Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 6D met on Nov. 12 via Zoom. Commissioners Bob Link (6DO1, vice chair), Ronald Collins (6D02, treasurer), Gail Fast (6D03), Andrea Pawley (6D04), Chearie Phelps-El (6D05), Fredrica (Rikki) Kramer (6D07, chair) and Rhonda Hamilton (6D08) were in attendance. Bruce Levine (6D06, secretary) was absent.
The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) has a Streatery Program that permits restaurants to occupy Public Space with outdoor dining facilities. More specifically, parking lanes, travel lanes and alleys, which are all elements of the public realm regulated by DDOT. The program started during the COVID pandemic to restaurants.
The Alcohol Beverage and Cannabis istration (ABCA) regulates the Streateries through an endorsement permitting restaurants to serve alcohol in these approved public spaces.
DDOT is now considering making its Streatery Program permanent.
Vice Chair Link provided a letter stating
the commission’s concerns with the current program and suggestions for improving it for permanent status.
To begin with, the letter pointed out the considerable confusion created when two regulator agencies, DDOT and ABCA, are asked to regulate different elements of Streateries. “Inconsistent approvals have caused significant confusion in the definition, review and approvals of sidewalk cafes, summer gardens and Streateries,” the letter stated.
When the permanent program is put in place, the commission requested all Streateries reapply for permission to operate.
Moreover, the new regulatory process should better distinguish definitionally between “summer gardens,” which are outdoor sidewalk cafes typically located in front of restaurants and Streateries, which are located in alleys, road travel lanes and parking spaces, the letter stated.
Lastly, the commission advised the agencies to create buffer spaces around all Streateries to ensure the safe flow of pedestrian and vehicular traffic.
Chair Kramer ed the letter despite concerns about addressing Streateries’ noise and egress. Commissioner Fast concurred on the former issue.
Streateries have not been subject to ANC review, Fast said. “ANCs need to have great weight in how these Streateries are operated,” she stated.
The commission approved the letter.
Other Matters
The commissioners collectively vented their frustration at the DC Public School Chancellor’s failure to attend its meetings despite four invitations. Commissioners pondered how to attract the Chancellor’s attention. After much discussion, they decided to extend an invitation for their December meeting.
Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Captain Paul Hrebenak briefed the commission on public safety. There was a recent armed robbery on School Street SW, he stated. Police caught one juvenile robber at the Duck Pond. There have been burglaries of businesses on The Wharf in the last couple of months, mostly at night. MPD is deploying overtime units down in the Greenleaf Rec Center area to head off any future violence.
The commission is filing three active protests at the next scheduled meeting of the Alcohol & Cannabis Board (ABC Board). Two of them may be withdrawn if the commission concludes its negotiations over community agreements governing their operations. In addition, Club Volo, the open air amateur sports facility located as a temporary use on an undeveloped parcel adjacent to Audi Field, has offered to reduce its capacity to 2500 from 5000 without making any other concessions, Link reported. Negotiations are ongoing, he said.
The commission approved Third and Fourth Quarter Financial Returns and its 2025 budget.
ANC 6D meets at 7 p.m. on the second Monday of every month. The next meeting is Dec. 9. For more information, visit www.anc6d.org.
