Posts about Development
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DC’s hottest neighborhood is at the bottom of the sea
Not long ago, the center of the action in DC was around Dupont Circle and Georgetown. Over the past 15 years, neighborhoods throughout the District are seeing a resurgence of new residents and new investment, from Brightwood to Ivy City to Deanwood to the Southwest waterfront. Keep reading…
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WMATA plans to rebuild its 14th Street bus garage with retail, and keep its diesel fleet for now
WMATA is revamping its crumbling northern bus garage on 14th Street using state-of-the-art “green” construction and electric systems. The proposed new garage will bring retail to enliven the street, but many residents are disappointed it won't replace polluting diesel buses with electric ones. Keep reading…
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Could “build higher” untangle a thorny Shaw school controversy?
Two groups of DC school parents are at loggerheads. In the heart of Shaw is a large, vacant building that once housed a junior high school. One group wants the school rebuilt and reopened as a neighborhood middle school, while others want to move Benjamin Banneker High School to the area. Can both get what they want? Keep reading…
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An updated Crummell School plan swaps 32 apartments for more green space
More than 50 Ivy City residents and other community members gathered at Bethesda Baptist Church on February 11 to hear the latest proposed developments for the historic Crummell School site. A bill introduced in late 2017 that received a hearing in June would lease an approximately 100,000-square-foot plot of city land to a development team for 99 years at the rate of $1 per year. Keep reading…
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An American Legion project offers affordable homes for veterans in Arlington
In Arlington's intense housing market, a breakthrough project aims to provide housing-strapped veterans with an affordable place to live. However, the project has also illustrated how the county's planning process is limited by its reliance on sector plans, and brings forward some new ideas to the ongoing conversation about parking. Keep reading…
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How well is the region doing at planning for growth near Metro?
The jurisdictions in our region have taken measurable steps towards implementing transit-oriented development by upzoning land near the region's 91 Metrorail stations. However, at many stations there is still room for improvement, and some stations/jurisdictions are doing much better than others. Keep reading…
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Here are seven ways Montgomery County is changing
More than 50 years ago, Montgomery County created a grand vision for how it would grow, called On Wedges and Corridors. It laid out the basic structure of Montgomery County, with development clustering around the Red Line and I-270, a big network of parks and open spaces, and a large agricultural reserve beyond that. However, our county looks very different than it did back then. Keep reading…
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Residents who don’t want more people in Reston are resorting to misinformation
The Fairfax County Planning Commission is about to take up a proposal to change some of the zoning in Reston and allow for more people to live in certain areas near transit. Known as “Planned Residential Communities (PRC),” the proposal would raise the person-per-acre cap across those areas from 13 to 15. Keep reading…
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A stadium subsidy by any other name is still a stadium subsidy
Stadium subsidies are a waste of public funds, according to polls of both the general public and and economists. Amidst this nearly universal disdain, politicians have found inventive shell games that cloak colossal giveaways of taxpayer resources to billionaire sports team owners. Keep reading…
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Build more housing in Montgomery County using this one weird trick
My recent look at zoning in the DC region revealed that 82% of land in Montgomery County (not including Rockville and Gaithersburg, which both have local zoning control) is either protected open space (35%) or restricted to detached single family zones (48%). These are staggering numbers. Keep reading…