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Eckington Civic Association9/10/18~34 attendeesWelcome & introductionsECA Officers Updates and Committee ReportsECA Treasury Update, ECA DuesECA Elections in DecemberNoMa park namingTanner Park, Alethia Browning TannerBreaking ground sometime this fall (pending permits), to open in 1-1.5 yearsEckington Day VolunteeringKatrina – had 600 people attend last year, doing it again this year. We’re in the beginning stages. Have secured 200 block of Randolph place – not a “trafficked” area – so don’t need the police department. Working on fundraising, getting final approval for location. Last year, raised about $6000, covered music, free food, activities. Looking for volunteers to help with planning processes, day-of activities. Date: October 27 (Saturday before Halloween) – 12;30-4:30Next ECA meeting (Oct 1) – inviting ANC candidates and any other candidates to present, so everyone can ask questions to help with the election process, learn about candidates and issues. NoMa putting up new signs, want to put up banners in Eckington – may say something like “NoMa & Eckington” – working on developing banners right now, should have design to share in next few weeks. Will have historic reflection of everything in NoMa and EckingtonElected OfficialsCouncilmember McDuffie’s representativeRecess until Sept 15, but introduced some bills in July. Hearing on judiciary and public safety coming up (Tues Sept 25); Thurs Sept 27 – public safety and transit hearing on vision zero (pedestrian public safetyQ – amendments to comprehensive plan – update?Got 3,000 suggested amendments, decided to do is write up and amend framework to comp plan, send that to council, so have not seen any analysis from office of planning. It’s expected that when it’s sent to council, it will come with analysis. Framework was sent and had hearing in spring, not sure if it will be brought up this fall or not – pass framework and then amendments come after. Not sure what the process will m Pinkney – office of planning is trying to review all 3,000 amendments and put them to a category and then share with community and then send to council. ANC5E UpdatesComm Powell out sickComm PinkneySuper Liquors: 1633 North Cap closed because of a lot of violations. Closed down b/c dangerous. But, Super Liquors still has valid license. SL has to pay back rent on lease and get into new space by the end of Sept, and then can reopen, but owner has written in that entrance will be on Lincoln rd.1613 Lincoln Rd – as was stated in the paper, is/was a drug haven. If a residential building has 2 strikes against it in one year (Police go in twice and find prostitution, drugs, or guns), attorney general steps in and takes owner to court; owner has to sign agreement that they will only have upstanding citizens in apartment building. Right now, building has problems- have to remove graffiti, electrical and plumbing work inside, clean up outside. Q – In reference to disrepair of building, garage that has been falling apart, is that under agreement to repair? And because they have sprayed graffiti on my wall, do I have to have that repainted?Don’t know exactly what is in agreement, but added some things that community would like to see – get rid of graffiti, keep front clean, get rid of trash, take trashcans to back of building, don’t know all that’s in it. Will share when she finds out. City will come out and remove graffiti for you. Q – when trash truck crashed into railing, I had to pay for it and submit paperwork to be reimbursed. Do I have to pay for this and get reimbursed? Two different things – one part of the city will deal with graffiti. City will come clean your wall for you. Call 311. 50 FL Ave – going up, bricking it in. One of the top units for a $1 million had been sold – had beautiful view, but didn’t realize 13 story building coming across the street. Exon station and parking lot are now one lot, going to build “crown jewel” of this area. Can go up 130 feet b/c it’s in NoMa – about 13 stories. No timeline yet – have only purchased landU st – church has been sold. Developer plans to do 4 condos; can go up another level by right, so that will place their condo equal to what’s already there. Have to pay to have soil checked, all of that – place used to be cleaners. MacReach (sp?) trash disposal company – corner of Lincoln Rd & T st – father passed away 2 years ago, sons took over company. After windstorm last year, cleaned it up, took down boards, Comm Pinkney sending flowers as thank you. 1705 North Capitol st- construction on roof falling off. Owner hired friends to renovate building; friends took money and left; got new contractor; building 2 apartments and putting retail on first floor – want to do restaurant on bottom level. Q – also doing illegal construction? No, they’re working on it, has proper permits. Eckington Historic Heritage Trail – working with Cultural DC, have first meeting on Oct 4; inviting neighbors to come out and share stories, talk about what you’d like to see in a marker, pictures from your parents’ home that you might be able to share. Will send out flier a few days earlier. Should be interesting. Rodent abatement – last week in October. Asking Jerrard Brown – manager of dept of health rodent abatement if he might consider using new solution that makes rodents sterile so they can’t reproduce any longer. Plan to start that plan in Georgetown. Q – is it possible to get copy of flier on other side of Eckington – want to pass out on other side of EckingtonNew bike share coming – not sure where it’s going to be, maybe at Lincoln & Quincey place – won’t work. Still looking for where to place near North Cap & FloridaHannah Powell – ANC CommissionerNoMa Park – has name, Tanner Park after Alethia Browning Tanner, woman who bought herself out of slavery and started the first DC school for black children. Also one of the first parks in DC named for a woman. Hoping to break ground soon, think 2020 is when they hope to have park vanished. Excited about prospect. District in the process of settling on design guidelines for small cell towers in DC – for 5th gen wireless- smaller towers, design guidelines out for comment until mid-October. A lot of the small cell towers are attached to lampposts, or may go in alleys, utility poles. Something you will see every day, so wanted to raise. Hope it will be an opportunity to replace aging lamp posts in DC. Some are in the middle of sidewalks, create mobility challenges. MRP Realty (Matthew Robinson – MRP)Site of “Washington Gateway” next to Elevation apartments. Last year, got PUD to change north tower to residential, approve south tower for office or residential use. Showed facades for office building, while use is approved for residential, if changing to residential, would need to re-share designAlso minor discrepancy in land size, fixing up permitsSquare footage is same as approved for office building – 241 units, 3,000 sq ft of retail; overall density stays the sameReduced width of building by 11’, same height but added 1 extra floor; units still have 10’ ceiling heightsOverall mass & configuration is about the same, still have setback along FL avePrior meeting, lots of discussion about relationship between building & MBT trail – trail connection lobby – had planned on enclosed space, made open air – as part of this modification, keeping lobby for bikes/pedestrian – same location, size, got a little tallerAdding more landscape along trail – trees and lightpoles along path, also bigger apron in front of trail lobby, so more space to get on or off bikeArchitecture – mixture of concrete panels and metal panels; retail along FL ave with stone baseTrying to activate bike lobby – have fitness center along one side, lobby on other side opens into bike lobby to put more eyes on itQ – can you explain reason for shift?Trying to get office financed for 2 years, and have been unsuccessful – hard to get speculative office at that size financed. When we wen through PUD had stricter schedule for timing, had to agree to tighter deadline – file for permits in 2 years, start construction in 3, so don’t have time to wait for tenant. Right now, residential space is financeableWill amount of affordable bousing increase?Under office space, no affordable housing; Now- 8 at 60% AMITotal units – North – 280 units, south 241 units; in process of drawing North tower to try to start construction next summer; opening 2 years later (south building may be off-schedule – have to go through PUD modification process)Change in retail? Is there going to be a temporary connection while N building is being construction?If we build N tower but not South, would have temporary connection; but during connection, would be unsafe to build temporary connection. Trying to get south tower to be 6 months behind North tower, so can minimize construction time period. Will there be parking in buildings?Yes, parking in both buildings. Existing garage entrances will serve garages under all 3 buildingsRetail – more retail than before – whole FL ave frontage. Q- how much is apartments vs condos?Anticipated to be all apartments?Update on development at 4th and RIA – Foreman Mills?Filed for building permits, working w /general ocntractors, should be back to ECA as we figure out more construction logistics; hope to be in position to start moving dirt by end of this year. Moving along well right now. Q – that project started as planned unit development, not doing that now?PUD appealed, new zoning law changed and ther was ways to stay within that. Did get TIF that included community benefits that were similar to PUD without going through PUD. Q – traffic management plan during construction?They will need to come in off FL ave – that often means they come down Rt 50, down Bladensburg, turn onto FL to come in, some route like that is typical. Will have more detail for logistic plans for siteQ – how can we work together to improve Dave Thomas Circle?Everyone has a vested interest in that, know Hannah Powell has made that a personal mission. Would love to see something there. Came up with name Washignton Gateway in 2005, this is on eof the first big buildings, added sculptures on NY Ave, and then come into Wendys….there should be a better way to enter into dense urban core of city. Comm Pinkney – more people coming into city, need to be readyQ – when are you going to zoning board, do you need a vote?Not asking for a vote right now; going to zoning board next week, will find out what they want to do next. Some confusion around lobby being open-air – think they’re reducing quality of it; but my recollection is that we want it to be open-air, want OP to fix that piece. Comm Pinkney – ANC is on the record about wanting it to have additional hoursEckington Yards JBG Update (Mike Nevatni and Dylan Bennet)Construction project that is imminently ready to start, working out detailsPUD approved in May 2016 for 4 buildings, 681 residential units, 224 units for sale. 75k SF retail space, Brooklyn Boulders – climbing gym (35k SF), 3 level climbing facility, juice bar – in SW buildingUnion Kitchen – 24k SF – large commissary space, 3k SF grocery – incubator for chefs, will have kiosks along woonerf, be able to sell food, Breaking ground soon; demo will take a couple of months, and then begin excavation. Lots of activity by Octber. CBG as contractor (Clark Builders Group), very reputable firm, largest builder in this area. Will intro community contact, looking to have trailor next to Cube Smart. Questions – where is for-sale; where is parkWhat percent is affordable? 8%, dispersed throughoutRetail along woonerf – included as part of union kitchenDesign inspiration – old railroad yardsShowed design, industrial aesthetic; view of roofsAt least half of Woonerf – retail along first half, then more residential on the second half, then some retail facing parkCentral plaza, want to create publicly accessible space, hopefully really coolQ – for the rest of the retail, do you have any other large leases, or how many other businesses are you looking for?2 smaller spaces in NW building, 2 1500 sq ft spaces- looking for maybe a couple of restaurants, coffee shop, something like that. TBD – retail brokers were very busy getting first two leasesDatesBegin demolition Q3 2018Begin excavation Q4 2018Begin building construction early 2019Substantial completion late 2020/early 2021For people who live adjacent to building – 3 cranes required for process, showed circumference of crane swings. Need to work through process with neighbors and crane swing agreement – ensures that we provide insurance coverage, indemnifications, proper precautions so you’re protected. We’ll be mailing to homewoners who are impacted in the next week or so. If anyone has questions, we’ll have contact info, spoke with Mike A previously – b/c so many homes, if we can have a collective discussion that would be more efficient, but will work however. Digging hole along side, have to shore up hold – preferred method is to use tiebacks – small steel cables and dig hole that goes away from everything, about 30’ outside of site, steel cables hold up wall so nothing collapses. Will include tieback agreement along with crane swing agreement. Tiebacks go under public alley and beyond public alley, but doesn’t reach homes; is standard practice in much of the construction around DC. 17 homes along edge, will be following up with homeowners. Putting in piles for shoring – will take 2 weeks, about 2 days along homes. That’s where you take steel piles and drive them into ground – that’s the noisiest part of construction; will do as quickly as possible and move on. Question50 FL ave – 182 condos, this project has driven the people on Q st nuts with pounding, homes have cracking, alley walls have had damage. If you have an easier way of doing this, that’s wonderful – but I’ve been on Q st a lot in the last 2 years. They only had 1 crane. Crane – a load will never be placed outside of 4 walls of our property; but when the cranes are not working, they have to be “weather vaned” so they can spin around so don’t topple w/ high winds. With crane & tie back agreement, is there protection for residents from structural damage?That’s the intent of the agreement – insurance and proper protection. Will do photo surveys and seismic vibration monitoringDon’t do photos inside homes, but will survey site around it, put vibration monitors around site to detect if there’s potential issues.Who monitors vibration monitors?Third party, coordinated with contractorCan you talk about construction manager who will be our point of contact? My guess is it’s Delores, she’ll be taking lead role on project going forward – she will be here in future meetings. CBG will have a contact as well.Do tiebacks remain in place?They do – they’re only designed to last a year. After a year, they detension and stay in place. At the furthest point, they’ll be 21’ underground. Should be no issues from it. Are you going to widen alley?No, going to stay as is. Will have a period where we will offer temporary parking for homes along alleyway – will try to minimize that as much as possible, but will be 2-3 months. We will have egress access, but 4-5’ wide pedestrian access, not vehicle access- enough construction happening there that we have to close alley. Will likely provide parking at Gale, will have to walk.Concern that it may not be safe – as someone has been robbed at gunpoint, concerned about walking late at night. Will have to walk along construction site and storage facility to get home. Consider security escorts, cameras. Trash cans sit in alley – will we be able to keep trash cans there once building is built? Not taking public alley, not narrowing it, will remain as is – so can keep trashcansTiebacks – how do you get them into the ground?Drill holes and then run steel inAre the piles drilled or driven? They’re driven into ground. Vertical piles get pounded into groundAre you available after meeting to discuss further w/ neighborsCost – the townhomes will sell for? Condos – don’t know for sure, market driven, average $600k range; multi-level townhomes are much bigger (13-1400 sq ft), upper $900k rangeAffordable homes around $250k, not sure about townhomesEckington Day Planning (optional) ................
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