Capitol Riverfront Front Page News, March 25, 2011

Our colleagues at the Capitol Riverfront BID included our anticipated move to 1000 5ht Street, SE in their March 25th Newsletter. Thanks for the welcome to the neighborhood!

Capitol Hill Day School Moving to Capitol Riverfront During Renovations

The Capitol Hill Day School, a well-respected, progressive day school serving 215 boys and girls will be moving to modular classrooms at a temporary space on 1000 Fifth Street, SE while their building is being renovated. As of August 2011, teachers and staff will move into the modular classrooms but will move back into their renovated building at 210 South Carolina Avenue, SE in January 2012. CHDS will also be posting relocation and renovation updates on their website and Construction Wiki.

The school day begins at 8:20 a.m., with most teachers and staff arriving by 8:00 a.m.

The daily dismissal schedule is as follows:

• Mo/Tu/Th/Fr at 3:05 p.m. for children in Pre-K through 5th grade
• Wed. at 2:10 p.m. for all students
• Grades 6 through 8 are dismissed at 3:10 p.m. on Mondays and Fridays, and at 3:40 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The School's After School Program (ASP) is open every day that school is in session, from dismissal until 6:00 p.m. During this time, 10 to 15 ASP staff will be on campus with 50 to 100 children, ages 4 to 14 years old. The school's Field Education Program coordinates over 300 field trips for CHDS students each year, so on any given school day, one or more grades will be spending time off campus. Their field trip calendar, as well as our all-school calendar, are always available online.

1000 5th Street SE -- Temporary Location

Capitol Hill Day School's facilities will move to a temporary location, 1000 5th Street, SE, five blocks from the Dent School, during the building renovation period. In many respects erecting modular classrooms on this presently vacant lot is as significant a challenge as renovating the historic Dent Building.

The Swing Space Project Management Team, Christopher Regan, Project Manager, on left, David A. Etzel, Sales Specialist, Mobile Modular Rents, and Jim Woolwine, Business Manager, Capitol Hill Day School, meet on a weekly basis to coordinate the site prep and mobile unit installation.

Jason Gray, Head of School, has reviewed the available space with faculty and has assigned modular space to the curricular units.

We are working on the gamut from utilities (PEPCO, DC WASA), civil engineering plan (Vika, Inc.), to include many others that will be featured in future blog entries. The critical path to install the modular units by late July - early August also includes obtaining a zoning variance and several permits from the District of Columbia.

Renovation Project -- Commitment for Credit

Another step in the process of renovating the Dent Building is complete.

Capitol Hill Day School has concluded negotiations with TD Bank and has signed a commitment letter to obtain the loan necessary to finance the construction project.

The School will request that this financing be tax-exempt through the District of Columbia's Industrial Revenue Bond Program (IRB) as the School is an eligible non-profit organization. The School expects the loan will close by June 30, 2011.

Davenport & Company, LLC, Richmond, VA, advised the School during the bank solicitation process leading to the selection of TD Bank.

Interim Space Hearing -- Board of Zoning Adjustment

BOARD OF ZONING ADJUSTMENT

PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE

TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2011

441 4^TH STREET, N.W.

SECOND FLOOR HEARING ROOM, SUITE 220-SOUTH

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20001

TO CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING: The Board of Zoning Adjustment will adhere to the following schedule, but reserves the right to hear items on the agenda out of turn.

9:30 A.M. TO 12:00 P.M. MORNING HEARING SESSION

1:00 P.M. TO 6:00 P.M. AFTERNOON SESSION

A.M.

WARD TWO

18211 Application of Gregory Fishbein, pursuant to 11 DCMR § 3104.1, for a ANC-2E special exception to allow a rear deck addition an existing one-family row

dwelling under section 223, not meeting the lot occupancy (section 403), and nonconforming structure (subsection 2001.3) requirements in the R-3 District at premises 2912 Dumbarton Street, N.W. (Square 1234, Lot 829).

WARD SIX

18208 Application of Capital Hill Day School, pursuant to 11 DCMR §§

ANC-6D 3104.1, and 3103.2, for a variance from the parking requirements under

section 2101.1, and a special exception to allow the temporary placement and use of modular classrooms from May, 2011 to March, 2012, for a private school under section 206, in the R-5-B District at premises 1000 5^th Street, S.E. (Square 881-W, Lot 800).

P.M.

WARD SEVEN

18209 Application of Washington Tennis and Education Foundation and the ANC-7A Government of the District of Columbia Government, pursuant to 11

DCMR § 3104.1 for a special exception to allow the construction of a public recreation and community center under subsection 408.1, exceeding the maximum gross floor area in the R-5-A District at premises 100 Stoddert Place, S.E. (Square 5407, Lot 807).

WARD THREE

18210 Application of Noodles & Company, pursuant to 11 DCMR §§ 3104.1, ANC-3C 3103.2, and 1304.1, for a variance from the enclosure wall requirements

under subsection 721.3(j), and a special exception to establish a fast food establishment under subsection 1307.5, in the WP/C-2-B District at 2635 Connecticut Avenue, N.W. (Square 2204, Lot 161).

PLEASE NOTE:

Failure of an applicant or appellant to appear at the public hearing will subject the application or appeal to dismissal at the discretion of the Board.

Failure of an applicant or appellant to be adequately prepared to present the application or appeal to the Board, and address the required standards of proof for the application or

appeal, may subject the application or appeal to postponement, dismissal or denial. The public hearing in these cases will be conducted in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 31 of the District of Columbia Municipal Regulations, Title 11, and Zoning. Pursuant to Subsection 3117.4, of the Regulations, the Board will impose time limits on the testimony of all individuals.

Individuals and organizations interested in any application may testify at the public hearing or submit written comments to the Board. Except for the affected ANC, any

person who desires to participate as a party in this case must clearly demonstrate that the person’s interests would likely be more significantly, distinctly, or uniquely affected by

the proposed zoning action than other persons in the general public. Persons seeking party status shall file with the Board, not less than 14 days prior to the date set for the hearing, a Form 140 – Party Status Application. This form may be obtained from

the Office of Zoning at the address stated below or downloaded from the Office of Zoning’s website at: www.dcoz.dc.gov. All requests and comments should be submitted

to the Board through the Director, Office of Zoning, 441 4^th Street, NW, Suite 210, Washington, D.C. 20001. Please include the case number on all correspondence.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT THE OFFICE OF ZONING AT (202) 727-6311.

MERIDITH H. MOLDENHAUER, CHARPERSON, NICOLE C. SORG, VICE CHAIRPERSON, JEFFREY L. HINKLE AND A MEMBER OF THE ZONING COMMISSION ---------------- BOARD OF ZONING ADJUSTMENT, BY

CLIFFORD MOY, SECRETARY TO THE BZA, JAMISON L. WEINBAUM, DIRECTOR.

ANC 6D Supports Temporary Capitol Hill Day School

The following report on the ANC 6D Meeting, March 14, 2011 was posted on the blog JDLand.com:

ANC 6D Supports Temporary Capitol Hill Day School

(There were a number of Near Southeast-related items on Monday night's ANC 6D agenda, so I'm going to break up the reports into a couple of posts. One or two more to come over the next day or so.)

Representatives of the Capitol Hill Day School came to 6D to ask for the commission's support on a zoning case that would allow the school to erect "modular classrooms" on the empty community center lot at 5th and K while their current location at 2nd and South Carolina undergoes renovation. As I wrote last week, the school would occupy the lot starting in June, with the intent of returning to the Dent School building in January 2012. There were a few additional details given last night:

* CHDS has secured 29 spaces in the big parking lot at 7th and L for faculty.

* They will be requesting from DDOT that six of the street parking spaces (half the block) on the east side of 5th in front of the lot be changed to No Parking from 8 am to 6 pm weekdays, to act as a drop-off zone for parents and buses. They will ask parents coming from north of the freeway to drive south on 4th, turn left on L, and then turn left on 5th to pull into one of their four drop-off spots, where kids are guided quickly out of the cars. (You can see this in operation at 2nd and South Carolina.) Their school buses would also operate in those spots during the day. But the spaces would be available for resident parking after 6 pm, before 8 am, and on weekends, with a "minimal" number of nighttime events beyond a Back to School night.

* Headmaster Jason Gray said that the school wants to be "as minimally disruptive as we can, be good community members, and leave the site better than we left it." They'll be landscaping the site (and fencing it), and will clear the lot and clean it up once they move out.

* In return for using this DC Housing Authority lot, CHDS has agreed to fund three scholarships for public housing children to attend the school, though details on how the students will be picked are still being worked out.

The commission voted 6-1 to support the zoning request, with only Commissioner Roger Moffatt voting against. The BZA will hear the case on May 17. If you want to know more about the CHDS renovation project, you can check out their wiki, and they are also keeping a blog on the construction project.

ANC 6D Meeting, Tuesday, March 14, 2011

Jason Gray, Head of School, presented Capitol Hill Day School's planned use of the lot at 1000 5th Street, SE as the School's temporary location during renovations to the Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 6D at its regular monthly meeting.

Capitol Hill Day School requested the ANC's support of our zoning variance request that will be considered by the Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA) in May.

The ANC Commissioners voted to support our request for a variance.

Garfield Park Play Equipment

Designed for Fun, Inc., our local representative for the Berliner Seilfabrik play equipment located in the center of Garfield Park, arrived today to complete some long-overdue repairs. Brett Haddaway and his son Dave started to install new webbing on the very popular "Yellow." Tomorrow they will replace the "Funnel." They will also check all the fasteners, replace frayed ropes, and correct tension in the remaining equipment to make sure that it continues to be safe for the children (and adults!) of our community and School.

Capitol Hill Day School maintains the play equipment in coordination with the Friends of Garfield Park to provide our Capitol Hill community with safe, inviting, and rewarding outdoor recreational opportunities.

Swing into Swing Space

A critical component of the School's plans to renovate the Dent Building is locating a temporary facility to use during the six month renovation period.

Thanks to a generous offer from the District of Columbia Housing Authority (DCHA), we are completing plans to relocate to 1000 5th Street, SE, just five blocks from the School.

Kevin Ifkovits and Dave Etzel, Mobile Modular Rents, are shown on the lot measuring the site for the modular classrooms the School will install to create this temporary facility.