Zoning Commission Approves Proposed Action for Barry Farm Stage Planned Unit Development

On Monday, October 20, 2014, the Zoning Commission for the District of Columbia approved the application for the first stage Planned Unit Development (“PUD”) and related zoning map amendment for the Barry Farm redevelopment. The approval by the Zoning Commission will help to implement the New Communities Barry Farm Redevelopment Plan which was approved by the Council of the District of Columbia in December 2006. The PUD / Barry Farm site is generally bounded by Sumner Road to the north, Firth Sterling Avenue to the west, the Saint Elizabeth’s Hospital property to the south, and Wade Road to the east. The PUD / Barry Farm site is currently developed with the Barry Farm residences (432 public housing row dwellings); Wade Apartments (12 public housing apartment units); and eight vacant lots along Wade Road. Under the redevelopment plan, the existing Barry Farm and Wade Apartments (a total of 444 units) will be demolished and rebuilt within a vibrant mixed-use, mixed-income community. The new community will consist of approximately 1,400 mixed-income housing units in a variety of housing types and sizes including public housing replacement units, affordable and market rate rental units and for-sale housing. The plan also calls for approximately 50,000 square feet of new retail and services uses to provide for the everyday needs of the residents; extensive new open space and parks; and improved infrastructure including new roads that introduce a new east-west and north-south grid pattern with smaller pedestrian-friendly blocks to improve circulation and pedestrian connections.

Key elements of the redevelopment plan include:

Create a mixed-income community with a variety of housing types, including low- to mid-rise buildings and townhomes, affordable and market-rate rental and homeownership units.
Ensure one for one replacement of subsidized housing units either scattered throughout the development parcels and/or in proximate off-site locations.
Develop neighborhood-serving retail that does not compete with the commercial corridor on Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue.
Create a new grid of residential streets with new east/west connections that eliminate the isolation of the existing neighborhood.
Link the development parcels to the Anacostia Metrorail station and Historic Anacostia through improved pedestrian, bicycle and streetcar route connections, and additional new bus routes through the community.
Provide a network of open spaces that are designed with community accessibility and security in mind.
Utilize sustainable practices (such as LEED-ND) to design the new neighborhood, preserve existing natural site features and minimize the development impact on the environment.
Honor the history of the PUD Site through the preservation of street and school names and with the development of a public art or memorial program.
Create new development that minimizes the need for parking and specifically for off-street surface parking.