Author: Cheryl Cort

CSG in the News: Alexandria City Council Puts Seminary Road on a Diet

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

Alexandria City Council Puts Seminary Road on a Diet

City slims four-lane thoroughfare into Complete Street with bike lanes.

By Bridgette Adu-Wadier, Alexandria Gazette Packet, Saturday, September 21, 2019

Seminary Road is about to go on a diet, slimming down from four lanes to two.

Last weekend, the Alexandria City Council narrowly approved a plan to remove two traffic lanes from a stretch of Seminary Road. The “road diet” will create new bike lanes and improve pedestrian safety along a busy stretch in the West End. The four-to-three vote was cast Saturday night after a contentious day-long public hearing….

“When you expand roads, you can attract more drivers, but when you cut roads and invest in better alternatives, traffic will adjust,” said Stewart Schwartz of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, a supporter of the road diet. “We will still be driving, but the more people we have not driving because of alternatives will be safer and better for us.”

View full story in the Alexandria Gazette Packet 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.

Will the DC Council vote for inclusion or exclusion?

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

Take Action Today

On October 8 the DC Council votes on the city’s Comprehensive Plan. Amendments must ensure that affordable housing and preventing displacement are top priorities

On October 8 (postponed from Sept. 17), the DC Council will vote on the Framework Element of the Comprehensive Plan. The plan defines DC’s priorities for development and will shape our city for years to come.

You have helped us win numerous positive amendments to the draft plan. However, the current bill includes language that undermines affordable housing and prevention of displacement, and even has text that is exclusionary and helps perpetuate housing segregation.

Tell the DC Council to fix the bill.

To fix the bill, we need the DC Council to adopt two amendments:

  1. Councilmember Brianne Nadeau’s amendment which addresses racial and social equity in DC by prioritizing affordable housing and prevention of displacement.
  2. An amendment to remove exclusionary language that makes preserving “physical and visual character” a dominating requirement in development review. This is too similar to the type of planning language that has historically perpetuated housing segregation.

It’s down to the wire, but with your help we can win these two amendments!

The Comprehensive Plan bill should ensure we meet our housing needs – affordable housing and preventing displacement.

Click here for our action page to see both amendments and send a message to the Council.

Before next Tuesday’s vote, send a message to the DC Council and let them know we want a city for all.

Thanks for all that you do,

Cheryl

—
Cheryl Cort
Policy Director
action@smartergrowth.net