[Mintwood-place] parking & alleys on Mintwood

[matt forman]

The portion of the Little estate that is now Mintwood Place was sold to Lawrence Sands, who was apparently the husband of John Little's daughter, Margaret Little Sands.  In 1884, Sands subdivided that parcel into the street itself and lots with no alleys. The lots he created on the south side of Mintwood immediately abutted the remaining Little estate that is now the park.  I can only guess that the developer of the land north of the Mintwood lots (now Biltmore) decided to dedicate a portion of his subdivision to alley use to benefit the lots he was creating, which incidentally benefitted the north side Mintwood lots who would not have otherwise had an alley. 

As to parking, see www.dcoz.dc.gov, chapter 21.  The parking requirement is not limited to dwelling units. Many zoning uses require parking, including inns, retail, schools, churches, etc., so the inn may have had an waiver.  But the addition of dwelling units does impose a parking requirement again.  However, there is an exception permitted for historic districts.  Presumably, the policy is that requiring parking might necessitate the altering of historic buildings, and that historic preservation outweighs parking.  

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: John Cloud 
  To: Denis James ; mintwood-place at lists.mutualaid.org 
  Sent: Friday, July 30, 2010 2:59 PM
  Subject: Re: [Mintwood-place] some info on 1852-54 Mintwood project


  Denis/Cynthia:

  I'm just curious about the "parking waiver for 7 parking spaces". I would guess that long ago there was an alley or street behind Mintwood, since otherwise that whole line of townhouses would have lacked back access/tradesmen's entrances, etc.Presumably the alley "went away" in conjuction with establishing Kalorama Park? (Any idea, Kalorama Park historian-types?) By that federal/District action, does that mean that all the other houses on that side of Mintwood without parking also have waivers for parking spaces?  Or does that rule/waiver of the rule apply only to new construction?




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  From: Denis James <denisjames at verizon.net>
  To: mintwood-place at lists.mutualaid.org
  Sent: Fri, July 30, 2010 2:00:08 PM
  Subject: [Mintwood-place] some info on 1852-54 Mintwood project


  Three members of the Kalorama Citizens Association Executive Committee (VP and Mintwood resident Bob Ellsworth, Treasurer Ted Guthrie and myself) visited the DC Historic Preservation Office yesterday and met with Architectural Historian Anne Brockett (if you have questions, contact her at: anne.brockett at dc.gov or (202) 442-8842) to view the plans for this project, which is located within the Kalorama Triangle Historic District.



  We learned the following that may be of interest to neighbors:



  It is a matter of right project and has already been approved by the DC Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB);



  There will be 13 condo units built;



  Though the developer will remove rear additions and then build on in the rear and add a partial new fourth story setback from the front so as not to be visible from the street, the building will still fall within the 60% lot occupancy requirement;



  The floor area ratio (FAR) does not exceed that allowed by the zoning of Mintwood Place;



  The developer has asked the Zoning Administrator for a parking waver for 7 parking spaces. Zoning regs require there to be one off-street space for every two dwelling units constructed. As there is no public alley on that side of Mintwood, the other row-houses essentially have the same “right” of not having to provide parking on their lots;



  The new portions of construction in the rear will have a brick veneer;



  The basements will be dug out to provide more headroom. This will require underpinning. The developer is obligated to inform neighbors with shared party walls of this element of the construction.



  Denis James

  KCA President

  (202) 232-8829





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