January 2009
Zoning Briefs

A Stanton Development proposal for the Hine site would have a charter pre-school, Shakespeare Theatre work space (consolidated from two 8th Street locations and from a warehouse), office above retail on Pennsylvania Avenue and 7th Street, residential on 8th Street (30% to be low and moderate income), 700 parking spaces, and C Street would be reopened with residential above retail on the north of the Street. The flea market will use C Street on the weekends. No designs were shown, and how it looks will be very important. They want to go up to 6 stories on the Pennsylvania Avenue side. Depending on the setback, this could be OK, given the width of the Avenue and the Metro plaza.

The next zoning committee will be on February 12. The following Board of Zoning Adjustment cases will be considered:

September 2008
Whose Ox Is Getting Gored? New Zoning Regulations on Parking to be Program for CHRS Community Forum

CHRS invites members and the public to our September 23 community forum at St. Peter's at Second and C Streets, SE. The doors will open at 7:00 pm. There will be a brief business meeting followed by a panel discussion on the topic “What Will the Proposed New Parking Regulations Mean for Neighborhoods?” Read more...

The panel discussion will be led by CHRS Zoning Committee Chair Gary Peterson. The panel will discuss the recent Office of Planning (OP) report to amend the city’s parking regulations. Members of the panel will be Travis Parker, OP Zoning Review Manager; David Garrison, Commissioner, ANC6B; Bill Crews, At-large Member of the Zoning Review Taskforce and former DC Zoning Administrator; and Gary Peterson, Ward 6 Representative on the Zoning Review Taskforce.

The city’s parking initiative marks a major shift in the city’s attitude towards parked cars. Potentially everyone will be affected—where they live, work, or play. Questions the Zoning Commission will consider include who should qualify for on-street parking; how much parking should be permitted in office buildings; whether apartment dwellers qualify for resident parking stickers; and what parking requirements, if any, should be imposed on entertainment and shopping areas on the borders of Capitol Hill, i.e., near the National’s stadium and adjacent to H Street, NE.

The city’s 2006 Comprehensive Plan calls for adoption of new zoning regulations to comply with the Plan. This three-year process is managed by OP. The regulations are being reviewed in twenty subject areas and discussed with public working groups for each of the areas. The results are then sent to a 24-member Zoning Review Taskforce for review and comment. Finally a report on the particular subject is sent to the Zoning Commission.

So far, four reports have been sent to the Zoning Commission (parking, loading, height, and arts and culture). The parking report had its first hearing before the Zoning Commission on July 31, 2008. The other three reports are scheduled for hearing during September. The parking report makes the following recommendations:

The OP Report is available online at— https://www.communicationsmgr.com/
projects/1355/docs/OP%20Parking%20Report.pdf. Mark your calendar for Tuesday, September 23 and tell your friends and neighbors. The CHRS forum is free and open to the public; no reservations are required.

June 2008
CHRS Zoning Committee to Meet June 12

The Capitol Hill Restoration Society Zoning Committee will meet on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 7:30pm, Kirby House, 420 10th Street, SE, first floor. Details: Gary Peterson, 202-547-7969. They will consider the following cases:

Public is Invited to Participate in Two-Year Process to Update
DC Zoning Regulations

The Office of Planning has begun the process of comprehensively reviewing the District of Columbia Zoning Regulations. Over the next two years, the public is invited to participate in subject-specific working groups to examine and discuss issues within the Regulations.

Review of the DC Zoning Regulations has been divided into 20 subject areas. Each subject area will be reviewed separately by a public working group that will make recommended changes to the Regulations. After working group review, recommendations for each subject area will be reviewed by a zoning taskforce and then forwarded on to the Zoning Commission for public hearings. The 20 subject areas are described in detail below.

Members of the public are encouraged to contact OP with questions about the process or any interest in participating in working groups. Please contact Travis Parker at (202) 741-5243 or travis.parker@dc.gov.

Zoning Review Subject Areas:

CHRS Zoning Chair, Gary Peterson, Picked to be Ward 6 Member of Zoning Review Taskforce

The Office of Planning and the Office of Zoning have initiated a two- to three-year public process to update and rewrite the DC Zoning Regulations, which have not been comprehensively rewritten since 1958. The new 2006 Comprehensive Plan has occasioned the rewrite. The rewritten Zoning Regulations will be guided by the land use policies in the Plan.

As part of the rewrite process, a Zoning Review Taskforce has been created. Members are persons appointed by a Councilmember, selected by a citywide group with a vested interest in zoning regulations, or a government official concerned with zoning. Gary Peterson, Chair of the CHRS Zoning Committee, was selected by Councilmember Wells to be the Ward 6 representative. Two other CHRS members, Dave Powell and Bill Crews, are on the Taskforce representing other Wards. Travis Parker, the Office of Planning’s Zoning Review Manager, is in charge of the process.

Anyone having comments on the zoning rewrite should contact Gary at pgarylaw@aol.com.

November 2007 Zoning Committee Report

The Capitol Hill Restoration Society Zoning Committee, with seven members in attendance, had a meeting on November 8, 2007, to consider the following cases:

The next Zoning Committee meeting will be on January 10, 2008.

October 2007 Zoning Committee Report

by Gary Peterson

The Capitol Hill Restoration Society Zoning Committee considered one case at its September 6, 2007, meeting. The case involves the application of Jamal Kadri for a special exception from the lot width and lot area requirements and a use variance to allow the construction of a two-story accessory private garage with second story living quarters for a domestic employee (au pair suite), in an R-4 District at 654 Independence Avenue, S.E. The applicant and his architect, Stephen duPont, Jr., appeared at the meeting and one neighbor in support of the application also appeared. The committee, after considering all the evidence presented by the applicant and the neighbor voted, 4-1-1, to oppose the application because the application does not meet the requirements for a use variance.

The applicant’s property is a regular shaped lot, 14 feet wide by 88.33 feet deep containing 1,237 square feet. The lot does not comply with the lot width and square footage requirements for R-4. The lot is small but not unique for Capitol Hill. In fact, the lots on either side, 652 and 656, have similar measurements and lots at 600 through 606 Independence Avenue are smaller. The structure on the property has a 37 percent lot occupancy and the applicant wants to increase this to 64 percent by adding the accessory building. This property was considered previously by the BZA in Application No. 16975. In that case a previous owner wanted to add to the rear of the house and increase the lot occupancy to 70 percent. The Board approved the application by summary order. The instant application is different in that the applicant proposes no addition to the house and wants to build a 2-story accessory building instead.

For the BZA to grant variances the applicant must show an exceptional condition or uniqueness of the property, practical difficulties or exceptional and undue hardship upon the owner in complying with the zoning regulations arising out of the uniqueness, and no detriment to the public good or impairment of the zone plan. First and most significantly, the lot is not unique for the purpose of obtaining a zoning variance. The lot and house next door at 652 are nearly identical in size and age. The critical point is missing here and that point is that “… the extraordinary or exceptional condition must affect a single property.” Capitol Hill Restoration Society v. District of Columbia Bd. of Zoning Adjustment, 534 A.2d 939, 942. Even if one concedes that there is an exceptional condition on the property, the applicant does not make the more difficult showing of “undue hardship,” which applies to use variances.

The applicant purchased the property in February of 2006 knowing about the February 2003 BZA and Historic Preservation Office approval of the addition to the house. The applicant can expand his house without the variance relief asked for here. As a practical matter, the applicant has no difficulty in complying in all ways with the zoning regulations without a variance, and can put the property to sufficient economic use. In addition, the CHRS Zoning Committee believes that granting this application would undermine the R-4 zoning on Capitol Hill.

Subsequent to the Zoning Committee’s ruling, the applicant hired an attorney and asked for a continuance of the September 25 hearing date. The applicant proposes to present a new, improved case to the Committee at a later date.

September 2007 Zoning Committee Report

Dreyfus Mediation. At the behest of the Office of Planning (OP), members of five community groups have entered into mediation with Louis Dreyfus Company over the development of the property fronting on H Street, NE, between Second and Third Streets. OP hired Lee Quill, AIA, as mediator. The community groups are CHRS, Stanton Park Neighborhood Association, ANC6A, ANC6C, and one resident from Third Street, NE. We have had three meetings with the mediator, and Dreyfus’ architect and the group also met with and briefed the Third Street residents.

The mediation has progressed very well, and the height and density of the building has been reduced. It is possible that an agreement can be reached before the October 1, 2007, Zoning Commission meeting.

Upcoming Committee Meetings. Based on BZA cases that have been set down, there will be two CHRS Zoning Committee hearings during the remainder of the year. The first hearing will be on September 6, when the committee will consider BZA #17665—654 Independence Avenue, SE. The second hearing will be on November 8, and the committee will consider:
BZA #17620 – 1383-85 H Street, NE;
BZA #17683 – 109 15th Street, NE;
BZA #17692 – 914 11th Street, SE;
BZA #17694 – 516 A Street, NE.

Coming events • CHRS Zoning Committee

Home

Board & Committees

CHRS Projects

Community News & Issues

Capitol Hill History &
Historic District

Coming Events

Publications

Support CHRS

Resources & Links

About CHRS

Contact CHRS

Database of Historic Building Permits, Squares 1000–1125

Site index

© Copyright 2001-2009, Capitol Hill Restoration Society. All rights reserved. Last updated January 28, 2009.

Website hosted by DC Access.