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As we close out the month of November, the Office of Planning (OP) continues to work toward an updated Comprehensive Plan that will support our housing, resilience and equity needs and help guide the District through an equitable recovery.
On Thursday, November 12 and Friday, November 13, 2020, the DC Council held two virtual hearings on the Comprehensive Plan Update. Both Council hearings were recorded and can be viewed here along with my written testimony. The record to submit feedback on the Comp Plan will be open through December 3, 2020. You can submit feedback to Council by emailing cow@dccouncil.us or calling (202) 430-6948 (which will be transcribed for the record).
In addition, OP continues to pursue new ways to support Mayor Bowser’s housing goals of 36,000 housing units with 12,000 affordable units. This month, the Zoning Commission voted unanimously to take proposed action to approve Expanded Inclusionary Zoning (IZ+) which is a concept proposed by OP to increase affordable housing produced through zoning changes, targeting high opportunity areas and areas proposed for change on the Future Land Use Map in the Comp Plan Update. You can read more about IZ+ below.
Please read on to learn about our exciting new community-based initiatives and stay tuned as future newsletters promise to be full of updates and planning news. Feel free to share our newsletter 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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In Fiscal Year 2021, OP will focus on a series of new community-based planning efforts that will further vibrant, equitable and resilient neighborhoods with access to housing, amenities and public resources for all residents. The first of these initiatives is the Congress Heights Small Area Plan, launching in December.
OP is excited to kick off the Congress Heights Small Area Plan and begin working alongside the Congress Heights community to co-create an equitable development plan for Congress Heights and adjacent neighborhoods in Southeast, DC. By working with the residents and community stakeholders, the effort will use the racial and socio-economic equity goals established in the Comprehensive Plan update to establish a vision for the future of Congress Heights, serve as a toolkit for Congress Heights stakeholders to lead conversations around equitable community development, and guide District implementing agencies and developers on community needs and priorities.
Join us for the first virtual Town Hall meeting on Thursday, December 3rd, at 6:30 p.m. Click here for information about how to attend.
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OP continues to find new ways to meet Mayor Bowser’s challenge to produce more affordable housing in a more equitable way across the District. Expanded Inclusionary Zoning (IZ+) is an important tool to help get more affordable units, especially in high-cost areas. On July 15, OP hosted a virtual roundtable to gather public feedback on the proposed concept, which expands existing IZ requirements of the Zoning Regulations to create higher affordable housing set-aside requirements for certain map amendments.
On November 16, the Zoning Commission held a public hearing where it voted unanimously to take proposed action to approve IZ+. OP will continue to work with residents and stakeholders on the IZ+ proposal for final action.
The complete record in the case can be viewed online at the Office of Zoning’s Interactive Zoning Information System. The Zoning Commission is accepting comments through December 27, 2020.
For more information on IZ+, please visit planning.dc.gov/inclusionaryzoning.
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The DC Historic Preservation Office was recently awarded a $5,000 grant by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. This funding will allow additional research on the historical data for early Civil War-era Georgetown structures which will be added to our popular HistoryQuest DC application, an interactive GIS map providing historical data on over 127,000 extant buildings in Washington, DC.
Grants from the National Trust Preservation Fund range from $2,500 to $5,000 and have provided over $15 million since 2003. These matching grants are awarded to nonprofit organizations and public agencies across the country to support wide-ranging activities including consultant services for rehabilitating buildings, technical assistance for tourism that promotes historic resources, and the development of materials for education and outreach campaigns.
To learn more about HistoryQuest DC, please visit planning.dc.gov/page/historyquest-dc. For more information on National Trust for Historic Preservation’s grants, visit forum.savingplaces.org/build/funding.
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