Concerned residents can contact their council members (if you live in Ward 2, that’s Jack Evans) asking them to pass legislation requiring a zoning variance for boarding houses in R-4 zoned areas.
As mentioned in the last post, DC has contradictory laws about whether boarding houses require a zoning variance in R-4 zones or whether they are a matter of right. Title 10.A315 mentions that special exceptions are to be required for a boarding house while Title 11 makes them a matter of right. Furthermore, there is contradictory information about how many people can occupy a boarding house. DCRA claims on their website here that not more than 6 unrelated persons can live in a boarding house, while the agency claims it sees no problem with a 9-room boarding house that is clearly intended for nine unrelated persons.
These distinctions are important to pin down because they affect whether boarding houses are something that must be considered as part of the neighborhood planning process that ANCs already participate in, with neighbors’ input taken into account. Boarding houses, hostels, hotels and other transient housing all have a productive place in society, but ensuring that they are well-located, planned and looked after is a critical part of the process that the ANCs could help oversee.
Neighbors Confront 605 P ST NW! 