upzoning: what will it really change?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm against upzoning and I'm not dumb or selfish. I love DC because I love the look and feel of the city. There are lots of opportunities to create more condos in DC - that's effectively what upzoning will do.

Hundreds, if not thousands of condos are coming online in every ward, including Ward 3. It will not make SFH any cheaper. They will always be premium pricing. The upzoning movement is about developers getting more inventory, not about cheaper housing.

If you have build 10,000 condos next month, the state of the broader national economy will have a much, much, much larger impact on their price than any increase in inventory.

Because people who live in SFHs prefer a neighorhood of SFHs. Very simple. And guess what. Owners of SFHs tend to pay the bulk of the taxes. DC has done well financially because of high income white collar workers. And COVID has made them realize that they can work from home at least a few days a week. So, along with the stupid tax hike, DC risks driving them out of town, to DC"s detriment.

[Anonymous]

I’ll sell my house and move immediately. Your house is worth far more converted into two units. San Francisco has converted numerous single family homes into two or three units and the prices increased. Make me rich!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m absolutely, 100% bored of this topic.

DC has much bigger challenges than your pet cause to profit developers.

And they would be threads not beginning with the word “upzoning.” Mosey over to the crime, school, homeless, and wacky politician threads and wallow.

You’re welcome

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Awkward question. In the post COVID world, does DC need more housing? Our population is shrinking and downtown DC is hollowing out. Isn’t the better solution to convert vacant offices downtown to housing? That way you avoid the need for these ridiculous bike lanes on major thoroughfares, you keep downtown viable, and you preserve modest single family home neighborhoods.

I think in theory this makes a ton of sense, and is great from a preservation and environmental perspective, but I'm not sure of the profitability stripping and retrofitting those buildings vs building new. Like going from office to residential, you need more than one kitchen and bathroom per floor (unless each floor is its own massive unit, maybe, but even then you need *different* kitchen and bath facilities). That's a ton of plumbing, just to start!

I think the conversion of family sized dwellings to 1 and 2 bedroom condos only is harmful, but I would love to see more 3-4 bed options in upzoned areas. It's not a binary choice between 1 bedrooms for new grads and single family detached homes for families. Just look at the many, many double stacked townhomes popping up around MoCo.

The city should offer tax incentives for downtown residential conversion. The city has a vested interest in preventing downtown from becoming a ghost town both to preserve the tax base and for public safety. These tax incentives may actually end up being revenue neutral when you consider the cost of the CT Ave bike lanes and the business closures they will cause. It makes total sense to do this, except the Mayor will have to weather the temper tantrum the bike community will have.

Muriel versus the lycra-nauts! I can't wait!

Nah, DC cyclists now have cargo bikes with kids in them. The lycra guys don't care as much about their safety.

Muriel appearing at funerals for kids who fall out of the cargo bikes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no rational argument against upzoning. Everything comes down to selfishness, entitlement, classism, and racism.

No matter what dog whistles or code words they use, there is not a single argument that is not ultimately based on keeping less wealthy people and minorities out of their neighborhoods, gatekeeping who can live/drive/walk in their neighborhood, or the most asinine of all, seriously believing that they should be allowed to tell people what they can or can't do with their property because they don't like having to look at it.

I’m not entirely against upzoning, but let’s be real. Upzoning in DC will not help low income families. It is really a back door for more well-off people to get into the DC market.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no rational argument against upzoning. Everything comes down to selfishness, entitlement, classism, and racism.

No matter what dog whistles or code words they use, there is not a single argument that is not ultimately based on keeping less wealthy people and minorities out of their neighborhoods, gatekeeping who can live/drive/walk in their neighborhood, or the most asinine of all, seriously believing that they should be allowed to tell people what they can or can't do with their property because they don't like having to look at it.

I’m not entirely against upzoning, but let’s be real. Upzoning in DC will not help low income families. It is really a back door for more well-off people to get into the DC market.

As it has been for the last 10 years

[Anonymous]

I was watching a crime show on the other day. A young woman was killed in her apartment. The apartment locates in a two story six apartment building. A prostitute, a contractor, and a few others live in the building. On the same street there are single family homes, other two story apartment building, and a convenient store.
As I was watching the tv show, I told myself that’s what upzoning will bring to my neighborhood.
I will move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ll sell my house and move immediately. Your house is worth far more converted into two units. San Francisco has converted numerous single family homes into two or three units and the prices increased. Make me rich!

and look at how wonderful san fran is! An overpriced dump stop for the homeless But you will have a windfall/ And there it is folks - what up zoning is really about!

[Anonymous]

Upzoning is the environmentally responsible thing to do. By fitting more people in the close-in neighborhoods close to public transit, you reduce the need for people to drive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am curious about people who are anti-upzoning (which means changing SFH zoning to multifamily in this instance) and what you think that it is going to change in the short- to medium-term. Lets say DC changes its zoning regs so that the whole city is zoned for multifamily housing. Why does this upset you? What do you envision happening in the long-term? Changing zoning laws doesnt mean that your neighborhood of SFHs is all of a sudden going to be torn down and condos put in its place. If you own a SFH, you still own a SFH.

Is your concern that builders will only build multi-family housing moving forward and there won't be any new single family homes? If that is the case, looking at the undeveloped parts of the city now, I really can't picture anywhere that is ideal for SFHs. Am I missing something?

yes, you are missing quite bit. I take from your post that you don’t own any property here in DC? Because If you did - you would not be asking this question. SFH neighborhoods are super expensive to own in. But I, like thousands of others, made the choice as a quality of life option for me and my family. We like our trees and lack of congestion. And news flash - the cost is what happens in all nice neighborhoods - be it NYC burb or Boston - or the Main Line. DC is not unique in that regard.

The DC Wharf has so many lovely condos for you to enjoy. Buy whatever home you can afford, but don’t think destroying others’ right to property ownership is your entitlement. It is not.

Upzoning doesn't destroy anyones rights to property ownership. But it does allow for more people to have homes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was watching a crime show on the other day. A young woman was killed in her apartment. The apartment locates in a two story six apartment building. A prostitute, a contractor, and a few others live in the building. On the same street there are single family homes, other two story apartment building, and a convenient store.
As I was watching the tv show, I told myself that’s what upzoning will bring to my neighborhood.
I will move.

I was watching that Netflix show about John Wayne Gacy. Have you heard about him?
This is a photo from Newsweek of the police outside his house. It looks like a house that could be in my neighborhood. Any of our neighborhoods!



He buried his victims under his house. People would visit his suburban home and complain of a smell which he said was just moisture buildup, but it was DECOMPOSING BODIES.

Makes me think of that Bethesda millionaire murderer who was paying some guy to dig a creepy network of tunnels under his house. https://wjla.com/news/local/md-millionaire-to-be-sentenced-for-deadly-fire-above-tunnels

Makes me wonder what goes on in my neighbors basement, in their fenced in yard, in their garage. Anything could be happening in those single family basements.

Who knows what these millionaires with money to burn will do. Who knows what those people did to get that money anyhow. All very suspicious. Haven't you seen the movie The 'Burbs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Upzoning is the environmentally responsible thing to do. By fitting more people in the close-in neighborhoods close to public transit, you reduce the need for people to drive.

Upzoning Ward 3 would increase impervious surfaces which would have significant negative environmental consequences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Upzoning is the environmentally responsible thing to do. By fitting more people in the close-in neighborhoods close to public transit, you reduce the need for people to drive.

This. If you're going to have a certain number of people in a city, the more densely you can pack them into the smallest land area the better for the environment in just about every way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Upzoning is the environmentally responsible thing to do. By fitting more people in the close-in neighborhoods close to public transit, you reduce the need for people to drive.

Upzoning Ward 3 would increase impervious surfaces which would have significant negative environmental consequences.

Not compared to trying to house the same number of people in single-family homes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was watching a crime show on the other day. A young woman was killed in her apartment. The apartment locates in a two story six apartment building. A prostitute, a contractor, and a few others live in the building. On the same street there are single family homes, other two story apartment building, and a convenient store.
As I was watching the tv show, I told myself that’s what upzoning will bring to my neighborhood.
I will move.

Because TV shows always reflect reality.