The D.C. Council on Tuesday agreed to spend millions of dollars to lessen the impact of a proposed cluster of relocated strip clubs in Northeast Washington.

The half-dozen clubs, several of which are popular among gay clientele, were forced out to make way for the new Nationals ballpark. The council’s public works committee, chaired by Ward 1 Council Member Jim Graham, last week approved legislation that would allow the businesses to group together in Ivy City, a neighborhood in Ward 5.

The bill will be voted on by the full council next month.

But Ward 5 Council Member Harry Thomas, who vehemently opposes the measure, said Ivy City residents deserve some level of comfort if they are to be impacted by an influx of club patrons. The businesses, Thomas said, will have a major impact on infrastructure and could “create an unsafe environment.”

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Thomas asked for and received, as part of Tuesday’s fiscal 2008 budget debate, $3.6 million to improve the major corridors that surround Ivy City: Bladensburg Road, New York Avenue, West Virginia Avenue and Mount Olivet Road.

Thomas said the clubs might affect the long-term growth of the community. The committee’s approval of the bill, he said, was unfair and disenfranchising to Ward 5 residents.

Despite some concern about earmarking dollars for specific ward road projects, the council approved the budget amendment by a 9-1 vote, with one abstention. Ward 8 Council Member Marion Barry said the money will “equalize where these projects are going to be.”

Ward 6 Council Member Tommy Wells, who abstained, said he feared the impact on the amount of revenue available for projects in his ward. Graham said the earmarks “will set a very poor precedent,” then voted for the amendment.

mneibauer@dcexaminer.com