Serving Burleith, Foxhall, Georgetown, Georgetown Reservoir & Glover Park
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
INS
Vol. XXIV, No. 7
The GeorGeTown CurrenT IDE
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Study eyes future parking reforms
GEORGETOWN JAZZ
■ Transportation: Agency
aims to tailor rules by area
By BRADY HOLT Current Staff Writer
When the D.C. Department of Transportation surveyed residents on their parking preferences recently, the answers underscored the agency’s long-standing difficulty in trying to reform its policies.
“The key themes were that people didn’t want other people to be able to park near their houses — but they want to be able to park everywhere else,” Sam Zimbabwe, the department’s associate director for policy, planning and sustainability, said in an interview. “That’s difficult to build policy around.” But the Transportation Department is going to try. In a “curbside management study” released Aug. 29, the agency presents various
parking policies that could apply to particular areas of the city based on their specific transportation options and needs. The agency expects to spend the next two years working with individual communities and the D.C. Council to identify which solutions would work best. “There hasn’t been a large public dialogue about parking approaches, so that’s the next step for us,” said Zimbabwe. See Parking/Page 43
Church redevelopment plans advance By ELIZABETH WIENER Current Staff Writer
Brian Kapur/The Current
Grace Episcopal Church hosted the first concert of the fall Music on the Lawn series Thursday. The Larry Brown Quartet performed at the event.
A developer’s plan to convert Georgetown’s Alexander Memorial Baptist Church and its rectory to residential use is moving toward approval, now that the SGA Cos. has dropped a controversial proposal to build a large new house on an adjacent lot. Last Thursday, the Old Georgetown Board offered comments on the scaled-down plan, as well as tweaks to the “garden” that will now occupy green space at the western side of 2709-2715 N St. Board members requested changes to prevent the garden from being used as parking, but they didn’t take a formal vote and no one spoke up in opposition to the overall scheme. And on Tuesday the Board of Zoning Adjustment unanimously approved SGA’s request for a variance to convert the more than century-old church into three residential units. The vote came after a very brief hearSee Church/Page 5
Additions to mansion spark continued battle
Burst of alcohol applications draws concern from residents
By ELIZABETH WIENER
■ ABC: Neighbors rally to
Current Staff Writer
The battle over Katharine Graham’s former mansion is down to two combatants. But neither Mark Ein, prominent venture capitalist and owner of the Washington Kastles, nor Calvin Cafritz, the prolific local developer who lives next door, is backing down. Ein and Cafritz, both accompanied by land-use attorneys and dueling architectural historians, appeared before the Old Georgetown Board last Thursday, where board members took no action but offered various suggested changes. At the hearing, Ein presented revised plans for an addition and parking garage at the landmarked house at 2920 R St., built in 1864 and also known as the BeallWashington house. The revisions — tucking the garage
NEWS
protect residential character By GEORGE ALTSHULER Current Correspondent
Brian Kapur/The Current
The owners of the 1864 mansion once owned by Katharine Graham have scaled back their plans, but the Old Georgetown Board still has concerns.
underground behind the house, and shrinking a planned eastern addition from three to two stories, with a mansard roof to mask its size — appeared to satisfy most neighbors, several of whom submitted letters of support. But not Cafritz, who lives in a twin house directly See Graham/Page 42
COMMUNITY GUIDE
Neighborhood fests usher in September across Northwest — Page 5
Brian Kapur/The Current
Developers of the church site are now planning a garden on the property’s open space instead of a new house, winning community support.
Bevy of adoption options available for D.C. dog lovers — Page CG5
Residents surrounding the 1500 block of Wisconsin Avenue in Georgetown are coming together in response to fears that an influx of noisy restaurants will pose a nuisance in their neighborhood. At the end of August, residents of 25 homes signed onto a public letter, warning that new liquor licenses and changes to business operations
would “further the degradation of our blocks.” The group points to requests for new alcohol licenses for two restaurants and two proposed outdoor patios on their block, plus another request for an alcohol license one block south. The letter argues that the area has traditionally been predominantly residential, with modest amounts of commercial space, so these changes would be out of character. “It’s not apples to apples changes we’re talking about,” said Peter Pastre, a resident whose home on Q See Licenses/Page 9
INDEX
SPOR TS
Gonzaga football tackles Centreville on ESPN broadcast — Page 13
Calendar/35 Classifieds/46 Community Guide/Pullout District Digest/4 Exhibits/35 In Your Neighborhood/8
Opinion/10 Police Report/6 Real Estate/41 School Dispatches/12 Service Directory/44 Sports/13
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