Bloomingdale Civic Association
General Membership Meeting
Monday, February 27, 2017 7:00 PM
St. George’s Episcopal Church, 160 U Street NW
Minutes
Executive Board in Attendance: Teri Janine Quinn, Horacio Sierra, Scott Roberts, Angela Prentice, Scott Roberts, Sherry Howard, Serita Sanders, Bertha Holliday, and Rosarie Tucci.
Meeting Commenced at 7:03 pm
- Sgt. Brown and Lt. Jones from PSA 501 provided us with a public safety update.
- DPW provided an update on senior exemptions during snow removal days.
ASK FOR STREETSWEEPING SUSPENSION TO BE RESCINDED
- Jeremey Farrell, Scholarship Committee.
- Charlie Collins spoke about the Health and Recreation Committee.
- Bertha spoke about the House Tour Committee.
- Solicitation for a new Corresponding Secretary.
- Sherry presented the Treasurer’s Report.
- Historic Preservation Voting Options were presented by Serita Sanders. She outlined a timeline in
respect to distributing surveys and collecting votes that would stretch from March through April. The voting will be open only to homeowners, specifically the individual(s) listed on their property deed. There were questions about allowing ranked voting or asking for a second round of votes since there are three options. One person suggested that there be two questions: 1) Do you want things to remain the same or for there to be a change? 2) If you want a change, do you want it to be historic designation or partial restriction? Someone else asked about more information about how the Office of Planning for Special Zoning.
A motion was made by Angela and seconded to send the survey to the residents. The floor was open to discussion on the emotion. A friendly amendment was made and accepted to change the order of options to 1) Historic, 2) Special Zoning, and 3) No change. Mark Mueller said he called Office of Planning about the Special Zoning and they said they could not make a suggestion because each neighborhood’s issues are vastly different and wording is important in respect to terms such as “less restrictive” and “less enforced.” Bertha Holliday voiced various concerns about what she calls inaccuracies in the survey. Teri made a friendly amendment that was accepted to bring in a third-party, unbiased party to handle the distribution and counting of votes. Rosarie Tucci made a friendly amendment that was rejected to bring in a third-party, unbiased party to revise the document so it appears less biased. Joe made a friendly amendment to change the wording that says “less restrictive” in the Special Zoning option and add the Historic Designation description to include the SCOTUS decision based on exclusionary zoning. Angela accepted the wording that says “less restrictive” but no the SCOTUS mention in the Historic Designation description. A friendly amendment was made to keep it an either-or vote for or against Historic Designation but it was not accepted. The question was called and seconded. The vote was 39-1 to end discussion. The vote for the motion was 22 in favor and 26 in opposition.
A motion was made to postpone further action until there is more information about what special zoning will entail. A friendly amendment was made and accepted to have it in writing and a public presentation with Office of Planning in attendance. Motion was withdrawn.
A motion was made by Mark Mueller to distribute a survey asking whether homeowners want Historic Designation or not. There will be a line saying we’ll give an application to the Historic Review Board and Office of Planning for an official hearing and all the subsequent work done by the Office of Planning notifies the community of a hearing to attend wherein they can voice their support or opposition to Historic Designation. A friendly amendment was made that if the vote is “no” from the community then BCA would not apply for an application. The friendly amendment was not accepted. Bertha made a friendly amendment that at our next meeting we have Office of Planning and Office of Zoning present on “Special Zoning” and subsequently distribute a survey that includes all three options. Mark only accepted the part for the Office of Planning meeting. Teri made a friendly amendment that the meeting be a special meeting apart from the regular BCA Meeting before the vote. A motion was made and seconded to end discussion and call the vote. The motion passed 35-5. The motion passed 29-10.
Meeting adjourned at 9:03 p.m.
Minutes recorded by Horacio Sierra