September News
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Capitol Hill Restoration Society NEWS www.chrs.org September 2005 District Moves Against Owners of Hill’s Vacant Properties CHRS Effort to Revise Tax Status of Eleven Properties Succeeds by Gary Peterson fter three years of effort, CHRS has gotten the Office of Tax A Taxes have and Revenue (OTR) to enforce the increased five- Class 3 tax rate for vacant proper- fold on these ties. The change of 11 properties on vacant proper- Capitol Hill from Class 1 to Class ties in the 200 3 has resulted in an additional block of 11th $150,000 in additional real prop- Street, SE. erty taxes. It has taken this long to reclassify the properties to Class Photo: 3 because the process to change a Gary Peterson property to Class 3 is extremely Consumer and Regulatory Affairs DCRA then certifies to OTR that burdensome and requires the coor- (DCRA) first inspect the property the property is vacant and OTR dination of efforts between two and determine that the property sends notice of change to Class 3 agencies. reported vacant is indeed vacant. to the owner. The owner then has The reclassification from Class The owner of the property may an opportunity to object. After 1 (occupied) to Class 3 (vacant) object to the classification of vacant the objection is resolved or if no requires that the Department of and the objection must be resolved. objection is made, the property is changed to Class 3 and the taxes increase from 96 cents per hundred CHRS Saves Historic Homes from Wrecking Ball dollars of valuation to five dollars per hundred. by Gary Peterson and Nancy Metzger erties and one vacant lot remain in the Surprisingly, several owners of proposed project and will be acquired vacant properties have claimed they n a letter dated July 20, 2005, from and demolished by the city. are occupied. CHRS has addressed Ithe DC Department of Housing and The proposed development this issue by providing DCRA and Community Development (DHCD) is intended to replace the Arthur OTR with photographic evidence to Capitol Hill Restoration Society, Capper complex, a severely deterio- and affidavits from neighbors prov- DHCD withdrew 15 properties slated rated public housing project located ing the property is vacant. The to be acquired and demolished for the south of the Freeway between 3rd process to reclassify is further pro- Arthur Capper/Carrollsburg Hope VI and 7th streets. The new mixed- longed because property owners are Redevelopment. Four improved prop- Homes Saved continued on page 5 Vacant Properties continued on page 3 President’s Column by Dick Wolf best efforts of such groups as CHRS. Although we have a very detailed, The mid-October members meet- his will be a decisive year for often redundant plan, including ing will feature a CHRS Program DC’s neighborhoods, particularly ward plans and maps adopted into T on the Plans and Activities of the Capitol Hill. Political life in the city law, the plan itself has not been Anacostia Waterfront Corporation. will be dominated by local planning, implemented. There is no mechanism primarily because of the three-year to make it happen except through the Date and place will be announced effort by the Office of Planning to political process. As Councilmember in the October News. completely revise the local elements Jack Evans (Democrat, Ward 2) once of the Comprehensive Plan. stated at Council hearings, the only Local planning, which includes kind of planning he thought made activities that affect Capitol Hill, land use planning, was one of the sense was planning Chicago style perhaps more than any other part most intensely debated portions of where a developer sat down with the of the city, CHRS will have our own the Home Rule Act. The critical argu- Mayor and cut a deal. programs—or participate in those of ment was over how much local con- Andy Altman, as the director of other organizations—that deal pri- trol would be exercised by the new the Office of Planning, has consis- marily with local planning issues. government versus what would be tently stated that as a planner he did In mid-October, CHRS will retained by the Federal Government. not want to plan without having a present a program devoted to the But with local control came a require- discrete notion of follow-on develop- Anacostia Waterfront Corporation’s ment to create a local version of what ment eventuating from planning. (Of plans and activities stretching from is called the Comprehensive Plan for course, Mr. Altman initiated a new the South Capitol Street project to the National Capitol to determine comprehensive plan process with the Reservation 13. These developments zoning regulations and priorities in promise that we are planning for the will be accelerated by the recent annual capital budgeting. next twenty years!) “transfer of lands” bill that will give Few of those fine intentions Because of the confluence of so DC jurisdiction, and—sometimes— have ever been realized, despite the many planning and development outright ownership, of numerous Federal properties encompassed by the Anacostia Watershed Initiative plan area, plus some parcels on CHRS, Capitol Hill Facing Major Issues the Hill, including the Old Naval A Call for Volunteers Members interested in any of Hospital and the parcels making up the issues that affect their neigh- the Eastern Market Metro Plaza. • Anacostia Waterfront Initiative borhoods can contribute to the Further underscoring the year of and Reservation 13 Society and the community by the “plan” is a program sponsored by volunteering to work on one of the Committee of 100 on the Federal • Comprehensive Plan for the the Society’s committees. Call City, the oldest private civic plan- District or email the office 202-543-0425, ning organization in Washington, [email protected] for further to discuss the possibility of a local • Expansion of the Capitol Hill information. planning commission for the District Historic District of Columbia. Its primary mission CHRS Committees: would be the implementation of the • The Anacostia River clean up • Budget comprehensive plan. DC is one of the and sports opportunities on few cities in the country without a the river • City Planning • Community Development planning commission. Several years • Transportation planning that • Communications ago CHRS put on a forum concern- affects the Hill • Endowment ing this same issue. • Environment Later in the year, as the draft • US Capitol Master Plan • House and Garden Tour comprehensive plan nears comple- • Historic Preservation tion, CHRS will have another pro- • South Capitol Street Project • Membership gram which will not only demon- strate how citizens can participate • Development of H Street, NE • Transportation • Zoning in planning their own communities, but also indicate how the plan will be implemented. 2 • CHRS News September 2005 Capitol Hill Restoration Vacant Properties continued from page 1 Society (CHRS) given two opportunities to object to the classification of vacant, once to How to Check the Vacant BOARD OF DIRECTORS: DCRA and a second time to OTR. Property List President . .Dick Wolf You can help deal with vacant 1st Vice President . .Barbara Eck To see if a property is assessed as properties by following the link 2nd Vice President . .Gary Peterson Class 3 go to Treasurer . .Mike Canning in the box to the right. If there is a property you believe to be vacant https://www.taxpayerservice Secretary . .Beth Purcell center.com/RP_Search.jsp?search_ Past President . .Rob Nevitt that is not listed as Class 3 on this type=Assessment At Large . .Tom Grahame web site, please send an email At Large . .Joan Joshi to [email protected]. Be sure to and type in the property address. At Large . .Elizabeth Nelson include the address and any infor- At Large . .Diane Scott mation about the property such as COMMITTEE CHAIRS: how long it has been vacant. ties to improve them. Vacant prop- CHRS hopes the Class 3 tax will erties cause too many problems for Vacant, Budget Dick Wolf, City Planning encourage owners of vacant proper- their neighbors. Barbara Eck, Community Development Vacant, Communications Gene Smith, Environment John Shages, Endowment Architect Adolf Cluss’s Work Celebrated in Nancy Metzger, Historic Preservation Ann Richards, House and Garden Tour September Lectures Vacant, Membership 17th Street, NW) by Cynthia Field, Tom Grahame, Transportation Eastern Market South Hall Chairperson of the Smithsonian Gary Peterson, Zoning and Smithsonian Arts and Institution’s Architectural History NEWS: Industries Building Among and Historic Preservation division. Larry Janezich, David Holmes, Jane Ruyle, Editors Architect’s Projects The reception, featuring German Roxanne Walker, design and layout cuisine, begins at 6:00 pm; the lec- WEBSITE: n September 13, at 8:00 pm ture is at 7:00 pm. Registration fees Martha Huizenga, DC Access, Oin the Naval Lodge Hall (330 are $8 for Latrobe Chapter members Webmaster Pennsylvania Avenue, SE), the and $12 for others. Reservations Overbeck Lecture series begins again are required. Details: 202-442-6060 OFFICE MANAGER: with a presentation by history schol- Jeff Fletcher ar and author Joseph Browne on or www.latrobechaptersah.org/ To contact any of the above, please German-American architect Adolf upcomingevents.htm. contact the Society offices by calling 202-543-0425 or sending email to Cluss, the visionary Navy Yard Cluss’s buildings, often con- [email protected]. engineer who designed the Eastern structed in red brick, are known www.chrs.org Market’s South Hall and many other for their unpretentious dig- Celebrating our fiftieth year helping notable DC buildings, including the nity, craftsmanship and careful Smithsonian’s Arts and Industries to preserve and protect Capitol Hill’s detailing. Despite the great success residential character, the Society is now building, Ninth Street Masonic the largest civic association on Capitol of Cluss in Washington, Baltimore Hill, and one of the largest in the entire Temple, Sumner School, and District of Columbia.