Shaw in DC by Ted Eytan licensed under Creative Commons.

An update to the Comprehensive Plan, DC’s overarching planning document that guides growth and development in the District, is moving through the legislative process after Mayor Muriel Bowser signed the bill Wednesday.

The plan update also passed a review by the National Capital Planning Commission last week. That review was required to determine that the change “will not have a negative impact on the interest or functions of the federal establishment in the National Capital.”

The bill can become law after a 30-day Congressional review period.

The long-awaited Comp Plan update includes some increased density, with officials estimating it could allow for as much as 15% more badly-needed housing stock. The update also includes new language around racial equity, affordable housing, and anti-displacement strategies.

The Comp Plan itself does not change zoning, but zoning and other land use decisions are required to be consistent with the comprehensive plan. For instance, if the allowable density for an area of land is increased in the Future Land Use Map (also known as FLUM, and part of the Comprehensive Plan), a bigger building can’t automatically be built there. Instead, boosting density in the FLUM allows for officials to make changes to the zoning map, or approve Planned Unit Developments that build beyond what the existing zoning allows. In other words, the Comp Plan is necessary for increased density, but not sufficient.

Even after that 30-day review, this isn’t the last you’ll hear about Comprehensive Plan updates. A full rewrite process is expected to kick off in 2025.

Libby Solomon was a writer/editor and Managing Editor for GGWash from 2020 to 2022. She was previously a reporter for the Baltimore Sun covering the Baltimore suburbs and a writer for Johns Hopkins University’s Centers for Civic Impact.