Last Night's Zoning Hearing -A Briefing

This hearing was regarding the Gateway Market Residences a proposed PUD at 4th and Florida.
ANC 6C representatives submitted a filing and were present at the meeting [Phelps and Velasco, both in opposition]. Single Member District representatives Bernard and Lawson [both in opposition] were present from 5B. ANC 5B Chairman Shelton [proponent] was scheduled to appear, but was a no-show. The hearing began at 6:30pm and the ANC 5B meeting began at 7:30pm, so there was a scheduling conflict between the two meetings.

Mr. Choi and his representatives were present, as were some spectators. A representative from Harry Thomas' office delivered testimony in favor of the development, and I believe it also contained opposition to granting party status to ANC 6C. No representative was present, due to scheduling conflicts, from Tommy Wells' office, but his office did submit a letter supporting party status for ANC 6C.

The Zoning Commission granted party status for ANC 6C, but refused to grant them great weight without some additions to their filing. They intend to make such additions to obtain great weight.

The Chairman of ANC 5B had submitted a letter of support purporting to speak for the entire ANC, but it was not taken as the official stance of ANC 5B because it was deficient on several grounds, including that it made on mention of a binding vote by the ANC. This is because there was no vote on the issue at the May 1st meeting when applicant last appeared before the Commission. The last time ANC 5B voted on this development was more than two and half years ago. A copy of the letter issued following that vote was attached. The Zoning Commission declined to accept that vote as the official stance of ANC 5B because of its age and the tremendously changed circumstances surrounding the project during that time period. The Commission also stated that the filings in opposition from two commissioners indicated that there was some division in ANC 5B on this project.

The Commission granted a continuance until July 24th. Essentially this means that the Applicant was able to present the plans, and the Commission gave them comments on the presentation. The Commission asked that ANC 5B hold a special meeting with a binding vote prior to the July 24th hearing, and that all representatives, and any other individuals, or groups wishing to testify in this matter appear at the July 24th hearing. The Commission urged both ANCs to speak with the developer's agents to resolve issues before that date to the extent possible. I would urge any interested persons to attend any and all public meetings on this issue prior to the July hearing date.

One of the issues drawing the most interest was that Applicant's plans call for retail to face inward, rather than towards the street. Considering that Applicant's plans also call for windows on most sides of the project this brought up concerns that this would result in the street facing windows being filled with stock rooms.