Moneybox

Smart Growthers Campaigning For Market Urbanism in DC Zoning Reform

There’s sometimes perceived to be a tension between the “smart growth” community and market urbanist ideas, but here in DC they’re very much going together. At issue is a proposed Zoning Update from the office of planning whose main provisions are rolling back regulatory parking minimums in areas near frequent mass transit service and allowing for more commercial uses (“corner stores” but not bars) in rowhouse neighborhoods.

These are both great ideas (if a bit more timidly implemented than I’d like to see) and it seems noteworthy that the Coalition for Smarter Growth is the main group trying to organize people in support of the proposal in the face of paranoid opposition.