ANC6b Plans Special Call Meeting on Hine PUD Process
Appointment of Taskforce on Hine Redevelopment Likely
by Larry Janezich
ANC6b is planning a Special Call meeting in April or May to inform the community on details of how the Public Unit Development (PUD) process will unfold for the Hine Redevelopment. The PUD process could be the final opportunity for public and community input into the design of the project and one which often involves tradeoffs, or “public amenities.” Commissioners Frishberg and Pate are pushing to appoint a special Taskforce made up of commissioners and representatives of community organizations, including EMMCA and Eyes on Hine, to provide input for the ANC’s participation in the PUD process. The Zoning Commission can require changes to the design as the result of the PUD review.
The Special Call meeting and Taskforce issues will likely come up when Commissioner Pate (SMD05) hosts an open house to discuss community issues on Saturday, February 26, at the Corner Store, 900 South Carolina Avenue, SE, between 1:00pm and 2:30pm.
Stanton Development was scheduled to send their massing and concept design for the Hine project to the Historic Preservation Office (HPO) on Thursday, February 24, but did not do so. They have until today – Friday – to file to meet the deadline to be scheduled for a Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) hearing on March 24.
Stanton will make a presentation regarding its Historic Preservation Application (HPA) to the ANC Planning and Zoning Committee meeting at Caesar Chavez Charter School, next Tuesday, March 1, at 6:30pm. The Committee will make a recommendation on the application and pass it to the full ANC which will consider it at their March 8 meeting. That meeting will occur at 6:30pm at the Church of Jesus Christ of LDS at 522 7th Street, SE. The ANC recommendation on the massing and concept design will, in turn, be forwarded to the HPO and HPRB for the March 24 hearing.
According to HPO, there are at least three historic preservation related public hearings at which the public may provide testimony. First, the ANC Planning and Zoning Committee, second, the full ANC meeting, and finally, the HPRB meeting. HPO also welcomes written comments in lieu of testimony. Those are forwarded to the HPRB as part of the review process.
Some large projects – e.g., Friendship House on Capitol Hill – go through the HPRB in two phases. HPRB looks first at height and massing, and then at the details at a later hearing. Stanton anticipates following this scenario, which will provide three additional opportunities for public input. Stanton hopes to go back before HPRB in late spring or early summer, depending on the outcome of the hearing in March.
The developer can make minor changes to the plan after the HPRB review, in consultation with HPO. HPO evaluates proposed changes and judges if they are major or minor or if they relate to concerns raised during the review process.
The Capitol Hill Restoration Society (CHRS) will also weigh in on the design, but their review process seems to be more cursory than the ANC’s. The CHRS Historic Preservation Committee will take a look at the designs Stanton submits to HPRB and make a recommendation. A more formal presentation to the Committee will depend upon a request from Stanton to appear before the committee or the CHRS Board. Stanton briefed the committee in February, but did not formally submit anything and the committee did not write an “official” report, preferring instead to treat the meeting as a dialogue with the architect/developer.
Stanton also appeared before ANC6b and the Hine neighbors in February to reveal their massing and design concepts and changes which reoriented the project toward a residential development as opposed to a primarily commercial development. For information on those meetings, please refer to the emmcablog postings on February 2nd and 3rd.
Next up: Update on the Two Tracks on Retail Mix
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