INDUSTRIAL LAND IN A POST-INDUSTRIAL CITY District of ...

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District of Columbia Industrial Areas Study DC Office of Planning Prepared by Phillips Preiss Shapiro Associates, Inc. 2.3.2 IRREVERSIBILITY OF ZONING AND LAND USE DECISIONS In general, housing and commercial development are important to any city’s tax base and ability to compete in the national and global marketplace. In the District, public policy and the private market have collectively favored these types of developments and increased real estate pressures on industrial land, 8 even though industrial areas play just as important a role in strengthening and diversifying the District. Once industrial land is developed for a non-industrial use, the return of industrial use to the redeveloped property is extremely unlikely. In short, once industrial land is lost, it is typically lost for good. Moreover, the introduction of non-industrial uses into an industrial area changes the land use context, increasing the likelihood of nuisance complaints, land use and traffic conflicts, and additional rezoning requests. Similar issues affect the District’s municipal space needs. Many municipal and public uses— vehicle storage and repair, salt storage, bus maintenance and storage, etc.—are industrial or quasi-industrial in nature. These uses would be difficult to site in a residential or commercial district due to property owner opposition and potential land use conflicts. Since government functions are subject to the same zoning requirements and NIMBY pressures as private enterprise, they are often driven to the same sites as private PDR users. For these reasons, District government has historically proceeded cautiously with respect to rezoning its industrial lands for other uses. It must continue to do so. Recognizing that the decision to rezone an industrial area for non-industrial uses is practically irreversible, this study urges the District to undertake only limited and strategic rezonings and to initiate zoning to insulate and protect remaining industrial areas from the private property market. 2.4 NEED FOR APPROPRIATE SPACE FOR PUBLIC FUNCTIONS Municipalities require dedicated, secure areas in which to conduct the business of government. This includes those quasi-industrial functions such as waste hauling and transfer, street cleaning and plowing, road construction and repair, water and sewer construction and repair, and police, fire, and parking enforcement services. Cities also need areas to house equipment and supplies as well as places to store and repair the light and heavy vehicles which service all corners of the city. Whenever possible, these types of quasi-industrial areas must be located within the city’s jurisdiction, for at least three reasons. First, cities can rarely compete in the suburban land market, so that finding and purchasing appropriately-zoned land in an outlying jurisdiction is difficult if not impossible. Second, many government services are important employers of city residents. Government jobs, especially quasi-industrial skilled positions, are well-paying, have 8 For example, ad-hoc rezoning requests remove land from industrial use, and the District’s Comprehensive Plan proposed land use policy map targets some industrial areas for land use change, infill, and/or residential development. - 41 -
District of Columbia Industrial Areas Study DC Office of Planning Prepared by Phillips Preiss Shapiro Associates, Inc. good security and benefits, and are good areas to learn new skills and trades. Third, most, if not all, of these government functions must be located strategically so that service areas are never too far away. Response times, travel distances, or turn-around times can be critical in some situations. Additionally, when government services are inefficient, both constituents and the bottom line suffer. It can be a significant waste of time and money, for example, for a tow truck and driver, or snowplow, or street sweeper, to be stuck in downtown traffic when a more strategically located staging area could have been reached sooner. In this regard, the District is of course no different than any other city. If anything, given the very precarious nature of the District’s fiscal imbalance, well-paying employment of city residents and the optimal location of public facilities and efficient use of that land is all the more important here in the nation’s capitol. However, it is becoming more and more difficult to achieve optimal locations within the District, and the demand for city services, due to growth in jobs and households, continues to increase. Map 2.2 shows where public facilities are concentrated in industrial areas. Many of these needs are quasi-industrial in nature, and are hard to site. It is generally difficult to site a “locally unwanted land use” due to pollution, noise, odors and resulting NIMBY (“not in my backyard”) concerns, but because District government is bound by its own zoning, the task of locating appropriate land in a city in which there is already limited supply becomes monumental. To better understand the space needs of the District government, a Technical Advisory Committee comprised of representatives of District agencies, the Federal Government, and public authorities such as the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) and Washington Area Sewer Authority (WASA) was convened. The purpose of the TAC was to identify pressing needs; brainstorm solutions; and test recommendations for addressing the identified needs. From the TAC process, it is estimated that immediate public sector space needs amount to about 70 acres (see Table 2.12). TAC participants also reported on short and medium-term space needs. Only some could give reasonable estimates, which amount to 65 acres for two agencies alone (25 or more acres for WMATA and 40 acres for the Architect of the Capitol). Many agencies related their mediumterm relocation or consolidation plans, including: WMATA (Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority) Replacement for 133-bus Western Garage, 8.5 acres New 150 – 200 bus garage to accommodate system expansion, 8.5 – 11.3 acres Two light rail yards at Anacostia Station and northern terminus, 3 – 5 acres each Department of Public Works Scattered impoundment “staging” areas, strategically located in the District, allowing DPW to avoid rush hour downtown traffic as they tow vehicles. - 42 -
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INDUSTRIAL LAND IN A POST-INDUSTRIAL CITY District of ...

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