Welcome to Lanier Citizens Association

This is a website for residents and businesses in the Lanier Heights neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

Launched on September 22, 2008.




Media Contact:
Bob Corcoran: Phone 202-234-8800
When leaving a message, please be sure to reference Lanier Heights Historic Designation.

DID ANYONE ASK YOU?

Kalorama Citizens Association (KCA) worked to designate Kalorama neighborhood, and then the nearby Washington Heights neighborhood, as Historic Districts, in cooperation with the city agency that regulates historic areas.

Historic District designation means that you will not be able to make changes to your property without going through the additional permitting process of the city's Historic Preservation Office. KCA began designation of our Lanier Heights neighborhood in 2005. Three years later they are close to having Lanier Heights designated as a Historic Neighborhood.

The problem with this process is that the historic regulations are punative, restrictive and onerous (violations start at $1,000/violation/day). Moreover, historic designation does not protect against "pop-up" development of buildings which is a zoning-height issue.

In short, an outside neighborhood association wants to designate your neighborhood as historic without asking you. You will not get to vote or provide input once the application is submitted to the city historic agency. It is imposed whether you want it or not.

The Lanier Citizens Association has queried the neighborhood via a petition and has discovered that many dozens of homeowners do not want the neighborhood designated as historic. Moreover, they didn't know that the process was underway.

So ask yourself: did you know about the impending non-representative designation? Do you really know what historic designation means for you? Did you know that putting up a satellite dish requires a historic permit, or repairing brickface, or improving your walkway? Did you know that replacing windows is highly restricted by historic law?

Did anyone ask you?

TEXT OF THE PETITION:

Dear Councilmember and Mayor Fenty:

After due consideration of the means of imposition, and of the current regulations, we the undersigned owners of property in Lanier Heights, oppose imposition of Historic Preservation Regulations (10 DCMR Title 10A) upon our property by designation of our neighborhood as a "Historic District", or by any other means.

To add your support for this petition, please join the list-serv below and send us an e-mail.

LAST CHANCE TO STOP THE HISTORIC DISTRICT?

There will be an Advisory Neighborhood Commission Public Forum on Wednesday, Oct 15, 2008 at 7:00 PM, at Mary's Center, 2355 Ontario Road, NW (the pink building). The meeting will discuss the possible HISTORIC DESIGNATION of Lanier Heights.


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This is a rapidly moving organization.
Check back often for updates.


We have established a list-serv.
To join, please send an e-mail to

LanierCitizens-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

You may e-mail the moderator directly at

LanierCitizen000@yahoo.com