Month: September 2011

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ANC6B & its SMDs Get Scrambled

The Ward 6 ANC Redistricting Task Force (TF) has completed its work and will now be reporting back to Councilmember Wells, who appointed its members.  At this point, ANC6B has not fared very well, to say the least.  Several blocks north of Independence Avenue SE have been given to ANC6C, and the TF has created a Single Member District (SMD) boundaries map for what remains of 6B (without a formal vote on it by 6B Commissioners).

The TF map is here: http://bit.ly/q9RGlO It places current 6B01 Commissioner David Garrison within 6C while reducing 6B from 10 SMDs down to 9.  [Artifact: Since the 2000 Census redistricting, 6B has had 11 SMDs but one of them is the DC Jail so it effectively has been a 10-member commission.  During the 2010 Census Ward redistricting process, the jail ended up in Ward 7.]

According to the TF approved map, I live in SMD06.  If I run again in 2012 and win, I would represent an area bounded by 11th (on the west), 15th (east), C (north), and G (south) Streets SE and including a strip I find difficult to even describe.  Only 4 blocks of my current SMD04 are included in this new SMD06.  Thus, many of the residents I have come to know and issues I have worked on for the last 4 years (such as, Marine Barracks, Lower 8th, Hill Center, Barracks Row, Performance based parking, and so on) would be outside my district, beginning in January 2013.  The same type of situation exists for  just about every other current 6B Commissioner’s SMD.  In two cases, existing Commissioners would have to run against one another in 2012.

If 6B has to live with the borders voted on by the TF, I prefer this 6B alternate SMD map which was also prepared but rejected by the TF.  It does not change the SMD in which I live so radically but does create a 9-member commission.  I have not analyzed how the other current 6B SMDs are affected by this map.

I do not know how the other Ward 6 ANC’s & their SMDs have fared in this process but I suspect better than 6B has.

But, the game is NOT over.  It is now Ward 6 Councilmember Wells turn to have his say on how he thinks the ANCs in his Ward ought to be organized.  At this point, I do not have information on how his process will unfold.

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Next Up for Hine Redevelopment?

The first phase of historic preservation review of redevelopment plans for the Hine site on Capitol Hill concluded on August 4, 2011, with the third Historic Preservation Review Board hearing.  The Historic Preservation Office and HPRB have put together a summary of the design issues that remain to be addressed.  These Hine Outstanding Issues will probably be  dealt with once the zoning review phase is concluded.

The city, ANC6B, community, and developers of the project (Stanton-Eastbanc) will move into the Planned Unit Development (PUD) phase of the review sometime this Fall.  This is where all the zoning issues are settled by the Zoning Commission.  The PUD process is a bit complex.  I suggest you visit the blog of Commissioner Norman Metzger and read his PUD 101 tutorial to better understand the how’s and why’s of a PUD.  Bottom line?  The developers will be asking for some type of “zoning relief” and to obtain it will be expected to provide commensurate “benefits” to the community.

[Update 12 Oct: Last night ANC6B voted 5-3 to establish a special subcommittee on Hine Redevelopment to lead the Commission’s work on gathering community input and developing its position on the PUD.  Commissioner Ivan Frishberg, who proposed the initiative, was elected Chair of the subcommittee and now has the authority to select a Vice-chair.  The ANC6B Chair Neil Glick and the Chair and Vice-chair of the subcommittee will propose a slate of resident members for the subcommittee to be voted on by the full Commission at its meeting in November.  I offered an amendment to change that clause to enable all 6B Commissioners to nominate resident members but it failed on a tie vote.  For the resolution’s full text, see Resolution on Hine PUD Subcommittee Oct2011]

By the way, you can find the 3 ANC6B historic preservation resolutions on Hine on the 6B website in the Library section.  I voted against the first two because I felt they were biased toward the narrow views of a very small segment of the community.  I and two other Commissioners testified at the 2nd HPRB hearing and got into a lot of over hyped trouble because of it from our fellow Commissioners.  I voted in favor of the 3rd resolution because the majority on the Commission agreed to substantial compromises.  Still, I would have testified at the 3rd hearing but, alas, I was out of town that day.

Still need even more info?  All of the HPRB documents regarding Hine are posted on their Agendas and Reports website.  Find and click on the hearing dates of April 28, June 30, and August 4.  There you will find the relevant Staff Report and the HPRB Actions document.