Posts about Development
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This community landmark will become a chain store. Why?
For over a decade, Pyramid Atlantic was a Silver Spring landmark, offering studio space, art classes, and a gallery that hosted events and concerts. Now, its bright red building on Georgia Avenue is a chain paint store. Why? Keep reading…
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Cleveland Park residents are ok with more density if it means more retail
Two restaurants in Cleveland Park shut their doors this weekend because of slow business. With strong support from residents, two ANC commissioners submitted a Comprehensive Plan amendment that would help bring more commercial space to the area. They withheld a proposal that would make it easier to build more housing because it didn’t get quite as much support. Keep reading…
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Gentrification. What does that word even mean?!
DC is a much different place than it was twenty, ten, and even just five years ago. In fact, many might call it a national posterchild for “gentrification.” But what does that word actually mean? Is it that wealthy people live where poor people use to? That retailers are different, or that vacant lots are now home to apartment buildings? Something else? We discussed in this week's contributor chat. Keep reading…
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Let’s protect PUDs, an important tool for ensuring communities benefit from development
Planned Unit Developments aren't a perfect process, but the benefits they do bring are now under threat for future buildings. If we’re not careful, communities will lose this tool due to some recent legal challenges. Part of the problem lies in contradictory readings of the Comprehensive Plan, and we have proposed ways to fix this in our Comp Plan amendment package. Keep reading…
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Rhode Island Center will get less housing thanks to lawsuits over PUDs
On Rhode Island Avenue, right next to the Metro, developer MRP Realty has plans to turn what's currently a strip mall into new housing. The company recently changed course on how it's going about its plans, essentially to make them less vulnerable to attacks from a vocal minority of neighbors. This has big ramifications for housing across the District. Keep reading…
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We’ve worked for nine months on a better Comp Plan. Here’s what we’ve got.
The DC Comprehensive Plan doesn’t do enough to encourage and direct growth in an inclusive way. We have worked with a diverse group of partners to draft a set of amendments that we think make the Comp Plan a stronger, better guide for the city’s growth. Keep reading…
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As Chinatown grows, some long-time residents wonder where they fit
“Chinatown’s identity is the people who live there.” That’s what Chinatown means to Yi Chen, a documentary filmmaker and adjunct professor at George Mason University. But what happens when those people can’t connect with other District residents, or when they can’t live in Chinatown? Keep reading…
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How to ask for more affordable housing but make building it impossible
The progressive group DC for Democracy (DC4D) wants to create more affordable housing. That’s great. But a recent recommendation from the group would actually have the effect of reducing it. Keep reading…
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DC’s Comprehensive Plan, a document we use today, preserves the racial segregation of our past
In its current planning documents, DC classifies neighborhoods in a way that looks disturbingly similar to “redlining” maps from the past. By labeling large sections of DC as “stable” and creating policies that insulate these areas, the city appears to be preserving residential segregation. Keep reading…
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Should these Anacostia homes become affordable housing?
Four homes in Historic Anacostia have sat vacant and in disrepair for decades, despite years of neighbors’ efforts to redevelop and preserve them. The DC government owns these blighted properties and just recently designated them to be rehabilitated and turned into affordable housing. But some neighbors and DC Councilmembers say an earlier plan— one that would make them market rate homes— should be the one moving forward. Keep reading…