A vote on a contested strip club and restaurant in Northeast D.C. has been delayed a second time by a city zoning panel.
The Ward 5 Improvement Association is appealing the zoning approval the Stadium Club was granted last year, saying the zoning board should not have granted the club zoning as a “non-sexually oriented business.” The association has been rallying the local community to block the relocation of three strip clubs to the area near New York Avenue and Bladensburg Road Northeast.
The issue first came to the Board of Zoning Adjustments in December and a vote was delayed then because commissioners could not reach a majority.
On Tuesday, the appeal was taken up again with the same result — two commissioners in favor of revoking the club’s zoning approval and one against. The fourth commissioner was not present and the panel delayed its decision until April 5.
The issue with the commissioners is essentially over the definition of a non-sexually oriented business. While some believe that “the manner in which [dancers] are displaying themselves” in the Stadium Club is sexual (the dancers are nude, by the way), others say the original zoning adjuster made the right assessment.
“I think we have to be clear that nude dancing does not a [sexually-oriented business] make,” Konrad Schlater said.
