D.C. Mun. Regs. tit. 10-A, § 2213
2213.1 The Upper Georgia Avenue NW corridor extends more than 2.5 miles from Decatur Street north to Eastern Avenue. The corridor includes local and community-serving retail uses, gas stations, car dealerships, small offices, public and institutional buildings, and residential uses. The character of the corridor changes between Aspen and Fern Streets NW, where the Walter Reed Army Medical Center Historic District occupies the west side of the avenue, and row houses and low-rise apartments line the east side.
2213.2 Portions of Upper Georgia Avenue NW lack retail diversity and streetscape amenities, an unsafe pedestrian environment, and an aesthetic quality that is not in keeping with the high-quality residential areas on its east and west. The corridor has the potential to attract significant redevelopment, potentially supporting new retail, housing, and mixed-use activity. It has many assets that are attractive to investors, including its historic building stock and proximity to a diverse community with significant purchasing power and a wide range of retail interests.
2313.3 Approved by the D.C. Council in 2008, the Upper Georgia Avenue Land Development Plan guides growth and development along the corridor to create an attractive destination for residents, business owners, and visitors. The plan builds upon efforts of the government, the community, and the private sector along Georgia Avenue NW to increase local neighborhood livability and create a new environment that stimulates private investment and neighborhood revitalization.
2213.4 The Upper Georgia Avenue Land Development Plan emphasizes development along the corridor in five zones at key intersections, each highlighting different redevelopment opportunities. Zones should be clearly identified with streetscaping and other physical features that define their identities and create a clearer sense of place while providing a pedestrian-friendly public realm. The strategy of nodal zones on the corridor will support attraction of a variety of retail options, preserve and promote historic resources, stimulate mixed-income housing, and encourage multimodal transportation options while developing a clear northern gateway presence into the District at Eastern Avenue.
2213.5 Strategies for Upper Georgia Avenue NW should be coordinated with ongoing redevelopment of the WRAMC campus, which will buoy the corridor and expand the market for small businesses.
2213.6 Policy RCE-2.3.1: Upper Georgia Avenue NW Develop upper Georgia Avenue NW (from Decatur Street to Eastern Avenue NW) as a walkable shopping street with five distinct and clearly identifiable activity centers along its course. Encourage development that reinforces this nodal pattern, with new retail or local-serving office development clustered at key locations and
new housing or mixed-use development on underutilized commercial properties in between. Conserve existing housing along the corridor, supporting its maintenance and renovation, and encourage affordable housing options.
The development of upper Georgia Avenue NW as one of Washington, DC’s prominent commercial gateways should encourage new retail and infill that is pedestrian and transit oriented. Improve transit access along Georgia Avenue itself and support better connections with other parts of the city. Improvements to the public realm also should be made to make walking, biking, and transit use, including bus rapid transit, safe, comfortable, and convenient, including greening and landscaping in the public space and rights-of-way.
Work with federal officials in ongoing discussions on the Department of State’s Foreign Missions Center at the Walter Reed site, Children’s National Research and Innovation Campus, as well as the Parks at Walter Reed project to support economic development on upper Georgia Avenue NW. In addition, the District will seek outcomes that preserve the stability and quality of neighborhoods around the site, minimize the potential for future land use and transportation conflicts, preserve open space buffers between the site and its neighbors, provide community amenities wherever feasible, build new housing, including affordable housing for a range of incomes and household sizes, and create educational and employment opportunities that benefit District residents.
Support existing business organizations that provide beautification and business assistance services along upper Georgia Avenue NW. Encourage efforts to coordinate business improvement strategies among the various Georgia Avenue business associations through the implementation of the Upper Georgia Avenue Land Development Plan. Assist businesses in adapting to changing markets and customer bases that shift with new uses and development on the corridor, particularly around the Walter Reed site.
New development should provide ground-floor retail with either residential, office, or institutional uses above. Transitions in height can be designed to ameliorate the appearance of overwhelming scale and to relate to the lower scale of the surrounding neighborhood. Additional residential development, including affordable and moderate-income housing, can create more vibrant and inclusive destinations at the zones along the corridor.
Complete market studies of upper Georgia Avenue NW to assess unmet retail market demand, evaluate strategies for retaining local retailers, identify potential locations for new neighborhood-serving retail, and develop strategies for attracting and retaining the appropriate mix of retail in each area.
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)).