Capitol Hill Corner: pop ups and​ development in Hill East -- Office of Planning proposes restrictions on pop ups

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Pop Ups and​ ​Development in Hill East

Office of Planning Proposes Restrictions on Pop Ups

by Larry Janezich

In Hill East, immediately outside of the boundaries of the Capitol Hill Historic District, development has trended toward condo​s ​for young​er DC residents.

In addition to stand alone multi-residential units, some of the development has taken the form of pop up additions to row houses – both for the purpose of adding living space for families ​and the conversion of single family units to multiple residential units by developers.

This conversion of existing housing stock to multi-residential units is blamed by the Office of Planning (OP) for pushing up the prices of existing townhouses, as developers pay more for properties to convert them than the homeowners who intend to reside in them.

To that end, OP is proposing a series of amendments to the zoning regulations to make it more difficult to build pop ups and to convert row houses to multifamily units.

The proposals would:

1) Reduce building height for row houses in residential districts from 40 to 35 feet without special exception;

2) Change the definition of “mezzanine” to include these partial floors in the number of stories permitted in a residential zone; and,

3) Eliminate a zoning law provision that allows for the conversion of row houses to multi-family (more than 2) buildings.

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