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Articles
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| Northeast residents ponder H Street bar cap |
VOICE writes, "Northeast residents ponder H Street bar cap
BY BEN WEINSTEIN
Some Northeast residents are gauging support for a measure to limit bars on H Street, a move some call premature and others consider smart planning.
Supporters say setting limits could prevent the corridor from becoming a bar district and that early planning would help draw a more desirable mix of businesses to H Street."
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"Some residents are already concerned about noise and parking problems and public intoxication," said Mary Beatty, a Northeast Capitol Hill advisory neighborhood commissioner who heads the panel's alcohol-licensing committee. "It's being developed so quickly," she said in an interview. She added that H Street is starting to see problems similar to what Adams Morgan is experiencing on its strip of bars and nightclubs, referencing parking, noise and quality-of-life issues.
Beatty stressed that the commission just wants to study the possibility of a license moratorium, but any measure would require strong community support. "There's no preconceived notion of what to do yet," she said.
Opponents of a bar cap say the city should not discourage potential investment while there are still vacant buildings on the corridor. Beatty said residents have told her they believe H Street should "let competition flourish."
Anwar Saleem, head of H Street Main Street, said he has heard similar concerns. He did not say whether he would support a bar cap, but he did say he hopes H Street becomes more of a family-oriented corridor than a nightlife spot.
"It will be hurtful for H Street to be known as a bar district," Saleem said, adding that he wants to court more daytime attractions without discouraging other potential investors, including bars. He said he has encouraged at least two H Street establishments to apply for tavern licenses rather than restaurant licenses.
That encouragement, Beatty said, just adds to the commission’s concerns about H Street nightlife.
Saleem said he supports allowing certain "family-oriented businesses" more flexibility. He said if a business is a community asset and operates more like a restaurant than a bar, he would support a tavern license for its operation. "What we have to do is find some type of balance here."
Last summer, the D.C. Council passed legislation limiting taverns in Adams Morgan after the city stepped up enforcement of rules governing how much alcohol restaurants can sell.
Until recently, restaurants could operate as de facto bars, but the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration started a citywide audit to ensure businesses were meeting food-sale requirements. By law, restaurants must derive at least 45 percent of their annual revenue from food sales or sell $2,000 worth of food per seat per year.
The purpose of the audits is to determine whether any restaurants are operating as bars. But the unintended consequence of stepped-up enforcement is that some owners have wanted to switch their classifications from restaurants to taverns, allowing them to escape the food-sales requirement.
The Adams Morgan advisory neighborhood commission successfully lobbied the city to limit to 10 the number of tavern licenses in the Adams Morgan Moratorium Zone.
Adams Morgan advisory neighborhood chair Bryan Weaver, who pushed for the bar cap, said many restaurants cannot meet the city's food-sales requirement. Weaver supports lowering those requirements so that restaurants in neighborhoods like Adams Morgan are not replaced by bars.
"There has to be some sort of middle ground," Weaver said. "Right now, it doesn't make sense for anyone to have a restaurant in Adams Morgan."
Weaver, who spoke with the Northeast commission about a possible bar cap, said Adams Morgan is much more developed than H Street. "It's sort of the great wide open," he said of the corridor, adding that he understands Northeast residents' desire to control the street's business diversity.
Weaver said Adams Morgan's "power-drinking culture" has fueled more violence and disorder in recent years. Additionally, he said the neighborhood is losing its ethnic restaurants and eclectic identity.
The Northeast commission has invited residents and business owners to discuss the possible bar cap at a Nov. 20 meeting beginning at 7 p.m. at the Sherwood Recreation Center.
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Posted on Nov 09, 2007 15:06pm.
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