Affordable Housing Institute : US

[Continuing from Part 1.]

 

As we assess the arguments pro and con the proposed 184-apartment high-rise affordable property in Eckington, a changing Washington DC neighborhood, seeking to evaluate the merits, how about this argument?

 

For Adam Benzing, the biggest issue is the apartment building’s size. He has lived in the District for three years and bought a rowhouse across from the proposed complex last fall. The current plan calls for the facade of the building to resemble a series of rowhouses, to lessen neighbors’ concern.

 

Many combination rehab/ new construction properties in eastern cities have their historic gaiters, leggings to soften the streetscape line with the glistening curtain wall rising behind like a blue horizon.

 

Exchange Place, Boston

 

That doesn’t do it for Benzing. He’d rather the church and its partner build townhouses — even with the same income requirements — on the site. That would keep the project less dense and require no change in the zoning.

 

Even the area’s largest building, the high school just south of the site, is only four stories.

 

There’s a legitimate basis for the neighbors’ insisting on adhering to the current zoning.  The high school’s a low-rise, as are the established row houses — and the new property needs a variation:

 

The church’s plans would require a rezoning to allow a denser use. A zoning hearing has not been scheduled, but church leaders hope it will occur this summer.

 

Anyone who’s been through a zoning variance hearing knows it goes much more smoothly if it has neighborhood support.  The developers have been seeking to rally it, because, as reported by DC’s advocacy group Affordable Housing Activists, the approval sequence is very lengthy:

 

 

What is the Process?

 

·    St. Martin’s and CCS are awaiting approval of its application for financing from DHCD.

·    St. Martin’s and CCS submitted an application for a Planned Unit Development to the Office of Planning.

·    The Office of Planning makes its recommendation to Zoning Commission.

·    The Zoning Commission holds a public hearing on the development.

 

This will take quite some time:

 

Plans call for construction to be completed 18 months after all clearances are granted.

 

The Advisory Neighborhood Commission for the area has given its preliminary approval for the project, which is supported by D.C. Council member Vincent B. Orange Sr. (D-Ward 5).

 

Co-developer Mr. Dobrenare, whose relationship to the proposal is being questioned, sees opposition as classism if not racism, apparently writing one resident:

 

Dear [resident of Eckington]:

You can’t have it both ways. You either support affordable housing or you don’t.  

 

I voted for the affordable housing before I voted against it.

 

Would it be too much to ask you how much you are making from the development, Mr. Dobrenare?

 

St Martin’s Church has a long history in the community fighting those ills and the CCS housing on the site for the past 10 years, has never caused any problems.

 

A very relevant point: what is the current use?  An “aging convent populated by the formerly homeless,” hardly the stuff of business attraction.

 

You are, quite frankly, by your own admission, a hair’s breath away from being income eligible for this project. In fact, if you were a single mom, as many professional women find themselves today, you would be eligible to live here.

I think you need to look into your heart and see why you feel people making 30-50K a year would not be good enough to live next to you. My bringing these people into the neighborhood, this project will bring you allies to fight the ills you complain of. Certainly the project we propose is far better than the original project we can do without any approvals.

I understand your fear of change. You seem to be a good person. I am challenging you to get beyond your fear, set aside your preconceived notions of who this project is going to serve and stand up for affordable workforce housing. Goodness is judged not on what you believe, but how you act. I am asking you to do the right thing and support this project.

Neal Drobenare

 

 

Is opposing this particular property not good?

 

“St. Martin’s is trying to paint everybody as anti-affordable housing,” said Benzing, 26, who is taking postgraduate classes before entering medical school. “That’s not the issue at all. I know most of my neighbors. But I think there’s a different relationship with a large apartment building.”

 

This too is a legitimate point: higher-density anonymizes a community.  A city is where strangers live together, whereas in a village, everyone knows everyone else.  One is not necessarily superior to the other —

 

“Be seeing you.”

 

– but as they are qualitatively different, the textural change does impact current residents.

 

Benzing said it’s “unfortunate” that Kelly, the St. Martin’s pastor, has injected race and class into the debate and hired a professional communications firm to print glossy fliers instead of just meeting with residents to resolve the matter. He also hates that racially charged comments have been directed at opponents.

 

“There’s not been a lot of honest dialogue on this,” he said, rejecting the idea that opponents do not want to live next to black people. “That’s very unfortunate. This is a black community, and I’m one of two whites who live on this block. By framing the issue that way, they’re trying to silence discussions.”

 

How much sway should the neighbors have?  What level of density is appropriate? 

 

What is the neighborly thing?

 

 

Ultimately, like the debates over local property taxes, these are neighborhood-level questions.

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