D.C. Mun. Regs. tit. 10-A, § 2115
2115.1 Foggy Bottom is one of the District's oldest residential neighborhoods. It includes a mix of 19th century alley houses, small-scale townhouses, mid-rise apartments, and condominiums, as well as GW's campus and GW Hospital. Major federal uses, including the Department of State and the Kennedy Center, are located in the neighborhood, as well as major international institutions like the Pan American Health Organization. The neighborhood also includes Columbia Plaza and the Watergate, both mixed-use complexes that are predominantly residential. There are several hotels and office buildings in the area as well.
2115.2 Starting with the planning and construction of the Whitehurst Freeway shortly after World War II, substantial parts of Foggy Bottom were lost to highway right-of-way. Highway construction followed the condemnation and demolition of large areas of Foggy Bottom. This prompted the organizing of a grass-roots, anti-highway movement in Washington, DC and other US cities experiencing a similar level of urban demolition, which eventually helped end the highway building boom by the mid-1960s. The abrupt end to the building of urban highway systems left areas like Foggy Bottom with unfinished roads and ramps feeding into existing grids that were never designed to support highway-level traffic and with barriers bisecting the community and separating it from the Potomac River.
2115.3 The neighborhood has a shortage of usable parkland. The Potomac Freeway along the area's western boundary restricts access between the neighborhood, adjacent parkland, the waterfront, and the Kennedy Center. George Washington Circle provides a large, centrally located open space, but vehicular traffic around the circle makes it difficult to access. Rock Creek Park itself is accessible from Virginia and Pennsylvania Avenues but is otherwise cut off from the area by the freeway.
2115.4 The heart of the neighborhood, including the major concentration of 19th century townhouses, was designated a historic district in 1986. In 1992, the Foggy Bottom Overlay District (now the R-17 zone) was created to provide further conservation of the area and to maintain the residential development pattern. In 2014, the GW/Old West End historic district was established in the heart of the campus and some of the surrounding area, formerly known as West End.
2115.5 The current West End, just north of Foggy Bottom, is a former industrial and residential area that has been undergoing major change since the late 1970s. The area was rezoned in 1975 to encourage mixed-use development. Since that time, there has been major office, hotel, residential, and creative mixed-use, public-private partnership development, including a new library with eight stories of residences above and a number of affordable units. Very few vacant sites remain. The opportunity remains to enhance the M Street NW corridor between
Georgetown and Connecticut Avenue NW and to strengthen the Pennsylvania Avenue NW corridor, which currently defines the edge between Foggy Bottom and West End.
2115.6 The expansion of GW has been an ongoing issue of significant concern in Foggy Bottom and West End, with neighbors expressing unease about the loss of housing stock and the changing character of the community. Continued commercial, hotel, and institutional expansion, coupled with increased regional commuter traffic, has caused traffic, parking problems, and concerns about air quality and disruption of the quality of life. On the other hand, GW has also been an engine of economic, social, and cultural growth for the community by revitalizing the retail and food offerings in the area, and providing medical services. Pursuant to the 2007 Foggy Bottom Campus Plan, the university committed to develop its academic programs in the area within its boundaries and to discontinue off-campus undergraduate housing facilities. The objectives for land use decisions in the Foggy Bottom/West End area are to conserve and enhance the existing residential neighborhood, maintain and improve existing parkland and access to it, and balance the needs of local residents with the needs of the university to carry out its academic mission. Efforts should continue to retain the residential balance of the area, ensure adherence to the campus plan, and proactively address neighborhood and university concerns.
2115.7 The area includes the Foggy Bottom/GW Metro station, one of the busiest stations in the Metrorail system, which has only one entrance/exit. A second entrance would be desirable and is encouraged in the future.
2115.8 Policy NNW-2.5.1: GW/Foggy Bottom Coordination Encourage continued efforts to improve communication and coordination between GW and the Foggy Bottom and West End communities. Campus plans for the university must demonstrate how the university can manage its academic mission within applicable limits for both campus development and enrollment. These efforts should preserve the residential character of Foggy Bottom while contributing to the cultural and physical diversity of the community.
2115.9 Policy NNW-2.5.2: Student Housing and Parking Issues Support continued efforts by GW to place students in residential facilities within the campus boundaries or at the Mount Vernon campus to alleviate pressure on the housing stock in Foggy Bottom/West End and to develop transportation demand management programs and facilities that reduce parking problems on residential streets in the campus area.
2115.10 Policy NNW-2.5.3: GW Building Intensity As approved in the 2007 Foggy Bottom Campus Plan, increase density on the existing GW campus to accommodate future space and facility needs (as
measured by the enrollment, staff, and faculty limits set in the approved plan). Take steps to avoid sharp contrasts in height and bulk between the campus and the surrounding community to mitigate the effects of increased traffic, parking, and other impacts.
Maximize the benefits of all parks and open spaces in this area, including George Washington Circle, Juarez Circle, and adjacent open space islands: Rock Creek Park, Rock Creek, and the Potomac Parkway. The publicly owned land between M Street and Virginia Avenue NW and 26th and 29th Streets NW, which includes both federally and District-owned land, shall be part of a larger study on open space accessibility, transportation infrastructure reconfiguration, urban fabric reconnectivity for Foggy Bottom.
Study the feasibility of improving Foggy Bottom and West End’s access to the Potomac River, including the E Street NW corridor and the connection to Whitehurst Freeway, and existing park land, and create new open space and new development parcels by reconfiguring existing transportation infrastructure. Reconnecting to the District grid is essential for improving neighborhood connectivity and to support desirable enhanced transportation, improved park accessibility, affordable housing, and neighborhood-oriented development.
Conduct studies and implement appropriate changes to improve access and circulation between, through, and around the Foggy Bottom and West End neighborhoods, respecting the L’Enfant Plan street grid, conserving Juarez Circle and other parklands as open space and better incorporating the transportation needs of various institutions and uses into the fabric of surrounding neighborhoods.
Design and implement pedestrian access improvements to Washington Circle’s open space, such as removing fences and architectural barriers to the lawns.
Study the feasibility of reconfiguring existing highway infrastructure in Foggy Bottom so as to maximize the benefits and accessibility of the open space and parkland and maintain overall park space, reconnect the gaps in the street grid and urban fabric, create opportunities for affordable housing production, improve pedestrian and bike connections to and from Georgetown, the Kennedy Center, President’s Park, National Mall, national parkland, and other attractions, and create new memorials, linear parks, and civic spaces.
SOURCE: District of Columbia Comprehensive Plan Act of 1984, effective April 10, 1984 (D.C. Law 5-76; 31 DCR 1049 (March 9, 1984)); as amended by District of Columbia Comprehensive Plan Act of 1984 Land Use Element Amendment Act of 1984, effective March 16, 1985 (D.C. Law 5-187; 32 DCR 873 (February 15, 1985)); as amended by District of Columbia Comprehensive Plan Amendments Act of 1989, effective May 23, 1990 (D.C. Law 8-129; 37 DCR 55 (January 5, 1990)); as amended by District of Columbia Comprehensive Plan Amendments Act of 1989 NCPC-Recommended Amendments, and Closing of Public Alleys in Square 669, S.O. 88-452, Act of 1990, effective May 23, 1990 (D.C. Law 8-132; 37 DCR 2213 (April 6, 1990)); as amended by District Government Land Use Temporary Amendment Act of 1994, effective October 1, 1994 (D.C. Law 10-190; 41 DCR 5360 (August 12, 1994)); as amended by Comprehensive Plan Amendments Act of 1994, effective October 6, 1994 (D.C. Law 10-193; 41 DCR 5536 (August 19, 1994)); as amended by District of Columbia Comprehensive Plan Act of 1984 Land Use Amendment Act of 1994, effective March 21, 1995 (D.C. Law 10-235; 42 DCR 30 (January 6, 1995)); as amended by Technical Amendments Act of 1996 effective April 18, 1996 (D.C. Law 11-110; 43 DCR 530 (February 9, 1996)); as amended by Second Technical Amendments Act of 1996 effective April 9, 1997 (D.C. Law 11-255; 44 DCR 1271 (March 7, 1997)); as amended by Comprehensive Plan Amendment Act of 1998, effective April 27, 1999 (D.C. Law 12-275; 46 DCR 1441 (February 19, 1999)); as amended by Technical Amendments Act of 1999, effective April 12, 2000 (D.C. Law 13-91; 47 DCR 520 (January 28, 2000)); as amended by Comprehensive Plan Amendment Act of 2006, effective March 8, 2007 (D.C. Law 16-300; 54 DCR 924 (February 2, 2007)); as amended by Technical Amendments Act of 2008, effective March 25, 2009 (D.C. Law 17-353; 56 DCR 1117 (February 6, 2009)); as amended by Comprehensive Plan Amendment Act of 2010, effective April 8, 2011 (D.C. Law 18-361; 58 DCR 908 (February 4, 2011)); as amended by Comprehensive Plan Amendment Act of 2021, effective August 21, 2021 (D.C. Law 24-20; 68 DCR 006918 (July 16, 2021)).