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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The argument is that NWDC neighborhoods are so appealing that we should densify them so more people can live there.  What the proponents get wrong is what makes the neighborhoods appealing -- safe residential areas with green space and good schools.  Of course, you can add some density to those areas, but there is a tipping point where the neighborhoods will no longer be desirable.  I love the fact that there is a mix of condos, townhomes, and single family homes in my neighborhood, but it's a balance and if it were to tip over into primarily big buildings with condos, it would lose what makes it special.  It is nice to have neighborhoods like Navy Yard for people who choose that lifestyle, but it's also ok for other neighborhoods to have a predominance  of single family homes.  Our city can have different types of neighborhoods.[/quote]

What you mean by "the neighborhoods will no longer be desirable" is "it's not what I would want." However, you are not everyone, and land use should not be based on your - or my, or anyone's - personal preferences.[/quote]

Sorry.  Agree 100% with previous post.  DC should avoid changing radically the character of NWDC.  Those residents pay the bills in DC and are entirely why DC has done economically well until recently.   Moreover, there are plenty of places in DC where larger condo or apartment buildings can be built.  There simply is no need to push the balance to a tipping point.  [/quote]

How would adding housing on commercial corridors radically change the character of NWDC? No one is talking about putting massive apartment buildings in the side streets.[/quote]

How would adding thousands of new people (units) to a 2-mile stretch change the character of the neighborhoods immediately adjacent to that corridor? Are you seriously asking this question? [/quote]

Yes, I am. Do the apartment buildings on Connecticut near Woodley Park and Cleveland Park make the SFH blocks there worse somehow? [/quote]

I am extremely familiar with the Connecticut Ave and the surrounding blocks. I'll give  you an honest answer -- no, the SFH blocks east and west of Wisconsin Ave will be fine, enhanced even, if some 8 story multi-family new buildings are built.  Note that Conn Ave buildings do not have commerce on the first floor (for the most part) that lures drivers -- especially gig drivers picking up -- all day and night.  There's a huge differential in traffic when the first floor is a Tatte vs. a 100% residents-only access space.

But commerce needs to happen, because Metro. And climate change or something. Fine.  No more residential lobbies of the time that comprise 97% of Connecticut Ave large apartment buildings.

The much bigger concern is the salivating REIT / developers looking deeper into the neighborhood and being rewarded with upzoning changes to the code, allowing, say, 4-story multifamily housing with 20 units where a Colonial currently sits.  That's not in the current drawings -- I KNOW -- but it's where they're headed.  The obvious hints are in their projected maps included in the link on Page 1 of this thread. Much future expansion opportunity there.  [/quote]

The projected maps include only about a block or a 1/2-block in from Wisconsin (I looked at them pretty closely, because my house is on a block that would be upzoned). I personally don't have any problem with four-story multifamily housing with 20 units in these neighborhoods, but I also don't think it's going to happen except on and within a block or two of Wisconsin. [/quote]

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