Intervention by Bar Operator's Mother Fails to Prevent ANC2B from Protesting Extended Operating Hours

At its regularly-scheduled meeting on February 11, Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2B/Dupont Circle voted to protest the application of the owners of Parlay (1827 M Street NW) to extend their hours of alcoholic beverage sales and live entertainment. All the Commissioners present voted in favor of the protest.

Parlay now in the former Malaysia Kopitam space

Currently, Parlay is allowed to service alcohol and live entertainment until 10pm Sunday through Thursday and 11pm on Friday and Saturday. The establishment seeks permission to serve alcohol until 2am Sunday through Thursday and 2:45am Friday and Saturday, and to have live entertainment until 2am Sunday through Thursday and 2:30am Friday and Saturday.

The space was formerly occupied by the restaurant Malaysia Kopitam, but the new establishment has a "much bigger bar aspect".

The ANC asked the proprietor what sort of live entertainment he was planning. He said he had "no specific plans -- just thought the restaurant would ask".

There was some confused talk about what hours the old Malaysia Kopitam had on its license when it closed and the license was purchased, compared to what hours the same liquor license bore when it was re-issued to Parlay. The bar owner and the ANC had been discussing this issue for a few minutes when a woman in the audience stood up and strode past the proprietor standing at a microphone to testify to the ANC. Without being officially recognized by the ANC Chair, the woman stood before the ANC and set it straight on the hours of service attached to the liquor license in the past and now.

"This is my mom," the proprietor said sheepishly.

Noting that there were "trash and noise concerns generally", the ANC expressed a wish for a "clear and strong settlement agreement". The motion to protest included a provision that the protest would be dropped if a settlement agreement was signed.

Malaysia Kopitam did not have a settlement agreement with ANC2B.

According to information on the website of DC's Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration (ABRA), a preliminary hearing on Parlay's request for longer operating hours will take place on March 23 at 10am at ABRA's offices at the Reeves Center (14th and U Streets).

(photo credit: August 2011 image from Google Street View)

Logan Circle ANC Endorses Zero Parking for 90-91 Blagden Alley

Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2F/Logan Circle has endorsed a request from the developers of 90-91 Blagden Alley NW that would allow construction of a 132-microunit residential development with no parking spaces. The decision took place at the November 5 regular monthly meeting of the ANC.

According to information on PropertyQuest, 90-91 Blagden Alley is zoned category C-2-A. Under current zoning regulations, there must be at least one parking space for each two dwelling units, or 66 spaces.

The vote concurred with the recommendation of ANC2F's Community Development Committee (CDC), made at its meeting of October 29, to support the request for zoning relief from the parking requirement -- see SALM blog post of November 4. The CDC's recommendation was also a split decision, 5 in favor, 2 against.

Four Commissioners voted for the endorsement, three against.

Commissioners voting for the no-parking option: John Fanning (district 04), Jim Lamare (05), Greg Melcher (06), and Matt Raymond (07). The planned development is in Melcher's ANC district.

Against the no-parking option

Commissioners voting against: Peter Lallas (01), Stephanie Dahle (03), and Kevin Keeley (08).

"We have to be incredibly vigilant about parking in our areas," Keeley said.

"A few things concern me about this," Dahle said.

Dahle pointed out that it would be very easy for the projected long-term temporary residents of the building to get a temporary street parking pass which would be good "for months on end"

Several audience members spoke against endorsing the request.

"I'm really opposed to letting people out of their parking agreement," one said.

Katherine Gordon, Commissioner-elect for ANC2F district 01, also spoke against zero parking.

Motion to remove car-free accommodations defeated

The developers had previously presented a list of benefits they plan to give to future tenants to encourage car-free living, including funding a new Capital Bikeshare station at a cost of $75,000 -- see SALM blog post of October 7. This list was included in the ANC2F motion to endorse this request for zoning relief. ANC2F Chair Raymond made a motion to strip this list of accommodations out of the motion to approve the zoning relief, and approve zoning relief without stipulation.

Raymond said he didn't like the precedent that requiring stipulations would set.

Raymond's motion went down to defeat, 6-1. Raymond was the only one to vote in favor.

An additional SALM blog post on this project also appeared on September 26.

The matter will next be considered by DC's Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA). The BZA postponed a hearing on the matter, originally scheduled for the same day as this ANC meeting, until December 2. The BZA hearing will start at 9:30am, at a BZA hearing room, Room 220 South, 441 4th Street (Judiciary Square metro).

See ANC2F's summary of the meeting where this discussion took place here.

90-91 Blagden Alley: No Parking At All Gets a Go-Ahead

"[T]he neighborhood parking situation will quickly go from bad to much
worse."

Proposed view from M Street (from BZA files)

That's a neighbor's comment recently added to a public file of DC's Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA) concerning the development of 90-91 Blagden Alley NW. The neighbor was expressing an opinion on the probable result of a request of developers SB Urban for a zoning special exception that would allow construction of a 132-microunit residence there with no parking spaces at all.

However, a committee of Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2F/Logan Circle decided on October 29 that it could live with no parking. ANC2F's Community Development Committee (CDC) voted 5-2 to recommend that the full ANC endorse the request for zoning relief for parking.

This is at least the second time this project has been before the CDC. At a September meeting, the CDC approved all parts of the zoning relief except for the parking special exception -- see SALM blog post of September 26. The developers then appeared before the full ANC to brief on their progress, including the commitment to invest $75,000 in a bikeshare station -- see SALM blog post of October 7. No vote was taken by the full ANC at its October meeting.

Attorney Cary Kadlecek of Goulston & Storrs once again led the team representing the developers. The package that the team presented was largely unchanged from previous visits. The group agree to put up "No Parking" signs targeted especially at delivery trucks in the alley. There will be a package delivery room on the part of the building that faces 9th Street, near a loading zone. There will be a trash room, with a trash compactor, on the part of the building facing M Street. There were promises that barrels of garbage would never sit out on M Street waiting for pickup.

The developers were "committed to keeping trash inside until the trash truck arrives", one of the presenters said.

Kadlecek also address committee concerns about moving trucks blocking local streets.

"We don't expect tenants to be using moving trucks," Kadlecek said. "It's just not realistic."

The apartments will come fully furnished and stocked with kitchenware, utensils, and other necessities, he said. The minimum lease would be 90 days, and the average duration of residency was expected to be 7-8 months. It was anticipated residents would arrive only with suitcases.

Still, some members of the committee were unconvinced, and one member of the public said: "Zero parking is a bad idea".

It seems possible ANC2F's decision may arrive too late to make any difference. This issue is on the agenda for the November meeting of the full ANC, scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday, November 5, at 7pm, at the Washington Plaza Hotel (10 Thomas Circle). On the morning of the same day (i.e., tomorrow morning, 10 hours before the ANC meeting), the BZA is scheduled to have a hearing on the project, according to an October 28 posting on the BZA's website. As reported previously, Goulston & Storrs requested a postponement of the November 5 hearing after the ANC voiced concerns. But the item still appears on the BZA calendar.

A copy of the letter asking for postponement, as well as the recently-added letter containing the comment that started this story, plus other documents related to the request for various types of zoning relief, can be seen by going to the BZA's Interactive Zoning Information System and entering case number 18852 in the search bar.

90-91 Blagden Alley: Developers Commit $75,000 for New Bikeshare Station

Representatives of developer SB-Urban told Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2F/Logan Circle October 1 that, if a development at 90-91 Blagden Alley NW is approved, the developers would contribute $75,000 for the establishment of a new Capital Bikeshare station. This promise was made during ANC2F's regular monthly meeting on October 1.

Conception of development viewed from across M Street

The previous week, the Community Development Committee (CDC) of ANC2F tabled SB-Urban's request for a zoning variance that would allow the 132-microunit Blagden Alley development to be built without parking -- see SALM blog post of September 26. They asked the presenters to rework their plan and present it again.

The request is on the agenda for reconsideration at the next meeting of the CDC, scheduled for 7pm, October 29, at the Washington Plaza Hotel (10 Thomas Circle). The offer to purchase a bikeshare station will be part of the amended plan.

CDC Chair Walt Cain (Commissioner for district 02) began the discussion by calling SB-Urban "an example of people who have dealt with the CDC in good faith". Attorney Cary Kadlecek of Goulston & Storrs represented the developers.

Bikeshare

At the September 26 meeting, committee members observed that the additional of 132 small residences with no parking would probably great additional demand on the nearby bikeshare stations. So the developers came back with the promise to fund the station.

In an email, a representative of Capital Bikeshare said a 19-dock bikeshare station in central DC would cost around $55,000, plus about $25,000 for the first year of operation and maintenance. After the first year, Capital Bikeshare handles the cost of maintenance and operation.

Loading, unloading, deliveries

The conversation also continued about the developers' plans to deal with deliveries and garbage pickup. The revised design presented by the developers included the addition of a package delivery room facing M Street. If implemented, delivery drivers would stop on M Street and dash across the sidewalk to deliver packages. They would not need to drive bulky delivery trucks up narrow, brick-paved Blagden Alley to deliver packages to residents.

There would also be a 75-foot-long loading zone on the 9th Street side of the development where larger delivery trucks could park, presumably for a longer time. This was mentioned as a possible staging area for deliveries of supermarket food products from vendors like Peapod. One possible problem with this would be people using the loading zone to pick up and drop off from the businesses already operating on 9th Street, such as pet grooming and boarding shop Wagtime (1232 9th Street).

Garbage

A remaining sticking point seemed to be garbage pickup. The developers continue to plan to have all the garbage from the 132 units brought out to the curb in two-wheeled containers and picked at M Street. This was the same as the plan they presented at the September 26 meeting. However, Kadlecek presented a new revision to the design, with a trash room and holding area on the east side of the M Street front of the building, with a door out onto the sidewalk.

"We won't have trash sitting outside for a long time," promised a member of the team representing SB-Urban.

Among the variants discussed was requiring trash pickup services to radio ahead when they are in the neighborhood, so that trash containers could be moved out to the curb and emptied as quickly as possible.

However, there will still be on-street parking in front of the building. Attendees observed it would be difficult to get the trash removed between the bumper-to-bumper parked cars. The presenters said they were not planning to ask for any M Street parking spaces to be removed to facilitate trash pick up.

No motion was proposed or vote taken at the October 1 ANC meeting.

At the September 26 CDC meeting, representatives of SB-Urban said a hearing at DC's Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA) on the proposed zoning relief was scheduled for November 5, roughly 10 hours before the next possible meeting when the full ANC could vote to approve a revised proposal. Attorney Kedlecek asked the ANC to take special measures to expedite their request, so an approval was voted on before the scheduled hearing. Cain said he would see what he could do.

On October 1, however, Kadlecek sent a letter to the BZA, asking for the hearing to be postponed from November 5 while SB-Urban continued to work with the ANC on outstanding issues. The letter asks that the meeting be rescheduled "as soon after November 5 as possible".

At copy of the letter asking for postponement, plus other documents related to the request for zoning variance, can be seen by going to the BZA's Interactive Zoning Information System and entering case number 18852 in the search bar.

302-304 M Street: Historic Preservation Holding Firm on Pop-ups

DC's Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) seems to be holding the line on residential pop-ups. For a least the second time in less than a month, ANCs have heard cases of proposed extra floors on historic homes. The proposed pop-ups on a single-family homes in a historic districts have been vetoed by the HPRB. In both cases, the homeowners decided to build the additional living space on the rear of the property, which triggered need for zoning relief for lot occupancy and other reasons.

302 and 304 M Street NW

At its regular monthly meeting June 3, Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 6E/Shaw heard the case of two adjoining lots on M Street near the corner of New Jersey Avenue.

302 M Street is an empty row house. 304 M Street is a vacant lot. The two lots have the same owner. The owner proposes to renovate the existing house at 302 M Street and build a new house at 304. To do any significant work at either address, the owner must seek permission from the HPRB because the property is located in the Mount Vernon Square Historic District.

The original vision by architect Will Teass of Tektonics Architecture DC called for a third story to be added to 302 M Street, so it could be used as a two-unit dwelling.

Eric Daniel of the firm Griffin, Murphy, Moldenhauer, & Wiggins LLP told ANC6E that "in response to HPRB" the plans had been changed. 302 M Street will now have an addition in back, not on top of, the existing house.

As a result, the owner sought variance relief from DC's Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA) in three areas. The additional rear structure adds to the overall footprint on the property. Combined, they will take up 70% of the property. Maximum allowed under current zoning regulations is 60%. In addition, the rear yard will be set back 10.3 feet from the property edge -- zoning calls for 15 feet. The additional of a rear structure would also create a closed courtyard which will not meet zoning requirements.

ANC6E Commissioner Rachelle Nigro (district 04) said the applicants "did a very nice job of outreach" to the community. The property is in her ANC district.

ANC6E voted unanimously to endorse zoning relief for 302-304 M Street NW.

A similar case occurred in Dupont Circle recently when HPRB told the owners of one of the oldest houses in the neighborhood to add living space behind their historic property, rather than on top of it -- see SALM blog post of May 30.

Documents related to this zoning case can be seen by going to the Case Search Tool of the DC Office of Zoning and entering case number 18782 in the search bar.

Online records indicate the 302 M Street was sold in March 2014 for 650,000. Another web site shows that, at some point, the two lots together were on sale for $1.25 million.

See a 2010 post from the blog DCmud about a Tektonics Architecture project in downtown DC here.

ANC6E videos its meetings in their entirety and posts them on its YouTube channel. You can view the short discussion of this matter on video 00051, starting at time 2:15.

Long-Delayed Federal Money Funds 7th Street Repaving, Sidewalk Upgrade, New Bike Racks

At its regular monthly meeting May 6, Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 6E/Shaw heard that the 7th Street NW corridor is about to be given a facelift with federal government money. If all goes as planned, streets will be repaved, street lighting will be given a elegant new look, sidewalks will be uniform, and bike racks will be installed on every block of 7th Street between N and Florida Avenue.

Coming soon on 7th Street

ANC6E Chair Alexander Padro (Commissioner for district 01) recalled that the project, which will cover the 1300 to 1700 blocks on 7th Street, has been in development for "the better part of a decade" and had been repeatedly delayed by "a number of missteps".

The project was originally part of the Howard Theatre renovation project, but it was detached so that the portion of the project near the Howard Theatre could go ahead using money from the D.C. budget. The Howard Theatre project was finished in 2012.

DDOT presentation

Richard Kenney and Adil Rizvi, program managers at the District Department of Transportation (DDOT), told the ANC that 7th Street will be resurfaced and renovated. But don't call the project a "resurfacing project".

"That's kind of misleading because we're including building-face-to-building-face streetscape improvements," Rizvi said.

Kenney and Rizvi told ANC6E the project would, in addition to road resurfacing, include street light and traffic signal upgrades, sidewalk replacement, the addition of green infrastructure, improvements to wheelchair ramps to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), and other changes.

The work will start in "late summer to early fall" and will continue for nine to twelve months, "weather permitting". Work will be done from 7am to 7pm Monday to Friday. There will be some Saturday work, but no Sunday work. The DDOT presenters said all blockage of traffic and detours would take place outside of rush hours.

The project will work to make the sidewalks uniform. Right now, there is a patchwork of brick and concrete, some of which is deteriorating, making the sidewalks unsafe. The sidewalks will be uniformly concrete. The areas around the trees will be given a uniform look as well, with low ornamental rails on three sides. DDOT assured the committee the ornamental rails will be well anchored and will not come up or fall over by themselves. However, these rails cannot withstand the impact of a vehicle.

Cobble pavers are green infrastructure

The tree space will also be given a uniform look, with cobble pavers to each side of the tree (see photo). These cobble pavers catch storm water and allow natural filtration to take place, which captures pollutants before they can become part of the storm water runoff.

Bike racks for all

The DDOT presenters asked for ANC and public opinion on bike racks. Members of the public spoke strongly in favor. Commissioner Padro said he had asked for bike racks along 7th Street many times but was told they should wait for the long-delayed repaving project.

"It seems like the biggest comment we have for you is: We certainly do want to see bike racks installed," Padro said. "A number of businesses have requested them."

Padro volunteered to walk the route of the project along with Shaw resident and Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) Vice-President Michael Moulton to suggest placement of the bike racks. Moulton was present at the meeting and advocated for bike racks as part of the project.

ANC6E voted unanimously to support the project and recommend bike racks be installed on every block.

About 2/3rds of the area of the renovation falls with the borders of ANC6E. The other third is in ANC 1B/U Street.

ANC6E videos its meetings and posts them, in their entirety, on their Youtube channel. This discussion can be viewed on video number 00047 here, starting at time 11:05.

(Photo credits: details from hard copies of the DDOT presentation to ANC6E)

Nude Dancing Liquor License Comes Out of Hibernation

Attorney Lyle M. Blanchard of Greenstein DeLorme & Luchs came before Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2B/Dupont Circle last night (April 9) to plead the case of M Street Management Group LLC, operators of the 1819 Club (1819 M Street NW, see photo). The club hopes in to open in four weeks.

Not quite ready for the dancing

M Street Management Group is the holder of a rare item: a DC liquor license with a nude dancing endorsement. The liquor license has been "in safekeeping" since 2005, when the previous nude dancing club on the spot closed. Since then, the owners have been engaged in a long and difficult renovation of the property, which was built about 115 years ago.

Blanchard told ANC2B that M Street Management Group had bought the club in 2004, operated it for a year, and put the license in safekeeping.

Publicly-available documents from D.C.'s liquor licensing authority (27-page .pdf available here) indicate the property was bought at bankruptcy and had a top-to-bottom renovation. Plans had to be approved by D.C.'s Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) because the building is in a historic district. Then there were prolonged water and sewer problems which were eventually solved by digging a trench all the way across M Street, one lane of traffic at a time. There were also dealings with the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) as well as building and fire inspectors.

According to this same document, D.C. liquor-licensing authorities gave (on December 11, 2013) a six-month extension to M Street Management Group's liquor license in safekeeping (until June 11, 2014).

Unusually, the residential neighbors have not voiced any objections. This was said to be because existing strip clubs on the street have been extremely scrupulous about honoring their commitments to the neighborhood and are never the source of excessive noise or security concerns.

It was reported some groups had "religious concerns". This did not seem to effect affect the course of ANC2B's debate on the topic.

Public records available here show that, in 2011, D.C. liquor license authorities dismissed a protest of M Street Management Group's liquor license by the group Downtown Cluster of Congregations.

All the ANC2B Commissioners present voted to protest the liquor license application, with the stipulation that the protest would be dropped if certain conditions were met. These conditions included demonstrating the club occupancy and square footage would not increase as a result of the renovation.

Letters of opposition (or support) of this liquor license can be filed at D.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control Board (ABRA) before April 14. A hearing about the liquor license will occur at 10am on April 28 at ABRA's offices on the fourth floor of the Reeves Center (14th and U Streets).