Section 10-A2407. PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT PRIORITIES

 

2407.1Workshops over the course of the Comprehensive Plan Revision provided an opportunity for residents of Upper Northeast to share their views on important planning issues. Input from these workshops was supplemented with feedback from Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners, community groups, and individual residents. Many other meetings have been held on long-range planning issues in the Upper Northeast Planning area, including workshops for the Northeast Gateway Small Area Plan; Ward 5 “summits” on transportation and economic development; transportation meetings on the Rhode Island Avenue, New York Avenue, and South Dakota Avenue corridors; and meetings on specific development proposals. 2407.1

 

2407.2Several important messages and priorities were expressed at these meetings: 2407.2

 

a.Upper Northeast neighborhoods take pride in their stability as middle-class, family-oriented communities. Although the community’s population declined by 20 percent during the 1980s and 1990s, there is still a strong sense of identity and civic pride in places like Arboretum, North Michigan Park, and Woodridge. Conservation of the existing housing stock is a high priority- although there are differences of opinion on the best way to achieve this. Neighborhoods such as Brookland, where about two-thirds of the homes pre-date World War II, have debated the possibility of historic district designation but have yet to reach a consensus on the best way to preserve the historic character of the community.

 

b.Residents of Upper Northeast are feeling the pressure of escalating housing costs. Displacement is a concern in neighborhoods like Ivy City and Trinidad, where one-quarter of the residents live below the poverty line and home prices have tripled in the last five years. Upper Northeast includes many lower income households, residents on public assistance, and hard working people trapped in low wage jobs. There is anxiety about expiring federal housing subsidies, and the future of large assisted housing complexes like Langston Dwellings. Residents want assurance that they will not be dislocated if and when these complexes are renovated or replaced. The recent redevelopment of Montana Terrace provides a good example of meeting affordable housing needs while creating opportunities for home ownership and stability for existing residents.

 

c.Residents are concerned that they are the location of choice for “unwanted” municipal land uses, such as trash transfer stations, bus garages, youth detention centers, vehicle maintenance facilities, and halfway houses. While there is an appreciation for the importance of these uses to the city, there are concerns about their continued concentration in Upper Northeast simply because the area has a large supply of industrially zoned land.

 

d.Upper Northeast neighborhoods have lived with the heavy truck traffic, noise, and visual blight that come with industrial land uses for decades. This is particularly true in Ivy City, Langdon, Brentwood, and the 7th-8th Street NE area southwest of the Brookland Metro station. Residents are especially concerned about large trucks, vibration, dust, air pollution, and the transport of hazardous materials on the railroads. There is also a desire to clean up “brownfield” sites in the community and return them to productive use. These sites provide an opportunity to apply “green”development principles, turning environmental liabilities into environmental assets.

 

e.Retail choices in Upper Northeast need to be expanded. For 20 years, Hechinger Mall was the only large shopping center in the area. Options have improved with the opening of Home Depot/ Giant, and will get better still with a planned new shopping center at Fort Lincoln, but these centers are auto-oriented and are not convenient to everyone in the community. Many of the commercial areas in Upper Northeast are dominated by used car lots, carryouts, liquor stores, automotive uses and other activities that are not conducive to neighborhood shopping. More retail districts like Brookland’s 12th Street are desired to meet the day-to-day needs of residents. Rhode Island Avenue, Benning Road, Florida Avenue, Bladensburg Road, and the areas around the Metro stations have the potential to become pedestrian-oriented shopping districts. The Florida Market also has the potential to become a more vital shopping district, serving not only as a wholesale venue but also as a retail center for Ivy City, Trinidad, Eckington, and nearby neighborhoods.

 

f.Although seminaries, cemeteries, and institutions provide much greenery, and the community is ringed by the National Arboretum, the Anacostia River, and the Fort Circle Parks, much of Upper Northeast is starved for public parkland. More active recreational areas, playgrounds, athletic fields, and traditional neighborhood parks are needed. Better connections to the Arboretum and Anacostia River are needed. There are also concerns that the large institutional open spaces-particularly the great lawns and wooded glades of the area’s religious orders-may someday be lost to development. These properties are important to the health of the community and should be considered as opportunities for new neighborhood and community parks (as well as housing) if they become available. They are the “lungs” of the neighborhood.

 

g.The area’s major thoroughfares need to be improved. New York Avenue is the gateway to the Nation’s capital for over 100,000 vehicles a day and provides the first impression of Upper Northeast (and the District of Columbia) for many residents, commuters, and visitors. Its motels and fast food joints, used car lots, chop shops, strip clubs, salvage yards, and warehouses do not project a positive image. Moreover, the street is often clogged with traffic, especially around its interchanges with South Dakota Avenue and Florida Avenue. The same is true of Bladensburg Road, and some of the other arterial streets in the area. The community wishes to see these corridors upgraded, without diverting traffic to other thoroughfares and residential streets nearby.

 

h.Upper Northeast did not experience the kind of large-scale development experienced elsewhere in the city between 2000 and 2005, but that is likely to change in the next few years. Proposals to redevelop the Capital City Market as a “new town” are being discussed, and a large mixed use development is also under consideration at the Bladensburg/ New York Avenue intersection. Residents are also very interested in proposals for the McMillan Reservoir Sand Filtration Site and the Armed Forces Retirement Home, as development on these sites would challenge the roads, infrastructure, and public services in Upper Northeast. Growth and development must be carefully managed to avoid negative impacts, and should be leveraged to provide benefits for the community wherever possible.

 

i.There is general-though not universal-agreement that the Rhode Island Avenue, Brookland/CUA, and Fort Totten Metrorail stations are logical locations for future development. The stations are currently adjoined by parking lots and industrial uses that do not take advantage of their proximity to Metro. These areas may provide opportunities for apartments, condominiums, townhomes, and other types of moderate and medium density housing, provided that measures are taken to buffer adjacent lower density neighborhoods, address parking and traffic issues, and mitigate other community concerns. There are differences of opinion as to the appropriate density of development and the precise mix of uses at each station. Small Area Plans are needed for each area to continue the community dialogue on their future.

 

j.More should be done to connect Upper Northeast residents with jobs in the Planning Area. Right now, only 10 percent of those who live in Upper Northeast actually work in Upper Northeast. With 40,000 jobs in the community, that figure should be much higher. The area’s nine percent unemployment rate is unacceptably high. Trade schools, vocational schools, and apprenticeship programs are needed to strengthen labor force skills and provide more pathways to employment for local residents.

 

k.Schools and other public facilities in Upper Northeast should be retained in public ownership, even if they are closed due to “under enrollment.” Residents attending Comprehensive Plan meetings felt strongly that these facilities should not be sold for development, but should be kept in public ownership and used for the delivery of other community services, such as health care and senior care. The need for senior services is particularly high, given the high percentage of seniors (over 25 percent of the population in neighborhoods like Woodridge and North Michigan Park). Many of the schools, libraries, recreation centers, and other public facilities in the area are in need of modernization. Crummell School is a particularly troubling example. The modernization of Noyes Elementary and Luke Moore Academy are promising, but there is much more to accomplish.

 

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.