The Adams Morgan plaza in question. (Image via Google Street View)
By DCist contributor Chris Cioffi
Community groups suing to stop development of condominiums on a beloved Adams Morgan gathering place were in court this week asking a judge to temporarily halt to any construction until a trial can be held.
Adams Morgan for Reasonable Development and the Kalorama Citizens Association filed a lawsuit in June to prevent developers from erecting a mixed-use building at the corner of 18th Street and Columbia Road NW, where a bank and the plaza sit.
The fight has stretched for more than a year, and on Thursday attorneys for both sides presented arguments in the District of Columbia Superior Courtroom of Judge Todd Edelman.
Developer PN Hoffman and Potomac Investment Properties intend to buy the property from its current owner, SunTrust Bank, to build a new 7-story building containing about 50 condo units. The lot is about 16,000 square-feet.
The Advisory Neighborhood Commission for Adams Morgan voted to oppose the project, but the D.C Historic Preservation Review Board granted PN Hoffman permission to redevelop the site.
The fight over preserving the plaza is one of several where residents fought to oppose development that they deemed inappropriate to the neighborhood, says Vikram Surya Chiruvolu a leader of the Adams Morgan group.
“The public has real impact and real interest in any large-scale project,” he says.
Since the plaza was constructed in the late 1970s, it has been used for a weekly farmers market and the annual Adams Morgan Day celebration. Chiruvolu, who said he’s generally in favor of new development, says he got involved with preserving the plaza because he believes it’s irreplaceable.
The developers offered to replace the plaza with a much smaller version, but it would not be suitable for the current activities going on the site, Chiruvolu said.
“I think it is just really ill-advised to try to take amenities and space away from the public,” he said.
The suit, filed by Paul Zukerberg on behalf of the residents, argues that the plaza was given to the residents of Adams Morgan by the property’s then-owner, Perpetual Federal Savings & Loan Association.
In exchange, the residents ended a complaint in front of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board that accused the bank of discriminatory lending practices.
The group cites a 1976 letter addressed to “Customers and Friends in Adams-Morgan” from Perpetual President Thomas Owen.
“Perpetual agreed to develop the property in such a way as to preserve its open quality, attractiveness and accessibility to the vendors that presently use it,” part of the letter said.
Mary Belcher, an Adams Morgan resident for decades and a witness at an earlier July 19 hearing, said on Thursday that the plaza is Adams Morgan’s cultural center.
“Public plazas are an important ingredient of an inner-city neighborhood,” she says.
In court, Zukerberg cited Owen’s letter as part of the proof that the plaza was set aside for the public in perpetuity.
“There are no signs, guards, lines of demarcation, there’s nothing which says it’s private property or no trespassing or that you need permission,” he said. “Anyone can go on there, in fact it’s impossible to even tell where the sidewalk ends and the public space begins.”
Michael Ross, an attorney for the developer, said that Owen’s letter was not conclusive, and did not give any indication that the plaza was meant to be a public space forever.
“There’s no commitment here to maintain the plaza in this fashion forever,” Ross said.
Ross told the judge that he and his client went through “thousands of pages of documents” and found no notice of any easements on the title.
“We had no actual notice of alleged public dedication or other easement over the plaza at the time my client, SunTrust, purchased the property,” Ross said in court.
None of the owners intended for it to be public property, and continued paying taxes, maintaining the space, and issued permits for groups that held events.
“There’s no mention of public use, or even the word public, in the letter,” he said.
Developer PN Hoffman released a statement Wednesday saying that it strives to include community feedback in its developments.
“We have worked in the Adams Morgan neighborhood for more than 20 years and have received support from the majority of the community,” the statement said.
Edelman told the courtroom that he will make a ruling, and announce the decision on August 4. A date for trial has yet to be set in the case.
