Reply to Say NO to Bowser on changing building height limits

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][b][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2019/05/10/bowser-ready-to-explore-d-c-height-limit-changes.html

Read and weep.[/quote]

A. That article has no quotes indicating she is proposing raising the height limit. Rather she wants office of planinng to explore many options - which can certainly include upzonings - there are many parts of DC where regular zoning (floor area ratio limits, etc) are binding, the district wide height limit does not matter.

B. Before addressing the height limit, the office of planning would need to do a build out analysis, to determine who much building can still occur without altering the height limit.  They did one back in 2012, the last time this came up.  However critics said the analysis was not thorough enough, and in particular, IIRC, did not fully explore all potential upzonings.

C. That said, there are plenty of places where buildings above the current height limit would not materially change the look of the historic parts of DC.  For one, you could raise it in areas near the MoCo line, where there are already taller buildings nearby on the Md side of the line.   Or you could allow taller buildings in some place like L'Enfant Plaza, where I have difficulty seeing the harm.  [/quote]

I am no big fan of Bowser and like the current height limits, but I'd grudgingly be open to changing them once other options are exhausted.  The middle class is being squeezed out, and we need increased density if we want to keep middle class families in the city.  No bearing on me personally (we have good salaries), but I don't want DC to become a city of rich and poor only, with no middle class that includes [b]teachers, nurses[/b], etc.  Some of my child's teachers with families have had to commute from quite far away, and I'd prefer they have more options in the city.
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Please Google DC homebuyer assistance for first time homebuyers - specific programs are available for low income as well as ALL DC government workers including teachers and first responders. Personally know two teachers who have bought beautiful townhomes in transitional neighborhoods (ie they got a deal) and now their homes have appreciated . [/quote]

Transitional neightborhoods end up, er, transitioned at some point. Which will happen faster after neighborhoods like Navy Yard and NoMa, which are absorbing a lot of the demand now, are built out. [/quote]

The New York Avenue corridor ceremony isn’t built out.

But of course developers could get much higher margins if they could build tall in Georgetown and Logan Circle.  That’s what this is all about, folks.[/quote]

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