11-08-2023: Comments from Meg Maguire, Chair, NWOP CDC

DMPED Budget Comments on Wisconsin Avenue Development Framework Draft, Sept. 2023 Oversight Hearing

11-08-2023

TO: Anita Cozart, Director, Office of Planning; Erkin Ozberk, Ward 3 Planner, Office of Planning

CC: Council Member Matt Frumin, Ward 3; Natalie Avery, Executive Director, Friendship Heights Alliance; Jonathan Bender, Chair, ANC3E; Ward 3 Housing Justice

Thank you for this opportunity to comment on the Wisconsin Avenue Development Framework Draft. 

The Framework is an ambitious plan containing proposals for significantly larger buildings, design guidelines to soften their impact, and connected open space. The emphasis on family housing is key to a vibrant and stable community. 

However, the Framework ignores comprehensive planning for physical infrastructure including schools, community recreation centers, water/sewer, roads, bike and bus lanes, etc.  This omission is undermining public confidence that the proposed upzoning will produce good results as thousands of new residents make their home along Wisconsin Ave.  We suggest adding a Concurrent Planning section to the Framework that acknowledges this need and details the responsibilities of all agencies, including the Office of Planning, to work together to anticipate and plan for the needs of a transformed corridor.

The main goal of the Framework appears to be laying the groundwork for map amendments to up-zone the corridor, significantly increasing heights and densities.  Consequently, there will be a windfall increase in property values through no effort on the part of property owners in a desirable, high cost area; zoning for higher, denser buildings;  increased affordable housing at the upper ends of the affordable housing spectrum (60% MFI rental and 80% MFI owner); no guarantees of family size, accessibility, or low income housing units; and no requirements for other community benefits like recruitment of minority-owned businesses, community serving retail, community services, open space improvements, or accessibility. This unaddressed windfall would run counter to direction in the Comprehensive Plan that zoning changes should result in “equitable development.”

Issue:  Zoning

Zoning, the main tool that DC has to actualize plans, is a blunt instrument.  The Framework provides little assurance that community needs will be achieved through corridor-wide rezoning.  Negotiation of of community benefits as in Planned Unit Developments will be foreclosed with matter-of-right heights and densities.  Design “guidelines” should be incorporated into zoning design criteria, and required for new buildings with a clear process for public engagement in each project.

We urge OP to rethink the ratio of residential to allowable non-residential square footage to ensure that there is a substantial increase in housing, particularly affordable family housing.  This requires a statement of assumptions about the types, sizes and numbers of non-residential uses envisioned along the corridor such as hotels, cultural facilities, schools, recreation centers,etc.  Further, a chart showing how many units of affordable housing would be built under formulas for MOR, IZ+ and customized zones (see below) would test the claim that high densities automatically produce more affordable housing.

Recommendation #1:  Customize zones throughout the corridor.

The city should benefit from the unearned increase in property values by crafting customized zones that require developers to provide specific IZ levels and types of affordable housing, including deeply affordable housing, in return for increased height and density.  Upzoning should require all new buildings to have design review and comply with design criteria consistent with the design guidelines in the Framework.  Just as the purpose of PUDs is to provide for “high quality development” through meaningful public benefits, customized zones can benefit the public through specific requirements that fulfill affordable housing and other community benefit goals on the corridor.

For example, a customized zone encompassing the two WMATA bus garage sites could include a requirement for historic preservation and adaptive reuse of the current WMATA building and the Lord and Taylor façade; and incentivize dedication of land along 45^th St. for seven 4-story townhouses (14 units) that could foster the mayor’s goal of homeownership.

Issue: Affordable Housing

As presently drafted, the Framework relies entirely on IZ+ to produce affordable housing for those who earn up to 60%-80% MFI, suggesting that unspecified public subsidies would be necessary to house those below 30% MFI.  This formula will not produce housing for many of the people who are employed in Ward 3 and provide valuable services to the community – cashiers; fast food cooks; grocery workers; parking attendants; home health and personal care aides; laundry and dry-cleaning workers; child care workers; ground maintenance workers; teaching assistants; some social security recipients; tellers; security guards; school bus drivers; opticians; secretaries and administrative assistants; roofers; welders, cutters, and braziers; payroll clerks; locksmiths; lab technicians; police and fire dispatchers; chefs and head cooks; hvac/refrigeration mechanics and installers; etc.  NOTE: Metro bus drivers with a family of four would not qualify for IZ and therefore have no prospect of living near their work at the WMATA garage.

The Framework also needs to call for affordable family-sized units that are large enough to accommodate families with young children as well as teens.  We have heard that some new units in market-rate buildings in Friendship Heights characterized as “family-sized” are so small that some families are moving to the suburbs in search of more space.  Families must have affordable, adequately sized homes if they are to stay in the city and invest their energies in its future.

Recommendation #2:  Amend the Framework to set clear affordable housing goals

• Establish goals for for a variety of housing types (homeowner, rental, limited equity, social housing, etc.) and sizes (priority for adequately-sized family units). Establish design and square footage guidelines for family-sized units.
• Require a minimum of 30% affordable housing including deeply affordable housing as well as compliance with the design guidelines. 

Issue: School Capacity and Social Infrastructure

While the Framework promotes family housing, it fails to address school capacity. Most public schools in Ward 3 are already overcrowded.  Failure to address the need for additional or expanded schools, especially elementary schools, unnecessarily complicates the argument for affordable family housing. As thousands of new residents move to the Wisconsin Avenue corridor, a network of social, recreational and community facilities must to be in place so that newcomers feel welcomed and supported.

Recommendation #3:  Include a Capital Improvement Plan detailing responsibilities of all city agencies.

 In Concurrent Planning, the additional section that we recommend be included in the Framework, we suggest a call for a Capital Improvement Plan that includes all aspects of infrastructure including overcrowded schools. Without immediate action to anticipate growth and plan school facilities that will accommodate all families along the Wisconsin Avenue corridor, there will be widespread resistance to much needed change and growth.

Issue: Business Development

The Framework acknowledges the demise of most large retail in Friendship Heights and calls for business development that will provide services for local residents and also attract people from the region.  How should we think about the mix of retail services, restaurants, and office businesses that will serve a range of needs, new populations and cultures, and endure over many years?   Without a clearer projection of needed services, Black and Brown businesses located in other parts of the city that are ready to expand may not be aware of the opportunities for locating in this wealthy and expanding corridor.

Recommendation #4: Define guidelines for types and capacities of a range of local businesses.

• While defining business development strategies may be outside the scope of the Framework, we urge OP to estimate the capacities and numbers of various types of essential businesses to serve local and regional needs.  The Friendship Heights Alliance, and the Main Street programs, are ideally suited to bring together residents and local organizations to craft a strategy for business recruitment and business support.  Language adopted in Federal Realty’s 5333 Wisconsin Ave. PUD for recruitment of Black-, Brown- and women-owned businesses is an excellent model for other developments along Wisconsin Ave. (See Attachment below.)

Issue: Design Guidelines

The Framework contains many good design guidelines.  We suggest including the following recommendations:

• Add a discussion of the potential, or lack thereof, of converting commercial buildings along the corridor into mixed use or all residential. 
• Recommend changes in building codes that might allow alternative building types to be used in DC such as the use of wood in tall buildings.
• Consider alternative floor layouts and natural light requirements to add to the number of bedrooms for larger households.
• Stress the importance of controlling the size, placement and lighting standards of business signage along the corridor.  Prohibit electronic billboards that advertise goods and services not located on the property.  Make clear that Friendship Heights is not to be considered a DEA (Designated Entertainment Area) where electronic billboards are permitted.
• Include a plan for parking solutions for residents and visitors to the newly established businesses. Recognize that many families need a car and that the ratio of parking spaces to units should be increased.
• Include a requirement for EV charging stations.
• State general guidelines for other energy saving technologies such as solar and wind.
• Ensure that open spaces between buildings and pedestrian-only streets are designed to be successful, e.g., minimium and maximum widths, and build on what has been found to work and not work in local parks located in other parts of the city.
• Include performance requirements for rooftop recreation to mitigate the impact of night lighting, noise and other negative intrusions on neighboring residents. 
• Discuss the value of adaptive reuse of current WMATA garage for an ice skating rink or other community uses; and preservation of the L&T façade as a visual divider between single-family residential and downtown development.
• Incorporate a system of interpretive signs throughout the corridor examining the history of land use, particularly the effects of restrictive covenants and other racist policies.
• Point out the potential conflicts of bike lanes and bus entrances and exits along Western Ave. and Jennifer St.

Thank you for this opportunity to comment.

APPENDIX

5333 Wisconsin Ave., NW

PUD Proffer re. Minority & Women Owned Businesses

January 19, 2023

PROFFER: Local-, Minority-, Women-Owned, and Inclusive Retailers. During the initial retail lease-up and until all of the retail space is leased, the Applicant will make commercially reasonably efforts to market to local-, minority- and / or women-owned businesses as retail tenants in the Project and will reach out to the relevant identified organizations to accomplish this. The Applicant will offer at least $40 per square foot of gross leasable area in tenant improvement allowance for any such businesses with whom the Developer enters into a market-rate retail lease.

CONDITION:  15.Local-, Minority-, Women-Owned, and Inclusive Retailers. During the initial retail lease-up and until all of the retail space is leased, the Applicant shall make commercially reasonably efforts to market to local-, minority- and / or women-owned businesses as retail tenants in the Project and shall reach out to the Greater Washington DC Black Chamber of Commerce, the DC Small Business Development Center, the Washington DC Women’s Business Center, and the DC Developmental Disabilities Council. The Applicant shall offer at least $40 per square foot of gross leasable area in tenant improvement allowance for any local-minority-, women-owned and/or inclusive businesses with whom the Applicant enters into a market-rate retail lease. Such tenant improvement allowance may be in the form of a direct payment, buildout cost, or some combination of the two.