301.1 The District of Columbia comprises 69 square miles, including approximately eight square miles of water and 61 square miles of land. Land use patterns, illustrated in Map 3.1, reveal an expansive District core of about four-square miles centered on the open spaces of federal Washington, DC. The core is surrounded by an inner ring of moderate- to high-density residential and mixed-use neighborhoods, extending west to Georgetown, north to Columbia Heights and Petworth, east across Capitol Hill, and south to the Anacostia River and Near Southwest. Beyond the inner ring is an outer ring of less dense development, characterized largely by single-family housing and garden apartments. The two rings generally correspond to historic development patterns, with most of the inner ring developed by 1920 and the outer ring developed after 1920.

301.2 The impact of the District's transportation network on land use patterns is apparent in Map 3.1. Most of the commercial and higher-density development beyond the core of Washington, DC hugs radial avenues like Connecticut Avenue NW and Pennsylvania Avenue SE. Most of the District's industrial development follows the railroad corridors running from Union Station east along New York Avenue and north to Silver Spring. The historic connection between transportation and land use continues to shape the District today, with Metrorail station areas being the most robust activity centers.

301.3 Map 3.1: Existing Land Use 2017

301.4

Map 3.1 reveals other distinctive land use patterns. Open space networks, particularly those along Rock Creek and the Potomac and Anacostia rivers, are apparent. Large institutional uses including some 2,000 acres of colleges, universities, hospitals, seminaries, and similar uses are visible. Federal enclaves beyond Washington, DC’s core, such as Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, the St. Elizabeths Hospital West Campus, and the Armed Forces Retirement Home, appear prominently. Many of the federal and institutional uses are located in areas that are otherwise residential in character. While this creates the potential for land

use conflicts, these uses are also important open space buffers, job centers, community anchors, and resources for the surrounding neighborhoods.

301.5 Figure 3.1 shows the location of each of the city's 10 Planning Areas. Each of these planning areas are of different acreage and land use configuration About 27 percent of the District consists of road rights-of-way, although only about 60 percent of this acreage actually consists of the paved streets. For instance, road rights-of-way constitute 40 percent of Capitol Hill, but most of this land consists of landscaped or bricked front yards along streets with exceptionally wide rights-of-way.

301.6 Despite the significant number of jobs in Washington, DC, commercial uses represent less than five percent of the District's land area, and industrial uses represent less than one percent. Commercial uses represent about 14 percent of the land area in Central Washington but less than two percent of the land area in Far Southeast/Southwest. Many of the District's jobs are associated with federal facilities and institutional uses, which together make up about 10 percent of its land area. Institutional lands appear throughout the District but are especially prevalent in the four Northwest Planning Areas: Central Washington, Near Northwest, Mid-City, Rock Creek West, as well as in Upper Northeast.

301.7 Maps 3.2 and 3.3 show estimated population and employment density in Washington, DC and approximate suburbs as of 2017. The data is based on the traffic analysis zones used by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG) for transportation modeling. Map 3.2 again illustrates the ring of fairly dense neighborhoods around the District center, and the denser residential development along major corridors like Connecticut Avenue NW and 14th Street NW. It also shows areas of fairly dense development in Wards 7 and 8, primarily associated with large low-rise garden apartment complexes in Far Southeast. Areas like Woodridge, Burrville, and Shepherd Park have low population densities and, in some cases, even lower than the adjacent neighborhoods in suburban Maryland. The contrast is especially stark with the intense residential and commercial development in Silver Spring.

301.8 Map 3.3 shows that employment is highly concentrated in Central Washington. Beyond the District center, other major employment centers include the universities and federal enclaves, the New York Avenue corridor, the West End, the Georgetown waterfront, the Capitol Riverfront area, and several corridors in Upper Northwest. Large concentrations of employment also appear beyond the District limits in Downtown Bethesda and Silver Spring, Maryland, and in Rosslyn, Crystal City, the Pentagon area, and Alexandria, Virginia.

301.9

Figure 3.1: Planning Areas

301.10

Map 3.2: Population Density 2017

301.11 Map 3.3: Employment Density 2017

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 Comprehensive Plan

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)).