The D.C. Office of Planning has proposed a change to the Inclusionary Zoning rules to get more income-restricted housing when a property seeks a map amendment that upzones the site. This would impact the Cleveland Park Commercial area, which may allow higher density buildings than the current NC-3 zoning would allow. If a map amendment sought to get the density from, say, a zone like MU-7, the affordable housing set-aside requirement would increase from 10% to 20%. That is significant.
Information about the proposal, Zoning Commission Case 20-02, can be found in the case file.
Last month OP held a virtual round table discussion on the subject and Cleveland Park Smart Growth’s Steering Committee submitted the following statement:
Steering Committee Statement on Expanded IZ
OP Roundtable on ZCCase 20-02
July 14, 2020
Director Trueblood,
The Steering Committee of Cleveland Park Smart Growth supports in concept the Expanded Inclusionary Zoning proposal introduced by the Office of Planning. CPSG strongly supports the proposed amendments to the City’s Comprehensive Plan increasing allowable density on the Future Land Use Map along our area’s transit corridors. We hope the Council takes swift action to approve these recommendations. The Expanded IZ proposal allows more permanently affordable homes to be built as a result of any future upzoning. CPSG supports more homes in our neighborhood, and a greater share of permanently affordable homes.
Asking for a greater share of affordable housing is fair given the valuation increase the up-zoned properties will have experienced. Adding housing for all incomes in high-cost, high-opportunity areas such as ours is good transportation and climate policy, good retail revitalization policy, and makes our land use more equitable. Building new housing in our neighborhood, and in Ward 3 generally, is not as disruptive as building in lower-cost areas of the city. No one here is being displaced. Elsewhere in the city where new housing is being built, many are facing rising housing costs that are displacing long-time residents. Any home built here means one fewer home that needs to be built in a lower-cost area of the city.
For these reasons we support adding more opportunities for housing for all incomes in our part of the city that the Comp Plan changes and the Expanded IZ proposal will bring.
Respectfully,
The Cleveland Park Smart Growth Steering Committee
J.C. Ayala (Porter St)
Liza Collery (Newark St)
David Cristeal (Connecticut Ave)
Megan Draheim (Porter St)
Ellen Herr (Connecticut Ave)
Nina Shiffrin (Connecticut Ave)
Glenn Stanley (34th St)
Bob Ward (Macomb St)
Laura Watson (Quebec St)
Cleveland Park Smart Growth 