Meeting Minutes
September 23, 2024, 7:30 pm
The meeting convened via Zoom at 7:34 PM with Commissioners Bender, Cohen, Denny, Gianinno, Hall, and Quinn in attendance. Commissioner Ghosh joined later.
Announcements / Open Forum– opportunity for members of the community to raise issues of concern or importance to the 3E neighborhood
Commissioner Bender stated the Wesley Seminary agenda item will be heard at our November meeting.
Commissioner Bender noted the passing of Dennis Williams, a community member who was a frequent attendee of ANC3E meetings and a constant advocate for the neighborhood. An attendee added that there will be a celebration of life for Dennis Williams on November 9.
Leigh Catherine Miles, Chief of Staff for Councilmember Matt Frumin, stated that Frumin is the Chair of the newly created Recreation and Community Affairs Subcommittee. The Councilmember’s priorities this legislative session include fully funding schools, increasing housing stock and affordable housing, and addressing the root causes of crime. Frumin’s next Workday in the Ward will be on September 26 at Dohan Uyghur from 8 am to 5 pm.
Presentation by 2nd District Police
Lt VanderMeer introduced himself to the community as the new manager of PSA 202. VanderMeer provided an overview of crime in PSA 202 for the year, noting that Overall Crime is down 25%, Violent Crime is down 55%, and Property Crime is down 23%. He asked people to not leave items in view in their cars and noted that there are Amazon lockers at the 2nd District that can be used to deter package thefts. Last week, there was a stabbing in Friendship Heights MD just feet away from the DC border. MPD arrested the suspect and turned him over to the Chevy Chase Village police department. He stated one of his priorities is to coordinate with police in MD to work on criminals that operate along Wisconsin Avenue and cross the borders into MD.
Attendees:
- Asked for traffic enforcement by Turtle Park on Van Ness Street at 45th.
- Asked if there have been any arrests for distracted driving. VanderMeer replied that drivers can be issued a citation for distracted driving and noted that an officer must personally see a phone in use to issue the citation. He would have to research how many of those citations were issued.
Commissioners:
- Asked for police presence and traffic enforcement along Van Ness at 40th and 46th Streets and around the Upton Place and City Ridge developments.
- Asked if they are fully staffed. VanderMeer stated that there are times that 2nd District staff are pulled for special events such as large protests, and it is not unusual for there to be only two officers on duty in the PSA on a given shift.
- Asked for more information about the stabbing in Friendship Heights. VanderMeer noted that there was a similar assault a few months ago in which a woman sitting on the bench was punched in the face out of the blue. That suspect was never caught, but he suspects both assaults might be mental health related.
- Stated that traffic enforcement needs to be frequent enough to act as a deterrent citywide.
- Asked for enforcement of illegal scooters around Tenleytown. VanderMeer stated that there is a specific task force for scooters, and he can ask for the task force to be assigned to Tenleytown.
- Asked for officers to be out on the street and active in Tenleytown especially to address illegal parking during rush hour.
Presentation by Office of Campaign Finance regarding its traditional and relatively new Fair Election Programs
Belinda Perry with the Office of Campaign Finance gave a presentation on their public finance programs. Most candidates seeking office in DC participate in the voluntary program which provides $5 in matching funds for every dollar the candidate raises with base payments from $10,000 to $160,000 depending on which office the candidate is running for. The goal of the program is to increase candidate engagement with the community, remove corporate funding from elections and support first time candidates and there are numerous requirements the candidates must follow to receive the funding.
Attendees and Commissioner had no questions regarding this program.
Presentation by Georgetown Day School regarding traffic and related issues concerning compliance with its zoning order
Tim Lyons from GDS discussed GDS’ traffic management program. Lyons stated that neighbors can attend their virtual, quarterly town meetings to discuss any concerns, or they can send emails to talktogds@gds.org. He stated that GDS has made a concerted effort to make sure all families know that all pick-up and drop-offs must occur on campus. They do track families that do not follow the rules and this year they have counted 21 instances of families that are required to carpool but were not. They also had one notification of a student parking off campus and one noise complaint associated with an afternoon soccer game that was immediately addressed.
GDS does have a trip count day that has been scheduled this fall. He noted that the zoning order requires the count day to occur when Congress is in session, but because Congress is on a break through the election, this year that cannot happen. Lyons noted that ANC3E has asked GDS to zoom out the cameras to cover a wider area around the streets and intersections they are required to monitor, and their IT team is investigating if they can do that with the equipment they have in place.
Attendees:
- Asked if GDS still plans to build affordable housing on the properties GDS owns on Wisconsin Avenue. Lyons stated that GDS is working with a real estate firm to market the old bike store location, but he isn’t in a position to speak to the efforts to redevelop the lots.
- Stated that the crossing guards at River Road are doing a great job.
- Stated that off campus drop-offs this year are occurring on Ellicott Street across River Road.
- Encouraged GDS to support efforts to get protected bike lanes in the neighborhood particularly along River Road.
Commissioners:
- Asked Lyons to review any differences in the methodology for the trip counts this year from last year. Lyons stated that the two differences is that Congress wouldn’t be in session, and they are examining if the cameras can be zoomed out to capture more off campus drop-offs and pick-ups.
- Stated they had concerns that the mode shift attestations are not verified and asked if they could ask each child how they got to school that day.
- Stated that there was a gap in the area surveyed for the trip counts last year at the staircase at Davenport and Wisconsin and hoped they would cover that area during this year’s trip count.
- Noted that last year’s trip count occurred during an overnight field trip for an entire grade and asked that not be the case this year.
- Asked for details about how they caught the students that parked in the neighborhood. They were notified by a community member who took a picture of the license plates.
- Asked if GDS monitors off campus drop-offs and pick-ups. Lyons replied that GDS uses their traffic control officers to report pick-up and drop-off activities that aren’t allowed.
- Stated last spring, they saw many cars queueing off-campus particularly along 42nd Street.
- Stated that cars are not supposed to access the campus from Chesapeake Street. and asked that the traffic control officers not allow that.
- Noted that the fields are supposed to be made available to outside groups after school and know kids that have been chased off the fields in the evening when they were not in use by GDS. Lyons stated that the zoning order prohibits the fields from being used after 7:30 and individuals can ask the security guards to unlock the gates to use the fields when not in use by organized groups. Commissioners asked if they could leave the fields unlocked until 7:30.
- Asked about the status of the redevelopment of the WMATA Chiller Plant. Lyons stated that as he understood it, the Chiller Plant plot cannot be developed because it would be cost prohibitive to move the equipment onto the roof of any building built in that space.
- Would like GDS to develop the properties along Wisconsin Avenue for affordable housing and at a minimum, GDS to better maintain those properties by mowing the grass, painting the rusted handrails, etc.
- Stated that the group that uses the fields on weekends do not follow the traffic flow and parking rules and asked them to monitor the traffic restrictions on weekends.
- Would like GDS to actively support bike lanes in the neighborhood.
Discussion of and possible vote on resolution on Notice of Intent from DDOT to install protected bike lanes on 44thand Jenifer Streets (above the 44th and Harrison divider)
Commissioner Quinn stated that this is an issue we have been working on for three years now. Mike Goodno from DDOT gave a presentation describing the protected bike lanes they intend to install at 44th and Harrison. These lanes would go down to the traffic diverters at 44th and Harrison and at 43rd and Jenifer. Goodno stated they are trying to install a network of bike lanes in Ward 3 and are finalizing plans to install lanes along Western between Jenifer Street and Westmoreland Circle and are working with the MDOT to connect these lanes to future lanes along Friendship Boulevard and up to the Capital Crescent Trail. The current plans have the bike lanes running on the south side of Jenifer St and running along the east side of 44th St. These plans would remove parking on the west side of 44th St. They hope to start construction in spring 2025.
Attendees:
- Stated that by moving the bike lanes from the north side of Jenifer to the south side, there are many more curb cuts for bicyclists to traverse. They asked if DDOT can work with WMATA to close access to the Lord & Taylor garage on Jenifer and have WMATA use the entrance on Western Ave and open the entrance to the garage along 44th Street.
- Asked if DDOT can zebra stripe the bike lane at the intersections.
- Asked DDOT to do a site visit at Western and Jenifer to look at turn radiuses for the busses. They did study the bus turning at the garage on 44th but will look again at them.
- Stated it is currently tricky getting back into DC from Friendship Boulevard and asked them to make sure those connections work better.
Commissioners:
- Asked if there were any differences between the 80% and 100% design sets. Goodno stated that the bike lane was moved to from the north side of Jenifer to the south side, there were some minor sign changes and some of the parking has been adjusted.
- Asked if the separate bike signal on Jennifer at Wisconsin would hold all cars. Goodno stated that only cars turning right onto Wisconsin Avenue would be held by the bike signal.
- Asked about the timeline for the Western Avenue bike lanes. Goodno hopes to be back before the Commission later this fall and have the Western Avenue bike lanes installed sometime in 2025.
- Asked DDOT to have Jenifer St repaved, especially between 43rd and Wisconsin.
Commissioner Quinn moved, and Commissioner Bender seconded a motion to approve the draft resolution in support of the protected bike lanes on 44th and Jenifer Streets. The motion was approved by a vote of 6-0-0. Commissioner Gianinno left the meeting early and was not present for the vote.
Discussion of and possible vote on resolution regarding need for bike lanes on River Road and other neighborhood traffic issues
Commissioner Hall drafted a resolution asking DDOT to study the feasibility of placing bike lanes on River Road, noting that River Road leads to four schools and a Metro stop and would be a great connection to the bike lanes on Western Avenue.
Attendees stated that they witnessed a bicyclist get hit by a car in Maryland on River Road last week and hoped DDOT can work with MDOT to extend any bike lane on River Road into MD and that they supported the bike lanes. Commissioners had no questions or comments.
Commissioner Hall moved, and Commissioner Denny seconded a motion to approve the draft resolution in support of studying the feasibility of installing bike lanes on River Road. The motion was approved by a vote of 6-0-0. Commissioner Gianinno left the meeting early and was not present for the vote.
ANC Business
- Approval of July 2024 Meeting Minutes – Commissioner Bender moved, and Commissioner Denny seconded a motion to approve the July 2024 Draft Meeting Minutes. The motion was approved by a vote of 6-0-0. Commissioner Gianinno left the meeting early and was not present for the vote.
- Approval of the 2025 Budget – Commissioner Bender stated that the budget is a draft planning budget and won’t lock us into anything. Commissioner Bender asked if there were any suggestions for changes. There weren’t any. Commissioner Bender moved passage of the using the 2024 budget as a draft for 2025. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Hall. The motion was approved by a vote of 6-0-0. Commissioner Gianinno left the meeting early and was not present for the vote.
- Approval of expenditures – Commissioner Quinn stated there weren’t any expenditures this month.
The meeting was adjourned by acclimation at 10:07 PM.