Dive Brief:
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Those super-skinny, uber-tall rowhouses that builders have been squeezing into alleyways in Washington, DC’s poshest neighborhoods got cut down to size this week when the city’s Zoning Commission voted to limit the height of any new ones to 35 feet.
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Known as “pop-ups” and tagged by locals with nicknames like “monster” and “middle finger,” the controversial homes often tower over the typical, two-story neighboring rowhouses and anger adjoining property owners, who complain they are an eyesore and block the sun.
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Builders have a workaround to the Zoning Commission rules, which still must be approved by the local planning commission: First, a developer may build up to 40 feet if the new home is attached to at least two others of the same size. Second, commissioners agreed to allow four condos in a single, narrow building if one of them carries a price that’s affordable to families earning less than 80% of the Washington metro’s median income of $109,200.
Dive Insight:
The Commission earlier had proposed forbidding building owners from topping existing homes with a third or fourth story and then converting them into three or more small condos for sale. A two-units-per-structure limit would have dissuaded builders from the practice, as those condos fetch a premium price in the trendy DC neighborhoods where most are located.