Zipcar and DC residential zoning changes

Zipcar on 6th Street SE
Originally uploaded by rllayman

Zipcar has sent out an email to its members, requesting that they come out to a Zoning Commission hearing on Monday night, to either show support or testify in favor of a zoning change that would allow "for profit" "membership" car sharing services to use parking spaces on residential lots.

Zoning Commission Notice of Public Hearing: Case No. 09-16

Clicking through to the link will allow you to open a document listing the proposed changes which are being addressed by the Zoning Commission.

This change is required because a commercial use like this wouldn't normally be allowed on residential property. (Of course, I think there needs to be a comprehensive review of the entire zoning code to reorient all aspects of the code towards encouraging the reduction of the use of automobiles, in order to better leverage and extend urbanity, and support for walking, bicycling, and transit.)

Of course, this change should be made to accommodate carsharing within neighborhoods, to reduce the demand for automobile ownership and "storage" in neighborhoods, by adding to the inventory of possible parking locations as not all neighborhoods have available spaces on streets, and there can be issues of security, i.e., a carsharing program in Liverpool is about to shut down in part because of vandalism attacks against the cars parked on the street, as well as the difficulty of parking the cars in their assigned spaces because noncarsharing vehicles were parked in their place. (See "Car club to pull out of Liverpool over vandalism" from the Liverpool Echo.

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The hearing is in Room 220 South, starting at 6:30 pm, at the DC Government Office Building at 441 4th Street NW, at the Judiciary Square Metro Station.