Serving Burleith, Foxhall, Georgetown, Georgetown Reservoir & Glover Park
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Vol. XXV, No. 16
The Georgetown Current
ANC seeks to end restaurant limits
newt news
■ Glover Park: Moratorium
would still cap taverns, clubs
By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer
The Glover Park community is reviewing its liquor license restrictions with an eye toward flexibility and allowing new restaurants in the neighborhood. The Glover Park advisory neigh-
borhood commission voted unanimously Thursday to request an extension of the community’s liquor license moratorium but without a cap on restaurants. The moratorium is set to expire in February, and the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board will determine whether and how it should continue. The decision to support new restaurants in Glover Park came after extensive discussions with the community, business owners and the
local citizens association, neighborhood commission chair Jackie Blumenthal said at Thursday’s meeting. While some residents have concerns about possible impacts of an influx of new restaurants on the neighborhood, Blumenthal said she doesn’t anticipate the disruption will be as severe as those residents fear. She notes that one of the 14 available restaurant licenses continues to lie dormant after several years. “The See Licenses/Page 16
Commission backs GU plan for Franklin By KELSEY KNORP Current Correspondent
Brian Kapur/The Current
Georgetown University’s Gonda Theatre is hosting the world premiere of “War With the Newts,” adapted and directed by professor Natsu Onoda Power from the satirical science fiction novel by Karel Capek. There are two remaining performances: Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m.
A plan to convert the historic Franklin School downtown into a satellite arts building for Georgetown University earned unanimous support from the Logan Circle advisory neighborhood commission last week, in a recommendation to the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development. The proposal by Georgetown and development firm Thoron Capital was one of four presented last Thursday at a special meeting of the commission. Two other competitors floated ideas for turning the building into a hotel, while the third pitched an incubator-type co-working space. The neighborhood commissioners ultimately agreed that the Georgetown plan seemed most sustainable, but they said a proposal by Friedman Collaboration for the Arts (one of the two plans incorporating a hotel use) would be a viable second preference. They recommend-
Brian Kapur/The Current
The Logan Circle neighborhood commission studied four concepts for the site at 13th and K streets NW.
ed the development office request best and final offers from both redevelopment teams, as well as community benefit agreements, before making its decision. See Franklin/Page 4
CityDance Dream gets audience with first lady
Zoning Commission closes debate on rewrite proposal
By MARK LIEBERMAN
■ Development: Final vote
Current Staff Writer
CityDance’s Dream program began in 2004 as a small operation that allowed a handful of underprivileged Ward 8 students to pursue dance as a pastime. A decade later, the dance collective’s philanthropic effort has grown exponentially, drawing attention citywide. Yesterday it also earned CityDance’s program the prestigious National Arts and Youth Humanities Youth Program Award, alongside 11 other organizations. CityDance Dream director Kelli Quinn and longtime student Valeria Cruz, a senior at Phelps ACE High School in Northeast, accepted the award from a grinning Michelle Obama at an event in the East Room of the White House Tuesday afternoon. Before the awards were presented, Obama said the
NEWS
on regulations set for January Mark Lieberman/The Current
Michelle Obama presented the award to CityDance Dream’s Kelli Quinn, right, and student Valeria Cruz. recipients, including the Dream program, represented the pinnacle of humanities programs for young people. “Arts education is not a luxury. It’s a necessity,” the first lady said. “It’s really the air these kids breathe. It’s how we get kids excited about going to the school in the morning. It’s how we get kids prepared for their future.” Quinn first encountered CityDance in the mid-2000s, See Arts/Page 17
SPOR TS
Advocates sound off on Pepco-Exelon merger at forum — Page 3
Tigers boot Cadets for first DCSAA girls soccer title — Page 13
By BRADY HOLT Current Staff Writer
The comprehensive rewrite of the District’s land-use laws is drawing to a close, with the Zoning Commission now declining to take further public comment and anticipating only technical corrections to proposed wording. In a 5-0 vote on Monday, the commission took “preliminary final action” on the zoning rewrite, a
SHERWOOD
Questions remain for Mayor Bowser even after FreshPAC — Page 10
thousand-page attempt to make the code reflect modern planning principles in a consistent, coherent way while also protecting existing D.C. neighborhoods. The update of the city’s 1958 regulations has emerged from some eight years of discussion with community members, the development community, the D.C. Office of Planning and other stakeholders. Aspects of the new zoning code were hotly debated by residents and zoning commissioners alike, including reduced minimum parking requirements in parts of the city, an expandSee Zoning/Page 16
INDEX Calendar/19 Classifieds/25 District Digest/5 Exhibits/19 In Your Neighborhood/8 Opinion/10
Police Report/6 Real Estate/15 School Dispatches/12 Service Directory/23 Sports/13 Week Ahead/3
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