A couple of items so small I can't actually believe I'm posting them, but here they are anyway:

The DC Zoning Commission has scheduled a public hearing on Dec. 8, 2005 for the Florida Rock project. According to the hearing notice, Florida Rock is requesting approval of a second-stage Planned Unit Development as well as a zoning map amendment (are your eyes glazing over yet?), to allow for a nearly 1.1-million-sq-ft mixed use project, just south of the new baseball stadium. The project "would be developed as three separate buildings, but would visually appear as four buildings as the westernmost building is separated into two towers above the 32-foot elevation"; the buildings would be set back from the Anacostia River no less than 75 feet. The project's footprint spans not only the area marked on my map at right, but under the Frederick Douglass Bridge and all  the way down into Southwest  to S Street (from South Capitol Street to the river) toward Buzzard's Point. Given the intense interest in the baseball stadium having riverfront access, as well as the ongoing planning for rebuilding and rerouting the South Capitol Street bridge, it will be interesting to see how the Florida Rock project is designed. (The notice mentions that the building heights would taper down to 92 feet at 1st and Potomac.) Project architects Davis Buckley have a few small designs of the project on their web site, but these were done long before the stadium popped up on the radar screen.

If you're looking for some light summer reading, the transcript from the July 11 DC zoning board meeting--where changes to the text amendment to the Capitol Gateway Overlay District were discussed--has now been posted. If you can't get enough, you can go back to the June 2 transcript to read the board's first doings with the CG Overlay. It's expected that the zoning board will approve this text amendment at its September 15 public meeting. The Capitol Gateway district is the area where the baseball stadium will be built; however, this amendment does not handle the zoning for the stadium itself, which will have to come before the zoning board as its own case.

Yesterday the National Capital Planning Commission took up the issue of the new baseball stadium, voting that the text amendment to the Capitol Gateway Zoning Overlay "would not adversely affect federal interests" (their normal stamp of approval). According to the Post, among the details decided were: not to allow lights higher than 130 feet; to make sure parking would be inside the stadium and underground; not to require that the outfield walls frame a view of the Capitol dome, and to let the architect of the Capitol and the U.S. Capitol Police have design input in the on security matters and on line-of-sight issues between the ballpark and the dome. (The Post brief seems to indicate that the NCPC's vote has now made the "ballpark zone" official--but there is still a required final approval vote by the DC Zoning Board, which will most likely come at its Sept. 15 public meeting.) If you want to read the entire proposed text amendment, you need to first visit the main DC Register site before this link to the proposed text amendment will work....  UPDATE: A tiny bit more of detail on the text amendment from the Washington Business Journal: requirements that at least 20 percent of the stadium's frontage be for retail or entertainment, that the ballpark be set back at least 15 feet from the street, and that the ballpark scoreboard isn't so bright that it will temporarily blind motorists on South Capitol Street and other nearby roads.  (But, no, this doesn't create a Capitol Gateway Zoning Overlay, this amends it.) WBJ also mentions that the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation is close to issuing an official request for information to developers interested in building around the site, a first step in deciding which companies get to partner with the AWC on forming the 14-acre ballpark district.

The July 29 DC Register has published the proposed text amendment (starting on page 2 of the PDF) to the Capitol Gateway Overlay District zoning regulations (Title 11, Chapters 16 and 30 in the DC Municipal Regulations) to allow the construction of the new Nationals baseball stadium, setting forth "the height, floor area ratio, setback, ground floor preferred uses, and parking requirements" as well as other rules for the stadium site. After a comment period of 30 days, the DC Zoning Board will vote on final approval of this amendment, most likely at its Sept. 15 Public Meeting. (Note that once the design of the stadium is unveiled, it too will have to come before the zoning board for approval.) UPDATE: Looks like you need to first visit the main DC Register site before the link to the proposed text amendment will work. Sorry about that! UPDATE II: The Zoning Board has now posted the transcript from the June 2 hearing on this text amendment.

The National Capital Planning Commission has announced the agenda for its August 4 meeting--included is a request for approval of the text amendment to the Capitol Gateway Overview District for the baseball stadium area that was given first approval by the DC Zoning Commission on July 11. The wording of the request for the text amendment: ".... to define 'Ballpark' and Ballpark Area,' to allow a ballpark in Square 702, 703, 704, 705 and 706 and on Reservation 247, between South Capitol Street, 1st Street, N Street, and Potomac Place, SE, Washington, D.C., and to establish a Zoning Commission review and approval process and design guidelines for a ballpark and associated uses." Also on the agenda are two items pertaining to the coming redevelopment of Capper / Carrollsburg: the "dedication of land to establish 2nd and 3rd Places, SE, and to reopen and dedicate a portion of L Street, SE, in Squares 767, 768, 798, 799 and Reservations 17-B, 17-C and 17-D, between I, M, 3rd, and 4th Streets, SE"; plus proposing the closure of "public alleys in Squares 798, 799 and 824, between I, K, 3rd and 4th Streets, SE." This step happens before the requests for closures go to the DC City Council (per DC Code 9-202.02).

The DC Office of Zoning had its second hearing on the proposed baseball stadium amendment to the Capitol Gateway Overlay District last night, July 11. (I swear I checked the agenda within the past few days and it wasn't there, otherwise I would have told you! Honest!) According to a very helpful lady at DCOZ, the proposed amendment was approved with only minor modifications ("wording clarifications"); what happens now is that the revised text will appear in the DC Register (perhaps in the July 22 edition). Thirty days are allowed for comment, with the Zoning Board then acting on final approval after that (perhaps at the September 12th meeting). Note that this is just the zoning for the area--the proposed stadium itself will also have to come before the Zoning Board for hearings and approval. I would point you to the Capitol Gateway Overlay District laws in the full DC Municipal Regulations, but Chapter 16/Capitol Gateway Overlay District is mysteriously not listed in the Zoning Table of Contents!

The DC Office of Planning has posted the presentation materials and public comments from the May 24 South Capitol Street Corridor and Baseball Master Plan Public Meeting. Also TBD is the date for proposed action by the DC Zoning Commission on the Baseball Overlay, which was presented at the June 2 meeting. The Zoning Commission agenda page says: The record will remain open until June 30th for some specific requests. It is anticipated this matter will be considered for proposed action at the July meeting.

On June 2, 2005, at 12:30 pm, the National Capital Planning Commission will hold its June meeting. Agenda items include the Southeast portion of the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail as well as a presentation by DDOT on its Middle Anacostia River Crossings Transportation Study. And June 2 is also the date when the DC Zoning Commission will consider a text amendment to the Capitol Gateway Overlay District for the new Nationals baseball stadium. Please try to contain your excitement. (bumped to top of list)

More posts: Nationals Park, zoning