Initial Statement about the July 11, 2024 Zoning Commission Decision on 1617 U Street

Group Name:
Save DC Public Land: Working for a Safe, Truly Affordable, and Racially Equitable U Street

Representative:
Debby Hanrahan, co-facilitator

Website:
www.SaveDCPublicLand.org/the1617project

 

Initial Statement about the July 11, 2024 Zoning Commission Decision on 1617 U Street (to be clear this statement is from our community group and we participated in the hearings but we do not represent any other parties):

 

“Last night’s Zoning Commission meeting blatantly disregarded comprehensive urban planning principles in DC. Despite overwhelming expert testimony proving that MU-10 rezoning drives land speculation, displaces small local businesses, and evicts lower- and moderate-income residents in favor of luxury housing and higher rents, the Zoning Commission willfully ignored these warnings. Their decision paves the way for a towering high-rise dominated by luxury units, skyrocketing rents, wealthier newcomers, and widespread vacancies.

Our proposed solution, Custom Zoning, was overlooked, threatening imminent harm to the surrounding community. This solution could guarantee that a substantial portion (50-70%) of new housing units at 1617 U Street would be truly affordable and include family-sized units (3+ bedrooms). Such a measure has the potential to add hundreds of new truly affordable housing units, reduce housing costs in the area, and utilize public land to help rectify past displacement harms.

Save DC Public Land supporters are tired of seeing public land and air rights handed over to private developers for more unaffordable luxury housing under the guise of “affordability” and trickle-down economics. The Zoning Commission’s failure to even evaluate our Custom Zoning solution as a means to combat displacement is dejecting, as it signals the city’s acceptance of more forced  gentrification (60,000 Black folks have been pushed out of DC over the past two decades). 

Moreover, the Office of Planning’s wholesale disregard of outreach to the affected Black community is tantamount to racism, and that office deserves to be held to account.”

 

Links to expert displacement and custom zone testimony here:

https://savedcpublicland.org/the1617project/2024/02/26/the-mu-10-zoning-proposal-must-be-denied-as-harmful-to-black-dc-residents/

 

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