Park View follow-up on parking issue at 3701 New Hampshire
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Garages and parking pads abound on the north side of the 700 block of Rock Creek Church Road. (Courtesy of Park View DC.)
ANC 1A Chair and Park View blogger Kent Boese wrote a follow-up article about the parking issues around 3701 New Hampshire Avenue. I think it's a good explanation of the current parking situation. Kent walked around the area looking at where people are parking and what options were available.
The article is a good in-depth look at the issue, and Kent points out there are existing options to help alleviate issues. Ultimately, residents along 7th, Quincy, Rock Creek Church and other nearby streets will feel the stress from any new development, be it a restaurant or an apartment building. The Georgia Avenue Overlay, which guides development on the street, pushes for large buildings exactly like this one. Expect to see more along Georgia in the future.
Rendering of 3701 New Hampshire Avenue. (Courtesy PGN Architects.)
If the building owners make great efforts to strongly encourage new residents to not have a car, something that makes logical sense for a rental building immediately next to several mass transit options, it will help alleviate some of the stress, both parking and personal.
It's worthwhile noting that ANC 1A also voted on the variances and parking issues. And while not unanimous, their vote was civil and approved the variances requested by the developer.
From the article:
It is fair to say that parking is an important issue — and an important quality of life issue. It must also be recognized that no two developments are exactly the same. In the case of 3701 New Hampshire, due to the oddly shaped lot, it just isn’t physically possible to build underground parking on the property, especially to the extent that zoning would require. The property also doesn’t have abutting properties to the north or south withing the Georgia Avenue Overlay that would be able to be added to the development making parking possible. Keeping this in mind, along with the property’s close proximity to a Metro station, several bus lines, and a Capital Bikeshare station, there is no reason why this building should not be built. Furthermore, ANC 1A’s request to remove the loading zone and associated curb cut on Rock Creek Church Road as part of their approval should add two on-street parking spaces to the block.
But another part of the story that wasn’t part of the ANC 4C discussion — and one important to developing some understanding of the potential hardships the immediate neighbors may face — is how much off-street parking exists in the community.
Residents from the 700 block of Rock Creek Church Road were among those expressing concern about the potential impact this development could have on that block, so I took the time to walk the alleys to the north and south of that block to see if any off-street parking existed for these properties currently. What I learned was that 63% of the residential properties on the 700 block of Rock Creek Church Road currently have some form of off-street parking that they are currently using, or have the potential to use. If I include the west side of Warder street, this goes down to 61%. The map below shows the location of the proposed development and all the residential properties that have off-street parking.
(Map key: Orange=two-car garage; Yellow=one-car garage; Red=four car garage; Dark Blue=two car parking pad; Light Blue=one car parking pad) (Courtesy of Park View DC.)
Here is how the parking on the residential properties represented on the map above breaks down.
There are 54 residential properties on Rock Creek Church Road and the west side of Warder Street. 33 of these properties (61%) have off-street parking.
- 10 residences (18%) have garages.
- There is 1 four car garage
-There are 6 two car garages
-There are 3 one car garages
- 23 residences (42.5%) have parking pads
-6 properties have two car parking pads
-17 properties have one car parking pads
Read the full article: Development Plans for 3701 New Hampshire Avenue Encounter Opposition in Petworth
