ANC 3F has added a second February meeting because a couple of matters couldn’t hold until its regular meeting on February 20th.
The commissioners will meet on Monday, February 5th at 6:30 p.m. at the Van Ness Main Street office (4340 Connecticut Avenue).
The two-item agenda: Ellicott Street parking and a letter to the Office of Planning about the developers’ application to build six homes at 3101 Albemarle.
Regarding Ellicott Street
Current signage on Ellicott adjacent to the nursery school entrance at St. Paul’s Church designates the area as “no parking” from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The signs have been there for years, and for years, parents have been parking there for a few minutes after 9 a.m. to drop off their young children.
Since September, parents have complained of getting parking tickets. ANC 3F will discuss a resolution requesting that DDOT allow 15-minute drop-off and pick-up parking between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Regarding 3101 Albemarle
ANC 3F03 Commissioner Naomi Rutenberg says the ANC will circulate and discuss a letter it will send to the DC Zoning Commission on the 3101 Albemarle developers’ application for zoning relief.
Rutenberg writes that there is no opportunity for public input when the Zoning Commission meets February 26th. But there will be as soon as late spring. She explains the process and the timeline here:
The Office of Planning (OP) is preparing their setdown report, which they submit to the Zoning Commission (ZC). Assuming they recommend the case for setdown for a public hearing and OP’s timeline does not change, the ZC may consider at their February 26th meeting the request for setdown for a future public hearing on the case. The discussion of setdown occurs at a public meeting but is not a hearing, no testimony is taken from the applicant or public on setdown. During the discussion of setdown, the ZC may indicate to the applicant areas where they would like to see modifications in the application.
If the ZC votes that the application should have a public hearing, the applicant will then prepare a pre-hearing statement, taking into account the comments of the ZC at setdown. Once their pre-hearing statement, which is really their final application, is submitted to the ZC, the hearing will be scheduled a minimum of 40 days later and the ANC wil be notified. The soonest that hearing is likely to be is May. If the ZC comments are substantial, the applicant may need more time to make changes and prepare the pre-hearing statement. The time from recommendation for setdown to the hearing depends on: a) how much time the applicant takes to prepare their pre-hearing statement and b) the ZC calendar. It is not a fixed amount of time.
Prior to, and at, the ZC hearing, is the best time for ANC input to ZC. The ZC looks to the ANC to discuss what is good and bad about the PUD from a neighborhood perspective, what might be the impact on the neighborhood, and what is the neighborhood fit.
After the setdown decision, assuming there is a recommendation for a public hearing (and this is likely), we will ask the applicant to come again to an ANC or community meeting and present their final plans. This will be another opportunity for input into the application. Once their pre-hearing statement is submitted, we will publicly discuss and vote on a resolution in support or not of the application. This resolution does have great weight.
As always, I and the other commissioners are eager to hear your thoughts, comments and questions. You can also communicate with the Zoning Commission, as some of you have, and thank you for that. All public documents related to the application can be found here. We are also creating a space on our ANC 3F website for materials related to the application.