CONTACT:
Cheryl Cort
DC and Prince George’s Policy Director, Coalition for Smarter Growth
cheryl@smartergrowth.net
Diana Movius
Founder and Artistic Director, Dance Loft on 14
diana@danceloft14.org
Dance Loft on 14, a unique, affordable housing and arts center project, hangs in the balance
Supporters urge ANC 4E to endorse modifications to advance project at crucial Tuesday vote
Dance Loft on 14, approved three years ago, is an exciting Ward 4 mixed-use development that includes affordable housing, a performing arts center, retail space, and net-zero energy design. It faced delays due to the city’s unprecedented crisis in affordable housing funding.
The project is now back with new financing and interior modifications, and is seeking a Planned Unit Development modification from the DC Zoning Commission to allow development to finally break ground. The new interior floor plans for the project at 4618 14th Street NW will be considered by the Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC4E) on Tuesday, March 24.
Unfortunately, the small group of nearby neighbors who opposed the original project has loudly reemerged, threatening to kill the approved project once again, which has already undergone an exhaustive public process. They are heavily lobbying the ANC members, urging them to oppose the project’s modification, which would effectively bar Dance Loft on 14 from accessing the recently available affordable housing funds.
Yet, no changes to the building’s exterior, height, massing, parking, or community commitments are proposed. Concerns raised by neighbors on these areas were already studied, addressed, and settled through a 2-year Zoning Commission approval process that cleared over 18 public meetings, community-informed design iterations, overwhelming ANC and Zoning Commission support, and endorsements from dozens of local businesses, Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George, and the DC Office of the Attorney General.
The proposed interior modifications necessary to secure funding include a floorplan reconfiguration with 133 smaller units instead of the original 101, with all 133 units affordable at 50%, 60%, or 80% of median family income, offering all-affordable, workforce housing for teachers, artists, entry-level government staffers, NGO workers, and more. The original mix only had 66 affordable units and the rest market rate.
The vocal residents who opposed the original project are using this modification as another chance to kill the project by resuscitating their original concerns and hoping for a new, more sympathetic audience of new ANC commissioners. Yet a Planned Unit Development Modification is an adjustment to a discrete aspect of an already-approved project – in this case, the interior floor layout and income thresholds – and legally speaking, it is not an opportunity to reopen other settled aspects of the development.
“This affordable housing and community arts center project does not need to be stalled into oblivion. The interior changes are minor and make it possible to provide more than 100 needed affordable homes, and preserve this performing arts institution in Ward 4,” said Cheryl Cort, DC and Prince George’s Policy Director, Coalition for Smarter Growth. “We urge the project’s supporters to weigh in now,” says Cort.
“Dance Loft has done everything it was supposed to do: years of community engagement, agency support, robust affordability, and world-class design. The interior modifications allow the project to adapt to DC’s current difficult financial reality. The ANC has a chance to champion affordable housing, and Ward 4’s only community performing arts center, serving 12,000 people a year, and whose customers sustain local businesses. This is our contribution to Ward 4 and the city we love,” says Diana Movius, Founder and Artistic Director, Dance Loft on 14.
ANC 4E has set up a public input email: anc4eoutreach@anc.dc.gov
The images below are renderings of the proposed project. Image credits: PGN ARCHITECTS
