WHEREAS: Albermarle Associates, LLC and Nelson and Alicia Bregon have filed an application with the Zoning Commission for approval of a Planned Unit Development (PUD) and a Zoning Map Amendment for property located on the north side of Albemarle Street, which is west of Nebraska Avenue, south of publicly-owned open space of Woodrow Wilson Senior High School (Wilson High School) and east of publicly-owned open space of the U.S. National Park Service, and

WHEREAS: this property, in Square 1772, consists of Lots 1, 2 and 803, belonging to Albermarle Associates, LLC (identified on the DC Tax Rolls for Tax Year 2001 as having a total area of 23,853 square feet and a total assessed value of $669,920) and Lot 804, belonging to the Bregons (identified as having 2,888 square feet and a total value of $263,871), and

WHEREAS: the representatives of Albermarle Associates, LLC appeared at a special joint meeting of ANC3F and ANC3E on September 12, 2000 and presented information in support of the application, and

WHEREAS: the applicant is seeking approval of a PUD for property zoned R-1-B which requires two acres and the subject property is only 26,741 sq. ft., approximately .6 acre, and

WHEREAS: the total site area is 26,741 sq. ft. or an average lot size of 1,910 sq. ft. per unit and the minimum lot size for R-1-B is 5,000 sq. ft., and

WHEREAS: the applicant seeks to rezone the property from R-1-B to R-5-B, which sets the minimum area for PUDs at one acre, and

WHEREAS: the applicant is asking the Zoning Commission to exercise its right to waive up to 50 percent of the minimum acreage for a PUD in an R-5-B district, and

WHEREAS: the nearest land to the property to the east of Wisconsin Avenue which is currently zoned R-5-B lies north of Jenifer Street, N.W., and

WHEREAS: one of the conditions the proposed development must meet in order for the Zoning Commission to waive the minimum area requirement is that "The Commission shall find after public hearing that the development is of exceptional merit and in the best interest of the city or country" (11 DMCR 2401.2(a)), and

WHEREAS: the applicant cites the amenities and public benefits offered by its development to be additional quality housing, site planning, urban design, revenue for the District, environmental benefits such as Soapstone Creek restoration and storm water management, local business opportunities, and consistency with the Comprehensive Plan, and

WHEREAS: the proposed project in the application provides for the development of fourteen town homes on the property in two phases, and

WHEREAS: in response to a request of the Office of Planning and the Zoning Commission in March 2000, for a "significant reduction in density", the applicant reduced the number of units in the proposed development by forty-six percent (from 26 to 14, still nine units over currently allowed R-1-B zoning) yet doubled the size of the individual units so that applicant reduced the footprints of the proposed buildings by less than four percent and the floor area ratio (FAR) by less than ten percent, and

WHEREAS: the attempt to wedge 14 large townhouses on a small, irregularly-shaped lot effectively cuts off the back corner of the lot, reduces the interior courtyard to little more than a parking lot, and places oversize buildings directly against the property line along both Albemarle Street and Nebraska Avenue, and

WHEREAS: the design features of the proposed town homes are ordinary, and inappropriately reminiscent of Georgetown rather than the Tenleytown neighborhood, where front yards are customary and pedestrians and motorists can enjoy a landscaped ambience, and

WHEREAS: the proposed project would block, by means of two sets of town houses, visual access to such open space as would remain on the property as well as open space beyond, including the tall trees, shrubs and under-story trees of the Soapstone Creek headwaters on the property of Wilson High School, and

WHEREAS: the proposed project would cover 71 percent of the lot with an impervious surface, disrupting drainage in ways that could negatively impact Soapstone Creek, and

WHEREAS: the proposed project would shift much of the rainwater drainage to the northeast extremity of the property, adjacent to Nebraska Avenue, into an innovative Bio-Retention Facility (or "rain garden") for water pollution control, enhanced infiltration to recharge ground water, aesthetic appearance and cost reduction (described by Applicant's civil engineer as the first proposed application of Bio-Retention ­ which is being used in Alexandria, Fairfax and Prince Georges County among others ­ to a private development in the District), and

WHEREAS: the applicant's civil engineer conceded that surface runoff could be directed to a Bio-Retention Facility in the northwest corner of the property (instead of to the northeast as proposed, with overflow going into Nebraska Avenue and thence to storm sewers), and

WHEREAS: the up to 100-foot wide, attractively landscaped National Park Service U.S. Reservation and the two streets (Fort Drive and 40^th Street, N.W.) serve as an adequate buffer between the existing R-1-B residential zone to the east that includes the proposed development and the commercial area (zoned C-3-A) west of those streets, and

WHEREAS: the vehicles used by residents of the proposed fourteen units would add modestly, but not negligibly, to the traffic in the area, which now includes two intersections with undesirable levels of service, and

WHEREAS: granting of the application would set a precedent that could threaten existing low density neighborhoods in the District of Columbia with applications for "spot" zoning changes in place of orderly, planned development, and

WHEREAS: on balance, the benefits and amenities offered by the proposed project are not substantial enough to meet the standard for a PUD and certainly not enough to meet the higher standard of "exceptional merit" required to waive the minimum area requirement,

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT: ANC3F advise the District of Columbia Zoning Commission that ANC3F opposes the application filed by Albermarle Associates, LLC and Nelson and Alicia Bregon for approval of a Planned Unit Development and corresponding Zoning Map Amendment for property located on the north side of Albemarle Street, west of Nebraska Avenue, N.W.(Lots 1, 2, 803 and 804) in Square 1772 and request that the Zoning Commission reject the application.

__________________________________________________________________________ ______
 

Approved by vote of 7-0-0 at a duly noticed meeting on September 18, 2000 with a quorum present (Commissioner Bardin indicated he would submit additional views).
 

/s/ David J. Bardin                                                      /s/ Robert V. Maudlin
Chair                                                                         Secretary