pdf | print

ANC Map.

The months-long negotiation over a voluntary agreement governing the sale of beer and wine at the Waterfront Station Safeway, which will open this spring, reached a satisfactory conclusion with its December approval by Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6D.

With the leadership of Commissioner Ron McBee, in whose single member district the establishment is located, and Alcoholic Beverage Control Committee Chair Dr. Coralie Farlee, a comprehensive agreement was finalized, setting stringent requirements for hours, sales, security and cleanliness, and containing prohibitions on loitering and the sale of single-serving containers of beer, malt liquor and wine (as contained in the Ward 6 single sales moratorium law).

Responding to some continuing community concerns about the wisdom of allowing the Safeway to sell alcoholic beverages – as Commissioner David Sobelsohn put it, “Safeway can’t do a competent job of selling milk and tomatoes; will it do a competent job selling alcohol?” – McBee said that the voluntary agreement is not about the functioning of a grocery store, but about making the sale of alcohol as safe and secure as possible. He noted that the agreement had been through 19 drafts and that Safeway has been cooperative since the process started in July.

Safeway’s Regional Public Relations Manager Craig Muckle pointed out that the store’s designers have moved the wine and beer section to a place where it is highly visible and easier to keep track of activity.

Sobelsohn also pointed out that the only attorneys involved in negotiating the agreement were Safeway’s, and he raised concerns about the expertise of the commission’s representatives.

Chairman Andy Litsky responded that the commissioners did not start with a blank slate, and there were at least six or seven Safeway stores with existing agreements, including in neighborhoods like Georgetown, Capitol Hill and Dupont Circle, which have active community participation. The base of the agreement, he said, is an amalgam of the agreements reached by these communities.

It was also noted by Robert Sockwell, chair of the ANC’s Safeway Task Force, the effectiveness of the agreement will be evaluated when it comes up for renewal in three years.

Support of the agreement passed the commission 6-1, with Sobelsohn in opposition.

Flood Control Program Temporarily in Limbo
Last summer, representatives of the DC Department of the Environment, the DC Department of Transportation, the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Administration briefed the Southwest community on the likelihood that parts of the community are susceptible to an increased risk of flooding. Shortly after the briefing, residents who might be residing in the affected area received a letter letting them know of the availability of federal flood insurance and the steps that they could take to save money on potential increases in flood insurance.

Residents were told that while the Potomac Park Levee, which extends from 23rd Street NW to a new, soon-to-be-completed levee at the Washington Monument grounds at 17th Street, will protect the District from river flooding, the risk of flooding from interior drainage such as excessive rainfall has increased in the Federal Triangle district, parts of the National Mall, and portions of Southwest, going south from the Capitol grounds and including parts of Capitol Park and other residential areas.

The team returned to the December meeting and announced several major developments:

• First, construction of the levee has been delayed because of funding problems. There are currently conversations taking place “at the very highest levels,” to complete the levee in a timely fashion, possibly using stimulus funds.
• Second, they believe that once the levee is completed, Southwest will no longer be a high risk area.
• Third, the timing for purchasing flood insurance at reduced rates will be within a six-month period that does not begin until new Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) go into effect, which will not happen until the levee is completed and an analysis is made of the impact of the levee.

The agency representatives said they would return to the ANC as soon as a start date for the six-month period is available.

More information is available at the District Department of the Environment (DDOE) website at www.ddoe.dc.gov/floodplainmap and www.floodsmart.gov or from Tim Karikari at DDOE, 202-535-2248.

Zoning Code Revisions Reach Waterfront
For the last two years, the DC Office of Planning has been undertaking a rewrite of the somewhat chaotic DC Zoning Code, which currently is little more than a patchwork of incoherent regulations. The Zoning Commission is currently working on the development of a comprehensive set of rules governing the waterfront. The proposals will not directly affect the Southwest waterfront, which is being redeveloped under a comprehensive planned unit development (PUD).

However, many of the ideas incorporated in the Southwest Waterfront PUD are included in OP’s proposals, including allowing the use of PUDs and establishing criteria including, among other things, public access, open space, visual access and environmental quality, underground parking; street lines leading from the water for visibility; and a 75-foot setback at the water for pedestrian and bicycle access.

There will be more discussion of these changes that will eventually be implemented by the DC Council.

In Other Action
The ANC

• Voted unanimously to support a DC Council resolution that would overturn a portion of the Hatch Act, which governs political activity by government employees and prohibits ANC commissioners from participating in partisan political activity.