Library News

Rushing Development to the ER

Mark Jenkins, Washington City Paper
July 12, 2007

On Tuesday, during its last session of the summer, the D.C. Council quickly passed dozens of resolutions and laws, including two “emergency” bills designed to resuscitate major real-estate developments: a Center-Leg Freeway air-rights project that was originally approved almost two decades ago, and a West End project that involves the city selling fire, police, and library property to a private developer. Neither proposal is by any measure an emergency, but treating them as such allowed the Council to skip the messy public-hearing phase of representative government.

The West End bill came as a shock to many in that community. At the Tuesday session, members of the Council congratulated themselves on having held “public roundtables” on the two bills last week, but those meetings were scheduled so quickly and publicized so poorly that few citizens knew they had occurred. The Friends of the West End Library scheduled a public meeting with the potential redeveloper, Georgetown-based Eastbanc, for 10 a.m., Saturday, July 14—unaware that the project would be a done deal by then.

Technically, neither deal is complete. Both proposals, which were sent to the Council by Mayor Adrian Fenty, are planned unit developments, which means the final designs will require Zoning Commission approval. They’ll also need a second Council vote. And in the West End case, the price of the three city parcels (at 24th and L, 23rd and L, and 23rd and M NW), minus Eastbanc’s cost of building a new fire station and library, must be negotiated and submitted to the Council for final approval.

The inaccuracy of the Council members’ remarks on Tuesday, however, didn’t offer much hope that the legislators will be informed or vigilant when the projects require further review.

At-large member Kwame Brown announced that the West End scheme was a “win-win situation” because it would include 30 percent affordable housing. In fact, the developer has not committed to that percentage. As a May meeting, Eastbanc Vice President for Acquisitions Joe Sternlieb suggested that the larger of the two parcels might have only 16 percent affordable units.

Another at-large member, Carol Schwartz, reported that the tenants of a moderate-rent building on the West End site, the Tiverton, had come to an agreement with Eastbanc. She voiced her skepticism about emergency legislation and selling off public property, but said she would vote for the bill because the renters have only till September to negotiate with their building’s current owner. The bill, she argued, would “protect 40 tenants” on the site.

Actually, the Tiverton tenants have merely agreed to talk with Eastbanc, and have not made any deal with the developer. After the vote, Tiverton tenant Deborah Akel stood up, loudly called the vote a “land grab,” and accused Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans (who represents the West End) of refusing to speak to the community. Akel was escorted from the chamber, and none of the councilmembers responded to her comments.

Ultimately, only at-large member Phil Mendelson voted against the measure, citing a general disapproval of such deals rather than doubts about this specific maneuver.

Original Article Here