As developers endeavor to redevelop Martin’s View Apartments on Elmira Street in Southwest, Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 8D and Bellevue Neighborhood Civic Association (BNCA) continue to clash over a community benefits agreement (CBA) that’s making its way through the D.C. Zoning Commission.
The commissioners of ANC 8D maintain that the $175,000 CBA they submitted came out of a rigorous community discussion about Martin’s View Apartments.
Meanwhile, BNCA, which was in the midst of developing its own CBA, continues to demand that the zoning commission allows for the submission of a document more reflective of Bellevue community members’ wishes and concerns.
As the situation unfolds, Martin’s View tenants are exploring their options under the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA), a District law that gives them first dibs in petitioning the building owner, Community Housing Coalition, for sale of the property.
Some tenants, like DeShantee Oliver, call TOPA the best means of combating what some believe to be Bellevue homeowners’ efforts to push them out of the community.
“People sat in rooms for a year, doubting our existence, then moving unethically when they realized they could do it,” said Oliver, a 27-year tenant of the apartments who serves as vice president of the Martin’s View Tenants Association.
This month, the tenants association, in existence since 2009, achieved incorporation, a tenants association official told The Informer.
“Some people think we’re keeping the neighborhood from thriving,” Oliver said. “They value their homes and don’t want certain elements.”
Renters occupy just over 25% of the properties in Bellevue, a community where the median value of mortgages stands at nearly $400,000. By 2019, development projects and demographic shifts positioned Bellevue for changes like what portions of Anacostia and Congress Heights have experienced.
Some of those projects, like a neighborhood grocer, have since fizzled.
As recently as the Ward 8 D.C. Council primary race, some Bellevue homeowners were demanding more economic and public safety investments into their community, like what redevelopment supporters said the new apartments would bring.
Oliver told The Informer that neither ANC 8D, BNCA nor D.C. Councilmember Trayon White’s office sought out the Martin’s View Tenants Association while in the thick of deliberations with developers Kaye Stern and Bensahel Capital.
During a February ANC 8D meeting, White mediated a discussion between officials from ANC 8D and BNCA, both of whom were then working on CBAs with the developers.
As Oliver recounted, she learned that White’s associate Jauhar Abraham facilitated a $100,000 donation from the developers to Johnson Middle School.
The council member, Oliver said, also asked whether Martin’s View Apartment had an active tenants association. Oliver told The Informer that she hesitated to weigh in on that part of the discussion, unsure about White’s motives, and that of the other leaders in the room at the time.
“A lot of the issue comes from White’s representative,” Oliver said about Abraham. “The things he asked for set the tone for the requests. I don’t know if I’m supposed to trust White’s judgment. We needed to guard ourselves and see who was with us. We’re the people who will be displaced.”
Oliver also said she took particular issue with Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Natasha Yates, a decade-long tenant of Martin’s View Apartment, for not contacting her neighbors as ANC 8D drafted its CBA, which she said had been nearly solidified by February.
“I would’ve understood if she found it reasonable to do some organizing if she didn’t find any tenants association, but it seems like she wasn’t able to empower the community,” Oliver told The Informer. “Everyone thought we were gone for a couple years, but we had been under the radar.”
Questions about Outreach
Ward 8 Councilmember White’s office said he didn’t direct Abraham to facilitate the developers’ donation to Johnson Middle School.
Abraham, an activist and Ward 8 native, said the developer’s $100,000 payment came in the aftermath of a tour he facilitated for the developers. That engagement, he said, ensures that young people, like the members of Johnson Middle School’s championship-winning football team, benefit from the influx of money coming into Ward 8.
“They practice on a field that didn’t have lights until a couple weeks ago. They have more potholes on their field than on Alabama Avenue,” Abraham said. “It’s a crime having them practice in those conditions when we have football fields around the city with no teams.”
In response to concerns about why Johnson Middle School, and not nearby Leckie Elementary School, received the funds, Abraham said that Johnson Middle School’s location outside of ANC 8D should have no relevance since the MySchool lottery allows District students to attend any public and public charter school across the city.
“All the kids going to Johnson Middle School are from all over Southeast,” Abraham said.
The Informer unsuccessfully attempted to contact Yates, a commissioner representing Single-Member District 8D07, via phone.
The Rev. Wendy Hamilton, chair and secretary of ANC 8D, said Yates did her due diligence in contacting Martin’s View tenants and including their perspective in discussions with the developers.
As Hamilton recounted, ANC 8D hosted the developers and their community outreach team at 15 public meetings that inspired the commission district’s letter of support with reservations for the redevelopment project. She told The Informer that the commission encouraged Bellevue community members to participate in the July 22 zoning board hearing where ANC 8D submitted the CBA.
Sheila Bunn, vice president of BNCA, counted among those who expressed their concerns before the D.C. Zoning Commission on July 22.
“Those meetings started when the developers approached Commissioner Yates,” Hamilton said. “We [also] had community members and tenants at a [community-based] meeting at William O. Lockridge Library in February,” Hamilton said in reference to the meeting Oliver attended. “We endeavored to listen to the voices and make sure that [they reflected in] what we decided to do in terms of support.”
Provisions of ANC 8D’s CBA include space at the redeveloped complex at no cost for a workforce development partner. The CBA also allocates a total of $75,000 given by the developer to nonprofits and institutions of ANC 8D’s choosing: Community of Hope, The Well at Oxon Run, and D.C. Preparatory Academy.
The CBA also honors returning tenants’ rent, with standard increases as allowed in rent control laws, enhances security features on the property, and mandates collaboration with the Martin’s View Tenants Association throughout the development process.
ANC 8D pledged in the CBA to stand in support of Martin’s View LLC’s efforts to navigate the D.C. Zoning Commission application process.
In regard to opposition from the Martin’s View Tenants Association and BNCA, Hamilton said that neither entity officially existed during the yearlong deliberation process.
“There was no tenants association and BNCA has been inactive since 2019,” Hamilton said. “It wasn’t until June of this year, as Martin’s View development came to the [zoning board] hearing, that BNCA hastily pulled themselves back together and demanded meetings with the developer.”
BNCA’s engagement, Hamilton said, threw a wrench in ANC 8D’s dealings.
“When they started having their own meetings with the developer and countering everything we did, it brought confusion to the process,” she told The Informer. “We did the best job we could to represent the interests we heard [over] the last year from whoever attended our meetings. Even with the concerns that community members gave, not one person said they didn’t want the development.”
An ANC Race to Watch
In the general election, Hamilton is running for reelection against Patrice Lancaster, a community member who’s been critical of ANC 8D’s engagement with Martin’s View LLC.
Lancaster, a Bellevue community member of more than a year who hails from Ward 5, has been speaking with residents since June, when ANC 8D submitted its letter of support with reservations for the redevelopment. She said she jumped into the race eager to bring transparency to ANC deliberations and keep as many residents as possible involved in commission decisions.
“I want to open up the lines of communication, so that an agreement like what was made without all the stakeholders can’t happen again,” said Lancaster, who started a Bellevue community listserv and expressed a desire to send mailers to constituents. “Most of our community are seniors who are not tech savvy. You can’t give them updates online and on social media.”
Lancaster said her ANC run follows unsuccessful attempts in past months to meet one-on-one with Hamilton and BNCA, the latter of which she said didn’t appear operational.
The Martin’s View situation, Lancaster said, represented Hamilton’s disregard for the community on a larger scale. Lancaster told The Informer that, for months, she’s been speaking with Bellevue residents, like Anna Hamilton, who started Friends of Bellevue and found dozens upon dozens of residents who opposed the redevelopment project and tenets of the CBA.
“Commissioner Hamilton was trying to give Jubilee Jobs space in the building, not considering the displacement of people living there,” Lancaster told The Informer.
“With this CBA, tenants would absorb, on average, $600 per month more than what they pay now. If the conversions are made without protections, they would lose their housing. We know the building is falling apart, but the people live there because they want to.”
The Informer unsuccessfully attempted to contact Anna Hamilton.
Commissioner Hamilton, who lives across the street from Lancaster on Danbury Street in Southwest, said that the two of them have spoken in the past when she has given her opponent rides to events.
“We never had any issues. She was my constituent and neighbor I would try to help out and be friendly with,” Hamilton said, telling The Informer that she’s taken issue with Lancaster’s critical tone and public commentary about ANC leadership.
“I don’t know where the turn came from,” Hamilton said. “We haven’t exchanged words since she challenged me. She came to some of the meetings and made comments on Facebook, but she said nothing directly about Martin’s View or her concerns. Not one time.”
Lancaster told The Informer that the car rides Hamilton mentioned took place between the fall of 2023 and June. She noted that’s when ANC 8D had been in the midst of discussions with developers, unbeknownst to much of the community.
These days, Lancaster continues to engage Hamilton, though she said those efforts have been unsuccessful. One of the latest attempts, Lancaster said, happened aboard the Odyssey at the Anacostia Coordinating Committee (ACC)’s annual boat ride in early October when she wanted to connect Hamilton with for-profit developers aiming to bring job training to Bellevue.
Lancaster accused Hamilton of having a similarly lax attitude toward opioid use, citing the instance when ANC 8D didn’t join Ambrose Lane, Jr. of the Health Alliance Network and other Ward 8 commissions in filing an anti-opioid resolution. She said that situation further highlights the classist attitude that ANC 8D and BNCA have taken against Bellevue renters.
“They really feel like they own that neighborhood,” Lancaster said. “I don’t have a problem with that if your ownership doesn’t disenfranchise other people. We need to learn how to do business with the city and enjoy the wealth that comes with it, but I do have a problem when you do it on the backs of others.”
Hamilton, in response to an Informer inquiry about opioid use in Bellevue, said that ANC 8D, then fully composed of newly installed commissioners, wasn’t ready to write or consider a resolution about opioid use in Ward 8 when Lane approached them about the idea.
The commission, Hamilton said, has taken action against the opioid use and other illicit activity near Community of Hope, where it conducts its monthly meetings. D.C. Department of Behavioral Health (DBH)’s community response team will most likely engage ANC 8D at its Oct. 24 meeting, she told The Informer.
“I reached out to Sharon Hunt, the state director for opioid outreach at DBH at the end of September in response to increased activity by Community of Hope,” Hamilton said. “I was told they have a community response team that comes out every Friday on the other side of Atlantic Street. They canvassed the area [near Community of Hope] and said they want to meet face to face.”
BNCA Approaches the D.C. Zoning Commission
Currently, Martin’s View Apartment has 156 units.
If Community Housing Coalition, Kaye Stern Properties and Bensahel Capital have their way, the low-rise, garden view apartments, once redeveloped by 2027, will stand at five stories with 821 units.
That vision sparked contention among Bellevue residents concerned about the obstruction of sunlight, the disruption of Bellevue’s quaint atmosphere and displacement of Martin’s View tenants, a significant portion of whom are seniors.
Since July 22, when the D.C. Zoning Commission received ANC 8D’s CBA as part of Martin View LLC’s application for a consolidated planned unit development and map amendment, BNCA and other parties have been able to submit comments about the redevelopment project.
The D.C. Zoning Commission, during its Oct. 10 public meeting, delayed deliberation on Martin’s View LLC’s zoning application until Oct. 24, by which zoning board staff members, under the orders of Zoning Commission Chairman Anthony Hood, would’ve omitted submissions that went beyond the realm of what had been requested.
According to D.C. Zoning Commission Secretary Sharon Schelin, Martin’s View LLC, ANC 8D, Bunn, Frederick Nelson of the Martin’s View Apartment Tenants Association, and Anna Hamilton of Friends of Bellevue submitted comments.
The developers also submitted documentation outlining the outcome of meetings with Nelson and other people that ANC 8D suggested, while BNCA submitted supplemental post-hearing comments making the case for a resubmission of a CBA. They argued in documentation submitted to the D.C. Zoning Commission last month that Martin’s View LLC didn’t have “site control” over the complex that one would get with a sale’s contract or lease with the landlord.
BNCA’s document also noted that the developer didn’t notify Martin’s View Apartments tenants, nor Covenant Baptist, Bald Eagle Recreation Center, Fort Greble Garden Project, and Big Mama’s Daycare Center, all of which are within proximity to the apartment complex, about the redevelopment project.
Kemi Morten, BNCA president and a Bellevue resident of more than 40 years, said that ANC 8D had no legal grounds to adopt its letter of support for the redevelopment without notifying the community.
“They were supposed to issue a public notice to the community, but voted at a closed meeting,” Morten said. “I didn’t receive notification back in June, nor did anybody in the community. Even [BNCA Vice President] Sheila Bunn [who lives within 200 feet of Martin’s View Apartments] didn’t receive it.”
On Sept. 28, the developers and BNCA conducted a meeting at Covenant Baptist United Church of Christ in Southeast that attracted 90 in-person and online participants.
This meeting took place amid negotiations between BNCA and the developers, described as Martin’s View LLC in D.C. Zoning Commission documentation, about a new CBA.
In the weeks leading up to the meeting at Covenant Baptist, Martin’s View LLC offered BNCA $250,000 to be doled out to organizations of BNCA’s choice.
However, Morten said that BNCA wanted $2.7 million, which would go into a coffer for grants to be doled out over a decade.
Another point of contention centered on utility bills for seniors at Martin’s View Apartments, which Morten said BNCA wanted fully covered, though Martin’s View LLC agreed to subsidize electric costs in the ANC 8D CBA.
As explained by Morten, talks fell apart on Oct. 9 due to developers’ insistence on still building the more-than-800 units. “They said they couldn’t scale the redevelopment down to 400 units,” Morten said. “It wouldn’t be economically feasible for market rate apartments.”
With ANC 8D’s CBA still on file, Morten maintains that the redevelopment process is mired in controversy. She continues to agitate for a refiling of a CBA that reflects community members’ anxiety about changes to their beloved neighborhood. “We’re asking for the Bellevue residents to be heard,” Morten said. “I think that’s reasonable.”
Morten said that Ward 8 and the Bellevue area have more than their “fair share” of large developers.
“This is one of our best neighborhoods. You have a lot of homeowners along Second Street and it’s relatively quiet. This building would change the landscape and nature of the community,” Morten explained.
While Morten acknowledged that the civic association experienced a period of dormancy in the wake of her predecessor’s health problems and during the pandemic, she declined to directly answer questions about the frequency and manner of BNCA meetings after 2020.
“We had meetings,” Morten said. “Most of our meetings were virtual and announced on our mailing list to all of our members. I believe it’s usually early in the month. I would have to check the minutes.”
The Meeting that Went Nowhere, and Next Steps
Meanwhile, Ward 8 resident Phil Pannell said BNCA, to his knowledge, hadn’t conducted public meetings this year until the Sept. 28 meeting at Covenant Baptist.
He questioned why, despite this being the case, BNCA was still able to sit down with developers privately before engaging the community.
“It causes bad feelings and suspicions,” Pannell said.
In his role as ACC executive director, Pannell often reaches out to civic associations for collaboration on community initiatives. He told The Informer that, on several occasions, ACC couldn’t get a BNCA representative to be present at events.
Even during periods of Morten’s absence, BNCA should have still been functioning, Pannell said.
“I don’t understand why the vice president [Sheila Bunn] couldn’t call meetings,” Pannell said. “It’s a disservice to the community when we have organizations that can’t meet on a regular basis. It’s shocking that organizations can’t even meet virtually.”
Bunn didn’t respond to The Informer’s request for comment, sent via text and email.
As Pastor William Young of Covenant Baptist recounted, the BNCA and Martin View LLC’s meeting on Sept. 28 was the first time he heard from and met BNCA since assuming the helm of his church in 2020. He told The Informer that much didn’t get accomplished, as several participants, and even Morten, spoke abrasively toward one another throughout the entire program.
Young, whose congregation includes Martin’s View tenants, lamented not learning about the plans for the apartment until less than a month ago. He expressed solidarity with Martin’s View tenants who said they felt left out of the deliberation process.
“It seems like there were no plans to share information, like the developers wanted to do just enough to say they tried to reach out to the community,” Young said. “They didn’t even inform us [and other churches, institutions] of the plans. It’s almost like a slap in the face.”
Young has since conferred with the Martin’s View Tenants Association, going as far as offering up the church space as a meeting place for organizers.
He has also expressed a desire for some sort of legal action.
“We hope that the attorney general’s office will look into this and talk to the residents of Bellevue,” Young said. “I feel a sense of anger with residents. What other reason do they have to tear that place down and build something bigger, other than as a profitable opportunity that would ultimately displace people living there for decades?”
1). It all started with the wrong community engagement team assigned to the developer. Second, the fact that the Pastors and churches in Bellevue were not at the table from the beginning is quite troubling. Third, without the collaboration between the ANC, Community Associations, Tenant Group, and the Ward 8 Council, it would almost be impossible to achieve a sustainable and effective outcome. Please ask the zoning commission to consider putting this project on hold until all of these entities listed and highlighted in this article are at the table together. People’s lives matter and all decision makers deserve the people’s respect and support at all times. Put a pin it! Come back with a true, accurate, and transparent Bellevue Community Benefit Agreement.