Res 04-34
ANC 3F RESOLUTION NOT OBJECTING TO A SIDEWALK CAFÉ IN PUBLIC SPACE AT NEISHA THAI RESTAURANT, 4445 WISCONSIN AVENUE, N.W.
Advisory
Neighborhood Commission 3F
North
Cleveland Park, Forest Hills, and Tenleytown
4401-A
Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Box 244
Washington,
D.C. 20008-2322
WHEREAS, ANC
3F has received and reviewed Public Space Application #04-044 (#8853) for a
year-round enclosed sidewalk café at Neisha Thai Restaurant, 4445 Wisconsin
Avenue, N.W., (Lot 813, Square 1778) with 46 seats at
14 tables along the restaurant’s Albemarle Street frontage; the premises are
owned by Jemal Michael LP of 702 H Street, N.W., Suite 400, Washington, D.C.
20001; and
WHEREAS, the Albemarle Street sidewalk at this location draws a
considerable number of pedestrians, many of whom are families with small
children (often in strollers), who traverse this sidewalk on their way to the
bus stop and stores on Wisconsin Avenue, Janney School, the Tenley-Friendship
Branch Library, St. Ann’s Church and School, and St. Columba’s Church and
Nursery School; and
WHEREAS, Metro maintains two long grates in the sidewalk in this
area and has been known to station heavy equipment on top of them for long
periods of time; these grates are difficult to walk on – especially for women
in heels, children, and those pushing strollers, and they become slippery when
wet; but Neisha Thai has agreed to leave a six-foot clearance between the
grates and the café so that pedestrians do not have to walk on or wheel their
strollers on the grates or be impeded by heavy equipment; and
WHEREAS, as proposed, the café would be on a deck of varying
height up to a maximum of 18” surrounded by a three-foot high railing and
covered by a fabric awning; the awning would be topped by fiberglass
sculpted “rocks” and support roll-down plastic siding; the awning would project
1 ˝ feet beyond the deck and over the sidewalk; and
WHEREAS, residents are in favor of a sidewalk café at Neisha Thai,
saying it will enliven the streetscape,
but have asked that the rock sculpture not be extended over the café awning;
and
WHEREAS, a
fully enclosed café at this location would not enliven the streetscape, but seem
like an obstacle on a busy sidewalk, cutting off the neighborhood from its
shopping district;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT ANC 3F does not object to a sidewalk café in public
space at Neisha Thai, but requests that the restaurant do the following:
____________________________________________________________________________________
Approved by a vote of 6-0-0
at a duly noticed public meeting of ANC 3F on November 15, 2004, with a quorum
present (a quorum being 4).
/s/ Karen Lee Perry /s/ Cathy Wiss
___________________________________
___________________________________
Karen Lee
Perry, Chair Cathy Wiss, Secretary