Fairfax County is looking to reduce its minimum parking requirements to better address other community needs like housing, better transit, biking and walking, and environmental sustainability. We need you to speak up in support of smarter parking policies in Fairfax!
Author: Elena Sorokina
CODE RED: A Call to Action for the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments
With the approach of your annual retreat this week in Cambridge, Maryland, our 41 organizations in Maryland, DC, and Virginia call on you to take urgent action to address the great challenges of our times – climate change, housing, racial and economic inequity, sprawl and unsustainable transportation policies.
Comments on Converge West Falls Plan Amendment and Rezoning (Support)
The Converge West Falls redevelopment is the final and critical piece to the emerging West Falls Church transit-oriented community and will knit together the City of Falls Church’s new mixed-use development already underway and redevelopment of the Metro Station. Together these projects will transform acres of parking lots into an inclusive, vibrant, and livable neighborhood with great access to transit.
RELEASE: Wider Roads Fail and the Public Knows This
In short, the public understands that “induced demand” is real, even if they are not aware of the term itself. Today, when officials in the DC region are planning for at least 900 more lane miles of highway and arterial road expansion and amid the ongoing debate over high-occupancy toll lanes for 495/270 in Maryland and 495 through Alexandria, the Coalition for Smarter Growth (CSG) urged officials to reconsider these plans.
Induced Demand: an overview for Metro DC
induced driving, induced travel, and generated travel, is the widely documented phenomenon in which widening major roads and highways results in more driving (vehicle miles traveled) that generally cancels out any congestion-reduction benefits in as little as five to ten years.
COMMENTS: Union Station SDEIS (Support)
Today, the new project vision defined in the FRA’s Supplemental Draft EIS (SDEIS) Preferred Alternative F presents a bold vision for the next century of Union Station’s existence and success, and will gain broad public and political support. The revised SDEIS Preferred Alternative includes major improvements we support the FRA including in the Final EIS:
TAKE ACTION: Support zoning for affordable housing with a new U Street police & fire station
The Third District Police Station and Fire Station on U Street are on the path to a much needed makeover. On June 26, the DC Zoning Commission will consider upzoning this public land to match the 2021 Comprehensive Plan Future Land Use Map – for new residential development combined with the public uses.
CSG News: Smart growth wins in Virginia and big issues ahead!
Last month, we had two great wins for smart growth in Virginia: a YES vote for better buses on Alexandria’s Duke Street and a YES vote for the redevelopment of West Falls Church. CSG and local advocates fought hard for these wins and we’re committed to continue fighting. Read on for how you can help!
RELEASE: Prince George’s County Safer Streets Legislation Hailed by Community Advocates
The Walkable Urban Streets Act will require county officials to apply its own urban street design standards and update the standards to keep abreast with national best practices. Better street designs will make urban centers safer and foster transit-oriented economic development.
CSG in the News: West Falls Church Metro mixed-use development approved, but parking decision still to come
Sonya Breehey, an area resident and Northern Virginia advocacy manager for the Coalition for Smarter Growth, praised the inclusion of pedestrian and bicycle facilities, green spaces and workforce and affordable housing.