WaPo: "Pop-up architect says DC's new height limits miss the mark" (oh please)

Click on the link to read the entire Washington Post article by Truxton Circle resident Shilpi Malinowski.

Where We Live

Pop-up architect says D.C.’s new height limits miss the mark

By Shilpi Malinowski July 22 at 10:00 AM

For most of the eight years he’s been in business, Michael Cross, principal and founder of District-based architecture firm Michael Cross Design Group, has been at the center of controversy in the city over the issue of rowhouse pop-ups.  Cross has designed about a dozen pop-ups in residential neighborhoods, both for individual owner-occupants who want one more story and for developers hoping to create a multi-unit condo building on the footprint of a rowhouse.

In June, after a year-long battle between developers gutting and expanding rowhouses and neighbors fighting to “Stop the Pop,” the District’s Zoning Commission approved new regulations that will limit building heights of single-family rowhouses to 35 feet, from a previous limit of 40 feet, in R-4 residential zones.

[D.C. zoning panel approves new regulations for pop-up rowhouses]

Moreover, multi-unit condo buildings going up in R-4 zones will be limited to two condo units by right; if developers wish to build a third or fourth unit, they will need to argue their case with the Board of Zoning Adjustment to receive a special exception.

The Zoning Commission is hoping that the regulations will slow the snowballing “pop-up” effect that is altering the street view throughout the District.

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