Reply to Scrapping the DC Height Limit

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It's weird to me that all the talk of zoning and such is concentrated on Ward 3.  Obviously parts of Ward 3 are sparse SFHs, and parts are dense along the main corridors.  I totally support making the corridors denser, and probably relaxing zoning elsewhere too.

But the truth is there's lots of slightly-less-expensive-than-Ward-3 land elsewhere in DC.  I understand why people don't want to live in those places!  But to have a discussion solely about Ward 3 without providing an (or the) explicit reason to discuss only Ward 3 is dishonest.

Rezone everything! [/quote]

I think there are two issues here -- one is that the main corridors in Ward 3 could be far denser (and are all along good transit toward downtown), which is why that comes up a lot. The second is that the zoning in the sparse SFH parts of Ward 3 is exclusionary -- there's just no way people can live in most of the area unless they can pay over $1 million, often well over $1 million or even over $3 million.

You could probably get broader agreement faster on just resolving that first part, i.e.., raising height limits and increasing density on Wisconsin and Connecticut and not making many additional changes. But the reason the second one comes up is because Ward 3 is basically the only part of the city where the zoning makes it a domain for rich people only. People are uncomfortable saying that explicitly at times because it can make those of us who live here feel defensive, and it also runs directly at issues of race, class, etc.[/quote]

There’s a ton on dense housing being built on Wisconsin Ave.  But I don’t see similar density being as appropriate on Connecticut Ave where some areas like Cleveland Park are protected lower-scale historic districts.  They can’t build a 10-floor building on top of a landmarked 2-story building and still call that historic preservation.[/quote]

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