D.C.’s Board of Zoning Adjustment on Wednesday denied an unincorporated group of West End locals’ emergency request to halt the opening of The Aston unhoused shelter and upheld a January hearing to review the group’s appeal of the shelter’s building permit.
At a virtual hearing Wednesday, BZA officials rejected emergency requests from the West End D.C. Community Association — an unnamed group of locals in “close proximity” to The Aston on New Hampshire Avenue — to postpone the former GW residence hall’s opening as an unhoused shelter. The body also denied WEDCCA’s request to expedite a Jan. 29 BZA hearing to review the group’s claim last month that the D.C. Department of Buildings violated zoning rules by issuing the shelter a building permit.
BZA Chairperson Fred Hill said WEDCCA didn’t prove that the shelter’s opening would cause “irreparable harm” to warrant a postponement and that the January hearing is not “that far away.”
Hill said instead, D.C. officials face a greater risk of harm if the BZA delayed The Aston’s opening as a shelter because the DOB already granted officials a certificate of occupancy, which verifies that a building’s use complies with zoning requirements and other legal and safety standards. District officials on Monday announced that The Aston would open its doors to unhoused residents on Tuesday, following about a year of delays, and Hill said D.C. officials are operating at “their own risk” because if the BZA upholds the appeal at the January hearing, then the District can no longer operate the shelter.
“I look forward to hearing the appeal when we have an opportunity,” Hill said. “Because I do think that there are some questions about how the District government got to this point, but we can hear about it at that time during the appeal.”
WEDCCA last month filed an appeal to the BZA in an attempt to thwart The Aston’s opening, arguing that the DOB violated zoning regulations by issuing a building permit on Aug. 7, which allowed D.C. officials to convert the former GW residence hall into an unhoused shelter. WEDCCA’s last month appeal stated that District officials didn’t receive a required special exception or Zoning Commission approval to change the Aston’s use from a residence hall to a shelter and requested the DOB revoke the building permit until D.C. officials remedy the alleged violation.
WEDCCA has repeatedly tried to prevent The Aston’s opening since District officials announced their intention to convert The Aston into a shelter for unhoused people in June 2023. The group filed its first lawsuit in July 2023, alleging D.C. officials failed to provide community members adequate time to comment on The Aston’s purchase before District officials bought it. WEDCCA withdrew its lawsuit a week later, prompting the District to complete its purchase.
The group filed a second lawsuit in October 2023, arguing that The Aston would violate zoning rules associated with providing temporary housing and medical services to unhoused residents, which WDECCA’s appeal to the BZA mirrors. A District judge twice rejected the D.C officials’ requests to dismiss the case and in August scheduled a hearing for Feb. 7.
