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VulcanMind1 t1_iya6unl wrote

Reply to comment by Less_Wrong_ in D.C. lawmakers pitch a plan for ‘Green New Deal for Housing’ by stache_twista

In DC the elephant in the room is changing the hight restrictions that can only be changed by Congress. The second best option is what was proposed in the article to take land that is less desirable above Metro stops and make them apartments.

Building high density apartments near public transportation has been around for hundreds of years. It was why retail had apartments above it on roads with street cars. 100 years ago. America ignored this solution when building nightmare suburbs that require a car to get anywhere and shop any where.

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jednorog t1_iyaj5w4 wrote

I strongly suspect that DC could meet most of its housing needs by eliminating SFH zoning, without even touching the Height Act. I haven't run the numbers and I could be wrong here, but I strongly suspect it.

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oxtailplanning t1_iyauafq wrote

Also pushing all the NIMBYS into the Pit on 1600 M St SE.

Height act and SFH zoning didn't block MacMillan for years, or the Adams Morgan SunTrust plaza, stupid NIMBY boomers did.

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Barnst t1_iycnuru wrote

DC zoning rules are often more restrictive than the Congressional height limit, so there is plenty of space to improve using just what is within DC’s own power to change.

Just looking at Columbia Heights, for example, all of those RA-2 areas are limited to 50 ft, which is why you have all those 4-5 story buildings between 14th and 16th. The height restriction is 90ft for those blocks, which means we can almost double the available volume just by fixing the zoning.

The bigger question is whether to let denser apartments encroach into the townhouses. You could add a lot of housing to that neighborhood simply by expanding RA-4 to 13 between Girard and Park.

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