Tag: dc comp plan

CSG in the News: ‘We’re Going To Run Out Of Space To Build Housing’: D.C. Mayor On How To Add Density In Upper NW

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

‘We’re Going To Run Out Of Space To Build Housing’: D.C. Mayor On How To Add Density In Upper NW 

by Jon Banister, Bisnow Washington DC, September 23, 2019

To achieve her goal of adding 36,000 housing units to the District by 2025, Mayor Muriel Bowser said the city will need to have difficult conversations.

Bowser discussed strategies for adding density in Upper Northwest D.C. on an Urban Land Institute panel Friday, after ULI presented its recommendations for allowing more housing development in the Rock Creek West area….

The area west of Rock Creek Park has seen significantly less housing development in recent years than other sections of the District. Bowser said earning the support of residents of that area for new housing requires talking about the issue in a different way….

One of the primary roadblocks to building new housing in recent years, city officials and developers agree, has been the deluge of appeals that have delayed dozens of projects in court….

A consequence of the appeals has been developers beginning to abandon the planned-unit development process, which allows greater density in exchange for community benefits, Coalition for Smarter Growth Policy Director Cheryl Cort said. The majority of appeals have challenged the Zoning Commission approval of PUD projects.

“The planned-unit development process is broken, and in fact, we don’t have to worry about lawsuits anymore because hardly anyone is filing planned unit developments,” Cort said. “It’s hardly a perfect process, but it was designed to bring the community into a discussion rather than just a matter-of-right deal. We’re losing that opportunity.”

Read more in Bisnow here.

Planners, advocates seek to change troubling provision in DC Comprehensive Plan bill

Planners, advocates seek to change troubling provision in DC Comprehensive Plan bill

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

DC Office of Planning and advocates seek to change troubling provision in DC Comprehensive Plan bill

by Cheryl Cort & Stewart Schwartz, Coalition for Smarter Growth

On October 8 (postponed from September 17), after three years of discussion, the DC Council is poised to adopt a bill that sets the framework for the rest of the Comprehensive Plan. However, language inserted into the bill in July by Council Chairman Phil Mendelson would impose standards for the Zoning Commission’s review of Planned Unit Developments (PUDs) that would both block new affordable housing and increase displacement.

Housing advocates in the Housing Priorities Coalition have expressing alarm over the provision, while seeking to strengthen the plan’s commitments to affordable housing and displacement prevention. And this week, in a September 11 letter from the DC Office of Planning, Director Andrew Trueblood expressed concern that the Council bill’s language would create “a novel and ambiguous review standard,” that would lead to even more litigation.

Planned Unit Development is a flexible, participatory review process which has been all but halted in the District as a means for building new housing due to lawsuits. Clarifying the PUD approval process has been a goal of both affordable housing advocates and developers in the wake of thousands of housing units being stalled in lawsuits in the last few years. PUDs have been largely abandoned in favor of “by-right” development, meaning loss of opportunities to exchange flexibility and increased density for more affordable housing and other community benefits. Only three PUDs have been proposed in 2019, down from dozens per year in recent history.

The Office of Planning raised concerns about the previous PUD guidance in the Council’s version of bill before the first vote on July 10, 2019. At the same time, affordable housing and smart growth advocates have been urging for clarification of the PUD process so that we can create more housing and give high priority in PUDs to building and preserving more affordable housing, and preventing displacement.

Advocates cite the Bruce Monroe plan (now stalled in litigation) as an example of the benefits of PUDs where affordable housing is made a high priority in review and approval. At the core of the plan to replace all 174 homes for the deteriorating Park Morton public housing complex, is the nearby mixed income PUD for the Bruce Monroe site.

In July, Chairman Mendelson changed the guidance language, adding new standards, including requiring the Zoning Commission to determine if a PUD or Zoning Map Amendment “is generally compatible with the physical and visual character of the surrounding neighborhood.” As noted in previous posts, prioritizing physical form of neighborhoods — rather than its activity or its people — suggests that this factor is more important than other goals in the plan, like preserving and building more affordable housing, and preventing displacement of long-time residents.

This “physical and visual character” language raises the specter of exclusionary zoning according to affordable housing advocates, who note that this language is similar to planning language that has historically perpetuated housing segregation. Office of Planning’s September 11 letter recommends removing the exclusionary language and the other new standards created by Mendelson in the July version of the bill.

Affordable housing advocates are alerting their supporters to the potential exclusionary impact of the language. In addition to recommending adoption of the Office of Planning’s recommended language or its outright removal, the groups are also supporting Councilmember Brianne Nadeau’s proposed amendment for another section of the bill – which would make affordable housing and displacement prevention priorities in PUDs.

Andrew Trueblood’s letter says the Office of Planning looks forward to working with the Council committee to “make sure we get it right and avoid unintended consequences that would undermine the District’s ability to meet the needs of its residents, especially the need for affordable housing.”

On October 8, we’ll see if the DC Council adopts language to make the city more inclusive or more exclusive, and if they will adopt a predictable Planned Unit Development Process that places a priority on affordable housing as part of PUD approvals.

Click here for CSG’s action alert.

Photo credit: Ted Eytan, Flickr

CSG in the News: There’s another delay for changes to D.C.’s comp plan. This is why.

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

There’s another delay for changes to D.C.’s comp plan. This is why.

By   – Staff Reporter, Washington Business Journal

…Over the last few days, everyone from a member of the Zoning Commission to the head of the District’s Office of Planning to prominent housing activists have expressed consternation over the comp plan changes. While their concerns vary slightly, they generally agree on the same few issues — namely, they fear the plan amendments still don’t do enough to prevent lawsuits from slowing the progress of large planned-unit developments, thereby endangering a key source of new housing for the District at a time when rent prices are soaring….

That’s a concern shared by housing advocates.

“It…undermines a lot of other things that are really important, like affordable housing and preventing displacement,” said Cheryl Cort, policy director for the Coalition for Smarter Growth. “It’s wiping out progress we thought we’d made with this legislation.”

Read the full Washington Business Journal story here.

CSG in the News: D.C. Council Chairman Postpones Comprehensive Plan Vote Amid Concerns Over His Changes

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

D.C. Council Chairman Postpones Comprehensive Plan Vote Amid Concerns Over His Changes

by Jon Banister, Bisnow Washington,  D.C., September 16, 2019

The D.C. Council has postponed a key vote on the District’s Comprehensive Plan after planners and housing advocates raised concerns over a recent addition to the bill.

Council Chairman Phil Mendelson removed the final vote on amendments to the Comprehensive Plan’s Framework Element from the agenda for Tuesday’s legislative meeting and rescheduled the vote to Oct. 8, his spokesperson, Lindsey Walton, confirmed.  “We’ve received a number of comments, most of these before first readings but more discussion since then, to address issues of displacement and promoting affordable housing and so we’ve been working on what I would call tweaks to enhance what the document says with regard to those issues,” Mendelson said during a Monday press conference.

D.C. Planning Director Andrew Trueblood sent Mendelson a letter last week detailing concerns over additions to the amendments that he said could make it easier for development opponents to delay projects by appealing them in court. He called for the additions to be removed or significantly revised. Advocates including Coalition for Smarter Growth shared Trueblood’s concerns and supported his recommendations…

Read full Bisnow story here.

CSG in the News: New D.C. Comp Plan Bill Could ‘Open A Pandora’s Box’ To More Development Appeals

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

New D.C. Comp Plan Bill Could ‘Open A Pandora’s Box’ To More Development Appeals

by Jon Banister, Bisnow Washington, D.C., September 12, 2019

The D.C. Council is nearing a final vote on the first set of amendments to the city’s comprehensive plan, but planning officials and advocates are raising concerns around changes that they say could allow more of the appeals that have delayed dozens of developments….

Director of Planning Andrew Trueblood sent a letter Wednesday to Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, which he shared with Bisnow, detailing issues with specific additions the council made to the plan that he said could lead more housing developments to become stuck in court.  “What we think this language does is it adds to the uncertainty,” Trueblood tells Bisnow. “When you have uncertainty, often that can result in more litigation. We are trying to create a Framework Element and a remainder of the Comprehensive Plan that is clearer to avoid uncertainty, ambiguity and unnecessary litigation.”…

Coalition for Smarter Growth Policy Director Cheryl Cort raised concerns around the same section of the bill, which she described as a “crisis.”

“The PUD language in the council version of this bill opens up a Pandora’s box for new litigation,” Cort said. “This whole exercise was supposed to resolve this issue with the court where thousands of new homes were held up in appeals. This bill does the opposite. It throws us into greater uncertainty.”

Cort said she supports the revisions that Trueblood proposed to resolve the issue. She added that the specific language around neighborhood character is reminiscent of past methods of blocking new housing development.

“It really smacks of exclusionary zoning that has been used in the past to perpetuate housing segregation,” Cort said.

A Mendelson spokesperson tells Bisnow the chairman’s office has heard recent concerns from members of the public around language in the bill and is continuing to review the issues ahead of the scheduled vote.

Read full story here.

Read the DC Office of Planning Letter here. Note: DC Council vote is now scheduled for October 8, 2019.

DC Housing Priorities Coalition re DC Comp Plan B23-1 June 27, 2019

Posted on by Stewart Schwartz

Comprehensive Plan Framework Element bill, B23-1

DC Housing Priorities Coalition briefing paperJune 27, 2019

Who we are

The DC Housing Priorities Coalition includes: Enterprise Community Partners, DC Fiscal Policy Institute, Coalition for Non Profit Housing and Economic Development (CNHED), Somerset Development, Coalition for Smarter Growth, Greater Greater Washington, United Planning Organization, Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC)

Why we formed

The Housing Priorities Coalition formed to help update the DC Comprehensive Plan, the land use policy that guides development decisions in the District. (Learn more from DC Office of Planning on the DC Comprehensive Plan amendment process here, plandc.dc.gov). See full Housing Priorities Coalition amendment package.

Our DC Housing Prioritiesfor the Comprehensive Plan Amendments

  • Meet the housing demand
  • Equitably distribute housing
  • Best utilize areas near transit
  • Include families:ensurehomes for people of all income levels and of all household sizes, including families.
  • Prioritize affordable housing as a community benefit
  • Preserve existing affordable housing
  • Protect tenants
  • Support neighborhood commercial corridors
  • Clarify zoning authority
  • Improve data collection and transparency

Why these priorities

  • Lack of affordable housing and risk of displacement are among the greatest challenges DC facesto achieving racial equity, quality of life for residents, and economic sustainability for all.
  • Low-income District residents, particularlyresidents of color, do not currently enjoy equal access to affordable housing connected to communities of opportunity, perpetuating a gaping racial equity gap.
  • The Planned Unit Development (PUD) process, which is an important way to produce new housing with substantial affordability, is now held up in constant court challenges resulting in thousands of stalled homes, including hundreds of affordable homes. Court challenges and rulings have relied heavily on narrow interpretations of the Comp Plan, so our proposed amendments help to clarify how the Zoning Commission should judge and prioritize PUDs. Such clarification is critical, because even the riskof lawsuits also has dramatically reduced the use of PUDs for affordable and market-rate housing (example: Park Morton public housing blocked at Bruce Monroe PUD. View list of stalled projects published by Washington Business Journal here)

Our coalition’s five priorities for amendments to B23-1

  1. Housing affordability is the #1 priority for DC
  2. Emphasize tenant protections and anti-displacement
  3. Reinforce principles of fair housing and connections to communities of opportunity
  4. Incorporate OP August 2018 amendments
  5. Ensure effective development approval process amendments
  6. Add matter of right bonus provision for affordable housing
  7. Clarify PUD approval process, including scope of agency review

CSG in the news: D.C. fails to take up Comprehensive Plan amendments, pushes issue to 2019

Posted on by Alex Baca

Bisnow, Dec. 14, 2018:

Advocates are not happy that the council pushed the Comprehensive Plan amendment to 2019. Coalition for Smarter Growth Policy Director Cheryl Cort said the group is pushing the council to take up the amendments early next year. “We are frustrated that it was not moved forward,” Cort said. “We would have liked to have this Comprehensive Plan be a higher priority, but we know the council is still engaged, and the chairman has not forgotten about it.”

…

“The PUD process is being crippled by all the meritless appeals,” Cort said. “We used to get some appeals, which makes sense, but now pretty much everything is being appealed and it’s crippling our ability to redevelop larger affordable housing sites.” 

The D.C. Council held a hearing on the amendments in March that lasted over 13 hours and had 273 people signed up to testify. Many top D.C. developers, including JBG Smith, EYA, Trammell Crow, MRP Realty, MidCity Development and Menkiti Group testified in support of the amendments. Advocates like Cort also testified in favor of the amendments, while other anti-development activists like Chris Otten testified in opposition to the changes. 

Read more here.