Sep 03, 2004  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO JR.  | COMMENTS     

The planned opening of a new gay bar in Dupont Circle drew renewed attention to the ongoing conflict between city nightlife advocates and neighborhood civic leaders last month when the Dupont Circle Advisory Neighborhood Commission voted 9-0 to oppose a liquor license for the planned Fab Lounge.

Members of the 9-member commission, all of whom are up for re-election in November, said their decision to file a formal protest with the city’s liquor board to oppose the license was aimed at pressuring the owner to sign a “voluntary agreement” with the ANC to adhere to certain restrictions and limitations on the bar’s operations.

Among the restrictions, ANC members said, would likely be a requirement that the bar close earlier than the legal 2 a.m. closing time during weeknights and the 3 a.m. closing time on weekends, in an effort to minimize late night disturbances to nearby residents.

City nightlife advocates, including Mark Lee, an official with a recently formed coalition of gay and straight bar, restaurant and nightclub owners, said the commission’s action was another example of how ANCs and neighborhood civic activists were hurting the city’s entertainment businesses.

Lee and other members of the coalition have said ANCs and civic groups were forcing nighttime entertainment businesses to reduce their hours of operation, often against the wishes of a majority of city residents.

Dupont Circle ANC Commissioner Rob Halligan said his ANC was doing what the commissions were created to do: “represent the interests of neighborhood residents who often are burdened with excessive noise, trash, and traffic congestion caused by a proliferation of nearby bars and nightclubs.”

ANCs are elected, neighborhood bodies created by the D.C. Charter as an advisory arm of the city government. Although city agencies such as the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, rather than the ANCs, make official city policy and regulatory decisions, city agencies are required to give “great weight” to ANC recommendations.

Fab Lounge owner Frez Teame and his attorney, Andrew Kline, informed the ANC during an August meeting of plans to open the lounge in a second floor space at 1805 Connecticut Ave., NW, which is located at the intersection of Connecticut and Florida Avenues. The 80-seat lounge would be located above the Royal Palace, a nightclub that features nude female dancers and caters to a mostly heterosexual crowd.

Kline said the Fab Lounge would have a separate entrance and that the Royal Palace would have no involvement in the lounge other than its role as landlord.

Halligan said the ANC would withdraw its opposition to the license if Teame signs a voluntary agreement with the ANC following negotiations. Under rules established by the city’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, bars, nightclubs and other establishments seeking liquor licenses are bound to follow the terms of a voluntary agreement as a condition for obtaining a liquor license.

Halligan and ANC member Mark Bjorge said the decision by the ANC to protest the Fab Lounge license was consistent with the Dupont Circle ANC’s policy toward most new bars and entertainment establishments. The two said the license protest and call for a voluntary agreement had nothing to do with the Fab Lounge’s decision to become a gay establishment.

Lee said that while he doesn’t see homophobia as a motive in the ANC’s action, he called the ANC’s effort to obtain a voluntary agreement a form of “coercion” that violates the “spirit if not the letter” of District laws pertaining to liquor licenses.

“The ANCs and civic groups are trying to re-write city rules on bars by, among other things, dictating the operating hours” he said. “It’s outrageous.”

Lee and other nightlife advocates have said bars and other entertainment establishments should not be presumed to be “guilty” of neighborhood-related problems before such problems occur. They said such problems should be addressed on a case-by-case basis.

Lou Chibbaro Jr. can be reached at lchibbaro@washblade.com.