Monday, 02/26/2018
Bloomingdale Civic Association meeting
St. George’s Episcopal Church, 160 U Street NW
BCA board members present: Teri Janine Quinn, Serita Sanders, Angela Prentice, Bertha Holliday, Robert Brannum, Sherry Howard, Scott Roberts
Approximately 80 people attended.
Ms. Quinn opened the meeting at 7:10 pm.
Community representatives #1
Temi Bennett of Ward 5 Councilmember’s office introduced herself. She reported that she was replacing Cyril Croker, who is longer on the councilmember’s staff.
Pepco
Ms. Quinn advised that Pepco will attend the April 2018 BCA meeting to discuss the electric improvement project across the city. She said that Pepco wants to spend 45-minutes at the April 2018 meeting.
Traffic calming
Ms. Quinn said there is interest in traffic calming all along 1st Street NW, particularly north of Rhode Island Avenue NW. She said that there has not been progress with much DDOT turnover. She mentioned that DDOT is having a council performance oversight hearing tomorrow.
150 S Street NW
Dr. Holliday in her role as ANC 5E07 Commissioner provided some background on the historic landmark nomination of the Eritrean church at 150 S Street NW (2nd and S Street NW) – St. Paul’s Methodist Episcopal Church South.
It was noted that the HPRB hearing is March 22, 2018.
The developer and architect said that they were initially advised that the church building was not historic, but then the DC Preservation League filed its landmark nomination, which resulted in the revocation of the DCRA raze permit.
Architect Jim Foster said that the developer would like to oppose the landmark nomination. The intention was to raze the church and create four attached buildings with two units each – for a total of 8 units. The entire lot would be subdivided into multiple lots, which is permitted by right. Each unit would have three floors and a cellar. There would be eight parking spaces, but there may be four additional parking spaces for neighboring houses. Some neighbors have balked about the contemporary design presented in the architectural renderings.
The architect then displayed a top-view of what the project would be in the church were to be retained. He said that he perceives that the HPRB will want three of four walls to be retained. The church building would be developed into two units.
The developer promoted the first plan with the raze of the church over the plan with the landmarked church, as the latter would not allow owner parking.
Rebecca Miller of the DC Preservation League said that some Bloomingdale neighbors contacted DCPL about the church building, which lead to the landmark nomination. She said that the church merits historic designation. She briefly described the social history of Bloomingdale. She said that the BCA met at St. Paul’s Methodist Episcopal Church South. The 1953 addition of the original church is not part of the landmark nomination. DCPL met with the developer and architect last Wednesday. She described how the landmark process works.
The HPRB hearing will be March 22, 2018.
Public safety update
MPD PSA 501 Sgt. Fawzi, Sgt Jaquez and Sgt. Brown provided a brief crime report.
Sgt. Brown reviewed recent PSA 501 crimes. She said that some school kids are committing thefts in NoMa. A neighbor asked about six gunshots on Sunday morning at 5 am. A neighbor reported on tags on Crispus Attucks Park garage doors. Another neighbor commented on alley cameras catching guys checking out cars parked off the alleys. Sgt. Fawzi suggested 50411 to text descriptions of suspicious people.
BCA Scholarship Committee
Ms. Quinn solicited volunteers for the BCA Scholarship Committee. The current scholarship fund is about $2000 short.
Bloomingdale historic designation survey postcard results
Ms. Quinn advised that there were 48 postcards that were postmarked after the stated deadline. She then asked if the postcards postmarked after the deadline should be included in the total survey postcard results.
Mr. Brannum made a motion to reject the inclusion of the postcards postmarked after the deadline. The motion was seconded. The motion passed – 21 in support, 10 in opposition.
Survey results (unverified)
Total number of postcards mailed out: 3107
Total number of postcards received by the survey vendor: 516
Do you support Bloomingdale historic district designation/Yes: 234
Do you not support Bloomingdale historic district designation/No: 282
Ms. Quinn mentioned that the HPRB hearing will likely be in May 2018.
The BCA will take a vote at the March 2018 meeting.
Ms. Prentice reported that the current membership is 135.
Community representatives #2
Ward 5 MOCRS Hakeem Rogers and Romney Makle of the Mayor’s Office reported that the Mayor Barry statue dedication is this Saturday.
The meeting ended at 9:15 pm.
Motion summary
| Motion # | Motion | Results of motion |
| 1 | Robert Brannum offered a motion that the BCA not include postcards postmarked after the deadline. The motion was seconded. The motion passed 21 to 10. | Passed |