Land Use
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Photo by jennifer yin licensed under Creative Commons
Greater Greater Washington writes about where we live, work, and play, why we make the location choices we do, and what forces shape these places.
Many people would like to live in safe, diverse, walkable neighborhoods with access to transit, stores, parks, good schools, and other amenities. While our region has more walkable urban places than most, the demand still exceeds available housing, making these places more expensive (and prices keep rising rapidly).
We must ensure that there are enough housing choices so everyone who wants to live in such a neighborhood can choose to do so. We should ensure that housing in desirable areas is available to people at many points along the income spectrum, and take action to fight segregation. And we can improve the vitality of all neighborhoods by encouraging new retail and amenities to improve the quality of life for all residents.
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Breakfast links: Thinking about urbanism edition
Conserbanism: A recent panel on transportation and energy featured conservatives and liberals who all agree on transit and compact development. For the conservatives, global warming isn’t the reason; while painting urbanism as an environmental issue is a powerful argument, it shouldn’t be the only one. Via Ryan Avent. Keep reading…
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HPRB might prohibit my rocking horse!
The battle is heating up over establishing a new historic district in Chevy Chase, DC. Residents opposed to the designation have been distributing “No Historic District” lawn signs and emailing neighborhood lists. The ANC is about to conduct a survey of residents to gauge support, and Councilmember Mary Cheh has introduced legislation to require a resident vote,… Keep reading…
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Zoning Commission delays parking discussion
With many items on the agenda for this month, the Zoning Commission has delayed discussion of the proposed parking regulations until its October meeting. At least I’m pretty sure it has—after mentioning that “proposed actions”, of which the parking issue is one, will come last, Chairman Hood said that the Commission would “continue” its… Keep reading…
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What’s happening this week
The District is getting back into full swing after the quiet of August. Lots going on this week: here’s a small sampling. Keep reading…
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Fall WalkingTown DC visual schedule
September 20 and 21 (two weeks from now) is the fall WalkingTown DC, a weekend chock-full of free walking tours of neighborhoods, alleys, cemeteries, gardens and more around DC. This spring, I made a visual sechedule to help people more easily visualize the possibilities. Keep reading…
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Mara, the bicycle Republican
Patrick Mara, challenging incumbent Carol Schwartz in the Republican primary for DC Council at-large, told WashCycle he’s more pro-bike than his opponent. Keep reading…
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Md. only listening to car-bound suburban and rural citizens
“You can make a difference for future generations,” says the State of Maryland. “Attend and be heard!” The state is holding six Smart Growth listening sessions to hear residents’ thoughts on development, transportation, historic preservation, the environment and more. Keep reading…
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Support a sustainable Tysons
Later this month, residents, businesses, and planners around Tysons Corner will release their plan to convert America’s archetypal edge city into a walkable, mixed-use, transit-oriented community. The Coalition for Smarter Growth wants to make sure Fairfax’s supervisors know that citizens will support a plan to create sustainability and reduce auto dependence… Keep reading…
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Transportation across the nation: New York City edition
Lots of good stuff this week on Streetsblog, NYC’s analogue of GGW and an inspiration for creating this site. Keep reading…
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Accessory dwelling debate comes to MoCo
Montgomery County allows accessory dwellings, but homeowners must first obtain a “special exception” from zoning authorities. That’s a time-consuming and burdensome process. It’s no surprise, therefore, that in a county of about a million people, there are only 162 accessory apartments, most in Takoma Park and Silver Spring. Keep reading…