A coalition of affordable housing advocates, faith groups, business groups, tenants’ groups, developers, and over 250 residents have unified to support more housing, more affordable housing, and targeted support for communities as DC rewrites its Comprehensive Plan. One of those priorities: Best utilize areas near transit.

The coalition, which includes Greater Greater Washington and many other groups, has agreed on a statement of ten priorities. In a series of posts, coalition members will go through many of the priorities to explain what they mean, why there’s a problem, and how the group reached agreement. Do you support the priorities? Sign on today!

What “Best utilize areas near transit” means

The coalition says:

Best utilize areas near transit.​ When redevelopment occurs on blocks surrounding Metrorail stations and priority transit corridors, the District should, through the Comprehensive Plan, permit and encourage mixed-use developments of medium to high density. To the extent feasible, redevelopments involving increased zoning should include affordable housing in excess of what is required by inclusionary zoning.

Put plainly, building housing near Metro stations, bus lines, and streetcar service makes it easier for people to live in the District without owning a car. And that means less congestion and pollution as well as a stronger local economy.

As the District of Columbia continues to grow to historic population levels, our transit corridors and stations offer the best opportunities for creating places to live and work that are more sustainable, accessible, and affordable. Helping more people live close to transit, enabling more jobs near transit, and creating attractive places near transit are all essential to well-managed growth.

The consequences of not creating these opportunities near transit is spread out, sprawling development.

Pushing growth away from cities, towns, and transit lines means converting more farms into subdivisions and strip malls. This generates ever more polluted stormwater runoff and carves up working agricultural lands.

Sprawl also makes it impractical to get around by walking, biking, or transit, forcing everyone to get around by car, which  fuels traffic congestion and air pollution. The cycle then continues, as the congestion leads to bigger roads that simply get congested again, all of which are built with money that gets diverted from transit and existing infrastructure.

Finally, when we sprawl out, low-income people disproportionately feel the negative effects of having no option but to drive.

We’ve missed chances to build near transit in the past

Unfortunately, there are plenty of examples of lost opportunities to provide more  mixed income housing options at Metro stations in D.C. While some parts of the District have been growing, others— particularly more affluent ones— have not.

The reason for the lack of new homes is not due to lack of interest. Rather, local opposition that takes advantage of a weak and nebulous Comp Plan make it difficult to build new housing in neighborhoods where some existing residents are determined to stop it. That leads to exclusive enclaves with limited housing opportunities for residents of different incomes.

Under our current Comp Plan language, here are a few examples of what we’ve lost:

• Withdrawn: 1,721 apartments next to the Woodley Park Metro station, including family-sized 3 and 4-bedroom units.

• Shrunk: An expanded Georgetown Day School offered housing (including affordable units), retail and parks along Wisconsin Avenue and 42nd Street, a few blocks from the Tenleytown Metro station. The school sliced about 50 apartments and now the entire project is on hold.

• Abandoned: The single use, two story library constructed by the Tenleytown Metro station was supposed to be a mixed use building with affordable and market rate housing above the library. While the city spent extra money to strengthen the foundation to allow some apartments  to be built above the library in the future, the prospects for many affordable units is dim.

• Delayed since 2000: Plans for nearly 200 homes on the Takoma Metro station parking lot, along with preservation of the large open space in front of the station.

All these proposed projects offered below market rate and market-rate homes. They are all examples of the market responding to strong demand to live in the city close to transit by redeveloping sites close to transit.  They are also examples of how determined opponents can use contradictory language in the Comp Plan to stall, stop, and shrink the construction of much needed new homes and affordable homes.

Under the current Future Land Use Map (FLUM), which translates the Comp Plan onto a map, no Metro stations are designated for low density residential development. A reasonable update to these designations could be to take land that the FLUM categorizes as “moderate” density (row houses and low rise garden apartments) and make it “medium” (4-7 stories), and to change what the FLUM categorizes as “medium” to be “high” (8 stories or more).

Based on the experience of the last decade, it’s fair to say that the Comp Plan has not been as effective as it should have been in balancing the need for more housing, and more affordable housing, around transit stations. That’s especially true in affluent neighborhoods.

Looking into the future, it’s critical that the Comp Plan clarify that a good share of our city’s needed future homes should go to places well-served by transit. Rather than losing out to some neighbors’ objections about new homes, we need to address local concerns while committing to creating more housing opportunities that help more people live more sustainably, and help the city thrive.

Sign on to the priorities!

This is one of ten priorities where the coalition reached agreement. We’ll be following up with articles on more of the 10 priorities by a variety of coalition members.

(Note: While the coalition agreed on the priorities, this article is my commentary about one of the priorities, not an official coalition statement, and all members have not signed onto the specific wording here. The same goes for the other posts in this series.)

So far, 65 organizations and over 350 individuals have put their names on the priorities statement. Will you join them?

Sign the Priorities Statement!

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Metro’s chronic train breakdowns and track problems on top of the scheduled disruptions of the SafeTrack reconstruction program may have alienated riders over the last half of 2016, but the poor service did not result in a traffic nightmare on already congested streets and highways, according to new data compiled by the region’s top transportation planners.

Over the course of 10 “maintenance surges” from June 4 through Dec. 20, 2016, Metrorail lost 16,350 riders per weekday, according to a new study by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) on the first six months of SafeTrack. The number amounts to only 2.6 percent of daily boardings, but millions of total trips nonetheless.

The big picture

Eric Randall, a principal transportation planner at COG, said that overall traffic in the region “was not strongly affected,” by SafeTrack. “We saw traffic effects most strongly in the immediate vicinity to the SafeTrack surge areas,” Randall said.

The localized impacts were felt most during the first surge in June — 13 days of around-the-clock single tracking on the Orange and Silver Lines in Northern Virginia. Average vehicle trip times during morning rush hour climbed 20 percent, and traffic counts performed along Lee Highway (U.S. 29) near the East Falls Church Metro station showed a 5.5 percent increase in cars over the week prior to the surge.

The COG study also found that traffic on I-66, further along the corridor served by the Orange and Silver Lines, actually decreased slightly during SafeTrack surges 1 through 5.

Considering all the variables that can affect traffic on any given day, Randall said the results, while unexpected, were not entirely surprising.

“When a relatively small section of the Metrorail system has no service or reduced service but the rest of the system is by and large operating normally, there’s a ripple effect in that local area, but the overall system doesn’t see much variation,” he said.

Traffic impacts from SafeTrack appeared negligible on most days during surges two through 10, with average travel times actually decreasing during morning rush hour during five of the surges. Data from the study showed that many commuters didn’t trade rail for cars. Across the first 10 SafeTrack surges, five percent of travelers switched to Metrobus, and four percent to other local transit systems, including commuter rail, according to the COG data. The Capital Bikeshare system also saw trip increases during nine of the 10 surges compared to the week before each surge.

Benjamin Navarro,  Falls Church City to Farragut West
“I switched from Metro to car about a year ago. Even though I have guilt about the ecological impact of my decision, the improvement in my quality of life has been positive.”

During the ninth SafeTrack project, a 25-day shutdown of the Red Line from Fort Totten to NoMa, casual and registered users logged 350,000 bikeshare trips, a significant jump from the previous week (50,000 trips).

In all, the region’s transportation system proved resilient as Metrorail riders sought alternatives to squeezing into a train. Demand was intense, as “an average 32 percent of regular Metrorail riders decided to not make a trip” during each surge, according to COG’s report.

Giving up Metro for good

If SafeTrack was a temporary disruption for most riders, some saw a chance to make a permanent break with the subway.

“It’s kind of nice to just have your own car and listen to the radio and be in your own little bubble,” said Matthew Stuart as he steered his new Volkswagen Jetta in bumper-to-bumper traffic in Georgetown.

The 24-year-old is typical of many newcomers to Washington: young, single, living in a studio apartment, and car-free – at least until last September when his tolerance for rail delays expired.

What was supposed to be a one-hour train ride from Northwest Washington to his new job in Alexandria often lasted much longer. He was repeatedly late, irritating his new boss. And the final straw came one morning when his train was offloaded for a mechanical problem just two stops away from his destination, leaving him waiting 20 minutes for the next train to arrive.

“My commute is far more predictable with my car than with Metro, and it’s more comfortable. So how can you blame me?” said Stuart, who said he realizes his choice does not square with the region’s goal of reducing dependency on single-occupant vehicles.

Stuart said SafeTrack, far from assuaging his concerns about Metro’s safety and performance, was producing the opposite effect, by revealing more problems than general manager Paul Wiedefeld believed existed. Stuart said browsing #WMATA Twitter further undermined his confidence in Metro, citing @unsuckdcmetro as one source of consistently negative developments.

Melanie De Cola, McLean to Georgetown
“I opted out of taking Metro for the month of December to avoid SafeTrack surge #11. I found that it was much faster to drive…the Silver Line usually takes 1 hour (on a really good day) to an hour and a half, but two hours is not unheard of and one time it even took me three. I’ve been a loyal Metro rider since I moved back to the area in 2012 but my nerves are frayed and my patience with Metro is gone.”

“It seems to only be getting worse. I was reading an article yesterday about how they had to offload a train because there was a speedometer issue. And as they do the track work, more issues get uncovered,” said Stuart, whose 12-mile drive takes about an hour.

His monthly car payment is $260, more than he would pay for an entire month riding Metro, but he says it is worth it.

“There’s a long road ahead for Metro until it becomes consistent,” he said.

Toll lanes pay off

The commuters who reached for their car keys to avoid the repeated SafeTrack disruptions in Northern Virginia, were well served by the 495 Express Lanes, the high-speed toll lanes that upwardly adjust toll prices as congestion builds.

Nineteen of the toll lanes’ 21 busiest days in their four-year history were recorded between September and December. Four of the 10 busiest days took place during SafeTrack Surge 11, which ran from Nov. 28 to Dec. 20 on the Orange and Silver Lines.  Dec. 15 was the busiest day in the 495 Express Lanes’ existence.

The toll lanes’ operator suspects the Metrorail disruptions played a role.

“It is absolutely critical that we have a strong transit network, and what we’ve seen over the past several months really points to that,” said Michael McGurk, a spokesman for Transurban, a multinational toll lane operator behind the 495 and 95 Express Lanes.

The extra traffic drove up toll prices. The average toll of $4.59 surpassed $6.00 during the busiest days in December, when more than 60,000 cars passed under the electronic toll gantries, a third more than usual.

What’s next?

Transportation planners and transit advocates agree that the region’s ability to handle SafeTrack does not mean Washington and its suburbs can do without a functioning subway system. Working around short-term disruptions does not minimize Metrorail’s long-term importance; job and population forecasts foresee major growth and, with it, a lot more congestion.

Traffic congestion will increase by 60 percent over the next two decades, according to COG, as the influx of drivers outstripping local governments’ capacity to expand the transportation system.

“People will come back to Metro eventually, once the service rebounds. The question is, what will they do in the meantime? Certainly, some people will drive,” said Aimee Custis, deputy director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth.

Custis pointed to surveys that show transit riders are not impressed with frills like on-board wi-fi; they want frequent and reliable service, period.

“I think [Paul Wiedefeld] has been really honest that SafeTrack is just the first step in bringing us Back2Good,” said Custis, referring to Metro’s latest customer service campaign. “But the general manager himself has said it is going to be a long time, and SafeTrack alone won’t get us there.”

On Wednesday Metro released new statistics designed to show progress: railcar-related offloads were down 17 percent last year, railcar-related delays fell by 13 percent, and 31 new 7000-series trains were in service, replacing many of the oldest railcars in the fleet. Track delays also fell by seven percent in 2016, according to Metro.

Kevin Edward Flynn, Vienna to Navy Yard
“I typically commute by Metrorail, but switched to driving from July through December due to SafeTrack impacts. In theory, I’m an ideal customer for WMATA: my home and work are very convenient for a rail trip and I pay the maximum fare due to the distance covered. When I switched to driving, I learned that driving in the District during rush hour isn’t as bad as I had previously thought, and the price of driving and parking is actually cheaper than riding Metro.

These improvements may not be enough to stem the severe loss in ridership, especially with five more months of SafeTrack disruptions on tap.

Total rail ridership from July to September dropped “nearly 13 percent or 6.5 million trips compared to the same quarter last year. Ridership was down broadly across all time periods, days of the week, and individual stations. Consequently, rail revenue was down 15 percent versus prior year and was 17 percent under budget through the first quarter,” according to documents presented to Metro’s board of directors.

The hemorrhaging that occurred from October through December will be detailed at a public board meeting on Feb. 23, but it is expected to be severe, further undermining Metro’s bleak financial situation.

SafeTrack is scheduled to resume on Saturday with track work in Northern Virginia shutting down the Blue Line for 18 days, the first of five projects set for completion in June.

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WASHINGTON – (WMAL) In a bold vision that would shake up the region’s transportation scene, D.C. Councilmember David Grosso is proposing the District take over operations of Metrobuses that run only within D.C., and to increase funding in order to eliminate fares.

“Instead of paying WMATA to operate these routes for our residents, let’s do it ourselves. We can task DDOT with running or contracting out the service, as we do with the Circulator. We could even brand them with the Circulator’s now-ubiquitous red and black,” Grosso writes on the urban planning website Greater Greater Washington. “Let’s take those millions of dollars we pay annually to WMATA, invest additional funds, and provide the type of transportation system that residents can rely on, one that is an attractive alternative to Metrorail.”

Grosso says it would give WMATA one less thing to worry about as they work to fix the rail side of operations, and would allow for additional investment that Maryland and Virginia may balk at otherwise. In making the buses free to ride, Grosso says it would also increase ridership, reduce the strain on Metrorail, speed up the boarding process, and reduce confrontations between drivers and passengers.

“To be clear, the city would not turn a profit under this scheme; we never have from our public transportation (or roads and highway projects for that matter),” Grosso writes. “But that’s not the point. What we’d get is something much greater.”

Some worry the proposal could further solidify philosophical differences between Maryland, the District, and Virginia.

“I’ve got mixed feelings,” Coalition for Smarter Growth Executive Director Stewart Schwartz tells WMAL. “There could be negative consequences in further fragmenting our regional bus networks. I worry it could distract from the regional conversation and regional commitment we need to have for the funding Metro needs.”

D.C. has been a leading advocate in increasing funding for Metro. Mayor Muriel Bowser has publicly called for the establishment of a new tax region-wide to serve as a dedicated funding source for Metro. The Governors of Maryland and Virginia have advocated for a more cautious approach, waiting to see if Metro can improve its operations and finances first before committing to more money.

Schwartz says the region’s ability to compete on a global level hinges on cooperation across borders around D.C.

“The more we can keep ourselves tied together through our transit system, and even other utility systems, and the more we can work together through regional bodies, the better for our region’s economic competitiveness.”

Click here for the original story. 

The D.C. Court of Appeals vacated the Zoning Commission’s approval of the McMillan Sand Filtration site redevelopment only one day after the groundbreaking, as reported by UrbanTurf. The court’s decision found that the D.C. Zoning Commission did not adequately address how the redevelopment would impact the nearby neighborhoods.

The ruling made by the D.C. Court of Appeals reads:

“In the first order, the Zoning Commission approved Vision McMillan Partner’s application for a planned unit development (PUD) on the site. In the other two orders, the Mayor’s Agent for Historic Preservation approved permits allowing [Vision McMillan Partners] to demolish certain structures on the site and to subdivide the site. Petitioner Friends of McMillan Park (FOMP) challenges these orders. Specifically, FOMP argues that the project is inconsistent with the District’s Comprehensive Plan and that the Commission failed to adequately explain its conclusions.”

In a statement, the non-profit organization, Friends of McMillan Park, described the ruling as “a great victory for our long efforts.” Friends of McMillan Park has stated that their hope for the property is to only construct a park.

Kirby Vining, treasurer of Friends of McMillan Park, told DCist, “The court is the first time that we’ve had an objective look at what the city is actually doing with this land.”

Despite the win for Friends of McMillan Park, the court doesn’t totally agree with the non-profit. According to DCist, the court believes that in certain cases high-density development could be justified for the 25-acre site..

The delivery for the redevelopment was slated for 2018. Plans involved 531 apartments and a 52,000-square-foot Harris Teeter from Jair Lynch as well as 146 townhouses from EYA. Plans also included an eight-acre park, 17,500-square-foot community center, and roughly 1 million square feet towards medical office space from Trammell Crow.

UPDATE: The Coalition for Smarter Growth Policy Director Cheryl Cort issued the following statement:

“The Appeals Court ruling is a disappointing setback to delivering the city’s largest new park for all of us to enjoy. The ruling also delays much-needed housing and affordable housing, a new grocery store, and the historic restoration of aging structures.

Whatever the next steps to win a mixed-use McMillan development, the Court’s interpretation of the District’s Comprehensive Plan underscores just how important it is for residents to get involved with the ongoing Comprehensive Plan amendment process to clarify the plan as our city’s vision for guiding growth.”

Click here for the original story.