DC Council passes Comprehensive Plan update unanimously

DC Council has been working for years to update the Comprehensive Plan, DC’s enormous zoning and land-use document. On Tuesday, those years of work concluded in a unanimous vote on an update to the document, which dates back to 2006.

The Comprehensive Plan doesn’t change DC’s zoning, but it does guide decisions about land use and zoning, shaping the direction of DC’s growth, including some in historically exclusive neighborhoods west of Rock Creek Park.

Density advocates (including some at GGWash), as well as Mayor Muriel Bowser, say boosting DC’s housing construction is vital for addressing housing affordability. Planning director Andrew Trueblood told the Post the amendments could allow for increasing housing stock by as much as 15%.

The changes also add language encouraging fewer cars, and explore implementing congestion pricing.

Racial equity was central to Tuesday’s vote

Some of the most vocal opposition to the Comp Plan update centered around racial equity. A report from the Council Office of Racial Equity (CORE) found that the bill’s committee print didn’t go far enough in acknowledging and addressing DC’s painful history of racist land use policies.

Some of the last-minute changes the Council approved Tuesday were meant to address those concerns.

One major change in Council Chairman Phil Mendelson’s Tuesday amendment to the bill: defining “deeply affordable” housing as housing affordable to families making less than 40% of the Median Family Income (MFI).

That change was important to members including Janeese Lewis George. During the Council’s first vote on the Comp Plan bill earlier this month, Lewis George noted that much of the language referring to affordable housing was referring to units affordable to those making 80% MFI — but that given the racial wealth gap, the median income for Black families is closer to the 40% mark.

Mendelson’s amendment defines deeply affordable at that mark, then adds language encouraging deeply affordable housing throughout the document.

The amendment also strengthens language around anti-displacement, requiring officials to create an anti-displacement strategy and conduct racial equity analyses considering displacement pressures.

What’s next?

The Comp Plan is a first step, but it’s not going to solve DC’s housing shortage or rectify years of segregation and displacement right off the bat. To get housing built, particularly affordable housing, Councilmember Brianne Nadeau noted the Council will have to “put our money where our mouth is.”

Beyond that, councilmembers agree that even amended, the more than 1000-page Comp Plan is unwieldy and dated. During the first reading, Councilmember Robert White called it a “Frankenstein.”

So if you’re sad to see the DC Council wrap up its Comp Plan update, don’t you worry. Expect a full rewrite process to kick off by 2025.