Is Ward 4 "land grabbing" Ward 3?

In "The Mail" from DC Watch, one commented noted an anomaly in the language from the Ward 4 redistricting task force:


The ANC redistricting task force reports are in. Here’s an oddity: the Ward Four task force has defined an ANC 4A that extends south of the Ward Four boundary, incorporating a quarter-mile strip of Ward One. Why? It’s that dreadful, interminable Klingle Road dispute again, rising from the dead, perhaps to plague us anew.

I won’t bore readers with the details. Suffice it to note that the Ward Four boundary at the southeast corner, adjacent to Wards One and Three, is where Piney Branch Parkway intersects (almost) Rock Creek. From that point, “southwest along Rock Creek to the centerline of Klingle Road,” is the boundary line between Wards One and Three. It’s not part of Ward Four, which ended up there at Piney Branch, a quarter mile to the north.

But tell that to the Ward Four ANC redistricting folks, who have defined an ANC 4A that extends “south on Rock Creek to Klingle Road; east on Klingle Road to Beach Drive; northeast on Beach Drive to Piney Branch Parkway.” What’s this funny little extension south of Piney Branch, a narrow and unoccupied piece of Rock Creek Park, to Klingle Road, about? Essentially, one ANC 4A commissioner wants to have a physical connection to Klingle Road, believing that will give that ANC standing to continue to fight to reopen Klingle Road. In 2008, the District Council put this in legislation: the closed portion of Klingle Road “shall not be reopened to the public for motor vehicle traffic.” Not everyone is ready to accept that, apparently. Happily, the Office of Planning has spotted this little ploy, and presumably will compel ANC 4A to limit its dimensions to Ward Four.



Mary Cheh, will you stand for this? A new border war has commenced!

4P's, er 4 Fields Extended

DCist (and PoP) have been covering the saga in Cleveland Park. Here is the latest.

Westover and AU: The hypocisy documented

There is a little history documented in a piece that appeared in the NW Current as well.

5220 Wisconsin Ave: An Update

According to Michael Neibauer of the Washington Business Journal, the former Akridge project at 5220 Wisconsin Avenue has been sold to PEPCO.

The PUD application for this site was highly contentious as nearby neighborhood residents feared the additional floor of apartments and mixed-use retail afforded to the approved application. Now, residents will have to contend with the possibility of an expanded power substation and minimal street activity within a stone's throw of the south entrance of the Friendship Heights metro station.

If this comes to pass in a worse-case scenario, I wonder if those who opposed this project might, in hindsight, reconsider?