Ward 8 Residents Want Commercial Site Rezoned to Residential

• October 6, 2017

by Nena Perry-Brown

1401 22nd Street SE. Image from Google Street View

This has been a busy week for rezoning applications east of the Anacostia River.

ANC 8A recently filed a map amendment application with the Zoning Commission in hopes of preventing construction of a storage center near Anacostia Park and paving the way for future residential development.

The map amendment was filed after the owner of the 20,000 square-foot lot at 1401 22nd Street SE (map) sought approval from the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) to create a 20-foot curb cut at the site for future construction of a self-storage facility.

Currently zoned as PDR-1 (production, distribution and repair), the ANC would prefer either an R-3 or RA-2 designation that would complement the R-5-B character of the surrounding neighborhood. R-3 would allow for rowhouses, while RA-2 allows for moderate-density residential development.

The community lobbied the owner and developer of the site to consider a residential use rather than the five-story, 1,700-unit storage facility planned; the owner has since expressed a willingness to work with the single-member district ANC commissioner to explore those options.

Councilmember Trayon White, the ANC and the Fairlawn Citizens’ Association also sent letters to DDOT in opposition to the owner’s curb cut request. The Office of Planning is currently reviewing the application.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/ward_8_residents_want_commercial_site_rezoned_to_residential/13092