[Mintwood-place] ANC likely to vote on the First Church of Christ Scientist hotel project this Wednesday

Mon Mar 5 10:25:46 EST 2012

Re: "The church has made it clear 
that if the project fails and there is no landmark, they will likely 
tear the church down.  It is quite possible that on that site an even 
larger building will emerge".

Hotel boosters don't do their cause any good by threatening blackmail, in which the community is warned to give in to this specific mega-development plan, lest we get something completely undefined but even worse in response.  That just makes no sense at all.  The reality is that the District long ago declared the main purpose of the area of the Reed-Cook Overlay was to to be residential housing and the kinds of small businesses that complemented residents in living in that neighborhood. That is the zoning in place right now. I think the great majority of the people who live in or adjacent to the overlay would thoroughly agree with that plan, if they were ever asked.  

But the point is, we were never asked.  The Admo Millionaires Hotel has been thrust upon the 'hood from the top down, starting with the developers and the integrity-challenged DC Council, especially Councilman Graham.  But this also includes the relatively spineless ANC-1C, chaired by a Graham employee with an obvious conflict of interest (Wilson Reynolds) who has never recused himself once from any vote over the hotel.  Since the ANC-1C has approved the hotel scheme at every single previous stage it was put before them, I wouldn't get my hopes up too high that somehow they are miraculously going to see the light now.  

What will doom the hotel scheme is: (1) the very old law of Location, Location, Location, which is to say the entire scheme is just a really dumb idea for what to do at Champlain and Euclid Streets in that neighborhood, and (2) it's hard to see how the scheme can continue if it loses its great champion, Councilman Graham, who might be indicted any day now.  In that context, the ANC-1C is just little grass blades shaking in the breeze.  Just show up at the meeting and blow on them and watch them bend.

________________________________
 From: "ahhjlh at verizon.net" <ahhjlh at verizon.net>
To: Denis James <denisjames at verizon.net>; "maryjbelcher at comcast.net" <maryjbelcher at comcast.net>; 'Cynthia Pols' <polscm at aol.com> 
Cc: 'mintwood place' <mintwood-place at lists.mutualaid.org> 
Sent: Monday, March 5, 2012 9:23 AM
Subject: Re: [Mintwood-place] ANC likely to vote on the First Church of Christ Scientist hotel project this Wednesday

The church has made it clear that if the project fails and there is no landmark, they will likely tear the church down.  It is quite possible that on that site an even larger building will emerge, and we will lose another reminder of the history of our neighborhood and a very well-designed roman style church.  Things are not easy, and neither are choices, but the church is important and the possible future scenario worse.  Ann Hargrove

>________________________________
> From: Denis James <denisjames at verizon.net>
>To: maryjbelcher at comcast.net; 'Cynthia Pols' <polscm at aol.com> 
>Cc: 'mintwood place' <mintwood-place at lists.mutualaid.org> 
>Sent: Monday, March 5, 2012 9:04 AM
>Subject: Re: [Mintwood-place] ANC likely to vote on the First Church of Christ Scientist hotel project this Wednesday
> 
>
> 
>Mary is correct. The owners of the
Church building, the congregation of that branch of the Church of Christ Scientist, don’t want the building “Landmarked” until approval of the
whole project is forthcoming. That approval would enable their big payday. If
the approval is something less than what has been requested, and the potential “profits”
aren’t a certainty, the Church may pull out of the deal. Thus, they don’t
want to be saddled with the Landmark status, which may limit what can be done
with the property.
> 
>
>________________________________
> 
>From:mintwood-place-bounces at lists.mutualaid.org
[mailto:mintwood-place-bounces at lists.mutualaid.org] On Behalf Of maryjbelcher at comcast.net
>Sent: Monday, March 05, 2012 8:22
AM
>To: Cynthia Pols
>Cc: mintwood place
>Subject: Re: [Mintwood-place] ANC
likely to vote on the First Church of Christ Scientist hotel project this
Wednesday
> 
>Hi Cynthia & Mintwood List:  
> 
>You are correct in noting that the ANC is voting
on a measure related to the First Church of Christ Scientist
"Church-Hotel" at its upcoming meeting this Wednesday night, March 7,
at 7 p.m. at Mary's Center.  But the ANC is voting on the design
concept of the hotel, not whether it should be
historically landmarked.  (The historic-landmarking issue is down the
road a ways.)  
> 
>This upcoming ANC vote is very important, however, because
if the ANC gives its nod to the "design" of the hotel--most
notably its height and mass--this approval will carry weight when the
church-hotel design-concept matter goes before the Historic Preservation Review
Board later this month (on Thursday, March 22).  In fact, the question of
the design of the hotel is a more important matter for the ANC to take a
position on than whether the church deserve historic designation: The design of
the hotel will change the residential, low-rise character of Champlain and
Euclid streets forever, and it will be our several-member ANC helping make that
decision on our behalf.
> 
>There is great
difference of opinion in the neighborhood about whether this hotel is a good
idea for Adams Morgan.  But there is no question, design-wise, that
the 10-story hotel will tower over everything else in its midst, and it will
out-mass every other building in the Reed-Cooke section of Adams Morgan.
> 
>Now the pro-hotel folks can go crazy with my comments on
this listserv.  Have at it, everybody!  You can't change the fact
that this is a giant building being squeezed into an intersection of two very
narrow residential streets.  And you can't change the fact that this upcoming
ANC meeting is very important, although you  know that the controversy
tends to cause people to shut down and lose interest.
> 
>Thanks, Cynthia, for letting the neighbors know about this
upcoming ANC meeting on Wednesday night.  It's time for everybody to
show up at Wednesday night,
> 
>Mary Belcher
>1869 Mintwood 
> 
> 
>
>________________________________
> 
>From: "Cynthia
Pols" <polscm at aol.com>
>To: "mintwood place"
<mintwood-place at lists.mutualaid.org>
>Sent: Monday, March 5, 2012
12:48:40 AM
>Subject: [Mintwood-place] ANC
likely to vote on the First Church of Christ        Scientist
hotel project this Wednesday
>
>Our advisory neighborhood commission, ANC 1C, is scheduled to meet this
Wednesday (March 7) at 7PM in the Mary's Center building (the pink building) on
  2355 Ontario Road. On the agenda is possible support of designation of the
First Church of Christ Scientist church building as an historic landmark.
People who have concerns about the proposed hotel project to be built in
connection with the pending request for landmark status for the church should
consider attending this meeting to voice those concerns and otherwise convey
their concerns.  It is
likely that the ANC will vote at this meeting on whether to support the
developers' request for landmark designation for the church (as it is to be
developed through the hotel project) and, in doing so, will be voting to
approve (or disapprove) the developers' proposal as it currently stands,
including the size and height of the proposed hotel building.
> 
>The meeting begins at 7PM but it is probably o.k. to arrive
a few minutes late as several other items are scheduled to precede the hotel
discussion, including an update on the 18th Street construction project, and
are likely to take up some time. 
> 
>The church item is listed on the agenda for the meeting as
item VII.C.1 and entitled "Review by ANC 1C of First Church of Christ
Scientists Application for Historic Designation before the Historic Planning
Review Board (HPRB)." Here is a link to the agenda for the March 7
ANC meeting.
> 
>http://www.anc1c.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=68&Itemid=77
> 
>The hotel developers revised and updated their plans in
late January in response to criticisms received at the November 15, 2011,
meeting of the Zoning Commission (ZC). At that meeting, the ZC decided to
"set down" the developers' "planned unit development" (PUD)
application for redevelopment of the church and an adjacent property that
presently contains the City Paper offices and several other offices. The ZC
voted in favor of "setting down" the PUD application for
consideration at the commission level in spite of negative recommendations made
about the proposal by the District's Office of Planning. (The standard process
is for PUD applications to be reviewed and revised at the staff level and then
presented to the ZC for final approval in relatively polished form; in this
case , there are many issues unresolved that would have to be dealt with in a
less structured way at the commission level.) Among other things, the
professional planners at the Office of Planning deemed the height of the
proposed hotel to be excessive for the neighborhood and the application to be
flawed in numerous other ways. 
> 
>Here is a link to a video of the Zoning Commission's Nov
15, 2011, discussion of the developers' PUD application and decision to
"set down" the application for disposition:
> 
>http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSLMQ.aspx?indexPointSKU=SHCxj82tLP2HHyUmjLVbRw%3d%3d
> 
>Go to this link to download and see the developers' latest
plans:
> 
>http://adamsmorganhistorichotel.com/index.php/home
> 
>As you can see in the latest plans, the developers still
plan to construct a large hotel just behind (and attached to) the church that
will be significantly taller than the church building and will loom large over
it and the immediate neighborhood. While the developers revised their plans
following the Nov 15 ZC meeting, they elected not to reduce the height of the
building in any meaningful way (it went from something like 96 feet to
something like 94 feet in the latest plans even though several of the zoning
commissioners made clear at the Nov 15 meeting that they expected the
developers to revise the plans by reducing the height of the building by
eliminating a floor or two.
> 
>The hotel project is apparently on the March 22 agenda of
DC's Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) for "conceptual
review" for possible designation as an historic landmark based on the
revised plans by the hotel developer for the building. Go to this website for
the agenda for this meeting:
> 
>http://planning.dc.gov/DC/Planning/Historic+Preservation/About+HPO+&+HPRB/Who+We+Are/Historic+Preservation+Review+Board/Agendas+and+Reports/HPRB,+March+22,+2012
> 
>If you cannot attend Wednesday's ANC meeting and would like
to convey your concerns to any and all ANC members, here is a link containing
their names and contact info:
> 
>http://www.anc1c.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=25&Itemid=62
> 
>Like most community residents, I would like to see the
church building preserved and used for new purposes that will enhance the
neighborhood. I was initially attracted to the hotel and am not necessarily
unalterably opposed to the idea of a hotel (if properly scaled and dimensioned
and if more is done to preserve its interior) but believe that perhaps we are
missing out on an opportunity to turn the church building into a much more
valuable community asset such as a library/community center that would not
depend on appending a large-sized hotel to the church. 
> 
>Please feel free to contact me if you would like additional
information. 
> 
>Cynthia M. Pols
>1862 Mintwood Place, NW- # 304
>Washington, DC  20009
>202-328-0654
> 
>
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