“Open Agenda” Notes for the February 18, 2015 meeting of ANC1D Public discussion “Each Commission shall set aside a portion of each public meeting to hear the views of residents within the Commission area and other affected persons on problems or issues of concern within the Commission area and on proposed District government actions that affect the Commission area.” Secretary’s report Minutes of the January 20 meeting (draft sent out January 22) Treasurer’s report Consent items: Checks to Tony Grillo, $50, postering for February meeting; HearSay Interpreting, $100, interpreting at the February meeting. Need approval for Jazmin Rumbaut as an interpreter to assist Rosa in meeting participation, for a fee of $100 per meeting. Request approval of expenditure of $663.55 for the web site, for five years – reimbursement to Jack, on his credit card

Unfinished business An additional crosswalk for Mount Pleasant Street at Kenyon Street (Jack) Resolved, that ANC1D advises the District Department of Transportation to implement a second marked crosswalk at the intersection of Kenyon Street and Mount

Pleasant Street, crossing Mount Pleasant Street on the south side of the intersection. Why: A marked crosswalk will make it clear that crossing the street where the Kenyon Street sidewalk ends is legal, whereas currently that is unclear, because there is no matching sidewalk on the opposite side of Mount Pleasant Street. The marked crosswalk will promote driver stopping for pedestrians crossing at this location, making it clear that pedestrians have the right of way, whereas without the crosswalk markings, it is not clear who has the right of way.

New business “Stop for pedestrians” signs for Mount Pleasant Street Resolved, that ANC1D advises the District Department of Transportation to put "Stop for Pedestrians in Crosswalk" signs at every crosswalk across Mount Pleasant Street, between Argonne Place and Park Road, wherever feasible. Why: Mount Pleasant Street is a commercial strip with many pedestrians, who should be able to cross the street without being endangered by drivers ignoring crosswalks. Noncitizen voting rights bill (Jack) Resolved, that ANC1D advises the Committee on Judiciary to report favorably on the Local Resident Voting Rights Act of 2015, and the Council of the District to pass this bill. Why: There is ample precedent in the United States for including noncitizen residents in local elections. In Mount Pleasant, about one-third of the residents are foreign-born, and a significant number of these residents have not obtained citizenship. Qualifying for citizenship is no small effort, and many residents lack the time and resources to undertake the effort. Nonetheless, residents can readily become informed about local elections and candidates. ANC1D knows of no good reason for denying legal noncitizen residents voting rights in local elections. On the contrary, including legal noncitizen residents in local elections is plainly right and

just, because they are certainly affected by the outcomes of local elections. ANC1D undertook a demonstration of noncitizen voting in a special ANC election in 2005, inviting noncitizen residents to cast symbolic votes, though the District Government did not permit those votes to be counted towards the outcome of the election. Despite the fact that the votes would not count, a number of residents went to the trouble to appear at the special-election polling place, and were clearly moved by the invitation to participate, however symbolically. Including noncitizen residents in local elections promotes bonding with the community, and sends the clear message that all legal residents have a right to a voice in their local government, whether they are citizens or not. Zoning Administrator Determination Letters (Jack) Resolved, that ANC1D advises the DCRA Office of the Zoning Administrator to communicate Determination Letters to the affected ANC, and to permit action on such determination letters only after a 30day period. Why: the DC Code is explicit in that ANCs are to be given 30 days written notice "before the formulation of any final policy decision or guideline with respect to grant applications, comprehensive plans, requested or proposed zoning changes, variances, public improvements, licenses, or permits" (DC Code § 1-309.10(c)(1)). Determination letters indisputably embody such decisions. Notification of permit issuances is not an acceptable substitute for the communication of determination letters, because the DCRA listings of permits provide only the most superficial summaries of zoning decisions. Consequently, not only must determination letters be communicated directly to ANCs, but that communication must take place a minimum of 30 days before such letters become operative.

End the “grandfathering” of credit for nonexistent parking spaces (Jack) Resolved, that ANC1D advises the DCRA Zoning Administrator, and the Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA), to end the practice of awarding "credits" for nonexistent off-street parking spaces, based on the "grandfathering" of allowances for buildings constructed before zoning requirements for such off-street parking spaces existed. Why: The sense of the current regulations concerning off-street parking is clear: DCMR 11, § 2100.4 Except for historic resources as defined in § 2120.2, when the use of a building or structure is changed to another use that requires more parking spaces than required for the use existing immediately prior to the change or, if the building or structure is vacant, the use that existed immediately prior to the vacancy, parking spaces shall be provided for the additional requirement in the amount necessary to conform to § 2101. "Shall be provided" is peremptory. There is no mention here of allowing any "credit" for parking spaces that do not, in fact, exist. Current policy invents, without regulatory foundation, "credits" for parking spaces that do not and have never existed, based on the bizarre logic that a building built before zoning regulations called for such offstreet parking therefore deserved a "grandfathered" credit for those neverbuilt parking spaces. Because most buildings in the District antedate the 1958 zoning regulations, this amounts to an exemption of almost every building from the requirement that variances from the regulations be justified on specific legal grounds. Developers can simply argue that their building was built before 1958, and therefore must be deemed to be in compliance with all post-1958 zoning requirements, however deficient their actual off-street parking provisions may be. The intent of the regulation is clear: "when the use of a building or structure is changed to another use . . . parking spaces shall be provided . . . in the amount necessary to conform to 2101." There is no statement that, if the building was built before 1958, and falls well short of the

requirements of current zoning regulations, then the deficiency will be taken as a "credit" to any future use. In the current Mount Pleasant example, a church is being converted to an 85-unit condominium, a structure which would require at least 14 offstreet parking spaces (one per three dwelling units, and a 50% factor for the proximity of the Columbia Heights Metro station). Because the church had a Certificate of Occupancy for 750 congregants, current regulations, if the church were being built today, would require 75 off-street parking spaces. Those 75 parking spaces do not exist, and have never existed. Nonetheless, the developer turning the church into a condominium building is being given "credit" for those 75 nonexistent parking spaces, thus eliminating his off-street parking requirement altogether. This is a perversion of the zoning regulations. Had the building continued as a church, the allowance to operate without meeting the post-1958 zoning requirement is not unreasonable, given the cost and difficulty of the new construction required to accomplish that end. But upon conversion to a condominium, any continuation of such a de facto variance should require meeting the legal criteria of a variance. Giving the condominium structure a 75-parking-space variance on the basis of sympathy for the church preceding the new use is a violation of the spirit, and the letter, of current zoning regulations. Remove the “grandfathering” of credit for nonexistent parking spaces from the new zoning regulations (Jack) Enforce workers' rights in Mount Pleasant (Arturo) Resolved, that ANC1D requests that the DC Department of Employment Services (DOES) proactively enforce and ensure full compliance with DC laws for workers' rights, including the Earned Sick and Safe Leave Amendment Act of 2013, the Minimum Wage Amendment Act of 2013, and the Wage Theft Prevention Amendment Act of 2014 in the Mt. Pleasant community.

Why: It is important that the DC government conduct community and business forums to educate the public about these laws. DOES needs to work with the enforcement and regulatory agencies like DCRA, OAG, and OHR to create interagency collaboration in labor law enforcement. DOES needs to develop a system of regular sharing of data with the community regarding implementation of these laws. DOES must issue timely regulations for the Wage Theft Prevention Amendment Act and the Earned Sick and Save Leave Amedment Act. (Time for someone from the Employment Justice Center?) Create a community clean-up committee (Arturo) That ANC1d create a Mt.Pleasant community clean-up committee to look at ways that we can improve our parks and streets around the Mt. Pleasant commercial area. Stakeholders from the community should be included in this committee. The purpose of this committee will be to develop a cleanup plan for 2015. Administrative support budget (Adam) ANC1D will authorize a budget capped at $400 per month for administrative expenses for a 6 month trial which will continue by default unless a motion is passed to terminate the role. The commission will recommend and vote on candidates. The administrative role is part-time averaging 5 hours per week capped at 20 hours per month paying between $15-20 per hour based on experience. The administrator will be responsible for a monthly status delivered after the Secretary's report or at the discretion of the commission. Commissioner Adam Hoey will initially manage the administrator. Management of the administrator may change with a new motion. The role may include and is not limited to the following: - Manage projects and committees - Post and manage social networks - Organize special meetings and events - Organization outreach and research

- Quarterly ANC newsletter (TBD) Technical support budget (Adam) ANC1D will authorize a budget of $30 per meting for technical setup and breakdown of meeting communications equipment. The technical support role must arrive to the meeting room 30 minutes before each business meeting at 6:30pm and 30 min prior to ad hoq meetings with 1 week notice. The technical support role will be managed by Commissioners Frank Agbro and Jack McKay who will be responsible for hiring, training and managing for this role. Management for this role may change with a new motion.