October 2011 Meeting Minutes

October 18, 2011

Meeting Report

Meeting Agenda:

•  Fall Clean Up Day November 5th
•  DC Market Place Update
•  15^th and V Project Update
•  Treasurer Update
•  Elections  
•  Holiday Party

Fall Clean Up Day:

The bi-annual MHNA Fall Cleanup Day will be on Saturday, November 5^th.  ALL ARE WELCOME TO ATTEND! Coffee and doughnuts will start off the clean up day at 9:30 am.  The event will end at 12:00pm.  Neighbors and volunteers will meet at the corner of 14^th and Florida Avenue.  Pete Q. will coordinate to obtain supplies.  George S. will coordinate to get doughnuts and coffee from the newly opened Dunkin Doughnuts.  Christina reminded the group that neighbors need to bring their own gloves to the clean up.   Information for the clean up will be sent out via the list serve, a sign underneath the MHNA banner at 14^th and Florida, and the website.  100 flyers will also be printed to distribute to businesses in the neighborhood.  Pete Q. will continue to look into if we can get T-shirts in time for the clean up to give to volunteers.

DC Market Place Update: 

Chef Ken came and gave an update for the market he coordinates at the parking lot at 14^th and W Streets.  He has added vendors from the Unity Market in Adams Morgan that recently closed down.  MHNA agreed to help fund advertising for the market and will reimburse Chef Ken for posters and flyers once he gets MHNA the necessary receipts.  Chef Ken gave an update on the future of the Market in wintertime.  Chef Ken is exploring several sites including the Latino Autosales Lot, the building where Georges Carryout used to be, and the vacant retail in View 14.

15^th and V Project Update: 

Christina P. gave an update on the building proposed for 15^th and V Streets.  She attended the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) meeting held on September 22^nd.  HPRB approved the concept of the building and directed the developer to work with the Historic Preservation Office (HPO) and the affected residents on further revisions to the design.  Christina noted one HPRB member’s statement that property records are a matter of public record and therefore there was no reason for the developer, Jair Lynch Development, not to contact the affected property owners of the historic row homes on the west side of the 2000 block of 15^th Street and on the east side of the 2100 block of 15^th Street and other surrounding properties.  She relayed that they are requiring the developer go back to reach out to those neighbors and continue to refine the architecture of the building, including reducing the northwest corner projection which measured 22 by 26 feet, compared to the 12-15-foot window projections of the nearby rowhouses and to reduce the ratio of glass to brick to fit into the context of the neighborhood.  Tentatively the developer is scheduled to appear before the HPRB again in November.

Christina also relayed that the developer had scheduled a meeting on Thursday, October 20, which it announced by email three days beforehand and sent to two of the affected neighbors.  Christina relayed that she forwarded the email to some of her neighbors and several had responded that they would be unable to attend because of the short notice.

Kaleena Francis of Jair Lynch Development stated that it is not standard practice to have meetings like the one they have set up for Thursday in addition to the other presentations that they have already given.  She stated that Jair Lynch Development left flyers at nearby residences, and distributed copies to ANC Commissioners and MHNA and sent a message to the listserve.  She stated that every project is different which is why they are scheduling additional meetings.  Christina requested that the meeting they had scheduled for the October 20 be rescheduled to give adequate notice time to neighbors.   Kaleena said they Jair Lynch Development will not reschedule the meeting but they will schedule an additional meeting before the November HPRB meeting if it is needed.  

Treasurer Update:

Pete Q. relayed that there are no new members since the last meeting.  There are currently approximately 24 paid members to MHNA.  There is $4,463 in the MHNA account.  

MHNA discussed how membership could be increased including updating/creating a new Facebook page.  A Facebook page had been created previously but is out of date.  

Elections: 

MHNA will have elections for 2012 at the November 15^th MHNA meeting.  The following nominations were made:

Treasurer - Pete Quinnan

Vice President - George Southworth

Secretary - Brian Levy

Presdient - Christina Parascandola

Bobby Barusefski. announced that because of personal reasons he will not be running for Secretary for 2012 

In order to vote in the November you must be a paid member by October 31^st.  All interested paid members can run for an office.  Brian L. relayed that he would also like to see an intern from a surrounding college in 2012 that MHNA could offer a stipend to help the Association, especially with membership drives.

Holiday Party:

Members discussed having the holiday party at Judy’s like they did last year.  More details will be discussed in the November meeting.

Other Items:

To avoid confusion and lingering questions, MHNA discussed having a standard format for presenters to make in future meetings.  For example, if a restaurant is applying for a change they need to make sure they have a set format of information to present at future MHNA meetings.  This will help MHNA make decisions about supporting or not supporting projects.