Dupont ANC Forms Committee to Tackle Parking, Public Space

• March 18, 2014

by Lark Turner

Dupont Circle’s ANC agreed last week to form a new committee to address how the neighborhood’s roads and shared space are used. One of the biggest issues on deck: parking.

The issues surrounding the transportation and public space options in ANC 2B — which covers everything from traffic to parks — are nothing new, and the area needs a specific place to discuss them, said Noah Smith, the commissioner for 2B-09, who floated the idea of the committee.

“Traffic, parking, safety issues: these are top concerns for people in our neighborhood,” Smith told UrbanTurf over the weekend. “We recognized that we didn’t have a coordinated way of dealing with that.”

Parking has been a consistent issue in congested DC neighborhoods for years, especially in Dupont Circle. ANCs have influence over parking restrictions in the neighborhoods they represent, so it’s a frequent topic of discussion around the city — and a flash point for conflicts over new developments, many of which are springing up without parking or with less parking than zoning technically requires.

In a recent move to address the parking problems endemic to Dupont, the commission requested a map of all of the parking restrictions in use in the neighborhood from DDOT. But the map was inaccurate, Smith said. An ANC intern is now walking the curb mapping each and every parking space restriction, and those issues will be handled by the new forum, which will be called the Transportation and Public Infrastructure Committee.

One of the ANC’s recent accomplishments was its successful drive to repave the protected bike path on 15th Street NW, which crosses through the neighborhood. In the future, that type of work will be shepherded by the committee, chaired by Smith.

Buses, too, will be on the docket, particularly ongoing problems with the 16th Street route.

Smith came up with the idea of a committee in part because other ANCs have similar forums and also because of his own background as a specialist for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “A lot of my job is related to traffic safety and traffic policy,” he said.

The committee had plenty of interest from commissioners — 5 of the 9 signed up to be a part of it — and is now looking for public members who are interested in joining.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/dupont_anc_forms_new_committee_to_tackle_transportation_public_space/8245