4964865 Zoning Commission - Second Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Case No. 14-03 (Text Amendment to § 2802.1)

ZONING COMMISSION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

 

NOTICE OF SECOND PROPOSED RULEMAKING
Z.C. Case No. 14-03
(Text Amendment to § 2802.1)

June 5, 2014

 

The Zoning Commission for the District of Columbia (Commission), pursuant to the authority set forth in § 1 of the Zoning Act of 1938, approved June 20, 1938 (52 Stat. 797; D.C. Official Code § 6-641.01 (2012 Repl.)) hereby gives second notice of its intent to amend § 2802.1(f)(3) of Chapter 28 (Hill East (HE) District) of the Zoning Regulations of the District of Columbia (Title 11 DCMR, Zoning)) to permit the use of Building 27 on the District of Columbia General Hospital Campus as an emergency shelter for up to one hundred (100) persons for a five- (5) year period. 

 

The Commission originally proposed a text amendment to § 2802.1 and adopted the rule on an emergency basis in a Notice of Emergency and Proposed Rulemaking published in the D.C. Register on April 18, 2014 at 61 DCR 4033. This emergency rule will expire July 8, 2014.

 

As originally proposed, the amendment permitted an emergency shelter at the District of Columbia General Hospital Campus for not more than one hundred (100) persons, not including supervisors or staff and their families in Building 9 and Building 27 provided that only one (1) of the buildings may be used for an emergency shelter at any one time.  Building 9 presently houses the shelter use, but due the health and safety issues the Department of Human Services (DHS) needed to temporarily move the shelter’s occupants to a different location while Building 9 was being renovated.  Building 27 was selected as a suitable site for the relocation.

 

In a letter dated May 28, 2014, the DHS Director informed the Commission that the Agency had abandoned its plans to renovate Building 9 and that the the structure would be demolished instead.  The Director therefore requested the Commission allow the shelter use in Building 27 for a five- (5) year period to allow for a replacement facility to be designed and constructed.  In a Supplemental Hearing Report dated May 29, 2014, the Office of Planning (OP) offered revised text to permit the interim emergency shelter use of Building 27. DHS and OP representatives offered testimony at the Commission’s public hearing consistent with these recommendations.  OP further clarified that the five- (5) year period would begin on the date the Commission’s final order is published in the D.C. Register. The Commission voted to propose the amendment as revised by OP[1].

 

The proposed amendments to the Zoning Regulations are as follows:

 

Title 11 of the District of Columbia Municipal Regulations, ZONING, Chapter 28, HILL EAST (HE) DISTRICT, § 2802, USES AS A MATTER OF RIGHT (HE), § 2802.1(f) is amended as follows:

 

The introductory phrase in § 2802.1 (f) is amended by striking the reference to “subparagraph (o)” and inserting a reference to “paragraph (g)” in its place; and

 

By amending § 2802.1(f)(3) by adding the phrase “, except that an emergency shelter for not more than one hundred (100) persons, not including supervisors or staff and their families shall be permitted in Building 27 for a period of five (5) years effective years beginning on [THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF ZONING COMMISSION ORDER NO. 14-03]” so that the subsection reads as follows:

 

2802.1             The following uses shall be permitted as a matter of right in the HE District, provided that no use may be located on a site that has not been designated for that use by the Master Plan:

 

(a)                Adult day treatment facility;

 

(b)               Antenna, subject to the standards and procedures that apply to the particular class of antenna pursuant to Chapter 27 of this title;

 

(c)                Child/Elderly development center;

 

(d)               Church or other place of worship;

 

(e)                Clinic;

 

(f)                Community-based residential facility not described in paragraph (g),           subject to the following limitations:

 

(1)                 Youth residential care home, community residence facility, or         health care facility for not more than six (6) persons, not including   resident supervisors or staff and their families;

 

(2)                 Youth residential care home or community residence facility for seven (7) to fifteen (15) persons, not including resident supervisors or staff and their families; provided that there shall be no property containing an existing community-based residential facility for seven (7) or more persons either in the same Square or within a radius of five hundred (500) feet from any portion of the subject property; and

 

(3)               Emergency shelter for not more than four (4) persons, not including resident supervisors or staff and their families, except that an emergency shelter for not more than one hundred (100) persons, not including supervisors or staff and their families shall be permitted in Building 27 for a period of five (5) years beginning on [THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF ZONING COMMISSION ORDER NO. 14-03];

 

(g)               Community-based residential facility to be occupied by persons with a handicap plus resident supervisors, as permitted by right in residence and commercial districts pursuant to 11 DCMR §§ 201.1 (f) and 330.5 (d);

 

(h)               Fire Station;

 

(i)                 Government offices and facilities;

 

(j)                 Hotel or inn;

 

(k)               Library, public or private;

 

(l)                 Museum;

 

(m)             Office;

 

(n)               Park or open space;

 

(o)               Police Department Local Facility;

 

(p)               Private club, restaurant, fast food restaurant, or food delivery service; provided, a fast food restaurant or food delivery service shall not include a drive-through;

 

(q)               Public recreation and community center;

 

(r)                 Public school;

 

(s)                Residential dwellings, including row dwellings, flats, and multiple dwellings; and

 

(t)                 Retail sales and services involving the sale, lease, or servicing of new or used products to the general public, or which provide personal services or entertainment, or provide product repair or services for consumer and business goods.

 

All persons desiring to comment on the subject matter of this proposed rulemaking action should file comments in writing no later than thirty (30) days after the date of publication of this notice in the D.C. Register.  Comments should be filed with Sharon Schellin, Secretary to the Zoning Commission, Office of Zoning, 441 4^th Street, N.W., Suite 200-S, Washington, D.C. 20001, or signed electronic submissions may be submitted in PDF format to [e-mail]. Ms. Schellin may also be contacted by telephone at [phone] or by email: at [e-mail].   Copies of this proposed rulemaking action may be obtained at cost by writing to the above address.

 

 

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[1]   In its written report and public testimony, ANC 6B expressed opposition to the proposed five- (5) year period, believing instead that the emergency shelter use should be reviewed as part of a special exception application or, if the Commission disagreed with that approach, that the maximum period for the use should not exceed two (2) years. If the Commission ultimately decides to adopt the rule, its final order will explain a discussion of the ANC position as required by § 13(d) of the Advisory Neighborhood Commissions Act of 1975, effective March 26, 1976 (D.C. Law 1-21; D.C. Official Code § 1-309.10(d)) (2012 Repl.).