The following was written by PoPville contributor David McAuley, founder of Short Articles about Long Meetings.
“We have absolutely no interest in doing Airbnb,” one of the owners of 3629 Windom Place NW said.
Still, rather than take the owner’s word for it, Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 3F/Van Ness voted to stipulate in its endorsement of zoning relief that the owners of the home will not use their planned basement apartment as a short-term homeshare. The unanimous vote of the ANC took place at its regularly-scheduled November 21 meeting.
3629 Windom Place is a single-family home located on a triangular lot at the corner of Windom Place and Reno Road. The couple living there wishes to convert the basement into a separate apartment and rent it out. They might be able to do so as a “matter of right”, that is, without zoning relief or ANC approval, except that they wish to put the door to the proposed basement apartment in the front of the building, and not the side or the rear. A front-facing door requires zoning relief, according to DC regulations.
The owners told the ANC they chose a front entrance because the alternatives would require extra lighting. The extra lighting would shine into the windows of their only neighbor’s house, they explained, while front entrance lighting, if any, would not. (more…)
