ANC2F Votes to Protest Liquor License for The American in Blagden Alley

Neighborhood Advisory Commission (ANC) 2F/Logan Circle voted unanimously at its regular monthly meeting February 5 to protest the liquor license application of The American, a new restaurant by local serial restaurateur Xavier Cervera. The street address of the restaurant will be 1209 - 1213 10th Street NW, which is in the Blagden Alley-Naylor Court Historic District.

The notices were put on the roll-up door, right

The American seemed well on its way to getting a liquor license last year. As reported in the SALM blog post of September 24, 2013, ANC2F had missed a deadline to protest The American's liquor license application. This meant that the ANC had much less leverage in negotiations for a settlement agreement on such contentious issues as noise abatement and outside operating hours.

However, some neighbors complained that the liquor license application notice had been improperly displayed on the side of the building (see SALM blog post of November 14, 2013) . The notice had been placed on a roll-up door, which was open part of the day, the neighbors said. D.C. liquor licensing authorities, apparently sympathetic, required that the process start over from the beginning, including freshly-posted notices elsewhere on the site. This gave ANC2F a chance to recover and gain legal standing as a protestant.

It was announced that the ANC would try to reduce the hours that the establishment could operate, ask for additional trash compactors, clear vermin control measures, and a mechanism to remedy disagreements.

ANC2F Chair Matt Raymond (Commissioner for district 07) said the protest would be on the basis of the possible disruption of peace, order, and quiet in the neighborhood, and that any Commissioner was empowered to negotiate on the ANC's behalf.

After the meeting, a posting summarizing the February 5 ANC2F meeting appeared on the web site of the Blagden Alley Naylor Court Association. It is signed by "BANCA", but may have been written by Commissioner Greg Melcher (district 06), in whose district The American plans to operate, or by another commissioner. The post says:

Voted to protest the license for the American.  I will attempt to negotiate better terms than we had prior however I need to note that the agreement we approve at the ANC level will be generally consistent with other agreements (modeling the SA [settlement agreement] on the Glass House which has a second floor summer garden on the rear facing the rear of residential properties on the 1300 block of Vermont and Rhode Island Avenues very similar to the American).

The next meeting of the full ANC2F is scheduled for 7pm on Wednesday, March 5, at the Washington Plaza Hotel (10 Thomas Circle).