The DuponT CurrenT

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Vol. XIV, No. 40

Serving Dupont Circle, Kalorama, Adams Morgan & Logan Circle

DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION

Pepco merger may not go forward

Utilities: Mayor, regulators
at odds over settlement terms
By BRADY HOLT
Current Staff Writer

Exelon Corp. may abandon its

long-fought, controversial effort
to acquire regional utility company Pepco, with the D.C. Public
Service Commission and Mayor
Muriel Bowser finding themselves

at odds over the mergers terms.

The merger has been hotly
debated in the District since it was
first announced. Civic activists
derided Exelons environmental
record and questioned whether the
District could effectively regulate
a Chicago-based energy giant.
Meanwhile the utility companies,
the business community and eventually Bowser and most D.C.
Council members said the merger
would bring improved reliability

and financial benefits to the city

and local ratepayers.
But as of The Currents deadline yesterday, the $6.8 billion
deal was on the ropes, essentially
due to a $25.6 million disagreement between city officials and
one member of the Districts independent utility regulatory panel.
Last fall, Bowser had negotiated a series of conditions with the
utility companies, including the
See Pepco/Page 5

Fillmore Arts again facing budget cuts

By CUNEYT DIL

Current Correspondent

Brian Kapur/The Current

Students from CityDances Dream program performed at

halftime of Mondays Washington Wizards game against the
Philadelphia 76ers at Verizon Center. Oyster-Adams Bilingual
School students were among more than 130 D.C. public
school students in grades 3 through 12 to participate.

The communities of five Northwest elementary

schools are scrambling to undo a nearly $600,000
budget cut to Fillmore Arts Center that would spell an
end to the long-standing program.
D.C. Public Schools says the city spends double
the amount per pupil compared to other schools to
continue the program, which serves 1,700 students
from Key, Ross, Marie Reed, Hyde-Addison and
Stoddert elementary schools. The students are bused
every week to the arts center in Georgetown to take
classes in arts, drama and music.
Two dozen parents and school members huddled
last Tuesday at a Friends of Fillmore meeting to strategize opposition. As of yesterday evening, over 1,000
people have signed a change.org petition calling for
the programs funds to be restored. And supporters
See Fillmore/Page 9

Brian Kapur/The Current

D.C. Public Schools officials said they would rather

fund arts programs in individual schools than bus
students to the center at Hardy Middle.

Board calls row house

expansion too drastic

Zoning panel to air push for

affordable housing reforms

By BRADY HOLT

Development: Proponents
seek to increase IZ setasides

Current Staff Writer

A proposed rear addition to three 1890s Dupont

Circle row houses is too large and must be scaled
back, according to a Historic Preservation Review
Board decision last Thursday.
The buildings at 1508, 1510 and 1512 21st St. NW
have for years been divided up into a total of 12
apartment units, thanks to their 20th-century rear
additions. A development team that owns all three
buildings purchased in September for $6.5 million
intends to replace the rear additions with a larger
one, resulting in a total of 14 units and a height of up
to five stories facing the rear alley.
But those plans hit a snag last week, with the preservation board voting 5-1 against the current proposal. The majority of board members felt that a

Brian Kapur/The Current

Developers hope to construct a five-story addition

behind the row houses at 1508-1512 21st St. NW
and restore their front facades.

By MARK LIEBERMAN
Current Staff Writer

four-story addition would be more appropriate, concurring with Historic Preservation Office staff
reviewer Kim Elliott and with Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2B.
That amount of new construction compared to
the original mass and size of the row houses seems to
overwhelm the original homes, Elliott testified at
Thursdays hearing. She also raised concerns that
See Addition/Page 8

Efforts to update the citys

inclusionary zoning regulations
for affordable housing are inching
forward, with a public zoning
hearing set for tomorrow night.
The Zoning Commissions
March 3 hearing will focus on
measures to make more affordable
units available to lower income
levels in the District, as proposed
by the local Coalition for Smarter

Growth and analyzed by the D.C.

Office of Planning. The hearing
which continues a discussion
that began Jan. 28 comes after
the Planning Office requested several postponements.
Current inclusionary zoning, or
IZ, regulations specify that 8
percent to 10 percent of a large
multifamily developments square
footage must be set aside for
affordable units. Existing regulations also allow developers to
exceed density caps to provide
more IZ units. Depending on the
project and its location, most units
are set aside for prospective resiSee Housing/Page 18

NEWS

EVENTS

SHERWOOD

INDEX

18 years of film

Folded and Framed

Allow extra time

Calendar/20
Classifieds/29
District Digest/4
Dupont Circle Citizen/13
Exhibits/21
In Your Neighborhood/26

Organizers expand festival to

feature broader selection of
local, global movies / Page 2

Colorful polymer-clay artworks by

Fran Abrams will be on display
starting today at Foundry / Page 21

Riders wont wait forever for

Metro to sort out its host of
operational issues / Page 10

Opinion/10
Police Report/6
Real Estate/17
School Dispatches/12
Service Directory/27
Week Ahead/3

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