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Saturday, August 08, 2015

BZA notice for 64 W Street NW; seeking three units and a pop-up by zoning special exception

See this tweet and image:



64 W wants to 3 units by special exception to zoning rules
5:42 PM - 8 Aug 2015 



9 comments:

  1. What??!!?? This is ridiculous!!!! We need people to attend this hearing!!

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  2. They had submitted a raze permit for the garage as well. I wonder if a pop back is being contemplated.

    Doesn't the request for the variance basically negate the entire pop up legislation? What's the point of the legislation if they can just get a variance?

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    Replies
    1. The legislation was to intended to make obtaining a variance a requirement rather than by-right conversions and pop-ups, thereby giving the community a chance to comment on any variance requests. Therefore, this application is entirely consistent with that legislation.

      Looking at the plans, this isn't even a pop-up, as someone has mentioned before. Looks like a 10 foot addition to the rear and conversion to condos. 10 feet isn't much, and is about the dimension of additions to row houses in the area that have been done long ago. Looks like the extra 10 feet is for a deck going over that addition into the back. Hardly egregious.

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    2. Thanks for the clarification, that's helpful. Now I'm interested in the rates at which variances are granted...

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  3. Well it only takes a few minutes to submit a letter of opposition on the IZIS system at https://app.dcoz.dc.gov

    You have to set up an account, but it's not that bad and let's face it, unless we get historic designation status, this stuff will be constant for the foreseeable future. So set up an account and submit a letter if your not planning to attend the hearing in person. I just did...took me all of 10 minutes.

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  4. Same number of floors - not a pop-up. Looks like they are going back about 20ft from the original end of the house - 10ft addition to the existing mud room and a 2nd floor over that.

    Any project can request a variance to zoning - you could try to get a variance to build a 7-story apartment building on North Capitol if you wanted.

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  5. Ridiculous - we will not let this happen. I guess this developer has no clue regarding the opposition in Bloomingdale to condo conversions.

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  6. DCRA and the Office of Zoning should be invited to the Bloomingdale Civic Association to clarify how 14-11 affects our R-4 neighborhood and answer questions about the BZA process.

    Reminder - DCRA has a FAQs page about 14-11.
    http://dcra.dc.gov/page/faqs-how-zoning-commissions-vote-case-14-11-affects-permits-and-permit-applications

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  7. As long as there's no pop-up, and obnoxious pop-back, I'm inclined to support the conversion. 3 units seems like a lot, but that's not my issue; more the builder will have a tough time marketing such small units.

    The builder is going to convert to two units no matter what, and I believe will then go up to the 35' limit to make them bigger to re-coup their acquisition costs.

    Which is better, going up, or 3 units?

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