The Week’s Wrap Up: ANC Committee, ANC Taskforce, and CHRS Meetings – New Development at the old Pennsylvania Avenue KFC?

The Week’s Wrap Up:  ANC Committee, ANC Taskforce, and CHRS Meetings –New Development at the old Pennsylvania Avenue KFC?

by Larry Janezich

Hill East Taskforce to Discuss New Development at Old KFC Site

Commissioner Brain Flahaven announced on Friday the agenda for the Capitol Hill East Taskforce which will meet for the first time on Wednesday, July 27, at 7:00pm, at St. Coletta School, 1901 Independence Avenue, SE.  The meeting will establish the boundaries for its jurisdiction – essentially define the nebulous “Hill East” – and discuss a new proposed development – mixed retail/residential (21 units, retail on the first floor) – of the Old Kentucky Fried Chicken Outlet at 1442 Pennsylvania Avenue, S.E.

Commissioner Brian Pate’s Community Outreach and Constituent Services Taskforce

The Taskforce met Wednesday night – perhaps for the last time in the current ANC office space rented from The Tipton Group.  ANC6B hopes to move into new quarters on the top floor of Hill Center in early August.

Bylaws

Among the topics addressed was the need for a clarification of the by-laws.  ANC6B Parliamentarian Brian Flahaven will undertake the project, which comes in the wake of bylaw violations by three of ANC6B’s Commissioners involving testimony in support of the Hine Development before the Historic Preservation Review Board.  The case provided a revealing look at the ambiguities contained in the rules.

Technology

Pate’s taskforce is addressing website, technology and media issues.  Committee members and resident members brought ideas to the table for improving existing web-based communication and adopting practices already employed by other ANCs.  .

Liaising with City Council Members

One of Pate’s goals is outreach to City Council Members at Large.  To that end, he is developing a plan to invite at large members of the council to address the ANC at their monthly meetings on a regular or semi-regular basis.

Resident members.

Commissioner Pate is actively soliciting the participation of resident members to serve on ANC6B Committees and Taskforces.  Currently, one resident per single member district (i.e., one resident per commissioner) can serve on a committee.  Resident members may vote on issues before committees within their single member district, or when their commissioners are not present.  There is no limit on the number of resident members who may serve on an ANC taskforce.  There are three standing committees:  Alcohol Beverage Control, Planning and Zoning, and Transportation.  The first two have official cachet with the DC city government.  Transportation is a newly established committee trying to carve out a role for itself on transportation and parking issues.  The two current taskforces are the Community Outreach and Constituent Services Taskforce, and Commissioner Brian Flahaven’s Hill East Taskforce.

ANC6B will fine-tune the process for approving resident members at the September ANC meeting.

Commissioner Kirsten Oldenburg’s Transportation Committee

CSX Tunnel

At Wednesday’s Transportation Committee Meeting, officials from CSX gave the new committee an update on the plan to widen and heighten the Virginia Avenue Tunnel.  The plan entails “double tracking and double stacking” the 3800 foot tunnel between 2^nd Street and 11^th Street, S.E., on the south side of the Southwest Freeway.

Construction will likely start in March of 2013.  A ways off, but what concerns the ANC is the potential for traffic disruptions occasioned by the beginning of construction on the tunnel and its impact on traffic issues complicated by the rebuilding of the 11^th Street bridge.  DDOT is seeking ways to smooth the flow of traffic over the new bridge during this period without having the preferred route become filtering through Capitol Hill residential streets.

DDOT, working closely with CSX officials, assures that the reconstruction plan will leave all north-south streets under the Southwest Freeway open, with the exception of Sixth Street.  Formal Plans will likely be revealed to the public in November with a final proposal ready early next year.

Planned Performance Parking Fund Projects

In other work, the Transportation Committee is formalizing a procedure to encourage the promulgation of ideas for projects which could be eligible for funding through the Performance Parking Fund.  Details are still being worked out, and should become clearer by the next ANC6B Meeting on September 13.  (There is no ANC6B meeting in August.)

Capitol Hill Restoration Society Board Meeting

The CHRS Board, Chaired by Beth Purcell, met on Tuesday night and after conducting routine business of approving the minutes and hearing the financial report, went into executive session for almost two hours to formulate the budget for the next year and to discuss renting office space from Hill Center.  Information from Hill Center distributed at the meeting shows nine office spaces on the building’s third floor, with monthly rates from a low of $750 to a high of $1050 a month.  At last month’s meeting, CHRS contributed $5,000 toward the restoration of the fence surrounding the Center.  CHRS currently rents space from the Architectural firm Architrave, at 410 10^th Street, SE.