The decks are cleared for action, and 8th Street S.E. is the battleground — thanks to the approach of seasoned restaurant innovator Mauricio Fraga-Rosenfeld and the resistance of that ferocious defendant of Hill gentry, Linda Parke Gallagher.

Everyone’s talking about 8th, the street that got $7.2 million in federal highway funds by masquerading as a stub of the federal highway system and just won a national “Main Street” award for exemplary commercial strips. But now websites are buzzing with a new tiff that may prove long and drawn out: a big late-hours restaurant named Zagora wants in, with live music and dancing in a vacated church.

How many culture clashes do you want? It’s metro (Fraga) versus retro (Gallagher), ethnic versus white, Latino versus gringo, young versus old, not to mention night owl versus NIMBY and new urban versus Nantucket. And this one is not nearly over.

Gallagher, the energetic leader of 8th Street revival, is totally against the would-be intruder. She has mustered seasoned troopers, such as letter-writer Norman Metzger (husband of historic-preservation goddess Nancy), who reminded readers of a local newspaper “of murderous events at other dance places around the city,” and Barracks Row business-group officer Bill McLeod, who termed the new spot-to-be “an enormous disaster” and called for an end to new liquor licenses. Naysayers in chorus warned last Tuesday’s Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) meeting about 3 a.m. drunks, knife attacks, loud music — and parking woes.

Though antis spoke as if Armageddon were driving down 8th, it seemed their real concern was free and convenient weekend parking, as a possible 300 patrons may throng to the new spot.

The very word “nightclub” sends shudders of horror through the engineers of 8th Street’s revival. Said Dick Wolfe, former president of the Capitol Hill Restoration Society who is widely regarded as the dean of local preservationists: “This nightclub ... its hours and size pose a threat to the community.”

Fraga-Rosenfeld and his partner, Mustapha Meliani, insist the new spot, to be implanted in the People’s Church at 535 8th, is merely a restaurant, a large one. They have not applied for a nightclub license. But they have already been turned upon by Hill community leaders and the local ANC 6B, which voted unanimously to protest a liquor license for Zagora. In spite of the rebuff, Fraga-Rosenfeld and his partner will fight on, they told The Hill.

It’s more than a clash of cultures — though the deliciously different names of the combatants set the music — it’s a clash of concepts, little less than the fight between revelry, dancing and late hours, and buttoned-up family dining with (maybe) that extra glass of pinot noir.

The well-regarded Ecuadorian Fraga-Rosenfeld came here as a student in 1991 to study marketing at American University, and like many clever immigrants to this country he saw at once that the place was ripe for the taking. After winning his spurs rescuing a restaurant from ruin, he went on to start his own restaurants, each marked by exotic food and décor, a saucy name and get-your-attention appeal: Chi Cha Lounge was first, followed in succession by Gazuza, Agua Ardiente, Gua-Rapo and Mate. Zagora’s name is filched from the hottest town in Morocco.

They all smelt of the tropics and of Hispanic enthusiasm and volatile musical rhythms. Fraga-Rosenfeld, clad in sandals and an orange tee, his shaved head gleaming and designer sunglasses perched atop, seemed bemused by the fuss. He said the ugly plain-brick-and-aluminum shopfront church, where hymns on tape were recent fare, was selling for $2.5 million.

Partner Meliani said that, in all, $3.5 million is to be invested in buying the property and juicing it up with an interior mezzanine and a new façade. But the property deal has not been consummated, the partners said, and the city’s alcohol licensing board may still grant the license.

Getting the last laugh

The odd preservation battle over the “Shotgun House” has gone on for decades, even before the 1993 purchase of the property at 1229 E St. S.E. by Larry Quillian.

That fight, which led to preservation of one of the most decrepit houses on the Hill, ended last month with the announcement of plans by JPI Co. of Texas to build an apartment complex on the site, restore the tiny, wood-frame workers bungalow and, incidentally, richly reward Quillian for “demolition by neglect.”

His purchase of several run-down properties on a once-sketchy block of Pennsylvania Avenue S.E. was followed by years of hopeful development plans, most predicated on getting rid of the 1857 Shotgun House, protected by the D.C. Historic Preservation Review Board. Quillian, who said he would be delighted to sell the property, found he had a white elephant on his hands. He proceeded to allow deterioration to continue — thus, “demolition by neglect.”

But now JPI, the Texas company that bought up the Boys and Girls Town property at Pennsylvania and Potomac avenues S.E., will rebuild the old house amid carefully designed “retro” apartment structures at 1230 Pennsylvania, with 48 apartment units.

Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6B unanimously approved the JPI plan, which has received the OK of D.C. preservation authorities. A breathed “hallelujah” plus a quiet round of applause from commissioners assembled followed the vote.

Rare ANC acrimony

Kenan Jarboe, who runs a Hill think tank named Athena, enjoys dabbling in local politics and has been chairman of, and a strong influence on, the Hill’s Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6B.

But Jarboe, whose usual mode is sweet reasonableness, flew into a rage last week over the possibility a new bridge extending Massachusetts Avenue across the Anacostia is still being put forward by D.C.’s top planners.

Stunning the monthly meeting of the Hill political group, Jarboe accused John Detrick of the D.C. Department of Transportation of “deliberately manipulating the process to get the bridge in contrary to the law.”

“Unacceptable!” he shouted when Detrick displayed maps showing a new bridge and referred to “a Massachusetts Avenue river crossing that has been in planning for over 100 years.”

He then hectored Detrick about agreements that prohibit Mass. Ave., which now ends at D.C. General, from becoming a commuter route. “The Reservation 13 documents specifically prohibit a connection over the river for Massachusetts Avenue. … This is written into law. … When you’ve been putting options on the table, I get worried.”

Jarboe’s thrust hit at the new practice of the Transportation Department and other planners who come to community groups with sheaves of plans and machine-gun presentations so complex few can follow — and then later say that the public has been fully informed. Detrick made no response to Jarboe’s comments. “End of rant,” Jarboe said.

METRO

• Donna Scheeder, the new head of the Eastern Market Community Advisory Committee, has shown the claws beneath her velvet chairwoman’s manners by abruptly sacking the committee’s Finance Committee chairman, David Sheldon, who openly complained about Eastern Market finances. Sheldon’s removal was done with deft memos so smooth that even the victim exclaimed: “What a nice way to get fired.” …

• Breaking ground at 15th Street and Kentucky Avenue S.E.: 12 new condos “moments from the corridors of power,” according to developer Diamond Co. Handsome row-house buildings will swathe the corner at Providence Place, price yet to be announced. Amusing hype on the website www.providencesquare.com: “Meet your neighbors in the many parks steeped in the footsteps of history.” ...

• On the run: Would it not be comical if it were not embarrassing — the shameful panic caused by security fever at the Capitol and White House over the erring light aircraft? Not mentioned in all the reporting: an absolute lack of confidence in the ability of our air defenses to shoot down a helpless, slow monoplane. ...

• House tour: Capitol Hill Restoration Society (CHRS) officials are tastefully pleased with the results of the 2005 house and garden tour May 7 — “numbers were definitely up from the past two years,” one said. And so were prices, at $25 and $30 a ticket, to make this year’s tour, which supports the nonprofit CHRS, one of the best ever. ...

• Must see: That 18th century sex farce “The Clandestine Marriage,” playing out a highly acclaimed run at the Folger Theatre at 2nd and E. Capitol streets S.E. through May 22. The plot swivels around a city family with money and no graces, attempting to ally itself with a county family, plenty of graces, no money. Tickets range from $30 to $48, call 544-7077...

• Stop by the third annual Tribute to Fiber Art, running through June 16 at the Apex Gallery, 406 7th St. N.W. And afterward wander rapidly emerging Penn Quarter 7th St. N.W., where no fewer than three new pubs are opening this spring catering to the money crowd.