|
November 12, 2003
Mr. Geoffrey Griffis, Chair
Board of Zoning Adjustment
441 4th Street NW Suite 210-S
Washington DC 20001
Dear Mr. Griffis:
Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3D held its regularly scheduled monthly
meeting on November 5th, 2003 at Sibley Memorial Hospital’s Ernst
Auditorium. Proper notice of this meeting was given in the Northwest Current
paper, by fax, by phone and through our website. A quorum (4) was present at
all times.
One of the items on our agenda was BZA #17089, 5822 Sherier Place NW, owned
by Mr. James Gushner. After viewing the plans and taking testimony from the
owner and his architect, ANC3D voted 7-0 to approve the special exceptions
sought by Mr. Gushner for expanding his existing home at 5822 Sherier Place.
NW.
The case involves an unusual case of a non-conforming lot where the owner’s
property is divided into two lots by a former trolley right-of-way
established a century or so ago and whose current ownership is a mystery
that neighbors would just as soon not solve as the abandoned right-of-way is
incorporated into neighborhood use.
Taken individually, neither lot can meet the requirement of 40 percent lot
occupancy. Taken together, as the owner proposes and the commission
endorses, the proposed house would occupy 36 percent of the combined lots
and thus meet the zoning requirement. The house also would meet the setback
required for side yard That leaves the question of the requirement of a
25-foot rear-yard setback. Here the question can be answered by imaginative
use of the 30-foot-wide right-of-way. If the purpose of a rear-yard setback
is to provide green space behind a house, and then the right-of-way can
serve that purpose. There is BZA precedent for using the right-of-way in
this manner to meet rear-yard setback requirements. In a recent case
involving 5812
Sherier, just two houses down from the home in question, the BZA, under
similar circumstances, approved a special exception based on use of the
right-of-way to meet the rear-yard setback. The Commission urges the Board
to apply that precedent in this case.
The Commission found that the proposed new house is proportional in size to
two existing, adjoining houses on that side of Sherier. The
Commission noted that plans for the house had been approved by 18 neighbors
on Sherier. The Commission also found that the granting of the
application would not cause significant traffic, noise or lighting
problems in a delightfully eclectic, tightly woven community.
ANC3Dtherefore urges the Board that its views be given the ‘great weight’ to
which it is entitled under DC law by the Board and that the Board approve
the application.
Sincerely yours,
John W. Finney
Chair, ANC3D |
