ADVISORY NEIGHBORHOOD COMMISSION
JUNE 7, 2006 MEETING MINUTES
The regularly scheduled meeting of ANC3D was held at Sibley Hospital’s Ernst Auditorium on June 7, 2006. The meeting was called to order at 7:10 PM by Alma Gates, Chair. Other Commissioners present were: Haas, Heuer, Mullane, Shapley and Thompson.
Chair Gates introduced Nan S. Wells, the new Commissioner representing ANC3D-03. She will be eligible to vote at the July meeting. A Resolution to the Board of Elections and Ethics was presented and voted on 6-0-0 to approve her application. She then joined the Commissioners at the head table.
POLICE REPORT
Officer McElwee said May was a quiet month. 19 crimes, one burglary and most others were destruction of property. He reminded everyone, once again, to lock your doors at home and in your car and to leave nothing in sight as many burglaries are crimes of opportunity. 179 tickets were issued for speeding during May.
COMMUNITY CONCERNS
Ximena DeFilippes, of 1829 47th Place, raised safety concerns about the speed of cut-through traffic on her block. This short street connects Reservoir and MacArthur with a steep hill on either side. She presented a petition signed by many of the residents on 47th Place for traffic calming. There was an accident earlier this year and, due to a blind spot, the potential for a head-on collision. Since this is near the Lab School and Our Lady of Victory, the neighbors are worried that there will be a serious incident unless something more is done. The ANC earlier requested DO NOT ENTER signs on the MacArthur side that prohibits people from turning onto the street during morning rush hour, but Ms. DeFilippes said they are routinely ignored.
Erin Egan, of 5181 Watson Street, likewise presented a petition for traffic calming on Watson Street accompanied by a petition with more than two dozen signatures including those of the Babbitts and Theresa Finney. She said that both cars and trucks routinely use this stretch of Watson Street to get from Loughboro to MacArthur, going west, and up the hill from MacArthur jogging left onto Palisade Lane and from there onto Dalecarlia Parkway in an attempt to avoid the light at MacArthur Boulevard and on Loughboro in front of the hospital.
The Chair will pass the two requests, along with a third request from Macomb Street presented at an earlier meeting, to DDOT for action.
Yasmin and Mark Lewis of 4810 Quebec Street raised alarms about a three- to four-foot retaining wall built along their property line by their neighbors at 4800 Quebec, and 8-foot fence posts for a fence on top of the retaining wall. The Lewises have contacted DCRA multiple times to find out if there is a permit for the wooden fence. An inspector told them the fence and wall are on the party line and their permission is therefore needed before the Patels can obtain a permit. The Lewises do not intend to grant permission.
APPEAL of Jonathan Gottlieb, pursuant to 11 DCMR.
Mr. Gottlieb did not appear.
APPLICATION of Barbara Allan for a Special Exception for a Child Development Center at 2828 Hurst Terrace
Barbara Allan has applied for a Special Exception for her Child Development Center located at 2828 Hurst Terrace. She is seeking to increase the number of children from 23 to 25 and to renew her Special Exception for a period of ten years.
There were traffic problems in this area several years ago which were aggravated when the Key School was doing its renovations. According to Ms. Allan, Marty Wells did a traffic study and found that since Key was completed there have been no problems.
Commissioner Gates moved to approve the request for additional students but to limit the renewal of Special Exception to five years rather than ten. She noted that Ms. Allan intended to move and sell the school earlier and as Ms. Allan’s in-laws have moved into the house there is continued concern that Ms. Allan may decide or need to sell her property. The Special Exception runs with the property, not the owner, and this would permit someone to buy and run the school who is unknown to the community and unfamiliar with the requirements of the BZA Order. Ms. Allan said she has no intention of moving.
Chairman Gates moved to approve the Special Exception for a period of five years. Commissioner Mullane seconded. A motion by Commissioner Heuer to amend the motion to provide for a ten-year exception was withdrawn. A motion to grant the Special Exception, including two additional students and a five-year timeframe, was approved by a 6-0-0 vote.
Sibley Hospital’s Medical Office Building/traffic study
Jerry Price, COO of Sibley, reviewed their plan – Sibley is seeking approval to build a new Medical Office Building which would have 750 parking spaces: 360 that are currently unused, and 421 net new spaces in an above-ground parking garage.
The proposal includes a surgery center, diagnostic radiology, data center, pharmacy. Mr. Price said this is not a commercial venture, despite what some are saying. Sibley is in the process of asking the Zoning Commission for a re-zoning. The PCA at its general membership meeting voted the night before to recommend approval of this new facility.
A traffic impact study was done by Lou Slade and Leon Anderson, assistant to Slade.
They studied average traffic; off peak conditions, and sight distances for Little Falls Road. The MOB would generate 4,616 trips a day assuming that 10 percent of patients and employees use public transportation.
Mr. Slade presented a series of Powerpoint slides. He explained that current traffic conditions in the area are all “Good,” in technical terms. Conditions are rated from A to F, and anything from A to D constitutes “good.”
In terms of future conditions, Mr. Slade said that if one removes the rush-hour traffic volumes from the picture, the average hourly traffic increase will be somewhere in the vicinity of 200 cars. Mr. Price, in answer to questions from the neighbors, said that there will be built into the leases of the physicians a requirement to pay for employee parking. Hospital employees are given free parking now.
After Mr. Slade and Mr. Price made their presentation, neighbors were given a chance to ask questions and make statements. Over the next hour or so more about 15 residents did so, with a majority critical of the project. One neighbor, Leonard Spector of Loughboro Road, said that 7% of traffic represents 14 years of traffic of ordinary traffic growth all at one time.
Residents raised concerns about the need for the facility; driving speeds and safety on Dalecarlia; parking on neighborhood streets; whether previous mitigation agreed to by Sibley had been fulfilled; how proposed changes to the intersection at Dalecarlia and Loughboro would be financed; whether the Barlow Building in Chevy Chase, Maryland is slated to be emptied of doctors as Sibley has suggested; the dual impacts of a medical office building and the U.S. Army Corps’ dewatering facility; the safety of a proposed new entrance on Dalecarlia Road; WMATA bus routing; cut-through traffic on either side of Loughboro Road; and the projection of so-called synergies to reduce the estimated new traffic.
Dr. Bill Sadlack, a supporter of the plan, criticized a neighbor who compared the project to the medical office building on New Mexico Avenue. Vince Tracy, of the Spring Valley West Homeowners Association, also expressed his strong support for the proposal.
Mike Kildea of Spring Valley West, pointed out that the National Geospatial Imaging Agency is slated for shutdown and employees will be moved to Fort Belvoir. He said the agency employees thousands and that removing that traffic might free up local streets to better handle new Sibley traffic.
The Commissioners then asked their questions. In response, Mr. Price said variously that 17 percent of Sibley’s patients are from the District of Columbia; that the hospital intends to participate in a DC “First Source” hiring program; and that they will participate in a meeting with DDOT, WMATA and the ANC to decide whether WMATA buses can be re-routed to climb behind Sibley on Little Falls Road rather than on Loughboro Road; that they are unwilling to consider scaling back the building size. As for free parking, Mr. Price said the hospital has been willing to make several concessions but “This is not one of them. We’re going to charge for parking,” he said, because the hospital needs the revenue.
Sibley will appear at the next ANC meeting in July. Mr. Price said they planned to file their pre-hearing statement to the Zoning Commission, including all of the updated traffic information, as early as the next day. A Zoning Commission hearing is expected in October.
Renewal of liquor license for Tahi’s Gourmet at 4418 MacArthur Boulevard NW
There have been no complaints either to the store or to the Commissioners and the voluntary agreement is still in place. Commissioner Haas moved to approve the renewal. Commissioner Thompson seconded. The motion was approved 6-0-0.
Resolution regarding the Comprehensive Plan
A document now in circulation in draft form, the revised Comprehensive Plan, will broadly determine development and zoning across the city going forward, including revisions to the Zoning Code. Chairman Gates updated the commission on a recent meeting concerning the draft, and the view among many ANC commissioners that ANCs have not been given draft materials in a timely fashion enabling a thorough review.
Chairman Gates presented a resolution asking that a City Council vote on the Comp Plan be delayed until after the fall elections so that ANCs and other interested parties have more time to comment and that those elected officials, including the mayor, responsible for implementing the plan have had a chance to review it.
Commissioner Heuer moved to adopt the resolution. Commissioner Haas seconded. The vote was 6-0-0 to approve.
COMMISSION BUSINESS
Minutes from May meeting were approved 6-0-0.
Treasurer’s Report was presented. There is a balance of $15,705.71 in the Bank of America account.
Meeting adjourned at 11 PM.
Next meeting July 5, 2006
Respectfully submitted,
Rachel W. Thompson
Secretary