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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Matter of right development means you don't have to please everybody.  But you get a result everybody can live with and that everyone knew was acceptable when they purchased their property.  No favoritism involved, just enforcement of rules that bind everyone.

If the Safeway lot were developed MOR, you'd have (at most) a 5 story/50 foot apartment building with 60% lot occupancy where the Safeway store was located and single-family homes (probably duplexes and/or rowhouses) on the land that was Safeway's parking lot.  You'd probably have a mixed residential-retail building (also max 50 feet) on Wisconsin, with retail covering the lot and a more slender residential component on top.  (Different lot occupancy and FAR constraints for residential vs. retail development).  And the campus would remain a HS.

That's significantly less burdensome than a PUD proposing that the private school more than doubles in size PLUS we get the same amount of res/retail SF as there would be 
if the Safeway parcel had been devoted to res/retail rather than school use.  That's why it's considered greedy and a worst of both worlds scenario.  It's a form of double-dipping in which, rather than choosing between two alternatives, the school wants both.  And, in fact, claims it's entitled to both and that any one who is critical of this claim is a selfish NIMBY or opposed to affordable housing or insufficiently progressive.  It's pretty obnoxious.[/quote]

If it claims it is entitled to both, then clearly there must be some ambiguity in the zoning that allows for them to make this claim.  This is not to say that they will be successful in making their case.

If the zoning is crystal clear (it seldom is) then they must apply for an exception.  You have every right to object to this exception, representing your own self interest (can't hide some amorphous construct of it as in the neighborhood's best interest...at least own it as self interest).  In this case, neither party is greedy.   They just want what they want.[/quote]

Zoning and the Comprehensive Plan have the force of law in the District of Columbia.  It's hardly fair to describe as a narrow self-interest the view that these laws should be followed, particularly as members of the community have relied on both in purchasing their homes.[/quote]

Which will undoubtedly be a consideration in the process.  Laws change of are modified in other parts of life through due process.  Zoning is no different.[/quote]

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