Council Chairman, Phil Mendelson is asking the public to weigh in on 1,000 pages of amendments to DC’s central planning document. The Council Chair is contending with these proposed changes at one public hearing to be held across two days in mid-November, 2020, that YOU can testify at.
The DC Comprehensive Plan affects all communities and all residents in the District of Columbia, especially if you live in vulnerable working-class neighborhoods threatened by a ever-crushing growth machine that screams #BUILDMORE despite the resultant displacement of tens of thousands of Black DC residents and longtime DC neighborhoods of color.
GENTRIFICATION ON FIRE
Displacement is about to go into overdrive with the proposed amendments sent to the Council by the Mayor.
DC’s housing shortage is a major driver of increasing housing costs, which is why the Comp Plan Update changes 2% of land designations but adds 15% more capacity for development, with a focus on transit nodes and corridors. https://t.co/f1xj9MYmgj #planDC #CompPlan2020 (1/2) pic.twitter.com/EFhawXfzwP
— DC Office of Planning (@OPinDC) September 10, 2020
Considering the Office of Planning is suggesting that by adjusting 2% of the area on the DC Future Land Use Map, they can unlock 15% more development air rights, it should go without saying that there will be impacts on vulnerable communities and the entire city as it regards existing neighborhood services (will we need more schools, libraries, parks, clinic, transportation, utilities, etc.), impacts on the environment, and the people (like more displacement), our air and water quality and our health and well being.
Do you think DC’s Office of “Planning” has taken into account any of the above civic concerns when proposing their 1,000 pages of amendments to the Plan?
On Saturday, September 19, 2020, Renee Bowser, Ward 4 ANC Commissioner and Steering Committee member of the DC Grassroots Planning Coalition pointed to DC Code § 1–306.04(d) which says that any amendments to the DC Comprehensive Plan sent over to the Council by the Mayor, “shall be accompanied by an environmental assessment of the proposed amendments.” These can’t be found on the record. Now what?