How D.C.'s Comprehensive Plan May Change

Along with a commitment to produce more affordable housing, Washington D.C. is making general amendments to its Comprehensive Plan. The result may be more "honesty" and nuance around housing.

November 7, 2019, 9am PST | Philip Rojc | @PhilipRojc

Ryan Blanding

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"When Mayor Muriel Bowser and Office of Planning (OP) Director Andrew Trueblood released citywide targets for affordable housing production by neighborhood planning area, they also made public amendments to the rest of the Comprehensive Plan—all 24 chapters of it," Alex Baca writes.

Baca emphasizes the importance of minor wording edits, citing a 2006 Comp Plan that "effectively pushed development into certain areas of the city [...] and kept many, many more parts of the city off-limits from most new construction." Changing that "requires a lot of edits."

Overall, Baca writes, if the proposed amendments remain in place when the DC Council passes a final plan, "we think the Comp Plan will be much better off, and much more reflective of how housing has worked in DC."

New sections to the Comp Plan include Mayor Bowser's commitment to produce 36,000 units of new housing "everywhere in the city—not just in certain parts of it," as well as a mandate to encourage both market rate and affordable development in pricey districts. The public has until December 15 to review the new draft plan.

Full Story:

The Comp Plan guides DC’s growth. Here’s what proposed updates say about housing.

Published on Thursday, October 31, 2019 in Greater Greater Washington