Monday, 03/19/2018
Bloomingdale Civic Association meeting
St. George’s Episcopal Church, 160 U Street NW
BCA officers in attendance: Teri Janine Quinn, Angela Prentice, Sherry Howard, Serita Sanders, Bertha Holliday, Robert Brannum, Scott Roberts
About 160 people in attendance.
A long queue of people took about a half hour to sign in at tonight’s meeting.
The meeting started at 7:35 pm.
Public safety
PSA 501 Sergeant Brown reported that a package thief has been arrested. Two mountain bicycle officers seized a gun on the unit block of N Street NW.
Community representatives
Marita Crawford Riddick, staff assistant in Ward 5 Councilmember McDuffie’s office, directed people to the DC Council oversight hearings. She advised that Kelly Cislo is the Constituent Services director, who was unable to attend tonight’s meeting.
150 S Street NW
Ms. Quinn reported that the HPRB hearing has been delayed at the request of the owner. The HPRB hearing was intended to be this Thursday, 03/22/2018. Dr. Holliday reported that a group of nearby neighbors recently met with the developer. She reviewed what the developers presented at the last BCA meeting. Two development options omit the church building and a third option would retain the church. The options that include razing the building would have eight parking spaces; the development option that includes keeping the church building would not have any parking. A BCA vote could be next month.
DC Water meeting
This Thursday DC Water meeting this Thursday at Mt. Sinai Baptist Church.
Mr. Brannum advised that a Ward 5 DC Water Town Hall meeting is coming up in 04/19/2018.
Howard University gentrification interviews
Commissioner McClelland advised that HU is seeking neighbors to interview on gentrification.
Bloomingdale neighborhood clean-up day
Ms. Quinn advised that the annual neighborhood clean-up day is slated for Saturday, 04/21/2018. She said that there is no Beautification Committee chair this year. She asked for volunteers. Jean-Christophe Deverines and another neighbor volunteered. She said that the plant list from the past two years is available.
BCA Scholarship Committee
Ms. Quinn solicited volunteers – about four to five people – to work on this year’s BCA scholarship program. She said that the prior year’s registration forms, etc. are available. The goal is to distribute two $1,500 scholarships each year to two students.
Installation of bicycle lanes on 1st Street NW (or other DDOT options)
Dr. Holliday advised that DDOT asked her, as ANC5E07 Commissioner, of her opinion regarding the installation of bicycle lanes on 1st Street NW – between New York Avenue NW to Rhode Island Avenue NW and possibly to Michigan Avenue NW.
Dr. Holliday listed the specific options:
- Create bicycle lanes and eliminate parking on one side of 1st Street NW
2 Create bicycle lanes and eliminate one lane of traffic, that is, make 1st Street NW one-way??)
- Create several mini-roundabouts and integrate bicyclists into ‘general use lanes’, that is, no bicycle lanes)
Dr. Holliday encouraged broad resident input on this matter.
Bloomingdale historic district vote
Ms. Quinn provided a brief summary of the BCA historic designation efforts. Last summer, the BCA decided to either support or not support historic district designation. She said that a group of neighbors independent of the BCA filed a landmark nomination with the DC Office of Planning Historic Preservation Office. She reviewed that the BCA survey results were in opposition. She clarified that the BCA is not married to the survey vote results.
There was a motion to move directly on to the vote without preliminary discussion. The motion was seconded. The motion passed.
A neighbor asked why non-homeowners were being allowed to vote. Ms. Quinn clarified that the vote is by BCA members and not homeowners. There was no vote count, but the overwhelming result was in favor of this motion.
Ms. Quinn described the voting process. She said voting members would drop their white index card in the Yes box to indicate support – and drop their white index card in the No box to indicate opposition.
The voting process took about 10 minutes.
Ms. Quinn described the process going forward. She said that ANC5E would likely take a vote. She advised meeting attendees that property owners would receive HPBR hearing notification letters in advance of the hearing.
Ms. Quinn shared the results of the vote:
Yes: 79
No: 60
The meeting ended at 8:40 pm.
Motion summary
| Motion # | Motion | Results of motion |
| 1 | A motion was made to move directly to the BCA historic district vote without preliminary discussion on the topic. The motion was seconded. The motion overwhelmingly passed in support. | Passed |
| 2 | No motion was made or passed; Ms. Quinn suggested that a simple up/down vote be taken independent of the motion process, which no one objected to. | The results of this vote: 79 in support and 60 not in support |