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A RESOLUTION
21-537
IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
June 28, 2016
To declare the existence of an emergency with respect to the need to amend the Retail Services Station Act of 1976 to provide that certain prohibitions on discontinuing or converting to another use a full service retail service station shall not apply to a retail service station for which an application was on file with the Zoning Commission between May 2, 2015, and August 1, 2015.
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this resolution may be cited as the “Gas Station Advisory Board Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2016”.
Sec. 2. (a) In October 2014, the Council enacted the New Columbia Statehood Initiative and Omnibus Boards and Commissions Reform Amendment Act of 2014, effective May 2, 2015 (D.C. Law 20-271; 62 DCR 1884) (“Act”).
(b) Part 2 of Title II of the Act increased the prohibitions against conversion of a full-service retail service station by adding the prohibition that such a station cannot be discontinued or converted into any other use without a waiver.
(c) It is important to protect the integrity of doing business in and with the District by protecting those businesses that were in the process of converting their property or business into a non-service station enterprise before the Act became law.
(d) The Council enacted emergency and temporary legislation at the end of 2015 to address this issue to provide that a retail service station that submitted an application with the Zoning Commission between May 2, 2015, and August 1, 2015, and was awaiting a decision by the Zoning Commission expected before the end of 2016, would not be impacted by the added prohibitions of the Act (“2015 law”).
(e) The temporary legislation, the Gas Station Advisory Board Temporary Amendment Act of 2015, effective January 30, 2016 (D.C. Law 21-60; 62 DCR 15610), will expire on September 11, 2016.
(f) It is important that the provisions of the temporary legislation remain in effect so that any applications that were submitted to the Zoning Commission pursuant to the 2015 law will not be adversely impacted by the expiration of the temporary legislation.
Sec. 3. The Council of the District of Columbia determines that the circumstances enumerated in section 2 constitute emergency circumstances making it necessary that the Gas Station Advisory Board Emergency Amendment Act of 2016 be adopted after a single reading.
Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately.
