The circumstances under which The District opened in late 2010 are part of the controversy
After the New Orleans City Council passes a zoning petition approving a zoning change or a conditional-use permit, it then needs to adopt an ordinance giving the first action the force of law. Without the ordinance, the first vote is legally meaningless.
View full sizeCritics said The District, although originally promoted as a quiet 'upscale lounge' or wine bar, turned out to be a loud sports bar. The second vote usually comes within a month after the first. In the case of a controversial Warehouse District bar known as The District, however, there was a nine-month gap, and the council's 6-0 passage of an ordinance last week simply set the stage for an almost certain court case.
At issue was whether the bar, on the ground floor of a condominium building at Tchoupitoulas and Notre Dame streets, would get the conditional-use permit it needs to continue operating.
The question aroused strong opinions in the neighborhood when it went before the City Planning Commission in February 2010 and the council two months later.
Critics said The District, although originally promoted as a quiet "upscale lounge" or wine bar, turned out to be a loud sports bar filled with big-screen TVs, where "party buses" dropped off crowds of revelers. They said dozens of boisterous customers often spilled out onto the sidewalks, strewing trash and making life miserable at night for nearby residents.
Supporters painted a very different picture, saying The District is a safe, inviting place where young professional women and even visiting CEOs like to gather. They said people move into the Warehouse District because it is "a fun place to live," even if they sometimes have to put up with noise at night. "The District adds to our little community," one woman who lives in the same block said at a public hearing.
The site is in the district of Councilwoman Stacy Head, who called it one of the most difficult land-use decisions she has had to make as a council member. At the council's April 7 meeting, she essentially left the bar's fate up to the residents of nearby condominium buildings.
The council, at Head's request, passed the zoning docket approving the conditional-use permit, but Head said she would not introduce the ordinance giving the vote legal effect unless a neighboring condo association within 30 days approved a "good neighbor agreement" with the bar's owners spelling out limitations the operators promised to accept and giving the neighborhood group the right to sue in case of violations.
Head specified that the ratifying condo association could not be that of the building in which the bar is located.
Such an agreement eventually was signed, and Head finally introduced the ordinance in November. The council passed it last week. But neither side left happy.
Coleman Ridley, an attorney for the owners, said some of the conditions imposed by Head's ordinance were "antibusiness." He said the closing hours Head demanded -- midnight on Sunday through Thursday and 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday -- would prevent The District from competing with other nearby bars. He asked her to change the hours to 1 a.m. on weeknights and 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, with even later hours during Carnival. Head refused.
Ridley said Thursday he will file a suit in Civil District Court next week seeking to stay the effect of the ordinance.
On the other side, Troy Dupuis, president of the Warehouse District Neighborhood Association, told the council that the bar has continued to generate complaints about excessive noise. He urged the council to deny the permit letting it remain open.
The circumstances under which The District opened in late 2010 are part of the controversy. The bar was able to open because city Zoning Administrator Edward Horan ruled that it did not need a conditional-use permit, which requires action by the planning commission and the council.
After the owners spent $450,000 on the project, the city attorney's office reversed Horan's ruling, saying that even though there was some apparent conflict in zoning regulations for the site, the more restrictive rule, requiring a conditional-use permit, took precedence.
The District sued, and the two sides agreed on a consent judgment allowing the bar to stay open until the council decided its fate. The judgment prohibited live music anywhere and recorded music or drinking outside the bar, and it set closing hours of midnight on Sunday through Thursday and 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Head said she was sympathetic to the argument that the owners had spent their money in good faith, but that she did not think The District turned out to be the kind of quiet, upscale neighborhood gathering place the owners promised.
Bruce Eggler can be reached at beggler@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3320.