Appeals court hears debate over Giant redevelopment
Zoning: Neighborhood groups challenge procedures
By ELIZABETH WIENER
Northwest Current
3/10/2011
The decade-long battle over the Giant supermarket site on Wisconsin Avenue is now playing out at the D.C. Court of Appeals, which heard arguments Tuesday that the city Zoning Commission erred when it approved an ambitious retail and residential development for two blocks in 2009.
A three-judge panel handling case was clearly interested not only in arcane zoning questions but also in the impact — on both the city and immediate neighborhood — of a new 56,000-square-foot supermarket and other shops, set to go south of Newark Street, and a five-story residential and retail building planned for the low-scale block to the north.
Controversy over the project that has divided the community for years may not be resolved until the court rules. “We all want a new supermarket,” said Dan Hecker, who lives across the street from the project site. “But nobody in the community is cheering for a five-story building to the north.”
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