420

SPECIAL EXCEPTION USES (RA)

420.1

The following uses shall be permitted as a special exception if approved by the Board of Zoning Adjustment under Subtitle X, Chapter 9, subject to any applicable provisions of each section:

(a) Any use or structure permitted under Subtitle U § 320 except as modified by this section;

(b) Art gallery or museum subject to the following conditions:

(1) The art gallery or museum shall be located and operated so that it is not likely to become objectionable to adjoining and nearby property because of objectionable noise, pedestrian and vehicular traffic, hours of operation, or other objectionable conditions;

(2) The Board of Zoning Adjustment shall consider, and regulate, if necessary, the anticipated frequency, number of attendees, and other characteristics of show openings or other group gatherings;

(3) Adequate off-street parking shall be provided to accommodate occupants, employees, and visitors likely to come to the gallery by automobile;

(4) The proposed use shall not adversely affect the present character or future development of the surrounding area; and

(5) The Board of Zoning Adjustment may require special treatment in the way of design, screening of buildings and parking, signs, exterior and interior lighting, or other requirements it deems necessary to protect adjacent and nearby properties;

(c) Community Residence Facility for sixteen (16) to twenty-five (25) persons not including resident supervisors or staff and their families. The Board of Zoning Adjustment may approve more than one community residence facility with over twenty-five (25) persons and within five hundred feet (500 ft.) only when the Board finds that the cumulative effect of the facilities will not have an adverse impact on the neighborhood because of traffic, noise, or operations;

(d) A corner store shall not be permitted within the RA zones;

(e) Commercial adjuncts to a hotel containing less than one hundred (100) rooms or suites subject to the following conditions:

Zoning Regulations of 2016:

Use Permissions

1. (1) The total area within the hotel devoted to function rooms, exhibit space, and commercial adjuncts shall not be increased;
2. (2) There shall be no direct entrance to the adjunct from the outside of the building;
3. (3) No part of the adjunct or the entrance to the adjunct shall be visible from a sidewalk;
4. (4) No sign or display indicating the existence of the adjunct shall be visible from the outside of the building; and
5. (5) The hotel shall be of sufficient size and character so that the financial support of the requested adjunct may be expected to be furnished entirely or substantially by the hotel guests;(f) A drive-through accessory to any use shall not be permitted;(g) Emergency shelter use for five (5) to twenty-five (25) persons, not including resident supervisors or staff and their families subject to the following conditions:- (1) There shall be no other property containing an emergency shelter for seven (7) or more persons either in the same square or within a radius of five hundred feet (500 ft.) from any portion of the property.
6. (2) There shall be adequate, appropriately located, and screened off-street parking to provide for the needs of occupants, employees, and visitors to the facility;
7. (3) The proposed facility shall meet all applicable code and licensing requirements;
8. (4) The facility shall not have an adverse impact on the neighborhood because of traffic, noise, operations, or the number of similar facilities in the area;
9. (5) The Board of Zoning Adjustment may approve more than one (1) emergency shelter in a square or within five hundred feet (500 ft.) only when the Board of Zoning Adjustment finds that the cumulative effect of the facilities will not have an adverse impact on the neighborhood because of traffic, noise, or operations; and
10. (6) The Board of Zoning Adjustment may approve a facility for more

Zoning Regulations of 2016:

Use Permissions

than twenty-five (25) persons, not including resident supervisors or staff and their families, only if the Board of Zoning Adjustment finds that the program goals and objectives of the District of Columbia cannot be achieved by a facility of a smaller size at the subject location and if there is no other reasonable alternative to meet the program needs of that area of the District;

1. (h) Nonresidential adjunct uses as an accessory use within an apartment house, consisting of the sale of foods, drugs, and sundries and personal services designed to serve the tenants' daily living needs subject to the following conditions:
2. (1) The adjuncts authorized under this paragraph shall be limited to the main floor of the building or below;
3. (2) There shall be no direct entrance to the adjunct from the outside of the building;
4. (3) No part of the adjunct or the entrance to the adjunct shall be visible from a sidewalk;
5. (4) No sign or display indicating the existence of the adjunct shall be visible from the outside of the building;
6. (5) The center of the principal entrance of the apartment house shall be more than one-fourth (1/4) mile walking distance from the nearest MU, NC or PDR zone;
7. (6) Uses authorized under this section may also be permitted within an interior patio or other type of open ground level area subject to the restrictions of paragraph (a) through (d) of this section;
8. (7) In considering an application under this paragraph the Board of Zoning Adjustment shall give consideration to the following:
   1. (A) The proximity of MU and NC zones;
   2. (B) The adequacy and convenience of parking spaces existing in or for the MU and NC zones;
   3. (C) The adequacy and scope of commodities and services provided within those MU and NC zones; and
   4. (D) The size and character of the apartment house, since the tenants of the apartment house will be expected to furnish

Zoning Regulations of 2016:

Use Permissions

all or substantially all of the financial support of the requested adjunct;

(i) A parking garage constructed as a principal use on a lot other than an alley lot in an RA-5 zone subject to the following conditions:

(1) The use shall comply with all provisions of Subtitle C, Chapter 23 of this title;

(2) No commercial advertising signs shall be permitted outside a building, except a sign advertising the rates as required by Chapter 6 of Title 24 DCMR, Public Space and Safety;

(3) The Board of Zoning Adjustment shall find that no dangerous or otherwise objectionable traffic conditions will result, that the present character and future development of the neighborhood will not be affected adversely, and that the parking garage is reasonably necessary and convenient to other uses in the vicinity; and

(4) Before taking final action on an application for the use, the Board of Zoning Adjustment shall submit the application to the D.C. Department of Transportation for review and report; and

(j) In the RA-1 and RA-6 zones, a continuing care retirement community subject to the conditions of Subtitle U § 203.1(f), except for 203.1(f)(2);

(k) Youth Residential Care Home for sixteen (16) to twenty-five (25) persons not including resident supervisors or staff and their families. The Board of Zoning Adjustment may approve more than one youth residential care home with over twenty-five (25) persons and within five hundred feet (500 ft.) only when the Board finds that the cumulative effect of the facilities will not have an adverse impact on the neighborhood because of traffic, noise, or operations; and

(l) Youth Rehabilitation Home, Adult Rehabilitation Home subject to the following conditions:

(1) The use shall house no more twenty (20) persons, not including resident supervisors or staff and their families; and

(2) The Board of Zoning Adjustment may approve more than one youth rehabilitation home, adult rehabilitation home, or substance abusers' home for more than twenty (20) persons within five hundred feet (500 ft.) only when the Board finds that the cumulative effect of the facilities will not have an adverse impact

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on the neighborhood because of traffic, noise, or operations.

SOURCE: Final Rulemaking published at 63 DCR 2447, 3338 (March 4, 2016 – Part 2); as amended by Final Rulemaking published at 64 DCR 7254 (July 28, 2017); as corrected by Errata Notice published at 68 DCR 1270 (January 22, 2021); as amended by Final Rulemaking published at 69 DCR 012886 (October 21, 2022).

Zoning Regulations of 2016:

Use Permissions