Press Contacts:
- Heather Benno, Attorney for Plaintiffs, Immigrant Justice Solutions, Heather.Benno@gmail.com
- Chris Otten, (202) 656-5874, dc4reality@gmail.com
Washington, D.C. — On Monday, February 14, 2022, D.C. Superior Court handed plaintiffs a victory in their fight against gentrification and displacement. The Court ruled that the 18 plaintiffs from across the city had demonstrated sufficient injury and evidence to bring their action against the Mayor’s recently enacted DC Comprehensive Plan.
The Mayor’s changes to the plan (passed by the Council in May 2021 and signed into law by the Mayor in August 2021) allows approximately 200 million square feet of new land and air rights development in the District, benefitting a select list of landowners and private developers.
Plaintiffs living and working in areas of the city directly affected by the Future Land Use Map changes first filed their civil action in May 2021, the same day the City Council took their second vote to approve the Mayor’s plan as shepherded through the DC City Council by current Council Chairman, Phil Mendelson. In fact, Mr. Mendelson publicly urged affected residents to sue the city.
In denying the city’s motion to dismiss the CompPlan lawsuit, the Court rested upon evidence (or lack thereof) that Mayor Bowser’s Office of Planning (organized under the Deputy Mayor’s Office of Planning and Economic Development [DMPED]) had not done the legally required impact studies associated with the Mayor’s proposed changes.
The record shows clearly that the city made no meaningful attempt to evaluate the effect of the substantial density changes on vulnerable DC communities and on the city’s racial makeup and displacement pressures, on the environment, on capacities of local schools & clinics, and on already maxed-out public transportation systems and utilities.
Plaintiffs pointed to the 60,000 Black folks displaced from DC over the past 20-years because of the consistently poor planning as well as recent numbers showing DC’s high vacancy rates sitting conservatively at around 15%. [2020 census | interactive DC diversity app | Vacancy stats 14.7% (Gtown/Wis Ave; Navy Yard 30+% vacant)]
“Today’s ruling is a victory for all communities in the District,” said Heather Benno, lawyer for plaintiffs. “DC residents from around the city will not stand by as their communities are taken by developers who prioritize profit over our health, safety and well-being.”
This Superior Court decision follows on from deep concerns about planning and development as shared by current DC Attorney General, Karl Racine, recently on the Kojo Nnamdi show:
Racine: “I think the development arm of this city has acted intentionally with great purpose, and we see the result. The highest level of displacement of anywhere else in the United States of America. Now, the office of attorney general is free, free at last to act independently, and that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to work as hard as we can for the next 13 months to ensure that zoning laws and other actions actually don’t hurt longtime DC residents and vulnerable people. And I look forward to crossing swords with the development arm of the government so that a court can decide what’s fair and what’s not.”
The Politics Hour, Dec., 17, 2021, at about 41min into the tape >> https://wamu.org/story/21/12/17/the-politics-hour-december-17-2021/
You can find pleadings for the DC Comprehensive Plan lawsuit by exploring the case files for Civil Action No. 2021 01651 at D.C. Superior Court.
###