by Marlene Berlin
As part of a long-running effort to rewrite DC’s 1950s-era zoning code, the Office of Planning proposed a change in areas well-served by public transportation, called transit zones. It would have eliminated parking minimums in those areas. Developers would be allowed to build as many parking spaces, or as few, as they thought the market would allow.
On Friday, July 12th, OP’s director, Harriet Tregoning, announced on The Kojo Nnamdi Show that she has had a change of heart given all the comments she has received. Parking minimums will remain, outside of downtown.
You can listen to what she had to say here: http://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2013-07-12/politics-hour.
Pressure had mounted over this issue as the Zoning Commission hearings loomed and Portland, Oregon, which spearheaded this approach, reinstated parking minimums in April.
Due to the experience in Columbia Heights where underground parking was overbuilt, parking minimums, though retained, will be reduced. Connecticut Avenue from Calvert to Ellicott Streets, designated a transit zone, will be impacted by this decision.
