architect Roger K. Lewis comments on the DC Office of Planning's R-4 pop-up zoning proposal

Click on the link to read the entire Washington Post editorial from Roger K. Lewis:

Where We Live

Shaping the City | D.C. proposes limits on pop-ups

By Roger K. Lewis February 18

On a recent WAMU broadcast of the Kojo Nnamdi radio show, I was among four guests discussing the challenges of pop-ups in Washington residential neighborhoods.

Pop-ups — single-family row houses that have been expanded vertically well beyond the prevailing height of neighbors’ homes — is a hot-button issue here. They have elicited much citizen opposition, even though stretching a row house vertically may be allowed under existing zoning laws regulating height and density.

Citizen objections to pop-ups focus on several concerns: architectural incompatibility with streetscape character and prevailing size and scale of existing houses along the street; blockage of sunlight and views enjoyed by adjacent houses; sometimes poor design quality of pop-ups and their facades; and increased density when popped-up, single-family row houses become multi-story apartment buildings, presumably changing neighborhood character and increasing competition for on-street parking spaces

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