How we get MORE
Many of us living in Cleveland Park want more out of our neighborhood, especially our commercial strip. Some of us want more fun. Others want more people. Tune into the retro Listserv any given week and you will hear a lot from a few who want more parking.
I’ll start by saying I want more fun and want more people living, working and playing here. I do not think we need more parking. So while I am going to tell you how we can get parking, I hope we don’t spend our capital in its pursuit when we could be getting more of other worthwhile goals.
We are on the doorstep of rezoning the Cleveland Park commercial area along Connecticut Ave, but we are unlikely to see transformative change any time soon. The reason? Historic preservation.
Nearly forty years ago, just after the Red Line and Cleveland Park’s Metro station opened, a project was proposed at the site of the Park & Shop that, through today’s eyes, would deliver a lot of what many of say we want: daytime foot traffic; mixed uses between retail, office and residential; 20% affordable housing; a massive underground parking facility (254 spaces!) that would serve public parking needs.
What happened? The neighborhood killed it. The assassination was orchestrated by Peggy Robin, our Listserv owner and then Chair of ANC 3C who literally wrote the book on how to thwart neighborhood change; Phil Mendelson, our Council Chair and then also on ANC 3C; and Tersh Boasberg, then of the Cleveland Park Historical Society and future chair of the Historic Preservation Review Board and the DC Zoning Commission.
The Park & Shop project catalyzed the formation of the Cleveland Park historic district, which had its initial sights set on the residential areas, to also include the commercial area. A great read on this period in the neighborhood is “The Panic in Cleveland Park” which ran in the Washington Post in April 1986.
The historic district killed the Park & Shop project in the crib. Next, Robin and Boasberg, in the hopes of not having to revisit another development proposal like the Park & Shop, successfully initiated a downzoning of the commercial strip, lowering the building heights and density and imposing a cap on the number of restaurants that were allowed.
We view these actions with 2023 eyes and values, not those of 1986. But times change as do our our priorities.
Fast forward to the present (a lot has happened, we’ve been busy), and we are on the cusp of upzoning the area. Yet the historic district lingers. And those who would follow in Boasberg’s footsteps, would use the preservation law to beat down future projects to be more “horizontal” than vertical, regardless of how architecturally pleasing they are.
I know what you are thinking if you’ve read this far, “JFC, Bob get to the point!”
Ok. Fair.
DC Preservation law has an escape valve when a project makes a whole lot of sense and benefits the community. It’s called a project of special merit. It allows the Mayor to approve projects that require the full or partial demolition of historic resources if they offer "significant benefits to the District of Columbia or to the community by virtue of exemplary architecture, specific features of land planning, or social or other benefits having a high priority for community services.”
What if we could preserve some of the Park & Shop, but allow a significant development on the site that offers MORE. Maybe that more is a high level of affordable housing. Maybe it’s discounted retail for local merchants. Maybe it’s … a parking garage that provides public parking for the area. And all with beautiful, compatible architecture.
Would you support the Mayor declaring a project of special merit to allow partial demolition of the Park & Shop, maybe moving the retail fronts to the street and building a beautiful project behind it to get MORE?
I would. I would also support HPRB standing down on height and density review, and just focusing on design, materials and architecture. And if that didn’t work, I would support the DC Council amending the Preservation Law to prevent HPRB from taking away height and density from a project that would otherwise have a right to via the zoning code and the District’s Comprehensive Plan. HPRB shouldn’t be an autonomous land use regulation body. Keep it’s focus on design and architecture.
If you think the next version of the Design Guidelines that is expected from the Office of Planning should:
highlight HPRB focusing on design and not density and height, and
put a spotlight on projects of special merit and encourage its pursuit by property owners
I encourage you to send an email to the project team: Heba.ElGawish@dc.gov and historic.preservation@dc.gov.
I also encourage you to email Ward 3 Council Member Matt Frumin, mfrumin@dccouncil.gov, to let him know that reform of the preservation law is needed to keep HPRB’s hands off of zoning, and stay limited to evaluating design and architecture.
Copy your emails to ANC 3C, all@anc3c.org.
Here are some sample emails that you can customize into your own words:
Dear Ms. ElGawish,
As the Office of Planning works on edits to the Development Guidelines for Cleveland Park and Woodley Park, I ask you to highlight the path to greater development that allows for more community benefit and a way to work around the strict requirements of the historic preservation law. I am speak about projects of “special merit.” If we want MORE from our future development - more housing, especially deeper affordable housing, family sized units, public parking, etc - the guidelines should showcase all of the tools in the planning tool box and “special merit” projects is one of those tools.
I also ask you to make clear that the Office of Planning recognizes the recent will of the Council and Mayor to allow for greater density in these two commercial areas, knowing full well that they are within historic districts, and that these guidelines call for HPRB to focus its work on the design elements of future buildings - materials, massing, setbacks, architecture, façade modulation, etc - while acknowledging and allowing the approved zoning.
Dear Councilmember Frumin,
As you know, a planning process is happening in Cleveland Park and Woodley Park in preparation for a rezoning to allow greater height and density in these two historic commercial areas. The Council and the Mayor amended the District’s Comprehensive Plan in 2021 to allow for this rezoning to happen. Yet we hear calls today urging the Historic Preservation Review Board to reject the will of the Council and Mayor and unilaterally limit the height and density of future buildings.
It is time for the Council to reform the Historic Landmark and Historic District Protection Act of 1978 to prohibit the HPRB from denying applicants their right to height and density conferred to them through the zoning code. Truly exceptional circumstances may constrained only through approval of the Mayor.
We cannot allow a dual yet independent system of land use regulation exist in the District if we are to achieve the goals our Comprehensive Plan lays out. The time to implement this reform is now, as we move to rezone these these two historic districts that have great potential to add housing, affordable housing, retail vitality and more to these neighborhoods.
Taking action, letting people know you are ok with change to get MORE, is exercising your power. Hoping that other people do it for you? That’s relinquishing it. Step up and take action!
If you are not yet part of a local group that advocates for positive urban change, consider signing up for Cleveland Park Smart Growth (it’s free).