Posts about Petworth

Neighbors-

I'm happy to answer any specific questions you have. My office has convened at least two meetings on the Zoning Update. I'll post to my website the major issues for which we've advocated. Briefly, the chief concerns raised in our meetings: parking requirements near transit zones, by right corner stores and accessory dwelling units, height requirements, non-residential uses in neighborhoods, and community input.

I remain concerned about parking requirements near transit zones and by right, non-residential uses in residential neighborhoods. I believe the issue with by right Accessory Dwelling Units (detached) has been removed from the recommendations.

Again, I'll alert you when a full summary of the issues is posted on my website. I've been invited to present to Citizens Association in January and will plan to spend some time discussing there as well.

Muriel Bowser
Ward 4 Councilmember

Explanations of accessory dwellings are confusing

Bowser appears to be, or to have been, confused about the accessory dwelling proposal. It's not surprising, since OP has been explaining it in a very opaque way.

At the Ward 3 meeting last week, OP's Jennifer Steingasser explained that the current, old regulations require a variance for an accessory dwelling inside a main house, but allow a unit by-right for a "domestic employee" above a garage. Steingasser said that OP's goal was to "flip" the two, allowing accessory units as of right inside main buildings but requiring a special exception for a new carriage house.

However, this wording confused many people, including some of our commenters who were at the meeting, as well as a vocal opponent who spent about 10 minutes arguing with Steingasser. I didn't agree with that opponent's views on the issue, but sympathized with her confusion as she received one complex answer after another that didn't elucidate the issue very well.

Accessory dwellings are an important policy. They are the easiest way to add housing choices without changing the built form of neighborhoods, help house people at stages of life where they want an English basement or small garage, and give homeowners a way to earn more income and help pay the mortgage or supplement a fixed retirement income.

The Office of Planning need not "spin" the issue as not really much of a change. Instead, they should proudly explain why this is the right policy and stand up for it.

Map shows more about corner store proposal

They are standing up for, and more clearly explaining, the corner store proposals. OP made this map of corner stores in Ward 4, and says they are working on comparable maps for other wards. (At the Ward 3 meeting, a few residents asked for Ward 3 specific maps; it wasn't clear to me why they couldn't just focus on the upper-left portion of a citywide map, but whatever.)

In the map above, the dark purple is the mixed-use or commercially zoned areas, and the light purple the "buffer zone" in which it will be illegal to create a corner store. The red dots are examples of the type of store that the new zoning will allow (though most of them are in the buffers).

Yellow is the area where corner stores will be legal under the zoning update; in Ward 4, it's pretty much just Petworth and a few other very small areas. With corner stores limited to actual corners or buildings originally built as commercial, there will be very few eligible sites, since most of the buildings already have residents in them.

Can you attend?

Thanks in part to Greater Greater Washington readers, people supporting the zoning code or asking for it to go further equaled the number of people opposing the changes at last week's Ward 3 meeting. One person asked OP to restore their proposal for parking maximums (which require just a transportation analysis to exceed), and another spoke up for lighter restrictions on corner stores.

DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, Councilmember Mary Cheh, Zoning Commissioner Rob Miller, reporters Tom Sherwood and Mike DeBonis, and many others heard a wide range of views from residents, ranging from wanting more change to none at all. It's important to have a similar diversity of views at tomorrow's Ward 4 meeting, the last one of this series.

Please stop by Takoma Education Campus, 7010 Piney Branch Rd NW, at 6:30 (doors open at 6) and try to stay until about 8, when they'll let people speak in the town hall. The balance of views during that open mic session will likely have a lot of sway over whether Councilmember Bowser stands in the way of the zoning update or not.

Update: The original version of this post suggested that Bowser was leaning against or "unsure" on the accessory dwelling proposal. However, the email shows she is leaning against the other proposals. She does not appear to be undecided on, but apparently is confused about, the accessory dwelling proposal. The post has been corrected.

Metro instituted a similar closure along a section of the Red Line on Labor Day weekend. On that weekend, I went to have brunch at a friend's house in the Brookland neighborhood. During that time, Metro shuttles were running down his street every 2 minutes. Many of the buses were nearly empty, but for a moment I was jealous at the thought of transit service every 2 minutes.

Likewise, if WMATA keeps similarly short headways for the shuttles this weekend, the agency might actually enhance mobility between the Convention Center, Shaw, U Street, Columbia Heights, and Petworth.

One of Metro's main shortcomings is that riding during non-rush periods, especially on weekends or at night, can entail waiting on platforms for as much as 24 minutes. This is an unacceptably low level of service, but our region lacks the political leadership to set a minimum level of transit service the way we do for utilities.

In DC, where 37% of households lack a car, the mayor and council chairman drive luxury cars at taxpayer expense, and other councilmembers receive free parking in front of the Wilson Building.

In the abstract, our leaders may appreciate the importance of frequent service, but nothing drives home the point like waiting on a Metro platform with 100 other people only to watch a packed train arrive half an hour later.

Though buses can't match the speed and comfort of rail service, the frequency of bus shuttles this weekend might prove to be a significant, though temporary, transit improvement.

Join the Flickr group and submit your own photos! Photos will ideally depict either great or not-so-great features of a part of the Washington, DC region, showing people, roads, parks, stores or buildings as beautiful and lively places filled with people, or unsightly or desolate places that could be greater.

The bio-retention ponds are not permanent water features. They will collect some of the stormwater runoff to lessen the volume of water entering the city's treatment system. In times of low precipitation, the areas will serve as green space.

In examining the plans, in addition to the textured crosswalks, intersections will have the pedestrian area bumped out making the roadway narrower and giving walkers a less obstructed view of traffic. Corners will also get curb ramps.

Depending on location, sidewalks will consist of either brick, concrete pavers, permeable pavers, or concrete. The park areas will largely consist of brick walkways, whereas the high traffic area around the Metro station at Georgia and New Hampshire Avenues will use two types of concrete pavers laid down in a decorative pattern. The Metro site, as well as the space on the northeast corner of New Hampshire and Rock Creek Church Road, is also one of several areas scheduled to get additional trees.

The project will consist of roughly three phases starting at Webster Street and working south. The first phase now underway is the conduit work. This is estimated to reach the southern end of the project in about three to four weeks. When it is completed, work will move to the east side of Georgia, starting again at Webster and moving south to Otis Place, constructing curbs, landscaping, street lights, and other enhancements. Then, the process will be repeated on the west side of Georgia Avenue once again at Webster. According to DDOT, working in this manner is the most efficient and the least disruptive to the community.

Is there a precedent for renaming a station to be more inclusive of the communities around it? Yes. In 1999 the Woodley Park—Zoo station was renamed to Woodley Park—Zoo/Adams Morgan to help identify that the station also serves Adams Morgan.

However, whereas Adams Morgan's western border is 0.3 miles away from the station—and this is over the 750-foot-long Duke Ellington Bridge—Park View is only about 247 feet south of the station that ignores its existence.

Answering an inquiry on why this intersection was chosen for a station in the first place, Metro cites the location's long association with mass transit among the reasons that lead to its selection. If this is the case, Park View certainly played its part in helping to permanently establish Rock Creek Church Road, Georgia, and New Hampshire Avenues as a permanent stop for streetcars, then buses, and now Metro.

While there are numerous examples of the Park View Citizens' Association fighting for better streetcar service along Georgia Avenue, their most relevant accomplishment to this discussion occurred in 1914. It was in that year that the Citizens' Association took on the Utilities Commission to insist on a stop at Rock Creek Church Road for southbound trains. Prior to their plea to the Commissioners, streetcars only stopped at this location during their northbound journey.

Initially, the Commission rejected Park View's request. Not taking no for an answer, residents pressed their case and ultimately won in September of that year, causing the Commission to authorized the Washington Railway and Electric Company to establish a far-side stop at Georgia and Rock Creek Church Rd. That was the beginning of the intersection becoming the significant transportation hub that it is today.