Montgomery County has planned an ambitious 82-mile bus rapid transit (BRT) network, which would be a major step towards the county’s greenhouse gas emission reduction and economic development goals.
Category: Take Action
ACTION: Tell the DC Council to support flexible commuter benefits
Photo: Kevin Kovaleski/Flickr
ACTION: Tell Maryland to delay the I-495/I-270 widening project until after environmental reviews!
As you’ve probably heard, the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) plans to expand the Capital Beltway (I-495) and I-270 by adding toll lanes, and now wants to accelerate the project by passing amendments through the Maryland Board of Public Works.
Email Maryland’s Board of Public Works members today!
We don’t think this project should more forward until there has been a comprehensive alternatives and impact analysis under the National Envrionmental Policy Act (NEPA). Rushing the highway expansions and failing to complete the environmental review process first creates significant environmental, legal, and financial risks.
As the Virginia experience has shown, the 12-lane highways that result from adding four toll lanes are a massive, generational alteration of our landscape and come at high cost to homes and neighborhoods, people and health, and the natural environment. Maryland has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, yet toll lanes will increase driving and emissions.
Image: urbandispute, Flickr
ALERT: We won! Yesterday, the DC Council voted for a more inclusive city!
ALERT: We won! DC Comprehensive Plan will help build a more inclusive city!
Yesterday, Oct. 9, 2019, after many delays, the DC Council voted on the Framework Element of the Comprehensive Plan, the guiding document that will shape our city for years to come.
With your help, we fought for and won two key amendments. The first prioritizes preserving and building more affordable housing, and preventing the displacement of residents. The second fixes the broken review process for Planned Unit Developments (PUDs) so it can be predictable, while also prioritizing affordable housing and preventing displacement.
These changes go a long way towards making the District more inclusive!
Take a moment to thank the DC Council!
What happened? Over the last few months we partnered with other housing advocacy groups, sent alerts to you at key points, met with Councilmembers and staff, and explained the issues to the media. With your help we were able to win two critical amendments:
- Councilmember Brianne Nadeau’s amendment which helps address racial and social equity in DC by explicitly prioritizing affordable housing and prevention of displacement.
- An amendment removing exclusionary language which made preserving “physical and visual character” a dominating requirement in development review. This language was too similar to the type of planning language that has historically perpetuated housing segregation. The Council replaced it with language suggested by the DC Office of Planning, which we supported.
We thank Chairman Mendelson and the Council, who heard us and made the revisions we knew were critical to a better plan. Thanks to these changes, well-designed affordable housing and mixed-income housing proposals will be able to move forward again.
Please be sure to thank the DC Council!
We’re excited to get to work reviewing and supporting good projects. Meanwhile, the rest of the Comp Plan chapters will be coming forward soon. Look for more updates from the CSG team!
We hope you will stay involved, helping to shape land use and housing policies and decisions to ensure our city is a place where longtime residents can stay and thrive, and newcomers can find new opportunities.
Background to the critical Comprehensive Plan amendments
The 2006 Comprehensive Plan focused too much on preserving the status quo rather than planning for a growing population and the need for more housing that is affordable to middle and lower-income residents. Opponents of new housing have used the 2006 Comprehensive Plan to delay thousands of new homes, and hundreds of new affordable homes — increasing rather than reducing displacement of longtime residents.
That’s why we developed dozens of amendments, and also partnered with other organizations to craft and submit numerous amendments to the Comprehensive Plan, provided testimony at the March 2018 hearing, and why you sent in hundreds of emails to the Council last year.
On July 10, 2019, the DC Council took a preliminary vote on the Framework Element of Comprehensive Plan bill proposed by Chairman Phil Mendelson. While the Chairman’s bill included a significant number of our amendments, as well as the Office of Planning’s amendments, the Chairman’s revised bill still fell short in addressing the need for more affordable housing.
As a result of strong advocacy to the Chairman and the Council by the Coalition for Smarter Growth, our active supporters, and our partners in the DC Housing Priorities Coalition, the DC Council voted for an amended Bill 23-1 on October 8, 2019. Amendments we won:
- Specific guidance to prioritize affordable housing and preventing displacement in the Planned Unit Development (PUD) approval process (section 224.9).
- Removal of exclusionary language about “physical and visual character” in the Planned Unit Development approval process, which would have made this “character” more important than any of our other values like preventing displacement and building more affordable housing. The Council supported alternative language recommended by DC Office of Planning, which we supported (section 227.2).
Learn more about the amendments in the CSG blog post: DC Office of Planning and advocates seek to change troubling provision in DC Comprehensive Plan bill
Will the DC Council vote for inclusion or exclusion?
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:
- Councilmember Brianne Nadeau’s amendment which addresses racial and social equity in DC by prioritizing affordable housing and prevention of displacement.
- 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
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Cheryl Cort
Policy Director
action@smartergrowth.net