School Board Member Tommy Wells reported on the impact of the proposed school closings on the Near Southeast/Southwest community. He said that the goal was to reduce the substantial excess square footage that the school system currently has through consolidation and re-use of the buildings. He said that no final decisions have been made about which schools will be closed, but there will be an impact in the 6D area: Jefferson Jr. High, like other junior high schools, will be changed to a middle school, losing its ninth grade and Bowen and Amidon schools will lose their sixth grades to Jefferson.

Van Ness School, which currently houses a small citywide special education program, could close, but will be re-opened once the Capper/Carrollsburg housing development is completed and families return. Mr. Wells suggested that it could be used as “swing” space to house students whose schools are being renovated. He also used Van Ness as an example of a school that could be part of public/private partnership, where its land, increasing valuable, could be swapped for a developer-built new school nearby. He also said that no schools will be sold, but could be leased, with the money coming back directly to the schools.

The ANC determined to postpone any action until more definite information is available on the impact of the closings on Southwest.

Warren Graves of the DC Sports and Entertainment Commission, Marshall Purnell, of Purnell and Devereaux, the local architectural partner of HOK Sport, the stadium’s architect, and Alan Fitzpatrick, the project manager for Clark Construction made a presentation on the project, and the current timetable for construction.

After a Power Point “tour” of the stadium, its construction was discussed. On May 4, there will be a City Council hearing on the alley closings required for the stadium, after which they will go to the Zoning Commission on the project. All the tenants have been moved from the site, except for a WMATA bus parking lot, which will close early in May. The Commission was told that demolition will begin on May 5. Construction will begin on 1st Street, and work clockwise around the site, with pile driving in May and June, followed by nine months of cast-in-place construction and steel construction beginning in October. There will be a ramp into the site on Half St., and a secondary entry on the south side of the site to minimize traffic disruption. They expect the construction to take about 13 months, with the first seats being installed by the first of 2008.

Mr. Graves also outlined the purchasing plans for the structure, saying that the project goal was to have more than 50 percent of contracts go to Local Small Disadvantaged Businesses (LSDB), and that they were developing training and employment programs for local workers.

Questions were raised about the pedestrian and automobile traffic the stadium will generate, and a request was made for a written traffic plan to provide an idea of what is being projected. The Commission was told that there would not be any stadium traffic on residential streets, that speed limits on M Street would be strictly enforced, and that there would be bi-weekly meetings with DDOT.

100 M Street SE

At its March meeting, the ANC approved alley closings for a project at 100 M Street SE, Square 743N. The project now has to be presented to the Zoning Commission for a design review as it falls within the new Capitol Gateway Zoning Overlay, The building meets all the requirements for height, FAR and setbacks required by the overlay, and the ANC voted 4-0-1 to support the project.

JPI Development came before the ANC to request support at a Board of Zoning Adjustment hearing on May 16th for a special exception for a change in the configuration of roof structures, and a variance for a reduction in the amount of square footage for residential recreational space in a residential project they are planning at 900 New Jersey Avenue SE. The developers want to provide separate stairwells and heat/air conditioning units for the two sides of the building. The Commissioners expressed their concerns about the absence of provision for affordable housing in the project, and said that this was an issue that every developer capitalizing on the current building boom should address. The Commission voted to refer the project to its Development Committee for further action.

Lerner Enterprises came before the Commission for support of an 800’ alley closing for a commercial building project at 1000 South Capitol Street, saying that the alley is unnecessary for public purposes. Because it is a commercial project, there is a requirement that a contribution be made to the District’s Housing Investment Trust Fund (HITF)—in this case, $26,549. The view was expressed that the Southeast community should derive benefits from the project, rather than a citywide entity like the HITF, the Commission voted to refer the project to the Development Committee for further discussion and action.

The next meeting of ANC 6D will be on Monday, May 10, at 7 pm, at 65 I Street SW.