No Restaurant for You
Even if people don’t agree with my specific policy prescriptions, I hope that one lesson people will take from my land use and planning blogging is simply that everyone ought to pay more attention to the regulatory framework prevailing in their area. People often express likes and dislikes for certain cities and neighborhoods as if they just happened to arrive by magic. In fact, the character of neighborhoods is powerfully shaped by regulation. For example, I spent the bulk of my DC years living in a neighborhood where almost all the commerce was subject to what’s called the ARTS overlay zone which contains, among other things, an odd anti-restaurant provision:
Yesterday, I mentioned the ARTS overlay’s restriction on restaurants. Only 25% of the street frontage, measured in linear feet, can be restaurants. The district (which includes commercial districts of U Street, 14th, P, and 7th near Florida) is already about 24% restaurants.
Whether you like this rule or not, it’s exerting a considerable influence on the neighborhood since we’re butting up against the limits. For one thing, it’s impeding the opening of new restaurants. For another thing, it’s probably doing something at the margin the encourage non-restaurant businesses to open. And it’s encouraging vacant retail spaces to stay vacant for longer. And it means that portions of this neighborhood that currently have few restaurants will stay that way even if demand for restaurants is high, since there are already so many restaurants in the restaurant-heavy portion of the ARTS overlay around the intersection of 14th and U. Last, it’s a huge boon to incumbent restaurant owners. A desperately mediocre, not-especially-cheap place like the Sala Thai on 13th and U can stay in business in virtue of the fact that, due to its mediocrity, you always walk in and get a table there and they don’t need to worry about too many newcomers opening up and competing with them.
As with almost all efforts to micromanage development in this way, I’m extremely dubious of the merits of this sort of thing. I think that if you let as many restaurants as want to open just go open, that might actually increase the volume of non-restaurant businesses simply because there would be fewer vacants and more street traffic. But if that’s wrong, if lifting the restaurant cap just led to more and more restaurants and no non-restaurant retail, I’d think we should take that as a signal that the neighborhood doesn’t include an adequate number of retail possibilities and that more areas within the jurisdiction should be opened to retail activities. In general, a smart city or neighborhood will welcome as much economic activity as possible. You might want to eschew unsafe or heavily polluting industries, but we’re talking about restaurants here. Allowing plentiful restaurants to open will give people more dining options and, ultimately, better dining options. Stifling competition through these kind of restrictions, by contrast, does a lot to help whoever happens to own a restaurant (and, more important, permission to run one) and little to boost retail diversity.
But even if you disagree with me about the merits here, I’d like everyone to appreciate the point that the vast majority of people living in the neighborhood have no idea that this rule exists or what its implications are. And you in your neighorhood probably have no idea what zoning rules are in place in your local commercial district. But you should find out — people should take ownership of their communities and of the policies that shape them.
32 Responses to “No Restaurant for You”
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November 17th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Good point about Sala Thai. If it were more crowded, you couldn’t always count on getting a table, and it would soon go out of business.
November 17th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Sala Thai is mediocre.
Try Chix, also known as ChixDC at 11th and V.
They’re independent and real fuckin good.
November 17th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
minder, funny (and brings to mind the claimed Yogi Berra quote “no one goes there anymore. Its too crowded.”), but Matt’s point is a bit different. He’s saying this restaurant isn’t good, because of that there’s never a wait, and because everyone knows there won’t be a wait it becomes a more attractive dining option than it would be if there were less restrictive zoning, which would mean that there wouldn’t be waits even in good restaurants. So instead of being almost empty all the time its probably often half to 2/3 full, allowing it to stay in business.
November 17th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Does Matt or anyone else have recommendations for places to begin reading up on this kind of thing? For someone who, say, read Death & Life of Great American Cities a few years ago but is not especially familiar with zoning issues and doesn’t really know where else to go from there?
Sources (blogs, books, whatever) anywhere on the practical-theoretical spectrum are welcome.
November 17th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
“Last, it’s a huge boon to incumbent restaurant owners.”
Not sure if this is right. After all, getting rid of the restriction would mean fewer empty store fronts, and more restaurants. Which might identify the place as a restaurant district.
So in the case of crappy restaurants, sure. It keeps competition at bay. But it might actually hurt good restaurants.
Kind of like the Starbucks thing. You know, they actually help some coffee shops by making people more interested in buying $4 cups of coffee. Or some such.
November 17th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
stop using italics all the time, matt. it makes it seem that you think your readers are foreigners who don’t understand english and you are the ugly american who responds to their incomprehension by simply talking louder.
November 17th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Where would I find the zoning regulations for specific neighborhoods. I’m doing an econometric study on this topic and wanted to know if you knew of any good sources.
November 17th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
The Origins of the Crisis: Race & Inequality in Postwar Detroit
A lot of details on zoning (which were frequently, if not mostly, racially influenced) and the development of transportation policy, which saw street cars give way to an expansive metropolis, now primarily reliant on automobiles.
November 17th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
I don’t know about DC’s liquor laws, but I will suggest that they might be a component of this legislation. Here in Pittsburgh, one of the city’s most vibrant neighborhoods is being choked by traffic at its bars – retail businesses are being driven out of business by competition from bars, which cater to college students who do things like fight on the sidewalks and piss in the neighbors’ flowerbeds. This neighborhood has been a massive success, returning from post-steel devastation to a diversely-populated, economically thriving success – one of the few places in a Rust Belt city that can tell developers what to do, rather than beg them to come in at any cost. It’s always had bars and nightlife, but the balance has tipped. Homeowners are moving out, and buildings are flipping to de facto dorms.
I’m sure this sounds like paradise to Matt, but it’s screwing up a formula that’s been successful for 20+ years, and there’s no reason to think that the new formula will be sustainable.
Anyway, that may have nothing to do with ARTS, but it does suggest that neighborhood health can be a bit more complex than “In general, a smart city or neighborhood will welcome as much economic activity as possible.”
November 17th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
But you should find out — people should take ownership of their communities and of the policies that shape them.
You could say the same about any other political issue. If people aren’t motivated to get more involved, it’s probably because they are relatively happy with things as they are now, or because they just don’t care very much about community/zoning/land-use issues to begin with.
November 17th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
The worst areas have way too many banks. Bank branches should be limited by zoning.
November 17th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
I’ve heard this “arts overlay” term before, and I still have no idea what it means. Google has failed to find me a meaning for it, although it certainly came back with a lot of hits. None that I looked at provided a definition. I do get the impression from my reading that “arts” in this term is just the word “arts”, not some ARTS acronym. Most of the hits that Google returned did not have “arts” in all caps. Would you, Matt, or one of Matt’s readers, tell me what this term means and why?
November 17th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
“I’m sure this sounds like paradise to Matt, but it’s screwing up a formula that’s been successful for 20+ years, and there’s no reason to think that the new formula will be sustainable.”
It strikes me that no formula is infinitely sustainable and that 20 years may be pushing toward the upper limits. Neighborhoods evolve. Some, maybe most, go into decline, some improve, but I think it’s a fantasy that a neighborhood can be kept “just so” forever. You can’t avoid neighborhoods changing, but you can try to direct the change so that neighborhoods, and the cities and towns they comprise, remain vibrant.
November 17th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
Matt – Where did you discover this arts zoning restriction? The DC zoning department has nice maps of the different zones (residential, light commercial, etc.), but I don’t remember this arts overlay restriction.
As for it limiting the footage, the arts overlay restriction could also be a measure to push small, family-owned restaurants instead of the factory-style restaurants we see here. In Tokyo, they have 100,000 restaurants. In Paris, 30,000. The vast majority of these are small restaurants. In DC, we see a number of the factory-style chain restaurants. And there’s a certain value to small restaurants in the place of large restaurants. You might see more variety in cuisine, more competition between restaurants. The ambiance is certainly different. I don’t know if any of this will necessarily occur, given a potential loss of efficiency, but it informs the reason someone might want to limit the size of restaurants.
November 17th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
It strikes me that no formula is infinitely sustainable and that 20 years may be pushing toward the upper limits. Neighborhoods evolve. Some, maybe most, go into decline, some improve, but I think it’s a fantasy that a neighborhood can be kept “just so” forever. You can’t avoid neighborhoods changing, but you can try to direct the change so that neighborhoods, and the cities and towns they comprise, remain vibrant.
There’s certainly truth to this, but I should clarify that it hasn’t been stasis for 20 years – there’s been a dynamic development from “urban pioneers” (read “gays”) among the old babushkas, to artsy/literary main drag, to dining and live music, all in the context of an incredibly successful historic district (another of those pesky regulations! without which none of this would have happened!). The point is that the new paradigm is upsetting what has always been a balance of uses/activities/users. An art gallery can’t drive out patrons of the neighborhood grocery, but drunk fratboys pissing in the patrons’ yard sure can (and has).
The worst areas have way too many banks. Bank branches should be limited by zoning.
This is actually a truism for planners and real estate professionals – medical offices are also a harbinger of doom for a retail street. In those cases, I’d say it’s a symptom, not a cause, of a sick retail street. Too many bars, as I say, can* be a cause. Among other things, they’re dead zones during the daytime, which is incredibly unhealthy for a walkable retail district.
* Not necessarily, but can
November 17th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
I live in a corner of southern Montgomery County that has been essentially static to development, in drastic contrast with Bethesda or Wheaton. The commercial district is zoned to exclude most restaurants. There’s a pizza place that has been in operation for 30 or 40 years, still going strong, and that’s about it. There are a couple of old-fashioned brown-sauce Chinese restaurants, two “American” eateries (one with very mediocre food), a Donut King, and a tea room in the antique shops street.
The region is big on Still Being A Small Town, so I think they want it this way. It has not yet attracted Yuppies (Elitus norteamericanus subspecies liberalis, with the exception of lobbyists) and the consequent Quirky Stores With Nothing Affordable by Mortals.
November 17th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Similar to a question raised above, do you have any advice for people seeking information about local zoning laws in small- to medium-sized cities – especially those without a particular strong internet presence? Does one actually have to, like, go to city hall, or is there an easier way?
November 17th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Matt,
Have you wandered 18th Street in Adams-Morgan recently? I recall when there was a hardware store and all sorts of other retail (lowish-end at the time). All that has been pushed out by the restaurant and bar scene.
Art space cannot compete rent-wise vs. chain retail or restaurant/bars. That is why they need the “subsidy” of zoning.
You might check out the H St. NE corridor where they have the Arts zoning and also a restaurant/entertainment zoning. They also have a restriction on fast-food.
My thoughts are that the Arts overlay has added more to the neighborhood than you might realize and that, absent the Arts overlay, you might have a less nice, less diverse neighborhood.
p.s. is there still the bar in the reeves center?
November 17th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
Sounds like they want a neighborhood instead of a bar/restaurant district. Don’t get me wrong, bar districts are great to visit, lots of people just don’t want to live there.
November 18th, 2008 at 1:02 am
Zoning codes are a palimpsest of past community concerns. I’m an architect, and so I read a lot of codes for work. “Adult uses” are always good for pages of definitions. Seven pages regulating gravel pits tells what was a hot topic thirty years ago.
Jeff, in New England, (where I live) most cities have their zoning codes online. You also need a map or maps, sometimes online, sometimes only available at the town offices. I did some work in the greater DC area 10 years ago, and most zoning was controlled by the counties, except the larger cities. The counties charged several hundred dollars to get a copy, which encouraged the development of code consultants and made it harder to find out the requirements for the area we were interested in.
Zoning codes are also a great source of unintended consequences.
November 18th, 2008 at 2:05 am
In response to JRoth, going from down at heels gays to artists to artsy type yuppies to real yuppies to fratboys is the standard gentrification template. It has been happening everywhere as more and more money gets pushed into real estate.
In New York, it seems every neighborhood has been turning into Murray Hill, which had been the local fratboy ghetto. Some people are rooting for the depression to come more quickly to stop this process.
Its not the sort of thing you solve by zoning, especially as zoning codes tend to backfire.
November 18th, 2008 at 4:32 am
Jeff
Depends on where you live, you may be able to access the zoning law from your local county law library.
For example, the larger ones who can afford AALL membership.
November 18th, 2008 at 8:28 am
Odd that someone should mention Death and Life of Great American Cities in this thread, as pro-diversification regulation is one of the things that Jane Jacobs argued for.
However, the proper scale for diversification regulation is the block, rather than a larger zone … denying an application to open a restaurant in a block where there are few restaurants because several blocks over is packed with them is an anti-diversification outcome.
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