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December 30, 2019
The Office of Planning (OP) had a busy 2019, focusing on the Comprehensive Plan, the Housing Framework for Equity and Growth, and Census 2020, among many other projects. This was an eventful year for the Comp Plan Update, with Council adopting the Framework Element and OP releasing the draft of the remaining elements in October. Following the release of the full draft, OP staff spent the fall and winter months conducting the public review process, with a series of community and ANC meetings in all eight wards of the District. The deadline for the public review period is January 10, 2020 for residents and February 14, 2020 for ANCs, after which point feedback will be reviewed and incorporated as appropriate into the Mayor’s submission to DC Council.
One of OP’s biggest projects of the year was the Housing Framework for Equity and Growth report, which was kicked off when Mayor Bowser set a goal for the District to have 36,000 new housing units by 2025. In October, OP, with support from the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), released the Housing Equity Report, which included an inventory of affordable units in each planning area and made the District the first city in the nation to set affordable housing targets by neighborhood. We held two community conversations on housing and are currently in the process of conducting a housing experience and design analysis that will inform opportunities and recommendations into 2020.
Lastly, as we close out another year, OP has spent the past year preparing for the DC Census 2020. The Census is used for the distribution federal funding, local budgeting and planning decisions, and updating Ward and ANC boundaries. Therefore, it is crucial that every District resident is counted, and this will continue to be a priority for OP as we get closer to the Census release in March!
Beyond these three projects, OP had many important successes this year, such as releasing the District’s first Cultural Plan, launching a data visualization portal, creating the African American Civil Rights Trail, and releasing the Sustainability Guidelines for Older and Historic Properties.
See what else we've been up to in December below. See you all in 2020!
Stay tuned as future newsletters promise to be full of updates and planning news. Please feel free to share with others, who can sign up here. In addition, you can follow our work on Twitter at @OPinDC.
Sincerely,
Andrew Trueblood
Director, DC Office of Planning
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On Monday, December 16, the DC Office of Planning (OP) announced that the public will now have until Friday, January 10, 2020 to review the Comprehensive Plan Draft Update (Comp Plan). In addition to extending the 60-day public review period, OP will now accept feedback from ANCs through February 14, 2020. Public review is critical for ensuring District residents get the updated plan that they deserve, and OP has adjusted its schedule to ensure sufficient time for review while also allowing adequate time for adoption of the Comp Plan by DC Council in 2020. In its current form, which was approved in 2006, the Comp Plan does not sufficiently address the District’s long-term needs around housing, equity, resilience, and public resources.
Public engagement for this update began with events in 2016 and continued with an official open call for amendments in 2017. OP received over 3,000 proposals through that public comment period. While these were the primary opportunities to weigh in on major substance and updates, OP also incorporated public input from other venues, including feedback provided through the DC Council’s review of the Framework Element in 2018 and 2019, OP's DC Values Campaign, the numerous housing engagements in 2019, and the hundreds public engagements associated with the 40+ plans produced by District agencies that are a part of the Comp Plan update.
More information about the Comp Plan substance, process and opportunities for input can be found at plandc.dc.gov.
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On Saturday, December 7, the Bowser Administration, led by the DC Office of Planning (OP), The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED), and the DC Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), hosted a public conversation to discuss how bold housing goals set by Mayor Bowser will advance housing equity and disrupt the historic impact of housing segregation in the District.
The conversation explored the impact of historic federal and local exclusionary and racially discriminatory land use policies and how the continued legacy of these policies impacts residents’ economic opportunity. In May, Mayor Bowser signed a Mayor’s Order directing District agencies to identify new policies, tools, and initiatives to begin fulfilling her bold goal of creating 36,000 new housing units, 12,000 of them affordable, by 2025.
In October, the Mayor released the Housing Equity Report and the District’s draft Comprehensive Plan proposal. By establishing goals specific to each planning area of the city, the Housing Equity Report makes Washington, DC among the first cities in the nation to create area-specific goals for affordable housing and dedicate an entire initiative to examining the barriers and opportunities within each area.
The event included a variety of housing and planning experts including Director Trueblood; Polly Donaldson, Director of the DC Department of Housing and Community Development; Neil Flanagan, Architectural Designer and Freelance Writer; Dr. Willow Lung-Amam, Associate Professor at University of Maryland's School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation; David Williams, Policy Director at Harvard University's Opportunity Insights; and Don Edwards, Founder and CEO of Justice and Sustainability Associates, who facilitated the conversation.
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For the first time, the US Census will be available to complete online! Beginning the week of March 16, 2020, every household in DC will receive a mailed invitation inviting to go online to complete their census form. Census data is kept safe and confidential and is never shared with any law enforcement agency.
The census provides critical data that District agencies, schools, health care providers, business owners, nonprofits and many others use to provide daily services, products, and support for you and your community. Every year, billions of dollars in federal funding goes to hospitals, fire departments, schools, roads, and other resources based on census data. In one year alone, the District received over $6 billion in funding through 55 large Federal spending programs such as Medicaid, SNAP, Housing Vouchers, Title 1 Education and Headstart grants just to name a few. Over 55 large Federal spending programs are funded based on census data. The District uses census data to redraw Ward and ANC boundaries every 10 years to ensure equitable representation for residents across all eight Wards.
Upcoming Census events:
DC Democrats
1/9 7pm-9pm
Census Information and Training
Location TBD
Immigration/ Health Resource Fair
1/11 11am-3pm
3101 16th Street, NW
NBC 4 Health Expo
1/18-1/19
Convention Center
Resource Table
Women’s Policy Boot Camp
1/25 9am-1pm
UDC Main Campus 4200 Connecticut Avenue
Information and Panel Participation
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