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With Spring in full swing and summer around the corner, warmer weather brings exciting opportunities for all of us to get outside and enjoy our public spaces. We’re excited to share Streets for People sponsored activities going on across Downtown DC. Read below for more information on what’s coming up in June.
In celebration of Infrastructure Week, this month, Mayor Bowser hosted several events throughout DC that highlighted infrastructure projects and initiatives that are creating a stronger and more equitable DC. Read below for more on Infrastructure Week 2022.
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Sincerely,
Anita Cozart
Interim Director, DC Office of Planning
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 The DC Office of Planning (OP) has released Celebrating Our Diversity, the 2025 District of Columbia Historic Preservation Plan.
The new plan provides guidance to city agencies, federal partners, cultural organizations, non-profits, and property owners to celebrate and preserve the District’s heritage as a vital and valued part of our daily lives.
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Mayor Bowser recently released the 2022 Sustainable DC 2.0 Progress Report. The Progress Report includes a summary with key accomplishments and a detailed chart explaining progress made in the past year on Sustainable DC 2.0 action items.
In addition, to supporting place-based climate mitigation planning efforts across the city, one of OP’s important contributions to advancing the District’s sustainability and resilience goals is support for solar installations on historic buildings. In 2019, the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) adopted the Sustainability Guide for Older and Historic Buildings to facilitate retrofits of older buildings in a manner that improves their performance and energy efficiency while also being respectful of their architectural character. It includes design guidelines which harmonize visible solar installations with historic buildings, such as through the use of setbacks, low-profile panels and installation methods, and panels that eliminate shiny silver frames. The guide serves as a valuable tool to advance the goals of Sustainable DC related to reducing energy use, greenhouse gas emissions and water usage, and encouraging properties to meet net-zero energy standards and provide renewable energy.
Since 2019, the Office of Planning's Historic Preservation Office (HPO) has approved 1,214 solar installations on historic properties, a 271% increase over the preceding three-year period. In that time, no permit for a solar installation has been denied by HPO or the HPRB because it could not meet the preservation guidelines. View examples of approved projects below:
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 This solar installation on the front of a bungalow in the Takoma Park Historic District includes a film applied to the panels that replicates the appearance of the surrounding roof.
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 The solar panels on this house in the Cleveland Park Historic District will have black frames rather than silver to be visually unobtrusive against the dark slate roof.
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 These solar installations on two homes in the Kingman Park Historic District are not visible from the street.
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 Solar panels on a house in the Bloomingdale Historic District were approved based on these plans filed with DCRA.
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The District has invested in two important initiatives to re-imagine how we use our streets – Streets for People and Open Streets.
The Streets for People Initiative launched in 2022 to temporarily retrofit downtown streets, alleys, sidewalks, curb space, and parks in ways that bring economic vitality back to Central Washington. Streets for People promotes racial equity by featuring the work of local artists, cultural organizations, and businesses that focus on Black, Indigenous, and communities of color.
There are several upcoming events in the downtown area including:
- Live music in Dupont Circle on June 11th and on Wednesday afternoons in Farragut Square.
- ArtWalk Dupont will return on June 16th and on the third Thursday of each month, featuring the Dupont Circle arts community and local businesses.
- Family movie night at Farragut Square on Thursdays at sunset.
Get more information on Streets for People activities.
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Open Streets is a global initiative that offers communities the opportunity to experience their city streets in a whole new way. Open Streets events temporarily close roadways to vehicles to provide safe spaces for walking, biking, skating, and other social activities. Led by the District Department of Transportation, DC Open Streets events help residents reimagine public space to prioritize people over cars, provide easy access to recreation and other health-oriented programming, and promote local economic development by helping support businesses. The District began celebrating Open Streets in 2019 at the inaugural event on Georgia Avenue.
On Saturday, May 21, the District kicked off a series of Open Streets events on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE in Ward 8. Be sure to join us on Saturday, June 4, at the Open Streets event along 7th Street NW in Wards 2 and 6, followed by Open Streets events in Ward 5 on July 30, along Franklin Street NE, and in Ward 7 on August 27, along Benning Road NE.
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May 16th through the 21st, Mayor Bowser hosted several events throughout DC in celebration of Infrastructure Week. Events included the groundbreaking of the Stacks and Bridge District along the Anacostia and a community walk across I-295 to highlight the importance of reconnecting communities once divided by highways. Building off the momentum from Infrastructure week, OP is working with members of the Transportation Innovation Subcommittee of Mayor Bowser’s Build Back Better Infrastructure Task Force to identify transformational, equitable, sustainable, and achievable projects that leverage funds made available through Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Visit infrastructure.dc.gov to share your thoughts on how we prioritize funding projects with Task Force members. The District’s Comprehensive Plan provides guidance on infrastructure, facilities and land use; OP’s planning efforts in Chevy Chase, Congress Heights, Pennsylvania Ave East and along New York Avenue, build on this guidance and provide a great starting point for District leaders to identify opportunities for transformational and innovative infrastructure improvements made possible by this once-in-a-generation federal investment.
It’s also important to remember that the infrastructure sector can provide good jobs for District residents. Check out the OP Data Corner below for annual payroll data on a variety of jobs including those in fields related to infrastructure.
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Welcome to OP’s Urban Design Corner, where we share interesting tidbits about urban design every month. Building upon last month’s topic of the public realm, this month, we’re defining Streetscape. A key urban design feature within the public realm, Streetscapes include the public area between the face of the building and the edge of the street. Physical elements and variables of Streetscapes are the type and dimension of curbs, sidewalks, planters, street trees, and streetlights. These elements combine to form the street’s character.
Source: Public Space Activation and Stewardship Guide
Physical elements that make up the Streetscape are organized into clear areas or zones, such as the amenity area which most often includes plantings and furnishings, such as street trees, benches, and lighting; the area for circulation, also commonly referred to as the pedestrian-through zone or sidewalk; and the tenant area, which is sometimes referred to as the building frontage zone, where outdoor dining, awnings, retail door clearances and other building elements can take place.
Source: Chevy Chase Small Area Plan
OP develops urban design guidelines as well as streetscape guidelines for many areas of the District. For more information on Streetscapes and Streetscape Guidelines, please visit planning.dc.gov/page/streetscape-design-guidelines.
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Learn more and get involved in our community planning projects:
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