Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC 6B) met virtually via WebEx May 10. Commissioners Jennifer Samolyk (6B01), Gerald Sroufe (6B02), Brian Ready (6B03), Kristen Oldenburg (6B04), Steve Holtzman (6B05), Corey Holman (6B06), Edward Ryder (6B07), Peter Wright (6B08), Alison Horn (6B09) and Denise Krepp (6B10) were all in attendance.
In early May, the Project Glow Festival took place on the RFK parking lot festival grounds and loud music from the event was reportedly heard across the District and into Maryland. Commissioner Jennifer Samolyk (6B01) said she personally experienced the noise and emphasized the importance of addressing the issue for families and community members across the city.
“A lot of it seemed to end around 11 o’clock at night, but when you have kids that’s tough,” Samolyk said. “I’m not sure how it carried, but it was thumping through my house.”
Commissioner Denise Krepp (6B10) expressed concern about the noise and while she acknowledged that the venue was not in 6B, she said its residents are significantly impacted due to their close proximity to the stadium.
“The last three weekends have been pretty hellacious in the community because of the noise and the traffic and the lack of parking enforcement created by the events held at parking lot five,” Krepp said. “Parking lot five is now in (ANC) 7F, but the people who bore the burden of what happened over the past three weekends are in (ANC) 6B09 and 6B10.”
Krepp said she wants to host a meeting with representatives from the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) and Events DC regarding the issues facing the residents of 6B.
Commissioner Holtzman (6B05) said many residents reached out to him and expressed interest in attending such a meeting and in working to prevent future events from being so disruptive to the neighboring communities.
“I want to emphasize this was a problem for a large portion of Capitol Hill at lesser degrees, but I had I think 15 emails from constituents, so there’s a lot of support for this and a lot of us will be interested and we want to help,” Holtzman said in response to Krepp’s proposal for a meeting with city officials.
Finnell said that Councilmember Gray has been in contact with Events DC and is working with them regarding the complaints. She said commissioners and the community are “welcome to forward any concerns or complaints to (Gray’s) office,” regarding the noise, traffic and trash issues.
At this time, the meeting will not be an official ANC organized meeting but rather a meeting organized by Commissioner Krepp.
Budget Updates
The DC Council took its first of two votes on the $18 billion fiscal year (FY) 2023 budget on May 10. Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen (D) attended the ANC meeting and spoke about the funds that benefit Ward 6, and specifically to items located in 6B. The council will take its final vote on the budget May 24.
The current budget includes fully funding the next six years of improvement at Eastern Market in addition to the more than $700 million in funds to support the modernization of several schools in 6B. Both Brent Elementary (301 North Carolina Ave SE) and Tyler Elementary (1001 G St SE), Allen said, are in need of a “full modernization” and these have both been fully funded.
The Eastern Market Metro Plaza (EMMP) park project also will receive $150,000 annually for programming development. Additionally, the budget will provide a full renovation of Fort DuPont ice arena, including funding for two sheets of ice.
The District’s uptick in crime has made policing and public safety an important issue for residents and the council alike. Allen addressed this portion of the budget while acknowledging the council did not approve every item proposed. Allen said that notable components of the budget include a $20,000 signing bonus to help with both recruitment and retention of officers at MPD and additional supports for hiring.
“The budget I think fully funds our public safety response, which I know is a high priority for everyone here,” Allen said. “In particular, from an MPD perspective, it is going to support the hiring for every officer that Chief Contee and the Mayor asked for, so that’s going to be those officers and cadets coming in. There was also a significant amount of retention and recruitment funding that goes into that.”
Allen said while no budget would be perfect, he was pleased with what this budget could do for Ward 6 and communities across the District.
“I’m excited about what this budget represents,” Allen said. “It’s a big budget.”
Hill East communities to the east of 15th Street, including those currently represented by 6B09 and 6B10 are now part of Ward 7. Tamika Finnell, Constituent Services Deputy Director for Ward 7 Councilmember Vincent Gray (D), highlighted the investments in Ward 7 contained in the upcoming year’s budget.
The Therapeutic Recreation Center (3030 G St SE), the only recreation center east of the river, has been funded for modernization including indoor pools, a technology room and many additional amenities. For interim planning purposes, funds were also requested by Gray to ensure that the services unavailable during the renovation construction, expected to be completed in 2023, are still available to residents at alternate locations.
Additionally, the new River Terrace Recreation Center received $20 million in funding. Finnell said this is especially important as River Terrace is geographically isolated and there is a lack of spaces for youth in the neighborhood, which this will address.
Additional Items:
- Commissioner Steve Holtzman (6B05) introduced the idea of a public meeting on noise in public spaces during the Livable Community Task Force update. If anyone has ideas about a meeting regarding these issues, please contact Commissioner Holtzman.
- Commissioner Brian Ready (6B03) will be stepping down as the chair of the Capitol Hill Working Interest Group. He plans to send an email to Commissioners to gauge interest of resident members or residents to Chair the group.
The commission voted unanimously to:
- Approve all ABC committee cases for renewal licensing for the following establishments:
- Matchbox (521 Eighth St. SE),
- American Legion (224 D St. SE),
- Hunan Dynasty (215 Pennsylvania Ave. SE)
- Beuchert’s Saloon (623 Pennsylvania Ave SE), District Taco (656 Pennsylvania Ave. SE)
- Nooshi Capitol Hill (524 Eighth St SE)
- La Lomita Restaurant (1330 Pennsylvania Ave. SE)
- Radici (301 Seventh St SE)
- Lavagna (539 Eighth St SE)
- The Hill Center (921 Pennsylvania Ave. SE),; and
- Torai Grill and Sushi (751 Eighth St SE)
- Support Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA) applications, including requests for:
- A special exception to construct a second-story accessory garage addition to an existing two-story dwelling unit at 1208 D St SE.
- A special exception to construct a second-story rear addition to an existing, attached two story dwelling unit at 109 11 St. SE.
- A two story addition with cellar under existing house and a two-story carriage house to replace one-story garage at 639 A St SE.
- A two story addition to the rear of the house and one story addition on the garage at 135 Kentucky Ave SE.
- A partial roof deck above an existing house, replacement of cellar windows, front windows and front steps at 510 9th St SE.
- Send a letter of support for a notice of intent to make intersection improvements to DDOT regarding Street, 14th Street and Kentucky Ave.
- Send a letter expressing support for the work the Office of Planning (OP) is doing to analyze potential for increasing alley and accessory building housing units.
- Send a letter to the DC Office of Zoning (DCOZ) regarding the rezoning of 1323 E St SE from PDR to residential.
- Approve the nomination of Clair August as a resident member of the 6B05 Transportation Committee.
ANC 6B will meet again via WebEx on June 14 at 7 p.m. You can register for the meeting and read more about the commission at https://anc6b.org/.
Sarah Payne is a general assignment reporter for Capital Community News. She can be reached at sarahp@hillrag.com.
