ANC1B Endorses Right Proper Brewing Sidewalk Cafe

At its regular monthly meeting June 5, Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 1B/U Street endorsed the public space of application of Right Proper Brewery (624 T Street NW). Right Proper Co-founder Thor Cheston appeared before the ANC to ask for the endorsement, which had been previously approved by the ANC's Design Review Committee.

28 seats here

The outdoor space will be 490 square feet and contain 28 seats. It will be surrounded by "heavy but removable" fencing.

Right Proper Brewing should have no trouble with its immediate neighbor, the Howard Theatre, with which it does many cross promotions.

The establishment also got the endorsement of the LeDroit Park Civic Association.

Commissioner Jeremy Leffler (district 02) checked to make sure Right Proper was willing to consent to the ANC's standard closing time for outdoor spaces of liquor-serving establishments, which is 11pm Monday-Thursday and midnight Saturday and Sunday. Cheston agreed with the hours.

"I believe in the old saying 'Nothing good in a bar happens after midnight'," Cheston said.

Commissioner E. Gail Anderson Holness (district 11) asked Cheston where he was from. Cheston said he graduated from Georgetown University. He had lived elsewhere, he continued, but he was born in DC.

"Native Washingtonian? We support you," Holness said.

The motion by Holness to support the application was approved by all the Commissioners present.

The application now moves for final approval to the District Department of Transportation (DDOT), which has authority over all public space applications.

Ghana Cafe, Catalyst of Logan Circle ANC Lawsuit, Closed

Ghana Cafe yesterday (June 8)

Ghana Cafe (1336 14th Street NW), whose liquor-license application was at the center of a recently-filed lawsuit by a local resident against Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2F/Logan Circle (see SALM blog post of June 5), has apparently closed.

Since Friday (June 6), the restaurant has been dark, complimentary newspaper reviews have been removed from the windows, and the interior furniture has been removed or overturned. There was no additional information on the restaurant's web site.

Neither side in the lawsuit wished to comment on the Ghana Cafe's closing for this story.

Charles Allen, Jack Evans on Ward Two Parking for Shaw Residents

Emergency legislation to allow Shaw car owners to retain their Ward Two parking privileges went down to defeat on June 3, but that's not necessary the end of the matter. Charles Allen, Democratic nominee for the Ward 6 City Council seat, pledged to re-introduce legislation if elected. However, messages on Twitter indicate the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) is already replacing resident parking signs in Shaw.

Newly-installed parking sign in Shaw

Meanwhile, DC City Councilmember Jack Evans (D-Ward Two) told Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2F/Logan Circle why he opposed the bill.

Shaw residents were redistricted from Ward Two to Ward Six as a result of the 2010 census. Since that time, they have been able to retain Ward Two parking permits. They wish to continue to do so -- see SALM blog posts of June 2 and May 14.

Allen at 6E/Shaw

Charles Allen visited the regular monthly meeting of Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 6E/Shaw on June 3 -- a few hours after the emergency legislation was defeated by a voice vote. The purpose of Allen's visit to ANC6E was to "say hello and listen in", he said.

Allen reported the failure of the emergency legislation. However, he said, the the bill would be re-introduced this session as permanent (i.e., not emergency) legislation, and there was a possibility that it could pass in this manner.

If it does not pass, Allen promised to re-introduce the legislation if he is elected to the DC Council in November.

According to a DC Council web site faq page, "An emergency bill is a proposed new law or an amendment to existing legislation that takes effect immediately and is effective for 90 days.  Because it does not follow the committee process, a vote of a super majority (9) is required for an emergency to be considered."

The path of permanent legislation is slower and more complicated, including potentially a visit to the US Congress, but it will not require a super majority. See an explanation here.

Signs already changing

About four hours before the emergency legislation failed in the DC Council, a Shaw resident reported on Twitter that Ward Two resident parking sign were being replaced with Ward Six resident parking signs. A DDOT worker said the sign change was being fast-tracked, the resident wrote in a separate tweet.

Rachelle Nigro, ANC6E Commissioner for the area in question (district 04), instructed the resident to take and send a photo of the sign in question -- see above. Nigro said she had sent an email to DDOT Director Matthew Brown about the matter.

Evans at 2F/Logan Circle

Jack Evans was at the regular monthly meeting of ANC2F on June 4. His main purpose was to talk about the recently passed city budget, but he touched briefly on the parking bill. He said he understood why Shaw residents wanted Ward Two parking passes.

"I understand wanting to continue to park in neighborhoods that you used to be able to park in," Evans said. "But the purpose of residential parking passes is to park in a residential neighborhood. And, frankly, this neighborhood would have been impacted by having people from Shaw parking in a residential area."

Evans' position might be, in part, a result of trying to park near his home in Georgetown.

"I can't even find an illegal parking spot," he told ANC2F.

Other matters discussed by Evans and ANC2F at the June 4 meeting will be the subject of one or more future SALM blog post.

Logan Circle ANC sued over FOIA Request

A resident of the 1400 block of Rhode Island Avenue has sued the DC government, alleging that Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2F/Logan Circle has failed to adequately provide documents in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

Detail from the complaint document

Documents (23-page .pdf) filed on June 2 at the Superior Court of The District of Columbia by James Kane allege ANC2F failed to search their records pertaining to the liquor license of the Ghana Cafe (1336 14th Street NW). It asks the court to declare DC in violation of FOIA, to force ANC2F to release the documents (mostly emails), and to order reimbursement of legal costs.

In response, ANC2F Chair Matt Raymond has issued a press release calling the lawsuit "frivolous" and "rife with demonstrable falsehoods".

Backstory

The FOIA request stems from a pair of votes (see "Old Business", near the end of this web page) by ANC2F in March 2014 in support of Ghana Cafe's request to terminate a 2009 settlement agreement. The 2009 agreement is a multi-sided one, between Ghana Cafe, ANC2F, and neighbors. At the March 2014 meeting, ANC2F voted to enter into a new agreement with the Ghana Cafe, independent of other parties. The new agreement is both more lenient than the existing agreement and similar to agreements signed by their newer neighboring competitors. However, it will not come into effect until 2016, when the older, stricter agreement will sunset. 

In April 2014, Kane filed a FOIA request, asking for all documents, physical or electronic, that contained the address of the restaurant, the name of the ANC2F liquor-licensing affairs committee, the name of the DC liquor-licensing authority, or the terms "Ghana Cafe", "Settlement Agreement", "resolution", among others, between April 1, 2013, and April 22, 2014.

In his press statement, Raymond says he found "literally thousands" of documents satisfying the criteria. Raymond suggested a narrowing of the criteria due to the many hours it would take to process the documents.

"Neither Kane nor his attorney responded to Raymond’s good-faith offer to comply, instead taking the matter directly to court," Raymond's press statement says.

Kane's court filing quotes a May 14, 2014, letter from Raymond, asking for an extension:

Your request happened to arrive at the same time the expectations and obligations of my day job have been more extreme than at any other time during my tenure here. Multiple projects and events converging within the past couple of weeks necessitated days often lasting 14 to 16 hours.

(ANC Commissioner is a voluntary, unpaid position. Commissioners usually have paying daytime jobs. Raymond's Linked-in profile says he is Senior Director of Communications at International Food Information Council Foundation.)

In a May 29, 2014, letter (also quoted in the court filing), Raymond said "ANC2F is unable to respond to the totality of your request", due to the scope of the request and lack of paid staff. Raymond urges Kane "to resubmit your request with a far greater degree of sufficient particularity".

Lawyer for the plantiff responds

Kane referred a request for comment to his lawyer, Don Padou.

In a phone interview, Padou said the decision to begin legal action now stems from ANC2F's decision to reject the FOIA request in its entirety.

"He could have produced some documents to show that they were operating in good faith," Padou said. "Instead, he just denied the entire FOIA request without producing anything."

Padou was unsympathetic to the claim the FOIA request was excessive.

"If they don't have the resources to comply with the FOIA request, that's not my client's fault," Padou said. "DC government has an ANC office. If the ANCs can't comply with FOIA requests, they should staff their office to make compliance possible."

ANC2F had a regular monthly meeting last night (June 4). ANC Chair Raymond was not present. The lawsuit was not mentioned during the first 90 minutes of the meeting, after which I left.

ANC2F's dealings with Ghana Cafe and its neighbors were the subject of previous SALM blog posts on February 14, 2014, and December 20 and October 10, 2013.

New Freshfarm Market to Open Saturday -- If the Paperwork Comes Through

Freshfarm Markets is set to open up this Saturday, June 6, in Mount Vernon Triangle, if it can get a public space permit in time.

At its regular monthly meeting last night (June 3), Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 6E/Shaw heard the testimony of Reg Godin, Director for Markets and Programs at Freshfarm. He explained Freshfarm Markets had to request last-minute inclusion on the meeting's agenda after it was determined the proposed site of the farmers market was on public land.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia/AgnosticPreachersKid)

The management of the adjoining City Vista building (K and 5th Streets NW) had believed that the land in question was City Vista's property, and therefore the farmers market required no special permit to operate there. After a surveyor corrected the mistaken impression, Freshfarm Markets has had to scramble to get the necessary public space use permits.

"No one knew who was responsible," Godin said.

The market will cover about 2000 square feet and have five tents. It will take place under and around the yellow sculpture (see bottom center of photo above). There will be activities for children and unamplied music.

The ANC voted unanimously to endorse the request for a public space use permit and promised to produce a letter of support promptly. Public space use permits are obtained from the District Department of Transportation (DDOT).

"All of your constituents are looking forward to this," said ANC6E Chair Alexander Padro (Commissioner for district 01)

"Yes, they are," said Commissioner Marge Maceda (district 05)

Once open, the market will be open on Saturday from 10am to 1pm until October 25. According to their website, Freshfarms has ten other farmers markets operating inside the Beltway.

The new market has been developed in cooperation with the Mount Vernon Triangle Community Improvement District.

1512 P Street: Zoning Permission Needed to Resurface Deck

The owners of 1512 P Street NW had an unpleasant surprise when they decided to resurface and improve their long-established back deck. The deck was "non-conforming". They could not improve their deck without permission from the DC Office of Zoning.

1512 P Street from the front

At an overflow meeting on May 19, Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2B/Dupont Circle unanimously voted to endorse the homeowners' request for two zoning variances. If they get the variances from the Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA), they should be able to resurface the deck and replace the railings and stairs. A hearing on the matter at the BZA is scheduled for June 3.

BZA documents indicate the building was constructed with the non-conforming deck in 1885, so the deck in some form pre-dates the present DC zoning regime by about 73 years. The BZA has no records for a building permit for this deck.

One variance is for lot occupancy. With the deck, the house occupies 73.7% of its lot, but zoning regulations say only 60% is allowed.

The other variance is for the width of the rear open court. The deck is constructed so that there is a 4-foot-wide open court on the western side of the property, but zoning regulations say such a court has to be 6 feet wide.

The homeowners went to their neighbors to collect letters and emails saying they had no problem with the court. In their letters, some of the neighbors noted the construction and alternation necessary to bring the deck into compliance with zoning regulations would likely create more noise and disruption than leaving it alone.

The homeowners also went to the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) and got a letter stating the project would have "no adverse impacts on the District's transportation network."

Assuming the BZA approves the request June 3, it will have taken the homeowners 70 days to get an approval, counting from the day the first document was filed. They also had to pay a $325 filing fee.

See a copy of the letter ANC2B sent to the BZA here.

The documents pertaining to this case can be viewed through the BZA's Interactive Zoning Information System by entering case number 18763 in the search bar.

Ward Two Parking for Shaw Residents: Lobbying on Both Sides

Tomorrow (June 3), DC Councilmember Tommy Wells (D-Ward Six) will put forward a resolution that will enable an estimated 1,100 Shaw car owners -- although resident in Ward Six (see map below) -- to retain their Ward Two Residential Parking Permits.

Formerly Ward Two, now Ward Six

Rachelle Nigro, representative for district 04 on Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 6E/Shaw announced the initiative on her Facebook page May 30. She asked her constituents to call the offices of all members of the DC City Council to express their support of the bill, called the ANC 6E Residential Parking Permit Exception Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2014. 

Also on May 30, Nigro sent tweets to DC Councilmembers David Grosso (I-At Large), Jack Evans (D-Ward Two), Mary Cheh (D-Ward Three), and Kenyan McDuffie (D-Ward Five), urging them to vote for the resolution.

The neighborhood was formerly a part of Ward Two. It was redistricted into Ward Six after the 2010 Census. Residents successfully resisted a previous attempt to change their parking permits. See the SALM blog post of May 14 for more details. 

Meanwhile, neighboring ANC 2F/Logan Circle is mobilizing against the plan. At its regular monthly meeting on May 14, voted unanimously to send a letter to the DC Council "making the Council aware of ANC 2F’s opposition to all proposed or pending legislation that would grant Ward 6 residents the ability to park in Ward 2."