Testmony of
Payton Chung
Sierra Club, Washington DC Chapter
to the District of Columbia Council, Committee of the Whole
Hearing on Bill 23-736, the Comprehensive Plan Amendment Act of 2020
November 12, 2020
The Sierra Club’s Washington DC Chapter applauds the work that the Mayor’s Office of Planning, the Department of Environment and Energy, and the Department of Transportaon have put into updang the 2006 Comprehensive Plan for 2020. We urge the Council to adopt the Office of Planning’s (OP) amendments soon, as they will amplify the implementaon of crical recent environmental victories. We also urge OP to begin laying the groundwork now for an all-new Comprehensive Plan, which will be necessary to guide the District’s built environment towards its midcentury goal of net zero carbon emissions.
These updates have strengthened the Comprehensive Plan to beer reflect the Club’s mission “to enlist humanity to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human environment.”
Many policies that the Chapter has championed are reflected in this document, including incorporang DC’s carbon neutrality goal and implementaon of a cleaner energy system; fishable and swimmable surface waters throughout the District; a zero-waste goal for solid waste source reducon; and reducing safety and health dangers from the transportaon system. The Club has worked with the Council and other District agencies on improving legislaon and plans, including the Clean Energy DC Omnibus Act, the Sustainable Solid Waste Management Amendment Act, and the Vision Zero Acon Plan, and we are glad to see that the updated Comprehensive Plan text reflects these policies and plans. We are also heartened to see new text addressing necessary climate adaptaon and resilience measures, as these measures will only become more necessary in the years ahead.
We also applaud suggested revisions to the Housing Element, such as policy H-1.1, which seek to beer balance jobs and housing in high-opportunity parts of the District and region. This policy reflects the Sierra Club’s Urban Infill Policy, which states:
An essenal strategy for reducing urban related carbon emissions is supporng dense, mixed-use communies and land uses that priorize walking, biking or transit to meet daily transportaon needs, as well as balancing jobs and housing within the region… All neighborhoods should be open to people of all income levels and backgrounds.
We look forward to engaging soon with the District in the mul-year process that will shape the next Comprehensive Plan. That should begin over the next year or two, with a public process to foster agreement on the core values and guiding vision that the upcoming plan will achieve. This approach has proven crical to helping other climate-leader cies around the world adopt transformave new Comprehensive Plans, and to make significant progress towards achieving their climate and equity goals.
The 20-year horizon of the next Comprehensive Plan, from the 2020s to the 2040s, must be an era defined by a just transion away from the fossil-fuel era. Otherwise, the connued suitability of the District of Columbia as human habitat will be in grave doubt.
We have, on several occasions, applauded the District’s commitment to achieving net zero carbon by 2050. The built environment (buildings and transportaon) account for the lion’s share of DC’s carbon emissions, so the Comprehensive Plan will shape much of this transion. Future Comprehensive Plans should root themselves in foundaonal themes of sustainability, resilience, and jusce, rather than siloing “environmental protecon” off into one element among many.
OP should take lessons and inspiraon from its colleagues at DOEE and DDOT, whose strategic plans make achieving sustainability the goal, not just an element. An example is DOEE’s 2012 Sustainable DC plan, which set a goal of cung carbon emissions from transportaon and set a travel mode target, with 75% of commute trips via non-auto modes. A complementary target urged 20-minute neighborhoods, with daily services within walking distance for all District residents. DDOT then adopted DOEE’s goal as its own, requiring that mode share goal be achieved through its 2014 MoveDC Plan and rejecng scenarios that did not achieve it.
Those two plans treat a sustainable built environment in DC as a desnaon that acons can achieve, and make measurable progress towards, rather than merely as one of many worthy direcons that we can reacvely steer exisng movement towards. The current Comprehensive Plan midly assumes that the unsustainable, unjust status quo and “business as usual” can only be nkered with; the next Comprehensive Plan must instead boldly imagine and forge a sustainable future.
Thank you for the opportunity to address the Council on this important bill.
Payton Chung
Chair, Smart Growth Commiee
Sierra Club, Washington DC Chapter