Recently-robbed LeDroit Market Gets Community Help, Committee Endorsement

LeDroit Market (1901 14th Street NW) is getting support from its neighbors after it was robbed. It also easily got endorsement for a regularly-scheduled renewal of its liquor license at a March 18 meeting of a committee of Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 1B/U Street.

(Google Street View)

Liquor licenses come up for renewal every three years, timed so that each year a different class of license comes up for renewal. This year, it's "class A" liquor licenses -- that is, the licenses that allow liquor stores to operate -- and their application for license renewal must be filed before the end of March.

LeDroit Market seemed to be the first local establishment to file for renewal. At the meeting, Commissioner Brian Footer (district 01 -- also the location of LeDroit Market) told the committee the store had been "amazing" and an "absolute model" of an excellent community business, soliciting neighborhood opinion from the get-go.

The committee voted unanimously to endorse the application of LeDroit Market to renew its liquor license. The application will move next to the full ANC, which is scheduled to meet on Thursday, April 2, at 7pm, at a location to be determined.

Footer also reported LeDroit Market was robbed last weekend. A member of the MPD told the committee the robbers took about $400, but the market had "a good surveillance camera".

Footer told the ANC that LeDroit Park residents were organizing an event for next Wednesday, March 25, between 7 and 9pm. Local residents will make a special effort to go to the store and purchase items at that time in order to show support. The next day, a report of the same upcoming event appeared on the blog Left for LeDroit.

In addition to LeDroit Market, The ANC1B's liquor licensing affairs committee had a list of local liquor stores needing license renewals in its jurisdiction, which runs from U Street up to Columbia Heights and from 15th Street to Georgia Avenue.

Two other liquor stores, Bestway Liquors (2011 14th Street) and Fairmont Liquors (2633 Sherman Avenue) generated some discussion, which is the subject of a separate SALM post today.

A longer list of local liquor stores generated little or no discussion at the meeting, in part because no one from the public showed up to complain, and in part because they haven't completed their paperwork. These establishments include:

• Dove House Liquors (1905 9th Street)
• Florida Liquors (2222 14th Street)
• Gallagher & Graham (1939 12th Street)
• Harvard Liquors (2901 Sherman Avenue)
• Joe Caplan Liquors (1913 7th Street)
• Serv-u-liquors (1935 9th Street)

These will all probably be considered at next month's meeting after they officially apply for renewal of their license. The liquor licensing affairs committee normally meets on the third Wednesday of every month at the Thurgood Marshall Center (1816 12th Street) at 7pm -- next month, that will be April 15th. If you want to see a local liquor store change their behavior, this is an excellent opportunity to try to make it happen.

Shaw ANC Tries to Solve Persistent Liquor-Licensing Problem

Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 6E/Shaw is trying to develop a solution to a chronic city-wide liquor-licensing problem. The problem is: restaurants "morphing" into nightclubs late in the evenings, meaning, restaurant proprietors clear away the tables, turn up on the music, and serve mostly or completely alcohol into the wee hours of the morning. Fear of these stealth nightclubs is what drives many objectors to restaurant-category liquor licenses -- see, for example, the May 16, 2014, SALM blog post about a proposed Florida Avenue establishment.

(photo credit below)

In response, ANC6E, with the help of the liquor-licensing lawyers they deal with, has developed a new template for settlement agreements between the ANC and restaurant proprietors. These agreements often dictate to what hours a liquor licensee may operate, as well as where and when they can feature live or recorded music.

The ANC6E template allows the counter-parties to these agreements to feature live music on a limited number of occasions. They may have live music at all weekend brunches and New Year's Eve. In addition, they are allowed twelve private parties with live music every year. After that, they are allowed six further instances of private parties every year which must be applied for as a "one-day substantial change" to the liquor license at DC's liquor-licensing authorities.

DC liquor-licensing rules limit the number of one-day substantial changes for an establishment to six per year. They involve additional paperwork, often notarized, to file with DC liquor-licensing authorities, as well as an additional fee of up to $300 per instance, all of which is probably a sufficient deterrent to filing for one unless absolutely needed.

The advantages seem to be: the restaurants have the flexibility to feature music late weekend mornings (when late-night noise and rowdy behavior is not an issue) and host a limited number of wedding-related events, office parties, etc., without having to petition the ANC for each event. On the other hand, the ANC gets a guarantee that late-night music and dancing will not be a regular occurrence.

Most recently, ANC6E used this template to come to a settlement agreement with, and endorse the liquor license of, Ottoman Taverna (425 I Street NW, at the corner of 4th and I Streets). The endorsement came at ANC6E's last regularly-scheduled meeting on March 3. Attorney Steve O'Brien of Mallios & O'Brien represented the applicant and said that the existing template made it much easier to negotiate the new agreement.

"It took me three minutes to prepare this version," O'Brien said.

O'Brien also told the ANC the new establishment would have inside seating for 166 and planned a sidewalk cafe with a capacity of 74. Service would continue until 2am weekdays and 3am weekends inside, and 11pm weekdays and midnight weekends outside. There would be no recorded music outdoors.

ANC6E's liquor-licensing affairs committee had review and recommended approval of the settlement agreement and endorsement of the liquor-licensing application, and the full ANC voted unanimously in favor, with one abstention.

Ottoman Taverna will be the third establishment in the same block by restauranteur Hakan Ilhan, joining Alba Osteria (also 425 I Street NW) and L'Hommage (450 K Street). L'Hommage received its liquor license endorsement and signed a settlement agreement with ANC6E last month based on the same template -- see SALM blog post of February 12.

(photo credit: from sfweekly.com. Labelled for reuse on Google Images.)

1801 4th Street: "We're Mimicking the Town House That Was There"

A committee of Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 1B/U Street gave conditional endorsement to zoning variances that will allow construction of a two-family row house on an empty lot at 1801 4th Street NW in LeDroit Park. The endorsement came at a meeting of ANC1B's Design Review Committee on June 16.

1801 4th Street (vacant lot center)

This is one of several recent cases where design modifications by DC's Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) to planned renovation or construction have triggered the need for zoning variances -- see SALM blog posts for June 12 and May 30, 2014.

The lot in question was formerly the parking lot of Frazier's Funeral Home, which was located in an abutting property to the south. Frazier's Funeral Home closed in 2008. Developer Thomas Swarm bought the property. He developed the Funeral Home building (the brick building on the left in the photo) first -- it is now a residential building.

Both this project and the previous renovation had to get HPRB endorsement because the properties are located in the LeDroit Park Historic District.

Historic Preservation calls the shots

Before the lot was parking, a row house was there. HPRB has said the new construction had to be as close as possible to the long-gone building.

"This is their design," Swarm said at the meeting. "This is their direction."

HPRB required that the new row house be set back ten feet from the front property line, just like its neighbors.

"We're mimicking the town house that was there," Swarm said.

Since the entire living space of the building will be pushed back, the rear yard will be much smaller (4 feet 10 inches) than required by zoning (20 feet). In addition, the lot coverage (61.9%) will be slightly bigger than allowed by zoning (60%). The width of side yard of the building will not meet zoning requirement (3 feet vs. 10 feet).

In addition to the need for zoning variances, HPRB-led design has also created another small problem. The planned front staircase for the building will protrude slightly into public space, i.e., the front sidewalk. If this design is implemented as written, Swarm would also have to go to the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) and seek a permit to use public space.

Tempers flare

The request seemed to be fairly routine. However, the discussion got a little heated during a digression about Swarm's trip through the DC property development maze. Committee member Tony Norman asked if Swarm had been to ANC1B before his HPRB approval. Swarm said he had been to the ANC last year. Norman said he didn't remember Swarm's visit.

Norman could have stimulated his memory by reading the SALM blog post of November 4, 2013, which was about the previous appearance of Swarm before Norman and the committee. At that time, Norman was chair of the committee, as well as chair of ANC1B as a whole. (He has since lost his position as chair and resigned from his commissionership.)

Norman said Swarm should have appeared before the committee before seeking HPRB approval. There was further discussion of whether Swarm had navigated the DC various government bodies in the correct order.

"I'm doing everything by the book," Swarm said.

He got a little angry.

"This is so dysfunctional," he said. "This is just like DC."

At this point, Swarm's attorney, Leila Batties of Holland & Knight, stepped in and gently redirected the conversation back to the immediate problem.

The committee voted unanimously to recommend to the full ANC that the zoning variances be endorsed as presented, with the caveat that the front stairs should not protrude into public space "if at all possible". 

The matter will probably be considered at the next meeting of the full ANC, scheduled to take place on July 10, 2014, at the Reeves Center (14th and U Streets). ANC1B usually holds their monthly meetings on the first Thursday of the month, but is postponing July's meeting due to the Independence Day holiday.

The application is scheduled for consideration by the Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA) on July 15. Documents in the case can be seen at the BZA's Interactive Zoning Information System by entering case number 18796 into the search bar.

Funeral Home Parking Lot to Rowhouse

Developer Thomas Swarm told the Design Review Committee of Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 1B/U Street he wishes to put up a rowhouse on a 1,262-square-foot lot at 1801 4th Street in LeDroit Park. The site was formerly the parking lot for the adjoining property, Frazier's Funeral Home. Frazier's went out of business in 2008, and the former funeral home is being developed into a 4 - 5 unit residential building.

1801 4th Street is now a vacant lot (center)

Before the building was a parking lot, there was a rowhouse on the site. The new rowhouse attempts to duplicate the footprint of the long-demolished rowhouse. Its height will be the same as the neighboring rowhouse.

According to documents presented at the meeting, the new rowhouse will have two apartments. One will be a two-bedroom, two-bathroom, 844-square-foot basement apartment. The other will be a two-story, three-bedroom, three-and-a-half bathroom, 1,688-square-foot apartment. There will be one enclosed parking space in the rear.

Swarm told the Design Review Committee on October 28 he wished to get support for his request to D.C.'s Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA) for zoning variances. However, Design Review Committee chair Tony Norman told Swarm the committee would not consider his request until Swarm officially filed for zoning variances with the BZA, because only then would the committee know for certain the number and nature of the zoning variances Swarm required.

Norman is also chair of ANC1B as a whole and Commissioner for district 10.

Swarm told the committee he would need a zoning variance for the side yard next to the proposed building. Zoning requires side yards to be at least 10 feet wide. Due to the unusual shape of the lot, the side yard would have to be only three feet wide in order to replicate the original building's footprint.

In addition, Swarm said, the rear yard would require a zoning variance for setback.

Documents presented at the meeting show that the proposed lot occupancy will be 61.9%. Since lot occupancy allowed is 60%, Swarm may have to seek BZA approval for this as well. 

The property is located in the LeDroit Park Historic District, so Swarm had to appear before D.C.'s Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB). The HPRB advised Swarm to make his new construction match the neighboring white building (see photo) as much as possible, he said at the meeting.

The 2012 HPRB application, made by architect Michael Vallen of Vallen Design Studio on Swarm's behalf, is a .pdf document available here.

According to a 2012 article in the Washington Post, Frazier's Funeral Home operated in the LeDroit Park location from 1929 until its closing. Swarm bought the property in 2011 for $850,000, the Post said. A separate report indicates that the September 2011 sale included both 5,500-square-foot parcel which held Frazier's funeral home plus the parking lot.