ENROLLED ORIGINAL
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A RESOLUTION
25-697
IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
October 29, 2024
To declare the existence of an emergency with respect to the need to amend the Retail Incentive
Act of 2004 to designate certain neighborhoods as Retail Priority Areas, including those
within the Mount Vernon Triangle, Eastern Market, Barracks Row, and Georgia Avenue
areas.
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That
this resolution may be cited as the “Great Streets Program Expansion Neighborhood Retail
Priority Amendment Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2024”.
Sec. 2. (a) Since 2006 the District has operated the Great Streets retail priority grant
program (“program”), which allows small businesses within a defined area to apply for grants to
support their businesses. The program began with the Retail Incentive Act of 2004 and has been
expanded on several occasions. The grants awarded under the program support small businesses
in these areas, create new job opportunities, and provide access to capital.
(b) The Committee on Business and Economic Development approved the Great Streets
Program Expansion Neighborhood Retail Priority Amendment Act of 2024, as approved by the
Committee on Business and Economic Development on October 23, 2024 (Committee print of
Bill 25-488)(“permanent legislation”). The permanent legislation amends the Retail Incentive
Act of 2004 to broaden the program to designate certain neighborhoods within the Mount
Vernon Triangle, Eastern Market, Barracks Row, and Georgia areas, Retail Priority Areas.
(c) The permanent legislation must complete the legislative process, including the 30-day
review period required by section 602(c)(1) of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act,
approved December 24, 1973 (87 Stat. 813; D.C. Official Code § 1- 206.02(c)(1)), and will not
become law, at the earliest, until the end of 2024.
(d) It is important that the provisions of the permanent legislation become law as soon
as possible so that the new participants of the program can apply for Great Streets grants in
Fiscal Year 2025.
Sec. 3. The Council determines that the circumstances enumerated in section 2 constitute
emergency circumstances making it necessary that the Great Streets Program Expansion ENROLLED ORIGINAL
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Neighborhood Retail Priority Amendment Emergency Amendment Act of 2024 be adopted after
a single reading.
Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately.