It’s official: future big “middle fingers to taste and scale” will just be medium “middle fingers to taste and scale:” the D.C. Zoning Commission had a second and final vote last night and voted to reduce the allowable height that homeowners can expand their rowhouses in certain districts.

The issue of “pop-ups,” as they’ve become known among District residents, is one of the more contentious issues in D.C. currently and, in March, the Zoning Commission gave initial approval for measures that would restrict future pop-ups. The Commission then voted to reduce their allowable height from 40 feet to 35 feet in a 3-2 vote.

Last night, WAMU reports that the Zoning Commission again voted 3-2 to reduce the height limit of homes who want to expand upward by five feet. That way, it would make it more difficult “for developers to add third or fourth stories as has happened in certain neighborhoods in recent years.”

Prior to yesterday’s Commission hearing and vote, anti-pop-up advocates joined a group of Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners to rally in favor of limiting pop-ups. “Pop-ups are not only out-of-character and destabilizing to our communities, they shoe-horn high-priced, virtually luxury units into townhouses, thereby pricing out long-time residents and low and moderate-income people,” ANC Commissioners Ronald Austin (ANC 4C-06), Doug Sloan (ANC 4B-09) Renée Bowser (4D-02), and Vann-Di Galloway (ANC 4C-06) said in a statement. “In addition, DCRA allows these townhouse developers to violate building codes and notice rules that further harm our residents.”

In addition to voting to restrict pop-up heights, the Commission also voted to limit conversions of homes into condos, which they had not voted in favor of in the March vote. According to WAMU, the Commission voted in favor of allowing homes to convert into no more than two units without requiring special approval for addition units.

But, as this is D.C., you can expect the debate over pop-ups to rage on, probably forever.

Filed Under: pop-ups, zoning commission,