The agenda for
Monday's ANC 6D meeting has been posted, with two Near Southeast items listed. The first is that the developers of the
RiverFront (aka Florida Rock) site between the Anacostia and the
ballpark are apparently filing for a time extension on their zoning PUD ("planned unit development," for those of you mercifully unaware). When the
zoning approval for this project
finally came through in 2008 (after years of slogging through the process), the developers were given until May of 2010 to apply for building permits for the first phase of the project (an office building on the east end of the site, near
Diamond Teague Park), with construction then required to start by May 2011. So, although
it was recently reported that
Florida Rock Properties is looking for an equity partner to help finance the development of the site, they clearly believe that it will be tough for them to meet the zoning order timeline.
Timeline extensions are increasingly common cases being heard by the Zoning Commission these days, as financing for commercial real estate development continues to be extremely difficult to procure; the
Capper redevelopment received one
earlier this year. I don't yet see a hearing date for FRP's extension request on the
zoning calendar.
In other tidbits:
* Also on the 6D agenda is the "
Casa degli Angeli" at
Third and L, which has a Board of Zoning Adjustment hearing
scheduled for Nov. 17. The six-unit building, which is currently operating as a month-to-month room rental, is looking for a zoning change to become a full-fledged bed and breakfast.
* The latest issue of
Voice of the Hill has more detail on the CSX plans to expand the Virginia Avenue tunnel; you can read
the documents that CSX submitted to the National Capital Regional Transportation Planning Board for some additional details. Quoting the Voice: "CSX spokesperson Bob Sullivan said the project would take between two-and-a-half and three years, while a District Department of Transportation Department official made a slightly lower estimate. 'We anticipate that there would be some traffic impacts during the course of this project, which is probably going to last a couple of years,' said agency spokesperson John Lisle.'" Neighbors in the area are concerned: ANC 6B will be getting a briefing about the plans at its Nov. 10 meeting.
* On Oct. 27,
there's a public meeting about the
CapitalSpace plan, "the first comprehensive analysis of Washington's parks and open space in almost 40 years," which is attempting to get the various federal and local agencies that run the many parks in the city more closely coordinated, along with other plans to improve the parks themselves. The meeting is at the MLK Library from 5:30 to 7:30 pm.