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The ANC gave its approval – with caveats – to an application for a public space permit for an outdoor café at the Marriott Courtyard Hotel at L Street and New Jersey Avenue SE. Long in the planning, hotel representatives appeared before the commission a year ago but never moved forward with the café; this summer, Marriott will open a 40-seat outdoor dining and drinking addition to the hotel’s small restaurant and lobby bar. According to Elwood Reid, the hotel’s assistant general manager, there will be 20 seats on L Street and 20 on New Jersey Avenue.

During the original discussions on the café, residents of the New Jersey Avenue apartment building adjacent to the hotel raised concerns about noise and second-hand smoke rising to their apartments. To address these concerns, the residents negotiated a voluntary agreement mandating that café patrons use “smokeless” ashtrays and the café operate until 10:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and until 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Several of the commissioners expressed concern that the residents of the building had not been consulted since the signing of the agreement to see whether it still meets their needs.

Commissioner Bob Siegel, in whose single member district the establishment is located, was also concerned that he had not been consulted since the current permit application had been filed a month ago. He spoke about the tenants’ earlier problem about the smoke and questioned the ability of the smokeless ashtrays to eliminate the smoke. He asked Reid whether he would be willing to make the tables on the New Jersey Avenue side of the building a “No Smoking” area, and Reid agreed.

As is their usual practice, ANC members were vocal in their view that up to now the hotel has not participated in community activities or offered any benefits to the area’s residents. Commissioner Ron McBee and other commissioners were particularly concerned about Marriott’s initiatives for jobs, job training and other programs that would specifically benefit the residents of the neighborhood.

After two motions failed – one opposing the permit application and one supporting it, with a prohibition against smoking on the New Jersey Avenue side of the building – the ANC unanimously passed a motion to send a letter to the Public Space Committee supporting the granting of the permit if an agreement could be reached on a negotiated community benefits agreement and if the concerns of the apartment residents were addressed.

Since the June ANC meeting, an ANC-appointed task force has worked out an agreement with the hotel that incorporates provisions for employment, contracting and vendor opportunities for Southwest/Near Southeast residents; environmental considerations, including smoking, recycling and streetscape mandates; and community relations initiatives, including potential meeting space, contributions to local organizational fundraising activities, a $500 annual contribution to the Southwest Neighborhood Assembly scholarship program, and “support to improve the quality of life” for neighborhood seniors.

Application Triggers Discussion of ANC Grant Program
The commission’s Community Outreach Committee recommended that the ANC provide a grant of $1,000 to the Southwest Comm-Unity Forum for the cost of renting porta-johns for its third annual Unity Day on Aug. 1. Committee Chair Beryl Rice said that her committee also had another grant request from the organization for $800 for tents for the event.

Commissioner Jane Jorgensen pointed out that no one from the organization was present at the meeting to answer questions, and Rice reported that the same had been true for the committee meeting. Additionally, it was noted that ANC policy requires a grant be completed – with a report and invoices presented to the commission – before the commission can consider another proposal from that same organization, with a limit of three proposals per year. The ANC debated whether the grant should be tabled until the July meeting when the applicant could be present to answer questions, but Commissioners McBee and Rhonda Hamilton argued persuasively that the event was in early August, and the applicant would probably need the money to reserve the porta-johns prior to the next meeting. The grant for the porta-johns was approved by a vote of 5-1, but the application for the tents was not considered.

Subsequently, the commission considered a resolution to change its grant application to state clearly that an applicant had to be present at the Community Outreach Committee and the ANC meetings for the grant to be considered and that it be explicitly stated that a second grant cannot not be awarded to the same applicant until the ANC receives a written report and invoices from the first grant. It was agreed that these issues would be discussed at an administrative meeting, and the motion was tabled until the July meeting.

Local Students to Receive Book Bags
For the second year in a row, the ANC unanimously agreed to allocate up to $2,700 for the purchase of up to 260 book bags and school supplies to be distributed to children living in Southwest on a first-come, first-served basis before school opens. The program, undertaken with other local organizations, provided a much-needed and appreciated boon to the children last year, and the ANC is looking to repeat the program’s success.

Other Actions

In other actions, the commission:

• Heard from Alcohol Beverage Control Committee Chair Coralie Farlee that the new Hogate’s by Cristina (at the old H2O site) will be opening soon. She also reported on upcoming license renewal hearings for Cap Liquors and Shulman’s Liquors. A group of local neighbors is protesting the Cap Liquors license, and the ANC is hoping to strengthen the voluntary agreement it has with the establishment to meet the neighbors’ concerns.
• Heard concerns from Commissioners Roger Moffatt and McBee, whose single member districts are adjacent to the new Metropolitan Police Department Station at M and Second streets SW, that despite an off-street parking lot, the police are using the streets to park their cars.
• Allocated up to $700 for software for the office computer.