Mr. Alexander Hastings has submitted BZA Case 19074 for special exception from rear yard setback to construct a garage at the rear of the property with a two-story addition, and connect it to the existing house with a covered walkway. The addition will house an accessory apartment. While the process to review each are the same, a special exception is to approve certain uses of land whereas a variance is requesting relief from application of zoning regulations.

The proposed construction would be 24 feet high and there will be a larger than required side yard (5 feet required; lot will have 8 feet side yard). The lot occupancy with the new construction will also be smaller than the maximum. The special exception is requested for the rear yard setback. The required is 20 feet and with the proposed construction there will be a 2 feet setback from the alley. The construction will not be out of character with the alley as there are already several garages built to the same line. There are also multi-story apartment buildings across the street so the building will not exceed houses or apartments in size. The apartment will include a parking space so there should not be impact on street parking. Documents about the case can be found on the Interactive Zoning Information System (IZIS) website.

The hearing for this case will be held on Tuesday, September 29^th at 9:30 am. The public hearing will be in the Jerrily R. Kress Memorial Hearing Room, One Judiciary Square, 441 4^th Street NW, Suite 20 South. Prior to the hearing there should be a Single Member District (SMD) ANC 5D06 meeting with Commissioner Yvonne Buggs and Mr. Hastings to discuss the project. This will precede presentation at an ANC 5D meeting where there will be a vote on whether the ANC will support the project based on the community’s input at the SMD meeting.

Anyone that cannot attend meetings but wants to weigh in on the special exception can submit letters to the BZA for review. These can be submitted on-line. Directions for submission are on the BZA site.