Zoning Commission reopens public record for case 25-13 after council member request

The District of Columbia Zoning Commission voted July 20 to reopen the public record in zoning commission case 25-13 so it can accept a letter from Council Member Fman and additional submissions, but limited new comments to material responding to the Office of Planning's (OP) third supplemental report. Chair Anthony Hood said the commission would accept new submissions through Thursday, July 23 at 3:00 p.m., with the matter returned for consideration at the July 30 meeting.

Vice Chair Miller, who supported reopening, said the commission's independence from the Council is important but that allowing a narrowly scoped comment period was reasonable while OP works to refine technical language. "I don't have any problem with reopening the record," he said. Commissioner Wright said prior reopenings produced useful testimony that informed supplemental OP reports and improved Commission deliberations.

Several commissioners voiced concern about precedent and equal treatment across wards. Commissioner Imamora said repeated reopenings should not become routine, calling this an "exceptional case." Michelle Lovick of the Office of Zoning briefed the panel on the prior record, noting exhibit ranges submitted in the earlier reopening and that some submissions raised technical questions such as whether the applicable metric (referred to in the record as "MSI") should be 30% or 50%.

OP staff told the commission that, under the proposed schedule, OP would not have time to prepare formal written responses to new comments but would brief the Commission and issue a supplemental OP report incorporating the technical language revisions; that internal OP report would be circulated on July 28. The commission agreed to accept any submissions that strictly address the third supplemental OP report and to consider the item at the July 30 meeting.