Section 10-A2207. PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT PRIORITIES

 

2207.1Three Comprehensive Plan workshops took place in Rock Creek East during the Comprehensive Plan revision. These meetings provided an opportunity for residents to discuss neighborhood planning issues as well as citywide issues. The Advisory Neighborhood Commissions and several Civic Associations were briefed on the Plan, providing additional input. There have also been many meetings in the community not directly connected to the Comprehensive Plan, but addressing long-range planning issues. These include Small Area Plan meetings for Takoma and Georgia Avenue/ Petworth, as well as meetings on the Great Streets program, the city’s Parks and Recreation Master Plan, and various transportation studies. 2207.1

 

2207.2The community delivered several key messages during these meetings, summarized below:

 

a.Land use planning for Rock Creek East should protect and enhance the stable neighborhoods for which the area is known. Residents at Comp Plan meetings described their neighborhoods as “park-like” due to their tree cover, low densities, and proximity to Rock Creek Park. An important part of what creates the park-like ambiance is the large federal and institutional properties in the community. This is particularly true for Walter Reed Hospital and the Armed .Forces Retirement Home, both of which may be redeveloped during the next two decades. Plans for these sites should make every effort possible to retain the open space, mature trees, and visual buffers that make these sites welcome neighbors in the community today. Residents at Comprehensive Plan meetings were also clear that design guidelines and zoning standards for these sites, and for other areas addressed by Small Area Plans, must be followed and enforced once they are prepared.

 

b.While protecting established neighborhoods is a priority, Rock Creek East also recognizes the need to provide a variety of housing choices. This community has always taken pride in the fact that it is economically integrated, with housing options for seniors, lower income households, young professionals, middle class families, and persons with special needs, as well as affluent households. Appropriate sites for infill housing have been identified along Georgia Avenue, around the Takoma Metro station, between Upshur and Taylor near 14th Street, along Kennedy Street, and on a limited number of other properties in the community. Development on these sites must be in keeping with the scale of the surrounding community, provide ample green space, address parking and traffic issues, upgrade infrastructure where needed, and serve a variety of incomes. Existing housing should continue to be renovated and rehabilitated, with programs to assist seniors and low-income residents and avoid displacement.

 

c.Neighborhood-serving commercial facilities need to be upgraded and expanded throughout the Planning Area. Some of the commercial areas have suffered for decades from declining activity. Small Area Plans for Takoma and Georgia Avenue have focused on ways to improve the future viability of the local business districts in each area and attract investment that better meets the needs of residents, businesses, and property owners. Similar attention should be given to Kennedy Street, and to the Riggs Road Center in the adjacent Upper Northeast Planning Area. Much of the area continues to be underserved by basic consumer services like banks, hardware stores, and sit-down restaurants. Rather than siting these uses in long auto-oriented “strips,” future development should emphasize pedestrian-oriented “centers.” The community also expressed a strong preference for neighborhood-serving, rather than regional commercial uses. Such uses should be complementary to the low scale of existing development, and should enhance neighborhood identity through façade improvements, landscaping, signage, and lighting. Urban design excellence must be a very high priority.

 

d.As neighborhood commercial areas are upgraded, the potential for conflicts due to traffic, noise, litter, and other environmental impacts must be recognized and proactively addressed. In addition, conflicts caused by existing commercial and industrial uses in the community need to be addressed more effectively. This is particularly true in Petworth (along Georgia Avenue) and in Takoma and Lamond-Riggs near the CSX Railroad tracks. For years, these neighborhoods have dealt with semi-industrial uses such as auto repair shops, bus storage, maintenance yards, and distribution centers, in some cases immediately adjacent to single family homes. These uses are important to the city and provide jobs and needed community services for Rock Creek East residents. But they also generate truck traffic, fumes, odors, noise, and vibration-often without buffering. Over the next 20 years, steps should be taken to reduce the land use conflicts and visual blight associated with industrial uses in such locations as Blair Road, Chillum Place, and Upshur Street. In a few cases, this may mean phasing out industrial and “heavy commercial” uses and replacing them with housing or mixed uses.

 

e.Residents of Rock Creek East have expressed concerns about the growth of particular land uses, including group homes, churches, and related facilities such as day care centers and social service centers. The Planning Area’s inventory of large homes, many located on major transit lines, has made it an attractive choice for social service providers and community based residential facilities. Issues relating to safety, parking, and neighborhood character have been raised, particularly in areas where group homes are clustered. Residents seek a stronger role in decisions on the siting and management of such facilities, and desire increased coordination with group home operators. There are also issues connected to code enforcement, related not only to special needs housing but to broader issues such as unpermitted construction and blighted properties.

 

f.Growth and development in neighboring jurisdictions particularly affects Rock Creek East. This is most apparent along Eastern Avenue in Shepherd Park, where tall condominiums in Silver Spring, Maryland face single family homes in the District. The revitalization of Downtown Silver Spring has provided exciting new shopping, entertainment, and dining options for area residents, but has also siphoned away some of the District’s retail potential and brought traffic to Shepherd Park. Takoma Park, Maryland is experiencing more modest growth near its border with the District. Regardless of location, it is important to ensure that neither jurisdiction bears an undue share of the impacts of growth related to traffic congestion and parking needs. Coordination between the District and Maryland is essential to preserving community stability. Coordination should also emphasize improvement of gateways into the city at New Hampshire Avenue, Georgia Avenue, and 16th Street. These entries define “first impressions” for residents on both sides of the state line, and do not convey as positive an image of Washington as they could.

 

g.The transportation system should be designed so that residents can easily travel between home, work, school, shopping, and public facilities. Right now, the network is designed to facilitate north-south circulation (between Downtown and Maryland), but east-west circulation is problematic. Improvements are needed to reduce traffic congestion and address safety concerns, particularly on Blair Road in Takoma, Georgia Avenue and Missouri Avenue in Brightwood, and Riggs Road in Lamond Riggs. Better transportation to the west side of Rock Creek Park is also needed, as many residents travel in this direction to access schools, shopping, and Metrorail. Parts of Rock Creek East are more than one mile from Metrorail stations and need better, more reliable bus and bicycle connections. On the other hand, it should also be recognized that auto ownership is higher in Rock Creek East than it is in most other parts of the city. Transit is not a practical option for everyone, and adequate parking should be provided as development occurs. This was a clear message provided by many Comprehensive Plan participants in the area. The safety of pedestrians and bicyclists is also an issue in many neighborhoods and at many intersections. New traffic management measures, including street design changes, should be explored to better regulate traffic volume and flow, particularly where major development is proposed. Such changes have already been made to 16th Street and will need to be explored along Georgia Avenue as plans for Bus Rapid Transit along the avenue move forward.

 

h.A high priority must be placed on upgrading public services and facilities. The community has more recreation centers per capita than most parts of the District, but these facilities are not evenly distributed. Neighborhoods in the northern part of the Planning Area do not have a full-scale recreation center, while areas like Brightwood Park and Petworth are deficient in facilities like athletic fields and tennis courts. The new Takoma, Lamond, and Emery Recreation Centers are important additions, but maintenance of the parks themselves continues to be a concern. The Fourth District Police Headquarters is on Georgia Avenue, and there are fire stations in Petworth and Brightwood Park, but areas like North Portal and Colonial Village are several miles from the nearest station. Public libraries and schools in the community are in need of modernization. The community has the largest concentration of hospitals in the city, but they are clustered in the southern part of the Planning Area, with no facilities (other than Walter Reed) in the north. The new senior wellness center on Kennedy Street will provide a much needed facility in a community where nearly one in five residents is over 65.

 

i.The important historic resources in the Planning Area should be recognized and protected. The Fort Circle Parks are a resource of national importance, yet their significance is unknown even to many District residents. Additional interpretive facilities are needed, and the integrity and historic context of the parks themselves should be protected. The Takoma Historic District helps conserve the gracious homes and small-town architecture of Takoma, but other older neighborhoods and structures are not similarly protected. Important architectural resources like the Wardman rowhouses of Brightwood, the elegant older homes of 16th Street, and the legacy of early 20th century commercial buildings along Georgia Avenue remain vulnerable to demolition or unsympathetic alteration. Additional properties in the Planning Area may merit designation as historic landmarks or districts. Plans for neighborhood heritage trails in Brightwood and elsewhere will help preserve Rock Creek East’s legacy in the future.

 

j.The Georgia Avenue corridor remains a source of great interest, concern, and hope. In March 2005, the entire 5.6 mile corridor was designated as one of six “Great Streets” in the city to be targeted for reinvestment. Participants in Comp Plan meetings pointed to various successes and failures along the Avenue, noting some positive signs but focusing on the large amount of work yet to be done. One issue raised was the limited demand for the Avenue’s small, narrow storefront spaces (with no off-street parking), and the need to concentrate retail at key “nodes” rather than in a continuous strip. Additional programs and investments are needed to assist businesses, attract the desired mix of retail, resolve traffic problems, address problem land uses, and provide appropriately designed infill housing for seniors and others. Transit plans for the corridor were the subject of much discussion during the Comprehensive Plan process, with concerns expressed about impacts on parking and congestion. The link between plans for Upper Georgia Avenue and plans for Walter Reed Hospital also was raised. Regardless of what happens on the Hospital site, change should be leveraged to achieve positive results for Georgia Avenue and the neighborhoods around it.

 

notation

The provisions of Title 10, Part A of the DCMR accessible through this web interface are codification of the District Elements of the Comprehensive Plan for the National Capital. As such, they do not represent the organic provisions adopted by the Council of the District of Columbia. The official version of the District Elements only appears as a hard copy volume of Title 10, Part A published pursuant to section 9a of the District of Columbia Comprehensive Plan Act of 1994, effective April 10, 1984 (D.C. Law 5-76; D.C. Official Code § 1 -301.66)) . In the event of any inconsistency between the provisions accessible through this site and the provisions contained in the published version of Title 10, Part A, the provisions contained in the published version govern. A copy of the published District Elements is available www.planning.dc.gov.