Place NE at Riggs Road from Parks, Recreation, and Open Space to Medium Density Commercial/Medium Density Residential (see p. 114, submission 9946).

Recommendations

I am still looking at the specifics of our neighborhood’s planning area updates as well as the updates for the major policy areas (transportation, housing, infrastructure, etc.). So far, here are my recommendations just for our planning area updates:

  1. Highlight the importance of implementing the neighborhood’s area development plan (with particular focus areas)
  2. Incorporate all of the policy recommendations from the area development plan
  3. Highlight important of Ward 5 Works Plan & to extent certain recommendations for other areas would be beneficial in our neighborhood (such as buffers and creative uses of industrial space), highlight those
  4. Highlight importance of moveDC plan with recommendations for our neighborhood
  5. Highlight importance of implementing the 2007 South Dakota Avenue Streetscape Study (Given that no District agency can find this study and that its status on the area development plan implementation report in 2016 is listed as future status, I am not sure this study has been implemented
  6. The General Policy Map needs to reflect the Main Street for the South Dakota Avenue/Riggs Road corridor
  7. Be clear that the area around Fort Totten metro station is designated for either medium or moderate density, not high density, noting importance of mitigating impacts to specifically the Riggs Park neighborhood.

This is just my take. What do people think of the major policy themes of the elements for this neighborhood–Upper Northeast and Rock Creek East. What feedback do you have for our ANC commissioners for them to incorporate into an ANC resolution?

NBC Washington News Story on New HAWK Signal

Posted by nextstoprp in Transportation

NBC Washington has a nice two-minute video featuring contributor David Kosub on the new HAWK signal that was finally installed at South Dakota Avenue and Ingraham Street NE on September 26. The new signal is really helpful in helping pedestrians cross this busy intersection, but a few residents have reported that drivers sometimes do not stop when the signal is red. Also, the signal has malfunctioned a couple of times already, so if you see that it is flashing yellow constantly, please submit a 311 request so that it can be fixed. Please continue to contact your Ward 5 MOCR Malik Miller and ANC Commissioner Gordon Fletcher (5A08) with concerns about how this signal is operating.