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BZA approves continued operation of School for Friends child-development center at 2201 P Street with conditions
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Summary
The Board approved application 21301 allowing the School for Friends to continue operating a long‑standing child‑development center at 2201 P Street NW, removing a prior 10‑year term limit and imposing operational conditions on enrollment, staffing, hours and traffic management.
The District of Columbia Board of Zoning Adjustment approved application 21301 to allow continued operation of a child‑development center at 2201 P Street NW and remove a 10‑year term limit previously attached to the special exception.
Elizabeth Rogers, attorney for the Church of the Pilgrims LLC, told the board the School for Friends has operated on the property since 1984 and is not proposing an expansion of enrollment, staffing, building area or hours; rather, the school asked the board to eliminate the decade term so the use can continue without periodic renewals. “The school for friends has been operating a child development center on the property since 1984,” Rogers said.
The board, giving great weight to the Office of Planning and ANC support letters, found the proposal met the special‑exception standards in Subtitle X and the daytime‑care criteria in Subtitle U. Office of Planning staff informed the board they supported the request, and the ANCs for the area submitted letters in support that are part of the record.
Board members discussed operational details. Katie Gibson, head of school, described on‑site drop‑off and pick‑up operations and a nightly cleaning regimen for trash; the school uses three church‑provided dumpsters on the adjacent parking lot and contracts a nightly cleaning service. Vice Chair Carl Blake asked about trash handling and access; Gibson explained that church staff monitor the dumpsters and the school coordinates internal trash removal.
The board approved the application with conditions agreed during the hearing. Conditions adopted by the board include limiting enrollment to 74 children and staff to a maximum of 18 persons at any one time; hours Monday–Friday, 8 a.m.–6 p.m.; adherence to the submitted traffic/ pick‑up and drop‑off plan; maintenance of the perimeter fence; commercial trash collection; and designation of an on‑site traffic monitoring coordinator to ensure safe pick‑up and drop‑off.
Chair Fred Hill moved to approve the application with the agreed conditions; Vice Chair Carl Blake seconded. The roll‑call vote was 4‑0‑1 in favor. Staff recorded the vote as 4‑0‑1 to approve application 21301.
The approval authorizes the long‑standing school use to continue under the board's conditions. The board noted the school's decades‑long presence in the neighborhood and the record of coordinated operations with the church property owner.
(Decision: motion to approve application 21301 with conditions; mover: Chairman Fred Hill; second: Vice Chair Carl Blake; outcome: approved, vote recorded 4‑0‑1.)
