originally uploaded to Flickr by Bill on Capitol Hill
The latest proposed designs for the Hine School development are up for consideration in front of the Historic Preservation Review Board, and the ANC wants to hear from residents before determining their own recommendations for the project. So here’s another chance for you to weigh in…
I started following the Hine School development story more than two years ago, and then started covering it for this blog nearly two years ago, after THIH had just launched. That summer the city narrowed down their options to four bidders and I attended a number of meetings to find out what was in store. I was unemployed at the time and had much more time and energy for the lengthy community meetings than I do now. After a couple of said meetings one thing was very clear: this is going to be a LONG process. Two years later and we are still far from a groundbreaking…I’m not sure I expected delays quite this bad, but here we are. We have a developer and a set of designs that have seen more versions than I can count. And we have a lot of neighbors with opposing views. And we have a set of specifications for this site that were determined by the city many years ago when the RFP for this project was first sent out. And now we have a long review and approval process…one that I have lost track of.
The latest step of this process is the approval and recommendations from the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB). ANC 6B gets to give its own recommendations to HPRB, because ANC 6B represents the residents directly affected by the project. And in that spirit, the ANC wants to give the public a chance to weigh in, instead of just determining the recommendations amongst themselves. Along with a special call meeting on April 26, they have released their DRAFT recommendations to the public and are asking for feedback. You can email your commissioner, or just comment here — they assure me that they are reading all of the comments on local blogs covering the issue.
So download the draft recommendations here and weigh in. And in case you have not yet seen the latest designs, you can see them at HineSchool.com. If you want to catch up on the history of this project (I realize that not all of our readers have been following this as closely as I had been), you can find all of our past posts in the archives.
And if you want your voice to be heard in person, attend the special call meeting on April 26th at 6:30 pm at Brent Elementary School, located at 301 North Carolina Avenue SE.
I think the plans are much better than expected, but still raise concerns for the neighborhood (including those of us who do not live immediately next to the Hine site). In general, I would say:
I am concerned about traffic backing up on 8th St even more then it does now. I hope they are planning to put in a stoplight at the intersection of 8th & C Sts because it is already a difficult intersection for pedestrians.
I would like to see the design revert back to the open courtyard and plaza centered on C St (instead of the new hardscaped triangle at 7th and C). The open green space and plaza was a community benefit that is now missing.
Also, he heights of the buildings are unclear in the designs? Is the 8th St building 4 stories or 5? It looks like the setback/rooftop ameneties are in essence a 5th story which seems very tall for the neighborhood. 8th Street is a lovely vibrant street and it seems like the view of the market would be blocked by such a tall building.
Finally, I would like to see the design reflect the retail needs of the neighborhood. Retail streching from 8th and D to 7th St along pennsylvania would help to connect barracks row to the retail on 7th and it would create a “shopping path” of small retail. It would also be really nice to have a grocery store (maybe Trader Joe’s or a bigger Yes so as not to compete with the market vendors) or a movie theater, both of which are lacking in the neighborhood.
I know we want to get this right but at a certain point people have to understand that this site cannot be everything to everybody. If the people of this community don’t figure out a way to compromise on some things, I fear I’ll be looking at the Hine v8.0 in a few years.
In the interim, can’t we just level the place and turn it into a basic park, urban garden or grassy knoll. If we do this then we can at least get some enjoyment out of the space while the “powers that be” maneuver, spar, cajole, etc.
the height concerns are far less an issue to me than getting the aesthetics right. I don’t really understand the idea that the height will obstruct views of the market, unless maybe you are viewing the market from a helicopter. how and where it’s set back from the street will determine visibility. also i don’t fully understand the desire to replicate the appearance of the market on the 7th street side. how many unique structures benefit from surrounding buildings copying them? style sure, but by form and dimension seems kind of silly.
It’s too big, too dense, and has no public greenspace.
When a private developer takes over use of public land, the least they can do, is listen to the public.
Since this a “Historic Preservation” review, I’d really like to see an Educational element to the plans. As I read on this blog, this was the site of the first Purpose Built School in the District, and up to this point has always been a school. There must be some way to acknowledge this, celebrate this, and continue on with this tradition. Can’t we get something like a Montesorri school or an Early Childhood Education Center. Just askin
Being a developer must suck.
@jfk I believe there is a plan for a pre-k charter school.
I think the new plans are a great improvement over last time. I don’t have a lot to add to the Historical Board’s assessment other than to endorse it. Reading their draft I think they have rightly identified the concerns of the community, especially, for me, about the North Residential Bldg, and the interior courtyard. It seems like it would be nice to make that interior courtyard a public children’s park. I don’t think gated private open space works well around here…. As the center of Democratic rule, Capitol Hill should reflect community in its spaces. This does that well, but we should demand what the neighborhood history deserves.
I would also like to endorse our need for a movie theater and even more boutique retail space. One nice thing I’ve seen done is stepped-down partly open subterrainian retail, which might look very nice next to the small park in the interior space. I’m sure there is a technical word for that which I don’t know. An interior plaza?
@ Bob: Traffic backing up on 8th Street?? Maybe I’m jaded because I used to live in Northern Virginia, but the traffic on 8th is not bad at all, nor do I think it will be after the Hine is redeveloped. And I live a block away from it.
I’d still like to know what happened to the hotel. Clearly that would bring in new money to support all this new retail, and since it is close to the Capital, would probably be quite successful.
I have raise this question in other places and the answer I got was “it is hard to raise money for a new hotel in current financial climate.” I am not satisfied with this. Can anybody explain why the hotel is dead? And why it should be dead?
Naomi — There are no longer any plans for a pre-k charter school in the development…and I concur with you about the interior courtyard.
Goldfish — Last I heard from the developers (which was about 2-weeks ago), the hotel was still an undecided issue. Hopefully we’ll find out something definitive by the 26th.
Comments by CHRS, ANC6B and HPRB staff accept the basic dimensions of the site plan proposed by Stanton-Eastbanc.
Here are two commonsense ideas that — by this time might seem radical — but only because we have all been wearing the spectacles given out to us by Stanton-Eastbanc.
The Stanton-Eastbanc site plan has the street opening in the wrong place, if the plan is to honor its own vision statement :
“[This is] a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to re-connect historic Eastern Market to one of the major squares on Pennsylvania Avenue, located between 7th and 8th Streets SE, and across Pennsylvania Avenue from the Eastern Market Metro station — the heart of Capitol Hill.”
The April 5 site plan does not connect Eastern Market to the Metro Plaza Square. And it does not connect the Eastern Market shopping street to Barracks Row. There should be sight lines from the top of the Metro escalators to the truly historic Eastern Market building. Instead a large Stanton-Eastbanc Victorian imitation blocks market views.
A second “commonsense” idea would be to restore town houses along the north side of C Street, the way they were before being torn down to build schools and school yards. Remove the alley between 7th and 8th Streets. Make the alley entrance in the center of the restored C Street, where it used to be. Build town houses of the same type that project architect Amy Weinstein so successfully created for the Ellen Wilson houses, and make them the very same as the Ellen Wilson houses — multi-family housing, with some for reduced income residents.
We do not need what Stanton-Eastbanc has given us so far: a views of the Market from along C Street. We do need a strong visual and actual connection — with an opening up along 7th Street — by means of a long, diagonal — opening up Pennsylvania Avenue.
Here is another imaginative thought that might help the site plan: Tommy Wells, at a meeting on April 6, agreed that because open space inside a closed courtyard does not really benefit many people — we could ask Stanton-Eastbanc to think in terms of not having that interior open space at all. Instead, perhaps use it for more office space (using light wells and air shafts) — and thus create room for more exterior open space, and for lower heights especially on both the 8th and the 7th Street sides (to be more in keeping with the low-rise immediate surroundings.
Much thought — and much beating of gums — has already gone into the Hine Development. But it isn’t right yet. We still need to ask Stanton-Eastbanc to make bigger changes than tweaks to what has been offered so far. Why is it so hard to imagine a much better site plan? The one we have does fit many logistical necessities — of parking, balancing of retail, housing, office, and strictures of height and massing. But it could answer the needs of Capitol Hill over the long term a whole lot better than it does.
@ 8th street se: My guess is that you probably don’t cross the intersection at 8th & C St SE very often on the weekends. On weekends the intersection is used heavily by pedestrians along with the 8th st traffic. You may not know this, but 8th St is the main bus route connecting the north and south parts of the hill, along with being the primary route of access for fire and ems services. When the market traffic and double parking occurs on the weekends, the street turns into a parking lot due to the short timing of the light at 8th and Independence. When heavy pedestrian traffic gets factored in, it can take three light cycles to get from penn. through north carolina. If you walk over on a nice weekend day you can check it out.
Of course, I agree with you about weekdays – not much traffic at all. That is why there have been so many cop cars hanging out at the intersection pulling over commuters running the stop signs.
@ Bob, I live on 8th Street about a block north of the Hine. Believe me, I am well aware that it is a major bus/firetruck route! And I do a lot of weekend walking (usually crossing C Street). It is really not as bad as you think. I have NEVER seen my block turn into a “parking lot,” nor have I ever witnessed the double parking you described. In fact, I have never been able to not find a parking spot on my block. Are we talking about different 8th Streets here?
Perhaps. Maybe things are different on your block once you get north of North Carolina. I’m not surpised since most people circling for parking don’t go north up by your house. Between C & D there are even metered spots on 8th that do not exempt zone 6 parkers to help alleviate the parking problems. I believe these are unique to the residential streets in the area.
On weekends the parking lot at Hine is closed to be used as the flea market. As a result, I, and most neighbors, have always had problems finding parking on 8th St on nice weekends. Maybe that is the big difference here – people who don’t live within the immediate area around Hine don’t see the traffic problems that the residents see every weekend.