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This week, I announced that I will be stepping down as the Director of DC's Office of Planning at the end of December to pursue opportunities outside of District government. It has been an honor to serve alongside an amazing group of people and to be able to work with so many of you over the last three years. Together, we have accomplished so much. I look forward to seeing more groundbreaking and impactful work from OP. Through this transition, I will be supporting the Mayor to ensure a seamless transition and find the next OP Director.
Although OP’s work around equity and racial justice goes back well over a decade, in recent years, the importance of equity as a guiding principle for all of OP’s work has only grown. Recent efforts include the Comprehensive Plan equity crosswalk, Mayor Bowser’s housing equity work, food equity, internal racial equity training, hiring a nationally-recognized equity expert, developing practices to better engage all residents, joining Planning Directors from across the nation in a commitment to change and advance racial equity, and finally, applying the equity lenses to zoning, capital improvement planning, and area planning as presented in the updated Comprehensive Plan to all of our planning efforts.
Still, there is more to be done, and to be successful, we need to be intentional and work differently. With this in mind, OP established an internal Racial Equity Working Group to examine our past and current practices to develop a guiding narrative for OP that ensures equity is embedded in how we approach everything that we do. We are excited to share OP’s Racial Equity Narrative below, along with a link to a collection of OP’s activities to advance racial equity.
Stay tuned as future newsletters promise to be full of milestones and planning news. Please feel free to share with others, who can sign up here. In addition, you can follow our work on Twitter under @OPinDC.
Sincerely,
Andrew Trueblood
Director, DC Office of Planning
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The Office of Planning (OP) is tasked with planning for the long-term growth of the District of Columbia, to help ensure it reflects our values of an inclusive and vibrant city. We help the District work toward a positive future in which all District residents can thrive, regardless of income, race, age, or background. To live up to this mission of achieving an equitable District, we must examine our past and current practices and implement a guiding narrative to ensure equity is embedded in all of our work.
OP’s Racial Equity Narrative
The District of Columbia Office of Planning (OP) acknowledges that urban planning has been part of systems that, through racially discriminatory and exclusionary policies, have harmed Black residents, other people of color, and their communities.
Recognizing the continuing effects of this legacy, OP is working to achieve racial equity, which we define as when race no longer drives disparities or life outcomes for District residents, and when everyone has equitable access to opportunities and what they need to thrive, inclusive of all identities and no matter where they live.
OP is committed to applying a racial equity lens both in our internal operations and external work and to confronting and rejecting structural racism where it exists. We commit to advancing racial equity through transparent processes, centering community voices in planning, maximizing accessibility of our services and programs, and holding ourselves accountable for the impact of our work.
We will name and address inequities when we encounter them. We will build a planning practice centered on racial equity for land use; design and preservation; and the built environment. We will continue to advance racial equity to increase affordable housing, inclusive economic opportunities, and healthy neighborhoods where all residents can access what they need to achieve equitable outcomes.
OP is interested in your feedback on the Racial Equity Narrative. We invite you to share your comments with us at planning@dc.gov or by calling 202-442-7600. For more information on OP’s activities to advance racial equity, please visit planning.dc.gov/racialequity.
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The Office of Planning undertook the North Capitol Cloverleaf Urbanization Study to help envision how the cloverleaf interchange at North Capitol and Irving Streets could be redesigned. The existing cloverleaf interchange stifles neighborhood connectivity and good urban design; it is auto-oriented, hostile to pedestrians, cuts off several acres of open space, and promotes an insular development pattern on large properties in the North Capitol Crossroads Future Planning Analysis Area.
This study is an important first step important first step to guide a more urban redevelopment pattern of large adjacent institutional properties and create more interconnected and people-friendly corridors between the rich urban fabric of neighborhoods in Wards 1, 4, and 5. Realizing this opportunity begins with rethinking the cloverleaf interchange, and identifying how it can better serve everyone, not just drivers.
The study recommends an ‘Urbanized Alternative’ to the cloverleaf which accomplishes the following:
- Replaces the cloverleaf ramps with two new connector roads and four new signalized intersections.
- Maintains the grade separation between North Capitol Street traversing over Irving Street.
- Adds shared-use paths and sidewalks on all roadways for direct pedestrian and bicycle connectivity throughout.
- Optimizes the shape of property parcels created by removing the interchange.
- Better connects the four quadrants of the intersection encouraging a more robust grid of streets and urban block pattern.
The next step to replacing the legacy highway infrastructure at this location requires public investment in roadway redesign. This redesign would leverage private redevelopment and better urban design on land currently separated by the cloverleaf ramps and their free-flowing traffic.
The North Capitol Cloverleaf Urbanization Study built on DDOT’s 2016 Crosstown Multimodal Transportation Study and policies in the 2021 Comprehensive Plan update that proposed reconfiguring the cloverleaf interchange to facilitate connected development and multimodal access. Urbanizing the cloverleaf contributes to moveDC 2021’s Goals including improving safety, enhancing mobility, creating enjoyable spaces, furthering equity, and creating a sustainable transportation network. The removal of the legacy highway infrastructure advances OP and DDOT’s equity goals, by creating a safe, accessible and efficient transportation network that will provide improved access to economic opportunities, housing, and services for District residents. Find the whole report here.
The study was generously funded by the Metropolitan Washington Transportation Planning Board’s Transportation Land Use Connections Program.
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OP recently published Our City, Our Spaces!, a citywide guide to low-cost materials, tools, and equipment that support DC community members’ implementation of social and cultural events within the District’s open spaces. This document demonstrates how to grow an idea of a community gathering in a District outdoor space into reality by including a list of 56 materials, equipment, and tools to create daytime and nighttime community activities. It also provides inspiration and details on the many public and publicly-accessible private spaces that exist in the District, and the activity types that can happen within them. You can find the toolkit and associated appendix at planning.dc.gov/our-city-our-spaces.
The project was generously funded by the Metropolitan Washington Transportation Planning Board’s Transportation Land Use Connections Program.
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As part of our continued efforts to support Mayor Bowser’s housing equity goals, in 2020 and earlier this year, OP worked with the Zoning Commission to expand Inclusionary Zoning to provide new opportunities for affordable housing across the District.
In November, the Zoning Commission set down for public hearing the first three cases using the new Comprehensive Plan Future Land Use Map changes and considering Expanded Inclusionary Zoning (IZ+). IZ+ establishes a higher level of IZ than standard IZ requirements.
- Lisner Home Property map amendment was set down with IZ+ (Z.C. Case No. 21-11)
- S Street Village (Manna property) map amendment was set down with IZ+ (Z.C. Case No. 21-15)
- Church property in Ward 8 was set down without IZ+ (Z.C. Case No. 21-19)
These cases are an important milestone to the application of IZ+, which could result in as much as 20% of the new residential development being set aside for IZ units. The Commission noted that these applications were brought forward by the property owners even with the increased affordability requirements due to IZ+.
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Learn more and get involved in our community planning projects:
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OP is looking to hire a Grants Management Specialist to join our team. Learn more about the position and apply today!
Apply Now
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