It's probably worth a quick entry to remind interested folks that tomorrow (Wednesday Dec. 13) is Mayor-Elect Fenty's Ward 6 Transition Townhall Workshop, at the King Greenleaf Recreation Center, 201 N St. NW, from 6:30 pm - 9 pm. (Of course, obsessively checking my Upcoming Events calendar is another way to keep up with what's on the schedule.)

The agenda for last night's ANC 6D meeting wasn't made available before meeting time, so I decided to take a chance and skip the session (even though I normally adore subjecting myself to the psychological equivalent of having 2-inch nails driven into my eyeballs for a couple of hours). And it sounds like I picked a good one to miss, because my sources tell me that once again a fight over an alley closing dominated the proceedings, this time being another go-round on Monument Realty's 55 M Street project on the west side of Square 701. Monument was looking for the ANC's support in advance of their Jan. 11 Zoning Commission hearing; last night the ANC's commissioners voiced concerns (which were also voiced in the past when Monument asked for support for its alley closing bill) that Monument's proffered community benefits package is insufficient--as currently constructed, it includes a $10,000 contribution to the Southwest Neighborhood Association's Scholarship Fund, a $50,000 contribution to the local schools, and a commitment to set aside a certain percentage of the residential project for affordable housing. Monument's standpoint is that this project is a "Matter of Right" development, meaning that there is no requirement that they do anything for the community, but they are doing so, anyway. The discussion has been tabled until the ANC's January 8 meeting, and the commmissioners also passed a resolution asking the City Council to table the alley closing bill (which already passed unanimously last week on its first reading and is scheduled for its final reading and vote on Dec. 19) to allow negotiations to continue. In less fractious news, there was apparently a presentation by WMATA about its Joint Development Opportunities around the Navy Yard station, including their work with Monument at 55 M Street (on top of the Half Street station entrance) as well as the Chiller Plant at Half and L and a small bit of land near the New Jersey Avenue station entrance. Am hoping to get more information about this....

Correspondent Erik reports that the Sunoco at Half and M, which closed over the summer and saw its underground storage tanks removed soon after, has now been completely demolished. Still no official word on what might be coming to that corner, the rumor of a hotel is all I've heard.... UPDATE: For passers-by wondering about the retro industrial brick building behind the Sunoco--now much more clearly visible from M Street--it's a US Government storage facility.

Don't panic on Tuesday (Dec. 12) if you hear alarms and recorded messages coming from the Navy Yard: it's a test of "a high-powered alert system to determine decibel levels and whether the system is integrated," reports NBC 4. UPDATE: Alert DC says that there will be a test at the Navy Yard on Dec. 14 (Thursday) from 1 to 3:30 pm; another message said there will be tests over the next three days. So, while the specifics are a bit hazy, the main thing is that there will be some noise coming from the Navy Yard in the near future....

On Thursday night there was a zoning hearing for William C. Smith's planned 250 M Street office building (approval requests for both a second-stage PUD and a Capitol Gateway Overlay Review). There was a bit of concern from the commissioners about the ground-floor corner of the building that faces Canal Park and they've asked to see more renderings. Despite that, it's anticipated that the proposed requests will go up for approval at the ZC's January 8 meeting (the same day that the Florida Rock project may get a vote on its request for a second-stage PUD approval). In the meantime, the Public Hearing notice was published for a Jan. 11 CG Overlay Review for what we'll now call 55 M Street, Monument Realty's planned 750,000-sq-ft office, residential, hotel, and retail project that lines all of Half Street between M and N. They're looking for some relief in regards to setbacks, lot occupancy, private residential recreation space, and loading. See the hearing notice for information on how to participate in the process.

The latest building permits issued by the DC government (shown in my DC Government Feeds section) have a couple tantalizing Near Southeast tidbits: one is for the long-planned dry cleaners on the first-floor of Capitol Hill Tower at 1000 New Jersey, and the other is a series of building permit entries (strangely devoid of detail or even permit numbers) for five addresses on block Square 669N, the land bounded by 1st, Half, K, and L that's owned by Bethesda developer Ron Cohen. I don't really know anything more than this on either project (except that the dry cleaners won't have actual dry-cleaning operations right on the premises), but news is news. Hopefully Mr. Cohen will be showing his hand before too much longer. UPDATE, 12/10: Another four building permits for the Cohen block arrived in the latest building permit feed, and the only additional hint is that the permit type on these is listed as "repair."

From the Post: "It sounded like a nice idea: Use the District's new baseball stadium to showcase art, livening up the place with bronze statues, ornate entrance gates, even brightly colored tile mosaic staircases. The D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities yesterday gave city officials a preview of its plans to beautify the future ballpark, until now a cold slab of concrete and glass being built in a former industrial area near the Anacostia River in Southeast. [...] In this case, though, the arts commission wasn't even appealing for funds. Director Tony Gittens told the Sports and Entertainment Commission that he set aside $2 million for the project from the arts commission's budget. No matter, responded John Ross, a senior analyst for the Office of the Chief Financial Officer and member of the sports commission board. The D.C. Council's $611 million cost cap bans additional public spending -- and the arts commission is funded with public dollars, Ross explained. 'You'll have to go back to the council,' Ross said." But maybe it could at least be more fun fighting over art than parking garages....

Today's Post has an article about the planned Canal Park ("First New City Park in Years Will Recall Canal's Heyday"). There's no real news in the article, just a description of the plans for the park; no illustrations either, but of course my Canal Park page has plenty, including the most recent design drawing and a copy of the large concept submission document given to the Commission on Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission last month. The plan is to have it ready by Spring 2008, and hopefully the school buses will be off the site by mid-2007.

The festival of legislation authorizing alley closings and street openings in Near Southeast fires up again tomorrow (Tuesday Dec. 5) with four bills coming before the city council's Committee of the Whole for referral to the full council for voting, although clearly little difficulty is expected since all four bills are also listed in the "First Reading on Proposed Bills" section of agenda of the legislative session scheduled to immediately follow. (For details on these bills, here's my description of their public hearings a few weeks back.) Then there's an additional alley closing (B16-0818, the east side of Square 701, the Cohen/Camalier/Welch land along 1st between M and N) scheduled for its final vote (having passed its first vote last month unanimously). And, while not an alley closing, there's also a final vote on B16-0929, the Capper PILOT funding bill (which also passed on on its first vote). If this schedule thrills you beyond measure, you can watch the council proceedings live beginning at 10 am on DC Cable Channel 13 or live webcast.

More posts: Capper, New Jersey Ave., staddis, Square 701