Bates Area Civic Association

Number of ANCs in Ward 5 to increase from three to five

Click here for Ward 5 redistricting map

As a result of redistricting, the number of ANCs in Ward 5 will increase from three to five. The new commissions are ANC 5A through 5E. The number of ANC Commissioners has stayed almost the same, increasing from 36 to 37. New boundaries for Single Member Districts (SMDs) have also been drawn.

Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners are unpaid, nonpartisan officials who serve two-year terms. Each commissioner represents approximately 2,000 residents in an area called a “single member district” (SMD). ANCs hold public meetings once a month.

All Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners are up for election on November 6, 2012. Residents will vote according to the new boundaries at that time. The new boundaries will go into effect on January 1, 2013.

Candidates running for ANC Commissioner need the signatures of at least 25 registered voters in their Single Member District to get on the ballot. Petitions are available for pickup at the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics starting July 9. Petitions are due back on August 8.

ANCs receive quarterly “allotments” of funds from the District of Columbia to pay for office expenses and grant-giving. According to Gottlieb Simon, Executive Director of the Office of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, the existing bank balances of Ward 5’s three ANCs will be “collected” before the end of 2012 and redistributed to the five new ANCs on the basis of their population.

Citywide, “the ANCs will receive the same allotment next year as this year,” said Mr. Simon. Since the funds must be divided among five ANCs instead of three in Ward 5, each ANC can expect to receive a smaller amount.

The quarterly allotments in 2012 were approximately $8,000 per ANC in Ward 5.

According to the D.C. Code, the role of the ANC is to “advise the Council of the District of Columbia, the Mayor and each executive agency, and all independent agencies, boards and commissions of the government of the District of Columbia with respect to all proposed matters of District government policy.”

The District is expected to give local ANCs 30 days’ notice of “government actions or proposed actions.” If an ANC makes a recommendation in writing regarding the government action, the government is required to give the recommendation “great weight” in its deliberations.

ANCs are given “great weight” in matters that affect their commission area, such as zoning variances, liquor licenses, permits and planning.