As The Hoya reported earlier today, the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs recently revoked Philly Pizza and Grille’s certificate of occupancy, meaning everyone’s favorite midnight pizza place could be shut down.

Today, the D.C. Board of Zoning Adjustment held a hearing on whether to grant DCRA a temporary restraining order, which would force the restaurant to close pending a January 12 hearing on the agency’s allegations of zoning violations.  The BZA granted Philly Pizza a stay, meaning they will be able to remain open at least until the January hearing.

According to GUSA Vice President Jason Kluger (MSB ’11), who attended today’s hearing, the conflict stems from the fact that Philly Pizza is zoned as a sit-down restaurant.  DCRA is alleging that they are actually primarily a take-out operation, and are thus violating their zoning restrictions.

Kluger and GUSA Communications Director Molly Breen (MSB ’11), who also attended the meeting, said that Philly Pizza will be trying to focus more on delivery in the next few months, and is encouraging students to call in their orders instead of coming by the store.  According to Breen, Philly Pizza is encouraging students who do go down to Potomac Street to be mindful of the restaurant’s neighbors.

If you’ve been on Facebook in the past few days and you’re friends with anyone at Georgetown, you’ve probably noticed the rapidly growing “KEEP PHILLY PIZZA FROM GETTING SHUT DOWN” group pop up in your newsfeed.

The group, started by Alex Carroll (COL ’11), who has done on-campus marketing for the pizza joint in the past, the group’s description claims that “[The] ANC is threatening to close down Philly Pizza, so they need our help to continue business. We need a 1,000 people to join this group for them to stay alive!”

And they’re well on their way to the 1,000 member mark.  The group was just started on Sunday evening and already has more than 870 members.

According to Carroll, one the owners of Philly P, Matt Kocak, told him that the ANC is pushing to make them close earlier, around 11 p.m., which would be a significant blow to their business.

Kocak asked Carroll to create the Facebook group so that he could demonstrate to the ANC that his business has student support.

The Voice recently covered the testy relations between Philly P and the ANC, and it seems tensions have only mounted in the past few weeks.  Look for more about the current dispute in this week’s paper!

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