257455 Zoning Commission Notice of Emergency Rulemaking: Z.C. Case No. 10-07 (Text Amendment - Additional Flexibility for Eating and Drinking Establishments within the ARTS Overlay District)
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ZONING COMMISSION FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
NOTICE OF EMERGENCY RULEMAKING
Z.C. Case No. 10-07
Text Amendment - Additional Flexibility for Eating and Drinking Establishments
within the ARTS Overlay District.
The Zoning Commission for the District of Columbia, pursuant to the authority set forth in §§ 1 and 3 of the Zoning Act of 1938, approved June 20, 1938 (52 Stat. 797, 798, as amended; D.C. Official Code §§ 6-641.01 and 6-641.03) and the authority set forth in section 6(c) of the District of Columbia Administrative Procedure Act, approved October 21, 1968 (82 Stat. 1206; D.C. Official Code § 2-505(c)), hereby gives notice of the adoption, on an emergency basis, of an amendment to § 1901.6 of the Zoning Regulations (Title 11, DCMR).
The amendment increases from twenty-five to thirty percent the amount of the linear foot frontage within the ARTS Overlay District, as measured along the lots fronting on 14th Street and U Street, N.W., that can be occupied as a matter of right by eating and drinking establishments.
This action is being taken on an emergency basis in order to safeguard and promote continued economic growth within the overlay and the District. This growth is threatened because the existing twenty five percent occupancy cap has been reached. As a result, any new eating and drinking establishments would require the approval of the Board of Zoning Adjustment before structural renovations could begin. The earliest date for a hearing on any such application would not be until July of this year. There are presently several proposed restaurant ventures that have reached the point of development by which considerable sums have been borrowed and expended, and lease commitments made. None of the owners had budgeted for the additional cost and time associated with the special exception approval process. Given the low margin nature of the restaurant business, subjecting these nascent enterprises to the special exception process may cause them to fail before they even begin.
Such a result would both jeopardize the ongoing rejuvenation of this overlay area and send exactly the wrong message to the larger business community; such that the adverse impact of retaining the cap is likely to be felt District-wide. For this reason the Zoning Commission concluded that an increase of the cap, to the minimum extent necessary to allow ongoing projects to continue, was needed “for the immediate preservation of the public … welfare”. D.C. Official Code § 2-505.
This emergency rule was adopted on April 26, 2010, and became effective on that date. The emergency rule will expire on August 24. 2010, which is the 120th day after the adoption of the rule, or upon the publication of a Notice of Final Rulemaking in the D.C. Register adopting any or all of a more comprehensive set of amendments proposed in this same case. A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking setting forth the text of those proposed amendments appears elsewhere in this edition of the D.C. Register.
The amendment to Title 11 of the District of Columbia Municipal Regulation, ZONING, is as follows:
Chapter 19, UPTOWN ARTS-MIXED USE (ARTS) OVERLAY DISTRICT, Section 1901, USE PROVISIONS, subsection 1901.6 is amended to read as follows:
1901.6 Eating and drinking establishments shall occupy no more than thirty percent (30%) of the linear foot frontage within the ARTS Overlay District, as measured along the lots fronting on 14th Street and U Street, N.W.
